- Full-day visit to Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood, Los Angeles
- Rides themed on the Simpsons, The Mummy, King Kong, Jurassic Parc, Transformers, Shrek 4D Cinema, Despicable Me
- Special Effects, Animal Actors, Waterworld, Blues Brothers shows
- Tour through the studios with original props and backdrops
The first of the city's two major theme parks is on the agenda for today. We can quickly get to Universal Studios by metro. The tickets we bought online allow us to get to the site without queuing and we save 5 dollars each. With a handsome ticket price of $ 87 each! Within the area, we head straight to the Lower Area in order to use the somewhat quieter morning for rides and hopefully less queuing.
At the start we take a look at the virtual Simpson roller coaster ride. An entertaining and technically superbly staged show like we've never seen it before. A huge curved screen surrounds the stationary but tiltable car, which moves to match the projected area and thus gives an astonishingly realistic feeling of a roller coaster ride. Unfortunately, the technology suddenly fails and we are stuck for a moment. After all, we get a FastPass ticket as compensation. The Transformers Show is waiting for us in a similar, if not quite as successful, style. This is followed by trips to the classic films “The Mummy” and “Jurassic Park”. The dinosaur water slide in particular can still inspire me. After all, this train already existed when I first visited it almost 15 years ago.
After a refreshment, the Universal Studios shows are waiting for us. We start with the special effects performance, where the various classic and modern film tricks are explained to the visitor. It's amazing what can be done even with relatively simple means, let alone computer technology. Then go on an entertaining tour of the studio. The visitor gets to see some sets and props from well-known blockbusters, the huge studio halls and entertaining show elements. Particularly impressive are a tidal wave, the attack of the great white shark or the action-packed accident in the underground station. Everything is even surpassed by the excursion into the world of the King Kong in terrific 3D graphics.
At Animal Actors, trained animals - primarily cats and dogs, but also eagles, guinea pigs and parrots - are the focus. Next we look at the Blues Brothers and Shrek 4D. Last but not least, the impressive, unfortunately somewhat pointless action show Waterworld, peppered with special effects, is waiting for us. Fights, shootings, falls, explosions, even a crashing plane and a burning stuntman provide entertainment. Many of the visitors get really wet. The actors throw buckets of water into the audience. We take the metro back to Hollywood Boulevard where we buy our dinner in the supermarket and then walk back through the busy street to the hotel.
