Side Trip to Hollywood/LA Ideas? Tours?

[Muddy Rivers]

Hi! We will be staying at the GCH for a few days next week and would like to do a side day trip to Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and/or Hollywood. We have taken a day or so in the past to do the area beaches and on a previous trip have done Universal Studios/Park, Mann's Chinese Theater, Pinks and Griffith Park.

We are giving thought to perhaps a Warner Bros. or Sony tour but are also considering some other tour of the area. I believe both tours are only a few hours so we will have part of the day left. If it matters, we will probably be going on a Sunday.

We are open to suggestions. Has anyone done an area tour they recommend? What about Warner Bros vs Sony studios?

DIS people always have great ideas for us!

Thanks!!

 

[FFerret]

Any kiddos in your party?
We plan on seeing the Tar Pits during our weekend.
How did you like Griffith Park? I can't wait to see the observatory there and get my fam's pic in front of the Hollywood sign. Well be there the first Sunday in August. We're also taking a photo in front of Randys Donuts and staying on board the Queen Mary. My daughter is into hauntings

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[mgrace79]

We loved the tar pits and the natural history museum. We wanted to go to the science center to but spent so much time at the natural history we didn't get a chance-next time I guess lol.

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[Muddy Rivers]

We enjoyed Griffith Park. The ride was very nice. It was a couple of years ago and it was lightly raining with fog so we weren't able to see the Hollywood sign from there. Thankfully when the weather cleared in a few hours we were driving and saw the sign from below.

You will like it.

 

[Kyjin]

Of the studio tours, I find Paramount to be the best one. Unfortunately, I don't believe much filming is occurring right now, and you're going on a Sunday, so not sure how exciting it will be.

If you like art museums, I would pair one of the studio tours with a trip to the Getty. The museum itself is free (just pay for parking), and it's a gorgeous ride up. So much to see!

 

[GenGen22]

We went to WB last year & loved it!! The vehicle museum is really cool. They have the batmobile & motorcycle, dukes of hazzard car. They had the friends scene where we could take pictures which was cool & a Harry Potter museum which was really cool with the actual sorting hat that sorts you.... it was just very cool... another thing everyone should see is the hollywood walk of fame with all the stars on the sidewalk. This is free & cool to find all your favorite stars & take pictures of them.

 

[BriannaRuth]

We did Warner Brothers two years ago but that's the only one we've done, so can't compare it to Sony or others. But yes, it was only a couple of hours so you would have time to do other things. We also enjoyed what others have mentioned -- the Harry Potter exhibit was very cool and so were the cars. Supposedly we were supposed to do some kind of green screen thing where they take your picture, but that didn't happen for some reason. Mainly they drive you around to various sets and locations, and you have a chance to get out and walk around in most of them.

We were also there on a day when no filming was going on, so no stars were spotted. But the upside to it is that its less busy and we were able to ask the driver (it's a small open-air bus) to stop whenever we saw something we wanted to take a picture with. My DD was excited to see the Pretty Little Liars location, and a bunch of other guests on the tour encouraged her to ask the driver to let her out to get a photo there.

 

[Muddy Rivers]

Warner Brothers sounds great! Thanks to everyone for their input. I really appreciate it.

Anything else in Hollywood we should see? We have in the past stopped at Pink's for hot dogs, any other iconic place we shouldn't miss?

 

[NewbieMouse]

We were thinking of doing the WB tour as well, partly because it allowed 10 year olds. Are there any others people know of that allow 10 year olds?

 

[GenGen22]

Warner Brothers sounds great! Thanks to everyone for their input. I really appreciate it.

Anything else in Hollywood we should see? We have in the past stopped at Pink's for hot dogs, any other iconic place we shouldn't miss?

Another restaurant we stopped for lunch is BigBoy. They have the best hamburgers. They used to have one here in San Jose, CA but not in years. We went last summer & it was great!

 

[sheetz]

Try to catch a movie at the El Capitan Theatre. It's Disney owned and operated and there's usually a short pre-show with lots of singing and dancing. The theater itself is gorgeous.