Warner Bros. Studio Tour -- Burbank, California

If Funko Pop was a theme park without rides, and Universal was a studio-inspired theme park, Warner Bros. was simply a studio, full of history yet still working and making new art.

It was magnificent.

There are different tours available. We chose the TCM Classic Films tour.

There is a cafe and gift shop that do not require a tour, and there are some cool things to see there.

Once you check in for your tour, it gets much cooler.

The waiting room has a kind of large-scale 3-D map of the studio, including the famous tower. 

All around there are pictures and video clips and some memorabilia, some of which bring back lots of memories.

Then you are brought into another room with an array of snacks and drinks that you can take with you.

We were taken into a small theater for a brief introductory video, and then we were taken to our trams.

The trams are much smaller than the Universal ones, and you get a much more intimate tour.

While there are some videos that you watch while riding, there isn't any memorized patter from the guides. Our tour was divided into two groups. We had some of the same stops, and some different ones.

Our guide knew a lot of stories. I am sure that we only heard some of them, but they were ones that she loved or ones that we asked about or ones that she may have thought of after asking us about our favorite films.

With the TCM tour, there was a lot of focus on older movies. From that we have already watched Baby Face; we should probably watch The Public Enemy as well.

Casablanca also came up, especially in the props warehouse.

It is also a working studio, so we saw some sets of current productions.

This is a facade for Abbott Elementary, with actual interior scenes filmed on sound stages, but printing makes it look real.

Also, many of the areas can be dual-purpose. So the factory area does manufacture materials that are then used in films, but sometimes scenes are filmed there too, for when you need a factory floor.

The commissary has also been used in film, even though it gets used by cast and crew for real food and drinks.

While facades and sound stages is a pretty normal division, a few of the buildings on Brownstone avenue had interior sets as well, and we got to go into one.

There were interesting things before and after the actual tour portion, but just by itself, the tour was amazing.

After that, there were many photo opportunities. These were mostly in the main building, including with sets for The Big Bang Theory. 

For Friends fans, you could get your picture taken not only at Central Perk, but also at the fountain.

There were also opportunities to try recording sounds or learning about special effects, and lots of memorabilia.

My sisters loved the gift store, finding some plush that was often hard to find, including some Hanna-Barbara.

Because we were nearing Halloween, some of the displays focused on some of your scarier movies. 

That's okay; there was lots of DC,   

and lots of old classic movies that I have seen multiple times... 

and even some movies I have seen fairly recently.

Truly, there should be something for everyone.

Highly recommended!  

COVID: I masked inside, but generally not while on the lot outside, based on our groups being small and the cars being open air. I came home healthy so it worked out. The studio page recommends masks but does not require them, aligning with local regulations.

Accessibility: The cars support most wheelchair types and will loan out wheelchairs for the tour as well. ASL interpreters are available and service dogs are welcome, but they would like advance notice for that.  

 There can be more or less walking, so if there are concerns, I recommend calling ahead.

 https://www.wbstudiotour.com/info/special-assistance/

https://www.wbstudiotour.com/ 

Universal Studios Hollywood

One of the things they said at the Funko Pop store was that they are like a theme park without the rides. Universal Studios has rides and is a theme park, but started as a studio.

The day after going to Universal, we did a different studio tour, and had that for comparison as well.

Looking at them, for rides I would rather be at Disneyland, and for a studio I would rather be at Warner Bros. That's not to say that Universal is bad, but it has its issues.

One is the lack of space. This means that most of the rides are indoors, and as much as the chairs move and visual effects make the motion seem real, you aren't actually going anywhere.

That doesn't make the rides bad, but it's not my preference.

Part of my problem may be an issue of familiarity. I loved Springfield because I know the Simpsons and it feels familiar; I have never seen The Secret Life of Pets.

I have seen Despicable Me, but I keep forgetting about Super Silly Fun Land.

I have seen the first two Harry Potter movies, though it's been a long time.

I had debated not going into that land at all, because I do not want to support J.K. Rowling, but I decided as long as I was there I would walk through.

The perspective on the buildings seems a little off. It looks kind of similar, but small and cramped. It's probably a space issue again, but Disney does it better. (It can also be completely reasonable to not want to support Disney, I know.) 

I guess that leaves a general sense of disappointment, but again, I loved Springfield! I do not regret seeing that; but I am not anxious to go back.

 I had mentioned for the Halloween Horror Party that it ignored the classic monsters... the oldest movie history that got any inclusion was being able to take your picture with Norman Bates at the Psycho house.

For the non-Halloween part, you don't even get attacked by a shark on the tram tour. I know the water existed before Jaws (we saw it in an Emergency episode), and no one would be surprised by the shark anymore, but it feels less fun.

There isn't quite the same sense of legacy. It's clearly not what they are going for, and there were plenty of people there, so it appears to be working, but not for me.

History can also be hard to hold onto, so here is some television trivia from me.

We recently watched The A-Team on video, and you get extra parts that you lose on the television airings.

In the premiere, Colonel Lynch is chasing the team through the Universal lot (it also shows up in the second season in "Steel"). The Red Sea parts for Hannibal, then closes on Lynch.

Anyway, at one point some MPs crash and you hear them say "I think we're in Quincy's living room."

We have also watched Quincy M.E.. Here's the funny part; he lived on a boat. When he married Emily he sold the boat, which was going to provide the down payment on a new place. That was late in the last season, and did not feature in many episodes. (That is not Quincy's boat.)

1983 was when Quincy ended and The A-Team started, so why not use the set that's going away to provide some demolition in the new series, but was there also some frustration at the new set being made for no good reason?

One other anecdote may illustrate something. I haven't seen Waterworld the movie, but I have seen the show at Universal. 

It's okay. It's hard to keep the good guys and the bad guys straight, but I'm not sure it matters that much.

There are lots of pyrotechnics and falling bodies and things crashing.

After the show, they introduced the cast and said what television and film credits they had. I decided to look some of them up, and they were not billed. That means they were extras. 

And yet, they are professional actors. Well, the show is more stunts, but still. Is that disappointing?

COVID: As most of the rides are indoors, there was more of a need to mask then you might find somewhere with more space. I will acknowledge that we didn't have terribly long waits for any rides.

Accessibility: For a lot of the rides it doesn't seem to be great, but this is from word of mouth. There is very little online information provided by the park. You should still be able to get into the Waterworld show, but you might be in the splash zone. It extends pretty far.  

https://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/web/en/us