Could it BE any better? The Friends Experience London
- LJ Cadogan
- Nov 18, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 25
The one with all the spoilers
I have watched Friends countless times over, and as a result feel qualified enough to call myself a seasoned fan. So when I saw a billboard on London Underground advertising The Friends Experience, I knew I had to go. I booked my tickets - my partner, luckily, is also a seasoned Friends fan, meaning I had company. When the time came, we made our way to the ExCel Waterfront, to immerse ourselves in the lives of Rachel, Monica, Ross, Chandler, Phoebe and Joey.
London is no stranger to Friends experiences, and this one is meant to be immersive for fans, allowing them to put themselves at the heart of sets based on Joey and Chandler's apartment, Monica's apartment, as well as Central Perk. And we were not disappointed. Phoebe's taxi? They have it. Although it looks suspiciously newer than Phoebe's ever did. Rachel's letter to Ross? They have it. All eighteen pages. Front and back. So why did we did leave feeling a bit... underwhelmed?
It wasn't the process. Guests are admitted in groups, based on timed entry, and each section of the set has a limited number of people. The immersion is largely based on photographic opportunities. Popular photographic opportunities - particular aspects of a set - will draw more guests than others, so do be prepared to wait.
I found that fellow fans were courteous, offering to take pictures for each other and so on, but it can be hard not to feel rushed when there's a queue forming behind you.
I also felt that the sets alluded to Friends - they function as replicas, but they are not accurate. The attention to detail is, overall, good, but Friends fans will definitely notice things that feel off. I appreciate that expecting copy & paste perfection isn't particularly realistic, but this is labelled as an immersive experience. It needed to be the closest thing possible, and it fell short. One warning I would like to issue is that the 'cheesecake' doesn't look like cheesecake. It looks like something else. It looks like a Friday night occurrence, the result of one too many and a dodgy hot dog from a stall outside Tottenham Court Road station. I edited it out of my photographs.
I would have liked to see more props and memorabilia from the show. I enjoyed seeing the scripts for example, but would have liked to see a few pages.
There are six costumes displayed at the start, one for each character, but none of them were iconic, or memorable, outfits. Save for one or two garments, the others could easily have been purchased recently. Having said that, the experience does have the Holiday Armadillo costume, which is both iconic and memorable.
There was also a focus on London that I found strange (tip: when the telephone rings, answer it). It may be that London is the only international city where episodes of Friends were filmed, but I'm not sure that calls for foam props displaying some of the city's landmarks when the experience is located in London. Unless you're a tourist who doesn't have too much time, in which case the props might suffice. It did leave me wondering who the experience is for - Friends fans, or tourists who happen to be Friends fans.
The final blow though, comes via the gift shop. The selection of merchandise isn't great, which is a shame. I was disappointed to discover there weren't any keyrings available. There were a few mugs / reuseable water bottles, a few t-shirts and you could take home your own Hugsy (in exchange for £40), but not much beyond that. Here's a list:
hoodies, two designs
t-shirts, four designs
tote bags, 3 designs
lanyards, 2 designs
pin badges, 2 designs
fridge magnet, 1 design
notebooks, 2 designs
mugs and reuseable water bottles, various designs but small selection
The Friends Experience is set to run until February 2025. If you're a Friends fan, you'll enjoy it, just don't expect too much.