Studio Backlot Tour

Studio Backlot Tour Review

The first stop on this tour, which you enter at the far end of Pixar Place where it meets Streets of America, is an outdoor special-effects water tank, where some of you are recruited for an unforgettable (and very wet) video moment. The line for the tram ride passes through a huge prop warehouse, which stores everything from traffic lights to British phone booths.

Board the tram for a tour of different departments—set design, costumes, props, lighting—as well as the movie set for Catastrophe Canyon. A simulated earthquake sets off multiple reactions—beware disaster! As the tram pulls out, you see the backstage workings of the catastrophe: the canyon is actually a mammoth steel slide wrapped in copper-colored concrete, and 70,000 gallons of "floodwater"—enough to fill 10 Olympic-size swimming pools—are recycled every 3½ minutes.

You also ride past the Streets of America back lot, where you can glimpse the New York Street with its brownstone facades. Pose for a photo by the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. You'll have to walk the Streets set after exiting the tram to see the San Francisco and Chicago side streets. For people with disabilities: Wheelchair accessible and equipped for handheld- and video-captioning devices. Come early (it closes at dusk) and remember that people sitting on the left side of the tram get wet.