“This place better not burn down before I get my entrée!" – A DLR Feb16 TR (8/25 Wrap-up & new TR)

[Saphire5742]

I've said this many times - but I'll keep repeating it. ALL Disney fans should find the time to switch up their trips and take at least ONE trip out to Disneyland. It's enough of a different experience with some very unique and wonderful things. If you are coming from the east cost - the airfare can add some costs, but you can really stay very inexpensively within a short walk of the parks, so it's great to find a way to do it.

I don't disagree with you there. I would love to get to DL. But I also don't live in the States. I used to, in NY, until 9 years ago when I moved overseas to Israel. So planning a trip to Cali isn't quite that simple. Right now I'm planning a WDW trip. It's been 18 years since my last trip there. I'm sandwiching it between a visit to my family in NY. But for that I needed to request more time off work and that's not always possible.
For now Cali remains a dream. I will get there eventually.

 

[CherylGonz]

Following. We are planning to go the end of June. We don't have a car but are looking to do a tour of Hollywood/Beach to break up the trip.

 

[skier_pete]

I don't disagree with you there. I would love to get to DL. But I also don't live in the States. I used to, in NY, until 9 years ago when I moved overseas to Israel. So planning a trip to Cali isn't quite that simple. Right now I'm planning a WDW trip. It's been 18 years since my last trip there. I'm sandwiching it between a visit to my family in NY. But for that I needed to request more time off work and that's not always possible.
For now Cali remains a dream. I will get there eventually.

Ooooh - yes that would be a LONG way to go, I can get why you wouldn't want to do that! And if you can't get to WDW, there's certainly nothing wrong with just going THERE. My point was more that Disney fans shouldn't assume Disneyland is just more of the same.

Following. We are planning to go the end of June. We don't have a car but are looking to do a tour of Hollywood/Beach to break up the trip.

It's a good idea, but I am not sure how you would go about getting to Hollywood/LA without a car. You defintely don't need one at DLR. I did a quick google search and there ARE day tours you can take from Anaheim that will take you to Hollywood. You shouldn't have a problem finding them yourselves!

 

[skier_pete]

Day 4
One of the perks of staying at the Tangerine hotel, they had a small breakfast area where you could get coffee, but also they have a selection of pastries that come from a nearby bakery that were very fresh and very delicious. We really didn’t have to rush out in the morning, in fact, we got out of the hotel about 9 AM, and it turned out that it was way to early. I thought I had booked the 9:30 AM tour, but it turned out I had actually booked the 10 AM tour, so we had to sit around for about 45 minutes at the Warner Brothers entrance.



For the Animaniacs fans out there:



So – for those that have never been to Hollywood, there are many different tours you can take. At Universal, they have what they call a “Backlot” tour, where they take you around and see where certain movies were shot, but it isn’t really a functioning backlot. The same could be say of the Backlot tour at DHS in Florida for the last 15 years or so. No real production.

Well, Warner Brothers is a working studio. They have a working backlot area, as well as studios that are shooting both TV shows and the occasional movie. Right now, the shows shooting at WB studios are Ellen , Mom, Mike and Molly (thought that’s done now), Big Bang Theory, Pretty Little Liars, Supergirl, and new incarnations of Fuller House and the new Gilmore Girls. They won’t tell you about any movies shooting there – though it’s rarer for movies to shoot on lot. So many TV and movies are now shot out of California because of the tax benefits that various states give to movie/TV productions.

Here’s an overhead view of the area. You can see the backlot as well as the various studios. There are also a multitude of production offices and also the legal and executive departments for Warner Brothers, though they didn’t really take us through that area.



We were all a little disappointed in this tour. DW and I had done the tour before, and they had let us get out of the car during the backlot section of the tour and walk into the sets to see how they are set up as facades, or whether there are limited interiors. This tour guide says “IT’s hot out, does anyone not want to walk?” (it was maybe 75 F when the tour started.) Well, two people raised their hands, so she took that as we wouldn’t stop and walk around.

We did get to go to the “jungle” section of the back-lot, this is the only remaining forest/jungle backlot in the studio system, so it’s actually used a lot by all kinds of productions. It was relatively small – maybe 2 acres, but they use clever filming to shoot things. The T-Rex car chase in the original Jurassic Park was apparently shot here. From what our guide said, if you look carefully, they drive by this same tree multiple times during the T-rex chase.


Much of the rest of the backlot was off-limits to pictures. Our guide said it was quite exciting because this is the first day they let us on the lot where they had the Gilmore Girls exteriors set up. Not being a fan of the show, I can’t say I really found it that exciting, but I DO wish I could share pictures with you. For now, this is what you get instead:




Note this theater is not just back lot set – this is the theater they have actual internal showings of films and work-in-progress prints.

I thought this was interesting – sometimes when the backgrounds are never really going to be shown, they just PAINT a façade to look like a city street.


Next thing they took us into an area with props on display. One floor was all Harry Potter stuff, and the other was all Batman stuff. This was really cool as fans of these movies. I’ll let you know what everything is in case you aren’t familiar with the property.

Dementor costume:

Harry, Hermione, and Ron’s costumes from I think Prisoner of Azkaban:

This is the lower body troll costume for Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone (depending on your country) Upper portion of troll was all CGI (and really bad CGI):

Harry’s FIrebolt broom I think (could’ve been the Nimbus 3000 as well):

Arogog – from Chamber of Secrets:

The Wizard Chess Set Harry and Ron play in Sorcerer’s Stone:

Knight’s Bus fares from Prisoner…– clearly written by the same person as the one who wrote the recent Disney rate increase. Since it’s hard to read:
“KNIGHTS BUS
Anywhere you Like, as long as it’s on land
Fares Valid from Moon in Aquarius to Moon in Virgo
11 Sickles – From Here to There – Cheap Ticket
13 Sickles – From Here to There + a hot chocolate – Silver Ticket
15 Sickles – From Here to There + a hot water bottle and a toothbrush in the colour of your choice (green, purple, red, and dark brown) – Gold Ticket
18 Sickles – From Here to There + a hot chocolate, a hot water bottle and a toothbrush in the colour of your choice (green, purple, red, and dark brown) – Diamond Ticket
More than 2 pets pay an extra 2 Sickles. Return tickets also available.
The KNIGHTS BUS is unable to give refunds.
Thank you for traveling with us, Enjoy your journey."

A Mandrake plant. Was not screeching.

Maquettes of the Baskalisk, Lupin, Fluffy and BuckBeak. (Fans will know which is which.)

They had a sorting hat prop that an employee would hold over your head to sort your house. DW decided to try it out, as DD refused. (Though later she bought a Slytherin pillow. UGH, my child wants to be in Slytherin.) Anyways, DW got sorted into Slytherin, but she made them redo it, and they put here in Hufflepuff. That’s actually probably the right house for her. I’d likely be Ravenclaw. (Yup – we know our Potter.)

The crystal egg from Goblet of Fire:

Costumes from the Deathly Hallows:

Now onto Batman – they had costumes from all 7 movies – nothing from the new one.

Michelle Pfieffer’s catwoman costume – which apparently she had to be sewn into everytime

Batman Fever - oops –I always call it that – Batman Forever

Bat Tumbler model

The Dark Knight costumes

Dark Knight Rises

Amazing that people would wear these costumes. They look so completely uncomfortable and impractical.


Next up we went back outside for the second half of the tour. (To be continued at a later date.)

 

[Saphire5742]

Eh, What's up DOC? Love Bugs Bunny!

For the Animaniacs fans out there:

It's time for Animaniacs, and we're zany to the max......
I grew up on this show! Used to have a shirt with the characters on it.

This tour guide says “IT’s hot out, does anyone not want to walk?” (it was maybe 75 F when the tour started.) Well, two people raised their hands, so she took that as we wouldn’t stop and walk around.

That sucks.

Thanks for sharing the HP props. That was cool to see.

 

[rteetz]

Looks like a great time at WB studios! I am not a huge fan of HP but I do like some of the other things.

 

[Tinker326]

Hahaha- Yup, Sarah always says she would be sorted into Slytherin as well. When we went to Universal and the girls were able to pick out wands.. she got Voldermorts.

I would really still like to do that Warners Brothers Studio someday.

 

[skier_pete]

That sucks.

Thanks for sharing the HP props. That was cool to see.

We thought it sucked too! The tour was much better three years ago, for this and other reasons I'll get to in my next update.

Looks like a great time at WB studios! I am not a huge fan of HP but I do like some of the other things.

The coolest parts - going onto the sets, are yet to come.

Hahaha- Yup, Sarah always says she would be sorted into Slytherin as well. When we went to Universal and the girls were able to pick out wands.. she got Voldermorts.

I would really still like to do that Warners Brothers Studio someday.

Maybe it's the talking to snakes thing....they can share a room together in the basement dorm.

 

[NJlauren]

I'm here!!! Looks like the trip is off to a good start! We leave for DL in a little over 60 days so looking forward to that part of his report!

 

[franandaj]

Too bad you had some lazy folks in your tour. I would be Gryffendor forever! I already have the sword hanging in my hallway as well as a pennant from that house. Somewhere (packed in a box) I have Ron's wand and Hermione's Time Turner. No I'm not mad.

It's funny I knew every single one of the props you showed from HP. Batman, not so much. I don't think I even saw more than one of those movies. Interesting little tidbits you shared about the tour.

 

[kcpinwdw]

Hi Pete! Joining in! Great pictures so far!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Thanks for sharing - looks interesting but sorry that it turned out to be a bit disappointing ... I would definitely think getting close to the sets to really explore would be key

The Harry Potter and Batman stuff is pretty cool though

It's time for Animaniacs, and we're zany to the max......
I grew up on this show! Used to have a shirt with the characters on it.

ok, glad I wasn't the only one who first thought of the Animaniacs when he posted the picture of the water tower!

 

[azarine]

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[skier_pete]

I'm here!!! Looks like the trip is off to a good start! We leave for DL in a little over 60 days so looking forward to that part of his report!

Not sure that I'll be complete by then, but definitely getting to Disneyland in the next week or so.

Too bad you had some lazy folks in your tour. I would be Gryffendor forever! I already have the sword hanging in my hallway as well as a pennant from that house. Somewhere (packed in a box) I have Ron's wand and Hermione's Time Turner. No I'm not mad.

It's funny I knew every single one of the props you showed from HP. Batman, not so much. I don't think I even saw more than one of those movies. Interesting little tidbits you shared about the tour.

DD was Hermoine for Halloween the last few years - this was the FIRST time she ever mentioned liking Slytherin. You do have to know that she does/says things with the intent of annoying us, so that could be a big part of it.

I've seen all the Batman movies, can't say I'm a huge fan - just wish there was a little more variety to the displays.

Hi Pete! Joining in! Great pictures so far!

Thanks - glad you are enjoying it!

Thanks for sharing - looks interesting but sorry that it turned out to be a bit disappointing ... I would definitely think getting close to the sets to really explore would be key

The Harry Potter and Batman stuff is pretty cool though

ok, glad I wasn't the only one who first thought of the Animaniacs when he posted the picture of the water tower!

It wasn't that the tour was bad, just not quite as good as the previous one. There was still some very fun parts.

Looking forward to the rest!

Hoping to post the rest of the tour before the end of the week.

 

[skier_pete]

OK - I am excited to get to the Disney part of this trip - so here is the rest of our WB tour!

A courthouse outdoor façade – this was apparently used in every Batman episode (60s Batman TV show).

DD being really unimpressed by all this


Next we headed onto the Big Bang Theory set. Each Studio lists all the movies/TV shows that have shot on that set.


We had seen this set before in 2013. Like that time, much of it was covered up. We actually went in with another tour group, and the other guide was a much better speaker than our guide. We sat where the studio audience would sit, and they talked a little about how the show is produced and taped. The portion that our guide talked about her voice was very low, and there was another group nearby talking louder. DW and I had pushed down to the front, so it wasn’t too bad for us, but my mom, who had just taken a seat in the back, couldn’t hear parts of the session.

Last time we came on a Sunday. I thought by coming on a Monday we would maybe see some celebrities at work, but generally everything was still shut down because it was President’s Day.

Actually, I did see a lot of the Production people on the lot. A lot of the bigger name producers have offices right on the lot, we saw cars in the parking spots for Greg Berlanti (Flash, Arrow, Supergirl) and Amy Palladino (Gilmore Girls) and I also saw Peter Roth’s spot was occupied. For those that don’t know – he’s the President of WB television. I was the only one in the vehicle nerdy enough to notice this or even care. Not surprisingly, he had a prime spot.

Next they gave us the option of the prop department, or seeing some vehicles. Unfortunately, last time the vehicles thing had all kinds of stuff from Scooby Doo, Harry Potter, Chuck, Austin Powers, Willy Wonka..etc… now it was 100% Batman.





Maybe neat for some, but they had a working bat-signal their, and they let people turn it on and off with the big handle, so you could “light the bat signal”. Didn’t make me nerd out too much.

The next stop was probably the best part of the this tour – our guide took us to one of the Supergirl main sets. Now, I’m not a big fan of the show. We tried watching the first 3 or 4 episodes, and didn’t really care for it, so we dropped it from the rotation. We only have room for maybe 6-8 regular shows, so a show better catch us early. (BTW – if you want a very strong new TV show that doesn’t involve superheroes – watch Quantico – which is EXCELLENT.)

Anyways, they set she took us on was the underground offices of the department of alien affairs or whatever it is called that Supergirl’s sister works for. This was really cool, because unlike a sitcom, it’s a full on built set. Even not being a fan of the show, it is very cool seeing the level of detail that goes into the set. There is actually an underground river that flows through the cave set, but it’s never really been seen on the show. Our guide said there were five (!!!) soundstages devoted to Supergirl. Quite impressive. Of course, no photos were allowed.

Another change to the tour that happened since 2013 is that it used to be a three hour back-lot tour, and now it is a two hour back-lot tour, followed by an hour “self-guided” tour through a sort of museum era that shows different phases of production and development.

I have to say I thought at first this was a real rip, but the actual area was pretty nicely done. Now, it really wasn’t an hour’s worth of stuff in less you read every single note in every single display, but really it was pretty neat.

They had an area where they talked about screenwriting. I wanted to take a look at the notes here later – so I took a picture of the Casablanca story beats – Another movie if you haven’t seen it, see it.


The they showed about casting and costuming – more uncomfortable looking superhero costumes.

They had the old Friends Central Perk set set-up here. We had seen this on the last tour, but not in this location. They had an employee standing there to take our picture. DD didn’t want to be in it.





A point made on the tour was how much smaller sets were in real life than they look on TV. Central Perk is a great example of this, because in fact it is a tiny, tiny area.

I took a picture of this – this was the end section of the LEGO movie. One of the great animated movies of the last few years, the LEGO movie is almost entirely CG – but the credits sequence was all done real using stop motion, and this is the actual set-up that was used.


Each individual box was changed for the full 24 frames a second stop motion effect.


Here’s a neat one – here’s an example of how they construct a set on the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter to make one character look much larger than the other by old fashioned forced perspective. (I was at a smaller table closer to the camera.


They had an area where you could use green screen to ride a broom or a batcycle and be CGI’d into a movie scene. There was a decent line for this, and DD didn’t want to do it. (See a trend.) Since it cost like $50 to get your picture/video, I figured why bother.

There was another area where you could use your own motion to move Dobby from Harry Potter.


Then some more WB trinkets. The original Linda Carter Wonder Woman outfit.




And with that our tour was complete. Again, overall I think this time through was slightly weaker than the previous time. The new version of the tour is still interesting, but spending only 2 hours on the backlot instead of 3 means you see less UNIQUE stuff. (We saw THREE soundstages last time, including the Ellen Show set.) I would still recommend it if you've never done a studio tour, but I think next time we would try the Paramount tour, which is the only other working studio with a tour. (I did that one back in the early nineties.)

It was now around 1 PM and we were ready for some lunch. We had seen a nice looking Mexican restaurant next to the hotel, so we decied to take the 2 minute drive over there to have lunch. No pictures, but if you are ever in Burbank looking for Mexican, Don Cuco’s is pretty good.

From here – our next destination was Anaheim and just outside of Disneyland. I say “just outside” because we will be spending our first night at the Tropicana Inn across the street from Disneyland on Harbor Boulevard. The drive down was uneventful as a mid-afternoon drive through LA could be. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to go 25 miles on the highway – so I guess this is “good”. It was around 3:30 PM when we got to the Tropicana Inn.

Now for those of you reading this that have only stayed at WDW, the “off-property” experience at Disney World and Disneyland are two completely different things. We’ve stayed at the Tropicana twice before now (once for 3 nights, the other just the last night after our DVC trip) and the location can’t be beat. Imagine if at Disney World they built a hotel that was located at the bus stop for Magic Kingdom, because that’s about the length of the walk to the park entrance. The Tropicana is a nice budget hotel, we’ve experienced it to be clean and good room service. They had a mid-week special going on that made it $99 a night, and I will tell you right now if we couldn’t use our DVC points to stay at the Grand, I would come back here in a heartbeat. Certainly nothing fancy - your standard hotel room, but it had enough space.



Because of the size of the rooms, and because of the low prices – I decided that I would spring for us to have TWO rooms for the night. I was originally thinking DD would sleep with DMom in the same room, but DD wanted to sleep in our room. Perhaps we should have fought this more, but we let her – figuring it hardly mattered.

So – we didn’t have too much time to rest. My mother has a close friend that lives nearby, and we planned to spend the evening visiting. (Not that exciting to the rest of us – but made mom happy.) We had about an hour to “relax” but while everyone else got to rest, I got to spend my relax time walking over to Disneyland to get our tickets. This is sort of the most tortuous moment of the trip…walking across the street on Harbor Boulevard…and walking under this sign.



You pass through what I call the “Magic Shrubbery”, this hedge barrier at the edge of Harbor Boulevard that once you enter past, you are now at the Disneyland Bus Stop, and in the midst of the two parks, with Disney music playing and happy tourists and slightly less happy Cast Members making their way towards the parks. Well, I knew I wasn’t getting past the ticket counters myself. It took about 10 minutes to claim our SOCAL PASS (3 days DLR, 1 day LEGOland, 1 day Seaworld). I took two pictures from the same spot so I could share this fine torture with DW. One facing North….



…and one facing South…


…and with that I said “Goodbye!” to Disneyland for another 15 hours. The evening was uneventful and we went out to dinner at a very good Chinese restaurant that we ordered way too much food and left it with my mom’s friends. We did not stay out late because we had an EARLY start the next morning!

Up next – The Happiest Place on Earth! (Once you get through the security line.)

 

[rteetz]

Great update! I am a batman fan so seeing that stuff would be cool. I also find that forced perspective set really cool too!

 

[kcpinwdw]

That studio tour looked awesome, I've never been on one and now it is on my list! Is it hard not to compare everything Disneyland to the World?? I remember my first adult trip to DIsney world I kept getting confused about things because I had been to Disneyland so much more as a kid... but now I've been to disney world so much more! Cant wait for your next update...

 

[skier_pete]

Great update! I am a batman fan so seeing that stuff would be cool. I also find that forced perspective set really cool too!

Yeah, it's even cooler than the photo shows. The Table between us is actually made up of two separate pieces. You really can't tell from the angle of the photo. (The photo is of the video screen that shows the shot when you sit at the table - which is why its sort of poor focus. However, it's in camera that the shot works.)

The Batman stuff is pretty cool, it's funny how sort of ridiculous the vehicles are. I thought I had a picture of the Christian Bale Bat Cycle but it didn't get posted...such a ridiculously awkward looking vehicle.

That studio tour looked awesome, I've never been on one and now it is on my list! Is it hard not to compare everything Disneyland to the World?? I remember my first adult trip to Disney world I kept getting confused about things because I had been to Disneyland so much more as a kid... but now I've been to disney world so much more! Cant wait for your next update...

Thanks. It's definitely hard not to compare to WDW - my "home" resort. Mostly what I note is "smaller/more compact" - I'll probably say that 20 times on this TR.

 

[Saphire5742]

Sounds like a pretty neat tour.
Adding (working) studio tour to the list of things to do whenever I get to California.
How cool that you got to visit Ellen's studio the last time. I would LOVE to see her show one day in person.

 

[khertz]

My inner Harry Potter nerd was really geeking out at all of those HP costumes & props on the tour!! How did the sorting actually work? Very cool to say you have been sorted by THE Sorting Hat! I also didn't realize part of the troll was not CGI. Pretty cool!

A Mandrake plant. Was not screeching.

I don't know why, but this really made me

How neat! I guess I thought a lot of that was computer generated since so much in the movie business is nowadays. It's actually pretty cool to see that they still do stuff like this with some good old fashioned forced perspective. LOTR is another of my favorite movie franchises.

Love the pics from the Friends set!

Oh man, what a tease to go through the gates but not be able to get into the park yet!!