Anyone done the 6.30pm slot for the Harry Potter Studio?

[SecondUsername4me]

Unexpected free weekend coming up ans considering a fleeting trip to London. Of course, the HP Studio is almost booked up, but we could do the 6.30pm slot (Sunday). Is it enough time, given it closes at 10pm? Kids are 10 and 12 so fine to stay up later.

That’s plenty time. I would say 2 hours is about right, more if you’re going in the cafes.

Yes. Just don’t waste time in the cafe-roughly half way round. Have your refreshments before you go in.

I went in on 1pm slot and we didn’t leave until after 6:30. We didn’t stop to look at everything in the special effects department either. I don’t know how people have got round in 2hours!?

Yes we did it. It was absolutely fine. It was November so the outside bits were cold and of course it was dark but we enjoyed it

Yes, we did it in less than 2 hours. Did the broom flying, all the photo ops and stopped for butterbeer ice cream.

We did it - agree that you may want more than two hours so aim to arrive early, have a meal and then go in. Enjoy - I think it's one of the best places we've been!

No plans to eat there (maybe we will share a butter beer as I've heard it's vile ) so will have an early dinner before we head there.

6.30 start gives 3.5hrs for the visit. I've heard they sometimes let you go in on an earlier slot? If we were to arrive at 5.30 do you think they would let us in then? If not we could do the shop first

depends how interested you are in things I suppose - you can have a nice wander round looking at everything briefly in a couple of hours.

Or you can stop and look at the detail, read, study the art work and look at their processes, stop and ask the staff questions etc can take ages!

either way - it is great :D

You could do the shop - or there's a café at the start too. You might want to do shop at end though, as you/the kids might be inspired by something they see in the exhibition

I've been 4 times and usually spend 4-5 hours there but that usually includes eating in the cafe so 3.5 hours should be fine if you don't dawdle. The shop is amazing if you like the merchandise side of things so I'd get there early to look in that

I would say this is doable (2 hours would be way too short!) I think we were there for about 5 hours in total but that included a quick butterbeer stop (the ice cream is nicer than the drink!) and a meal at the cafe afterwards plus I have a totally Harry Potter obsessed child who wanted to read every single thing and go over everything in detail.

Or you can stop and look at the detail, read, study the art work and look at their processes, stop and ask the staff questions etc can take ages!

If I was going alone I'd be there first slot of the day and do exactly this! And they probably have to kick me out. My kids and dh wouldn't have the stamina for this

Booked! Kids are buzzing

Us! We'd been before and booked this for DDs birthday. It was fab! Much much quieter, no daft queues for coffee before we went it and felt we space to look at everything properly.

I'd definitely do that slot again

Ahhh excellent you'll have a great time! I'm not a massive fan of all the books but do really enjoy a couple of the films but DD adores them. Despite that I really enjoy it there it's such great value for money. The level of detail and the skill that goes into every shoe, cup, creature and carpet on a production like HP is immense and I think the studios showcase British film creation talent wonderfully.

One of my favourite parts is the artwork at the end and the Hogwarts model - for some reason they make me strangely emotional!

Oh and it's absolutely fine to take a pack up (we had tea nearby before going and just took a small picnic) on your bag.

The shop prices are scary but the kids have a good chunk of Christmas money left so they can blow it there.

They do allow you in earlier. The restuarant there is nice and the choclate frog cafe has the most beautiful cakes. They change them for the seasons, they have one at the moment which looks like egg on toast, it's very clever. They let you do takeaway so we always eat at the restuarant then get a cake to take home.
We do 9am but we once did a 12pm. I will never do a midday visit again, it's horribly busy.
The shop is expensive but some things you can't get anywhere else and it is part of the experience, some things are reasonable, just leave a bit of time to have a good look.

I just need to make sure I can get us all back to central London at 10pm

We left booking our tickets for HP Studio Tour till August for an October trip! Please don't leave it late like this as you'll have limited slots to choose from. We went around 4.30pm for our slot as it was the only one available. Saved a significant amount as DH and I are both classed as carers to two out of four DC.

Have fun, but be aware it's very busy. We bought tickets from Watford Junction train station for a local bus that wasn't crowded to get us there. Ten minute walk from the bus stop in the local area close to the studios so it wasn't too bad.

We’ve been several times and never had a problem getting in earlier than the stated time so I’d just go a bit earlier .

Yes you'll get in earlier if you need to. We arrived around 2pm for 4.30pm time slot as we didn't know what time we would need to arrive so left Euston early. They were fine with us going in really early to the studios.

same here! We were 5 or 6 hours and not even big fans! We did stop for lunch though.

I'd say you can do it on a 6.30 entry time if you eat before you go in. And expect to be there til it closes!

As the OP posted in Feb I’m pretty sure she’s been now.