Studio tours & celebrity homes?

[Torontogal]

We will be visiting California and plan to tour around Hollywood on Oct. 9th.

We are interested in a movie star homes tour or Hollywood area AND a studio tour. I think we are leaning towards Warner Brothers based on recommendations from others.

Does anyone have a tour they recommend that might offer both as a package? Hoping to find two tours which are in close proximity to each other. TIA

 

[ktlm]

I am unaware of any that would offer both as a package. The studio tours are stand alone by their own studio.

I highly recommend the Warner Brothers Studio tour.

 

[China Expat]

I recommend WarnerBros Studio Tour and Paramount Studios!

 

[bbeagle]

As far as I've seen: Universal, WarnerBros, Paramount, Sony and Walt Disney Studios in Burbank (not Disneyland) offer tours.

Anyone have opinions on which ones the best ones to visit?

 

[ktlm]

As far as I've seen: Universal, WarnerBros, Paramount, Sony and Walt Disney Studios in Burbank (not Disneyland) offer tours.

Anyone have opinions on which ones the best ones to visit?

Walt Disney Studios does not have a regular open to the public tour. They sometimes have them available for D23 members, and they also have a package if you get enough Disney insider movie rewards points. It takes years to accumulate enough points. Outside of that, you pretty much have to know someone on the inside to book one of their tours.

We have done Universal and Warner Brothers. Universal is more like a theme park ride. It is part of your theme park admission. The line starts in the park, and you have access by being in the theme park that day. It is definitely fun and worth doing if you are going to Universal anyway. It has some ride type elements. It is still a working studio so your route can change. For example, we didn't get to see the Back to the Future courthouse square/clock tower the day we were there because they were either doing something or filming back there the day we did it.

Warner Brothers is a stand alone tour. It is really great. I would highly recommend that one.

We haven't done Paramount, but when we looked at reviews it seemed like people enjoyed it--- but preferred Warner Brothers if they could only pick one. However, some of that might depend on what movies and shows you are most interested in. Warner Brothers had a lot of Friends, Harry Potter, Big Bang Theory, Gilmore Girls, DC comics movies, Golden Age (like the musical The Music Man), etc.

 

[Steven G]

I've been to the WB, Sony, Paramount, and Universal tours (and Disney, but as mentioned it is not generally open to the public)

In my opinion, WB is the best one overall, but as someone above pointed out, it may be because of the shows I'm interested in. I just think it's the best run one and most organized.

Second would be Paramount, their studio has a lot of history inside of it.

Third would be Sony, the last time I was on there it was kind of disorganized, but that may be because they just restarted the tours after covid. Even taking that into account, it's probably the least interesting.

Fourth would be Universal, just because you stay in the tram the entire time. It doesn't come close to what you would see on the other 3 tours.

Note that Sony is an all walking tour, there is no tram or cart.
WB you go from place to place in a cart, and get out multiple times
Paramount is also on a cart, and get out multiple times.
Universal is obviously all on the long tram.

Now, if instead of the regular tours, you are talking about the VIP tours, my order changes:

VIP tours:
First would still be Warner Bros tour, it's just very detailed and organized and interesting. (note that they call it the "Deluxe tour")
Second would be Universal, it is improved greatly from the standard one and they have lots of great information on this version of their tour.
Third would be Paramount.

Note that the VIP tours from WB, Paramount and Universal are very close in my mind, so even though Paramount is listed third, it's still very good and much better than the starndard tours.

I never took Sony VIP tour.
The order for the VIP tours is mainly because of what I am interested in.

As far as tram or cart, the only big difference is Universal, in which the huge tram you are on, is instead a much smaller VIP trolley, and you get on and off multiple times. I believe the Sony VIP tour you are on a cart at least part of the time, but I don't have personal experience.

Note that on the VIP tours, you get some food, and generally the food is a nice table service meal. Universal has an all you can eat buffet, which is by far the best food at Universal.

 

[bbeagle]

The Sony tour requires kids to be at least 12, the Disney and Paramount tours requires kids to be at least 10.

The others allow kids 5 and older. Since our youngest is 7, Sony, Paramount and Disney are out. Looks like through our D23 membership, we have a possibility of Disney, but can’t now due to our son's age.

Our kids, 15 and 7, don’t know much about movies before the year 2000. The paramount tour includes iCarly, which my daughter loves. Will kids be intrigued by the regular or VIP tours if they don’t know the movies? They know the super heroes, Star Wars and Back to the Future. That's about it. They don’t even know Jaws.

 

[FeliciaB23]

I cannot express this enough - “movie star home tours” are a complete waste of time and money, not to mention, I think they’re pretty frowned upon by those living in said homes. It was the biggest tourist trap I ever stepped in to - I unfortunately took one in 2014 and saw a bunch of roofs of homes, hidden behind shrubbery and fences lolll. Regretted my decision immediately after. Don’t recommend.

As for studio tours - Warner Brothers is the way to go. Universal is great too but it’s included with your theme park tickets so, you could always do both if you plan on a Uni park day!

 

[Steven G]

Paramount is also 10 and up, so that won’t work for you.

for the vip, the main negative for kids is the length, and that tend to go more places that may not be as appealing for them especially if they dont know the shows. The wb studio tour and Universal are best for kids.

 

[bbeagle]

Paramount is also 10 and up, so that won’t work for you.

for the vip, the main negative for kids is the length, and that tend to go more places that may not be as appealing for them especially if they dont know the shows. The wb studio tour and Universal are best for kids.

I just noticed the 10 year age requirement for Paramount and updated my post. I guess it will be Universal and WB for our family this trip.

 

[LKing]

Looks like through our D23 membership, we have a possibility of Disney, but can’t now due to our son's age.

The Disney studio tour is more about the history of Disney animation. There are a couple of sound stages, but you don't really see where movies are made.

When are you planning on visiting? D23 sometimes has other events at the Burbank studios. They had a holiday event last December and are having a Royal Anniversary Ball next month. They are pricey, but don't have the same age restrictions.

 

[LKing]

We are interested in a movie star homes tour

Have you looked at a Bob Gurr tour?

https://waltland.com/tour/

 

[bbeagle]

The Disney studio tour is more about the history of Disney animation. There are a couple of sound stages, but you don't really see where movies are made.

When are you planning on visiting? D23 sometimes has other events at the Burbank studios. They had a holiday event last December and are having a Royal Anniversary Ball next month. They are pricey, but don't have the same age restrictions.

Planning on visiting in February. I've been monitoring D23 for any events, but so far only up to Christmas.

 

[Torontogal]

Have you looked at a Bob Gurr tour?

https://waltland.com/tour/

Interesting! Going to look into this one. Thanks!

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

Our timing was awful for our last WB tour. We were visiting my brother and SIL for Thanksgiving. My SIL was a Warner executive, so she can get access to tapings and in use sets. Except - when it’s too close to a holiday, and there is no actual activity because no one is at work!

It was still a good tour!

 

[Torontogal]

The Disney studio tour is more about the history of Disney animation. There are a couple of sound stages, but you don't really see where movies are made.

When are you planning on visiting? D23 sometimes has other events at the Burbank studios. They had a holiday event last December and are having a Royal Anniversary Ball next month. They are pricey, but don't have the same age restrictions.

Visiting Oct. 9th

 

[LKing]

Visiting Oct. 9th

Bummer. The Anniversary Ball is on October 15. It is $$$, but could be a unique experience.

 

[KareyS]

I have a question related to this post. We are going to be in Disney for 3 days in January. We are planning on doing the Warner Bros tour on a Monday, traveling from the Disneyland Resort area. (We ideally wanted Tuesday but isn't available.) We will have a rental so we are planning on driving. I found a post from 2019 that suggested you get there early to avoid rush hour but other posts say rush hour is 7 to 10:30. The tours start times range from 9 to 3:30. We are pretty flexible on our times for that day, only need to be back in Anaheim by dinner time. So how much time do we figure for travel? Google says 1 hr but I assume that is with zero traffic. 2 hours? Second, what time do you suggest we plan on taking the tour? We are not familiar with the area and live in an area with minimal traffic, so we appreciate any help.