Friday, 10 October 2014
Where are we? USA, California, Hollywood – Universal Studios
“You know what your problem is? It's that you haven't seen enough movies - all of life's riddles are answered in the movies." - Steve Martin
Today we went to Universal Studios, Hollywood.
Another early morning, hotel brekkie, then picked up and taken to Universal. The tip from the driver as he dropped us off was to go straight to the transformer's ride, and as we entered we could see that there was no wait time, so we started heading that way. But of course we got distracted and de-toured on our way there.
So much I could talk about, I surveyed the family for their favourite experience as follows:
1. Debbie's favourite - the Universal tour
Shane and I did this 20 years ago when we came, the only thing that's the same is the mechanical Jaws, oh and I guess some of the sets are the same. When we went last time there were houses and garden's who's claim to fame was the Munsters, now their claim to fame is Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewifes. I loved the new 4D King Kong experience, last time we got a mechanical King Kong, but this time it's all animated and required 3D glasses. I also enjoyed the sub-way earth quake, train crash experience, made all the more special by playing a snippet of an episode of bones where they used some of the effect. I also liked seeing the set of War of the Worlds (with Tom Cruise) lots of detail. Universal were hosting a Halloween party that night (we didn't go), so a lot of the sets had a few extras, zombie's, ghoolies, and other scary things in prep for the night's celebration.
2. Kaine's favourite - The Mummy
I went on this ride with the twins. Shane and I took turns accompaning the twins while the other looked after Darius. The preparation before the ride was excellent putting you in the mood for exploring ancient Egyptian tombs. When waiting for our vehicle we'd watch riders return, who would be laughing and applauding their experience. Kaine turned to me and advised "Mum, you better not clap, that's embarassing". As to what happened when on the ride I have no idea, as I had to take off my glasses and place them in a safety pouch. Lots of high speed back and forth, haunted screaming, spiders and other scurrying insects. At the end Kaine was impressed, and in a change of heart advised "OK mum that was so awesome, you can clap".
3. Raven's favourite - The Simpson's
I asked her just now and she replied "I dunno, they all sucked, they weren't proper rides." I replied, that I remember her screaming on the Simpson ride saying over and over again "OMG this is so cool, this is so cool". She conceeded, saying I could put the Simpson's as her favourite experience. It was actually the first ride we went on the distractor from the Transformer mission. I thought it was brilliant it was again one of those 4D experiences, but the whole room was the ride, i.e. when looking up at the ceiling it was the Simpson sky. Being sucked into giant Maggie's mouth (as a mistaken dummy) was fun and wet.
4. Shane's favourite - Jurassic Park
I didn't go on this ride as I looked after Darius. It was one of those log ride on the water rides. The jungle, waterfall and dinosaur theme, was very impressive. American's know how to create brilliant experiences. Darius was frightened of the dinosaurs, telling that the were making noises that sounded like baddies. While the rest of the family went on this ride Darius and I played in a dinosaur skeleton play ground.
5. Daruis's favourite - his hired stoller
Dar hasn't used his pram for years, but he has a terrible habit of wanting to be carried, Shane and I didn't like the thought of carrying him around the theme park so we decided to spend $15 and hire a pram from Universal. Darius loved it, jumping straight in, and doing up his own seat belt. When the twins were off on their rides, Dar loved being pushed about until he saw a character to have a photo with. The character's were really good with him, coaxing him out when he was shy and eliciting hugs and high fives from him, and we have now adopted the Diego hand shake (high 5, fist bump, wavy fingers).
The not so favourite - Darius's double head lumps.
Darius tried to practice his own stuntman experience by jumping out of a moving pram. He wanted a photo with the Simpson character's - we wanted to get in line for the backlot tour. Dar hit his head on the concrete hard. A huge lump on his head. When crying while waiting in line though he was less concerned about his bump and more concerned that someone would take his pram.
The second bump on his head occured when running happily with Kaine towards Shrek, he trip went flying, and acquired a matching bump on the other side of his head. A Universal staff member witnessed the second fall and took us to first aid for ice and a free Otter Pop - aka an icey pole.
All in all we had a great time, we got back to the hotel at around 6:30 - Darius, Raven and I fell asleep straight away, Kaine & Shane went to the 7-eleven accross the street, and went to sleep soon after.
Thanks for reading, much love to all,
Debbie and family x
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