the best kind of campus tour

we were lucky enough to be invited to go have lunch with our friend trish, who works at dreamworks animation in burbank.  we'd really enjoyed our tour of the campus a few months ago, and this time the old lady was able to join us.  she loves fun outings like that, and i was glad she could come with us.

it was an exceptionally hot day, so we didn't spend a ton of time outside.  i did take a few pictures, although these are mostly the same shots i took last time.  i couldn't help it though, the campus is so pretty.

as we walked over to the commissary, the old lady leaned in and whispered "look mom, that's p. diddy's son!  the one who plays the boyfriend on "star"!"  we giggled like little girls about it and i tried to sneak a photo, but he had already turned around to walk in the other direction.  that's okay though, we were all aflutter from our "celeb" sighting on the campus.  heh.

it was lunchtime, so the commissary was bustling with activity.  the bean and i remembered the setup from last time, and lilcee took her and mini cee outside to the grill to grab some cheeseburgers while the rest of us went through the lines and picked up the hot entree of the day - lemon chicken with rice pilaf, plus some chinese chicken salad and a piece of cheesecake for dessert.  at the beverage station the old lady was stoked to find an icee machine, and i decided to grab one for myself to cool down a little.

we sat and enjoyed our meals and chatted for a good long while in there, sucking up the free a/c and grabbing drink refills and stuff.  before going outside to walk off our lunch, the girls stopped to pose with po from "kung fu panda."

the old lady pointed this out and said "look, it's like that crazy crooked street up in san francisco!"  indeed it is.

with a relatively new order from the powers that be that prohibited trish from taking visitors into any of the buildings, we settled on walking around campus along the nature trail.

we ended our visit back in the front lobby, where we stopped for potty breaks and hugs with trish before she headed back to her office to get some work done.

on our way back to the parking structure, we commiserated with this poor squirrel who was just trying to escape from the heat somehow.

and then we made one quick stop for afternoon treats in pasadena at our favorite cupcake shop.

not bad for a monday, right?

free food > free gym

a while ago, after i'd posted something about the bean's dream job, one of my facebook friends contacted me to say that she knew someone who worked as an animator at dreamworks.  she offered to ask him if he would meet us and give us a tour of the campus, which sounded like a blast.

and then life got in the way, time flew by, and we all forgot all about it.  but when i posted about getting to see the nickelodeon studio a couple of weeks ago, she messaged me again and within a day her friend texted me to figure out a good day to head out.  the bean happened to have a friday off last week because of parent-teacher conferences, which worked out pretty perfectly.

the studio is just down the street from where we'd gone last year for the bean to do that market research survey for disney interactive.

we checked in with security before finding a spot in their parking structure.

she was super excited and scampered on ahead of me.

when we met up with the animator, he suggested that we take a quick tour of the campus first before grabbing some lunch in the commissary.  the grounds are really pretty, and it was a gorgeous day.

there are koi fish in their lagoon, and they even provided this little bridge for the ducks to use when they want to move from one area to another.

they even have their own health center, where they can go if they're not feeling well or need some basic medication.

inside this building is their screening room, where they get to watch full-length movies and new releases from other studios as well as their own.  the bean was excited to see posters and other promotional stuff for "trolls," which is her current favorite movie.

there's also all sorts of other fun decorations and memorabilia displayed here, including their many emmys, oscars, a golden globe and annie awards, which is animation's version of an academy award.

 "boss baby" with alec baldwin is their next upcoming release.

as we headed towards the commissary, he pointed out their own starbucks store.  how very convenient.

dreamworks provides free food for their employees and guests.  that's pretty sweet.  "they didn't have free food at nickelodeon, mom," the bean whispered.  heh.  so my kid.

the bean chose some sandwich makings and iced tea, while i enjoyed their hot entrees for the day - a vegetable chow mein with some sautéed veggies.  we sat there and chatted about how he got his start in animation, where he went to school, what day-to-day life is like at the studio, all sorts of fun stuff.  i asked if they had an on-site gym (they don't), he told us that they get discounts for nearby gyms, plus regular yoga classes out in the lagoon area, which is pretty cool.  

for obvious reasons, i didn't take any pictures inside the animation building.  they're working on a ton of great stuff that will be coming out within the next couple of years, and their walls feature drawings and scenes from old, new, upcoming and not-yet-announced movies.  we got to catch glimpses of all sorts of fun stuff, and may or may not have gotten a quick sneak peek at the movie that's coming out next month.

the last stop on our tour was what he called the "secret room."  he led us through the building and down a flight of stairs and onto another floor where we saw what looked like a bookcase built into the wall.  he reached behind  a copy of war and peace, pulled a latch, and the bookcase swung open to reveal a little room filled with all sorts of weird and random treasures.  the room had been discovered by an animator a long time ago after they moved into the building, and i don't remember if it was storage or some sort of access or whatnot, but he started putting stuff in there and using it as a meeting room.  when inspectors discovered what was going on, the room was going to be sealed shut until jeffrey katzenberger found out about it.  he visited it, decided it was too cool to shut down, and so the room was brought up to code and it's been available for use ever since.  sometimes they have meetings in there, or they just head in there to chill.  there's even a panel from the original room that features autographs by all sorts of celebrities and other visitors of the secret room.  i didn't take pictures here either, but if you google it a few others have posted a few.

he took this for us before he headed off to a meeting:

and i took this on our way back to the car.

because it was on the way home, we stopped at porto's to grab some treats for the old lady - well, and a few for us, too.

we hit a little traffic, which was too much for the bean to sit through.  after all the excitement of the day, she passed out cold.

so many thanks to my friend and the animator!  we had so much fun!  now, who do we know that works for disney/pixar?  we're always available for studio tours!