Harry Potter Studio Tour and London Trip

[mytieisascarf]

Thinking of a trip to Laaandaaaan to visit the HP studio? What is the best time to go? Any other hints, tips, places to stay and other things we should visit would be gratefully received. Kids are 9 and 5.

I'd try and get tickets for HP first.

Then work around that.

Also HP is not in London.

It’s near enough

Cheers - I'll check a map before we set off.. ,

Premier Inn at Tower Hill is a good location.

Tower of London is great and DS loved it at 9/10.

A bus tour is a good way to see a lot without doing loads of walking with 5 year old.

Also river trips are good fun, especially if there’s a commentary.

HP studios gift shop is VERY expensive. I recommend setting each DC a budget before they go in.

To be fair it's quite a way out and you do often see threads from people who didn't realise that and have booked a hotel miles away or something.

I second the suggestion to get the tickets first, and build your plans around that. Also (unless it's changed) you have a fixed time to enter, but you can basically stay as long as you want, depending on how Harry Potter keen your DC are. If they are keen you can make a day of it, otherwise an afternoon would be enough.

How long are you planning on staying in London for?

Here is a map of the Harry Potter studio tours at Elstree and I've used Marble Arch as a central London point. It's some distance and the journey can be a bit time-consuming . I'd suggest one entire day for HP and, hopefully, you'll have another day - or two - to do central London.

You need to get a train from Euston to Watford and then there is a free shuttle bus to take you to H P studios. Or you can book a quite expensive coach to pick you up in Central London.
My 10 year DGS really loved it and at this time of year it will be decorated for Christmas.

Oh, and where are you coming from? N, S, E or W of London?

Oh, of course you might be driving!

Harry Potter is in Watford, book a hotel in Watford (there are plenty)
Pick up a bus to the Studios at Watford Junction, there is a dedicated Harry Potter bus that runs from there to the studios, very frequently , you can't miss it , it has Harry Potter written all over it.
You can also get a train into Central London (takes 20 mins) from watford Junction.
It will work out cheaper and more convenient to stay in Watford than Central London, and the commute is so quick it makes sense.

HP Studios are not in Elstree. They are, as PP says, non Watford (well, an area of known as Leavesden). Stay in London and get the fast train from euston to watford junction. Then the shuttle bus (stop is right outside the station).

Or stay in Watford ( lots of Holiday Inn type hotels or the much more expensive Grove).

Coming from Scotland. I realised it was a some way away from London. My 9 year old is HP daft so it is the main purpose of the trip and the extra full day will be a bonus. We would be coming down during mid term in Feb - probably early Sunday until Wednesday and flying. So we will hopefully have Sunday afternoon/early evening to see something of London, Monday HP, and Tue the full day for some London fun, then fly home Wed.

Thanks folks.

"Harry Potter is in Watford". No it isn't, it's 3+ miles away! But agree with the idea of getting a bus from WJ station to the studios!

But if the OP is coming from the south/south west of London, they could stay near Clapham Junction station, for example, and get a direct train from CJ to WJ and then the studio bus onwards to Elstree.

Once they're staying at CJ, they can have any easy journey into central London for other sightseeing on other days.

Sorry. X-posted. Where would you be flying to?

I'd book the Jury's Inn Watford. It's walkable from to/from Watford Junction or has decent parking opposite. Also a walk from lots of restaurants/eateries etc at Intu/Watford. The coach from Watford Junction to HP Studios is great, very well organised. You can get the train into London from Watford Junction for a visit.
Enjoy! I'm not a HP fan as such but I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. You can make a whole day of it, take it at your leisure or go round as fast as possible. Wear comfy shoes though, it's a lot of walking! Yes, the gift shop is expensive. It's definitely worth paying extra for the electronic tour guide too.

Get the tickets for HP booked before anything else...I looked, we planned everything, two days later went back to book and the entire half term had sold out.

Great day though, even for a only mildly interested person like me.

Definitely book HP well in advance, particularly if it's school holidays. I went on a random Wednesday (only adults in attendance), not in holidays, booked about 3 months in advance and still didn't have free choice of times.

Train to Watford and then the shuttle bus is definitely the way to go.

I loved it, we were there for about 5 hours.

I'd recommend taking your own food, it's pretty expensive and the choice isn't great. We took a packed lunch and ate it in the cafe halfway through, I'm glad I did as it made me feel less bad spending as much in the shop as I did!

We stayed at Jury's Inn in Watford too, it was lovely. We got tickets for HP and accommodation through a company called Superbreaks. The HP tour is fantastic. We've been twice.

As for London, there is a Harry Potter bus that goes into London which looks fun. Then pick whatever you guys are interested in/fancy doing. We got accommodation near the science museum (again through Superbreaks, I don't work for them, honest!). My stepson loved the science museum when he was your child's age. It's also free, and in a really gorgeous building.

Sorry to hijack your thread OP but I have a question - we have tickets for HP tour in January. Our tickets are on a Saturday at either 4.30 or 5pm. (I can’t remember)

I am panicking slightly at the talk of people spending the whole day there - will we be massively missing out by having such a late time slot?

We had tickets for 4.30 over half term. We were advised to get there a bit early so we got there about 3.45,and by the time we'd got actual tickets, left stuff in the cliakroom, got audioguide and walked a long way to the actual line to enter, it was 4.15 when we got through the doors. So I'd arrive an hour early. They say allow 3 hours with kids - we had 1 HP mad 9yo,and a 10 and 6yo, and even sitting for a meal and Butterbeer it was fine for them. The adults would have liked a bit longer but we'll be back!

Do allow for lots of spending - pics of your kids flying in video, food, and the largest gift shop ever - but while expensive we didn't feel faintly ripped off like at say Legoland. We left about 8.30.
Warning - chocolate frogs are 9 quid each! So your kids are unlikely to swap many cards...

Depends on the age of your DC Tami. It’s open until 10pm I think, so if you stay until kicking out time you’ll certainly get your money’s worth, but if you have an early-rising 6 year old who’ll be yawning by 6:30 then you may feel you’ve missed out.

We did a similar trip in April. We stayed in the Travelodge at Covent Garden (have also stayed in the one at tower bridge) and did lots of touristy stuff on the other days we were there. We got a HP time for 10.30 and spent most of the day there - just check your train times though as we ended up paying a fortune as we travelled peak time in the morning. We should have got a train a little later and avoided it. (Euston to Watford then the HP bus - was really easy).

Also, not sure where in Scotland you are but have you considered getting the train down instead of flying? We found it much cheaper to get the train using a family railcard and we arrived in central London rather than having to get one of the airport express trains in.

Another advantage of the train was that we got lots of activities half price using our train tickets.

We went last September. The bus wasn't free but not cha ching. It took forever to get through the q to get into the building and safety checks act. Defiantly book tickets earlier in the day than later just after lunch say. And allow a good 4 hours to do the whole tour. We went with a 7 year old with autism who spent an hour just running through the forbidden Forrest. It's amazing, expensive and totally worth it. Have a fab time.

So glad I found this thread! 😀

Have booked tickets and hotel at Feb half term for 9yo DDs 'big present' for Christmas. Staying in the Jury's Inn Watford.

Am following for tips!

Thank you all! We also have tickets for Windsor Castle on the same day. (To see Harry & Meghan’s wedding outfits for our Royal obsessed DTs!)

(We also live in Scotland but are down south to visit family so cramming it all into one day before we head north again.)

We are aiming to be at Windsor for opening time at 10am if possible (early start as we’ll have about an hour and a half’s drive to get there.) and should be done there by lunch time. Then planning a quick lunch in Windsor before heading across to HP. We were thinking we would maybe hope to get there by about 2.30/3pm.

Our youngest are 8 so will be shattered by 10pm at night, BUT... we are spending the whole of the following day in the car driving to the north of Scotland so they can sleep the day away if need be. I want to make sure they get the most out of it.

How much can you do before your tour time?

(As for money - FIL always just gives the DC cash for Christmas so that will be their spends and once they’re done they’re done!)