It's easy to get blasé about filmmaking in this city: There's always a shoot happening down the block or a B-list actor on a neighboring bar stool. But it's hard not to feel the thrill of movie magic when you're traipsing around the historic Warner Bros. studio and seeing the soundstage where they filmed Casablanca — or the back lot where the titular Annie sung about her "Hard-Knock Life." There's a real intimacy about this tour (you'll be in a golf cart with fewer than a dozen other guests, with a bright young guide all to yourselves for more than two hours), which is reflected in the $49-per-person price. But it's also reflected in the way the tour guides tailor their patter to their audience. After all, a ton of TV shows have been filmed at Warner Bros., and if you'd rather linger on Friends' Central Perk set than talk about John Huston, they are more than willing to accommodate you. 3400 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank. (877) 492-8687, vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com.
—Sarah Fenske
You're obviously entitled to select whichever studio you want, but everything you praise about the WB tour is precisely true of the Paramount tour. They too have bright young guides taking you around for two hours at the same cost who are completely willing to cater to the guests' interests. Plus, their groups are actually smaller - 8 people max - and the studio is older. I'm really not trying to snark - just saying you just probably focus on the differences instead of what's identical.
You're obviously entitled to select whichever studio you want, but everything you praise about the WB tour is precisely true of the Paramount tour. They too have bright young guides taking you around for two hours at the same cost who are completely willing to cater to the guests' interests. Plus, their groups are actually smaller - 8 people max - and the studio is older. I'm really not trying to snark - just saying you just probably focus on the differences instead of what's identical.
