The FRIENDS Experience: The One in Phoenix

Is your house not just clean, but Monica clean? Do you begin to salivate when you hear the Rembrandts song "I'll Be There for You" start to play? Then you're probably a really big fan of "Friends," the hit television sitcom that ran for 10 seasons (that's 236 episodes!) on NBC with repeats available for viewing today on HBO Max. Well here's something else for you to drool over: The FRIENDS Experience: The One in Phoenix has opened and will be thrilling fans at a pop-up location in the Paradise Valley neighborhood of Phoenix through May 8.

The FRIENDS Experience: The One in Phoenix (the "The One in Phoenix" is an homage to how every episode of "Friends" has a title that begins with "The One ...) provides a once-in-a-lifetime chance for fans to immerse themselves in the world of Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer.) After viewing a video about the show fans step through a door and immediately find themselves on a set that recreates the fountain scene from each episode's beginning. After that first photo opportunity fans follow a path that leads from set to set with memorabilia from the show placed in between sets.

Friends apartment

Some of the more popular photo ops are two chances to pose on the show's famous orange couch (one with the couch alone and one inside the set for the group's hangout at the coffee shop Central Perk), and to pose by the heavy sofa that's jammed up on a flight of stairs. Known as the "pivot" scene from the "The One with the Cop" episode, the predicament comes about after Ross buys a new sofa and decides not to pay for it to be delivered. So he and Rachel and Chandler try and try to move the furniture upstairs and with Ross repeated shouting "pivot" the word becomes one of the hottest catch phrases of 1999. Fans get to visit sets that recreate the guys' and gals' across-the-hall apartments where all the expected props are in place. In the set for Joey and Chandler's apartment there's even their giant dog statue and their foosball table, rigged up with peeping sounds, simulating the situation in the episode where a baby duck and a baby chicken are trapped inside the game. Fans can also pose in a recreation of the hallway between the apartments. Such is the attention to detail that's found throughout The FRIENDS Experience.

Friends Central Perk

Fans will find lots of surprises as they move through the experience, including things like Phoebe's guitar, a timeline that traces all the romantic entanglements of each character and a display of wigs honoring one of Jennifer Aniston's hairstyles. Known familiarly as "The Rachel," the hairdo became a fad as women the world over wanted a similar coif; that's a perfect example of how the show went well beyond providing weekly laughs, also becoming entrenched in pop culture. Of course there are also lots of television monitors showing clips from the show. The fun reaches its finale in a well-appointed gift shop where souvenirs galore, including many items you wouldn't expect, are on offer. Fans who just want to check out the retail store can do so without a ticket.

Having already had successful runs in Chicago, New York City, Boston, Dallas and Atlanta, The FRIENDS Experience was created by Superfly X, Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Group. The FRIENDS Experience: The One in Phoenix is located at Paradise Valley Gateway shopping center at 10845 N. Tatum Blvd. in Phoenix. Tickets may be purchased online here.

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