If you’re on the hunt for an unforgettable gift for a movie lover, look no further than an experience day. These days and events will have lucky recipient stepping away from the silver screen and into a true, real-life experience that’ll never be forgotten. These days are so much more than a gift – they’re a memory, something to recall and enjoy with friends and family time and time again.
We’ve had a look around and scoped some of the best experience days for movie fans out there. If you’re looking for action and adventure, there are racing and aerobatic events for thrill seekers, tank battles for war epic fanatics and zombie survival challenges for hardened horror lovers. If you’re looking for something a little tamer, then there are plenty of film location tours, studio visits, actor Q&As and private cinema events to behold.
Whichever you choose, you’re sure to be gifting a damn good time. Here’s what we found:
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Film Fan Experiences
Drifting Experience
If you know someone who can't get enough of the Fast & Furious franchise, then this is the experience is for them. Experience-goers will learn the art of high-speed driving and rubber burning as they learn the fundamentals of drifting from a professional (and qualified) instructor, before pitting their skills against another racer. Cars used may include the Nissan 200sx, Nissan R33 Skyline and Lexus IS200.
Tank Experience
Fans of wartime epics will jump at the chance to get behind the levers of a 17-ton battlefield behemoth. After some initial instruction, they'll be faced with an obstacle course…twice – once with hatch up, and again with the vision-limiting hatch down. It's pretty closely monitored though, so there won't be any Kelly's Heroes re-enactments.
Tank Battle Paintballing
A crew of four takes command of a (paint) battle ready FV432, each taking charge of a specific tank operation, including driving, spotting and firing (it rotates so everyone gets a go). The crew will get a chance to practice their shots and manoeuvres before going up against a rival tank - they won't be going track-to-track with a German Tiger 131 like in 2014's Fury, but it's a real adrenaline ride and provides a great insight into tank operation.
Peaky Blinders Tour of Liverpool
It turns out that the place that looks most like 1920's Birmingham is 2020's Liverpool – hence the BBC's decision to have the city as a primary filming location for the hit series, Peaky Blinders. This coach tour will have any Shelby fan grinning as they visit ten set locations in the city and around Wirral and west of the River Mersey.
Bridget Jones Walking Tour
This walking tour will have rom-com fans treading the same streets as Bridget Jones, the 30-something hapless bachelorette, as they're guided to over 12 film locations. In addition to seeing sights of London, tour goers will be treated to behind-the-scenes facts and get to snap a picture at the door to Bridget's apartment. For a quintessential rom-com weekend, this tour is perfect when doubled up with the 'Rom Com Walking Tour of London', which'll add the locations of Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill into the mix.
James Bond London Tour
Enter James Bond's world of glamour and danger with this three-hour mini-coach tour of 007's London locations. Guests will be treated to locations seen across the franchise's catalogue, including The World Is Not Enough, Goldeneye and Spectre, in addition to real-world intelligence hotspots, such as the MI-6 HQ. For the full Bond experience, book a stay in the actual apartment from 2015's Spectre.
Spy Academy
Do you, or one of your nearest and dearest, fancy themselves as the next Jason Bourne or Black Widow? Well, put their claims to the test with the Spy Academy, the ultimate tactical espionage training experience. Over this half-day session, led by ex-police and Special Forces operatives, participants will be trained in a number of unarmed and combat skills, including crossbows, sniper rifles and body combat, before testing their reflexes in a pistol draw competition.
Blood and Tears: London’s Horror Walking Tour
Horror, slasher, killer and crime film fans – gather around. This evening walking tour will have the brave guests striking the streets of London, following the expert guide through backstreets and alleyways, telling the sinister tales of serial killers, grave robbers, execution sites, secret tunnels and chilling conspiracy theories.
Ghostly Edinburgh Underground Vault
If you're horror-loving recipient is looking for a fright a little more supernatural, then send them to Scotland to witness Edinburgh's ghostly goings on. A cloaked guide will lead them down into the shadowy depths of Blair Street, the eighteenth century vaults-turned-slums which lay under the cobbled streets of Old Edinburgh, to hear of the desperate squalor and rampant crime which, if the rumours are to be believed, left more than a few discontented spirits in its wake.
The Making Of Harry Potter at Warner Bros. Studio and Italian Meal
The Warner Bros. Studio Harry Potter tour - the mothership which calls home all Potterheads fans. This attraction allows visitors to explore a number of fantastic on-screen locations, including the Great Hall, Forbidden Forest, Platform 9 ¾ and Gringotts Wizarding Bank, as well as showcasing the tremendous special effects and costume design that made the film series what it was. There's so much to do, see and experience that even a muggle will love it. Once the wizarding world has been fully explored, head off to Prezzo's for a three-course meal and a glass of wine. An excellent day out and a delicious meal – the hallmarks of a brilliant day out.
Zombie Survival Experience
Whether they're the lumbering fools of Dawn Of The Dead and The Walking Dead or the furious-sprinters of 28 Days Later, film fans, much like their gamer cousins, adore zombies. With this undead experience, the thrill and challenge of the apocalypse is brought into the real world. Players are abandoned with a shotgun and limited ammo, and over the next three hours they have one task – survive. Working in a group, players will face tactical decisions, twisting plots and the ceaseless onslaught of an undead horde.
Zombie Siege Experience with Tactical Training
This one's less about a panicked scramble for survival, more a precise battle of reclamation – think the first half of 28 Weeks Later. Two hours of tactical training (from weapon skills to strategic movement) precedes a rescue mission that'll see player plunged into a 120,000 sq. ft zombie-infested complex, tasked with extracting a valuable target before it's too late.
Gangster London Tour with Vas Blackwood
The perfect gift for a gangster movie aficionado. The recipient will join Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels actor Vas Blackwood as he explores a combination of locations from films such as The Crying Game, Face and Lock, Stock, as well as those associated with underground mobster activity, including the Blind Beggar pub, the site of Ronnie Kray's infamous murder. Following the tour, there will also be a Q&A with Blackwood.
Cocktail Cinema Evening
If you're looking for a gift with an edge of refinement, sophistication and righteous joie de vivre, maybe a trip to a five-star hotel for a night of classic cinema and cocktails is what's needed. Shoreditch's Courthouse Hotel is a former magistrates court and home to one of the largest private cinemas in London, with a bar located in the former holding cells. Past screenings include The Shining, Legend and Whiplash. The full upcoming schedule is available here.
Top Gun Experience
It's time for a Top Gun fan to live out their wildest dreams and become Maverick. This experience sees the participant taking to the skies to recreate some of the on-screen g-force slamming aerial manoeuvres, co-piloting a T67 Firefly with a former military pilot. After a few aerobatic flights of increasing intensity, it's time for the Maverick-wannabe to take control, following the instructor's guidance to nail one or two tricks of their own. This one is guaranteed to generate a few adrenaline junkies. Saturday flights are available separately.
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