Day 2: Universal Studios Hollywood
We were up at 8am and raring to go, a full day at a park i couldnt wait, we got breakfast in the hotel which was cereal,juice and doughnuts/danish's, me and jayne took ours to the pool area and ate it round there, it was so peacful and was getting hot that early in the morning, i went for a swim after brekko for 5 mins before getting ready to leave, it was nice this time not being rushed into catching shuttle buses we could take our time and leave when we wanted to, not relying on times.
We got in the car and left by 10am with my maps in hand ready to tackle the LA freeways, as it was a holiday weekend the traffic wasnt too bad and we made surprisingly good time up to Universal in Hollywood i got got some pics on the highway of downtown LA, we passed the Hollywood sign but very breifly, we got to Universal by 11am without getting lost, it was so easy to find with my map, we parked up in the curious george parking lot and made our way up to the theme park/city walk level.
Upon stepping out it seemed very similar to Floridas one, lots of restaurants and shops and bars, we didnt really go in any we thought we would leave that till later on, most wernt open at this time either, as we approached the turnstiles we took a few pics outside with the globe and on the red carpet leading up to the gates, we had a 2 day pass but we knew we would only be here for 1 day. As we got in the park seemed busy and we grabbed a map and noticed a bloke saying the queue for the stuio backlot tour was no wait, so we decided to make our way for that, i'd heard good reports about the tour as this is where they film real movies on the sets here and is used unlike the one in orlando, we waited only 10 mins or so before we boarded our tour train, me and jayne both got outside seats so we could take pics and get a better view, the tour lasted about an hour and was well worth it, we saw sets from Back to the future, War of the Worlds, Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty, Desperate Housewives, The Mummy, Fast and the Furious, the tour also encorporated a few "mini" rides that were in universal orlando, such as the Earthquake, King Kong, Jaws, The Mummy and Fast and the Furious Car explosions, i took plenty pics and by the time we got off the tour my bum was acheing, at the top of the stairs was a Hollywood sign mockup so we got our pics taken with it and really it was quite realistic, i wonder if anybody will be able to tell hehe.
After a little walk round and reminiscing over the back to the future ride which was closing tomorrow for good awwww we decided to go to the lower lot down about 4 sets of huge escalators i took us about 10 mins,they called it the skywalk hmmmm!?! we headed straight for the mummy ride, this is mine and jaynes fave ride at universal but i'd heard it was quite a bit different, the Q wasnt too bad only about 20 mins, as we rode it, it was quite difffrent, there is a fast start off and you only go backwards right at the end and then it finishes all of a sudden, it seemed shoreter than Uni orlando but was still a great ride, this has to be my fave 3rd rollercoaster behind hulk and screamin.
At this point it was now 2ish and after watching the Jurrasic park ride (cursed from last time with my camera yuck!) and me getting totally soaked from the spash zone which was a welcome relief as it was a scorcher (over100 i believe) we decided to get lunch, usual park grub, pizza, salad, burgers, fries and overpriced, not bad tho $9 for pizza and cesar salad, jayne had a pizza too.
After lunch we went to the special effects theatre, this was fun it lasted about 30 mins and had audience participation, by now it was roasting hot and there was no way we were going into the backdraft ride ! we decided to ride the mummy for the last time again and then headed back up the starway to the upper lot, didnt go on Jurassic park ride this time, probably just as well !
We wandered around for a bit and i got a huge beer for $9, as we walked round we past a booth that was giving free tv show taping tickets for the week, i rememeber the bloke on the tour told us that Jay Leno tix for the week were free, i went and asked and indeed they were so we got 2 tix for thursday for the Jay Leno Tonight show and Harry Potter (daniel Radcliffe) was one fo the guests, what a result and they didnt cost us a penny, then even had "guaranteed" stamped on them !
We got in the car and left by 10am with my maps in hand ready to tackle the LA freeways, as it was a holiday weekend the traffic wasnt too bad and we made surprisingly good time up to Universal in Hollywood i got got some pics on the highway of downtown LA, we passed the Hollywood sign but very breifly, we got to Universal by 11am without getting lost, it was so easy to find with my map, we parked up in the curious george parking lot and made our way up to the theme park/city walk level.
Upon stepping out it seemed very similar to Floridas one, lots of restaurants and shops and bars, we didnt really go in any we thought we would leave that till later on, most wernt open at this time either, as we approached the turnstiles we took a few pics outside with the globe and on the red carpet leading up to the gates, we had a 2 day pass but we knew we would only be here for 1 day. As we got in the park seemed busy and we grabbed a map and noticed a bloke saying the queue for the stuio backlot tour was no wait, so we decided to make our way for that, i'd heard good reports about the tour as this is where they film real movies on the sets here and is used unlike the one in orlando, we waited only 10 mins or so before we boarded our tour train, me and jayne both got outside seats so we could take pics and get a better view, the tour lasted about an hour and was well worth it, we saw sets from Back to the future, War of the Worlds, Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty, Desperate Housewives, The Mummy, Fast and the Furious, the tour also encorporated a few "mini" rides that were in universal orlando, such as the Earthquake, King Kong, Jaws, The Mummy and Fast and the Furious Car explosions, i took plenty pics and by the time we got off the tour my bum was acheing, at the top of the stairs was a Hollywood sign mockup so we got our pics taken with it and really it was quite realistic, i wonder if anybody will be able to tell hehe.After a little walk round and reminiscing over the back to the future ride which was closing tomorrow for good awwww we decided to go to the lower lot down about 4 sets of huge escalators i took us about 10 mins,they called it the skywalk hmmmm!?! we headed straight for the mummy ride, this is mine and jaynes fave ride at universal but i'd heard it was quite a bit different, the Q wasnt too bad only about 20 mins, as we rode it, it was quite difffrent, there is a fast start off and you only go backwards right at the end and then it finishes all of a sudden, it seemed shoreter than Uni orlando but was still a great ride, this has to be my fave 3rd rollercoaster behind hulk and screamin.
At this point it was now 2ish and after watching the Jurrasic park ride (cursed from last time with my camera yuck!) and me getting totally soaked from the spash zone which was a welcome relief as it was a scorcher (over100 i believe) we decided to get lunch, usual park grub, pizza, salad, burgers, fries and overpriced, not bad tho $9 for pizza and cesar salad, jayne had a pizza too.
After lunch we went to the special effects theatre, this was fun it lasted about 30 mins and had audience participation, by now it was roasting hot and there was no way we were going into the backdraft ride ! we decided to ride the mummy for the last time again and then headed back up the starway to the upper lot, didnt go on Jurassic park ride this time, probably just as well !
We wandered around for a bit and i got a huge beer for $9, as we walked round we past a booth that was giving free tv show taping tickets for the week, i rememeber the bloke on the tour told us that Jay Leno tix for the week were free, i went and asked and indeed they were so we got 2 tix for thursday for the Jay Leno Tonight show and Harry Potter (daniel Radcliffe) was one fo the guests, what a result and they didnt cost us a penny, then even had "guaranteed" stamped on them !
posted by joeintoronto at
12:35 PM
