• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Leavesden/Legoland Windsor: 30th/31st August 2017

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Sorry that this is a week out of date, but I just wanted to tell you guys about when my family and I went to Watford/Greater London/whatever you want to call it. We mainly went to see the Studio Tour, but popped into Legoland on the way home as it was nearby. So, we travelled up the day before (the 29th August) and stopped in a Premier Inn near St Albans (which later turned out to be our first ever rural Premier Inn). Then in the morning, we went to the Studio Tour.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Leavesden: 30th August 2017
So, we arrived at the Studio Tour and got our tickets, got scanned etc. May I just say how huge this place is from the outside. Basically, the whole experience is spread across two sound stages (J & K). It is mostly indoors apart from the Knight Bus, Privet Drive, the Potters' cottage in Godric's Hollow and the Hogwarts Bridge. (If you are not a Harry Potter fan, then you probably don't know any of what I'm talking about.) Anyway, once you have been scanned, you enter a large hall with pictures of different Harry Potter characters all the way around and the Weasleys' flying Ford Anglia on the ceiling. You then queue up to begin the actual tour. Once you have reached the end of the queue, you enter a pre-show of sorts where you are basically shown a video about the legacy that Harry Potter has left on the world. You then go into a cinema room where Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson all talk to you about their experiences at the Studio. At the end of this film, the screen lifts up to reveal the actual Great Hall doors. You are then told that you can walk freely around the Tour. Later on in the day, I had Butterbeer ice cream from the cafe. It sort of tasted like normal vanilla ice cream, but was still nice. My Dad had the real Butterbeer though, and said that "it tasted just as horrible as Universal's". So, what did I think of the Tour overall? It was absolutely brilliant and I would really recommend it to any Harry Potter fan. "But is it better than Universal?" I hear you ask. Well, you can't really compare the two, in my opinion, as they offer two completely different experiences. Universal is designed as a themed land in a theme park with rides in it, whereas Warner Bros is almost a museum of sorts, with all of the original sets. Overall though, I'd really recommend this. So, on to day two: Legoland.
Legoland Windsor: 31st August 2017
So, we arrived at Legoland after a journey that took around an hour. My parents had told me beforehand that this would mainly be a Lego-observing visit and I would only be allowed to go on a couple of rides, if not only one. Also, my mum was recovering from a broken ankle when we visited and had to be wheeled around the park, so we didn't spend too long at Legoland. After entering the park, the first thing you are greeted with is the Beginning, which for some bizarre reason had a tent trying to sell Fiat cars. This section contains shops and restaurants and is relatively similar to most park entrances. What the Beginning also contains is a stunning view of the rest of the park and the city of Windsor. So, we first headed for Knights' Kingdom and the Dragon, which involved the very strenuous-looking exercise of wheeling our Mum down the large hill that Legoland is built upon. This wasn't made any easier by the fact that the path was rammed full of people. Anyway, me and my Nan queued for the Dragon. The queue was advertised as 60 minutes, but actually took around 45 and moved quite quickly. So, how was the ride? Well, it was actually a very pleasant surprise! The dark ride section was good, the ride was quite nippy for a family coaster and it was a multi-lift hill special, which I wasn't expecting! My family and I later decided that this would be the only ride we rode that day, as queues were massive across the entire park. After waiting next to the Scarab Bouncers for the rain to stop for around 20 minutes, we headed to Miniland to look at the Lego. Miniland is actually a very impressive exhibition, and I can imagine that it's even more impressive if you're a huge Lego fan. Following a good half an hour of looking around Miniland, we then headed back up to the Beginning to go in the Star Wars Miniland exhibition. Wheeling Mum back up to the Beginning looked even more strenuous than wheeling her down at the start of the day. After going in the Star Wars exhibition, we ate lunch and headed home. So, overall we had a really nice trip. Even though I'm a theme park enthusiast, I actually think I preferred the Studio Tour out of the two days we spent in the area. If you have reached the end of this ridiculously long post, then you deserve a medal!
 
I also visited Warner Bros Tour in Watford and honestly I wasn't hugely impressed. To me, you really have to be a complete harry potter enthusiast to properly enjoy it. The expansion sections felt very out of place and forced into the areas they were in. Butterbear was nice but nothing amazing. Bearing in mind I live around 20 mins away, I won't return until something truly magical comes.
 
I also visited Warner Bros Tour in Watford and honestly I wasn't hugely impressed. To me, you really have to be a complete harry potter enthusiast to properly enjoy it. The expansion sections felt very out of place and forced into the areas they were in. Butterbear was nice but nothing amazing. Bearing in mind I live around 20 mins away, I won't return until something truly magical comes.
It's just a matter of personal opinion really, I probably enjoyed it because I'm a huge Harry Potter fan.
 
I went to the Studio Tour last year and, not being a Harry Potter fan, wasn't keen about going, but enjoyed the behind-the scenes aspect in the end (I'm really interested in behind-the-scenes stuff).
 
Being a major Harry Potter fan myself, I was delighted to visit the tour three-and-a-half years ago. Being able to see everything up close and walk through the set of the Great Hall was absolutely brilliant. Seeing how it was all put together was great as well, as I love knowing exactly how things work. However, nothing prepared me for the final room and seeing the model of Hogwarts Castle. It was definitely one of those moments where my jaw felt like it had hit the floor and was burrowing its way to the centre of the Earth. :p The amount of detail that went into it was just absolutely phenomenal. I'd gone with my younger brother (he was in his first year of university in London at the time) as an early birthday treat for him, and we spent quite a while walking back and forth around the model to try and work out which bit of the castle was which. I'm desperate to go back there at some point - I love it that much!
 
Being a major Harry Potter fan myself, I was delighted to visit the tour three-and-a-half years ago. Being able to see everything up close and walk through the set of the Great Hall was absolutely brilliant. Seeing how it was all put together was great as well, as I love knowing exactly how things work. However, nothing prepared me for the final room and seeing the model of Hogwarts Castle. It was definitely one of those moments where my jaw felt like it had hit the floor and was burrowing its way to the centre of the Earth. :p The amount of detail that went into it was just absolutely phenomenal. I'd gone with my younger brother (he was in his first year of university in London at the time) as an early birthday treat for him, and we spent quite a while walking back and forth around the model to try and work out which bit of the castle was which. I'm desperate to go back there at some point - I love it that much!
That would have been before the real Hogwarts Express that was used in the film arrived at the Studios!
 
Just generally, I found most things didn't fit in together. You have the first rather formal section with tour guides, then it becomes an area with what reminded me of a harry potter expo. Then, you suddenly have more immersive areas with the expansions which feel really out of place. The cafe felt like it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be generic hollywood studio themed or a butterbear bar. The outside section felt a bit half done with not enough things to do. Going back inside, it turns very museum like and then diagon alley appears, looking abysmal compared to the Orlando version. I understand it's a set but it was incredibly disappointing. The model of Hogwarts looked alright but it's simply a model with very anti-climatic music being played. You go through a room of all the people who worked on the project which looks rather random and finally you enter an overpriced shop, filled with harry potter enthusiasts. I was quite disappointed overall with the tour, especially as it gets such high reviews.
 
Top