Reply With QuoteGlad you asked this taking our son Tom for his 9th birthday in November.
I'm taking my 10 year old daughter to the Harry Potter studio tour in Leavesden, Watford next weekend. We're familiar with the tour map on the website but wondered whether anyone has any tips for things to see / do from their experience? You know the kind of stuff - when you're in this room, look at x and you'll see y. What are the the things we might miss as first time visitors?
Many thanks,
David (and a very excited Lucy)
Glad you asked this taking our son Tom for his 9th birthday in November.
Don't worry. Due to the layout you can't really miss anything.
Get a photo done of her flying on a broomstick over Hogwarts. She'll like that!
I've been three times with work and once with family. The quality of the design and craftsmanship is staggering, and I used to work in film and film studios, so am not that easily impressed. You'll both love the experience.
So clever my foot fell off.
Just look at everything you possibly can, there's probably too much to see! The shop is blooming expensive though. And while wandering round it gawping at the unbelievable prices we saw a child snap a wand his parents had just paid £20 or whatever for. That one was a model for display and not made of something strong enough for children to play with, I don't know if they do make ones good enough for children to throw around but be warned on a) prices and b) suitability for playing with!
I really enjoyed it, the detail the prop makers went into was great.
"A man of little significance"
Went with my daughter several years ago. You'll love it, there is so much to see. It's quite mind boggling actually.
The very first part of the tour was 'guided', but once you're inside proper then you can wander about and take photos as you please. The props and model making are fantastic. I think I came away more 'affected' by the experience than my daughter did lol
I do remember the shop being very expensive (if you're of average means!). We picked up a few cheaper mementos though, there's plenty of choice.
Only tip I can offer is to ask for the passport thing - You can get a card which the kids get stamped at various locations. We missed it but saw a lot of other nippers doing it.
The butter beer is vile and a lot more expensive than regular beer - its a great trip, get there as early as you can and enjoy
Like every London and surrounds day out it will be eye-wateringly expensive (but you knew that) - just chuck a couple extra notes in the wallet, forget the cost and have a wonderful time!
I should add:
The large on-site cafe is excellent and actually pretty reasonably priced. Nice sandwich £3 for example. Hotdog in the half-way outside eating area about £3.50. Excellent cake - £1.75. Could be much worse.
Costa Coffee is the same price as everywhere.
ButterBeer should be tried, but one glass between two or three people is enough to have a taste, unless you really like it. Some do. It is very sweet.
The shop is huge, and there are some really quite impressive souvenirs on sale at serious money, but there is lots of stuff for a few quid.
(And yes, get the passport - the kids like stamping those).
So clever my foot fell off.
I got one of those clapboard things from the shop, gives our homemade movies that professional touch!
I loved the model of Hogwarts, incredible.
I went a few years back with SWMBO. We both thuroughly enjoyed it. No real tips beyond just take your time. Only tip might be to watch the films before you go. Get you both excited and will mean you both have fresh memories so when wondering round you say 'remember that, remember this', etc...
As others have said the shop is very expensive.
Thanks for all your input folks, really helpful. We'll definitely do the passport thing and she's prepared for the shop being expensive - she's been saving up and has a list of things she wants to buy (she already knows the prices of them all).
I'll report back when we get back.
hello - two tips from me.
a) do sign up for the audio commentary headsets at the reception desk - if you are a fan of the films you will know a lot of the stuff, but if you are only an "amateur" then it will add to the experience.
b) as there is much dark studio lighting, if you are keen on taking photos, I would practice taking photos with no flash, and go on the low light high ISO settings, otherwise the builit in flash will bleach many photos.
have fun..
Actually if someone is going could they do me favour and check the wand room for me?
I want to make sure my name is on a wand box before I tell my kids to look to avoid any disapointment. In theory I should have 3 of them as I'm credited on 3 of the films (other colleagues have reported multiple boxes having worked on multiple films but I'll settle for the one.).
It is so brilliantly done you and your daughter will have a blast!
As people have said make plenty of time as you can spend hours seeing everything.
Small tip but see if you can get front centre seats when you get into the cinema (second room of the tour).
Have a great time!!
I'd love to go back and see the place, it's been a while :)
I worked on HP5 in 2006. I remember it as a dusty and dirty old factory. I work in lighting and some of the lighting stats were pretty impressive. I remember in the great hall alone we used 80 x 20kw lamps, (that's 1.6 megawatts just coming in the side windows) we had a couple of hundred space lights in the roof, (6kw each) as well as Zenons and other big lamps for the big gable window. It got so hot in the roof that some of the girders started to bend, so we had to get in special aircon units blowing cold air just to keep the girders cool. We also had members of the fire brigade in the roof with thermal imaging cameras to identify the hottest parts.
In case your wondering how we supplied all that power, we used 6 x 2mega watt generators, that's 12 megs spread across the stages, but that didn't include the hanger at the end of the runway.
That was a fun job!!
That's some pretty impressive power consumption
My daughter took herself to see it last month - well she is 29
Said it was tip top. Took some snaps on her iphone and it certainly does look impressive. Rather expensive - but thats the norm these days
Have a good time!
I'm the same age as your daughter and is went with the wife and my 3 year old, no shame in it lol
Your 3yr old was the excuse not the reasonOriginally Posted by Macca
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Stay clear of the wands! Don't be tempted to buy one from the shop, they don't work :)
Might take a while.
Take your time. There is plenty to see and they don't hurry you.
As it happens he was a bit of a spare part like myself it's my lovely wife who is the potter fanatic lolYour 3yr old was the excuse not the reason
Are you from langtoft by any chance?
Im off there this weekend with my crew, Ive never seen any of the films but I understand my main role for the day is financier and taxi driver.
Watch some of the films before you go - you will enjoy them and it will make the visit far more interesting.
So clever my foot fell off.
Agree. Just get stuck in and watch the films.
Enjoyed reading that, our trip is all booked apart from the train down, our kids will be so excited they are Harry Potter mad.
Found it amazingly within about 5 mins of googling. Seems I'm a couple over from Daniel Radcliffe's so found my box pretty quickly. Now my kids can go without being let down. Someone else said they thought I had at least two boxes they had seen (I've worked on 3 of the movies).
Is there boxes with your name on it if your credited? How do you find out? I was credited too.
In theory yes everyone credited on the films has their name on a box in the wand room. I wasn't particularly interested until my children expressed and interest in going on the tour.
I found mine within 5 mins just by googling Harry Potter wand room and looking at the pictures that were close enough to disclose the names clearly. I got lucky. I don't know if there is someone you can call at the Harry Potter exerience that can check your name.
That's cool I must look into that and see if I can find out. My daughter would love to know.
Sorry double post
Last edited by Graeme; 22nd May 2014 at 13:10. Reason: double post
So yesterday was Potter day and we had a great time. You can't help but be blown away by the quality and detail of everything and the service was also spot-on. A long day (16 hour round trip with 10 hours driving) but well worth it.
Outside 4 Privet Drive:
David
Last edited by TaketheCannoli; 25th May 2014 at 10:37.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the outing. ...
Crikey, as a HUGE HP fan, I am very impressed to see we have TZUKers who worked on the films!!
Please dont be shy - what was your involvement?!
One of my favourite places / time was HP World at Universal in Florida - felt like a child again for the first time since... well since being a child! Wonderful, wonderful world!
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