Danauk's anniversary trip to Disneyland (and a few other places too!) Day 10: Studios

[Danauk]

We got up early again and had breakfast at Twist, the hotel restaurant. At 9:15am we set off to drive to Paramount Studios for our 10am tour. Again, we loved our TomTom! The studios were only 5 minutes away down the road so we soon parked and went through security to get our passes to be allowed in. At 10am we met our guide and got on to our golf cart. Our guide was lovely and our tour group only had 7 people in it which was great. Soon we were zooming around the backlot and saw lots of sound stages and trailers for the stars. We learned a lot about the history of the studios and the early days of the place and the way they treated their movie stars (which wasn't that great!) We we allowed to go into a post production area and went into the studio they were preparing that nights episode of Entertainment Tonight.

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Whilst we were there on of the presenters was there recording the links in between the stories.

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He was ever so nice and chatted to us for a while (aparently we really got lucky there as he is not usually in there.) We hadn't got a clue who he was, but the Americans on the tour seemed very excited!!

Then we looked around one of the sound stages that had in it the set for Everybody Hates Chris (which is on Paramount comedy here, I have been watching it since we got back!)

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Then we were allowed into the sound stage next door where they were actually filming an episode (you usually can't do this!) So we got to watch them film a few takes and stood with the producer on the set. We then looked around the street sets.

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and we saw the famous water tower

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and went to the famous Bronson Gate

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and we sat on the bench from Forrest Gump!

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Soon our tour was over so we headed back to the car and drove to Warner Bros studio for our tour there. The studio was only 10 minutes away so we decided to get lunch in the cafe there. This tour was a lot more touristy and scripted than the Paramount tour. Here you 1st watched a movie and then got onto the carts. They were very particular about where you were and were not allowed to take pictures and locked your cameras away in the cart for a lot of the time. We set off and 1st saw the water tower.

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Then we went to a museum where we spent 20 minutes looking around but were not allowed to take pictures. Downstairs there were costumes from various movies and upstairs was dedicated to Harry Potter. The we went to the props warehouse and then saw some famous movie cars. Then came my favourite bit. I am a huge Friends fan (I have every episode on DVD!!). We went to the set of Central Perk!!!

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Then we boarded the cart once more and headed to a huge sound stage. At that time it was empty but it was where they had made some very famous movies. After that we went to the outdoor set of ER. We went into the ambulance bay and saw the station set. We also saw some of the cast outside one of the sound stages as they were filming that day.

By now the tour was over so we headed back to our car. On the way back we drove past the Disney Studios which unfortunately don't do tours, but they do have cool buildings.

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Then we drove back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had a lovely meal in Twist the hotels restaurant. by 10:30 we were tired again so went back to our room. I had to pack the cases as tomorrow we would be heading to Las Vegas.

[florida sun]

Wow Karen thats just brilliant, like you Im a huge Friends fan and also have every episode on DVD, and would love to see that set, great day:thumbsup2

[Snowy-girls]

Another Friends fan here,how cool to see the set :thumbsup2 .AND to see the set of ER AND some of the cast-did you recognise any of them?.x.

[SusanEllen]

My word, Karen! You got your picture taken with Mark Steines!! As you didn't know who he is, you appartently don't know what you've got! You have here documentation of the biggest DIS celebrity encounter ever. Mark may be unknown in the UK (and I suppose "celebrity" is by definition some one well known), here in North America and lots of other places, too, we see him every day on Entertainment Tonight billed as the most watched entertainment news show in the world. He really has one of the most recognizable faces in the US. That's why your fellow tourists were excited. Cute guy, isn't he?

What cozy, personal tours you had. Aren't the movie studios clustered incredibly close to each other? You know, Walt's original plan for Disneyland was to build it on any empty lot across the the street from his studio in Burbank. Now that you've seen the studio for yourself and how hemmed in it is by businesses and homes you can see why the decision was made to build Disneyland far away on what was back then open farm land. Of course, they really had no idea that it's popularity would cause the rest of the world to rush in and overbuild all around them. Hard to believe seeing it now now that Disneyland opened surrounded by miles of orange groves and strawberry fields. I'm sure you found out that Knott's Berry Farm was really a berry farm that started adding carnival rides and chicken dinners as a way to supplement their farm income. When Disneyland was build just down the road, KBF benefited from the park overflow and began an evolution to what it's become today--mostly theme park and very little berry farm. How did I get onto this?!! I just meant to comment on another of your fun to read reports--reports that obviously conjure CA thoughts and memories for me. So, thanks for that.

[Danauk]

My word, Karen! You got your picture taken with Mark Steines!! As you didn't know who he is, you appartently don't know what you've got! You have here documentation of the biggest DIS celebrity encounter ever. Mark may be unknown in the UK (and I suppose "celebrity" is by definition some one well known), here in North America and lots of other places, too, we see him every day on Entertainment Tonight billed as the most watched entertainment news show in the world. He really has one of the most recognizable faces in the US. That's why your fellow tourists were excited. Cute guy, isn't he?

OK, I guess that is why the others were excited. Even the tour guide was excited as she had never seen him in there before and he has been doing the tours there for years! He was ever such a nice man, he chatted to us for about 5 minutes and explained what he was doing and how the studio he was in at the time worked. Oh and yeah, he is very cute!!

[Lizzybear]

Another great day, the studio tours look really interesting :) We found the TomTom invaluable in Florida so i'm thinking it will be even more so in California!

[Minniespal]

Another great day with lovely photos.

[mark&sue]

Your whole trip is so magical and the photos really bring it to life.


susan

[irongirlof12]

love the photo's of Central Perk:banana: