Saturday 20 May 2017

Warner Brothers Studios to Anaheim!

Day 8, part 2:

So our next stop on our tour was at the Warner Brothers Studios for the studio tour. This dude was standing outside on our way in:
 
Our guide brought us in to get our tickets and then we just hung around the gift shop waiting for our tour to start:
 The tour started with a movie showing the history of the Warner Brothers Studios before we went out to little carriages and were brought first to a little forest area that they use to shoot forest or wood scenes. There was also a few buildings nearby like this one which we were told was used as the paintball shed in Big Bang Theory:
 
Next we drove to one of their permanent town sets which has been used in movies like the Gremlins and shows like Gilmore girls, 2 Broke Girls and Pretty little liars:
 
We also made a quick stop at the Geller House from Friends:
 
After we left the Geller House we drove around and saw a few more of the permanent buildings such as the café from 2 Broke Girls:

And this building was the front of Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment in the Big Bang Theory:
 Next we headed to a museum area that had Harry Potter and Batman props. First I went to check out the Harry Potter props:
 


We got to try on the Sorting hat and be sorted into houses. I got Hufflepuff. The girl sorting people explained it was Cedric Diggory’s house and means a lot of stuff like you’re a great friend:
 Bellatrix and Death-eater costumes:
 
We took a quick look around the Batman costumes and props before it was time to head back to our tour:

 Next we headed to the front lot and saw some of the stages where they build the sets. We visited Central Perk and got pictures on the couch:
 We also went to see the Batman cars:
 


We also drove past the studio where Ellen films her show. Her producer walked out as we were passing and said Ellen wouldn’t be there for another hour:
 
We visited the set for Two and a Half Men before we headed back to the main building. We had a browse in the shop before we left. My trip buddy got these to take home:
 
Next we headed to see the Hollywood sign:
 
After that we headed back to Downtown L.A. with our guide pointing out radio stations and buildings used in movies along the way. We also passed the Walt Disney Studios:
 
Our final stop on our tour was at the Biltmore Hotel where the Academy awards used to be filmed. This place was fabulous. Pictures really don’t do it justice:
 


Our guide also showed us the room the awards used to be held in. I was surprised how small it seemed:
After that we headed back to Anaheim. We got to our hotel at about 6.30:

We were both to tired to go very far for food so we just got a couple of pizza slices from a nearby takeaway and brought them back to our room and had a much needed early night after our food:

  

Sunday 14 May 2017

Back to L.A. for Movie Star Homes!

Day 8, part 1:
 Monday, 24th of November

For today we had booked the L.A. Movie Stars Homes and Warner Brothers Studios tour with the Anaheim Tour Company. Our guide arrived bright and early at 8.30 and we were pleasantly surprised to find we were the only two on the tour. Our guides name was Rick and first thing he asked was what our interests were so of course I said Disney!  When we got into L.A. we were a bit ahead of schedule so he drove into this little graveyard to show us. It was a bit bizarre because outside the gates L.A. was really busy with traffic and streets full of people and then he drove into this quiet, calm place in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. He pointed out some of the stars graves and crypts; the one with the red flowers is apparently where Marilyn Monroe was buried
 After our brief drive through the graveyard we headed to Rodeo Drive. You know you’re in the posh part of town when they have chandeliers for street lights:

Our guide did say that these were just for Christmas but still! We wandered around for a bit, taking a few pictures as we went:
Then we headed over to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel which was used in the movie Pretty Woman
 
Once we were back in the tour van we headed off to see the Movie Star homes. Mostly it was Movie Star gates but still. As I had said earlier in the day I was a Disney fan our guide made sure to show us some Disney related homes. This one was the former home of Mr. Walt Disney:
 
Tim Burton’s Mailbox:
David Beckham’s house was up behind the trees.
 
We also saw Christina Aguilera’s house which the guide said used to belong to Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne and was used in the T.V. Series they filmed for MTV.
Next we headed to Greystone Manor, a massive mansion that has been used in several movies:

We wandered around the grounds for a bit taking in the mansion and the views. As we wandered the guide told us about some of the rooms in the house and what they were used for in what movies, like one of the rooms was for the pink balloons scene in the Witches of Eastwick:




Our guide also said that the mansion was sometimes hired out for wedding receptions. Once we left Greystone Manor we headed back along Sunset Boulevard to our lunch stop which was going to be at Carney’s Rail Car, Sheldon from Big Bang Theory’s favourite restaurant. It was an old train car made into a take away place:


The food here was super yum as well. I got a cheese burger and chips:
 
My trip buddy got sweet potato fries and a chicken apple sausage:
 


Once we were all fed we headed toward our next stop and the guide pointed out a few more movie homes and places as we went. The one on the hills was used in the X-Men and Charlie’s Angels movies:

Next we had a short stop on the Walk of Fame. It was only 30 minutes which we felt if it had have been our first time there would not have been long enough as unless we knew where the stars were that we wanted to see and things like that we wouldn’t have found them in that amount of time. As we had been there before though we weren’t to worried about that so we headed to Disney Soda Fountain to get some Pin Trader Delight Sundae’s. We had a little time left after our ice-creams so just wandered around reading names of the stars and browsing shops:
 My trip buddy wanted photos of Elvis:

After our quick browse we headed back to the tour van and towards our next stop.  


Friday 12 May 2017

Retail Therapy at Citadel Outlets

Day 7:
Sunday, 23rd of November

So today we were taking a break from parks and heading to the Citadel Outlets for a bit of retail therapy. The outlets were pretty much the same as any American outlets, full of designer shops with items super cheap compared to home.  We got to the outlets early and used this dude as our marker for where to get the bus home:
 
We did lots of shopping but of course we couldn’t go to the outlets without a visit to the Disney Store. They had a sale on their plush toys it was buy one get one for one dollar!
 
The store was insane. It was like rats to the last bit of food. It was complete and utter chaos and the displays were all extremely messy making it very hard to actually see what was available in the store at all. I did find a Duffy bear for half price though:

I spotted a cute little Kevin as well:
After the Disney store we just browsed the outlets for a while before it was time to head back to the bus. The outlets claimed to have the world’s tallest Christmas tree. This said it was 40ft high:
 
I loved the way around the outlets the Palm trees were decorated with ribbons and lights for Christmas as well:
 
We had booked a bus back for 6 and we kind of felt like we could have done with more time there but the outlets were very busy that day and we were both getting sick of the crowds so we headed back to the hotel. When we got back we had a rest for a while then my trip buddy wanted to go to a nearby CVS for some snacks. They had a giant M&M near their check-outs:
 
We got Meatball Marinara subs in subway and brought them back to the hotel for dinner:

Then we had a much needed early night.