Orlando may be a blast, but it’s an imposter. The real Disney history happened in Hollywood, and Adventures by Disney, the Mouse’s popular organized-tour wing, goes a long way toward giving guests a one-day glimpse of the action — no rental car required.
The “Lights… Camera… Magic!” tour meets at the resort’s Grand Californian Hotel just after 8 o’clock in the morning. On arrival, two guides waited with pastries and coffee, pointing us towards the “red carpet” (really a red mat next to a motorcoach, but you have to appreciate the effort) for the 45-minute ride up the 5 Freeway and into Los Angeles.
First stop? Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, along with Oscar’s Dolby, née Kodak, Theatre, which we were toured through by a cheerful guy who works for both the Academy and the theatre itself. (No pictures!) There’s the VIP lounge where George Clooney gets buzzed at the Oscars, that’s the staircase with shortened steps to allow Angelina Jolie’s ascending gams to negotiate her slitty gown.
After a whisk down the Sunset Strip (the Viper Room is pointed out, but River Phoenix’s demise doesn’t make the Disney mix) and a dutiful fly-by of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the tour parks at the Farmer’s Market, at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax. Impressively, Disney doesn’t hand-hold at this authentic 1930s culinary landmark. Everyone is sent off with $15 to spend as they wish at any of the food vendors, be it for some of the city’s tastiest pastries and carefully executed pour-over coffees at Short Cake or top-notch tacos at Loteria Grill. (Several guests opt for lighter fare: The chance to see Mario Lopez interview Lisa Kudrow on “Extra,” which shoots at the same hour al fresco next door at the Grove shopping center.)
The afternoon, though, is the real reason to lay out the $199 adult/$189 child ticket for the tour: an extended visit to Walt Disney Studios, the brand’s nerve center purchased with the money that Snow White made. Unlike Sony, Paramount, and Warner Bros., Disney’s Burbank mothership isn’t open to the public, so this tour is one of the only ways to see the famous Double-H-shaped Animation Building, where the classic cartoon features were created, and the monolithic Team Disney executive building, whose pediment is held aloft by gargantuan Seven Dwarfs.
The stages seen depend on the day’s shooting schedule. Our guides took us onto the (inactive) set of Dana Delany’s Body of Proof on mammoth Stage 2, where Mary Poppins was made. The Studio’s stage manager supplied a surprisingly intricate and frank explanation of the grueling schedule demanded by series television. Far from regurgitating a glitter-and-magic Disneyized version of the Hollywood machine, she treated us as curious adults. Adults, mind you, who subsequently cleaned the company shop of Studios-exclusive Vinylmation figurines and stuffed animals.
The tour is speckled with other little extras that are announced, with traditional Disney humblebrag, as “little treats”: We’re photographed on a personalized Walk of Fame star at a novelty kiosk, and we’re stuffed with cupcakes and beer at Legends Plaza, the Walt Disney Company’s internal Walk of Fame. As a final treat, we got trading pins made for backstage tour participants and rolled back into Disneyland 12 hours after starting, in time for fireworks. Mary Poppins, Lisa Kudrow, and Clooney’s bar, all in one Mousey day. Top that, Orlando.
Learn more at adventuresbydisney.com.