Knight Bus

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.

Diagon Alley

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.

I had expectations that Diagon Alley would be (or could be) rather festive, but in the end it was no different to how it is normally. Well there were some footprints in the snow and the special effects about how they were created, but that was less Diagon Alley and more Hogsmead.

Diagon Alley is a cobblestoned wizarding alley and shopping area located in London, England behind a pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Inside the alley is an assortment of restaurants, shops, and other sights.

More Harry Potter Bits and Pieces

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.

There are lots of costumes and props in the tour and you can spend ages looking at the attention to detail and if you rush you will miss stuff.

Harry Potter Bits and Pieces

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.

There are lots of costumes and props in the tour and you can spend ages looking at the attention to detail and if you rush you will miss stuff.

Gryffindor Dormitory and Common Room

The first time I 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.

The Gryffindor dorm and common room were dressed for Christmas with a tree, decorations and presents.

 

Gryffindor is one of the four Houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was founded by Godric Gryffindor. Gryffindor instructed the Sorting Hat to choose students possessing characteristics he most valued, such as courage, chivalry, and determination, to be sorted into his house. The emblematic animal is a lion, and its colours are scarlet and gold.

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The Ministry of Magic

The first time I 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.

The Ministry of Magic always looked huge on the big screen, all done via the clever use of CGI. However they did build some physical sets to complement the virtual ones.

The Burrow

The first time I 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.

As you can see not too much Christmas stuff in the Weasley’s home The Burrow. I think that may have been a real opportunity.

The Weasleys’ home, known as the Burrow, is located outside the village of Ottery St Catchpole,. The Burrow was used as the Order of the Phoenix’s headquarters, due to the compromised Fidelius Charm placed on 12 Grimmauld Place, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows until it lost its given protection. The Weasley house has seven floors. It is also quite dilapidated, managing to remain standing only by magic. Despite the house’s rundown appearance, Harry remarks on his first visit that it was the best house he had ever been in and it becomes his second favourite place in the world (after Hogwarts). The well-hidden orchard nearby doubles as a Quidditch pitch for the Weasley boys and Ginny Weasley. A multitude of garden gnomes infests the garden of the Burrow. There is also a small hangar located there that Arthur Weasley uses as a workshop to tinker with muggle items that he brings home (much to Mrs. Weasley’s chagrin).

Potions Classroom

The first time I 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.

The Potions Classroom, though a magnificent piece of film set design and full of amazing props, didn’t have a festive theme….

Gringotts Bank

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.

There were two new parts to the tour, which we hadn’t seen, the first was the Forbidden Forest, which to be honest I wasn’t too impressed with, then again I wasn’t that impressed with the way the forest looked in the film. The second part we hadn’t seen, which opened this year was the Gringotts Bank set. Well that set was amazing. The level of detail and attention was incredible. I also liked the “destroyed” version as well.

The Yule Ball

The first time I 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.

I had seen the Yule Ball set before, but that time it was in the main part of the tour, this time it was placed at the end of the Great Hall.