Up and ready early for a day at Universal Studios...Jim had decided to treat us all to 3 tickets on the Universal Studios "V.I.P. Experience"...and what an experience it was...after a fairly easy drive we found our way to the VIP free Valet Parking service just by the entrance to the park (all included in the price of the ticket)..after that a short stroll to the side of the entrance found our V.I.P. welcoming lady who sent us up to a separate lounge to await our guide, Tony...with free coffee, cake, fruit and drinks we sat and looked around at our surroundings and fellow V.I.P.'s..a nice couple from Oregon, a Dad with his 2 young daughters from Melbourne, a group of Scandinavian guys and girls, a young Irish couple and a couple of middle aged men from Florida, who both worked at Universal Studios there!!..bit of a busman's holiday for them but they loved it!!..then our guide for the day, Tony arrived, we stocked up with bottles and bottles of water and we were off!!..
Firstly we went into the theme park section to do the "rides"...The Simpsons first and straight to the front of the queue, through the special V.I.P. gate and onto the ride..what an easy way of doing things..no standing in line for hours for poor Jim and his back...wonderful...the ride was amazing...a panoramic virtual roller coaster is the only way to describe it...you sat in the car and it moved like a roller coaster but you didn't go anywhere...it was all on the wrap around screen in front of you!!...it was so realistic and so funny - typical Simpsons and yes with all the voices too...afterwards we went outside and I got a picture with Marge and Lisa - I might buy that online or not...haven't made up my mind yet...
Then it was on to the Haunted House...very similar to the one at Madame Tussauds - you walk round it and people and things jump out at you...then Shrek 4D..again fantastic...you get the glasses to put on, sit in a cinema seat which moves and watch the cartoon...but a 3D cartoon and a very good one..none of these blue/red glasses here!!..much more sophisticated now...and with added effects like water, puffs of smoke and other things around your seat...once again fabulous stuff and of course we went to the front of the queue...
Then the Jurassic Park Water ride...what can I say?..it's a ride and you get wet...so it's on with the stylish plastic ponchos and wait at the end to see if you avoided getting soaked or not!..we have a picture of this one it was such fun...the final drop down the waterfall and splash into the lake is awesome...Jon managed to avoid all the water until the last leg when he turned away from a raptor spraying water and got it right in the face from its mate beside him...Hee hee
Final ride for us was The Mummy...Jim sat this one out as it was an actual roller coaster...and what a roller coaster...fast, forwards, backwards and in the dark...Carol did it and was very proud of herself as was Jon & Jim.
Then in a break from the schedule our guide took us behind the park to the back lot of the studios...we had a small window to go behind the scenes of the Conan O'Brien Tonight Show which is filmed there...and we were able to go inside the studio and look at the 10,000 lights, the cameras and the set all ready and waiting for rehearsal before that night's filming...as Tony was explaining all about Conan, who should open the side door and pop in but the man himself..he didn't talk to us but just to see him was a big treat as Tony said that had never happened before...
After a fabulous free buffet lunch (once again all part of the V.I.P. Experience ticket) of salads, fruit, hot meals, and free soft drinks and a bathroom break we gathered our group together for the Studio Tour...this is also a little different to the standard ticket price...we get a slightly different bus to sit in and on some of the "Set" parts we get to get out and walk around the set...we went on the old European Set which still had some of the "Spartacus" set up...and saw the Bates Motel from Pyscho and also the enormous Jumbo Jet crash from War of the Worlds...
Not only that but we got to visit the Archives Section, Paint Dept, and Props Section...this was fantastic - walking round taking pictures of all sorts of props from "Murder She Wrote" to "The Mummy", whilst Universal employees were actually taking stuff out that was needed for filming!!...we also got to see the street where Desperate Housewives is filmed, but didn't get to walk down it as it was closed off for filming (we did also see some DH extras waiting around one of the stages where indoor filming was going on too) and saw a production called "Eastwick" actually filming outside...not to mention going on the Jaws ride, the Earthquake ride, etc. etc...
We just had time after this to go to the shop, buy a few souvenirs before the park closed at 5...we picked up the car from the Valet and drove home in the LA rush hour....easy for us as we were going against the traffic and got home to have a shower and freshen up before finding a small pizza place on 3rd Street for dinner...then it really was an early bed as it had been a long, and very hot day, it had been in the 90's....but well worth it...one of the best days of the holiday and well worth being a V.I.P...
No comments:
Post a Comment