The winter holidays in Stars Hollow always looked absolutely magical on Gilmore Girls — and now, you’ve got the chance to experience them for yourself, thanks to the Gilmore Girls Holiday event at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour. After a thoroughly successful debut in 2018, the event is returning this year; between Dec. 21, 2019 and Jan. 5, 2020, you’ll be able to walk around Stars Hollow and enjoy a holiday lunch in the fictional Connecticut town in real life. You just, y’know, have to get yourself to Los Angeles to do it.
The Gilmore Girls-centric holiday event launched last year under the name Holiday Lunch at Lorelai’s. For a little over two weeks at the end of December and beginning of January, the Warner Bros. backlot look on the guise of Stars Hollow once more, allowing guests to explore Lorelai Gilmore’s house all decked out for the holidays and “walk in the familiar footsteps” of Gilmore Girls’ cast of characters, per the Warner Bros. Studio Tour website. In addition to stops at some of the show’s most iconic exterior sets, the event also included a look at many of the props and costumes used in the show displayed in their natural habitats (hi there, Lorelai’s Jeep) — and, of course, plenty of photo ops. Visitors were able to snap selfies in front of the Stars Hollow town sign, take pics in the gazebo, and more.
For the curious, here’s a video showing some of last year’s highlights:
This year, Gilmore Girls Holiday will include many of 2018’s favorites; additionally, new for 2019 is the chance to pose for photos in front of Luke’s Diner. You’ll also be able to “explore the town square and walk up the stairs of Stars Hollow High School just like Rory, Lane, and Dean,” as the Warner Bros. Studio Tour website puts it.
The best part is, you don’t need a separate ticket to enjoy the event. According to the Gilmore Girls Holiday FAQ, it’s included as part of the regular Studio Tour, the Classics Made Here Tour, and the Deluxe Tour. The Studio Tour and Classics Made Here Tour are both about three hours in length, two of which are guided and one of which is self-guided; the Deluxe Tour, meanwhile, runs about six hours, including five guided hours and one self-guided hour. If you buy your tickets in advance, the two shorter tours will cost you about $69, while the longer one is $295.
However, even though the Gilmore Girls Holiday portion of the event is included with your tour ticket, the lunch itself is not. You’ll have to buy that onsite, where food options will include fare like pizza and burgers alongside the “holiday-style meal.” Vegetarian and gluten-free options will also be available, as will foods that factored prominently in the show, like Pop-Tarts and (of course) coffee.
There aren’t any details about what the “holiday-style meal” actually features yet, but in 2018, the menu included “oven roasted turkey breast with cranberry-shallot sauce, lemon garlic roasted chicken, veggie burgers, fries, home-style macaroni salad, garlic buttered corn, salads, and more,” as Bustle’s Mia Mercado reported at the time. As such, we can probably expect the 2019 edition to be full of comfort food, as well. Heck yes.
The Gilmore Girls Holiday event will run from Dec. 21, 2019 through Jan. 5, 2020 at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, which is located about two miles from Griffith Park and in Los Angeles. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes; you’ll be doing a lot of walking. You can book tickets here.
