We had stayed up late the night before, Priya gossiping with Mohini, and myself mucking about on the computer, so we got off to a bit of a late start. We did manage to take advantage of the hotel breakfast though. I think this was actually the first time since I left Philadelphia that I ate one of the complimentary breakfasts. The weather was the best of the Los Angeles days so far.
As we cruised over to Universal Studios we found a new way to survive the terrible LA roads by going 'Aaaaaaahhhhhh' and making amusing sounds as the abysmal washboard roads shake us. We have a ChaseCam clip somewhere of that hilarity. I also think we only got lost 4 times, which is almost a record low.
We got to Universal Studios in mid-afternoon and had a Hard Rock Cafe lunch. As we ate we learned it is currently off-season, and therefore the park was closing at 6pm. Panicking a little, we rushed down the (pretty awful) lunch and rushed into the park. Thankfully it wasn't that busy and it looked as if we could go on all the rides of note before close. It's quite a small park and there were only five things we wanted to go on.
1) Studio Tour
This is the classic Universal Studios bus tour, going around sound studios, outdoor sets, special effects demonstrations and the like. Although it has been the staple attraction of the park for some time, it is often updated with new bits and pieces, whilst retaining such classics as the Jaws scene and Bates Motel. I could see small children getting quite scared on it, as there are loud bits, bits where you get wet, bits with intense special effects and a really cool bit in a 'rotating' tunnel which gives the sensation of falling over. We were quite scared.
We both find movie making a bit magical and really liked the outdoor street sets, just for the sense of majesty they evoke. One more recent set that is preserved and visited on the tour is the crashed Airplane one from War of the Worlds. It is very impressive; they actually got a full sized jet and cut it up for the set. Quite eerie.
2) Back to the Future
This is a hydraulic Delorean ride accompanied by a projected race against Biff in another car. It is very effective and quite unsettling at some points as the visual cues coupled with the movement of the car really make you think you're experiencing a range of extreme motions. Our one gripe with this one was that the video looks quite dated now. Surely it wouldn't be too much to ask to make a new hi resolution version.
3) Jurassic Park
This is a water ride in much larger 'logs' than the usual ones of this type, and in a Jurassic Park style environment. As with the other rides at Universal Studios, they aren't necessarily the most extreme, but the effort spent in dressing them up in themes really adds to the experience. The Jurassic Park one is really entertaining with moving dinosaurs, some unexpected things leaping out and squirting water, and quite a dramatic final drop. We did this one twice as there was no queue, as was fortunately the case with all the other ones.
4) The Mummy
Priya said this one was similar to the Indiana Jones one she went on somewhere once. It's an indoor coaster mostly in the dark with a really good sudden acceleration bit, stop and a backwards portion.
5) Shrek 4D
We understood that this was a motion ride, but after a funny Shrek introduction in the staging room entered what looked like a normal movie theater. We donned our 3D glasses and sat back. The movie was really funny, as one would expect from a Shrek movie, and it was indeed a motion ride. The seats moved about in synchronisation with various action portions, and water and air squirted from in front and behind us. There were also things moving around our feet during the spider bit, although I didn't figure out how that worked.
We were cheap and didn't fork out for the action prints, but I sneaked a couple of photos of the screens. Here are some of us on the Jurassic Park and The Mummy ones.
Jared had driven over to the park after visiting Lotus of South Bay, but got there even later than we did and just looked around the shopping arcade outside and waited for us to get out. We all headed back to the hotel and, being quite shagged out just had a local meal for our last evening in LA.
