We’re used to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter putting on spectacular and fun events for visitors during school holidays, and this summer the Studio Tour will not disappoint.
It has just been announced that the tour will host a new feature called “Sweets and Treats”, which will take place between July 20 and September 6.
The feature will show visitors
how film food – both edible and artificial – was made for the Harry Potter film series as we host our first ever Sweets and Treats feature.
Prop makers who worked on the film series will return to the Studio Tour to run delectable demonstrations, showing how props such as the floating pudding from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were made.
Certain sets will also be dressed as they were for certain scenes in the films, such as the Gryffindor common room, which will look as it did in the Quidditch celebration scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
If that’s not enough for you, then following the “Sweets and Treats” feature, the “Back to School” feature will return in September for ten days, allowing visitors
the opportunity to make a simple card model, like those used in the early stage of the design process, as well as creating a storyboard for your own original story idea.
Plus, events taking place through the winter have also been announced, including the return of “Hogwarts in the Snow.” You can see our reviews of previous features – and the new Hogwarts Express permanent feature – here.
Tickets can be booked for the tour now – but hurry, tickets won’t be around for long! Tickets must be pre-booked, and special features are included in normal admission price.
Find out more about the special features and the tour itself here.
Are you planning on going to any of the upcoming special features at the tour? Let us know in the comments!
Press Release
WARNER BROS. STUDIO TOUR LONDON TO SERVE UP SWEETS AND TREATS FEATURE THIS SUMMER
Special Seven-Week Feature Dedicated to Film Food
Film fans are invited to get a taste for how magical meals and confectionery (both real and replica) were created for the Harry Potter film series as Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter hosts its first ever Sweets and Treats feature. From Monday 20th July – Sunday 6th September, visitors will discover how the Prop Department moulded jelly snakes, decorated sugar skulls and piped ice-cream sundaes during production.
Based in the Ministry Munchies kiosk from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, expert prop and cake makers will demonstrate the techniques used to construct the floating pudding from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (that Dobby drops on the Dursleys’ guests) and edible Gillyweed, as used in the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Visitors will get to spot the difference between real bakes and prop fakes as they get up close to original artefacts and see edible delights being created.
Butterbeer ice-cream will be available to purchase in the Studio Tour’s new backlot café for the first time this summer as well as frothy tankards of the drink which is reminiscent of shortbread and butterscotch. On the Diagon Alley set, visitors will be able to learn how towering ‘frozen’ desserts were assembled outside Florean Fortescue’s ice-cream parlour.
During production, graphic designers were tasked with creating dozens of unique sweet boxes and wrappers for treats from Honeydukes and Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. In the end they created more than 120 different items for the Weasley twins’ shop and some of their original sketches and designs will be shown in the attraction’s Art Department especially for Sweets and Treats.
Some iconic sets will also be given a makeover as the Great Hall’s long tables are lined with props from Hogwarts feasts and the Gryffindor common room is dressed as it was for Quidditch victory scenes in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Food facts:
- Chocolate desserts of all kinds covered the Great Hall tables in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and nearly all of it was actually made out of intricately-painted resin. However, some edible pieces were baked such as the chocolate phoenix cake which is displayed at the Studio Tour (having survived more than seven years in storage).
- To make the scene where Ron throws up slugs in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets more palatable for actor Rupert Grint, filmmakers created the slimy creatures out of orange-flavoured jelly.
- More than 300 litres of silicone were used to make the vibrantly-coloured sweets in Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, including Puking Pastilles and Nosebleed Nougat.
The Studio Tour’s Sweets and Treats feature will run from Monday 20th July – Sunday 6th September. Tickets must be pre-booked and all extra activities are included in the ticket price.
