Latest / UK Travel Planning / Discovering the Magic: A Guide to Visiting Harry Potter Studios in London

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Discovering the Magic: A Guide to Visiting Harry Potter Studios in London · UK Travel Planning

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Your host is the founder of the UK travel planning website, Tracy Collins.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, Tracy shares destination guides, travel tips, and itinerary ideas, as well as interviews with a variety of guests who share their knowledge and experience of UK travel to help you plan your perfect UK vacation.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Join us as we explore the UK from cosmopolitan cities to quaint villages, from historic castles to beautiful islands, and from the picturesque countryside to seaside towns.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome to episode 46 of the UK Travel Planning Podcast.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: This week I have special guest Karen again come on to join me on the podcast, who you will recognise as the voice of our introduction.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: So hi Karen, nice to that you've been able to join us again.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Tracy, good to be back again.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: I love coming on.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_02: I know it's great to talk to you, and I know people like listening to episodes because well we just have a chat, don't we?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: About stuff like that we're good friends and we have a good matter.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: So do you want to just introduce well what we're going to talk about this episode, which I guess people already know because they'll have that on the head in, is about visiting Harry Potter studios just outside London.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: So both Karen and I have been a few times, so we thought this would be a a good chance for us to have a chat a little bit about Harry Potter Studios and our experiences and some tips that we've learned from our visits.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: But Karen, if you want to introduce yourself, that would be great.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, hey, I'm Karen.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um I run a website called Smart Steps to Australia, helping families make the move to Australia.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: And now I'm lucky enough to live close by to Tracy.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we're sitting here in her house now doing the podcast.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I've I go back to the UK for trips as well.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: And my kids absolutely love Harry Potter.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we were lucky enough last year to go to Harry Potter Studios as well.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we thought that while chatting about it, Tracy and I would just do a bit of a podcast to share a few insider tips about what it's like and and all the best bits of it and what to do with how to plan it, how to get there, and all of that kind of good stuff.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, um, if you want to listen to um that episode all about Karen's trip, it's actually um episode 37 of the podcast.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: So it's uh it's Karen's trip report from a six-week family adventure from Australia to the UK.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: So that episode is available to uh listen to.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about Harry Potter Studios because it comes up very often in the Facebook group, quite often because people have actually missed out on tickets.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: So um that that's one of the things we will talk about.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, where is Harry Potter Studios, I guess, is the first question.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, do you want to answer that one, Karen?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Or do you want to it's about 20 miles north of London near Watford in Hertfordshire?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we were actually based on the South Coast when we were visiting, we were in Hampshire, and so we were trying to figure out how the best way to get there was going to be.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I remember picking Tracy's brains a lot and asking her a lot of questions before we we decided to book the tickets and and get there.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, in terms of how far in advance to book tickets, when we went in uh October last year, we booked the tickets a few weeks ahead, so probably about four to six weeks ahead.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they were quite limited.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: There weren't very many slots available.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: So and that was for October, and I think that's that's worth kind of stressing that really, if you're going into peak time, and we're talking really from now, April to even September, you really need to book it months ahead.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: I know somebody was saying this morning they were trying to book for June, and they were all sold out.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: So it's particularly busy during the this the school holiday week.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: So that's over the end of July and August.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the June, uh end of May, June uh holiday in the UK is particularly busy.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: Weekends are really busy.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: So your best bet if you want to try and get the tickets is to actually book um for during a weekday and first thing in the morning.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: So if you can get there earlier, because I was actually reading today that peak time at High Product Studio is 4 p.m.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: in the afternoon, which I wouldn't have guessed actually, but that's that's what they say.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's interesting because we're going to talk a little bit later about sort of how long you need to spend looking around, and I think when you arrive is really important.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: We'll cover that in a few minutes, but um, yeah, we my advice is just book it as early as you can because for us it was one of the most important parts of our trip.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: It like something the kids really wanted to do.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, one of our kids is a massive Harry Potter fan, and she would have got very upset if we hadn't been able to fit it in.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I know that I've spoken to a few other people and and recommended that they book and they hadn't realised just how early they needed to book and they've missed out because they weren't booking advanced enough.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: So absolutely, and it's a bit like um it's a bit like the Jacobite train as well in Scotland, uh, which takes you over the Glen the Glen Finnon viaduct, so aka the the um train to Hogwarts.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: That again that gets booked up months and months in advance.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: There are some things in the UK you absolutely have to book well in advance, and actually we have organised our holiday, um, we organised our trip to Scotland around the day that we had the Jacobite train booked.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: It was that important to get that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: And I know we've done itinerary consults for people and they're kind of like the only day they have absolutely set in stone or the the day on the Jacobite, the day on Harry Potter Studios, because once you've got those tickets, you kind of can then organise everything else around it.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we we kind of printed out a calendar sheet and and put in the really important things into a calendar so that we knew what things were unmovable, what we had to get done, because there were certain parts of the trip, and this was definitely one of them that we could not miss out on.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: So the I guess the next question that we get asked is should you book a tour versus self-travel?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so one time that a tour is a really good idea, is if you have missed out on a ticket, because that is often the only way that you will get a ticket.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: But if you book ahead of time, you should be able to buy yourself a ticket and it's easy to get there yourself.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: It really is easy if you're in London, because you just take a train from Euston Station to Watford Junction, which just takes about 20-25 minutes, and then um you take a free shuttle bus outside the train station.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: So you walk out the train station, turn left, and you'll see the Harry Potter Studios bus.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's really regular, and you just as long as you've got your ticket, you just show them, and then that's a free trip there and back from uh Watford Junction Station to Harry Potter Studios, which takes around about 15 minutes.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I will also just say, because I know this this guest asked as well, is yes, you can use your Easter card um or contactless to get yourself from Houston Train Station to Watford Junction train station.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Now I know you you didn't do that, so we've always done that, we've always gone kind of independently and taken the bus, but I know you took the tour last year, Carrie.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: We did, we did.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: So um the tour goes from London Victoria to directly to the studios.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the reason that we decided to book the tour, although Alex we we did it in a bit of a disjointed way.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: I booked the Harry Potter Studios tickets direct and then I booked the bus ticket with Golden Tours separately because it worked out a little bit cheaper than booking the all-encompassing kind of pass, but it it didn't work out as well as I was hoping because the bus ticket didn't quite complement the tour time ticket that I'd managed to book for entry.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it kind of was a little bit disjointed, but that was okay.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we decided to book the tour purely because we were travelling with a group of nine of us, including five kids, yeah, and we thought it would just be easier to just get on a bus and go um straight there rather than hopping on and hopping off because we were originally travelling from uh Portsmouth or from Haven, it was near Portsmouth all the way to London, and then we were catching the bus then all the way to the studio.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we just thought it was just a bit easier and more direct.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we'd also have luggage with us to spend a couple of days in London after it, and we just thought it was going to be a lot easier.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: But in hindsight, the where we waited, just tips for anyone travelling with young kids when you were waiting for the bus for the golden tours, there are no tick no toilets right away next in the area where you're waiting.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we had that as a bit of an issue with little kids.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So we did the toilet five minutes before the bus was going to go, so that was much fun.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the actual bus took a while to get there, and I just I actually really wished we hadn't bothered with the tour and that we'd just gone there direct off our own steam and just got the train because it would have made life so much easier, we would have been much more flexible.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know we'd got little kids to kind of corral and kind of move around, but it would have just been a lot easier to have not got the tour and just got the train directly.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: And you say it would have given you a bit more flexibility for time, wouldn't it?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: I guess I think I think what is useful, I mean, that's the I I know for people who have missed out on our London and I've talked to people and they they find like booking the tour is the easier with the comp with the transport and the ticket, it's just easier because they don't want to, they don't want to think about taking the getting to Houston and then taking the train.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: But actually, it really is easy.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: But Golden Tours are the company the recommended partner with Harry Potter Studios, and we have got links to their tours in a in an article we've got about Harry Potter Studios, which I will share in the show notes.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, if you're short on time, and we get asked this quite often as well, is like, can I combine Harry Potter Studios with something somewhere else?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: And there are tours that will combine a Walken tour and the Harry Potter Studios, um, and Harry Potter Studios and Oxford.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're really short on time and you really want to go to the studios and then you want to go to Oxford, you can take one of those tours.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: I guess it's kind of figuring out what works best for you.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I know for us in the past, we've just found it so much easier to get there ourselves and do that.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Or even driving.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's a lot of parking there as well.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I know my husband's pretty confident driving around London in all different places.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: So he actually, I think we would have probably got on really well just driving there and having a full day there and being able to come and go as we wanted.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: But but the shuttle buses that you mentioned at the train station, there were so many of them.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like when we arrived at Harry Potter Studios, we there were always shuttle buses there to take people to the train station, they were coming and going all the time.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: So you I was a bit worried that if you got the train that you'd be stuck at the train station, but actually.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh no, they're really regular.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it's really good.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you've got yourself to Harry Potter Studios, whichever way, whether you've taken a um a tour or whether you've bought your ticket and gone there by train.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so how long do you need?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: So this is this comes up really often.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I so I've been to Harry Potter Studios twice, once with my daughter and Doug, and another last year Doug and I went.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I can guarantee we've spent at least four hours there each time.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, oh at least four hours.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like we because we only booked our tickets sort of, was to say, four to six weeks ahead, we found that on the time we wanted to go, we could only get in an afternoon slot, which meant really we didn't have a huge amount of time to spare.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and also with us having booked the tour, we had a bus time to come back on that limited the time a little bit.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: And we read the website that said you need three to four hours to look around it.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: But if you've got anyone going in the group that really loves Harry Potter, you need longer than that.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like we could have been there for eight hours, I would have been happy there for that long.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like my kids would have because we really had to rush around quite a few bits of it, and we didn't really have a lot of time to sort of sit and have a coffee in between or anything like that.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was just full on because we knew we needed quite a bit of time in the shop at the end to look around because kids really don't make decisions very quickly.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um well, there's so many things to choose from in that that shop at the end as well.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's huge.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I think we we spent at least an hour in the shop at the end, and I think we could have easily spent longer than that if we had more time.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so for me, if we well, we will go back for sure.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would say we'll be looking at aiming for a really full clear day, we'll be looking at booking really early morning.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, then yeah, we can leave whenever we want in the afternoon and we're not tied to a time.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I know somebody asked, I'm actually going to throw this in because it's it also about the audio tour.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, I'll just mention that there.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I got you get the option uh when we when we arrived at the option to have the audio tour, which is about£5.25, I think, at time, yeah, at this moment in time, um, for headphones.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Now I did get that and I didn't use it, so I it just ended up kind of hanging around my neck, I think.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: I was just and I didn't use it at all.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: I kind of maybe used it once or twice, and yeah, it just didn't really work.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: And also because Doug didn't have one, it was a bit rude if I was headphones up, but I thought I'll get it and try it and see.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not a big fan of them anywhere, but I thought I'd get it.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: But I know you bought them from the A for everybody.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so all I I kind of went to buy them and thought I'll just get them for everybody.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: So all nine of us had them, and it was I I really enjoyed it because I love the books and the movies, and I've really enjoyed kind of going around and learning a little bit more background, but really we could have had one between the nine of us because within five seconds the kids couldn't figure out what it was talking about.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: They they were getting mixed up between the like the buttons and the attractions that we were watching, and they within minutes they'd given all of them to us to carry, and we ended up having to carry all of these heavy audio block things and the headphones all around with us, and it was just a bit of a pain.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I I'm not sure you need them.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think if anyone's gonna have one, maybe one for the group and share it, yeah.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't think you need one each.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: I probably wouldn't get one next time.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, and so so I guess as well as the ticket, because that the kind of question we've had from someone in in the Facebook group is um, you know, what else would you spend your money on outside of the gift shop?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we will talk about other things that you can spend your money on because as you walk around, there are various things which you can talk about.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: But I kind of asked that when you go into the lobby and um you know show your ticket.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: The audio tour guide is one, and there's also a souvenir um souvenir guide thing.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we got one of those.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: I can't recall having looked at it, but we got it as part of the trip.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so that's about I think that's about$9.95.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I well, I didn't we didn't buy one of those, I guess just um kind of didn't want to carry it around.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um what I will say is I personally find the tickets to get into the studios really good value, really inexpensive, but obviously they make a lot of money on all of the extra things because as you're going around, they lure you into getting all these photos done and all this, and the kids want to buy all the photos, and they can add up to what at the end of it.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and actually that would be, I guess, kind of at the end of tips, but I I think one tip to consider is really to try and get set yourself a budget because there are so many things that you can be get tempted to get.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I we didn't have any of the photos taken, but I did get um book with my daughter's name engraved on it at the train station shop um because I couldn't resist that, and she's got quite an unusual name, so trying to get things with her name on isn't that easy, so I was like, okay, I'll get that for her.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that was kind of a nice surprise, but yeah, it's it, you know, that there's some there's some amazing things to buy as well, but you do have to take that in consideration, especially with kids, because I bet kids want to do all of it.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: We we did all the things, yeah.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: We like riding the broomstick and all the things, we didn't buy the phone house.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, we decided we would save our money until the shop at the end because they knew very specifically that they wanted to buy different things in the shop, so um, yeah, we we did sort of spend a little bit in the first cafe and had cake and things when we first arrived.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh yeah, we saved all of our main money for spending in the shop, and we did spend quite a lot in the shop at the end.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess we'll we'll talk about so when you arrive at this the atrophic studios, you go in the lobby.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um so it's kind of useful to know if you're when you arrive there.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: So there is a cloakroom so you can um check in, you know, coats, bags, um, suitcases free of charge, because that's just really useful to know, obviously, if you're traveling on, um that you can do that.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: That you know, there is also a space for buggies and prams um because they try to limit the um amount of kind of, I guess, prams and buggies that are going around at a time.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think that you can book those in when you book your ticket so that they know that however many people are traveling around with that are going to have um prams and buggies, but you can actually check them in there.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yes, they they they may check your bags before you actually go into the studio, um, but that's just a kind of regular security thing that you'll find in lots of different places around the world and in London and the UK that you go into these days.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so there are toilets which is really useful.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess when you arrived, you still have cool for the little kids.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, and baby changing facilities as well.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of that's good to know.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: So this is all before you actually go in for the tour.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: So that's as you arrive.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I've I've only eaten um and had some drinks in the back lock cafe, but there is there are actually places to get food and drink when you arrive.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: I know you've done that, haven't you, Green?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: We did that.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: The kids spied some cakes in the counter, so they made a stop for hot chocolate and cakes when we first arrived.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: So that was just a nice little break after being on the bus for a little while.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that's perfect.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: So after that, you kind of then you walk through and start the studio tour.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: So it's useful to say as well.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: So if your kids have missed going to the toilet, um, that you can actually go there.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: Are toilets during the tour itself as well.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you don't have to worry about them, you can find them.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: And then also, really importantly, is just food and drink as well, that you can get a hot meal sandwich at the back lot cafe, which is kind of located about halfway through the studio tour.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, we found every time the couple of times we've been, that's where we've taken a break and we've had something to eat.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: So they have like kind of burgers and chicken nuggets and kind of that that sort of fast food sort of pizza, those sorts of uh kind of foods available, sandwiches as well.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but our favorite thing to do when we've got the back uh cafe is to try some butterbeer.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: So you can get some uh butterbeer um from the cafe, and it's basically you get a souvenir tank tank it as well, which costs£6.95.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we've got a few of those over time, and then you can also try the ice cream, which is£4.95.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, this is time um just checking on the website to make sure they were kind of relevant prices.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, did you stop off in in the backlock cafe, uh Karen?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, we didn't again.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: We were running shorter on time than we wanted to be, and the kids really wanted to try butter beer.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: But I pointed out that if we stopped, then they would have less time in the shop at the end, yeah, which they were so keen on doing.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: So they decided we had to just push on and carry on because as I say, I don't think four hours was really enough for or three hours, whatever it was we ended up having there was really enough to do it all and relax through it.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, but next time that's something we would build into time to do.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I was kind of thinking, so when you first go in, you've got all of the like the different sets, haven't you?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: So you you walk through, you've got the the uh hall uh set up for um Great Feast, and everything, and then at the end you've got kind of the um the wearing some of the like the the dummies with the um clothes on, yes.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then you can go through and you see all of the different sets, uh, which is it's great to see.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: They're just and they're set up as they were, you know, as when they filled them, so that's really good for us.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: You can spend hours just looking at those.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hours and hours.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: We can spend a long time.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then Diagonale is one of my favourite.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's really cool to walk down there.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: You get some really good photos walking down uh Diagonale.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the point.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many photo opportunities of your own as you go that you don't necessarily have to buy all of the um visual ones that they can create for you.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can do ones where the kids you take yourself if the kids saying up to their broom and holding their broom and kind of holding a wand and and just kind of doing all the different things.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, there's plenty of great photo opportunities, and you can have a look at the night bus and yeah, go through the Dursleys kitchen and um because I was thinking after so after you if the the uh after the back lock cafe, then you've kind of got that the outdoor area, so you've got um the Dursley's house, you've got the night bus, um the greenhouses, yeah, the 12, the shelter.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: They when we were there last June, they hadn't opened yet.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I was saying Junior would have seen those.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the thing about Harry Potter Studios because they have different themes throughout the year, but they've also got new things opening.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: So even if you've been before, there's new things to see when you go, which is fantastic.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: So we didn't see the greenhouses.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I was a bit um I now you want me.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: I want to go this year again to see those.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: So again, you can sit in the car, you can sit in the motorbiking, you can take your own photos.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: We've got plenty of photos that we've taken, you can pose by the the Dozley's house, you can have your your um photo taken at the street.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_02: I can't remember the name of the street now.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be Private Drive, of course.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: You can have your your photo taken at Private Drive.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, so there's there's lots to do and see, and then you're outside because that kind of backlog cafe, you can eat inside or you can eat outside.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: And it usually is pretty busy.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: I know when when we've been there, it has been pretty busy.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we always get a butter beer.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: We usually share one between the two of us, to be fair, because they're they're quite expensive.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: What's it taste like?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um they say kind of butterscotch and shortbread, and I think that's probably about right.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: I love uh butterscotch, so I guess that it really appeals to me.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think we might have had ice cream last year as well, actually, just to try it.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, so and that's also a good point as well to sort of have a sit down.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's a big day, it's a lot of walking, and it's a lot to see, and it's exciting, and especially if you're traveling with kids that need a bit of downtime in between of it all.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely, and then um the other things I'm kind of trying to think of.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: My personal favourite things as I walk through, I always like seeing the the sets, I've just loved seeing the sets, and then uh they had last year they had the um the dragon coming into Gringotts Bank.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: That's so well done.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: It was absolutely amazing to see that.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: That was something new we hadn't seen.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, really?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, that was really good.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: What about you?
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_02: Have you got any personal favorites?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: I loved walking at the end, you you walk around actual Hogwarts, the the big models.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: of Hogwarts that you walk around that they used in the filming of the movie.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like just this it's incredible to just walk around it and have a look at it.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it's amazing, isn't it?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's absolutely beautiful.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_02: And well and you get to see that kind of the lat the latter part of the toy you get to see all of the the costumes you get so you can see the that the dress that um Hermione wore at the ball and just tiny just so tiny.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then you know you get to see like all of the special effects like how they did all of the the different um kind of makeup effects um and the models that they're made so that's what my brother does that he he's a he's actually a spray paint and makes models not not for um this sort for movies he does he does um uh tanks and aeroplanes it it that's what he does but um so I know what goes in is involved in that um how much detail how much time it takes to make those sort of things so that's always really interesting to see as well yeah so it's absolutely brilliant and of course when you've got through all of that and obviously you see the the train as well and you can take your photograph push in the trolley at platform nine and three quarters so that oh we didn't see the trolley oh yes the trolley is there so you can have a photograph taken there and then obviously you've got the train and then you there's there's an opportunity to sit on the actual kind of the the Hogwarts train and have some photographs.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: I noticed that and obviously there's a shop there where I bought my daughter's present.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: So then at the very end you get to the big shop.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes and it is a big shop and you kind of need to make a plan in the big shop as to yes especially if you've got kids that are all kind of very excited and it was one of the first stops on our trip and we'd made the mistake of sort of saying each of them could have so much spending money for the trip and I think they all spent most of their spending money in that shop.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's also like a wand um counter where you can have a look at all of the ones of all of the characters and they've got them all stacked up like ones in the background and you can kind of try out each wand and pick which one you want which took quite a lot of effort.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I want one that actually if I wave the wand it'll just take the air time I have to fly to get to the UK.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: Or clean your house or clean your house would be a good one but I for me at the moment because I'm flying to the UK um by the time this episode comes out I will be in the UK I I just would like to wave a magic wand and not have to fly.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: I could just be you know in the UK so that's what I would want one for so if I ever sell one like that I'll be first I'll be first in line.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: So what did your kids buy did they so um we bought a couple of ones um my daughter bought the Diadem of Ravenclaw one that had this beautiful jewel on it.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: So um they didn't have every single wand in stock unfortunately she really wanted Hermione's one I didn't have it but they did tell us you could buy it online after for the same price so there is an option if you do get home and you kind of want to order things online there is a shop you can do that from but the kids just picked up the ones and and picked the one that they felt chose them.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah lovely which was the right ones and yeah they they both got ones uh one bought golden snitch um they bought gifts as well to take back to people in Australia in school like key rings and bridge magazines little bits of bobs but yeah we were in that shop for a very long time for like a good hour at least wow um but then obviously you've got to just kind of think about how whatever you're buying you've got to transport home with you.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_01: So ones are in quite big boxes so that that was kind of fun we had to put those in our hand luggage for the journey home or like inside a suitcase it was kind of a bit bulky.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um but yeah we uh we enjoyed going around the shop and there was plenty to pick from like oh absolutely kids wanted robes and all kinds of things we had to kind of bring them back down a little bit because they just wanted everything.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah no there there is there is so much to that you can choose from and then you can choose whichever house you want to be in as well and they've got everything that goes with every house and they've got all the you know the different suites so you can buy all those there's just there is so much to buy and I've I have got photos of the shop I've got photos of of the all the way through actually because um so we've been a couple of times and last year I did take lots of photos including I think I might have taken a picture of in the cafe or of our butter beer anyway um and the different the different things that you see along the way actually I mean the Harry Potter website is excellent the official website is is really good but I was thought we'd we'd kind of end with some top tips for anybody who's planning their visit and I think one of the important things is because this might be if you're going with a party that not everybody isn't Harry Potter or it's been a long time since you've read the books or watched the movies a really good thing to do before you go is is to do that is do your homework isn't it?
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah and watch the movies um on the plane a lot of the planes have all of the movies on there so I know my kids on the way there and on the way back were working their way through all of the movies again because when you're looking at the outfits that people are wearing in the movies you you kind of want to recognise them and and be sort of understanding what you're looking at as you're going round and remembering the different parts of the movies.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I think watching the movies is a really important one before you go.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely and I guess the the other kind of tip and I guess we've said it as we've been talking is really to give yourself enough time to enjoy it.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: You know really do you know this might be somewhere that you visit only once in a lifetime so you know take your time enjoy it there is a lot to see there's a lot to take in and so you know really just soak it in especially Harry Potter fans honestly this is and I've I have had people say that it was their highlight of the trip they absolutely loved it.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: It was one of the highlights of our trip actually and we really really all absolutely loved it and we went with some people who'd been twice already that lived quite nearby and they'll continue to keep going to it because they're so save the time it doesn't get boring it's and they say they've got different they've got different themes and they've got new things opening up so I guess the other thing is that for kids there's plenty to do you know they can have ride at a broomstick they can there's an interactive class I think with um what do you call it when you put over your face we're called those um virtual reality you can tell I'm getting no I've no idea virtual reality um obviously go out in the the courtyard go onto the night bus get yourself have a photo for private drive you know ride on Sirius's motorbike have your photo taken sit in the car and get your you know have your picture taken there you know enjoy it you can do all that so it's really good that's kind of all that interact if you can actually kind of get involved so loads for kids I mean it's absolutely there were extra things of like spotting a golden snitch in in the rooms and things like that that um the kids even the kids that didn't really know the movies got really into looking for and getting their passport stamped and they could kind of ask any of the staff members who were in the rooms for hints about where they should be looking and things and they just really loved doing all of that.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah I think that's really good.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: I remember last year we got the little book where you can you know you could find the yeah get stamps as you went round so I think that's important as well is like you know there's lots of people there so you can the people at work and Harry Potter you know students they kind of they know the place they know the Harry Potter story so you know ask them if you have any questions.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah they were really good fun and they were really really good with the kids and just having a laugh with the kids and things and the kids would ask them questions and things and just also just to say I think the youngest in our group was six maybe seven six or seven at the time and it even he really enjoyed running around and enjoyed it.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think you can easily take younger kids if you could they'll be entertained with it anyway even if they don't understand what's going on.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I know um but the kids that that were a little bit older that were sort of between eight and twelve really loved it they really got a lot out of it and they actually all went back to school and did show and tell where they took their wands in and did like little PowerPoint presentations about all the best bits and what they enjoyed.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: So they took a lot out of it.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh that's really cool.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: So so the kind of the last thing I'm gonna say and it's like do not if you want to go book it book in advance don't leave it.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: Do not leave it if you know how you visit Nairobi Product Studios one of the things that you absolutely want to do when you visit the UK do check well ahead of time and just get it booked.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Book it and do it early if you can so that you're not tied to a time that you have to leave and also just quickly one more thing with the Golden Tours bus that we did book yeah um we were on an afternoon slot and the return bus was sort of I can't remember three four hours after we arrived.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um we asked the bus driver if we could catch the next bus back if we were really enjoying it.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah um there was only one bus left after that so it would have been the last bus if we'd waited and he said that if there's space you can easily catch the next bus.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a problem.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously we didn't end up doing that because it was the last bus of the night and we didn't want to we kind of didn't want to risk it.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah you can extend it a little bit if you need to if you wanted to kind of spend a little bit more time there even if you're on the tour.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay so that's that's brilliant.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess that's kind of wraps up our chat about Harry Potter Studios and um the all the everything we've talked about will be in the show notes for this episode um which will be at uktravelplanning.com forward slash episode 46.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: So everything we talked about links to the different tours photos that we took um during our time visiting Harry Potter Studios um you can find all the information there.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah so do go in and check it out and also listen to Karen's earlier episode 37 about her trip around the UK last October her six week trip because it was a lot of fun.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: It was um but I think for this week I think Karen thanks very much for joining us it has been lovely to talk to you as always thanks for having me again.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and um so that just leaves me to say our usual sign off which is happy UK travel planning