How you doin’, Vegas?: ‘Friends’ attraction opens on Las Vegas Strip

You can’t have Central Perk without one of the garish sofas, and you can’t have “The ‘Friends’ Experience” without Central Perk. There’s an identical couch in front of a replica of the fountain from the opening credits. With visitors climbing on them for photos, stains and rips happen. Even your backups need backups.

“The fans know the difference. They know everything. It’s amazing to watch them come through the space,” says Moscatelli, CEO of Original X Productions, which produces the attraction. “If the orange isn’t right, they’re going to call you out on it.”

“The ‘Friends’ Experience: The One in Vegas,” an immersive ode to one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, opens Thursday at the MGM Grand. It’s the third permanent location, following New York and London, while touring versions are currently in Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.

At times, the contents can trip up even the show’s most enthusiastic fans. Take the black recliners in Chandler and Joey’s apartment.

“Fans will always say, ‘Wait a second. They were brown. They were not black.’ And it sparks this whole conversation,” Moscatelli says. “Of course, our staff always knows how to answer the question.”

For the record, Joey splurged on two black recliners, along with a new TV, in Season 2. They, along with most everything else in the apartment, were stolen two seasons later while Joey was locked in the entertainment center. Chandler replaced them with brown recliners, and Joey named his Rosita.

‘The One in Vegas’

“The ‘Friends’ Experience,” located in The District near the MGM Grand Garden, is filled with nods to the show, some more obvious than others.

Rachel’s Thanksgiving trifle sits on the table in her and Monica’s apartment. On the balcony, there’s a version of the “giant poking device” Joey made with chopsticks so the gang could check to see if their neighbor Ugly Naked Guy was still alive. (Warning: Ugly Naked Guy not included.)

Some pieces come with signs explaining their significance. Take Pat the Dog, Joey’s beloved greyhound statue, or the collection of Magna Doodles displaying some of the favorite sayings from the toy on the back of Chandler and Joey’s door.

The two-story attraction also highlights the four-episode arc in 1999 that brought the characters to Las Vegas. That includes having a bit of Caesars Palace inside the MGM Grand.

When the movie that Joey was supposed to film in the desert ran out of money, he got a job at Caesars posing for photos in a gladiator costume. A reproduction of that outfit is part of the exhibit.

A re-creation of the chapel set where Ross and Rachel drunkenly wed is there, too.

Phoebe’s taxi from that episode is in the New York attraction, but it isn’t accessible. Visitors to the new location can climb inside a replica to take photos and videos. A nearby monitor plays clips of that episode, so you can watch Phoebe and Joey (and the hitchhiker she picked up) in the cab from inside the cab.

Attention to detail

In re-creating the iconic sets, Moscatelli and her crew worked closely with the Warner Bros. archives team to figure out which items fans recognized the most.

When it comes to “Friends,” though, there’s no such thing as a definitive apartment.

“Over the course of 10 seasons, things change,” Moscatelli says. “The rugs are different. The couches are different.”

The couches she’s referring to are in Monica’s apartment. She figures the show went through five or six different styles during its run. Furniture and decor also came and went as living conditions changed, including when Chandler moved in with Monica and the time Rachel lived with Joey.

“We have some things that we can pull from that we sort of have in storage,” Moscatelli says, having been in the “Friends” attraction business since 2019. “And then others we re-create because we have all of our shop drawings and blueprints.”

Then there’s the task of procuring the major appliances — stoves, refrigerators and the like — that realistically should have had some years on them when the series debuted in 1994. Some of the period-specific touches such as cordless phones and cathode-ray tube television sets are becoming harder to find. Moscatelli has a props team that will scour thrift stores and online listings.

“It definitely is a labor of love,” she says. “And there are people who will spend a long time (working) to get the right blender.”

The attention to detail extends to stocking the kitchen cabinets with just the right items.

“We sort of say, ‘OK, what’s our best option for a cereal box from that time period, so that it still feels of the ’90s and not like something we just bought at the store today.’ ”

So what is it about “Friends,” which debuted before a chunk of its fan base was even born, that inspires people to still want to surround themselves with versions of its most famous sets?

Moscatelli has a theory.

“I think it’s just a really fun, comforting show that people really like to watch and really like to revisit over and over again.”

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.