Well in the words of Ice Cube –“Today was a good day”. Universal Studios was so much fun, I love theme parks and had an awesome time. My pick up from the hotel was on time this morning which was awesome, I got to the Chinese Theatre to pick up my ticket to the park and change buses and beat the crowds so I got on the first shuttle out to Universal for the day – score number 1! I was also one of the first through the gates, so I missioned down to the bottom lot as I knew that was where the ‘Mummy’ ride and the ‘Jurassic Park’ ride were located and I had heard they were the best, so wanted to beat the queues. I nailed it as well, I rode the Mummy once, which is a indoor rollercoaster in the dark, it’s pretty freaky but bloody awesome, and was my favourite ride of the day. I then went and jumped on the Jurassic Park ride, both rides I got on the front seats and had no one next to me so had primo rides. Jurassic park is like a log flume type ride, with Dinosaurs spitting water at you, and massive T-Rex’s coming down to freak you out, it’s cool as.
You end up getting completely soaked with water, especially since I was in the front row. I then raced back to the Mummy ride, which still had no queues and rode that two more times in a row, both times in the front row again. So primo, nailed 4 rides in the first hour, so I was totally stoked with myself. I then went back up to the top lot and joined the queue for the Simpson’s ride, which by now had quite a few people waiting, so it took about half an hour at least. It was awesome though, it is a virtual rollercoaster in front of this massive screen, very, very well done, and was the first ride that gave me a bit of motion sickness. Only slightly though. So that was another one under my belt. I then went and checked out the Shrek 4D ride, which was a 3D experience on a screen, but also has lighting effects, the seats move and you get water spat at you and stuff, they certainly know how to do 3D, it was the best I have ever seen, very well done, although I experienced even better 3D later in the day, but I will get to that.
From there I went and checked out the ‘Waterworld’ show, which is based on the movie Waterworld with Kevin Cosner (At least they got some sort of value out of that flop of a movie). It was pretty well done, good stunts and stuff.
Next I went down and joined the lines for the Universal Back lot tour. I managed to mission past a whole bunch of drifters, (the beauty of being by yourself) and then went up to an attendant;
Mizzle: “Is there a queue for single riders”
Attendant: “No sorry sir, not for this line”
Mizzle: “OK no problem”
Attendant: “Hold on sir, come with me, I happen to have a space on the VIP line, so you won’t have to wait”
Primo – I did it again!! This was a particularly good score as the wait time here was pretty long by this stage. This tour was awesome, you go around the studio in tram type things and see a whole lot of sets and stuff, the whole journey takes about an hour. Part of it is the King Kong 3D experience, and it is out of this world!! The tram pulls in and you are completely surrounded by the biggest 3D screen in the world that complete surrounds you 360 Degrees. It is incredibly and it feels like the dinosaurs are right in your face, and then King Kong comes down and kicks there asses, then the tram falls off a cliff and all these spiders and shit come out – it’s insane. You also drive through the set of Desperate Housewives, go through a bit where Jaws comes and attacks you, enter a subway that completely collapses in an Earthquake, experience a flash flood, drive though the set to the Dr Suess movie, and the crash scene from the War of the Worlds, when there is that massive aeroplane in the suburbs – all of it is totally mind blowing and I was loving it – movie magic at its best. Was also a proud Kiwi, when they were talking about Peter Jackson and Weta Workshop. This tour was also one of the other highlights of the day, but honestly everything was pretty awesome. Next I went and watched the Animal Actors show, which was pretty funny and very cute, they had some amazingly well trained animals including, house cats, dogs, chickens, pigs, a variety of birds, a little monkey, rats and an Orangutan.
It was about 3pm by now, so I took my first break and grabbed some quick lunch, then I went to the Terminator 2, 3D experience which is a mix of live actors and 3D. Pretty out of it, a little out dated, the 3D was dope though as they have screens on the side as well as the front, so it feels like these things are coming right at and around you. Then I went and checked out the special effects show, probably the weakest show of the day, but kind of funny. I then shopped for Kaden as I found some primo things he will like and then it was time to go and get my pick up back to the hotel. All in all it was a fantastic day. I went on all the rides, bar one, which was the House of Horrors. I could have easily fit this in, but it was one of those ones that you walk around in a maze and actors jump out and freak you out, I have done that kind of thing once before when I lived in Melbourne, and I am not a fan at all, I find it makes me aggressive, and I’m not into it J. I also saw all of the shows. So I nailed Universal Studios, missioned around with a good plan of attack well executed ha ha. Pretty good value as well, it cost $102 American dollars, but that included a pick up and drop off between the hotel, and taxis would be at least $40 each way, so it’s sweet. I got home at 7.30pm so it has been a long action packed day. On the way back to the hotel, there were a few other drop off’s in neighbour hoods I hadn’t seen yet, so that was interesting too, LA has some really cool spots.
I was going to mention this in the blog last night but I forgot, but due to the Olympic games being here, they pushed all the homeless out of the main centres and a few blocks out of town. There are a lot around where I am staying and they are quite full on in their approach for getting change and stuff. It’s actually kind of sad. It also made me think of the differences between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not’s’, after looking at all the houses and wealth throughout Beverly Hills.
Anyway, Day one of theme parks was a great success, looking forward to hitting Disneyland over the next three days, and since I’m staying out there, being able to check out the night performances and displays as well. I imagine I will be completely stuffed when the time rocks around to head home. Cheers for reading my blog, I hope your still enjoying it. Take care everyone. Dan.
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