Harry Potter Studios Tips

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Sorry for last minute message. This is a surprise for mainly DD1 age almost 11 and DD2 (7).
We are going today. And she has no idea. She has quite a few Harry Potter things. Part of me feels I must tell her now so that she can prepare if she wants to take stuff with. Part of me wants to surprise her. They both have the costume and I want to pack it in the boot of the car and only bring it out once there.

Any advice. Any other tips. It’s at 5pm. We are driving in and back tonight. School only on Thursday. Thanks.

Save your money and buy only 1 butterbeer because it's absolutely gross!

Aside from that, it's absolutely brilliant! Just enjoy.... oh and talk to some of the guides if you feel like it. We did and discovered he'd been an extra in a couple of the films and he showed us some of his photos. My DDs were thrilled!

Take your time - butterbeer is not that yum but we still use the plastic tankard we got with it.
The shop is pricey but awesome.
If you pretend it's your child's birthday, they get to open the door into the big dining room.
So much to see. So much time to enjoy everything.

Give your DC a set amount to spend in the gift shop and stick to it. There is something for every budget but some stuff is £££

If you pretend it's your child's birthday, they get to open the door into the big dining room

Don't do this.

Enjoy. It's incredible. Food is pricey and we didn't rate it but you can take your own. Butter beer ice cream is nicer than the drink. You'll have a brilliant time.

Go quite a bit earlier. They will almost certainly let you in before your time slot, and we spent much longer than the 3 hours or whatever they estimated for the visit - I found it so interesting and not even a big HP fan! We were there 7 hours with 11, 9 and 3 year old. Even if they can't let you in earlier you can look around the huge gift shop, which is great.

Yes to going earlier !! This has happened twice to us and there is the shop at the start so can save time at the end x

Thanks I heard about the butterbeer.
Can anyone tell me is it recommended that they dress up?

Entirely up to you. If they have the gear and they fancy it, go for it. They won't look daft if they don't.

I don't remember seeing many people dressed up when I was there last, but I don't think anyone will find it the least bit odd to see kids in costume - if it's alright to turn up at Kings Cross with a wand and costume on 1st September (which hundreds of people do), it's definitely okay at the Studio!

Just remember you can't go back into the first sound stage, so make sure you see everything in it before you move on. In fact it's more obvious now, because you go into the Forbidden Forest to get out, and it's fairly obvious that's one way.

A few people usually dress up, children mainly. More likely to see Harry Potter t-shirts and similar. I think I wore a Hogwarts Alumni top and horcrux socks the last time I went.

Don't wear anything green because it will spoil the green scene activities. Have fun. Very jealous!

Take your time. There’s such a lot to see! The butter beer isn’t that bad, we’ve just come back from America and did the HP bit of Universal Studios - which was awesome - and we kept buying butter beer, it was lovely.

The gift shop is eye wateringly expensive, I warn you now.