The charity Guide Dogs has helped with the creation of new Tactile Tours for ‘The Making of Harry Potter’ attraction at the world-famous Warner Bros. film studio in London.
For the first time, visitors with sight loss can touch familiar props, including the wands of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Voldemort, allowing those with visual impairments to immerse themselves into the world of Harry Potter and experience the filmmaking magic.
Costumes worn by the infamous Death Eaters and other characters from the fan-favourite film series, as well as fabrics from Professor Trelawney’s Divination classroom, will be available for visitors with visual impairments to touch.
Visitors will also be able to get closer to magical creatures by stroking a section of Aragog’s prickly spider leg, and they will get to touch the treasure found at Gringotts.
To conclude this new experience, the iconic Hogwarts castle model has been transformed into a raised, tactile floorplan so visitors can trail their way through their favourite locations using their fingertips.
People with visual impairment, including children and young people, were invited to visit the Studio Tour to offer feedback on how to improve the experience. Their insight helped influence the Tactile Tours by highlighting elements of the tour which could be brought to life through touch.
“Over the past year, our partnership with the Studio Tour Team has made impactful changes to enhance the experience for visitors with a visual impairment,” said Alex Pepper, Head of Accessibility at Guide Dogs.
“We have worked closely together and as a result of our consultation, advice and training, we are supporting Warner Bros. Studio Tour London to drive change across the UK attractions industry, making it more accessible for people with sight loss.
“We hope visitors who are blind and partially sighted will feel confident in exploring this great attraction.”
For further information visit https://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/ or https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/
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