Universal Studios Hollywood 2017 Part 2 (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

Another boring week so I'll finish up my day at Universal Studios.  If you haven't had a chance to read the first part, take a moment and do so.

If you want to catch up on the previous posts, here are the links.

• Expo
• 5k
• Disneyland Park
• 10k
• Half
• Universal Part 1

At the top of the stairs was Springfield (from The Simpsons).  This is a ride that doesn't move like a roller coaster like the rest of the 3-D rides, but moves the car you are sitting in around to make it feel like a roller coaster.  And this ride spits on you as well.


I headed to the Studio Tour.  I had been looking forward to this all day.  It's the only thing I remember from the time I was there when I was 9 years old.  Probably the only original ride left.  And the only thing I remembered from the ride was Jaws.  I really hoped that they still had it on this ride.


At this point my phone was not only running out of power (it wasn't even mid-day, I was sad) but also running out of storage space.  I needed to delete some things to be able to take any more pictures.  This ride was a tram with several cars.  Each tram has a tour guide, who explains the things that we are seeing.


There was the sign from the neighborhood of Back to the Future.


There was the town from The Good Place.  "What the fork?!?"

Then we went into a building (still in the tram) where the King Kong experience was.  It is 360 (all around you) 3-D of King Kong fighting T-Rex.  It was cool to look anywhere and see part of the fight.  Until it spit on me.  Bleck.

The ride continued on and we saw other city streets.  And then we headed into another building.  Here they made it look like we were in a subway station and an earthquake happened with a huge flood.  They did make it look like the water might come up and get us.  It looked real.


Then we headed out and around and there was the lake from Jaws.  What I was so excited to see.  And just before Jaws was to jump up and "attack" the tram, my camera died.  But it was exactly how I remembered.


 We came around and saw the Bates Motel.  They had an actor come out with a "dead body" and put it in the trunk of his car.  Then he would see us and chase us with a knife as we drove off.  I wish I got a picture of that, as it was a fun idea to have an actor out there.

Then we headed into another building to see the Fast & Furious.  This is another 360 degree 3-D experience.  While I have never seen any of the movies, it was fun to see the car chases all around.  Of course till they spit on me.

That was the end of this ride, probably the most exciting of them all so far.  I rebooted my phone and thankfully that helped give me a third of my power back.  I decided to keep an eye out to see where I might be able to buy a charger for the dang thing.

As I was walking around to the next ride, I saw the Animal Actors show was about to start.

 

This was a show about the animals in different movies and TV and the tricks that they teach them.  They had everything from dogs to cats to birds and even rats.  The dog that they had on stage is the same breed as my parents' dog.  Just as crazy as my parents' too.  I wasn't sure if the misbehaving was part of the show or not.


 I then could tell I was really getting in a bad mood.  I needed to eat, my blood sugar was dropping fast.  I walked around for what seemed like ages trying to find just some sort of sandwich and fries.  I finally got what I wanted and headed to the last few rides left.

They had a Walking Dead exhibit.  I really wasn't sure what to expect at all and it turned out that it was more like a haunted house maze where things jump out at you.  And it's more scary if you don't have a line of people in front of you so you would know where they are jumping out at.  And I didn't have anyone in front of me.  That was some Halloween fun!


 As I headed around I found Scooby and Shaggy.


And Beetlejuice.


I passed the Shrek 4-D and decided to do that one.  This is a huge theater where they show a 3-D show and move your seats.  And as part of the 4-D they spit on you.  The show itself wasn't all that great and then the spitting made me hate it.

I decided to head to the Special Effects Show.  

 

This was really cool as they showed different things from sound effects, to fake fighting, to even a man on fire.

Yes this is a real man on fire, walking around for about 18 seconds till they put him out.  And no harm no damage.


And then I headed to the Despicable Me ride and saw the girls from the movie.



I went into the Despicable Me ride and as they were getting everyone in their seats, they started to entertain us.  It was looking like there was a problem and they were trying to get it fixed.  But in the end they decided to just give us a fast pass and have us leave and come back. 

I went out and got a picture with some Minions and went back into the ride since it was still open.  I ended up on the same side and it seemed to work right.  It's a big room where they have about 6 rows of 15 and a big 3-D screen.  The seats moved up and down but did not go anywhere.  The 3-D was fun and the story OK.  And then it spit on me.

By this time I had done all the rides and I was thinking it was getting to be time to head back to the hotel.  My knee was holding up fine, but I was really getting tired.  I ran into Dracula then and was swooned.



I decided that I wanted one of the smaller versions of the doughnut from the Simpsons and a hot Pumpkin Juice from Harry Potter.

The one in the case is the full size.  The one I got was still bigger then a normal doughnut.

As I was standing in line for the hot Pumpkin Juice I saw this kid sitting and reading.  He looks exactly like Draco Malfoy.  Seriously.  We all wondered if he just happens to be there or if he is an actor that looks like him and gets paid to sit and read a book at the Three Broomsticks Restaurant.



On my way out, I ran into the Mummy and told him a "That's what she said joke" and just kept laughing.



I ended up walking back to the hotel as I didn't want to fuss with waiting for an Uber.  It was really a nice evening and it was fun to see the real world outside the park.  I ended up getting my pizza that was promised to me and ate part of that doughnut for dinner.  I repacked everything and crashed.  I had another early morning to head home.

All and all I really do love Universal.  Most of the rides are the same between Hollywood and Orlando.  What I did hate about it was every ride except one spit water into my face.  Is that really necessary?  I was thinking of doing Universal Studios Orlando as part of my trip to Disney World in April, but all the rides are almost the same.  Maybe next year I'll do Florida again as it is defiantly a park that is tons of fun!

Check out my vlogs of the trip, including the ones for Universal!

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.