Day 14 - Universal Studios, Los Angeles

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Today was to be an eventful day. The most exciting part of which takes place at Universal Studios.

It began with a quick tour of Hollywood. I was booked to embark on this tour at 8:30, but my guide was half an hour late due to a roadblock on the freeway.

So I saw the same things that I saw yesterday - Walk of Fame and celebrity foot and hand prints. There's more to come.

Our guide took us through Beverly Hills. This was an interesting and pretty area of LA. We were shown many celebrity and former celebrity homes, as well as told eventful stories. He also took us through Bel-Air and Rodeo Drive.

He then dropped us off at Farmer's Market for about an hour. I had spaghetti for lunch and walked around for a while.

And then, the exciting part of the day followed. Universal Studios. We were dropped off and given five hours to explore the park.

My first stop was the House of Horrors. It was pretty dark and scary in here, and it had me jump at a few moments. I'd have to say, I quite liked it.

Then things became more interesting. I went to the Cyberdyne Systems room, where they put on an interesting Terminator show. We would all be wearing 3D glasses and they had lots of dry ice pumping to simulate explosions. Even sprinkles of water every time there was an explosion of liquid to add more elements of realism. This happened throughout most shows I went to throughout the park.

The other shows I went to were Shrek 4D, Jurassic Park, which involved a raft ride down an 80-foot plunge. It was sure exciting!

I checked out the Arcade Room, as well as the Mummy ride, which was like a death-defying rollercoaster through the darkness of the tomb at fast speeds. That was very fun!

The best part was the last tour I went on before having to leave. This place needed two days to see completely. It was the Studios Tour with King Kong - I got to see lots of different film sets used in movies such as Jaws, Back to the Future and TV shows such as Desperate Housewives and Crossing Jordan. I got to see the whole neighbourhood that Desperate Housewives is filmed at. The houses aren't real - they are just props. I also got to see the film set of the plane crash used in War of the Worlds, and went through another fancy ride through a subway station with simulated earthquakes, flash floods, and a King Kong experience in 3D. The tour guide was very funny and made everyone on board happy.

Unfortunately I haven't seen any celebrities as of yet, although I was shows a few celebrity hotspots. Universal Studios is a common place for these people to visit.

I was dropped back at my hostel and I relaxed watching Get Smart with some hostel guests from Faroe Islands.

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