PARTNERING WITH GUIDE DOGS
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter has partnered with charity Guide Dogs to bring best practice accessibility to the Studio Tour for people who are blind or visually impaired. To mark the start of the partnership, the Studio Tour has sponsored three adorable guide dog puppies in training–a black Labrador, yellow Labrador and a golden Retriever. Named after the iconic trio, Harry, Ron and Hermione, the Studio Tour will receive progress updates throughout each puppy’s development.
The Studio Tour has welcomed guide and assistance dogs since first opening in 2012, with existing policies and guides in place to support those with sight loss or vision impairment, such as the availability of audio descriptive tours upon request. More information about Studio Tour accessibility can be found on our Accessibility page.
We welcome all registered guide dogs, assistance dogs, buddy dogs, hearing dogs and medical alert dogs into the Studio Tour. If you wish to bring a guide dog in training with you for your visit, please ensure you have formal identification for the dog with you, such as the official ‘guide dog in training’ blue jacket. Other dogs or pets are not permitted to enter the attraction and cannot be left in vehicles for safety reasons.
Working closely with Guide Dogs, the Studio Tour has made improvements to its spending area–a designated toilet space for guide dogs to use outside–and are working towards introducing signage iPads which team members can offer to people with a vision impairment to hold over signs and descriptions in order to magnify them.
Guide Dogs will provide the Studio Tour team with online training resources to teach them best practices when helping visitors with vision impairments. The online training will be part of a wider programme rolling out which will include in-person training sessions for team members later in the year. There are also further exciting activities and changes planned for the next 12 months, all working towards improving accessibility for those with sight loss visiting the Studio Tour.