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The Harry Potter Studio Tour opens March 31. The Globe and Mail (and a few other Muggles) were invited to the studio just outside London for a sneak peek

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The Harry Potter Studio Tour, just outside Watford (which is about 32 kilometres from Central London), opens March 31. Tickets for the tour cost £28 ($44) for adults, £21 ($33) for children or £83 ($132) for a family of four. wbstudiotour.co.ukSarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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Peer into the closet that Vernon and Petunia Dursley forced young Harry Potter to live in.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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The walking tour begins in a small theatre where a film featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint share the magic of growing up on the set. It closes on a shot of the entry to the Great Hall, the screen raises, and voila! The Grand Hall.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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Inside the Great Hall: Everything here is the real deal - the sets, props and costumes were arranged by the films' set decorator Stephenie McMillan. The actors added their own graffiti.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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Professor Dumbledore's owl podium is covered in real gold. And real melted wax. As you leave the Great Hall, look up for one of the 15 snitches (remember? from quidditch) hidden throughout the tour.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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Spot the sorting hat in Professor Dumbledore's office.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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To fill the jars in Professor Snape's potions class, set decorator Stephenie McMillan sent her team out to buy the weirdest things they could find. They succeeded. (We especially like the Bouncing Spider Juice.)Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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At this green-screen photo stop, pick the background of your favourite house and then have your picture taken on a broomstick.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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All of the pictures of cats in Dolores Umbridge's Ministry of Magic office are based on photos of real cats taken at an animal shelter.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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The Creature Shop is a make-up and mechanical fun house.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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Step into Diagon Alley and take a moment to notice how the lighting subtly changes from day to night to day again.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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Too bad you can't really pop into Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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It took more than three months to build Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which sold 120 products individually designed for the shop.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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This model of Hogwarts was used especially for the flying scenes. All the doors open, and more than 300 fibre optic lights were installed in the model. Had it been built by one person, it would have taken 75 years.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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Every person ever credited in any of the films has a wand box in the last room of the tour.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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Of course, the tour ends in a gift shop. The shelves were used in the movie. And that cashier? She was a Slytherin in one of the films.Sarah MacWhirter/The Globe and Mail

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