LA haunts 2004 TR day 3: Universal Studios Hollywood
Rastus O'Ginga
TR: Universal Studios, September 27th 2004
I'll mention some Hollywood stuff from Sunday first. After SFMM, we
went to Hollywoood. First, we went to the Farmer's Market/The Grove.
This was sorta neat, but was my wife's thing really. She did get a
breakfast pizza thing that was on increadibly good crust baked in a
brick oven. We also went by the Labrea Tar Pits. I was going to
stop, but you basically had to go into the museum, and I didn't want
to mess with that. We did see and smell them.
Then we went to the Hollywood and Highland area. Parked under Chinese
Mann's theater, and walked around. Of course, no visit to Mann's is
complete without stomping on Barbra Striesand's star. And I taught my
son to do it too. When we were last there, they were building the
Kodak theater and such, so this visit was MUCH better. Some nice
street performers, including extreme breakdancers that really
impressed my son. These guys have some seriously strong necks.
Various guys dressed up for photo ops included a Stormtrooper, Jason
and Michael Myers (who really just seemed to be two strange guys that
spent their spare time scaring tourists), a few performance artists,
and a guy who looked quite a bit like Captain Jack Sparrow that my
wife and mother-in-law got a picture with and acted like little girls
talking about him.
Monday, we packed up and headed to Universal. We got there right at
park opening. We did the valet parking, which was ended up being $20
with tip (regular parking is $10 now), but we felt all our stuff would
be safer in the valet area, and I assume we saved a lot of walking
too.
We used our pre-printed tickets and headed in. Marylin Monroe and
Frankenstein's Monster were there. We headed to Shrek 4-D. I had
seen it in Orlando last year, but it was new for everyone else. My
son absolutely loved it, as it was his first 4-D movie I believe.
This theater is MUCH better than Orlando's. It is a true theater, and
the screen is a good height, as opposed to Orlando, where the theater
is a box with a flat floor and the screen way too high. It was
increadibly loud, but I love this movie. Best 4-D attraction out
there, hands down. Next my son and I got a picture with Spongebob and
Patrick!
We did the backlot next. It was uneventful for the most part. No
filming going on at all. My son was a bit scared by Kong and
Earthquake, but had a lot of fun.
We decided to have lunch and wait for the Van Helsing maze to reopen.
We had Pizza Hut pizza and got a huge Spongebob refillable. The Van
Helsing maze was LONG and big. It was filled with actual set pieces
and props, including damn near the entire Frankenstein lab. Not too
many folks popping out at you, but some really good sets. A very good
vertigo tunnel, some squishy floors and some strings hanging. The
finale was an really cool Wolfman that I couldn't quite figure out.
This guy was about 10 feet tall, and had huge hands. He seemed to be
on some bungees that allowed him to jump out at you and snap back. It
really looked like he was going to hit folks. I'm not sure how this
worked, but it was VERY cool, and used strobes to successfully confuse
you as to what you were seeing.
It was time to head down to the lower lot by way of the 4 huge
escalators. How does someone in a wheelchair get down there?
First up, of course, was Mummy. After sending my son into the baby
swap room with the MIL, we headed to the back of the building, past a
HUGE queue. The wait outside was aobut 5 minutes, and then into the
themed queue for about 10 minutes. A big screen played film clips and
warned of the danger. We got the front row, well the second row.
Apparently they closed the front after the guy died in Florida.
SPOILERS******************
Off into the dark ride portion. The first room showed a guy through a
hole telling us to turn back before getting covered with scarabs.
Next, into a room with lots of mummy hands reaching down from the
ceiling. Then into a big room with a huge video screen showing the
mummy forming. The final room had a huge arch with Imhotep on top of
it telling us we were doomed. Two mummies flew down the side walls
and attacked us as we launched into darkness. The coaster portion was
similar to RnRC, with mummies glowing as you passed them. They looked
like projections, but I doubt they were. The coaster was VERY fun and
had a few little turning hops that had a nice floater pop. We ended
up at a dead end tunnel. Scarabs started covering all the walls, and
we launched backwards into another, shorter coaster section.
Then we ended up in a large room with a mummy forming on the ceiling.
We spun around (and with bad show, could see the unload station, and
the room filled with fog very quickly). Obviously, the fog fired
late. A weird ending. My wife said on here ride with her mom the fog
fired properly, covering you as you turned. The ending was weak, for
sure, but the ride was VERY fun. A great mild coaster section with an
incredible opening dark ride section. I'm looking forward to the
supposedly better Orlando version.
END SPOILERS*********************
As I was waiting for my wife to return from the restroom before we
baby swaped with her mom, I was asked a few question about granola
bars and ended up getting chosen for a taste test. I told the guy I
could try and find him later when I had some free time. After that we
rode Mummy again. I was surprised at how nice the the baby swap room
was. They actually had a good bit of toys in there and a TV showing
Mummy cartoons.
Next, my wife and here mom did Backdraft which I skipped. I found the
taste test guy and went up to the second floor above the arcade and
tried a new fruit and nut granola bar. It was pretty good, but I
don't really like raisins. I got $5 in Universal bucks for aobut 10
minutes of time.
Me and the MIL then rode Jurassic Park. This version has more dinos
before the lift, but fewer during the lift than IOA. The jeep no
longer falls, which is a big deduction, in my book. Fun, none the
less. They seemed to have lowered the water level too, since you
didn't get wet.
We decided to head back up and tried to hit a T-2 show, but missed it.
So, my son played in the Nickelodeon area for a while before we caught
the last Waterworld show. This was a VERY good show. I'm just glad
we weren't in the middle section. Those folks got DRENCHED!! We
barely got wet, despite being in the soak zone. I liked the show
because it cuts out all the hokey dialogue and sticks to the action.
We got some souveniers, and I forgot to use the $5 coupon. So, I got
some Popcornopolis cheese popcorn. DAMN that is some good stuff.
Best cheese popcorn ever!
We stopped at a few Citywalk stores and headed to Towneplace Suites at
Disneyland. I love this hotel. A bit expensive, but you basically
get a 2 bedroom apartment.
I must say that LA drivers were actually a nice change. Houston
drivers are unbelievably bad. By my calculations, a good 56% of all
Houston drivers are absolute bastards that should be locked up. LA
drivers were postively courteous! Well, except those crazy-ass
motorcycles.
Next up: Disney!!
Rastus O'Ginga
Winner of the 2nd Annual C. Montgomery Burns Award for
Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.
"What an awful dream, 1s and 0s everywhere... I thought I saw a 2." - Bender
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AirtimeJunkie
>drivers are unbelievably bad. By my calculations, a good 56% of all
>Houston drivers are absolute bastards that should be locked up. LA
>drivers were postively courteous! Well, except those crazy-ass
>motorcycles.
You must have hit the freeways on a good day. I've had bad experiences on the
freeways in LA. Nice TR.
Kevin
Coasterbuf
"Rastus O'Ginga" <ras...@kingwoodXXXXXcable.net> wrote in message
news:6jj6m01red060avui...@4ax.com...
>
> TR: Universal Studios, September 27th 2004
>
> escalators. How does someone in a wheelchair get down there?
Right near the top of the escalator there is an elevator. This elevator
takes people to a service road below where the peeps wait for a van to
transport them down the hill.
> Me and the MIL then rode Jurassic Park. The jeep no
> longer falls, which is a big deduction, in my book.
Hmmmm...and they just had fixed it too right before Mummy opened. Too bad
that it is broke again already. It was nice while it lasted!
Coasterbuf
Swervo
Compared to other cities I've driven in (pretty much Boston and Phoenix,
at least as far as the US is concerned), LA always seems crowded, but
not horrible. I'd definitely prefer to drive in LA vs. Boston or
Phoenix, though I did better in Boston once I realized that it's not
being rude forcing your way into this lane or that, it's what you're
expected to do. If you don't do it, or you hesitate, that's when
people get pissed. LA is the polar opposite, IMHO.
Still, I'd prefer to drive here rather than Phoenix any day.
mamoosh
news:20041006110451...@mb-m03.aol.com...
> You must have hit the freeways on a good day.
Translastion: Moosh wasn't driving! ;)
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