Vacation, Day 3 & 4:
(First, a special thanks to Kathy for taking the time to fix the format on this blog!)
Sorry to leave you hanging yeaterday...I was too exhausted to do anything but lay down at the motel & watch Prison Break & Heroes.
Ok, so yesterday, we caught the shuttle from the motel at 9:15 am & arrived at Universal Studios by 9:30. Unbeknownst to us, the park doesn't open until 10 a.m., but this was fine & allowed us to take a bunch of pictures right outside with the revolving Universal Studios ball. When you first step inside the gates, there are some life-sized bronze/iron statues set up as a camera crew & directors. As I was taking pictures of this, one of them came to life! It was a really excellent performance & fantastic makeup. From there, we explored all the attractions & rides. Our favorites were:
* The Back the the Future ride, where you ride in an 8-seater Delorian & are taken through a very real simulation flying through Hill Valley & the Ice Age, Prehistoric Age & through volcanos.
*The Jurassic Park ride, where you ride a boat through the "jungle" & see all kinds of different dinosaurs, then at the very end, drop down an 84 foot waterfall.
*The Revenge of the Mummy (which we rode 4 times over the last two days), where you ride a roller coaster, plunging through complete darkness, complete with the cockroach-type insects scurrying at your feet. When you screech to a halt, the ride takes you in reverse back over the same roller coaster!
Other attractions we enjoyed were the Terminator 2: 3D re-enactment & the Shrek 3D Torture Chamber inside Farquaad's castle. In the Shrek one, the seats actually move while you watch the movie, so you're riding horses & flying through the air with the characters, as well as being sneezed on by Donkey & feeling "spiders" at your feet. Today, we watched a live production of some scenes from the movie Waterworld. The set was amazing & the special effects were really cool, too!
There were so many things to see & do & we got some really great pictures! Yesterday, we also went on the City Walk outside the Studios & ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, where Tyson bought a hat & T-shirt with his dog-sitting & yard work money that he'd saved for this trip.
Prior to the trip, I'd called the motel & asked about parking, to find out (to my utter dismay!) that it costs $20 per day to park at the motel in addition to the cost of the room. I paid this the first day when we checked in, then decided to check out some on-street parking in Hollywood per Sarah's suggestion. I moved the jeep yesterday morning & was worried about it being towed or stolen throughout the day, then was too afraid to walk down to check on it when we got back last night after dark. Besides, like Tyson said, if I waited till morning, we'd at least have one more night of happiness if something did happen to it! So, I got up this morning & walked down to check on it before we left for Universal Studios & it was still there, so I decided to leave it in the same spot again. If all goes well as of tomorrow, that saved me $60 on this trip! Yeesh!
The plan for tomorrow is to get up & walk back down to Hollywood Blvd & revisit the Walk of Fame before checking out at noon & heading down to San Diego to see Sarah & Maya, where we'll spend Thanksgiving & head back toward home on Friday morning. The last stop we'll make is in Sacramento, where we'll break up the drive home Friday night.
(First, a special thanks to Kathy for taking the time to fix the format on this blog!)
Sorry to leave you hanging yeaterday...I was too exhausted to do anything but lay down at the motel & watch Prison Break & Heroes.
Ok, so yesterday, we caught the shuttle from the motel at 9:15 am & arrived at Universal Studios by 9:30. Unbeknownst to us, the park doesn't open until 10 a.m., but this was fine & allowed us to take a bunch of pictures right outside with the revolving Universal Studios ball. When you first step inside the gates, there are some life-sized bronze/iron statues set up as a camera crew & directors. As I was taking pictures of this, one of them came to life! It was a really excellent performance & fantastic makeup. From there, we explored all the attractions & rides. Our favorites were:
* The Back the the Future ride, where you ride in an 8-seater Delorian & are taken through a very real simulation flying through Hill Valley & the Ice Age, Prehistoric Age & through volcanos.
*The Jurassic Park ride, where you ride a boat through the "jungle" & see all kinds of different dinosaurs, then at the very end, drop down an 84 foot waterfall.
*The Revenge of the Mummy (which we rode 4 times over the last two days), where you ride a roller coaster, plunging through complete darkness, complete with the cockroach-type insects scurrying at your feet. When you screech to a halt, the ride takes you in reverse back over the same roller coaster!
Other attractions we enjoyed were the Terminator 2: 3D re-enactment & the Shrek 3D Torture Chamber inside Farquaad's castle. In the Shrek one, the seats actually move while you watch the movie, so you're riding horses & flying through the air with the characters, as well as being sneezed on by Donkey & feeling "spiders" at your feet. Today, we watched a live production of some scenes from the movie Waterworld. The set was amazing & the special effects were really cool, too!
There were so many things to see & do & we got some really great pictures! Yesterday, we also went on the City Walk outside the Studios & ate lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, where Tyson bought a hat & T-shirt with his dog-sitting & yard work money that he'd saved for this trip.
Prior to the trip, I'd called the motel & asked about parking, to find out (to my utter dismay!) that it costs $20 per day to park at the motel in addition to the cost of the room. I paid this the first day when we checked in, then decided to check out some on-street parking in Hollywood per Sarah's suggestion. I moved the jeep yesterday morning & was worried about it being towed or stolen throughout the day, then was too afraid to walk down to check on it when we got back last night after dark. Besides, like Tyson said, if I waited till morning, we'd at least have one more night of happiness if something did happen to it! So, I got up this morning & walked down to check on it before we left for Universal Studios & it was still there, so I decided to leave it in the same spot again. If all goes well as of tomorrow, that saved me $60 on this trip! Yeesh!
The plan for tomorrow is to get up & walk back down to Hollywood Blvd & revisit the Walk of Fame before checking out at noon & heading down to San Diego to see Sarah & Maya, where we'll spend Thanksgiving & head back toward home on Friday morning. The last stop we'll make is in Sacramento, where we'll break up the drive home Friday night.
1 comment:
Sounds amazing!! I'm glad you guys are experiencing so much. It sounds like a total blast! The pictures are great. Thanks for sending them to us.
Those Imax movies where the seats move make me sick to my stomach. I have a really hard time sitting through them, but they sure are fun! A little too realistic, imo. ;0)
And no need to apologize for using what little energy you had left for watching Heroes...I mean, c'mon...this is Heroes! Save the cheerleader, save the world! (I'm so sick of that catchphrase, lol...so glad that episode is over so we can move on with the story).
Post a Comment