Day 3 - Disney Studios Day - Possible Spoilers Included
This trip changes so much based on what is available so please don't take anything that I have included as a guarantee and also don't read if you don't want to know what is included. The guides called some of the things we did a "surprise" but I had read about them on here so I think they are well known surprises. We did some other things that I have not read about so they may have been unique to our group - take this as your warning.
On Tuesday morning our bags were collected at 7 am and breakfast was from 7:00 to 8:15. The Loew's has a pretty good breakfast buffet and you could also get specialty coffee drinks: lattes, mochas, etc. We boarded our coach at 8:30 to head to the Studios. We did receive confirmation that several in our group had star sightings while watching the arrivals for the Tarzan premier. Jon Voight was apparently very generous with his time with fans. The drive to the Studios did not take long (we were given water when boarding the bus and I would recommend taking it with you). Our guides were very knowledgable about Disney history and shared many facts along the way. We stopped just inside the gates for the first of many photo ops and a restroom break. Our guides were really big on taking family photos. I am sure we will be glad for it once we get the pictures but there seemed to be too many group photo stops. We then did a walking tour of many of the open spaces and a few of the buildings. There was quite a bit of interesting artwork and animation cells turned into art which was fun to see. My husband and son had been to the studios before to interview a family friend who worked at the Disney Channel for a school project so they had seen some of the sights before. One thing they had learned on that tour and that was downplayed a bit by the guides is that the Studios are not used much as a working studio for shooting. A few of the sound stages are active and obviously some exteriors for Saving Mr Banks and Muppets were filmed there, but you are not going to really see active filming. The campus is a huge creative and administrative complex and walking through some of the buildings, looking at the titles on the doors (animation, voice, etc) really made us want to see even more. We were not allowed to take photos inside, but everywhere outside was fine. We then were able to tour the archives (not sure if this is done each time, it was billed as a surprise) which was amazing beyond words. We had an additional special surprise here that I won't mention but was quite a memory maker. We spent quite a bit of time taking photos and exploring the Legends Plaza and then headed back to the front of the campus a little before 11. We were turned loose with 15 minutes in the studios gift shop and told to meet across the street at the Commissary at 11 for lunch (we were told we would have time after lunch to finish shopping). The studio gift shop had several great and unique things and we loaded up.
For lunch we were given vouchers for the Commissary to buy an entree, side, and dessert (and drink). The Commissary was set up similar to the Silicon Valley cafeterias that I am used to with different stations for things (grill, deli sandwiches, mexican, huge salad bar). Everyone in my family had something different and I think we were all happy with lunch. This was actually probably one of the better meals (aside from Carthay Circle). We had lots of time to eat so people were able to finish shopping, rest, or go take more pictures outside.
I think it was about 12:30 when we got back on the bus to go to Imagineering. Imagineering was a short drive away and is housed in a group of non-descript buildings (for security). We met our host at Imagineering who had worked there for 30 years and his co-host who was celebrating his 5th Anniversary that day. We were given the strict no photos speech and then led into the building. Just walking down the hallways (and peeking into working rooms) was amazing. Our first activity was as a group where our two hosts described what Imagineers do and then some extra magic took place and a bunch more photos were taken! After that we were split into our two groups (the groups worked well as all of the families with kids (all tweens/teens) were in one group and the adults only families were in the second). We then rotated through three different stops within Imagineering. They were all fascinating and one was so special and not something I thought we would ever do. I will keep that one and the other big stop a secret, but the middle stop is probably not as "secret." As we moved from stop 1 to 3 we were led through a hallway with a giant work room with little models of various park attractions. We stopped and chatted with a cast member that was working on a project with our guide for an attraction at Tokyo Disney. We had a chance to see him working on a model and ask questions. The last stop that our group made let us into the world of ride/attraction development and allowed us to be immersed in some really cool technology (we also found out later on that it tied into something we would do in the parks).
After the third stop we went back to the common area of the main building which was a beautiful garden courtyard that had been decorated to celebrate the opening of Shanghai Disney. We were allowed time to shop in the gift store (each person received a 40% off one item coupon) and again we stocked up on unique souvenirs that can't be found elsewhere. We also had enough time to get a treat from the Imagineering Starbucks (how cool is that, and the chalk board had an Imagineering Logo Mickey holding a Frapp - this was the only inside photo we were allowed to take). We then boarded the coach at about 3:00 for our drive to Disneyland.
A couple of concluding thoughts on the two Hollywood days. Everything on Tuesday was amazing and one of the big reasons to do this tour. The things you see, the interactions with Imagineers, the gift shops etc, these all made the trip worthwhile just on that one day. The Hollywood sights on Monday were more of a mixed bag. All good and unique and things I probably would not have done on my own but Tuesday was obviously the big ticket day. DH and I talked about how it would have been nice if they could have worked seeing a taping or an active set into the mix. The Jimmy Kimmel show tapes right across from the Loews so it seems like that could have been done. The backstage tour we did at Universal did not include any live tapings, but because the studio and back lot are active it seemed to give a lot more flavor to the actual workings of making movies/shows. I think the VIP tour at Universal is a really nice add-on to to the
ABD in that respect. The other thing is (and hopefully I won't sound too snobby) that Hollywood Boulevard around the Chinese Theater and El Capitan is just nasty. I lived in Southern California for 4 years in college and never once went there. It has definitely been cleaned up since my college years, but still is just gross. I felt bad for the people on our tour who had come with the thought that Hollywood is glamorous and then were thrown onto Hollywood Boulevard. The Loews itself is a very nice hotel and it was certainly convenient to do our Monday morning tour as a walking tour, but part of me wishes they would stay closer to the Westside/Beverly Hills or even over in the Universal Area which is right down the street from the Disney Studios.
Next up our first night in the Parks.
Dinner was done about 6:20 and we were given the option of doing a group activity right down the street. It was something I would never have done on my own, but my kids had a blast and I ended up enjoying it. I won't go into details as it is considered a "surprise" activity.
