Another glorious day dawned as we traversed the short distance from Universan Hilton to Universal Studios – who would have thought they would be so close! We had purchased “front of the line” tickets – highly recommended so after a short line up quickly found our way to the booth to redeem these. Rushing to get there before the great unwashed we almost missed a very clever little “statue” scene which you could have easily dismissed as well a statue I guess:) It was in fact actors of course spray tanned to within an inch of their lives but suitably realistic. First stop was the studio tour – at the front of the bus natch. This took us through the backlots which included basic setups but also classic ones like Amity Island(Jaws) , The Bates Hoetel and surprisingly the complete Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives. There were sound stages set up for earthquakes and ouside cantinas set up for floods. Also passed through the King Kong “ship approaching Skull Island” set up along with the massive backstage lagoon used for Pirates of Carribean, watched the Fast and Furious explosive car display and passed by the plane crash set from War of the Worlds. As part of the studio tour we also did the King Kong 360 degree 3-D EXTRAVAGANZA! Good fun and a great insight for movie buffs. In fact the studio tour was so good we did it again in the afternoon rather than go on “rides”. There is plenty to see and do at Universal Studios but you can spend all day on a continuous loop of the Studio Tour and still get your money’s worth
After this it was time for the first show of the day which was the Terminator one. Well staged inside a theatre with plenty of bangs and flashes. Best part though was sitting on the bike afterwards. Next stop was the Sound Effects demo and once again being in front row was lucky enough to take part and look a fool. Normally I prefer just to look a fool at home not in front of a crowd but they were yanks so shouldnt be a problem:) Not a big one for rides per se but squeezed in the Jurassic Park one before lining up for the Blues Brothers show at lunch time. Familiar songs performed very well rounded out the morning well. Next EXTRAVAGANZA was the Water World show. Didn’t have to line up for long again but a bit too smart to sit in the front rows this time around – just ask the people walking around the rest of the day in wet clothes! There were great stunts and hammy acting so really did seem real. The beautiful day certainly provided a great backdrop to all of the action.
So we had ticked off the main attractions rather easily and still fitted in House of Horrors ( they approached CLP to stay on and join the cast but she respectfully declined), NBC Universal experience and about 5 rides up and down the massive escalators. One of the joys of walking around these parks of course are the characters that constantly mingle with the crowds. So all in all it was a great day, good value for money and highly recommended. Much like being pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of Americans it was also obvious they know how to put a theme park together without making it a shallow costly experience.
flashman181 