Guest Trip Report: 10 Night Norwegian Fjords and Iceland on the Disney Magic, Day 11

This is a guest trip report written by Carol, who sailed on the most recent 10 night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords and Iceland on the Disney Magic on August 16, 2018.  You can start the trip report from the beginning by clicking here.

Day 11: Disembarking the Disney Magic and Warner Brothers Studio Harry Potter Tour

Our last day (sadly) brought us to disembarkation, but however, we weren’t all sad because we had a trip to Warner Brothers Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter planned.   Our cruise ended in Dover, and as usual, we arrived into port early in the morning.  We normally like to eat breakfast in our assigned restaurant on disembarkation morning – for those that have not cruised with Disney before on the last day you eat breakfast in the dining room you ate dinner in the night before, either early (usually 6:30 am) for first seating or later (usually 8:00 am) for second seating – however as we had second seating and had to be off the ship we chose to eat in Cabanas instead.   We had planned our excursion with International Friends, and they would pick us up at the dock in Dover and transport us to the studio in London.  After our time at Warner Brothers, it would bring us to our hotel.  Since our flight home was not until the next morning, this worked out perfectly for us.  With our children being HUGE Harry Potter fans (and I am a pretty big one myself), this tour was one we were looking forward to immensely!   Getting off in Dover was actually one of the easiest ports to disembark in.  Before our sea day on the way to Scotland, immigration officials had come onboard and we actually had to present our passports to them during our sea day.  We then did not have to go through customs when we disembarked in Dover.  We walked off with our luggage, so we basically got off the ship and just walked out.  When we got out of the building, we saw signs for the International Friends group and since we were early for our 8:30 am bus, we were told to wait and they would come and get us.  After a short wait, they came and got us and we boarded a very comfortable motor coach bus to London.  The ride out of Dover was very beautiful, and we got great views of the cliffs.

Dover Castle:

Once we arrived at the Warner Brothers Studio, our guide went and got our tickets for us as it was raining.  Then it was time to enter the studios – even the outside was amazing!  There were pieces of wizard chess and images of the Daily Prophet hanging on the billboard outside – as Harry Potter fans my children and I were just in awe!  It was so cool, and all this before we even entered the door!

Once we entered we were just amazed and overwhelmed!  The walkway to the line to enter the actual exhibit is like walking in the Marauder’s Map, with quotes from the books and movies lining the walls.  It was unbelievable!

We then went to get in line to actually get into the exhibit.  Your tickets are timed and you are only allowed in line when it is your time.  Even then, the line was quite long.  While we were waiting, there were still many props and scenes from the movies to look at.  The Goblet of Fire was being featured at the time we were visiting, so there were a lot of things from the Goblet of Fire there, including the actual Goblet, which was amazing!

The flying car that Harry and Ron took to Hogwarts in Year 2:

Mad-Eye Moody, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and Prof. McGonagall:

The Tri-Wizard Cup:

Entrance into the tour:

We then entered the tour and the first thing we saw was the Great Hall – the set was amazing!  We then walked through the Great Hall where they had costumes from many different characters, and then on to many other sets and props including the Gryffindor Common Room, Dumbledore’s Office, Potions Classroom and many more.  To see all these things used in the movies in person was just unreal and so much fun!

Great Hall – Gryffindor:

Great Hall – Hufflepuff:

Great Hall – Ravenclaw:

Great Hall – Slytherin:

Great Hall with costumes of professors:

Goblet of Fire:

Costumes from the Ball in the Goblet of Fire:

Umbridge’s Educational Decrees:

Ron’s bed:

Harry’s bed:

Wands:

Gryffindor Common Room:

Stairway to Professor Dumbledore’s Office:

Dumbledore’s office:

Goblet of Fire:

Potions classroom:

Quidditch robes and equipment:

Hagrid’s hut:

Hagrid’s motorbike with sidecar:

We then saw the Burrows (the Weasley home), Tom Riddle Sr.’s grave, the Forbidden Forest, the Hogwarts Express, in addition to the Knights Bus, 4 Privet Drive and the Potter Cottage as well as many other props, costumes and sets.

The Burrow:

The Weasley’s magical clock:

Replica of Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor:

Tom Riddle Sr’s Grave:

Umbridge’s Office:

Forbidden Forest:

Hagrid:

Buckbeak:

Aragog:

The Hogwarts Express:

Yes you can go to Platform 9 3/4!

The Knight Bus:

4 Privet Dr:

The scene when all the letters flew through the fireplace:

Potters’ Cottage in Godric’s Hollow::

Bridge outside of Hogwarts:

Flying Ford Anglia car:

Hagrid’s motorbike:

Wizard Chess Pieces:

We then saw an area where they showed how they made the different creatures used in the Harry Potter films such as Dobby, Fawkes and Hedwig.  After this was the set of Diagon Alley, which was just amazing and incredible – it was almost like being there!  Finishing up the tour were white-card models of different sets used which helped set up camera angles.  They were just unbelievable to see and incredible how these were made.  To finish off the tour, we walked into a room where there is a life-size replica of Hogwarts – it was so amazing there really aren’t words to describe it!  We could have stayed in there forever!

Fawkes:

Fenrir Greyback:

Dobby:

The Monster Book of Monsters:

Hedwig:

A thestral:

Gringott’s:

Diagon Alley:

Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes:

White card model of Hogwarts:

White Card model of the Whomping Willow:

White Card model of the Astronomy Tower:

White Card model of the Three Broomsticks:

White card model of the Durmstrang ship:

White card model of the Beauxbaton’s Carriage:

Hogwarts Model:

Hogwarts model – Astronomy Tower:

We then went to the gift shop (because of course what trip wouldn’t be complete without a gift shop, and this one was AMAZING) and then got back on the bus which took us to our hotel.  We had dinner and headed to bed early as our flight home to the States was early the next morning.  We had such an amazing trip with a great ending.  We saw so many beautiful places and sites – this will be a trip we will remember for a long time!!!

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A HUGE thanks to Carol for sharing this incredible trip with us!  I have another guest trip report in the works, as well as my own trip report from my Fantasy cruise last week, so stay tuned for lots of new content within the next few weeks!

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Click here to visit Carol’s blog about her family’s travels all over the world.