Warner Bros Studio Tour in Los Angeles – Review

What do The Big Bang Theory, Conan, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Lopez Tonight, The Mentalist, Chuck, Pretty Little Liars, Mike & Molly have in common? They are all in production and filming at Warner Bros Lot in Burbank, Los Angeles.

And you can visit it and take the Warner Bros Studio Tour I did for my entertainment tourism trip. (For more info on the tours and how to make reservations).

What do you need to know about Warner Bros Studio Tour? Well, I will summarize it for you in some pointers.

Things you need to know about Warner Bros Studio Tour in LA

1- Bring your camera with card space and batteries loaded:

You will want to take a whole lotta photos. So, make sure you have space in your memory card, you have your batteries charged. I was taking notes for this article and so I only took 150 pictures, but I could have easily taken two or three times as much. Oh, and I went alone to do the coverage; if you go with friends and family, you will take many more pictures probably posing.

2- Don´t be Shy:

The tour guides are very friendly, and know their stuff, so don´t hold it in, go ahead and ask; chances are they will have the answer, and you will have a story to tell when you come back home in the form of “Did you know that (insert movie star here) did (insert tour guide answer here)?”

3- Bring your sneakers:

The tour is in a golf cart, so you won´t be walking as much as in other attractions, parks and tours, but as my pedometer counted, I took 3 thousands steps while on the Warner Bros Studio Tour, and that´s a little over a mile; and you don´t want to walk a mile in high heels, that´s for sure.

4- Bring your Fan mode on – but not the crazed fan:

Chances are you will be fan of at least a couple of Warner Bros films and / or TV Shows. They have done from The Big Bang Theory to Friends, from The Mentalist to Scooby Doo, from Batman to Harry Potter. You will get excited to see some of the things; but please, everyone in your tour wants to enjoy it too. Be a fan, not a crazy one though.

5- Be ready to enter Central Perk – Friends Set:

You will see everything there as it was in the original set of Friends. After all these are the real things that were used while shooting. Every little thing and detail is from the original set; everything except for Phoebe Buffay´s guitar, a guitar that Lisa Kudrow took home as souvenir when the show wrapped up. But everything else is. You will get psyched and start humming the Frieds theme song.

Also, you will hear the story about Gunther and how he became Gunther when the character was never planned and was a lucky strike. (More on that later).

Also, you will notice how the set is smaller than it looked on TV. Don´t worry, everything is original, it´s just there´s a little thing called “The Magic of Television” that can make things look bigger than they are, and they have some tricks to make you think it is a bigger pub than it actually is.

6- Have good thoughts:

You will enter Warner Bros Museum while on Tour, and you will see the bottom floor with a lot of original memorabilia from shows and movies, but the top floor is everything about Harry Potter´s saga. You will see a lot of original costumes and props, and you will be offered a seat in the original stool that the kids were sitting in the first film when they got sorted, and… you will also be sorted!

They put in your head the original sorting hat, and it will read your mind and place you in the house you need to be.

Have good magical thoughts, if you do not have magical thoughts you won´t be sorted and be named a muggle, but if you do not have happy thoughts, you may end up in Slytherin!

7- Know that you will miss some things:

Don´t get bummed if you miss something, because you will. There´s so much to see that you won´t be able to process everything. You will enter the biggest prop house in all of Hollywood, so, chances are, you will miss tons of things. But hey, that gives you a perfect excuse to come back.

For instance, let me put it this way. They have the BIGGEST collection of props in all of Hollywood, and they are constantly either using them for productions, or renting them to other companies. How many movies have this closet been in? Who know, where else besides this movie has this lamp been on… and so on and on and on.

For instance… do you recognize the chair on the picture? I did when I got home and looked at the pictures. I took the picture ´cause it looked cool.

8- Be ready to say “ohhh” and “ahhh”:

A lot of things you would think they do it differently in films than they do. A lot of places you wouldn´t think are being filmed in LA. But it´s snowing… yes, they make it snow… but the trees have no leaves, yeah, they do that too. Hey, but the trees have leaves and the show´s been filmed in winter but posing as summer… yeah, they put the leaves back on the tree.

9- Be ready to get a gift:

Every tour in LA, NY, SF and everywhere else takes your picture in front of a green screen to have a picture edited of you. Difference is folks at Warner Bros Studio Tour give you one for free!

10- Bring some extra cash:

You will enter the Warner Bros Studios Store, and you will want to buy a lot. They have everything from Harry Potter´s wand (Bellatrix, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and a lot more wands) to Friends Cup, everything from Gilmore Girls T-Shirts to Looney Toons teddys. And you will want to get something either for you or to giveaway.

11- Plan ahead. Make reservations:

It depends when you are going and all, but to be safe, call before going, make reservations, and you will make sure you have your spot in the tour. You can call 877-492-8687 to make reservations or visit the website to buy tickets online.

12- Visit It! Do not miss it!

It is very much worth it. It will take aproximately two hours of your trip, but those two hours are well worth to spend. You will enjoy yourself very much there.

13- Directions to Warner Bros Studios Tour:

3400 Riverside Dr. Burbank, CA 91505
Enter Through Avon Street Parking on Gate 6 ($7.00 parking fee)
Ticket office hours 7:30am 7:00pm
Tours depart continuously Mon-Fri 8:20am – 4:00pm

14- Prizes:

The VIP Two hours and fifteen minutes tour is $49, and the Deluxe 5 hours tour is $250.

So, what do you think? Will you visit Warner Bros Studios Tour when in LA? You should!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section. Also, remember to follow me on Twitter for more Entertainment related Tourism and Travel reviews.

PS: Remember you can check out my Universal Studios Park and Tour Review also.

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