Choices between backlot tours?

[2littleprincesses]

For Summer 2014 trip--
Warner brothers studio tour=$52x4=$208

or Universal tour=$84x4=336

How is the tour with warner brothers vs. universal? We did the Warner Brother Harry Potter tour this spring in London so that part of it is not important to us. Is it worth $100+ more to do universal? My girls are not that into thrill rides so I am not sure it is worth spending the day at universal especially when we are spending 2 days at DL. They love seeing back stage stuff though. thanks!

 

[SMD]

Universal is a theme park, with a 3 or 4 car trams that hold between 30-40 guests each. I don't believe they currently have a portion where you exit the tram, you just stay on it. It is mostly a fixed tour following a set route with extras like King Kong, Jaws and I don't know what else is on it now.

Warner Bros. is a backlot only tour, on a golf cart that holds about 12 people. You may get off the golf cart at certain points to go on sets, depending on what's available that day. The tour varies depending on what's happening on the lot that day. There is also a minimum age for this tour.

 

[GenGen22]

I have read the WB tour is much better than the US one is. But I will give you my honest opinion after we go in 2 weeks. We will be doing both.

 

[WTFetus]

I love the US tour, but based on your first post, I'd recommend the WB Tour. You said your daughters aren't that big on rides, so you'd pretty much be going to US just for the tour. At that point, I think you guys will have a better time at WB. There are less people per vehicle so there is more interaction, and you may have the opportunity to get off and look around. At US, you're in your tram the entire time.

 

[pigby]

For Summer 2014 trip--
Warner brothers studio tour=$52x4=$208

or Universal tour=$84x4=336

How is the tour with warner brothers vs. universal? We did the Warner Brother Harry Potter tour this spring in London so that part of it is not important to us. Is it worth $100+ more to do universal? My girls are not that into thrill rides so I am not sure it is worth spending the day at universal especially when we are spending 2 days at DL. They love seeing back stage stuff though. thanks!

We have done the tour in London which is a walking tour, as you know. US in Hollywood doesn't have anything on the tour relating to HP anyway (or at least it didn't in 2010). US Hollywood has more focus on attractions and shows whereas it is US Orlando that has more thrill rides so your girls may like it.

In a couple of months time we are going back to US Hollywood and will do the tour as part of our Universal day but we are also doing the Warner Brothers tour as we are staying in Hollywood for a few nights and as the previous poster said, it is a 'proper' tour of a studio, quite unlike the US one.

I can give you an update when we return if you like as I notice you are travelling in 2014.

 

[carnival kid]

If you are wanting a true tour of a working studio type thing then WB hands down. Universal tour is more like a "ride".

At universal you drive around the same specific areas each time (with slight street detours depending on filming) and don't get off.... you go through the "attractions" that are just like rides.

Warner Bros is a true tour of a working backlot. it will change each time depending on what is happening at the time. Our guides asked what people were interested in and included parts based on this.

 

[mdsd8700]

We just did the WB tour a few weeks back. We did the Universal one more than 5 year ago.

The WB tours do vary depending on that day's availability as pp said. On our tour the last stop was the WB Museum, the 2nd floor is dedicated to HP and I would think pales in in comparison to anything the OP seen in England. The first floor had some fun movie memorabilia and costumes.

We did see a couple of warehouse's. One with lots of movie vehicles like those from Batman and the Grand Turino from the same movie. (Although the guide told us Clint Eastwood sometimes comes to take that out for a spin as he owns it). Another warehouse had movie artifacts from Casablanca and the Maltese Falcon. We also got to go to the Friends set and had lots of great pics there. We also did the set of the Mentalist (DS is a big fan). Some of it was covered with "sheets" since the show is on hiatus but you still got the feel for the place.

We lucked out that the cast of Sullivan and Son (TBS show) was on a break playing football outside. The star/creator offered us a tour of the set. That was really neat. We took pictures and met some of the other cast members. Our tour guide said this type of thing is unusual, just right time, right place. I had heard of the show but never watched it, still it was fun and everyone was very gracious. This of course made the tour pretty memorable but even without that I would recommend it. It was fun to ride along the back lot and see different places from different movies.

 

[GenGen22]

We just got back & did both tours & I liked both of them but what I liked about the WB tour more was that we got to go & see live sets like friends & mike & molly shows we're actually currently watching where as with US you drive by and don't get much of a look at the sets as much & you see like the outside of the house not the inside actual set. They were both cool. US is an amusement park & more of a whole day activity where as WB is a couple hours activity.

 

[jonsmom57]

Thanks. We did US five years ago and it was fun.
Definitely going to do WB and quite possibly Sony. They aren't that far away from each other.

 

[krispin41]

We did the VIP tour last year at Universal, it's a bit more like the WB are described. We had a group of about 12 on our tour, it does the route as the regular tour. But you do get to tour a working set, the prop warehouse, as well as being able to walk around the "City" outdoor set and where they filmed Desperate Housewives. We got a catered lunch, as well as front of the line passes, and seating at the shows in a reserved area.