Experiences like Backstage Tours, Location Visits, Shopping Excursions and Private Soirées Get Travelers Ready for the 79th Annual Academy Awards

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (February 13, 2007) - Since only a handful of Oscars will be awarded during the 79th Annual Academy Awards on February 25, most people won’t be getting up close and personal with the world’s most famous gold statuette. But there can be plenty of Hollywood winners with blockbuster tours and activities in and around (and above and below) Tinsel Town and other ‘on location’ cities, available at Viator.com. With more than 100 tours and activities boasting the Hollywood theme among a selection of more than 5,000 activities in 450 destinations around the world, Viator helps every traveler experience their “15 minutes of fame,” as well as their destination, during every trip.

That’s a Wrap
Stargazers can visit the studio that produced two of the Oscar nominees for Best Picture – The Departed and Letters from Iwo Jima - during The Warner Bros. Studio Tour and Santa Monica Private Tour, starting at $179.00, including full VIP access to the studio back lot, lunch in Beverly Hills and shopping on Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. The VIP Experience at Universal Studios, starting at $159.00, includes exclusive access to the studio’s movie and production facilities, a visit to the prop warehouse, front-of-the-line and reserved seating for theme park attractions and shows, and access to a relaxing VIP lounge. The Hollywood Movie Stars Experience, starting at $62.00 offers the trifecta of chances for travelers to catch a glimpse of an Oscar nominee during the Sony Pictures Studios Highlight Tour, the Movie Stars’ Homes Tour, and Inside the “Heart of Hollywood” Walking Tour, which features the Kodak Theater, home of the Academy Awards.

Be Seen at the Scene
Travelers don’t just get behind the scenes with Viator, but they become “part of the scene” during the Los Angeles Soiree - Private Tour starting at $141.00. Travelers are picked up at their hotel by their personal guide for a night on the town in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, including dining with the rich and famous at a popular venue like the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel or Massimo Beverly Hills just off of Rodeo Drive. Culture and the Hollywood scene are combined during the Private Luxury Los Angeles Tour, starting at $123.00. A visit to The J. Paul Getty Museum features paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European and American photographs, followed by lunch at “Bon Appetit” Restaurant, and shopping on fashionable Rodeo Drive.

Getting Above and Below (far below) the L.A. Surface
The Hollywood Skies Helicopter Tour, starting at $167.00, hovers high above the City of Angels and soars over Marina del Rey, Venice and Santa Monica beaches, the mansions of Bel Air, Beverly Hills and Pacific Palisades, as well as the rock & roll glamour of the Sunset Strip and the glitter of Hollywood Boulevard. To really dig deep and get below the surface, the Director of Undertakings, who maintains “a scary amount of knowledge about all things Hollywood” (according to a recent independent Viator user review), narrates travelers through decades of death, murder, and just plain fun during the Dearly Departed Tour, starting at $35.00. Scenes frequented by the famous and infamous are explored, as well as the ‘final scene’ for many an actor including Frank Sinatra, River Phoenix, Bela Lugosi and Mae West. The Movie Stars’ Homes and Celebrity Grave Site Tour, starting at $47.00 visits Beverly Hills’ stately streets where some of the world’s best known celebrities reside like Nicolas Cage, Harrison Ford and Eddie Murphy, as well as Hef and the “Girls Next Door” at the Playboy Mansion. Travelers take in Rodeo Drive on the way to the final resting places of many of Hollywood’s legends - Hollywood Forever and Westwood Memorial.

Hollywood on Location
For travelers who can’t get to Los Angeles, they can do what all actors do - go on location. The house from The Exorcist, the bar from St. Elmo’s Fire and other locations from Wedding Crashers, Forrest Gump and All the Presidents Men are explored during the On Location Tours: Washington DC TV and Movie Sites, starting at $34.00. Clips from such movies as Vertigo, Dirty Harry and Basic Instinct are viewed during a cinematic retrospective in the ‘Theater-on-Wheels’ during the San Francisco Movie Tour starting at $47.00. Travelers visit more than 100 locations including the “homes” of famous TV twosomes Will and Grace, Ross and Rachel (Friends), and Jerry and George (Seinfeld) during the On Location Tours: New York TV and Movie Sites starting at $34.00.

* All prices listed are per person and are accurate at the time of posting.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 8:00 am and is filed under Departure Lounge, Press Releases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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