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Published: August 3rd 2008
We’d booked the Universal Studios today with a free shuttle bus from the Chinese Theatre. We got on with a small group and then it headed around the corner to another stop. A lady from our group asked when we’d get our entry tickets and the driver said he’d sort it so got off and let another massive group of people on. We drove there crammed in and when we got off, our group went to the driver to ask for our tickets and he looked confused. He thought we had them already. We didn’t. When he realised what had happened he had to call the office and ask them to send the tickets over in a van for us. By the time the van arrived we’d wasted about an hour of park time.
I’m guessing the studios are always this packed. We didn’t buy the front line ticket (£35 more each) so had to queue everywhere for about half an hour. It wasn’t so bad as they had cool air con fans everywhere and the queues were all under cover.
We did the main tour which was all very staged and was a bit disappointing (although we did
see the entrance to the Lion Estate from Back to the Future which was cool!) and some of the robotic explosions and crashes gave you a bit of insight into how things are done in the films. We didn’t get to see any film stars and regretted not buying the VIP pass (£55 more per person) as this apparently got you backstage on some of the film sets.
Then we went to the Waterworld show which was meant to be the next biggest attraction. This was in an arena around a set with water. There were guys on each section trying to get the crowd going and if we didn’t perform they soaked us with water - it didn’t matter as it was 30 degrees and were were roasting. Then the action started which was a play involving lots of stunts in the water and lots of film style special effects like explosions and gunfire. All of the actors were from the tv - mainly CSI type US shows.
We managed to do the Shrek show, Terminator, Jurassic Park (where Matt almost got the money shot of the T-Rex - as the roller coaster dropped straight down the
log flume and we got drenched - but didn’t quite make it, luckily our camera is waterproof) and the Mummy (which was a really unexpectedly fast and twisty roller coaster and the beetles come in and get your feet when you’re in a dark tunnel!!!). We also did the House of Horrors which was like a dull walk through a ghost train until real people started jumping out of dark places and scaring you witless, and the Special Effects show which was hosted by some really annoying overly American presenters.
We didn’t get to see everything and became increasingly annoyed at the ‘Front Line Pass’ wearers who we know would have got into everything. In hindsight it would have been worth the extra bit of money as then we wouldn’t have felt like we were rushing from queue to queue.
We decided to ditch the free shuttle bus back which left at 6pm and instead headed outside to the cinema and watched the new Mummy film instead. It was terrible and absolutely freezing with seriously strong air con. By the time it had finished we had planned to eat at one of the restaurants there too but decided
Karen & Jaws
It seems that Karen has no shame and is quite happy putting her head inside a sharks jaw!we needed to head back for jumpers because we were so cold, so instead we went out for a pizza to an Italian local to our hostel. The place was really quirky and it had a great atmosphere. There was a pianist playing and every few minutes a member of staff there would get up and sing something Italian and they were all amazing. The food wasn’t as good as we’d hoped but as always the service was great.
We had to again battle our way through the mass of film characters by the Chinese Theatre back to our hostel - tonight they were joined by some from horror films that all had very big bloody knives, like Chucky and Jason.
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