Guests are encouraged to take a photo on the Central Perk set from “Friends.” (photo by Rance Collins)

The holidays can provide confounding familial problems… essentially, there is the necessity to entertain one’s family, particularly after the gifts are unwrapped. Luckily, if they’ve descended upon Los Angeles, there is no shortage of potential activities. Beyond the after-Christmas deals at The Grove, “Wicked” (the musical) at the Pantages or driving down to Disneyland, Warner Bros. Studios offers what is perhaps the best bang-for-your-buck available.

It is no secret that WB has long provided perhaps the most comprehensive studio tour out of the wealth of L.A. tours available, in no small part because the studio itself remains virtually untouched since the Golden Age – and it also is incredibly active today, with popular series like “Abbott Elementary,” “The Jennifer Hudson Show” and “Night Court” calling the lot home. Additionally, recent movies like “Joker: Folie à Deux” and “MaXXXine” have used its stages.

On Friday, I had the pleasure of taking the tour … again. Full disclosure, I have done this tour literally thousands of times because, a decade ago, I was a tour guide at the studio. But in the years since I left in 2014, the experience has evolved greatly. Two museums have sprung up. A couple of virtual interactions have launched and tour-specific buildings have been constructed.

So, while I know the lot’s history pretty well, there was plenty of new attractions for even me to enjoy. It all starts off familiar enough.

The main tour center has a large gift shop – don’t worry, you end up back there when the tour is over – which currently has a large “Batman Returns” display, with several of the costumes, vehicles and set pieces used in the movie. I was also impressed with a little address book on view, safely under glass, that belonged to one of the original brothers, Jack Warner. It was opened to a page that had the numbers for Walt Disney, Salvador Dali, “Miss” Bette Davis and Cecil B. DeMille.

For the tour itself, they kick off with a short film that gets you into that WB spirit – flying through Superman, “Friends,” Harry Potter and Humphrey Bogart. Then comes the guide – ours was a walking encyclopedia named Tyler – who definitely earned his tip. He had all that baseline knowledge that was inputted into my memory way back when, plus 10 more years of titles and even a few throwback stories I had never heard.

Every tour is different, largely because the availability of sets is dependent upon what is or isn’t filming on a given day. Some activity was happening near some stages for what Tyler told us was a pilot, but during the next couple of weeks, most crews will be on their holiday hiatus. These are great days to take a tour since nothing is shut down for filming. So, if you’re dead set on seeing the façade that was once the “E.R.” hospital entrance and now has “Abbott Elementary” sitting in front of it, you’ve got a very good chance of getting your photo.

I’m a big classic Hollywood fan, and my love of the studio lots stems from that magical history behind the sets and stages. Hennessy Street, a grungy Brooklyn-esque backlot set, is where James Cagney earned his gangster credentials and where Annie had a hard knock life. Head over to New York Street, and the classics range from Bette Davis in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” to Harrison Ford in “Blade Runner.” Unique to Warner Bros. is a jungle set, built in the 1950s and used in “Jurassic Park,” “The Muppet Movie,” “True Blood” and “The Last Samurai.”

Currently, a self-guided pop-up has taken over the Midwestern town on the lot, themed after perhaps the most famous television series to use it, “Gilmore Girls.” This is also the hometown of “The Waltons,” those “Pretty Little Liars,” and James Dean in both “Rebel Without a Cause” and “East of Eden.”

Tyler also showed us a sound stage a sitcom set for the “Young Sheldon” spinoff “Georgia & Mandy’s First Marriage,” which premiered earlier this year. There appeared to be a few stages available, so your tour might see something different.

After the guided portion was complete, guests are able to explore Stage 48, a kind of museum/activity center that has numerous costumes and props from various films including “My Fair Lady,” “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” as well as two complete sets, Central Perk from “Friends” and the apartment from “The Big Bang Theory.” For an extra fee, you can have a green screen moment against “Batman” and “Harry Potter” backdrops. This is also the section with perhaps, I believe, the coolest thing ever: the “Casablanca” piano. If you’re parched, there’s a “Friends”-themed café here, as well.

And there is still more museum to be had – just back where you started. All of the “Game of Thrones,” some “Harry Potter” and a huge junk of DC Comics superhero artifacts are housed back in the tour center, where guests are shuttled to complete the experience. Here, you’ll find Christopher Reeves and Henry Cavill’s capes, Lynda Carter’s and Gal Gadot Wonder Woman costumes, Michael Keaton’s (and even George Clooney’s) bat cowls and a few Batmobiles. Additionally, you have the opportunity to hold an Oscar – ours was the Best Picture trophy for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”

It is difficult to fully describe the breadth of cool that the tour provides. To give an idea, while the guided portion of the tour and the museum areas are supposed to take about an hour each, I managed to spend nearly four hours there from start to finish. Which is OK, guests are encouraged to take their time through the self-guided portions. It can really take a half-day or more, particularly if you do to the “Gilmore Girls” Stars Hallow pop-up, available through Jan. 6 where they had cookie decorating stations, games, photo ops and plenty of snack food.

In short, if you’re looking for a venue to entertainment visiting guests, or if you’re just wanting a reminder about what makes Los Angeles so dang special, Warner Bros. has everything and then some.

Even “as time goes by” I can’t deny that WB is “the stuff that dreams are made of.” For information, visit wbstudiotour.com. The Warner Bros. Studio Tour is located at 3400 Warner Blvd.

A sampling of every Warner Bros. Batman is found in the museum, including (from right) Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson. (photo by Rance Collins)