(Reprinted from my other blog, Reel Travels Magazine with some minor edits.) I love love love any kind of tour or museum that has film or television memorabilia. So I knew on my three-week road trip to WrestleMania 39, I had to stop and take a Sony Pictures Studio Tour. (Years and years ago I took a Universal Studios Tour when I went to California to see Hollywood for the first time. I can’t explain how much this movie buff loved it and always wanted to do another.) The Sony Pictures Studio Tour — which I took with my son Travis — piggybacked off my first Hollywood Museum experience that we did a few days earlier. They were both so much fun.
I have to be honest, though. It started off a bit slow. We walked around the lots for quite some time where we were shown the outsides of buildings where certain shows were filmed. The tour guide would point to a wall and tell us what was filmed in there. All I kept thinking was, Are we ever going inside? I guess I was impatient because of course we did, and the rest of the tour was awesome. (For the rest of the article scroll past the photos.)
I was in the same studio where they filmed the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz and stood on the trap door that raised Glinda. I saw more memorabilia from some of my favorite TV shows and movies, especially Breaking Bad (below). If you want to read my post on my first visit to the Breaking Bad Store in Albuquerque, New Mexico, click here.
I held an Emmy and an Oscar (my heart literally skipped a beat!).
I sat in the audience in the actual Jeopardy studio; it’s much smaller than I thought it would be. Then, I also stood behind a Jeopardy contestant podium. Look how much I won!
My son and I sat on the Seinfeld couch (okay this was a recreation, but still).
I touched the car from Cobra Kai. This next part made me the most excited on the entire tour — I FINALLY touched one of the actual RVs used in Breaking Bad. I literally gasped when I saw it. The photo is the main photo for this article, but I confess that I did not put those bullet holes in the door! LOL According to the tour guide, there were a few RVs used, but the one they had was definitely one of them.
We were supposed to see the Wheel of Fortune set, but they were closed when we were there. Here are a few more pictures. From left to right, Venom, SpiderMan, and Ghostbusters.
On the Sony Pictures Studio Tour website, they write, “Keep your eyes open… You never know what – or who – will be around the next corner.” True, because a few shows were shooting around the outside of the lots that we walked by. Honestly, I can’t remember which ones they were but some of the other people on the tour got excited.
I was using a cane on the tour because I had tweaked my knee and I’m glad I brought it because if I hadn’t I might not have been able to keep up with everyone. So be aware that it’s a LOT of walking. There weren’t any bathroom breaks (although I did see a bathroom on the tour but nobody asked to use it.) The tour ended at, of course, the souvenir shop.
This tour was memorable and you do get a free photo in front of the Jeopardy board that you can do with your entire party. That photo, however, is taken in front of a green screen even though you get to see the studio and the actual Jeopardy board.
If You Go
Tickets for the Sony Pictures Studio Tour are $55 and the tour lasts for two hours. They also offer private tours, group tours, VIP lunch tours, and Halloween twilight tours (seasonal, starting at 6 p.m.) tours. For more information and to book tickets to the Sony Pictures Studio Tour, click here.
