A Day at Universal

On Saturday, we went to Unviersal Studios themepark in Hollywood and had a great time! The weather was beautiful and it wasn't terribly crowded. In fact, the longest we had to wait for any ride or attraction was about 25 minutes. It was different than any themepark I've been to because it was less about "rides" and more informative and entertaining in nature. Here's a rundown of the day for those who care:

First we went through "Van Helsing" which was a lame haunted house type thing. Then we watched a 3-D movie/live action segment of Terminator 2, which was awesome! Then I suffered through Back to the Future (even though the signs said not to go on it if you suffer from dizziness *me* motion sickness *me* or claustrophobia *me*) ... it's weird because most of the rides and attractions are hidden from view until you are in the very front of the line, so you don't really know what you're getting yourself into.

We also watched "Waterworld" which was an amazing stunt show with special water and pyrotechnic effects starring semi-movie stars (like a soap opera star and an extra from Pirates of the Carribbean). Pretty cool! Then we saw Shrek 4D, which I personally found extremely neat. A 3-D Donkey sneezed on screen and the audience got a mist of snot (water) on their faces! Our chairs bounced up and down as they rode through the forest on horseback. Air spurted from our chair backs onto our necks when a ghost appeared. Talk about a fun experience for the whole family! Another attraction I really enjoyed was the Jurassic Park River, relaxing and pretty until halfway through when it becomes more of a ride.

Jason went on the indoor Mummy roller coaster and then we saw some cool special effects shows (which showed us how monsters are made and controlled on set, more about how the green screen works, and insight into sound effects) and also a sort of live documentary on the movie Backdraft. The last thing we did was tour Universal Studios itself. It was cool to see the clock tower from Back to the Future, which was also shown in Bruce Almighty and other movies that the tour bus showed us clips of to see how different they could make the same area look. Pretty amazing how all of Universal's movies and TV shows are filmed in the same places over and over again, made to look like New York or Italy or Mexico. We saw the cabin from the Great Outdoors which was also "Hayden's" house on the show Coach and other cool stuff like that. All in all, it was a really good time!