Harry Potter studio tour

[snowflakesnow]

Any advice on
-closet airport
-accommodation
-other sightseeing bits not to far and or fun for a 5 year old

• travel between studio etc

My dc loved HP UNTIL we did the tour. It really took the magic away from the films overnight. Didn’t stop them spending a fortune in the shop, but they rarely looked at what they’d bought. Quite sad really.

Thanks for all the advice, I'm going with dp and dd. She's seen all the films and have the wands, hp notebooks and cups etc. I'm the hp fan so she is picking it up from me but seems to really love it, she asks to watch it randomly sometimes.

We do a lot of museums at home so she's used to visiting place for a few hours and I think she will really enjoy it

I have been to the Studio Tour three times, my advice would be to book early, especially school holidays and bank holidays sell out quickly. Plan in plenty of time. The shortest I spent there was 4 1/2 hours, and that was before they added the Hogwarts Express, Forbidden Forest and Gringotts.
Be prepared to queue if you want pictures taken on a broom or in the Ford Anglia, that can take a while.
You don't say where you are coming from and whether this would be "just" a day trip for you, but if you are staying in London for a few day, how about the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green?

I've already booked the tickets. Will be going from the weekend and coming over from Dublin

Can you get a taxi from Watford junction to the studio? Time slot booked is for 9;30am and we’re coming from London and want to make the most of it before a 5pm train back to Scotland. I have seen they have the bus transfer but I think we’ll be too early for it (?) as I am presuming we’d need to be at the studio for 9:10am..... any advice would be appreciated I can’t seem to work it out!

Tons of taxis available outside the junction, be 10/15 minutes most drive.

Also local buses from the junction to the studios, number 8 I believe.
That's about 20 minutes ish.

studio bus details

Luton is the closest airport it's a 25 minute drive away.

Snowflakesnow, I went from Ireland last year. Flew into Luton, jumped straight into prebooked taxi which took 30 mins. Got a taxi to Premier Inn at Croxley Green in Watford that evening.
Few things Id advise
-go to the loo before ye start, the only toilets I noticed during the tour where by the forbidden forest and both studio buildings are massive if you had to be backtracking to go to the toilets
-brings snacks and check out the cafe menu online, its quite limited in what they offer eg there are burgers which are fine but theres no sides like chips to go with them
-you can leave bags at reception. As we were only staying one night we had small rucksacks and left them there
-bring a pen (and dont leave it in the bag at reception like I did!)DD will get a booklet to mark off all the Snitches and stamps there are to find, (and make sure you dont miss one and have to go back looking for one)
-if you are the really big fan, agree with DP that they ll take DD off if shes getting bored (or there's so much to see she make initially want to run from one to the other ehile you are trying to absorb it all properly). The second building probably wont interest her so much as its lots about how they made thevarious creatures etc, but the area before that is outside and has the bus,car, motorbike etc so DP could have her there for a bit while you are in the building if you are v interested in that
The shops are expensive, though you can get pens or badges that arent too much. There is a shop at the Forest(lots of irresistible cuddly creatures) and the train station and the big one at the end.....the wands are the big attraction, I explsined to DD before we went that these werent toys and would shatter if they fell so we comprimised and taking a photo of her using one.

The Premier Inn in Watford is really good (for a PI )
Don’t misunderstand, it’s an absolutely fantastic day, was so much better than I expected and each time (3 now) we’ve spent at least 5 hours there looking at and reading everything, but a lot of it is pretty technical for a 5 year old.

Your 5 year old has watched all the films????