Today Warner Bros have sent over some photos of the Hogwarts model that have never been released! It has never been seen before and you can see it here first! Visit the gallery to see them in all their high resolution glory!

Additionally, the WB Studio Tour Twitter has released a photo of Umbridge’s Office (view in the gallery) and will be releasing more in the next few weeks, which we will of course post.  Some information about the Hogwarts castle model may be read below and even more details on the tour may be read in the full press release!

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter opens on March 31st (28 days) and Magical-Menagerie will be there, in London/Leaveseden, to give you all the news!

The magnificent model of Hogwarts castle was revealed for the first time ever today.  This hand sculpted 1:24 scale construction will be the grand finale of Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter which opens on 31^st March.

The Hogwarts castle model is the jewel of the Art Department and was built for the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone™.  It took 86 artists and crew members to construct the first version which was then rebuilt and altered many times over for the next seven films.  The work was so extensive that if one was to add all the man hours that have gone into building and reworking the model, it would come to over 74 years.  The model, which sits at nearly 50 feet in diameter, has over 2,500 fibre optic lights that simulate lanterns and torches and even gave the illusion of students passing through hallways in the films.  To show off the lighting to full effect a day-to-night cycle will take place every 4 minutes so visitors to the Tour can experience its full beauty.

An amazing amount of detail went into the making of the model: all the doors are hinged, real plants are used for landscaping and miniature birds are housed in the Owlery.  To make the model appear even more realistic, artists rebuilt miniature versions of courtyards from Alnwick Castle and Durham Cathedral, where scenes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone™ were shot.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter will open its doors for the very first time to visitors from 31^st March 2012 with tickets now on sale. Tickets are priced at £28 for adults, £21 for children and £83 for a family of four. Visitors must pre-book their tickets in advance by selecting specific tour times throughout the day via www.wbstudiotour.co.uk or through approved tour operators. Tickets will not be on sale at the attraction and spaces are limited.

Today we have some photos of our favorite purple bus, the Knight Bus arriving at Leavesden Studios.  As we posted yesterday it is there for Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, which opens on March 31st. View all eleven photos in our gallery!

Thanks Hogwarts Radio.

Today we have some very exciting news from Warner Bros. regarding Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter. The tour opens in 63 days and you can purchase your tickets here! Stay tuned to Magical-Menagerie for all the latest news on this exciting new attraction! Will you be going when the tour first opens?

The iconic, triple decker Knight Bus today rolls into Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, which opens 31^st March 2012. Taking its place among the many authentic sets, props and costumes from the eight Harry Potter films, the Knight Bus debuted in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™ and was one of the most complicated pieces to create in the production.

John Richardson, Special Effects Supervisor, said: “The Knight Bus was not a CGI Creation as many people thought but in fact a real-life working bus. It was constructed by cutting up two iconic Routemaster buses, reworking the structure and bolting it all back together to provide one bus with three decks. One interesting challenge that arose during the shooting of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was that we could not drive the vehicle across London due to the number of low bridges in and around the capital.  This meant that we had to transport the bus in two pieces between locations and put it back together as required for filming.”

Yesterday Tom Felton let fans know via Twitter that he provided his voice for an audio tour for Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter. Today we have received official word from WB regarding the audio tours:

Our handheld audio-visual guides bring the Studio Tour to life in a completely new way. Narrated by Tom Felton who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series, it contains fascinating facts about the sets, costumes and props, as well as newly produced interviews with filmmakers and never before seen behind-the-scenes footage. It is available in eight languages, with the English Digital Guide narrated by Tom Felton, and can be pre-booked with your tickets. This is available to hire for just £4.95.

All posts about the tour may be read here. Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter will be opening on March 31st of 2012, tickets may be purchased on the Official Website.

Stay tuned to Magical-Menagerie for all the latest news on this exciting new attraction!

BBC News and HeyUGuys have posted videos going inside the Diagon Alley set that will be part of Warner Bros. Studio Tour London. The full announcement that Warner Bros. made this morning may be read in this post.

Thanks to SnitchSeeker for grabbing the BBC Video!

The Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter twitter account has revealed one of the sets fans will be able to visit at the upcoming tour (opening in March, see the countdown at the top of the site!)  They say, “The @MayorOfLondon has officially revealed that you’ll be able to step onto the famous cobbles of #DiagonAlley” See the photo in high resolution in the gallery!

WB have also sent over a press release for the announcement that you may read here! The press release also reveals that the hours of the tour have been adjusted due to high demand, “opening hours for Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter have been extended to 18:00, from the previous booking time of 16:00, on every weekend, bank holiday and school holiday from 28^th April.”

Production Designer, Stuart Craig, whose work on the Harry Potter film series has garnered him both Academy Award and six BAFTA nominations (winning the BAFTA Award for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) says, “Diagon Alley is (along with Dumbledore’s office) my favourite set. It has a long history with many changes. It was first built for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and then part of it used for Hogsmeade High Street in Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban! Then it was taken down and later rebuilt for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with the inclusion of the Weasley Wizard Wheezes joke shop and then finally wrecked when Ollivanders wand shop was blown up. And so I am delighted that it has finally found a home in the Studio Tour for all to enjoy.”

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“It was such a magical place to grow up,” says Daniel Radcliffe. “People will be amazed to see the incredible sets that we’ve worked in all these years.”

Rupert Grint adds, “The sets all have tiny little details that you may not always notice in the films but when you actually walk through them, you can see all the work that’s gone into it. It’s really amazing.”

“This is incredible, it’s been a long time coming and I’m very excited.” says Emma Watson.