Day 2 – Lights, Camera, Adventure!

7:45am was our call time, which would be the latest morning we would ever have that week. We met again by the restaurant and made our way back through Hollywood and Highland to the main strip of LA. We got to see all the landmarks again without the crowd of people blocking everything. We saw the hand and footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater and heard some stories behind them. Marilyn Monroe wanted to dot her eye with a real diamond, since I believe she was promoting "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend". They knew it would get stolen, so she took one of the fake stones from her earring and dotted the eye with that. Overnight the gem was stolen - but you can see it's place. We went through the Kodak Theater (where the Academy Awards are hosted, yay award shows!) and learned how the steps were built to be high heel friendly. It's nice to see architects are thinking of us ladies. The Kodak Theater actually had some stores - it wasn't just the auditorium. We crossed the street to look at some more of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and then browsed the lobby of the El Capitan Theater until the Soda Shop was ready to serve us breakfast.

I have to say, this was the best breakfast of the entire trip, food wise that is. The place was cute, with a small Disney store within it. When we sat down, Katie and I were at the outcast table in the corner, but we where soon joined by Rachel and her family. We each had a fresh fruit cup waiting for us as we took our seats, and we could choose from eggs or Mickey Mouse waffles, so Katie and I shared. Sharing is Caring. In between bites and trivia games - which Katie rocked at again, I talked it up with Rachel about all things Disney Channel like High School Musical, Hannah Montana and Camp Rock because well yeah….Yes I like Disney Channel. After a scrumptious breakfast, we headed back into the El Capitan for our tour.

We walked into one of the theaters, and as we walked down the aisles an organist was playing on stage. We learned how organs were used to provide sounds to silent films, and now the organist plays before every show at the El Capitan. It was pretty neat – it had tons (I remember 2,000, Katie remember 200, so 2 and some amount of 0’s) pipes to make various sounds. There was a round of name that tune, but sadly I did not win. We saw the sound system, and got to go up on stage. I just like being on stage, so it was pretty cool. We also learned that the crowd for the Hannah Montana in 3D movie concert made so much noise it ranked pretty high. You can’t beat crazy tween girls.

After the El Capitan we ventured a couple buildings over to Jimmy Kimmel Live. As we walked inside the doors, my heart leapt for it listed Regis Philbin as a guest for that nights show. I was later crushed when I asked if that was true, and was informed that he was on last week. We started our tour by watching a clip video that gave the basic premises of the show. Then two producers, Kelly and Chris continued to show us around. We went into the technical room, seeing all the knobs and sliders that control, well everything. We went into hair and makeup, which was smaller than I would imagine it to be. We saw where the dressing rooms were and toured the green room. We saw some people working on editing bits for the show which was pretty neat. One of our guides told us about some ghost sightings (I appropriately was wearing my TAPS shirt, I had worn it in honor of our next stop, but I'll get to that). Our guides led us into the theater where we got to take pictures at Jimmy's desk, and also where Quinn informed us that they had ten tickets to hand out if we were interested in going to the taping and were over the age of 18. Katie and I put our names down, even if Regis wasn’t the guest. If he was, I may have done anything in my power to meet him. Ok, I guess I should tell the story - I wrote Regis when I was three - telling him how I broke my leg and also telling him how awesome he was. I first received just an autographed picture in return, but I later got a personalized one, saying "Maria, You'll be up in no time!". So yeah, we go back. Anyway, Katie and I figured we'd never really get the chance to go to a taping again, so why not! After touring the theater we went outside (which on the way my glasses leg broke off) to see the concert stage and then boarded the coach bus to go to our next location: The Jim Henson Company Studios.

OK! Last summer, the season final of "Ghost Hunters" took place in California. The first half investigated the site where the Manson murders took place (best segment I have ever seen) and then the second half was at the Jim Henson Company Studios. They did catch a thermal of a woman on the soundstage (which we went on!) and there were a few personal experiences from the team (which is TAPS aka The Atlantic Paranormal Society). I didn’t want to interrupt peoples days with "HAVE YOU SEEN ANY GHOSTS?!?!?" so I decided to wear my shirt to see if any of the employees at the studios would notice and tell me some of their experiences, unfortunately that didn’t happen.

A short drive and sighting of Kat Von D's tattoo shop later we arrived at the Henson's studios. It blended in with all the other buildings except for little Kermie dressed like Charlie Chaplin (who built the studios in 1917). No one is allowed to tour this place but us, so I felt pretty powerful having the gate open for me. The studios felt like a mini campus. There were a few buildings that everyone walked to. The atmosphere was laid back – employees could bring their dogs and kids to work if they wanted to. We saw a short video Muppets through the years and how its evolved into digital puppets. Then we got to go into The Barn aka the Creature Shop. The host of the Jim Henson podcast gave us a tour. This is where all the Muppets are made – we saw Roy’s head from “Dinosaurs” along with Baby Sinclair (highchair and all!!). We all saw Big Al’s head. Apparently each hair for the furry Muppets is individually punched in, which is pretty remarkable. Some of us were allowed to try puppeteering, so Katie and I tried our best, and we weren’t too bad haha. After leaving The Barn we went into a theater where they showed us the best video ever. It was about the history of the grounds – how it was originally an orange grove etc etc. The video was hosted by Bobby and Samson (two fabulous Muppets) and it brought me to tears with laughter. I’ve tried finding it on their website, but no luck. We went on the soundstage, where they were filming for Sid the Science Kid. It’s a digital animation short so all the actors are in these black suits with white balls on them. We then had lunch on the studio grounds and got to take pictures with one of the Muppets. We kinda fell in love.

Back on the bus for a surprise! It was off to Griffith Park, where they opened up Walt’s Barn and train for us. Walt absolutely adored trains and had a mini one in his backyard. The barn was decked out with Disney train memorabilia, and the tour guide really knew his stuff. It was nice to see someone so passionate about their job. They gave us a train ride which was quite relaxing after a long day of walking.

Back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for the Jimmy Kimmel taping! While in life we got to know some more of our fellow adventurers, and even one of the Jimmy Kimmel workers (she was from the East coast as well). I was even asked if I wanted to go into the green room – but I was honest and said I was under 21 so I couldn’t go. Oh well. I was flattered to be asked!

When we finally got into the theater and into our seats, a friend of Jimmy’s came out to pump up the audience. There was a show of talents from various audience members for t-shirts and I was bold enough to try my hand, well ear, at name that tune. I won a beat up NBA finals poster (obviously taken down and ready to be thrown away haha) for knowing Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” (who was performing the next night across the street! Unfortunately we would be in Anaheim). Katie thinks they played that since I mentioned the ghost story of the lady in the wedding dress seen around the studio (I still had my TAPS shirt on so it made for conversation haha). I kept my eye on the camera during taping, and we made it on. As I sit here typing this, the episode is airing and you could here my “Oh My God” in reference to something obscene on Sesame Street. So yay for us – we made it on national television. Be jealous. ;-)

After the taping, we went back to the Soda Shop for some ice cream. We sat at the counter, which was pretty cool. It’s the little things. We got the pin traders sundae so we added another pin to Adventures by Disney collection. Ice cream for dinner was a fantastic idea until a few hours later when all that marshmallow fluff started hurting my tummy. It was good though!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel to see if they knew where I could get my glasses fixed – they recommended the mall, which closed at 10, which was ten minutes away. I rushed around Hollywood and Highland and eventually found Oakley, where two wonderful men helped me and temporarily fixed my glasses. Thank you Oakley!