Seeking the Real Life Magic of Harry Potter

A month long road trip through Universal Studios and the UK

In the summer of 2013, my friend and I decided to do a month long pilgrimage into the world of Harry Potter. We started at Universal Studios Florida for total immersion into the magic fantasy world and then we headed to the UK and visited every single Harry Potter Filming Location from all the movies.

Gringott’s Wand Shop

Orlando

Starting the Harry Potter Super Trip off in Orlando was a great idea. Hanging out in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade for three days was a blast and really got us into the magical mood! We rode all the rides many times, we visited all the shops everyday and indulged in Butterbeer, Pumpkin juice, rock cakes, treacle fudge, cauldron cakes, Bertie Botts’ Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, and Hogsmeade Beer! Yummmmm!

The Three Broomsticks Pub

My favorite ride was the Forbidden Journey. The line took you all through Hogwarts castle. It starts at the front gate and takes you around to the green house. You enter the castle through the back and you go past a few statues of Hogwarts founders. You get to see the entrance to Dumbledore’s office, the mirror of Erised, and the counter for the House Points. The you get to walk through Dumbledore’s office and see all the shelves of knick-knacks that he’s got in there including the pensieve. Dumbledore speaks to you from up on his balcony as an animated projection.

Honeyduke’s Sweet Shop

It’s really awesome when you go past the paintings because they move and talk just like in the movie. You get to hear the fat lady at the entrance to Gryffindor and the four founders talk to each other.

Hogwarts Castle and the outside of the ride

Eventually you enter Prof. Binn's History of Magic class and Harry, Hermione, and Ron appear from under the invisibility cloak (as projections) and start to set up the context of the ride. The last thing that happens before you get on the ride is the sorting hat talks to you. It’s really impressive how much detail was put in to the whole experience.

Enjoying a Chocolate Covered Frog

The whole village was amazingly detailed and you could tell that the creators did their homework when designing this. I look forward to coming back in 2014 when they finish the Diagon Alley expansion. I read that you will be able to ride the Hogwart’s Express from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade! Wow.

Hagrid’s Hut

Leaving on the Hogwart’s Express

2014 update: We went back to Universal Studio’s in 2014 after Diagon Alley opened and it was absolutely incredible. This time we went in full costume and spent a whole weekend in The Wizarding World. Now that the space is so big you can really immerse yourself and forget you’re even in a theme park. The Diagon Alley expansion is so vast and incredible and the addition of being able to interact with things in both parks with the wands is really fun and gives you so much to do. I highly recommend Universal Studio’s Florida for any Harry Potter fan. Go in full costume, you wont regret it.

Full costume return in 2014

Panoramic Diagon Alley because it’s so big and incredible

Full costume in Diagon Alley

London

Harry’s bedroom under the stairs from the movies

London has been so amazing. We started out with the Warner Bros. Studio Tour. We got in at one of the earliest slots for the tour and we really used our time well. We spent 6 hours going from exhibit to exhibit. It’s absolutely incredible. They put so much effort into the presentation and the quality of information. You get to see TONS of awesome stuff including most of the major rooms such as the Great Hall, Harry’s Dorm room, the Gryffindor common room, Dumbledore’s office, and best of all, the entire set of Diagon Alley! It was awesome to see this right after The Wizarding World in Orlando. You can tell that the designers at Universal Studios were working closely with the design team from the movie to get all the details right.

The Great Hall really was great

They also have some awesome behind-the-scenes stuff in terms of the effects. They show how they did some of the green screen effects with the brooms and other flying stuff. They go into great detail about the creature effects and the graphic design. It’s really satisfying for the super fan.

The setup for the Gryffindor common room

One of the most fun things was the room where you get in front of the green screen and they put you on the broom or in the flying car and on the screen it looks like you are flying through the movie sets!

Dumbledore’s Office

Another great thing was getting to have butter beer again. In my opinion it tasted slightly better in London versus Florida. Also the gift shop here was the most extensive Harry Potter shop that I’ve seen so far

Diagon Alley

Harry’s Parents Home

The next few days in London, we ventured all around the city and have seen absolutely EVERYTHING there is to see that I know of. We did a “MuggleTour” through the city. This was fun. A super-fan/guide took us around the city and showed us some sites. during the two hour tour we got to see the 2nd entrance to The Leaky Cauldron, the spot where the guest entrance phone booth to the Ministry of Magic was, some of the bridges that were shown in the movies, and the exact underground train entrance where Mr. Weasley got stuck. We also got to see a lot of the places that inspired JK Rowling and the directors in writing the books and movies. We saw the “real” Diagon Alley and the inspiration of Nocturn Alley. Cool! A great tour that I would recommend to any fan

The second location of the Leaky Cauldron across from Borough Market, when the Knight Bus bumps the sports car

The visitor entrance to the Ministry of Magic, the red phone booth

The real life inspiration for Nocturn Alley

Then we did our own tour to see everything else. Starting with King’s Cross Station, we went to Platform 9 ¾. It exists! When you get to the train turnstile look to the right and you will see a Harry Potter gift shop and next to it on the wall is the special sign and also there is a luggage trolley that is halfway through the wall. If you stand in line you can take your picture holding on to the trolley cart so it looks like your about to walk through the wall. Fun! They have a professional photographer but they don’t mind at all if you take your own pics. They even have props and help you pose.

The Muggle platform 9 3/4

The actual Platform 9 3/4 (don’t tell anyone)

Next we went to place where they filmed the original entrance to the Leaky Cauldron. It’s in a fancy sort of market with expensive pubs. From there we went to the Australia house where they filmed the interior shots for Gringott's Bank. You can’t go in all the way but you can look in the glass doors and see the very recognizable chandeliers and swirly marble floors. We took a secret photo!

The entrance to the Leaky Cauldron in the first movie

The Australia House where Gringott’s Bank was filmed

Our time through London has been great. We have done some non Harry Potter stuff too. Good restaurants, pubs, shopping, exploring ancient history and modern innovations, free museums and more.

Leadenhall Market where Harry looked at the shopping list with Hagrid

LEAVING LONDON

In our final day of London we squeezed more Harry Potter in. We visited Kew gardens which is an amazingly huge piece of land containing many gardens and greenhouses. One of which was an inspiration to JK Rowling in the creation of the Hogwart’s Greenhouse. One final candy shop and then we rented a car and left the hustle and bustle of London.

Kew Gardens which inspired the look of the Hogwarts Greenhouse

We arrived in the tiny old town of Lacock. There were a few Harry Potter locations here, one we hadn’t even known about. Lacock Abbey is an interesting complex. One part of it is a 500 year old nuns abbey still in the condition it was built in. Other parts of the building have been lived in, mansion-style, until recently and we got to take a tour of how it was decorated in the early 1900′s. A journey through many histories! The Abbey was very recognizable as a setting in the first two Harry Potter movies. Snape and Quirrell’s classrooms and a hallway and courtyard that are sprinkled throughout the movie. There was even a black cauldron in one of the rooms that had been sitting there since the 1500′s! When we left the Abbey, we found the most perfect book in the gift shop: A Harry Potter filming locations guide. I snatched it up and we only had to walk for 5 minutes with the help of the book before we found the house that Slughorn was living in at the beginning of Half Blood Prince.

Very familiar hall in Lacock Abbey

You can see this cauldron from the 1500’s in Quirrell’s classroom

Another view of Quirrell’s classroom

Familiar Hogwarts courtyard in Lacock

The house where Slughorn was hiding out

We then walked through Lacock village which is a real life version of Godric’s Hollow. Another serious time trip. All the houses are old and crooked. It was so surreal. It seemed like a movie set but people were living in them! At this point we were running a bit behind schedule and everything basically closes at 5 or 6pm in England so we made quick stops in Bath and Wells. I had a few flashback moments in Bath from my first trip to England in 2007. This was the first time I had returned to any cities from that first experience and I awakened some new memories!

Dumbledore and Harry walk past the Sign of the Angel pub on the way to Slughorn’s house

More ancient houses that look like Godric’s Hallow

Cornwall

When we descended, we were in Cornwall, the region in the southeastern most tip of the island. Cornwall has a distinctly different vibe than the places we’ve been so far. Even before talking to anyone I could tell. It has an almost isolated mysteriousness to it. It feels older. The villages are smaller and more spread out. The countryside looks different. It definitely has its own character.

The Hurlers stone circle

In the town of Bocastle, there is a Museum of Witchcraft that we visited. It’s three stories and we spent at least an hour checking out all the interesting stuff. We learned about witchcraft throughout history. There were tons of artifacts and relics and a few modern witches complete collections of tools. There was was small Harry Potter connection: the hand of glory. They had a real one in the witchcraft museum which is supposed to be the withered hand of a thief whose been hanged. In Harry Potter, we see one in Nocturn Alley which grabs Harry’s hand when he gets too close.

Hand of Glory in the Witchcraft Museum

After our side jaunt into Cornwall, we continued north. The night of the Summer Solstice was here so we had a plan to meet up with some people for a special ceremony at Avebury which is the largest stone circle in the UK.

Bezoar Stone in the Witchcraft Museum

Gloucester and Oxford

That night we drove to Gloucester so we’d be there in the morning. Gloucester was a bit disappointing after so many days in small villages. It’s big and crowded and expensive and kind of ugly and slummy. The old parts are really nice but they are few and far between.

Hogwarts Hallway in Gloucester Cathedral

The cathedral that we went to see there was awesome and completely satisfying. It’s huge and beautiful and old. We browsed around the cathedral and did a tour of the crypt under the cathedral. The tour guide was so nice and she could tell we were really interested in the history of the building so she took us all around and told us all this stuff we wouldn’t have known otherwise. Then she took us into the cloisters and gave us a personal tour of all the Harry Potter sites that were filmed there. There were many! The hallway with the writing in blood on the wall from Chamber of Secrets, the hall were the Troll was in Philosopher’s Stone, the place where Moaning Myrtle flooded the bathrooms, and more. The spots were awesome and really recognizable.

When Moaning Myrtle flooded the bathroom it permanently damaged the floor in the cathedral

A doorway seen in the first movie

The entrance to the Gryffindor common room

“enemies of the heir beware”

Then we jumped in the car and drove to Oxford. It happened to be graduation day so the streets were crazy and full of people. We eventually made our way to a parking garage and headed to a few spots that were closing soon.

Hogwarts Infirmary

We got to see the room where they filmed the Hogwart’s hospital scenes. That was fun. Then we went across town and saw the stairs where the students waited in Philosopher’s Stone before the sorting ceremony. This was cool because the stairs led up to a room that looked just like the Great Hall in Hogwarts. It was actually the inspiration for the Hall!

The stairs leading to the Great Hall where Harry first meets Malfoy

Where McGonnegall stands when Trevor the toad is found

The real life Great Hall!

After this, everything was closing so we went to go meet up with our Couchsurfing host. This was the first night of the trip that we had a host to stay with, so we were excited. Her name was Kate and she was a police officer. She was really awesome. Kate and her roommate made us fondue because it was “like a potion” and it was delicious. Then they took us to a house party where we proceeded to get drunk with a gun that shoots alcohol shots into your mouth. Then we discovered the cupboard under the stairs and you know I had to get in it! After the house we went dancing at a club which was great fun. We danced for hours into the night.

Could this be where Harry spent his childhood?

Treacle Tart is Harry’s favorite sweet

The North

We visited Manchester and stayed with a weirdly spiritual couch surfer. We drove north and sat in a stone circle in the Lake District. We drove much further north and went to Edinburgh. We took a Harry Potter walking tour and ate good food. We got to visit the coffee shop where JK Rowling wrote part of the original book.

Stone Circle in the Lake District

The Elephant House cafe with a painting JK Rowling writing Harry Potter in the window

From Edinburgh, we headed southeast. We got to see two Harry Potter filming locations in one day. The first was Alnwick Castle where they filmed several scenes including the broomstick lesson in Philosopher’s Stone. It’s very recognizable because the castle has metal men on top that look like guards and you can remember when Harry was learning about Quidditch and the bludger went through the arms of one of these men. They also have a fun thing they do called “broomstick lessons” where people in Harry Potter costumes come out with all these miniature brooms and play games with anyone that’s interested.

Alnwick Castle yards is straight out of Harry Potter

“She’s a nightmare. It’s no wonder she doesn’t have any friends”

Where Neville hit the wall and fell to the ground

Learning to ride a tiny broom

A group of learners

After Alnwick, we headed to Durham and saw the cathedral which was really cool. Very Harry. It has a lot of very recognizable places in Hogwarts including one of the hallways and a grassy courtyard which was snowy with Harry sat with Hedwig. Another familiar room in Durham cathedral is Prof McGonnegall’s classroom, which was set up for class portraits on the day we were there.

Familiar courtyard at Durham Cathedral

Hogwarts Windows for sure

Prof. McGonnegall’s class

Hogwarts Corridor in Durham

Next we visited Goathland train station which served as the arrival and departure point of Hogsmeade Station in the first movie. Also the last shot of Philosopher’s Stone takes place here when they fly up over the red walkway bride and you see Hogwart’s in the background.

Hogsmeade Station and the final shot of the first movie

Upon arrival on the Hogwart’s Express

Just outside of London, we found Harry’s Privet Drive house from the first few movies. In real life, it’s in the suburb of Berkshire and recently sold for £475,000. The luxury cars in the drive kind of tipped us off!

Privet Drive

Finally as we were getting back into London proper, we got to visit our last few locations. The first was the Forbidden Forest. There are a couple of very recognizable spots from the movies such as where they rode the Thestral pulled carriages from the train. The forest is near Pinewood Studios where they did a lot of the effects for the Harry Potter movies.

Riding the Thestral carts towards the castle

The seemed to be just the place where Hagrid’s Hut would have stood

As we get towards the end of the trip, our chronology get’s towards the end of the series. Here we are in the London train stop called Surbiton which is were Harry flirted with the cafe girl before Dumbledore takes him to visit Slughorn.

“I like to ride around on trains”

Who’s Harry Potter? Bit of a tosser really

And then finally we wanted to find the secret location of the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and Sirius Black’s family home. While the facade we see in the movie is not a real building, it’s based on a few squares in London and we thought this one looked almost exactly perfect and it even had a fenced park across the street from it.

Order of the Phoenix, if you know the magic word

It was a great trip and one that I won’t quickly forget. Now, every time I watch the first couple of movies I can easily recognize every spot they filmed at and when the trio runs through the castle corridors, it’s like they’re running across the whole Island of Britain as they do it. If anyone want’s to follow in my footsteps and make this journey themselves, I recommend the book we found “Harry Potter on Location.” Also check out the extensive itinerary with budget estimations that I prepared for the trip here.

Watch the video compilation of the trip here: