Not that college gives us much of a break for Thanksgiving, but The Friends™ Experience should still be something on your bucket list. In August, I was fortunate enough to go to New York with my sister. We stayed for 4 days, and over this mini vacation, we went to the Friends™ Experience. Growing up, I remember staying up with my sisters until 11 PM to watch it on FOX, so being able to relive moments of the actual show was something surreal. It has remained one of my favorite shows to this day and is something fun to do with your friends. There is a Friends Experience™ in Las Vegas, which is the closest to California. There are currently 5 locations in the whole world, soon to be 6.
Here are a few of the highlights from the event:
Season 5 · Episode 16 — "The One with the Cop" (1999)
Joey convinces himself he is love with Monica after he dreams of himself in Chandler’s place and doing crossword puzzles with her. The next day, they all meet at Central Perk where Phoebe finds a police badge. When Joey arrives, he awkwardly avoids Monica making remarks about her wearing his sweatshirt. Meanwhile, Ross and Rachel are couch shopping for his apartment and he notices that the delivery charge is almost the same price as the actual couch. He refuses to pay the extra fee so he and Rachel carry the couch 3 blocks to his apartment complex. On her way to return the police badge, Phoebe uses it to stop a smoker from snuffing her cigarette on a tree. Ross had failed to tell Rachel that his apartment complex did not have a working elevator so they were forced to carry the couch up the stairs. Drunk with power, Phoebe shows the badge to yet another person for parking on the curb and blocking the entrance to Central Perk. However, he was no ordinary person, he was an actual police officer. He starts interrogating her about her department and reveals he knows the badge was his. After his talk with Chandler and Monica, Joey pursues Rachel at a failed attempt to start a real relationship. Rachel brings Chandler to help move the couch, in which Ross shouts the iconic line, “Pivot.” Angrily, Chandler shouts back “Shut up!” Ultimately, they could pivot no more and the couch gets stuck on the flight of stairs. The NYPD knocks on Monica’s door, looking for Phoebe. The police officer from before asks her out for dinner. The episode ends with Ross with the couch cut in half, trying to return it for store credit.
Immersed in the Episode
Be observant of the displays as I unfortunately did not take a photo recreating the ‘Pivot’ scene. Walking into the Friends™ Experience, the first prop is the iconic orange couch and fountain. Leaving that room, there is a hallway with designs and displays of the cast’s costumes. Headed down a flight a stairs, there’s a room that has props and more costumes from the show. Inside that room is a chance to recreate the ‘Pivot’ scene but it was confusing because we thought we had to go back up the flight of stairs to enter the ‘Pivot’ scene. We missed it entirely.
Season 3 · Episode 2 — "The One Where No One’s Ready" (1996)
When Ross arrives to Monica’s apartment, he finds nobody (Rachel, Joey and Chandler) ready yet for his museum benefit. Phoebe arrives about 10 minutes after ready. However, Joey and Chandler get into an argument after Joey “stole” his seat. The whole time, Ross is stressing about how much time they have left to get ready. Monica arrives not ready either and Ross reminds them all they need to be ready by 8 PM. Before getting ready, Monica checks her messages and gets Richard’s (her ex) voicemail. She starts overthinking about why Richard called since they were on no speaking terms but alas she tries to get ready. Joey and Chandler continue to fight over the seat and accidentally spill humus on Phoebe’s dress. Ross desperate for them to be on time suggests that Chandler changes first and he could get his seat back once Joey goes to change. In the middle of changing, Monica decides to leave Richard a message. With humus on her dress, Rachel helps Phoebe find something else to wear. After Chandler comes back Joey still doesn’t give up the seat which causes more dispute between them. Monica plays the message for them and the next message was a mystery woman thanking Richard for what seemed like a date. Joey agrees to change but takes the cushion seats. He comes back and confronts Chandler for hiding all his underwear. Ross in a frenzy tells Joey to wear the one he’s wearing but he’s not wearing any and does not want to go commando in a rented suit. Chandler refuses to give him his underwear for “stealing his essence.” Joey then threatens Chandler to showing him the exact opposite. Meanwhile, Phoebe hides the stain with a huge Christmas ribbon since Rachel had nothing she wanted to wear. Ross’s clock stopped and with 7 minutes left, and tells Rachel to get ready. Monica is still overthinking the Richard message and convinces herself that the other woman was his sister, Michelle. She calls her just to confirm the voice but she calls back. Michelle and Monica reminisce on their relationship but Monica confesses she went through Richard messages and changes Michelle’s views on Monica. During this, Ross yells at Rachel in front of everyone for being indecisive. She gets unready and tells Ross she’s not going after being yelled and humiliated in front of her friends. At the same time, Joey walks in wearing ALL of Chandler’s clothes. Poking fun at Chandler, saying “Look at me I’m Chandler. Could I be wearing any more clothes?” while still going commando. Ross uninvites Joey and Chandler for acting like babies. Joey suggests to Ross that he should drink the cup of chicken fat to show his forgiveness to Rachel but before he can, Rachel forgives him for the action and gets ready. Monica obsessed with Richard sends him a crazy outgoing voicemail on accident. Rachel comes out in a gorgeous green dress with 5 seconds to spare. The episode ends with Sherman Whitfield stealing Chandler’s seat and having the same argument as with Joey so he asks for his underwear.
Immersed in the Episode
Out of the room with props and costumes, and up the flight of stairs, you enter Monica’s apartment. In the photo above, my sister and I are recreating a scene from a different episode where the friends are eavesdropping on someone in the hallway. Leaving Monica’s apartment through the hallway, and next door, surprisingly (not really) is Joey and Chandler’s apartment. Entering Joey and Chandler’s apartment (well just an area), “The One Where No One’s Ready” episode is playing. You can recreate the scene of the episode where Joey walks in with all of Chandler’s clothes. I took a video of me saying “Look at me, I’m Chandler. Could I be wearing any more clothes?” Sadly, this is an article so you can’t see it but trust me it was hilarious. There is also a screen with Friends™ Trivia where you can play to test your knowledge on the show, if you’re up for it.
Season 5 · Episode 8 — "The One with All the Thanksgivings" (1998)
Full with a Thanksgiving feast, Rachel suggests everyone to say one thing they are thankful which turns into a competition of who’s had the worst Thanksgiving. Ross thinks he’s had the worst since he was currently going through a divorce and an eviction. Chandler’s was the Thanksgiving of 1978, when his parents told him they were getting divorced because his father is gay. Phoebe recalls in one of her past lives the Thanksgiving of 1862, when she was a war nurse and while calling for bandages, her arm gets cut off. Monica retells the Thanksgiving of 1992, when Joey’s head got stuck in a turkey. Phoebe finds Joey and tries to help get it off before Monica freaked out (she did). Monica and Phoebe both try to get Joey unstuck and scare Chandler in the process. However, Rachel recalled a different Thanksgiving: the Thanksgiving of 1987. The Gellers were hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. Monica and Rachel were both seniors in high school. Ross had invited his college roommate, Chandler, but he hated Thanksgiving so Monica had offered to make him mac and cheese. Ross had overheard Rachel saying she was done dating high school boys and told Chandler he was going to ask her out. Monica then overhears Chandler say that he didn’t want to be stuck all night with his “fat” sister. This was not the Thanksgiving Rachel remembered as the following Thanksgiving, something much worse had happened. After being called fat, Monica had lost all the weight to impress Chandler. She was successful but she still felt bad about it and wanted to humiliate him. Rachel convinces Monica to pretend she wanted to sleep with him, instead she makes a complete fool out of herself. While trying to flirt, she accidentally drops a knife and it chops one of Chandler’s toes off. This Thanksgiving flashback causes a drift in their relationship and to make up with Chandler, Monica dances with a turkey on her head, scaring Joey this time. Chandler accidentally tells Monica he loves her.
Immersed in the Episode
The first thing you see when you walk into Joey and Chandler’s apartment is Monica with a turkey on her head. I tried to recreate the part of the episode where Chandler looks concerned and sort of scared when she walks into his apartment, trying to make amends. If you look closely, the poster in the back is what I am referring to. There are two areas that recreate Joey and Chandler’s apartment but like Monica’s apartment there is an area that is the complete apartment. This section is connected with the one where Joey is wearing all of Chandler’s clothes. It is right outside of Monica’s apartment and cool thing is when you leave Monica’s apartment, the hallway looks exactly as the one in the show. It is as if you are actually inside their apartment complex. I guess that’s why it’s called immersive. :)
The one where you go to the Friends Experience
If you are a Friends enthusiast, this is something you should definitely try out. If you are not, this is something you should still go to. The thing I like about Friends is that you do not necessarily have to watch the whole show to enjoy it. The same goes for going to the Friends™ Experience. Aside from missing the ‘Pivot’ scene, the experience was something out of a dream. It ends with entering Central Perk, where you can actually buy coffee. It was overpriced and I must admit I have been to better local coffee shops but you cannot go to Central Perk and not try the coffee. Again, it felt as if you stepped right onto the set of Friends. The orange couch where all the friends sit was there, but it was a photo op so you couldn’t sit there to enjoy your coffee.
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