Harry Potter tour

Fab. I was thinking of booking it as a treat for my sons 11th Birthday.

As a non HP fan, will I be bored to tears?

My friend has booked us tickets for my birthday - you are never too old to be a Harry Potter fan!

I loved it! We went about a year and a half ago and I thought it was brilliant (but I am a huge fan anyway). I'd like to go again maybe either this year or next, in December time, because they decorate it all wintery/Christmassy which I'd love to see!

For non fans, it depends. If you find looking at film memorabilia/sets etc interesting even if you don't like the film, then yes you probably would still like it. If not then it is really just a load of HP film stuff so if you're not interested in either HP or films in general, you might get bored.

I went a few years ago and loved it, i think there are new things now. ER- there is loads of fascinating things about special effects, make up, costumes etc so even if ur not a HP fan, you will probably still enjoy it!

We're going for our anniversary next week, I can't wait!

Ace. My sons birthday is Dec, so that is when we will be going.

I'd have booked before, but my cousin moaned about how expensive it was, so I put it off, without even looking. Under £83 seems pretty cheap to me though. As long as my kids enjoy it, i'll suck it up.

I really want to go! Quite a few of my friends seem to have been judging by fb photos, and most of them don't have kids. Am contemplating taking my mum for her birthday in Feb.

C really wants to go, and try butterbeer. will be so hard keeping it a secret until Dec.

I went last year on the 'animal actors' day. It was frigging amazing! I had my photo taken with crookshanks, I am only a little bit ashamed at how happy it made me!

H took me here for my birthday last week and it was amazing. I want to go back already! I really, really enjoyed it.

As a non-Potter fan, my H said he enjoyed it a lot more than he thought he would. He has been forced to watch all of the films though.

We also went last june, i'm a harry potter fan but not a HP geek if that makes sense, oh doesn't do HP but he enjoyed it, we had a fab time, I loved Diagon Valley.. and if you go with kids (we went with friends who had kids) the kids have HP passport which you have to find the machines to stamp your passport and you get to ride the broom in cloaks, we had a 12.30 tour I think and it took about 2.5 hrs to do the whole thing.

Mrmini has never read or seen Harry potter but really enjoyed it. I cried like a baby (several times)

I was there for 5 hours.....

Good to know. I have never read the books or seen the films either.

Take a nosy through my Facebook photos if you like- let you know what your in for!

I went with a group and one friend who had zero interest in HP. She really enjoyed the day in the end - there is quite a lot to see and I think if you like films it's interesting to see how they're made - even if you have no interest in the film content. Some parts were really quite impressive. I would go again but am a bit of a HP geek.

The snow is still on now till 6th Feb. I think it's best not to look at others photos if you plan to go because part of it is the oh WOW bit. They say 1 hour per area but I think we should have spent 2 hours or more on part 1 and less on the others. I had been told you only needed 3 hours and had a 2.30 slot and a train booked to catch back to get home at 10.30 so couldn't have stayed later. When we went in they told us we could stay in as long as we wanted. I don't think £30 was an unreasonable price compared to going to see the one in Orlando. (Orlando is being converted to a 2 park experience so you need a two park ticket Diagon Alley in the studios with a train to Hogsmead in World of Adventure. We also paid for a digital guide which I ended up not using as there are plenty of screens to watch. The extras might be worth hearing on it if you have 5 hours to spare. Photos and DVDs were expensive which might be an issue with kids so if you know they will want one on a broomstick ( I had a DVD and 2 photos £36) make sure they save up their pocket money. Plus obviously the souvenirs in the shop are expensive too. £15 for a mug.

We got a train to Watford Junction and the studio tour bus from outside. We arrived an hour and a half before and ate in the café the food was fantastic, and then went in the shop bought everything we wanted and left it at the locker area till we came out as we thought we would be rushing for the train.

Oh yes, he will want a photo, and a trip to the gift shop.

Figured it would be expensive, so C's Dad is giving him £200 for his Birthday, to spend there.

I wonder if the fact my married name is Potter, will get me a free ride on a broomstick, haha

The gift shop is mega expensive!!

The Butter Beer is AMAZING!!!! Best. Drink. Ever.

Really?! You're the only person who I've met who has ever said that.

When we went there were half drunk cups of butter beer everywhere, like hundreds of them. We decided that meant it was grim and diddnt buy any.

Didn't have any here because I have had it in Florida, they do a frozen and a normal there. The frozen was horrible. The other the top bit which is creamy was nice but halfway down it gets a bit too much

How much is butter beer? Do you get to keep the cup?

You can buy butterbeer that is in a disposable cup or you can pay a bit extra and get a cup to keep. I think it was about £5/6 but I'm not sure.

It's about this size:

Or at least it was 2 Novembers ago! I have a feeling they might sell bigger tankards as well now.

Tastes like cream soda