The Great Hall

The tour begins with the most iconic set of all. The Warner Bros Studio Tour's Great Hall is the real thing, the actual set where the cast filmed dining scenes, Dumbledore's speeches and the Battle of Hogwarts. The long tables are dressed with real crockery and the stone floor is the same one the actors walked on throughout a decade of filming.

The hall stretches the full length of the soundstage and is lined with house crests and costumes of characters from across the series. It is a remarkable first impression and sets the tone for everything that follows.

The Sets

Beyond the Great Hall, you will walk through a succession of detailed sets that were used throughout the eight films. Dumbledore's office is packed with hundreds of tiny details, including hand-labelled memory phials and the original Sorting Hat. The Potions classroom still has its ingredient jars on the shelves. The Gryffindor common room, complete with its worn armchairs and fireplace, feels like a place people actually lived in.

Hagrid's Hut is built at a larger-than-life scale to make the actors appear smaller on screen. Standing inside, you can see how the filmmakers used forced perspective and oversized props to create the illusion.

Diagon Alley

One of the most visually striking sections of the tour is the full-length Diagon Alley set. Over 20,000 individually designed product boxes fill the shop windows of Ollivanders, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, Flourish and Blotts and other familiar locations. The cobbled street is lit to look exactly as it does on screen, and you can peer into each shop front to spot the extraordinary level of hand-crafted detail.

The Forbidden Forest

A more recent addition to the tour, the Forbidden Forest section immerses you in the darkened woodland that featured throughout the series. You walk beneath a canopy of trees and encounter Buckbeak the Hippogriff, an animatronic figure with remarkably lifelike movements. Aragog the giant spider also makes an appearance, suspended among the branches overhead.

The Outdoor Backlot

Halfway through the tour, you step outside onto the backlot. This natural midpoint is one reason timing your visit carefully can make a real difference to the experience. Here you will find the Hogwarts Bridge, Privet Drive (complete with number 4), the Knight Bus and the Weasley family's Ford Anglia. This section offers a change of pace and a chance to see how outdoor scenes were filmed.

Platform 9 3/4 and the Hogwarts Express

The original Hogwarts Express steam engine sits at a recreation of Platform 9 3/4, complete with luggage trolleys and the iconic platform sign. You can board one of the carriages and see the compartment interiors used in filming.

The Hogwarts Castle Model

The tour's grand finale is the 1:24 scale model of Hogwarts Castle. This extraordinary model was used for exterior shots throughout the entire series. It fills an entire room, and as you walk around it the lighting changes to simulate day, night and different weather conditions. Every turret, window and walkway was hand-built, and the model took over 40 artists several months to complete.

Props and Costumes

Throughout the tour, thousands of original props and costumes are displayed. These range from Harry's glasses and wands to full Death Eater costumes and Quidditch robes. The attention to detail in every item reinforces just how much craftsmanship went into creating the wizarding world on screen.