Day 1 - Hollywood and Universal

---

Soo today we had planned to go to Universal Hollywood for the day. However, as we had an early night last night we decided that we would get up early and go to the Hollywood walk of fame first. We got up around 6, got ready and went to have some (basic, but free) breakfast at the travelodge. They had cereal and toast, that kind of thing but it did the job and we set off for the metro.

We got off at Hollywood Highland and emerged out of the station straight onto the walk of fame from the escalators! I took Craig round to where Tash took me before to see the Hollywood sign, however it seems to now be covered up by a massive tree! So we went back to the walk of fame and had a look at some of the stars, took some pictures of them, plus things such as the Kodak theatre (where the Oscars are held), Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the handprints around there. We also picked up our Hollywood CityPass whilst we were there and booked a Movie Stars Homes tour for Saturday, where we will be shown the homes (and ex-homes) of various celebrities.

At around 9, we got back onto the Metro to head to Universal. We got the free shuttle bus up the (massively long and steep) hill to Universal. We had a little walk around Citywalk - a huge outdoor shopping precinct owned by Universal which has lots of famous shops with extravagent store-fronts that make the area look incredible - before waiting in the queue at the entrance. At 10 we were finally let in and we followed most of the crowd to the Studio tour. I won't go into detail about this as it's quite long, it basically takes you around the backlot of the studios around the sets and the stages and there are various sound stages and live sets that the tram goes into which shows you how some of the effects in the movies were made. The highlight was probably the King Kong 360 part, where the tram goes into a large tunnel and you are surrounded by huge 3D screens either side of the tram so it really feels like you are at Skull Island being attacked by dinosaurs before King Kong comes and rescues you. The tram moves around too and there are various wind/water effects which make it seem even more realistic. It's kind of hard to explain how good it is, if you are ever in Los Angeles, it is highly recommended! Other highlights were seeing a live set of an earthquake/flood in a Los Angeles subway station, the Psycho house and Bates motel, the Jaws set, Whoville, a tiny miniature version of Skull Island that they used to make it look huge, various cars from films such as 'Fast and the Furious', 'Back to the Future', 'The Mummy', 'Knight Rider', 'Jurassic Park' etc. There was loads more but we just can't remember, the tous lasted around an hour and a half.

After the studio tour, we headed to the Simpsons ride (Craig's favourite ride of the day). This is just a simulator, however it is an awesome simulator! The screens are huuuge and surround you on each side and it really feels like you are right in the middle of it all! Again, we really can't explain how awesome it is, so we wont bore you by trying!

We then had some dinner, at Mel's diner (a 50's style American diner place), where we both had the classic American 'chilli cheese dog' (a first for both of us!), basically a hot dog covered in chilli and cheese with fries. It was very yummy! We keep forgetting to take pictures of the food but we will try to remember in future! We then watched a few of the shows, the first being the Animal Actors show. This involved several different animals (dogs, cats, monkeys, orangutans, pigs, chickens, birds, racoons, etc!) from various films showing off their acting talents! It's cute and funny but shows how well the animals are trained for the films, such as being able to perform their commands from their trainer whilst looking at an actor in front of them. The orangutan at the end was a particular highlight and we now both want one.

We then watched the Waterworld show, which is based on the film (although neither of us has seen this, you don't really need to to understand what happens) and the actors perform various stunts such as jumping into the water from very high platforms on the set, and riding around on boats and jet skis. After the show, we went over the House of Horrors, which is a walkthrough horror maze filled with various actors dressed as characters from horror movies. It is very scary throughout, with the actors jumping out on you from dark corners, and at one point, a seemingly fake Chucky doll turned out to be a live actor and scared the crap out of Craig by lunging at him with a knife!

We walked around for a bit looking at the shops and theming, before going down to the lower lot at the bottom of a huge hill, where 'Jurassic Park' and 'The Mummy' rides are. To get there, you have to go down 4 huge escalators which look pretty cool going up the hill. We went on 'The Mummy' first (Tash got addicted to this last year!), and Emma didn't mention to Craig that it involves a sudden acceleration near the beginning! We both enjoyed the ride, which is basically a indoor rollercoaster that goes forwards and backwards, which is full of theming from the film (basically loads of mummies and beetles). We then went on 'Jurassic Park' river ride, which Emma said that we would probably get a little bit wet on (based on previous experience), but since it was very hot by this point, we didn't mind. The ride takes you through Jurassic Park, where you see some of the more harmless dinosaurs, before entering a building where some of the dangerous dinosaurs seem to have attacked previous boats. At the end, it looks like you are heading towards a huge T-Rex that looks like he's going to eat you, but at the last second, the boat drops like a log flume into the water below and you usually get a bit splashed at this point. However, our boat seemed to drop into a huge WALL of water and we got drenched :/ Thankfully we both saw the funny side and agreed that it was quite nice and refreshing, and we soon dried off in the sun.

A further ride on 'The Mummy' followed, before we headed back up the escalators just in time for the 'Special Effects' show. This involved two hosts explaining the movie special effects, one favouring 'Classic' special effects using physical props and illusions, whilst the other favours more modern computer generated effects. They used volunteers from the audience to demonstrate some of these techniques, and it was really interesed to see how things are done.

Finally, we went to watch the Terminator 2: 3D show, which is based on events after the second film. It involved both live actors in front of huge 3D screens, which interacted with each other. There was also filmed footage from the actual actors from the movies. At first, it was a bit cheesy, but it got better and by the end the 3D effects were amazing, it really looked like the robots were hovering above the audience!

At this point, the park was closing soon. We had a quick check on the queue for the Simpson's ride, but it seemed quite long and our feet were getting tired. We headed out to Citywalk and had a walk round the shops and looked at the sights. We went to Taco Bell and had a (relatively cheap and healthy in terms of fast food) grilled steak soft taco. It was quite small and Craig decided that it wasn't quite enough to fill him up, so we walked over to where the shuttle bus picked people up and saw a huge queue, so decided to walk down the huge hill (where a man decided to start a small jog which turned into a huge run with momentum gathered from the hill - we half expected to find him in a pile at the bottom!). Once we reached the bottom, we got back on the metro to Hollywood and headed to a McDonalds that we had spotted earlier so that Craig could have a double cheeseburger (or a McDouble as they call it) from the dollar menu. As you can see, Craig has decided to disregard his lactose intolerance and has so far eaten cheese with pretty much every meal so far. Thankfully, it doesn't really seem to be affecting him and so hopefully he is cured!

We were extreemely tired by this point after being on our feet for around 14 hours, so we got back on the metro and arrived back at the Travelodge at around 9 and pretty much went straight to sleep (which is why we are updating this blog a day late!).

Overall it was a great day and we really enjoyed Universal. We will probably head back there later on in the week as our passes will still be valid.

---