Harry Potter Studios Top Tips

[MrsWhites]

We are visiting the studios tour in a couple of weeks, travelling around 3 hours to get there, the only time slot available was 6pm.

As we have a long drive we are aiming to get there early in case of traffic, check into our hotel etc. Does anyone have any experience of being let in early?

Any other top tips would also be appreciated!

Honestly in my experience the time slots are very strictly adhered to but you can access the shop, the cafe and a small hall with a large dragon thing in before you go in. The cafe is amazing but expensive. 6pm will give you about 4 hours we spent a lot longer in there so I'd suggest having a look at the map and prioritising what you really want to see.

Don’t buy the butterbeer. It’s both overpriced and disgusting.

I doubt you’ll be let in early. Not sure if you want spoilers or not, but the tour isn’t free flowing at first. Your group will all be together, they’ll put you in a room and show you a video, then move you to another room and show you another video, then into the first first room, where you can take photos and you’ll need to leave fairly quickly so it’s cleared for the next group. After that it’s all at your own pace. Maybe it there’s space in an earlier group you might be let in, but they’re often completely booked up around Christmas time. You’ll be let into the building and can go to the large gift shop before starting the tour.

The Forbidden Forest and Platform 9 3/4 gift shops do have some items in which aren’t in the main gift shop, so that’s something to bear in mind if you want something from either of those. And maybe just get one butterbeer to share if you’re planning on trying, because it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

Butterbeer is minging but the ice cream is amazing.

It's expensive but if you can afford it book the afternoon tea for 2 hours before your tour starts.

God I love the butterbeer!
I'd say just realise it's expensive and accept you are going to be a lot poorer! The food in the restaurant before you go in is absolutely fab though. I love it there, it's such a good day out.

Take a shitload of money. Cafe, shops and “photo experiences” (broom riding and train carriage are very expensive (and no you can’t just use your phone)

This is a bit of a randomly small thing but if you buy the Butterbeer float (one drink/cupcake/ice cream - cupcake is delicious!) there are taps and a sink in the courtyard so you can wash out the mug and the ice cream holder to take home. I saw a lot of people abandoning them when they'd paid for them cos the sink location isn't obvious.

Thank you everyone, sounds like we will at least be able to do the shop before our time slot then. How long would you allow for that and to check in etc?

We’ve had butter beer at universal in the USA, it wasn’t my cup of tea at all so if we do get one, it will be one to share 😂

We’ve pre-booked the broom stick and wanted poster photo/video opportunity but I’ve heard the hogwarts express one is expensive, as is the shop!

Are there usually queues for the green screen area? With only having 4 hours I don’t want to spend too much time queueing obviously.

Thanks for the tips about the gift shops, do you know which one I will be able to get a dobby soft toy in? My son is desperate to get one!

just go there and enjoy!

no need to overthink it. lots of photo/selfie opportunities, no need to pay for the extras (imo). the shop items are available online if strapped for time at the end.

Lucky you, you're going to have a great time, it's so good! I agree that the butterbeer was not nice but the butterbeer flavour ice cream was really good. Take lots of spending money as the shop at the end is amazing. I recently smashed my Hogwarts glass that I bought there which was sad. I told my boyfriend he'll have to take me back to buy another one. He actually agreed as although he not too interested in HP he likes behind the scenes film stuff. Hope you have a great trip.

I don't know about queues later in the day unfortunately. I was at the 10am slot this Monday and they were practically begging people to have photos in the green screen area then! Personally, I think 4 hours is plenty of time so I wouldn't be stressed about that. And as time goes on, the crowds will thin out.

I didn't see a Dobby soft toy, but I wasn't looking for him. I came home with a new owl friend instead - but I imagine he'd be in the main gift shop. he doesn't seem to fit with the forest or the train,

It is brilliant! You can't get in early as you are herded into the first bit. See if your DC are allowed at the front when they open the doors!

We were there a few hours. The food in the cafe was ok but the butter beer was awful. The gift shop is so expensive but my DS never asks for anything so I bought him a mug and scarf.

I found the food and butterbeer absolutely disgusting. Everything else is great! Hope you have a lovely time

If you're going in late in the day, try not to spend too much time on the first bit, before the cafe. There's more to see

Tell them it’s one of your kids birthday

It actually was my dc's bday when we were there and there were A LOT of grown ups with the same birthday mysteriously... kind of ruined it for my dd tbh as there was an absolute scrum of grown up HP fans

I'd definitely do the gift shop first- and allow a good 45 mins!! It's massive!

Our tour was 4:30 but they let us through just after 4. There's lots to see so you'll need all the time you have- if you can offload the gift shop to before your slot, then it'll buy you extra time in the tour and you won't be rushing to get to the shop.

The people who work there and who are dotted around are HP experts. They will tell you all sorts of interesting things and show you things you'd otherwise miss.

The bit immediately after the great hall is huge- and so much to take in. I think this is probably where we spent the most time.

It's a really brilliant trip so enjoy..

We went last Christmas and had the most amazing time, arrived at 4pm and didn't leave until closing time, there was so much to do and it's particularly spectacular around Christmas! Even my husband loved it and he's never read any of the HP books or seen any of the movies!
Also, just wanted to highly recommend the tour as a great day out for families with members with disabilities or additional needs as it is very accessible. I am blind and a brilliant member of staff gave us a fantastic touch tour, allowing me to handle props and scenery typically not accessible to the public.
Our baby is due just after Christmas an I can't wait for her to be old enough for us to take her along too!
Hope you have a fab time!

Thanks everyone. Think we will try to arrive an hour ahead of time then and try to do the gift shop first. We can hopefully secure a Dobby!

I thought the whole thing was massively over hyped & way too crowded to really enjoy it, but I know a lot of people like it. I suppose it’s about realistic expectations.

Don’t do this. You’ll ruin it for someone whose actual birthday it is. So selfish.

There is lots and lots to see, so I would prioritize what you definitely want to see and move backwards and forwards so that you see what is most important to you. I started at the start and moved slowly through in order, which meant that for the last areas I was a bit too tired to enjoy them, and had reached capacity for new impressions before I got to them.

When you go into the first room that has cinema style seating, try and sit in the middle seats of the front row, Infront of the big double doors - you'll have the best view and wow moment.

I think four hours is plenty, we didn’t spend that much time.

As others have said, for the first bit, you are in a couple of rooms, where there are a couple of cinematic displays, talks by actors, producers etc. You are then let loose into the halls.

The shops are fascinating to look around.

If the midway cafe is busy, then when we were there, there was a hot drink kiosk in the courtyard by the bus and house, which didn’t have a queue. You walk past the cafe to get to the courtyard.

Background history - the site was formerly owned by Rolls Royce who made helicopter engines there. There was also a small airport there, so the site had its own fire service crew etc. The whole place closed down in early 1990s.

It wasn’t initially a film studio but the James bond franchise decided to do some filming there as it needed a large warehouse. From then onwards, more films were made there and it became a proper film studio, including Harry Potter.