The Making of Harry Potter is a behind the scenes tour of the Warner Brother's Studio in Leavesden, England.  It is a glorious tribute to the creative teams that brought the story of wizardry to life on the big screen.  If it weren't for the set designers, musicians, artists, costumers, prop managers, script writers and countless other behind the scenes crew, our beloved Harry Potter stories would never have made it off the pages and into the theater.

The adventure starts as you walk into the lobby.


Once the entry time on your ticket rolls around, you proceed into the line which passes by the cupboard under the stairs.




You enter a large room walled with movie posters on screens.  Once enough people are in the room, a movie begins that tells you how the story went from best selling book to screen play. There are no photographs allowed in this room or in the next room, where we watched a video starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson talking about the magic that occurs behind the scenes.  They depart though the door to the Great Hall at Hogwarts and the screen lifts to reveal the same door.

Entering into the Great Hall

Slitheryn Uniforms

Gryffindor Uniforms

Sorting Hat

Detailed mural, similar to those in ancient Great Halls

Filch

Hagrid

Snape

McGonagall

Mad-Eye Moody

Trelawney and Flitwick

Dumbledore

Model of Great Hall for adding in animated ceiling

Hair pieces

Make-up Bench

Wardrobe

Leaky Cauldron

Gryffindor Bedroom

Gryffindor Common Room

Hogwarts Clock

Headmaster's Office

Dumbledore's Telescope (one of the most expensive props created)

Potion Class

Hagrid's Hut

Goblet of Fire

The Burrow (Weasley Abode)

Umbridge's Office

Ministry of Magic

Proclamations

There are multiple train cars set up, each staged for one year at Hogwarts.

The windows have markings

Year One on the train

Final Scene Costumes

Paper Props

More paper props

Knight Bus

Number 4, Privet Drive

Inside Number 4

How the bricks were weathered to create a finished look

Potter Home in Godric's Hallow

Hogwarts Bridge

Giant Wizard's Chess Piece

Green Screen fun

Creature Shop

Creature Shop

Animatronic Models

Hippogriff

Diagon Alley

Plans for Gringott's Cart

Drafting

"Before the actual set construction began, the Art Department created white card models. These models helped the director and production designer look at size and scale, and determine camera angles.  To plan shots and camera movement, filmmakers insert a tiny camera (called a lipstick camera) into the model to get a perfect point of view." - sign in white card room

White Card model of Hogwarts

White Card model of Owlry

Filming model used in all the films for exterior shots of Hogwarts

Every wand box is handmade and labeled

More wand boxes

A heads up... if you are visiting here, once you get to the creature shop, you are more than halfway through.  When you get to the wand area, that is the last area. If you want to try to go back and see anything from the 2nd building again, do not go around the corner in the wand room.  The next area is the shop and you cannot reenter once you go into the shop!

I really love that the main tour starts and ends with a quote from J.K. Rowling!
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