First of all, I want to thank all of you for the support, the comments and mainly for reading our stuff. It’s really rewarding to feel that some people took a few minutes of their time to actually read this. If it’s hard to capture the attention of people with videos, imagine how flattered I felt when I noticed that some of you read our last post.
So, thank you for that.
And we are going to continue this series where we left, at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London, where you can visit The Making of Harry Potter. And if you are a fan of this wizarding world, you need to go there.
The first thing you need to know is that this experience is out of the city. It is located in Watford and you need to take an actual train to get there (not the local subway or Underground, as they called it there). And then if you make it to the Watford Junction Station you can take a Bus that is included with your ticket or a cab. It seems complicated, but it is worth it. For us it was a little more complicated because at the time we were there, there was strike that affected the trains and the underground system. I don’t know if the strike it’s still on, but if that’s the case you need to be extra careful planning your route. I hope it is resolved because working people need a fair wage.
The most important thing about this exhibit is that you are looking at the actual props and stages where the movies were filmed. So, you are literally entering to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and you can almost feel the magic around you.
At the entrance you will be greeted by this enormous dragon in hub where you can eat or buy some merch. Then, before you enter the experience the will sit you in a theater to watch a little video intro and after you're going through the doors of the Hogwarts main hall.
This hall is decorated seasonally, we visited in October 2022, that’s why there was flying pumpkins all over the place. And there were also the original costumes of some of the main characters.
I will not go into detail, because the exhibit is massive. We spend around 3 hours there, but you can easily stay there 5 hours or more and experience the afternoon tea or just eat something themed.
But you can see the rooms of Gryffindor, the Haunted Woods filled with spiders, the Hogwarts Express, Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley and more.
Many of these sections are full sets like the bank or Diagon Alley and you really feel like you are inside the movie by just walk around.
At the end there is a massive model of Hogwarts School with incredible detail. There’s much more stuff in the exhibit and you don’t need to be a huge fan to appreciate it. I do not own a robe or a wand, and I think I doesn’t even have a shirt of Harry Potter. But I really love this experience.
If you want to visit this experience, here is the official link. You can purchase your ticket here or read all about it.
https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/
We struggle a little to get back to the city and made it to Piccadilly Circus by night, it wasn’t very impressive, but it was in our way to the hotel.
The next day we wake up early and walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral. A very impressive Catholic church with a huge dome that you can climb.
Up there you will experience 360º views of the city and very narrow stairs. Even if you are fit, you’ll need to take some breaks before you get to the top. There is a lift, but it doesn’t go all the way up.
After the cathedral, we took a sightseeing bus. We usually don’t go into this kind of buses, but since we paid for the London Pass, it was included. And it was a convenient transportation to our next destination Westminster Abbey.
In our way to the Abbey, the bus took us into the route with a view and we crossed the Tower Bridge and other photo opportunities.
The Westminster Abbey is spectacular, very different to St. Paul’s. You can clearly see the contrast between the two. I particularly liked the stained-glass work, really cool stuff even if you are not into religion. Culturally you can learn a lot.
We were getting hungry, so we walked to Fortnum & Mason, because we had a reservation to The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon for the Afternoon Tea. Very expensive shit, but totally worth it!
The salon is nice and classy, and the Afternoon Tea spread was really impressive. We accompany it with champagne. And I felt a little embarrassed, so I didn’t take a lot of pictures of this experience. But it was very nice, even with the tag price.
Then we went to stand in front of Buckingham Palace for a while and ran to the other side of the city to the ABBA Arena because we had tickets to the ABBA Voyage show.
It’s a great experience! Really recommend it and I think it’s something you need to experience at least one time in life. It’s a different kind of show and at the end you will be confused. Because you can’t decide if you just saw ABBA live or not, is that good.
I can’t show much more of this show because is forbidden to take pictures but I can say that this show was even more spectacular than my credit card bill of that month! Ha ha ha!
Well, I think it’s time to wrap it up. See you next time, ant thank you for the support and love.
See you soon.
Eduardo from @elteamgordo