‘Friends Experience’ Pivoting to MGM Grand Las Vegas

Posted on: June 13, 2024, 12:50h. 

Last updated on: June 13, 2024, 01:27h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

They’ll be there for you when “The Friends Experience: The One in Vegas” debuts at the MGM Grand later this year, just in time to still celebrate the classic NBC sitcom’s 30th anniversary.

The author and his daughter pose at “The Friends Experience” in New York City. Spoiler alert: The couch is fastened to the post. (Image: The Friends Experience)

“Las Vegas is the perfect destination,” Stacy Moscatelli, CEO of Original X Productions, which produces the attraction, said in a press release. “Not only does the city attract millions of ‘Friends’ fans every year, but Las Vegas plays an integral role in the series featuring some of the show’s most iconic and hilarious moments.”

Of course, none of the original “Friends” cast will really be there for you. The sets will all just be facsimiles. And any original set pieces that remain are on display at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., where the show was taped.

But that’s the beauty of the “The Friends Experience.” If any of the props were original, you would need to stare at them behind glass or ropes and never get to sit in the Central Perk coffee shop, move that couch up the stairs while pretending to yell at Rachel to pivot!, or dress up like Joey in all of Chandler’s clothes.

A recreation of the Central Perk coffee shop. (Image: Original X Productions)

The selling point of “The Friends Experience” is getting to leave with a dozen photos of you and your own friends recreating scenes from one of the most beloved sitcoms in TV history.

This all-ages attraction has so far toured 24 cities — it’s now in Boston — with a permanent location that opened five years ago in New York City.

The press release calls Vegas the “second US flagship location.” However, as with every attraction in Vegas, as soon as it stops selling out, it starts moving out.

The press release won’t reveal exactly when “The One in Vegas” will open, or even when tickets will go on sale. But a website is already up and inviting you to sign up for notifications at FriendsTheExperience.com/Vegas.