OhioStateBuckeye
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2007
Day 2: Jim Henson Studio Tour: It's Time to play the music, It's time to light the lights, It's time to meet the Muppets, on the Muppet show tonight!
I was awake way earlier than I should have been this day. I was just too excited to sleep, per usual. I spent my time watching the sun rise over our great view.
On this day, the usual itinerary would start with a tour of Hollywood. That wasn't happening for us since the SW Force Awakens premiere was happening today. Instead, we were to meet downstairs in the lobby to head to Jim Henson studios. I believe breakfast was available to us in the dining room for about an hour and a half.
Now that the sun, and Brian, were both up it was time to head to breakfast. Breakfast was held in the same private room we had eaten our dinner in the night before. We shared a breakfast buffet with all the other hotel diners. The breakfast buffet was excellent. Coffee, all sorts of juice, bottled water and tea was available to drink. There was a made to order omelet bar, waffles, pancakes, cereal, yogurt, fruit, bacon, sausage, smoked salmon, all sorts of pastries and just pretty much any breakfast food you could think of. It was a great breakfast. We also grabbed some fruit, yogurt and juice to have as a snack later.
We made a quick stop back to the room to drop off our snacks and to get our gear for the day. We had extra time owing to my super early wake up, so we
decided to walk the block and see what was up with the premiere.
Here is a bad pick of the lobby Christmas tree:
The shopping center that was right outside our hotel, we cut through here to get to the Grauman's theatre quick:
Grauman's was all decked out for SW.
Here is one extreme end of the street closure:
This is the official beginning of the Hollywood Walk of Fame (the stars on the ground):
It was much easier to get pictures of the stars since we were almost the only people out and about this early. So pro tip, if you want to look at the stars in peace without costumed characters in your face or people trying to sell you things, go late at night or early morning.
Security for the premiere was just insane this morning. There were metal detectors set up at each block. So we went through about 7 metal detectors in
all. This was the entrance that all the stars would enter the tent through, there were bleachers on either side.
We kept trying to peak into the tent and were finally rewarded with an open tent flap and we discovered the Kylo Ren car we'd seen the night before parked
at our hotel.
It was almost time to meet up in the lobby with the ABD group so we hurried back. We needn't have hurried, our bus ended up about 45 minutes late due to traffic and security for the premiere. Dean and Summer Rose thanked us for our patience and offered us the consolation prize of an alcoholic drink included
with our lunch. Alcoholic drinks are not usually included with meals that ABD pays for, so that was nice.
Once on the bus we ended up getting a short tour of Hollywood while we drove to the Henson Studios.
This is a picture of the entrance to the Magic Castle, a private member's only magician's club. Neil Patrick Harris is the president and many celebrities are
members. Dean was giving us info about what we drove by, and we were able to be know it alls and correct him when he said only members could enter. We had discovered on an earlier trip that guests who paid to stay at the Magic Castle's reasonably priced hotel could also attend the club. We ended up seeing Ryan Reynolds (a big fan of the club) and his date Blake Lively. Celebrities love the Magic Castle because there is a very strict no picture/video rule. I think Johnny Depp is also a regular patron. I wrote about our experience in one of my DL trip reports, if you want to read more about it. It is a great place.
Here is a horrible picture (the buses' windows were very dirty) of the Hollywood High School. I believe Grease was filmed on this football field, as were many other football field scenes. We also drove by the Scientology complex and the Crossroads building that the entrance structure inside DHS is based off of (the tower that has a rotating Mickey on top).
All of a sudden, on just a regular street with normal buildings we arrived!
The studio really just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. We were able to leave anything we wanted on the bus, the driver stayed on the bus the whole time so our belongings were safe.
The studio was actually very small. One big sound stage and then a few smaller office buildings. We split into two groups, we were in Dean's group. We got a short history of the Studios, it actually started out as Charlie Chaplin's studio. There is also a recording studio on site that was home to many famous recordings and artists.
My group started out in the very small gift shop. I was pretty disappointed in the gift shop, there were only about 10 items. Though I believe the gift shop
was actually started for the ABD groups, since no other tours of the studio are given. If you are a huge Jim Henson fan, you'll probably want a coffee mug or
a tshirt, but given that the selection was small and somewhat pricey Brian and I did not purchase anything.
Another disclaimer: I believe all Henson studio tours are different. Just because we saw something on our trip does not mean you will see the same thing.
We were able to go into an office building and get a picture with a real Emmy the studio had won, along with a special guest star.
We also got to go to the conference room where there was an epic painting of all the muppets.
At the end of our time here both groups came together and we went into the soundstage. A puppeteer was there to give us a demonstration with his friend,
DJ, who was very happy to be out of his box. DJ is on the show 'Animal Jam', if you want to youtube it to see him in action.One lucky volunteer was picked from our group to operate her own puppet and interact with DJ and we got to watch the interesting process. I don't really want to post pictures of other ABDers here, but I figure this one isn't bad since it is blurry.
At the end we all got a big group photo. I like how I'm standing on a bench yet am still just barely taller than everyone.
It was really great to get a tour of Jim Henson studios. ABD is the only way to get in there, so it was a big part of the trip. I remember in our welcome dinner everyone said what they were looking forward to the most and Henson studios was no. 1 on many people's lists (I'm pretty sure I said Imagineering but really everything).
I think I am at my photo limit for now so you'll all have to wait until next time to hear about our lunch at Tam O'Shanter's and our trip to Walt's Barn.
I was awake way earlier than I should have been this day. I was just too excited to sleep, per usual. I spent my time watching the sun rise over our great view.
On this day, the usual itinerary would start with a tour of Hollywood. That wasn't happening for us since the SW Force Awakens premiere was happening today. Instead, we were to meet downstairs in the lobby to head to Jim Henson studios. I believe breakfast was available to us in the dining room for about an hour and a half.
Now that the sun, and Brian, were both up it was time to head to breakfast. Breakfast was held in the same private room we had eaten our dinner in the night before. We shared a breakfast buffet with all the other hotel diners. The breakfast buffet was excellent. Coffee, all sorts of juice, bottled water and tea was available to drink. There was a made to order omelet bar, waffles, pancakes, cereal, yogurt, fruit, bacon, sausage, smoked salmon, all sorts of pastries and just pretty much any breakfast food you could think of. It was a great breakfast. We also grabbed some fruit, yogurt and juice to have as a snack later.
We made a quick stop back to the room to drop off our snacks and to get our gear for the day. We had extra time owing to my super early wake up, so we
decided to walk the block and see what was up with the premiere.
Here is a bad pick of the lobby Christmas tree:
The shopping center that was right outside our hotel, we cut through here to get to the Grauman's theatre quick:
Grauman's was all decked out for SW.
Here is one extreme end of the street closure:
This is the official beginning of the Hollywood Walk of Fame (the stars on the ground):
It was much easier to get pictures of the stars since we were almost the only people out and about this early. So pro tip, if you want to look at the stars in peace without costumed characters in your face or people trying to sell you things, go late at night or early morning.
Security for the premiere was just insane this morning. There were metal detectors set up at each block. So we went through about 7 metal detectors in
all. This was the entrance that all the stars would enter the tent through, there were bleachers on either side.
We kept trying to peak into the tent and were finally rewarded with an open tent flap and we discovered the Kylo Ren car we'd seen the night before parked
at our hotel.
It was almost time to meet up in the lobby with the ABD group so we hurried back. We needn't have hurried, our bus ended up about 45 minutes late due to traffic and security for the premiere. Dean and Summer Rose thanked us for our patience and offered us the consolation prize of an alcoholic drink included
with our lunch. Alcoholic drinks are not usually included with meals that ABD pays for, so that was nice.
Once on the bus we ended up getting a short tour of Hollywood while we drove to the Henson Studios.
This is a picture of the entrance to the Magic Castle, a private member's only magician's club. Neil Patrick Harris is the president and many celebrities are
members. Dean was giving us info about what we drove by, and we were able to be know it alls and correct him when he said only members could enter. We had discovered on an earlier trip that guests who paid to stay at the Magic Castle's reasonably priced hotel could also attend the club. We ended up seeing Ryan Reynolds (a big fan of the club) and his date Blake Lively. Celebrities love the Magic Castle because there is a very strict no picture/video rule. I think Johnny Depp is also a regular patron. I wrote about our experience in one of my DL trip reports, if you want to read more about it. It is a great place.
Here is a horrible picture (the buses' windows were very dirty) of the Hollywood High School. I believe Grease was filmed on this football field, as were many other football field scenes. We also drove by the Scientology complex and the Crossroads building that the entrance structure inside DHS is based off of (the tower that has a rotating Mickey on top).
All of a sudden, on just a regular street with normal buildings we arrived!
The studio really just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. We were able to leave anything we wanted on the bus, the driver stayed on the bus the whole time so our belongings were safe.
The studio was actually very small. One big sound stage and then a few smaller office buildings. We split into two groups, we were in Dean's group. We got a short history of the Studios, it actually started out as Charlie Chaplin's studio. There is also a recording studio on site that was home to many famous recordings and artists.
My group started out in the very small gift shop. I was pretty disappointed in the gift shop, there were only about 10 items. Though I believe the gift shop
was actually started for the ABD groups, since no other tours of the studio are given. If you are a huge Jim Henson fan, you'll probably want a coffee mug or
a tshirt, but given that the selection was small and somewhat pricey Brian and I did not purchase anything.
Another disclaimer: I believe all Henson studio tours are different. Just because we saw something on our trip does not mean you will see the same thing.
We were able to go into an office building and get a picture with a real Emmy the studio had won, along with a special guest star.
We also got to go to the conference room where there was an epic painting of all the muppets.
At the end of our time here both groups came together and we went into the soundstage. A puppeteer was there to give us a demonstration with his friend,
DJ, who was very happy to be out of his box. DJ is on the show 'Animal Jam', if you want to youtube it to see him in action.One lucky volunteer was picked from our group to operate her own puppet and interact with DJ and we got to watch the interesting process. I don't really want to post pictures of other ABDers here, but I figure this one isn't bad since it is blurry.
At the end we all got a big group photo. I like how I'm standing on a bench yet am still just barely taller than everyone.
It was really great to get a tour of Jim Henson studios. ABD is the only way to get in there, so it was a big part of the trip. I remember in our welcome dinner everyone said what they were looking forward to the most and Henson studios was no. 1 on many people's lists (I'm pretty sure I said Imagineering but really everything).
I think I am at my photo limit for now so you'll all have to wait until next time to hear about our lunch at Tam O'Shanter's and our trip to Walt's Barn.
Last edited:
But really I can't wait to hear all about it.
