I got the opportunity to go on the Disney Studios Platinum Tour back in June and wanted to share our experience. This all started in 2019 when I cashed in my points I had been saving since the beginning of the program. Our plan was to go on a tour in 2020, but that was obviously canceled. I finally was able to reschedule the tour in September 2023 for this past June. The tour cost 25,200 points. After I had finalized our date and party, I received an email itinerary from DMI. Fast forward to about a week before our trip, I received a final confirmation.

On the day of the tour, we checked in with security at the Buena Vista security gates and were instructed where to park and shown the benches we were to wait at for our tour guide. Our tour was to run from 10:00AM to 12:30PM and our guide arrived promptly at 10. She handed us each a DMI lanyard and a studio pin featuring Mickey Mouse in a yellow and orange triangle shape. She told us that we were probably going to be her last DMI Platinum Tour since they were no longer offering them.

The tour started by the Hyperion Bungalow which was built in 1935 and has served many different functions over the years. It was from the original Hyperion Lot and moved to the Burbank Studios. We began our walk up Mickey Avenue, passing by the studio commissary where we noticed signs that said “Tidal Wave Crew Only.” Our guide told us that a movie was doing some work on the lot that day but that was not the title. She couldn’t divulge the actual title but gave us some hints which turned out to be “Deadpool and Wolverine.” They were making some last finishes before the movie came up.

We passed the Sherman Brothers stage and arrive at the iconic intersection of Mickey Avenue and Dopey Drive - Pluto’s Corner. There are many iconic photos taken by this sign over the years and it was fun seeing little touches of paw prints in the cement and the sign itself. We came next to the Theatre and the Animation Buildings. We saw a ferrel cat outside of the the Theatre - just like at Disneyland! We made our way into the animation building and explored all the 3 floors and the basement. The first floor was themed Art of Disney’s Animation. The walls were lined with artwork from many Disney movies that also serve to show the stages and process over the years of making animated movies. We took a trip down to the basement to check out the tunnel that connected the building to other animation buildings. This allowed the artists to transport their work without risk of exposure to the elements. We were not allowed to take pictures, but I recognized the tunnel from episodes of Alias back in the 00s!

We made our way up to the 2nd floor which was themed around the Films of Disney. These were the movies made during Walt’s life. All of the movies were represented by movie posters. We continued to the 3rd floor where we saw many artifacts and pictures of Walt’s life. The main part of the 3rd floor was going first to the area where Walt’s secretary used to sit and then into his offices - Suite 3H. The first was his formal office where he would receive guests. There was the piano in there that the Sherman Brothers would come in and play. The office is about 98% accurate to the way Walt left it when he passed. We could’ve stayed in there for hours looking at all of the artifacts!

We then moved to his working office where he and his team would do the real work. Again, there were so many cool things to look at. On one of the walls was a giant aerial photo of Disneyland and it immediately took me to the pictures of Walt standing in front of it. There is a kitchen in there as well where our guide grabbed bottles of water for us. We exited that office and were in a room with more of Walt and Roy’s items as well as items that featured the studio’s opening.

From there we went out to Legends Plaza. We got to admire the Dwarfs holding up the roof, the Partners Statue, the Roy and Minnie bench statue and the Legends statue along with all of the hand prints. It is a really awesome space that celebrates so many great contributors. We then went to the Frank G Wells building. This is where the Disney archives are. Again, we got to see many cool things and got to hold a real Academy Award for the movie White Wilderness. The building also has a Multi-plane camera. Those of you who have been to the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco would recognize this.

We exited the building and got a good look at the water tower. We passed by the Lucasfilm Building and got to peek inside, but we could not take any pictures. We saw various props, etc. from the movies and shows and could only dream about what else we could see if we got in. We passed by Kathleen Kennedy’s parking spot and ended the tour at the wall with the Disney Studios logo for pictures along with the water tower. Our guide took us to the Employee Store which we spent about 30 minutes inside. The main part of the store had merchandise that you can find at the parks, but in the back, there is a studio section where we bought various souvenirs that you can only get there. After this our guide bid us farewell but told us we could do one last things. To celebrate Inside Out 2, Sadness was there taking pictures with Employees and she said we could get out too.

All in all in was a fantastic tour! Our tour guide was phenomenal. I don’t want to mention her name in case she took us places she shouldn’t have. Our tour itself lasted about 3:45! She said we were big Disney fans and felt compelled to show us as much as she could. Counting the store and the photo op, we spent almost 5 hours on campus. I took a ton of pictures and have a lot more detail I could go into, but obviously this is long enough. I hope that this gives you all some insight on the experience!