Krustyland
Posted by halfwayround on November 29, 2008
Universal Studios
Our destination today was Universal Studios in Hollywood. We were able to book a a day trip through our hotel so all we had to do was get up and catch the bus at 9am. On the way to universal we got a quick glimpse of downtown LA and also the Hollywood sign in the distance. But we’ll hopefully get a better look at those tomorrow as we are taking a tour of a few different areas of the city then.
When we arrived at Universal we started with the Studio Tour. This firstly takes you round the working sound stages where they not only make films but tv shows as well. Then it was onto the back lot where they have full scale buildings and towns constructed for various films and tv shows. These included ‘Old Mexico’ and ‘6 Points Texas’ which are used in lots of westerns, the motel & house from the movie Pyscho, ‘Wysteria Lane’ from Desperate Housewives and also used in the film The Burbs, Whoville from The Grinch and Amity Island from the Jaws films complete with a full size version of the big fish himself which trys to take a bite out of you.
Krustyland
Next it was back to the theme park proper and first stop was the new Simpsons ride in Krustyland. It’s excellent, a 3D simulator ride that goes wrong with Side Show Bob chasing you. At one point you end up being spat out of a 50ft tall baby Maggie’s mouth (it makes sense when you’re there don’t worry! come to think of it if you don’t watch the simpsons then none of that explanation made sense probably!!) Anyway the ride was so good we ended up doing it twice.
Other rides & attractions that we took in included Terminator 2: 3D, House of Horrors (I actually did these two myself, Jill said she had some shops she needed to look around!), Backdraft – lots of fire involved in that one, The Special Effects Stages – they show you how lots of effects work in movies and adding sound effects etc and Water World – a show where most of the crowd get wet and there’s lots of mad stunts and explosions.
City Walk
We rounded off the day at City Walk, a huge collection of shops, cafes & restaurants. Then it was back to the hotel for a well earned rest before we see what LA proper has to offer tomorrow.
Jonny
