TWDC | Burbank Headquarters Aerial Picture

Started by dagobert, June 07, 2011, 10:15:06 AM

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davewasbaloo

#15
It is not open to the public I am afraid, it is for Studio Cast members only.
since 2001 (many before that)

dagobert

#16
Samland from Micechat.com has done two great articles about the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank:

Part 1: http://micechat.com/blogs/samland/3000- ... art-1.html
Part 2: http://micechat.com/blogs/samland/3006- ... art-2.html

Take a look, because it is really interesting.

davewasbaloo

#17
Cool stuff. Oh Dagobert, I did some digging for you. When you go to WDSP, there is a tour where you can walk on the sets and things, it is the VIP tour. It is very expensive, but other perks include your meals and a front of line pass for the attractions.
since 2001 (many before that)

mattboywonder

#18
Warner Bros, Sony Pictures and Paramount all offer back lot tours.  There are quite expensive and how much you enjoy them depends on your interest behinds the scenes of movies and television.  The tours can consist of being driven around on a golf cart looking at dull soundstages, occasionally being allowed to peek inside and may get so see some filming.  Personally, I am a big film buff and find the experience thrilling and being a fan of old movies get of kick out of thinking "I am inside the building where Wizard of Oz was filmed" - but thats just me!!
The WB tour is the most commercial and most geared up for visitors and has gotten a lot more so when I did the tour in 2009 compared to 2002, when you had to just go to a certain parking area and there was a guard behind a desk.  Now they have a proper tour entrance for visitors (think this tours has been mentioned several times on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, making people more aware of it?).  There is an area full of props from Harry Potter, though I was more interested in the first floor of the building which has costumes worn by WB stars like Doris Day and James Dean.  Some people get a thrill out of seeing the set for Coffee Perk from "Friends" which has been re-constructed in the prop house due to the shows continuing popularity.  The prop house is great as they might point out items which has been used in certain movies or TV shows and you can spot items which have a tag on them, meaning they have been reserved for a certain TV show or movie.
The Sony Pictures (which I did in 2002) was all on foot.  The lot used to be MGM so many legendary movies have been made there, although the lot is much smaller than in the old MGM days.  I remember at the time seeing sets for movies like "Hollywood Homicide" and the second "Charlies Angels" movie.
Paramount (which I did in 2009) is the only studio located in Hollywood itself.  Although it was all TV shows in production at the time (like some Chevy Chase show called "Campus", the tour was quite informal and the guide very knowledgable.  The Paramount lot includes what used to by RKO as well and you get to see Lucille Ball's office (with its exterior that matched her home so she could have pictures taken with her children "Ms Ball relaxing at home" kinda thing!!),.  We also got to see the projection room where Howard Hughes locked himself up for weeks and surrounded himself with bottles of urine!.  They also made the Star Trek TV show and movies here.
The Paramound and Sony Pictures tours and very limited in spaces and only offer a few tours a day.  You usually need to book in advance and take ID with you.  The WB tours are not quite regular so you could turn up.
I'm pretty sure Universal do some sort of behind the scenes tour as well but is quite expensive.  You can go inside some of the soundstages you see when on the tram tour.

Hope this helps, hope I have not rambled too much!
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dagobert

#19
Thanks a lot for the informations, mattboywonder!!!

We plan to spend a few days in LA and plan to do the WB tour. Being a huge Friends fan, I'm a bit excited to see the Central Perk.