I thought I would share my experiences after taking the Warner Bros. "V.I.P." Tour this past June. I finally got on a plane and flew to L.A. specifically to see it. Never having been there, Los Angeles could be an interesting tour all by itself. It is not a city per se, but a huge sprawling collection of suburbs connected by freeways. It is not a cliche to say you could not survive there without a car. The cab fare from the airport to Burbank was 60 bucks! I suppose like most major cities, it is very expensive. I stayed in a dumpy motel that cost $99 a night. By comparison, about a week earlier, I had a very respectable room in downtown Pierre, S.D. for $38. Anyways, the Warner Studios were not hard to find on West Olive St. You actually buy your ticket in the office which is part of the parking garage across the street. Then the tour guide takes groups of about 12 for rides on overgrown golf carts through the maze of "studios" which look like nothing more than a huge collection of small warehouses about 200 feet square by 40 feet tall. The very first stop on our tour was the Friends studio, which if I recall correctly was Studio #24. They don't allow pictures in that area. I'm sure others have said this before, but the most amazing thing was how small the sets looked. For the millions that are spent producing the show, you'd think they'd have something a little more elaborate. For example, I doubt if there was more than 15 feet of available space for cameras in front of the sets before you hit the bleacher section with the seats. Even so, it was great to see the Central Perk set with my own eyes even if we weren't allowed to come any closer than about 40 feet. I was VERY tempted to break away and jump on the orange couch but chickened out. Joey's apartment set was not there but they had a some nondescript sets that apparently were used for the season finale. I recall seeing the set of steps that were part of the entrance to Bermuda resort in that episode. One thing I noticed was that the acoustics were excellent. Apparently they take a lot of care to soundproof the buildings. We toured the back lot and were shown outdoor locations where, for example, the rugby match took place and where Rachel and Phoebe went jogging and where Joey and Chandler chased the bus down the street. We saw sets for ER and old movies but my main interest was Friends stuff. All in all, it was pretty cool and well worth the $35 ticket price.
The WB Tour
Just thought I'd add for those who are considering going that there is no guaranted you'll get on the Friends set. We didn't; we took the tour on the first day the Friends folks were back on set following summer hiaitus in 2002. So don't fly all the way to CA assuming you'll get on the set!
Our lame substitute for the Friends set was the Gilmore Girls sets... :-(
-Dawn
[email] (Iowacookiemom) wrote in message news:...
i recently went too, the same day that i went to the friends taping (TOW the soap opera party). And the tour guide said that each tour is different and each tour guide is different. Sometimes things are open to the public, while other things might not be. My tour guide was friends w/ some ppl from the west wing, who were outside. so we got to meet them. There are also a lot of outside sets they show you--the growing pains house, lots of things from the music man, gilmore girls buildings, the wild west set which i think they're getting rid of, etc...
I did the WB tour in '99 and loved it. Another great thing about WB tours is that they sort of personalize it. If someone in the group really wants to see a particular spot (within reason) the guide does his/her best to get there. For instance, one of our group members really wanted to see the wardrobe department. We were taken into a warehouse with nothing but costume after costume. Everything from elaborate dance costumes to blue jeans was stored in there, floor to ceiling. It was a great tour and worth every penny. Later, we got in to see the Drew Carey show. For anyone remotely interested in how shows are put together, going to a live taping is priceless experience. April