The Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studios tour just opened. Has anyone been there yet? Also if I didn't take a tour or the train, about how much would a cab cost from central London?

You do NOT want to take a cab. It is about 25 miles from central London and easily 60 - 75 minutes, and could take longer depending on time of day/traffic. It would cost nearly as much as your transatlantic airfare (only a <i>slight</i> exaggeration).

A pre-booked minicab from the West End will be around £50 one way, or pushing £100 if you splash out on an unbooked black cab. It's likely to cost more returning (you'll need to book, get the cab to come out and wait an unspecified amount of time, and taxi waiting time is a cost the customer ultimately pays) and a very great deal more still to have your outgoing driver wait the couple of hours to take you back after your visit (London cab drivers' time is at least as expensive as the time of drivers in New York).

The market hasn't yet created the low-price prebooked taxis for this attraction that have mushroomed for out of town airports. Personally I doubt it ever will - but whatever other answers you get to this query, it'll be worthwhile googling terms like <i>"harry potter" OR "Warner Brothers" tour taxi </i> as close as possible to your intended visit date.

There's no financial or availability argument for prebooking the train and the tour prices don't go up closer to the visit day. So if you persist in your desire to take the slow and expensive way to the tour, you'll still be able to book the sensible, railway, transport option after double-checking the day before whether it's still the best option.

Ok so I've been informed. Rail it is. Thanks

If useful to anyone...i went last month, and the express train from Kings Cross to Watford Jct was inexpensive and easy. There is a frequent, cheap shuttle bus that gets you from right outside the station to the studio--about a ten minute ride.

oops--sorry, I it was Euston that had the direct train to Watford Junctin, not Kings Cross. Still quite easy to get to Euston by tube, and from there to Watford Jct. We used the Oyster card for that overground segment as well.

Do we have to book both the train tickets and the tour tickets ahead of time? How much ahead?

Hoai you need to spend some time reading the info on the website

http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/en/you...t/getting-here

How far in advance depends on how busy they are ... Plug some dates in and you can determine whether it gets booked up. I wouldn't leave it to the last minute if it is a must see.

The train is just a regular train, no need to book in advance. Shuttle can't be booked.