Remember the mandrake potting scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? If you’re a Potterhead, you’ll probably know the lines off by heart; which likely also means you’d jump at the chance of checking out Professor Sprout’s greenhouse for yourself.
As part of a whole new Harry Potter experience, fans will have the chance to do their best impression of a young Harry (or Malfoy, up to you) and try out some mandrake potting for themselves in an interactive experience.
We can’t confirm if the screams at the new Mandrakes and Magical Creatures exhibit cause petrification, but we’d put those ear muffs on just to be safe (refer to case study of a Mr Neville Longbottom). You can visit the greenhouse between July 1 and September 12 this year, alongside a plethora of new additions. These include an opportunity for Potterheads to gawk at the Great Hall and the Frog Choir scene from The Prisoner of Azkkaban; as well as a sneak peak Warwick Davis’s costume and sightings of Cornish pixies, Fawkes and more.
Visitors will also learn how the mandrakes and other models were brought to life with CGI in the Creatures workshop. Plus, there’s more new features at the tour, including an opportunity to visit the house of the Weasleys and check out a fountain from the Hogwarts courtyard.
Mandrakes and Magical Creatures is a new string to the bow of the “Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter” over in Watford, who have given their already-pretty-stacked-tour a refresh.