Studio Tours...worth it?

Artygal90

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 1, 2017
My husband and I are going to be spending 2 1/2 days in LA before our Disneyland trip in early May. We are spending 1 day on "Hollywood" stuff, 1 day on beaches, and our half day at the La Brea Tar Pits/Page Museum/Farmer's Market before heading to Anaheim.

I'm trying to nail down an itinerary (and budget!) and have been looking into the different studio tours available. Paramount would be very convenient for our Hollywood day, Warner Brothers has the best reviews, Sony seems to have the most "backstage" feel (since I work in live entertainment, this would be the most interesting to me).

I feel like we "should" do one but none of them are grabbing me, especially for $50-$70 per person. I'm tempted to save the money and enjoy a more relaxed pace on our Hollywood day, which would be nice after arriving very late to LAX the night before. I'm thinking of spending the time wandering the Hollywood Forever! cemetery, or seeing a movie at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

What do you think? Will I regret skipping this unique LA attraction?
 
We really enjoyed the Warner Brothers tour. We at first didn't think it would be worth it but it was very enjoyable.
 
I've done Warner Bros. a couple of times and loved it both times. I did Sony once and enjoyed it, but that's probably because we got on the set of a show I actually watched (though many other people on the tour didn't watch it so the novelty may have been lost on them). If you're into tv and behind-the-scenes stuff, then I definitely think a studio tour is worth your time and IMO Warner Bros. is the best.

Seeing a movie at Grauman's (not sure it's even called that anymore) is almost like seeing a movie anywhere else. It's not that special. It's just an old movie theater. If you want a SPECIAL movie experience, see whatever is playing across the street at El Capitan, which is owned/run by Disney. They have assigned seating, so it's like going to a concert or a live theater performance, and they'll often have props from the movies on display. I'm assuming you're a Disney person since you're on this board, so that's what I'd recommend if you're going to watch a movie instead of taking a tour.

If you're there on a weekday and want a REAL Hollywood experience, see if you can get tickets for a tv show taping. On Camera Audiences and 1iota manage live studio audiences for lots of shows, and those tickets are free.

Also worth checking is the schedule for events at Grauman's (or whatever it's called). If there's a movie premiere happening, the street will be closed, as will the theater. Sometimes you can buy tickets to premieres or even just watch the "red carpet" arrivals for free. I've done that a few times and it's fun!
 
I agree the El Capitan theatre is so nice. We saw the jungle book there and they played some live music before the movie started and then seeing a lot of the sketches afterwards was nice. It’s also right next door to the Ghiardelli (spelling?) store so enjoying some chocolate before or after is ice
 


Sony (aka the old MGM lot) is a pretty awesome place, but I've only ever wandered around at night with my friend who was an assistant for a show taping there. We would wander through open sound stages (pretty sure that wasn't allowed). If I could go back, I would.

I've heard many good things about the WB Studio tour, especially the VIP one done on a golf cart.
 
I have done Warner Bros and Paramount. Sony is on my list for my June 2019 trip.

I second the recommendations for Warner Bros. However when I went the backlot section was very Pretty Little Liars heavy and my friend who had not seen that show was a bit bored. But that's just one 20minute section, the rest was more general.

I would avoid Paramount unless you do the VIP expensive tour. The regular tour was a let down after being at Warner Bros. On the regular Paramount tour, you just stay on the golf cart buggy and get driven around by the guide. You pull up outside a building, area or sound stage, the guide will tell you about the history and then show you videos on an iPad. There are some cool old Hollywood areas and recognizable building and if you are into Old Hollywood and the studio system, it's cool to see the buildings and walk in their footsteps. The Paramount prop room is very small and underwhelming considering the history and the huge amount of film and TV associated with them.
 
We did the Warner Brothers tour 5 years ago and loved it. Completely worth the money. We were on the first tour on a weekend - I would imagine its a different experience during the week when people are at work. The guide kept asking if anyone watched Pretty Little Liars (nobody on our tram did lol). But he mentioned where things like Friends, Gilmore Girls, Growing Pains filmed which was interesting. We visited the prop warehouse and had photos taken on the Central Perk set from Friends. We also visited the Warner Brothers museum where there were all the costumes from various Batman movies and a whole lot of props and costumes from Harry Potter. As it was a weekend we also visited the Big Bang Theory set which was cool (not allowed any photos there though). Saw all the batmobiles as well. It was so cool.
 



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