Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter gets a holiday makeover

We have all wondered what it would be like to go to Hogwarts, especially during the holidays. The Great Hall lined with Christmas trees, the mistletoe hanging about the castle, and of course, the Christmas feast. Well, thanks to the team over at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter, now is your chance to see those things first hand!

The tour will be getting a festive face-lift from December 1 through January 6. It will include all of the Christmas adornments straight from the series, including the tree-lined Great Hall & the food from the Christmas feast! From the official press release:

For the first time, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter will undergo a seasonal makeover using the actual decorations and food props seen in the most successful film series of all time. Visitors will see firsthand how the vast Christmas feasts were created and how sets were transformed for festive scenes.

Eight Christmas trees will line the Great Hall, adorned with authentic decorations as they first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone™. In the film, these decorations are levitated onto the trees by Professor Flitwick, played by Warwick Davis. The long dining tables will be dressed as they were for the seasonal feasts with turkey, hams, fruit, vegetables, plum puddings and snow cakes. The food featured in the feasts throughout the early films was real; however, the Set Decoration Department later used artificial food created from powder and resin.

The Gryffindor common room, boys’ dormitory and Weasley kitchen will also undergo a seasonal transformation and visitors will see the hand-knitted jumpers that Molly Weasley gave Ron and Harry for Christmas in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone™. Other costumes on display include Harry’s first Christmas present at Hogwarts – his Invisibility Cloak – and the dress Luna Lovegood wore to the Slug Club Christmas party in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince™. It took over two months to make the four versions of the dress needed for filming which were adorned with 50 metres of real tinsel and 1000 individual crystals. Evanna Lynch, who played Luna, created the jewelry she wore with the costume and many of the other accessories she wore while filming.

Visitors will also discover secrets behind the footprints in the snow, which were filmed for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and appear when Harry sneaks into Hogsmeade under his Invisibility Cloak.

The Studio Tour will showcase its Christmas additions over the festive period, beginning Saturday 1st December and ending Sunday 6th January.

Do you plan on heading to the Studio Tour over the winter holiday season?

Kat Miller

I am a 40-something Ravenclaw/Slytherin from Massachusetts. I've been lucky in life and can attribute a lot of that to Harry Potter. Without it, I wouldn't have at least 80% of the things I do today, including my career & closest friends. I truly despise Sirius Black.