MaleficentRN
Orange Bird is my spirit animal.
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2011
I'd been going back and forth on what studio tour to take and what beach to visit during our stay in California. I ended up cancelling my reservation at BWPPI and staying two nights at the Best Western Royal Palace near Culver City. It was inexpensive, fairly close to the airport and very close to all the Hollywood attractions we wanted to see, Santa Monica Beach and minutes from Sony Studios.
We check out of the hotel and our plan was to head to Sony, Little Tokyo and then drive to DL. I packed up the car and drove about 10 minutes to Sony. They have free valet parking in the garage right under the Sony corporate offices. You check in at the office building lobby and your group is shown a 15 minute film about the studio's history. You all then walk across the street to the filming studios.
The guide would tell us about how various areas of the lot are used for different scenes. A walkway turns into a park in Mike and Molly, the studio offices are the front of the high school in The Goldbergs. He talked about The Goldbergs a lot. I mean A LOT. The studio must tell him to "sell" certain shows.
We went in the studio's office lobby and saw some Oscars, walked around the lot and heard about some of the buildings and what they were used/being used for. We went into the studio being used for, (Surprise!) The Goldbergs. It was very interesting to walk around their "house" and "school" We were also let into the Wheel of Fortune set. Everything was covered, but it was still neat to see.
There is one huge building that they have I really wanted to go in. Most of the major blockbusters have been filmed there, such as Wizard of Oz and Air Force One, but it was closed.
The one thing that struck me was you could literally smell the history inside the buildings. I don't know how to describe it, but you know that old wood smell? It made me think about how many movies and TV shows had been produced there and how many stars had stood were I was standing. That's my movie geek coming out.
All in all, it took about two hours. After, we walked about five minute away (taking advantage of that free parking) to little diner type place for lunch, went back to corporate to get our car and head to Little Tokyo.
We check out of the hotel and our plan was to head to Sony, Little Tokyo and then drive to DL. I packed up the car and drove about 10 minutes to Sony. They have free valet parking in the garage right under the Sony corporate offices. You check in at the office building lobby and your group is shown a 15 minute film about the studio's history. You all then walk across the street to the filming studios.
The guide would tell us about how various areas of the lot are used for different scenes. A walkway turns into a park in Mike and Molly, the studio offices are the front of the high school in The Goldbergs. He talked about The Goldbergs a lot. I mean A LOT. The studio must tell him to "sell" certain shows.
We went in the studio's office lobby and saw some Oscars, walked around the lot and heard about some of the buildings and what they were used/being used for. We went into the studio being used for, (Surprise!) The Goldbergs. It was very interesting to walk around their "house" and "school" We were also let into the Wheel of Fortune set. Everything was covered, but it was still neat to see.
There is one huge building that they have I really wanted to go in. Most of the major blockbusters have been filmed there, such as Wizard of Oz and Air Force One, but it was closed.
The one thing that struck me was you could literally smell the history inside the buildings. I don't know how to describe it, but you know that old wood smell? It made me think about how many movies and TV shows had been produced there and how many stars had stood were I was standing. That's my movie geek coming out.
All in all, it took about two hours. After, we walked about five minute away (taking advantage of that free parking) to little diner type place for lunch, went back to corporate to get our car and head to Little Tokyo.
