Here are links to my previous vacation posts:
Day 1 (London): https://georgegmoore.com/2025/10/18/vacation-day-one-london/
Day 2 (London-Rock ‘n Roll Tour): https://georgegmoore.com/2025/10/26/vacation-day-two-london-rock-n-roll-tour/
Day 3 (London-Harry Potter, Part 1): https://georgegmoore.com/2025/11/02/vacation-day-3-the-harry-potter-experience-part-1/
Before proceeding into Hogwarts, a stop in the Forbidden Forest is in order. Below are pictures of Aragog (a spider), a Dementor, and Buckbeak (a Hippogriff). The most interesting part was Paolo providing behind-the-scenes information. The ground, while looking like dirt and rock, is actually rubberized, so if the kids fell, they wouldn’t get hurt badly. Likewise, the trees were fake, made the same way Hogwarts walls were made. The sets must to be moved and stored when not in use. Sturdiness and lightness were key.
Here’s a picture of me inside the Great Hall at the door. In the previous post, I showed the symbols on the door, which were never shown in close-up in the movies. The other detail is the stone floor (which I’m sure is linoleum), which shows signs of wear. All the tours walked through the hall. Here are pictures of various costumes, plus a close-up of the fireplace.
Here are more pictures from the Great Hall, which shows costumes and details of the fireplace.
The Great Hall as shown was tall then a sound stage could accommodate. Rather than using 100% CGI, they built a filming model that could be incorporated with sets. By the way, in the first movie, the floating candles in the Great Hall were real, lit and hanging by tungsten wires. Eventually, they were replaced by CGI because of health and safety issues.
The potions classroom with costumes is displayed.
The Gryffindor common room, with costumes, is displayed. Like the floor of the Great Hall, the carpet shows signs of wear. Set decorators used steel wire brushes on travel areas. Near the fire place, they singed the carpet.
The Gryffindor boys dormitory is displayed. As the actors grew, the original beds didn’t fit.
A staircase and painting were displayed. Notice the green for a few of the paintings. This was where the moving images were added in post-production.
WB displayed a vignette from the Yule Ball complete with some costumes like Madame Maxime’s gown, Harry’s dress robes, and Hermione’s dress. I was surprised how petite she was.
Various props are on display like the basilisk skeleton.
WB displayed the Hogwarts clock.
Mad Eye Moody’s trunk is displayed. A mirror is placed above it, so I could see to the bottom.
Mad Eye’s broom and Hagrid’s motorcycles are displayed. A couple of fun facts: First, the brooms all had seats for health and safety reasons. As the kids got older, the seats barely held them, but they had to remain small, so as not to show on film.
Second, filming Hagrid’s largeness was done using various techniques like camera angles and clever film editing. However, more was in the film makers’s bag of tricks. His motorcycle came in two versions, one full-sized and another 82% sized. Both are in the picture below. He also two versions of his hut. The one burned down in the Half-Blood Prince was the 82% version. Lastly, for some scenes, they employed a life-sized replica animatronic head, mostly to show reactions or to turn away from the camera. No pictures of this—it was kinda of freaky, like the goblin masks on display.
The Black family tapestry was displayed.
This is the Vanishing Cabinet. In the bottom right corner, you can see the Hand of Glory.
On display were several scale models used to plan shooting scenes. They also had story boards used to plan filming and editing scenes. One story board was the Knight Bus from Prisoner of Azkaban. Below is a model of the LaStrange Vault.
Here I am using the Sword of Gryffindor to grab the Hufflepuff cup in the LaStrange Vault at Gringott’s Bank. The sword from the film was framed and smaller than expected. I figured a four-foot blade when the actual blade seemed half that size.
Near the end of the tour, we came to a room set up like Ollivander’s Wand Shop where everyone who worked on the movies had their name on a wand box. While Kel and I couldn’t find many of the names we wished, we did find one.
The tour’s finale is the shooting model of Hogwarts. It was huge and detailed. And the room played the soundtrack. (You know after multiple hours, I was ready to never hear the soundtrack again!)
While I could’ve gone bankrupt buying souvenirs (and shipping them back to the States), I restrained myself. Greatly. In the picture below, you’ll see my Deluxe badge/lanyard and the tour book that was part of the Deluxe package. The water bottle on the top right corner was the bottled water from the restaurant. The beauty of this is that it’s refillable and fully recyclable. Important note: everywhere I went in Europe the tap water was excellent.
The bottom left corner holds the Activities Passport. At various spots along the tour, you could stamp the passport. Kel and I skipped this—some lines were long, and we wanted to experience the sights, not collect stamps.
In the middle, was the mug that the Deluxe package’s free butterbeer came in. I passed on the butterbeer. It’s crème soda (which is fine) mixed with butterscotch syrup (nope) and whipped cream (yes!). In the end, the butterscotch killed it. When I got the mug, the server couldn’t understand how I wouldn’t want the butterbeer. I had to fib and claim food allergies; otherwise, I would’ve dumped the drink. By the way, all of the restaurants are overly concerned about food allergies. To the point, that they ask about them before you can order.
Not pictured is a sickle from Gringott’s Bank, which was part of the Deluxe package.
The best two souvenirs are books. First, The Philosopher’s Stone, which is the British version of The Sorcerer’s Stone. Last is the German version of The Chamber of Secrets, in hardcover. I don’t understand a word, but it’s definitely cool.
To end the post, here I am riding a broom ahead of the Knight Bus through London. The Deluxe Package provided several picks and movies using a green screen.
I’m an author living in northern Virginia with a wife and a cat. In the late ’80s, I worked on the International Space Station project. I recently retired from managing a group of software engineers to focus on writing science fiction and speculative fiction. Learn more.