Chris and I today went to the Warner Bros. studio to do the VIP tour, which I've wanted to do for years now! It was fun, a little pricey (price has gone up), but fun. We went in a group of 8 and they drive you around the lot on your little tram with your tour guide. Each tour is unique and tailored (more-or-less) to each group. Ours wanted Chuck and Harry Potter so that's what he focused on.
We learned a lot of interesting tidbits, but especially the fact that Jack Warner was an interesting character...I guess if anyone would disagree with him, he'd say, "Let's take a walk." And he walked them to the water tower where it's got the WB logo and he'd say something like, "That's great, but whose name is on that?" There were some other things too like the WB logo on Stage 15. Jack Warner wanted it on that particular stage because it faces Paramount and so every time they look out and down the hill, they see the big WB logo. Sounds like an interesting character...We saw the antique hall (everything there was 100+ years old) and went to this place where all these cars used in films were. We went to the Central Perk coffee house, which is in Friends. So we got to see that set, which is pretty cool. He also allowed us to take photos on the couch. He took us to the set of Chuck. So we basically stood instead Buy More (rip-off of Best Buy). It was CRAZY! It was huge and it looked like a real retail store -- flooring, exit signs, overhead signs, the products, etc. The products on display are real products (product placement). The DVDs are films that everyone working on Chuck has something to do with and all that. It was pretty cool. Then he took us to the situation comedy set of Mike & Molly. We got to see how the audience views the TV show. It was pretty cool. He said they film they about a month before hand so almost all the Christmas episodes have now been filmed. So we basically got to see an hour long production set and a 30 minute production set and they're vastly different from each other, but equally neat to see. After that he took us to the museum, which is basically a costume and some prop museum. They had costumes there from Dark Knight, Where the Wild Things Are (the big monster costumes were soo cool!), Watchman, Casablanca, Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp version), etc. They also had 5 Academy Awards we could see. The second floor was entirely Harry Potter. They had the cupboard under the stairs, the Knight bus bed, the Weasley Twin suits when we see them at WWW for the first time, Umbridge's costume, all the wands, a petrified Hermione (downstairs and it was a little creepy!), a signed set of Harry Potter books and artwork from Mary GrandPre they bought at an auction. the Nimbus 2000, Quidditch ball set, Arthur and Molly's costumes, various trio costumes, the Hagrid outfit when he first brought Harry to Privet Drive (that was creepy because there's a fake baby in the sling and it's right at eye level for me...), the Triwizard Cup (that thing looks like it's heavy if it's really made out of pewter), the egg from the Triwizard tournament, etc. They also had THE sorting hat from the first film! So you could get sorted. I got sorted into Slytherin...It was pretty cool to see all the costumes and props, though. I just wish I could have taken photos! On the other hand, I probably would have ended up being in there for more than 20 minutes. :P We got driven around the back lot (or was it the front lot...?) to look at the outdoor buildings they use. We also saw the stages and offices for the Ellen Degeneress show, Conan, etc. The tour was over 2 hours and it went by FAST. It was fun. I'd go again, but maybe in a few years when things have had a chance to change out a little. It's definitely a better tour than the Universal one and I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't gone before. :)
Anyway, photos!: WB VIP Tour
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