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The Woods family had flown 24 hours to London from Australia, but they weren't planning to ride the famous London Eye, see a West End play or even check out the Crown Jewels.

In fact, they'd come for just one reason -- the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London -- The Making of Harry Potter, 20 miles north of London at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, joining as many as 6,000 people a day who make the pilgrimage. "We'll see enough museums in Italy," Emily and Ella Woods agreed, as they sipped their Butter Beer.

"We made a detour from our trip to France and Italy just for this," said James Woods somewhat sheepishly. As research shows, kids are increasingly driving vacation decisions and Emily, 13, and Ella, 10, certainly did in this case, their parents said.

The girls are serious Harry Potter fans: They've read the books and seen the films multiple times. "Our friends think we are pretty crazy," Emily acknowledged. But they couldn't be happier on this day and because they were so happy, so were their jet-lagged parents.

The day we visited, the gargantuan studio was filled with fans like the Woods sisters -- young and old, some in costume -- from around the world jabbering in many languages, the kids filling out the passports they've been given with questions to answer (How many players are there on a Quidditch team?) and stamps to add throughout the tour.

See Dumbledore's office, Diagon Alley and the Ministry of Magic. "It's all amazing," said Bailey Tingley, who is from Indiana. When her parents offered to let her choose a family trip to honor her high school graduation, she said, "I picked England for this tour and Harry Potter," noting it was the first time the family had traveled outside the United States.

While the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando -- and coming to Universal Hollywood -- immerses visitors in Harry Potter's world, making you feel as if you have stepped into the film, this is the place to appreciate the hard work and creativity that brought J.K. Rowling's stories from the written page to the big screen and see the props (Harry's first robes) and sets (walk right into the Great Hall. See how the Gryffindor common room carpet was made to look so old) that made it all possible.

Diehard fans in Britain also make pilgrimages to Edinburgh where J.K. Rowling famously wrote the books to see a school Hogwarts may have been modeled on, the "real" Diagon Alley and other sites, said Edinburgh Tour Guides’ Sam Thomson. She notes that some fans even ask guides to dress in costume for special Harry Potter tours.

Here, there are video interviews with everyone from young stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson to producers and directors and those who created the sets, costumes and special effects. Some 4,000 people worked on each of the eight movies here over the course of a decade.

Let's not forget the chance to "fly" on a broomstick in front of a green screen that "magically" is transformed, as if you were playing Quiddich (in case you didn't know, there are seven players on a team.)

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