The after-hours, hard-ticket Halloween parties have begun in Orlando and soon will kick off in Southern California. And, as they always do, the parks will switch quickly over to their Christmas holiday festivities once the calendar turns to November.
But what of Thanksgiving? Save for a land in Indiana’s Holiday World, Thanksgiving might be the most underrepresented holiday in America’s theme parks. But given how much Americans love eating (and how much parks love selling food), you would have thought that someone would have tried a hard-ticket Thanksgiving themed event by now.
Well, now someone is giving it a go. To celebrate the installation of a new prop from the long-running NBC sitcom “Friends,” which was filmed there, the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood is throwing a “Friendsgiving.”
The $139 per person, three-hour event includes a Friends-themed tour of the studio, photo ops, and a Thanksgiving-style “Friendsgiving” meal in the studio’s commissary. The event will run three times daily on Saturdays in November plus on Black Friday.
Included on the Friends tour will be the iconic fountain from the show’s opening credits, which Warner Bros. is moving from its ranch to public display on the studio lot to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary.
“Friendsgiving guests will be among the first to grab a colorful umbrella and recreate the show’s opening credits while singing and dancing with their friends in front of the original, never-before-displayed fountain,” the studio said in its press release.
Other stops on the tour will include the preserved Central Perk coffee house set as well as the studio’s Stage 24, where the series was filmed. The studio also will stock its store with Friends 25th anniversary merchandise for the special event.
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There are certainly a lot of Friends fans still around, but are there enough willing to pay over $100 for this?
"Friends" is still huge overseas, especially in India. WB will fill the event without a problem.
@Roscoe - I guess, but when we were on the WB Studio Tour a little over a month ago, there wasn't a single person aside from my family that stopped at the Friends set (though the only reason we stopped was because they were willing to take photos with my camera while every other photo experience explicitly prohibited personal photography), and not a sole asked a question about the show when we passed the sound stage where it filmed.
Again, I don't doubt there are a bunch of Friends fans still out there, especially internationally where it's like the show is brand new. However, I just don't see the demand for this level and type of experience with a show so far removed from the public consciousness. FWIW, here in the US the show is in significant decline having recently announced that it will move from the massive Netflix platform to upstart HBO Max next year.
I expect this to sell out Russell. I live in the area and take every singe out of town visitor who comes to SoCal to WB. I've never seen the Friends photo op not have a full queue.
Thing is - The students at Hogwarts don't celebrate Thanksgiving anyway as they are in England. I think a Christmas feast or Halloween feast in the great hall would be a great idea too, and there may be something available along those lines at the Warner Bros Studio tour in England.
OH! I'd also pay extra if they could have a faux turkey to wear on one's head for in the Central Perk photo op ala Joey.
I was wondering how Universal would try to incorporate The Office into the parks to promote the NBC streaming app. Dunder Mifflin Office Christmas Party?
@Russell - I see where you're coming from. The thing is, that HBO Max deal is worth almost half a billion dollars. It's clearly still quite popular around the world. I do think they'll have no trouble at all filling those experiences.
@Russell you may be right, but the WB studio tour is already such a great value when it comes to access and time on a working studio lot. The only real comparison is the Universal VIP tour, which costs over $300. I think plenty of Friends fans will eat this up (pun intended).
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There are certainly a lot of Friends fans still around, but are there enough willing to pay over $100 for this? I could see if you got to have Thanksgiving on one of the sets, but all you get here is a meal in the commissary. The WB Studio tour is really good on its own, and I just don't see the need to gear it any more towards a TV show that finished its run over a decade and a half ago.
I think they would have more success selling a Harry Potter or LOTR themed Thanksgiving tour.