{"id":120,"date":"2013-08-13T04:49:55","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T04:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/"},"modified":"2022-08-08T23:18:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T23:18:42","slug":"behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes: The magical world of Harry Potter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>All is quiet on Platform 9 \u00be. Trains pull into Kings Cross Station every minute but the Hogwarts Express isn\u2019t running today.<\/p>\n<p>What are wannabe wizards to do? You won\u2019t find them at Kings Cross \u2013 they\u2019re all waiting at Euston Station, where trains run every few minutes to Watford Junction. Spilling out onto a high street that looks like any other outside of London, we walk over to an ordinary bus stop, but the double decker bus that pulls up is definitely different.<\/p>\n<p>The black double-decker unloads wand-carrying, wizard hat-wearing passengers. This is the Warner Bros version of the Knight Bus \u2013 Harry Potter\u2019s late night transport in the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Order of the Phoenix and the Deathly Hallows. Ok, it\u2019s not the one from the movies. More on that later.<\/p>\n<p>Every day the bus ferries hundreds of muggles to the <a title=\"Expedia Warner Brothers Studio Tour\" href=\"http:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/pubspec\/scripts\/eap.asp?GOTO=TSHOPSDETAIL&amp;LocationID=178279&amp;OfferingID=16639?brandcid=blog.article.miamiredcarpet.august_02082013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On board the commentary gives us more insight into the world of Harry Potter than the cookie cutter streets of Watford \u2013 any one of them could be Privet Drive. When the bus stops, we\u2019re definitely somewhere different.<\/p>\n<p>This is where the magic happened: for 10 long years the Warner Brothers Studios in Leavesden was the base for much of the filming of the Harry Potter movies and is now open to the public.<\/p>\n<p>Allotted in 15 minute time slots, tickets sell out weeks in advance. In summer last year you had just as much chance of scoring a seat at the Olympics. If you miss your timeslot, you might miss out altogether. London is still one of the most popular European destinations for Expedia\u2019s Aussie Travellers. It\u2019s busy year round, but particularly in summer. So get your act together early and book now.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<img src='https:\/\/images.trvl-media.com\/media\/content\/expaus\/images\/blog-img\/8_2013\/3099_43_HT' \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;\">Mr Weasley\u2019s flying car is suspended high above as we wait to enter the magical world of wizardry. We walk past Harry\u2019s bite sized cupboard under the stairs, watch a \u201cmaking of montage\u201d and hold our breath as nifty holograms of the three stars \u2013 Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry, Rupert Grint, Ron, and Emma Watson, Hermione Granger \u2013 push open the doors to Hogwarts Castle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Warner Brother certainly knows how to make an entrance. The Great Hall is a masterpiece \u2013 yes there\u2019s only two long tables, not four, but each is laid with fantastical objects. Water jugs with boar heads for spouts, salt and pepper shakers shaped like bats. This is just the beginning.<\/p>\n<p>Inside the back lot there\u2019s hundreds of glass specimen bottles lining the walls of Snape\u2019s Potion Dungeon, gravity-defying desserts from the Yuletide feast, piles of knick knacks from the Burrow. Wigs, warlocks, wands and more wands. A treasure trove of movie magic making.<\/p>\n<p>Over three hours we unlock the secrets to broomstick flight, find out how the giant spiders crawl on screen and marvel at the magic of goblin costume design. We get our sugar fix with a foamy butterbeer \u2013 think a super sweet ginger beer spider, complete with foamy soft serve ice cream on top \u2013 and meet up with the real Knight Bus.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<img src='https:\/\/images.trvl-media.com\/media\/content\/expaus\/images\/blog-img\/8_2013\/3099_46_HT' \/><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The piece de resistance is Hogwarts Castle. A 1:24 scale model, it\u2019s an engineering marvel let alone an example of moving making magic. We walk around the entire castle gobsmacked. From every angle there\u2019s something new to see \u2013 the tiny bridge where Neville Longbottom bravely fights, Hagrid\u2019s cabin, even the lake.<\/p>\n<p>But Warner Brothers saves the best for last \u2013 Diagon\u2019s Alley is perfectly to scale. We walk along cobblestones, peering into Ollivander\u2019s Wand Shop, wishing we could reach a hand into Weasleys\u2019 Wizard Wheezes window.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s ok \u2013 the tour ends in a souvenir store to end all souvenir stores. We stuff our baskets with chocolate frogs and licorice mice. There\u2019s walls of wands to choose from, robes in every size and house colour, Bertie Bott\u2019s Every Flavour Beans, toy owls, golden snitches, ball gowns, goblets and more. It looks like we\u2019ll be taking a little magic home with us.<\/p>\n<p>Not enough? You can always book on\u00a0<a title=\"Expedia Harry Potter's Walk\" href=\"http:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/pubspec\/scripts\/eap.asp?GOTO=TSHOPSDETAIL&amp;LocationID=178279&amp;OfferingID=12788?brandcid=blog.article.miamiredcarpet.august_02082013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harry Potter\u2019s London Walk<\/a>, visiting film and book locations in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All is quiet on Platform 9 \u00be but not at Watford Junction. Lisa Perkovic heads to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,6,28,2,3,5,14,4],"tags":[11,172,30,109],"authors":[],"class_list":["post-120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-destination","category-europe","category-experiences","category-explore","category-family","category-interests","category-type-of-holidays","tag-family","tag-harry-potter","tag-london","tag-tours","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Backstage in the magical world of Harry Potter | Expedia.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"All is quiet on Platform 9 \u00be but not at Watford Junction. Lisa Perkovic heads to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backstage in the magical world of Harry Potter | Expedia.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All is quiet on Platform 9 \u00be but not at Watford Junction. Lisa Perkovic heads to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Expedia AU Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-13T04:49:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-08T23:18:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.trvl-media.com\/media\/content\/expaus\/images\/blog-img\/8_2013\/3099_43_HT\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie McNeely\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie McNeely\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/\",\"name\":\"Backstage in the magical world of Harry Potter | Expedia.com.au\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-13T04:49:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-08T23:18:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/7c3ff1d241163ecf78de48671f1787ce\"},\"description\":\"All is quiet on Platform 9 \u00be but not at Watford Junction. Lisa Perkovic heads to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Explore\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Interests\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/interests\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Adventure\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/interests\/adventure\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Behind the Scenes: The magical world of Harry Potter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/\",\"name\":\"Expedia AU Stories\",\"description\":\"Just another WordPress site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/7c3ff1d241163ecf78de48671f1787ce\",\"name\":\"Jamie McNeely\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6c5fcb9612549bc286e9121c24dc652?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6c5fcb9612549bc286e9121c24dc652?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jamie McNeely\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.waveinteractive.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/author\/jamie-mcneely\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Backstage in the magical world of Harry Potter | Expedia.com.au","description":"All is quiet on Platform 9 \u00be but not at Watford Junction. Lisa Perkovic heads to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Backstage in the magical world of Harry Potter | Expedia.com.au","og_description":"All is quiet on Platform 9 \u00be but not at Watford Junction. Lisa Perkovic heads to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/","og_site_name":"Expedia AU Stories","article_published_time":"2013-08-13T04:49:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-08T23:18:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/images.trvl-media.com\/media\/content\/expaus\/images\/blog-img\/8_2013\/3099_43_HT"}],"author":"Jamie McNeely","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jamie McNeely","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/","name":"Backstage in the magical world of Harry Potter | Expedia.com.au","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-13T04:49:55+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-08T23:18:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/7c3ff1d241163ecf78de48671f1787ce"},"description":"All is quiet on Platform 9 \u00be but not at Watford Junction. Lisa Perkovic heads to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/behind-the-scenes-the-magical-world-of-harry-potter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Explore","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Interests","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/interests\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Adventure","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/interests\/adventure\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Behind the Scenes: The magical world of Harry Potter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/","name":"Expedia AU Stories","description":"Just another WordPress site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/7c3ff1d241163ecf78de48671f1787ce","name":"Jamie McNeely","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6c5fcb9612549bc286e9121c24dc652?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6c5fcb9612549bc286e9121c24dc652?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jamie McNeely"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.waveinteractive.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/author\/jamie-mcneely\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1227,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions\/1227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}