LONDON — Before touring the studio where the Harry Potter movies were filmed, I wanted to take the kids to another key Potter site.
Unable to find the red telephone booth leading to the Ministry of Magic, we settled for the Millennium Bridge, destroyed by special effects in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” And the bridge was free, unlike our visit toWarner Bros.Studio Tour London (wbstudiotour.co.uk).
High prices aside, we enjoyed ourselves at the studio but craved more interaction.
Except for the Great Hall and Diagon Alley, you don’t actually walk on any sets. There’s plenty to see and read, but at these prices, Warner Bros. should add a few more activities for the kids. (We also learned after the tour that Grace and Jack should have been given passports to stamp along the way. That might have helped.)
We reserved our tour online — about $133 for a family pass (two adults, two children). The studio was 20-minute express train ride northwest of London (adult round trip about $14, child about $7.60), followed by a 12-minute studio shuttle bus ride ($3.20 apiece, free for 5 and younger).
A guide welcomes you into the hall, then rushes you out a few minutes later to let the next group in after urging you to buy some butterbeer after the tour. (“You’ll love it,” but at $4.75 for 12 ounces, we only liked it). The rest of the tour is self-guided. In a courtyard halfway through the tour, you can sit in the Weasley’s flying car, climb onto the back of the Night Bus and knock on the front door of the Dursley house at No. 4 Privet Drive.
We exited through the gift shop, paying about $14.30 for a box of Bertie Botts’ Every Flavour Beans (including Ear Wax). We avoided the $40 wands and $120 school robes, though the place was awash in children begging for them.
Funny that a place inspired by Harry seems designed to create so many Dudleys.
