A Weekend in Hollywood

A couple of months ago I went on a quick adventure down to southern California for a blogging conference. It was my first time in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area and I must say, the flight down there was so much easier than my flight to the Wine Blogger’s Conference this past summer.

The conference was a pretty small one and I was lucky enough too had been given a ticket. I made some new connections which were fabulous, got to have a private screening of a couple shows, and got to (very quickly!) explore the area a bit.

I stayed in the Burbank area which is in the suburbs of LA, so I chose to fly in and out from the Burbank airport and I’m so glad that I did. I’ve never been to the LA airport before, but I love flying in and out of smaller airports - they are just easier. I didn’t rent a car since it was such a short trip, and opted for Uber and the help of local bloggers to get around. One day we ventured up to Ventura county and spent the afternoon at the KOA (more on that coming soon), and another day we drove to downtown Hollywood, past Universal studios and through Hollywood BLVD. It was like speed sightseeing. :)

A couple cool things happened though. While we were screening the two TV shows at Dave & Busters on Hollywood BLVD one night, we looked down onto the BLVD and saw that is was closed down and that there was a lot of people gathered around, but we couldn’t quite figure out why at first… then one of the local bloggers told us that they were probably filming, and it was then that we figured out what they were filming: The Dancing with the Stars pilot. We had a great behind the scenes view from our window.

The next afternoon a few of us decided to try and see the live taping of “Fuller House”, the anticipated sequel to the beloved “Full House”. (It’s seriously to this day one of my kids’ favorite shows.)

The entire process of going to see a live taping was new to me.

A few weeks prior to the conference we were actually directed to a website where we could get ‘tickets’ at the exact time they became available to the public. These tickets were free, but did not guarantee you a spot. A couple of hours before the filming begins, you meet in a designated area to wait in line and see if you can make it in. It was literally held in a parking garage. Since Fuller House is so popular, there were an estimated 200-300 people there. I was told that they always hand out more tickets than actually available so that they ensure the room is full. Once you get there it’s a first come, first serve basis. You get in line and they set you in rows. They do head counts and communicate via walkie talkies and cell phones to see how many seats are open. It all depends on how many guests the actors bring, etc. From what I was told the studios hold approximately 100 people. I was ticket number 119 or something like that. Not a good sign. It took forever for them to get the total number of people in there, and escorted only a few people at a time.

It was looking like we weren’t going to make it.

Finally, we were in the row to go up next and they told us that they were full. I guess what they will do is give you a number and voucher that you can call and get guaranteed tickets to any showing the next time you come. Most of the people in the rows behind us stood in line to get their name on the guaranteed list. They did however, tell us that sometimes in between sets, viewers will come and go, opening up seats. The taping process can vary, but on this particular day there were filming from about 4p.m. to 9p.m.

Half of my group (there were 4 of us) opted to go to a different taping of the TV show “Mom” right then because our blogging conference had reserved seats, but one other blogger and myself decided to stick it out with about 20 other people to see if we’d get called back.

A few were let in over the next couple of hours...finally it was getting late - probably about 7:30 - when they said they had room for one more person and then they were done. A couple and their adult son were up next in line before us and they let their son go in. Everyone else went home for the night, however my blogger friend and I didn’t

I was tired, disappointed, and frustrated after waiting so long and being so close. Since we rode with the other two bloggers who went to see the Mom taping, we had to wait until they were done.

The two of us sat there, along with the two parents, in a parking garage making small talk to pass the time.

After about a half an hour of talk one of the production company workers came back out, surprised to see people still sitting out there. We explained why we all were hanging out still, and he told us that they were filming the last two scenes of the night, but they had room for us to get in.

I was so stinking excited.

He escorted us across the street and through a maze of studio lots. We walked in the back and Candice Cameron-Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and Andrea Barber were right there. We go to sit down and enjoy the last 30 minutes or so of the evening and I was just so relieved that after all of that time spent that I actually got to sit there and watch it happen.

After they were done taping the actors stuck around and said hi to people, and Andrea Barber gave me her autograph!

I didn’t get to see John Stamos or the rest of the male cast filming since we got in so late, but I was just so incredibly happy to have watched what I did.

All in all I had a very memorable weekend in Hollywood and I can’t wait to go back someday and explore the area more.

When was the last time you had a quick and memorable adventure?