After more than a decade, the Harry Potter studio tour is offering visitors a range of entirely new experiences, which will launch this summer and run from May to September.
Dubbed “Discovering Hogwarts”, the latest additions to the admittedly already enormous experience will focus on the early years of Potter’s journey from mere muggle to the so-called chosen one.
The new adventures will go behind the scenes of some of the young Potter’s first magical moments. Among these will be his early interactions with Hagrid, the half-giant who takes the boy wizard under his wing. With Robbie Coltrane, the actor who played Hagrid, at just over 6ft, former English lock forward, 6’10” Martin Bayfield suited up as his body double for Potter’s first boat journey to Hogwarts. Bayfield stood on stilts and was fitted with a prosthetic head for the shot, and during the tour, visitors will watch a live demonstration of how it was done.
Other new insights will include one which recreates one of the more memorable scenes of the Philosopher’s Stone film — the first in the series — during Professor Flitwick’s charms class. The set and scenery has been recreated for visitors to practise Wingardium Leviosa (not Leviosah), and discover how those floating feathers first flew through the air.
Perhaps most notable though, the great hall which opens the experience. Revealed in dramatic fashion, the hall will be adorned with the 400 floating candle, as depicted in the films. The magic behind this couldn’t be simpler — miles of wires suspend said candles — but it’s the first recreation of the look since the movies were shot.
Warner Bros. Studios opened in 2012 and in many ways was a precursor to the kind of immersive theatrical experiences which have enthralled Londoners and tourists since. With more recent news that other vast entertainment venues throughout London are expanding, the announcement reinforces what looks to be a confident consumer market, buoyed by a more optimistic economic outlook.
