The first time we went to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour was in 2015, just after they had added the Hogwarts Express and Kings Cross set to the tour. At the end of November 2019 we made a return visit, mainly to see how different it was dressed for Christmas and with snow.
Outside they had a snow machine, which added a little bit of a festive touch. However as you can see from the photographs below there wasn’t much snow to be seen…
One of the outside exhibits is the Knight Bus.
The Knight Bus is a triple-decker, purple AEC Regent III RT that assists stranded individuals of the wizarding community through public transportation. It operates at a very fast speed and obstacles will jump out of its way, and can also deceptively fit through small spaces.
To hail the bus, a witch or wizard must stick their wand hand in the air in the same manner that a Muggle might do while hailing a Muggle Bus in the United Kingdom, though it is possible to book tickets for travel on the bus in advance.
Inside the bus are beds for sleeping whilst travelling.
The Knight Bus seen in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban used a body constructed from three separate RT-class AEC Regent III buses. The triple-deck body was then fitted to a Dennis Javelin bus chassis. In order to portray the bus driving at high speeds, the cars around the bus drove slower while the bus drove at its top speed, and the footage was sped up afterward. Two buses were constructed for the film’s external shots, while the interior shots were filmed on a set that would rock back and forth to simulate the bus’ movement.
