Calling all the Harry Potter fans!

Have you ever imagined yourself in Hogwarts? Wondering around twisted corridors, going to magical classes and drinking butterbeer with your friends in The Three Broomsticks after?

What about attending a Yule Ball?

To be honest I’ve never thought that it could be real. Until last Autumn. In a matter of a couple of weeks I had the ticket to Warner Bros Studio in London without any idea how I could actually go there. I don’t live in the UK and have never been to London before.

Therefore, in this article I’ll tell you about such experience as attending a ball at Hogwarts and, most importantly, I’ll give a complete guide on how to get a ticket, when to go, where to stay, how to get there etc. For me, it happened so quickly and I had absolutely zero idea how to combine everything and make my first visit to the Harry Potter studio really enjoyable. Now I know and you’ll know as well.

What’s Yule Ball at Hogwarts in real life?

Every year The Warner Bros Studio Tour London (The Making of Harry Potter) makes some events for all the Harry Potter universe fans.

Some of the events take place in October for Halloween and it is called Dark Arts, which I absolutely would like to attend one day as well.

The other events take place in December during Christmas time.

It is called Dinner at the Great Hall.

There are three events for adults. In 2024 it was at 9th, 10th and 11th of December.

Plus, one event for families, where you have to book tickets for multiple persons and can come with children. If my mind serves me right, in 2024 it was on the 14th of December and those tickets you can buy earlier than the others.

You have to be ready to buy tickets extremely quickly or how to get tickets for a dream night.

Actually it is very easy. You can buy tickets on the official site.

But here goes the trickiest part.

First, make sure to sign up for the newsletter, so you’ll get the letter when the tickets come out.

Secondly, follow their Instagram, so, you’ll see the news there.

In 2024 the tickets were on sale on the 19th of September. The company announced a bit earlier the date and time when tickets go on sale.

On the date I highly recommend to be on site a bit early to check it because believe me when I say, I was checking the site half an hour before the time and sales were opened 5 minutes before and I already had been in a queue of 300 or so people.

After 20 minutes the tickets were in my hands (figuratively, it’s an e-ticket after all).

It is time to plan a trip to London.

The Warner Bros Studio is located in Watford. It’s just half an hour from Euston station. And yeah, the train is better in that case.

The event takes place from 6PM to 12AM, so it is a pretty much late time especially during winter, so I decided to stay in Watford for the night. There are plenty of accommodations around the studio. You can just type the name of the studio in the Booking app and you’ll have a lot of options.

I choose to stay in Hunton Park. It takes a 15 min walk from the studio and 5 min with an Uber.

Yes, the hotel is close to the studio (that was the most important point) but I actually fell in love with the hotel itself. It’s a very beautiful building surrounded by nature with no less gorgeous interior, friendly and helpful workers, comfortable rooms, swimming pool with warm water (it is winter, don’t forget), delicious English breakfast and everything else you might need for a comfortable stay.

Though you could walk to the studio I would recommend asking the receptionist for a taxi or calling it yourself. It is very quick and quite cheap.

The Night Bus.

When I arrived at Watford Junction on the day of the Ball I took special Harry Potter transfer (free on the day of visit) from the station to the studio just to see what it is and find the way to the hotel from there.

By transfer it took 15 minutes to get to the studio and it was such a fun ride which felt like a ride on the Night bus from the movie. So, I highly recommend taking a ride.

Now, take your ID, ticket and the wand. We go to the Ball.

If I would say that it was a magical night I wouldn’t be even remotely close. All the details, from the program to the dishes, were carefully organized. Being surrounded by all the guests felt like going to the party with friends because, obviously, we all love one thing extremely hard — the Harry Potter world.

The food…Oh I’m so glad I tried traditional English Christmas dishes.

The set… was magnificent. Seeing it for the first time is incomparable to anything else. A huge advantage was that there weren’t as many people as during daylight and I could admire every detail.

The music all over, Christmas decorations, laugh and friendly conversations, dining in the Great Hall, taking Butterbeer after party, running through the ‘castle’ with the wand and realizing that the film adaptation was created here— it is all incomparable to anything else.

I definitely would like to try this experience again but just one time we can have something for the first time.

I hope my notes will give you some help and obviously if you have any questions, let me know.

I wish all of you will experience such a night in your life and if you’ve had this already, tell me, how was it?

Love always, M.