Since we enjoyed the Paramount Pictures studio tour so much we decided to book the Warner Bros studio tour the following day.
We didn’t have enough time to do the deluxe tour (equivalent for the Paramount Pictures VIP tour) at the Warner Bros Studio (even though I really, really wanted to), so we went with the classic tour.
During this tour we got to see the backlots, the Fuller House soundstage, the Batcave – Batmobile collection, the DC Universe exhibit, and the Harry Potter display.
The backlot of Warner Bros includes a midwest town square, which was different to Paramount Pictures as they only had the city backlots. In the backlot area we got to see the house where the Friends episode of the flash back to prom took place (“The One With the Prom Video”). You get to go inside and see the staircase where Ross was standing when Rachael’s date shows up.
The Batcave was really impressive. The setting was awesome to look over all of the cars and motorbikes used in the various films. There’s even the bat signal that you can turn on and off.
The DC Universe exhibit includes costumes and props from Aquaman and Wonder Woman. You can sit in the Aquaman throne and hold the Wonder Woman sword.
The Harry Potter display includes props and costumes from the Harry Potter movies as well as the Fantastic Beasts movies.
At the end of the guided tour you are left to complete the self-guided tour. This section includes the sets for the Central Perk Cafe (from Friends) as well as Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, the broken elevator, and the school cafeteria from The Big Bang Theory.
There is information script writing, casting, and audio. The audio theatre/show is really worth the time. They play a clip from a movie and then play it a couple of times with different audio layers – once with the actors voices, once with just the sound effects, once with the dramatic music, and finally with all of the audio together. It’s really interesting to hear the different layers of the audio that make up a scene from a movie.
We both enjoyed different parts of each tour (Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros Studio), but I think the Warner Bros tour was slightly better because it included several filming locations and sets for shows that we actually watched – Friends and The Big Bang Theory vs Dr Phil and Grace and Frankie.
I’m glad we did both tours and plan to do the deluxe tour at Warner Bros Studios next time, as well as the Sony tour…The good thing about any of the tours is that the sound stages you visit are likely to change based on the shows that are currently in production/filming, which is a good reason to visit again.