"Do people usually give their house elves Christmas presents?" - Harry, Half-blood Prince.
From Saturday, November 17, 2018 – Sunday, January 27, 2019 - Harry Potter fans are invited to
experience Christmas in the Wizarding World and discover how film-makers created fire, ice and snow that never melts as Warner Brothers Studio Tour London undergoes a magical makeover for Hogwarts in the Snow. As a family of big Potter fans, this sounds fantastic! You can see what we got up to when we visited a few months ago here.
Visitors will have the opportunity to see the Harry Potter film series’ most iconic sets decorated for festive scenes. The Great Hall will be transformed, the Gryffindor common room will be dressed for the season and a blanket of filmmaking snow will be meticulously applied to the majestic Hogwarts castle model.
This festive season also sees the return of the magical Dinner in the Great Hall. Each night from 10th-12th December, guests can enjoy drinks and canapes before sitting down to a two-course Christmas feast on the truly magical Great Hall set that will be completely transformed for the festive season. Dessert will be served on Platform 9 ¾ next to the original Hogwarts Express locomotive and guests will be free to explore the Studio Tour exclusively after hours. What a treat!
The Great Hall will again be decorated as it was for the iconic Yule Ball with shimmering silver, dripping icicles and sparkling snow. Visitors to the Studio Tour will get a taster of this incredible set dress as the top section of the Great Hall will be transformed with snow-covered Christmas trees, icicles and an orchestra of magical instruments that have been painted by the Prop-Making Department to match the silver of the Yule Ball.
In addition to the Yule Ball decoration, The Great Hall will be lined with Christmas trees and the long dining tables will be dressed as they were for seasonal feasts at Hogwarts with prop versions of roast turkeys, hams studded with cherries and even Christmas puddings surrounded by real flames.
As part of the Hogwarts in the Snow feature, many of the iconic sets housed at the Studio Tour will receive a festive makeover. The Gryffindor Common Room and Boys’ Dormitory will be decorated with the original props including handmade Christmas cards, some of which were created by the cast members during production.
The Hogwarts castle model will be transformed with a layer of filmmaking snow. During filming, a member of the crew climbed aboard an elevated work platform and sprinkled the ‘snow’ mixture of granulated paper and grains of salt onto the model by hand with a sieve – like dusting sugar onto a cake. The same process will be used at the Studio Tour this November. Visitors will even be able to touch samples of the different types of ‘snow’ used during production, each selected for its ability to float like falling snow, crunch under foot or glisten in the light like ice.
Tickets must be pre-booked, and all extra features are included in the ticket price. Tickets to Dinner in the Great Hall will go on sale at 10am on 25th September 2018 and can be purchased from: www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/dinner.