Universal Studios, Los Angeles

I went there alone! But it was so fun! I screamed like a kid and had a blast! It is a little bit expensive but it totally worth it. Avoid long lines with the "special pass" they sell. With this pass you don't have to wait in line. I would do it again for sure!

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If you don't care about artificialism...

If you don't bother staying in long lines...

If you have time... and money...

That's a funny place to spend a couple of hours, or more. I've been in Orlando's Walt Disney's parks and couldn't avoid comparisons. The same kind of creations and amusements, but still interesting, with attractions to all ages. The earthquake in the subway is really convincing.

We went there on Monday, in December. Weather was not bad and it wasn't full with crowds. Preferred parking fee was 20$ and entrance was 77$ (You can come back again, it is one year fee) It opens at 10am and close at 5pm. It is really hard to get done all the events they have. What we could be able to do was Terminator 2 3D, Shrek 4D, Waterworld, Jurassic Park, Studio Tour, Mummy, Horror House. Terminator 2 was good, but i think not good enough for "Universal" I expected more than that. Shrek was funny 4D is always good. Waterworld was so freaking amazing!! I would never expect that much. It is not just watching, they are really good at involving you to the show. The best part to sit is back in the middle. Do not sit in the front, I am warning you. I don't want to give any spoiler but just don't sit in front! :D Water,fire, acting, technology, bombs.. It was so good.. Jurassic Park was good too, It was kind of rollycoster after you get out of the boat, make sure stop by the photo store and laugh yourself how funny screaming you are, even though you don't buy it. Studio Tour was the unique one, It gives you opportunity to see the set of Desperate Housewives, War of Worlds, Physco, CSI NY and many many of them. Also you can see alive set, while they are practicing. you can experience Earthquake, flood, world's largest 3d (king kong) Dancing of Cars and many things like that. MAKE SURE you're sitting on the LEFT SIDE. It is so stupid i was the first person who got in the little bus, but i had to stand up to see most of shows. Mummy was rollycoster ride in dark. It was good, you never know where you're going it was really scary actually.. Horror House was walking stuff. I jumped couple of times.
After all my favorite is waterworld and studio tour. Because they were unique. You can't find anything even that.
PS-For lunch i would say go outside of the Universal, and eat at the western bar. I had Thai peanut salad. It was so good. Also the portions are huge. You can feed 3 people with only one portion.

After a not-so good night sleep…jet lag I mean….we managed to push ourselves out of the hotel by 10:00am to our next big Destination Universal Studios. It is a working studio with many serials(Desperate Housewives), movies are in action when you take the tour. My first impression after seeing the site map was, how the hell are we going to finish this in 1 day…..GULP ! We really enjoyed the 45 minute tour however the 45 minute waiting time for the tour was never ending, but it was worth it ! On the tour we were taken around the various sets and they showed us how the floods, fire, car chases & plane crashes etc are done in studios….seemed very realistic, the effects were so real….its amazing….even the 360 3D king kong and dinosaur fights seemed so real….that my 4 year old had a scare attack and she started howling…..it was a nightmare for her but it was compensated when she saw Dora….he he he….:) We enjoyed the rides too…..the Jurassic ride had a drop in the water and it was quite thrilling to see the dinosaurs….:) Mummy Returns Ride was okay too….The best thing that we liked about both the rides is they have single ride lanes which have absolutely 0 waiting time as compared to the normal lines. And with small kids its a blessing ! Mandar and Chat enjoyed the Termiator 2 - 3D which I and Nat conveniently managed to skip. We did enjoy the street shows. We also saw SHREK 4D, amazing effects and when the seats move and rock….u really had it….Chat enjoyed it a lot. We also enjoyed the Water World show….the picture comes to life with death defying stunts, awesome explosions and an ocean of thrills, the guys really were awestruck and wish they would get a chance to ride the jet skis….ha ha ha. So oververall a fun filled day and we went back to our hotel talking about the thrilling experiences we had.

Unique Things that I liked about Universal Studios - It has to be the Studio tour, its mind blowing. I also tasted Churro for the first time here. Its a the spanish Doughnut made out of fried dough pastry, with cinnamon sprinles….it tastes yummy with Coffee….:)

I love theme parks and one of the best theme park that i really really wanna go back is at Universal Studios HOllywood. I love the place coz its cozy. I like the Backlot Studio tour because it takes about 30 - 45 mins of tour w/i universal studios theme park and its a journey onto the Backlot, behind-the-scenes and on actual sets of the world's biggest movies - and catch an inside glimpse of films currently in production - on the legendary Studio Tour. Riders will take a tram. What do you expect to see and experience?
1. scene from the movie earthquake- experience a very shaking moment under the bart station. If you're in the right, there are lots of chances to get wet and on the left you get a chance to feel the heat of the fire from a burning train.
2. Scene from the movie jaws.- its a bit thrilling and makes you wet also specially if you're in the right side of the tram.
3. scene from King Kong - cool too 4. House on Fire
5. mini town of Hill Valley of Back to the future
6. A thrilling ride to pass by a very old wooden bridge-a bit scary
7. you can see the view of hollywood and also warner bros studio
and many many more... this ride willl let you experience the real film making including some camera tricks.
TIP: Try to catch a tram ride during the afternoon around 3pm so its not that hot.

If you are intrested in american movies this is the place for you! It's the worlds biggest moviestudio and themepark. They have 14 activities. Studiotour, Rugrats magic adventure, Blaszone, The Blues Brothers, Waterworld, Animal planet, Terminator 2: 3D,
Back to the future the ride, Spiderman rocks, Mummy returns, Backdraft, Jurissic park, ET, and special effects. Blaszone and Rugrats magic adventure are Nickelodeon activities. Their are 'waterplaygrounds' for kids. Blues brothers, Water world, animal planet and Spiderman rocks are shows. Check out my Travelogue on Universal studios.

Does LA have a Capital? According to Universal Studios it does and they are it. All joking aside, its an expensive park to go. The entrance price is steep (cheapest tix price is $74), and once inside they will gouge you for every cent on food and drinks.
If its summer, or a popular day, expect long lines that extend inside the rides for quite some time.

the rides and shows are fun, but can be a little short.

The Studio tour is pretty cool, as it mixes some real back lots with the 'king kong' 3-d ride. the running commentary can be a bit much though, and very cheesey at times.

MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) is the MOMA of LA but although interesting when you first go in it gets boring after a while with a lot items that are considered as modern art but they are just useless (and pretentious) even to describe them. As always I enjoyed some paintings, some thought-provoking photos but nothing else and there were so many installations there leaving you with that “what’s this?” look on the face.

The entrance fee is $10 (students/seniors $5, children under 12 free). With the same ticket you can visit the Geffen Contemporary too (there’s a free shuttle between the 2 of them in weekends).

It’s open Mon&fri(11.00-17.00), Thursday(11.00-20.00), sat&sun(11.00-18.00). It is closed on Tuesday/Wednesday.

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We spend a full day at Universal Studios. The ticket gives you access to all the attractions so it’s worth to take advantage of it as it is very expensive ($69 general admission). You may want to try the Front of Line Pass ($99), with this you get priority access to all rides and attractions, something very usefell considering the long lines some popular rides have(it’s not so nice to wait 45-60 minutes for a 5 minute ride, isnt it?)

If you like theme parks you like this one too but here you wont find many rides, it’s more about the movies. The first thing we did was the Studio Tour, it was kind of boring in some parts but interesting in some others, the little train takes you through the back lot of the studio, if you are lucky you may pass from a movie filming. We saw the wreackege from War Of the Worlds, explosive special effects, and other demonstrations such of an earthquake, rain and flood, maniacs (pic 4) and car crashes (pic 5). We passed by the area where the Jaw had filmed etc Dont forget to sit on the left side of the bus, it has better views ;)

The rides and the other attractions are spread over two levels (upper Lot and lower Lot) so if you dont have a lot of time you may want to check the schedule first, for exable the Water World runs only at 13.30 and 16.00. We checked the program and started to try...

The Revenge of the Mummy ride, is a great roller coaster, it goes very fast inside the dark, but it only lasts a little (1,5 minute, some other say this is good though), we even enjoyed the Simpsons ride, actually we were at the same spot all the time but the 3D movie was great! Take a funny face at the end they will take a pic of you. Now that I say this I have to admit that we spent an extra fortune for some silly photos of us like this :) For free you can have some photos with some charactes like the Simpsons, Shrek/Fiona/Donkey(pic 2), SpongeBob etc Check the program for timetables though

The park is full of restaurants and souvenir shops (expensive as usual) full in kitchy decoration but we were in LA and didnt have much problem with that :) Of course the small kids were really excited, some Rides arent for them but they will enjoy the show of Universal’s Animal Actors(pic 3), trained dogs, birds and cats will surprise them for sure.

The Special Effect Stages had some funny presentations and we got surprised of some simple but hard to imagine techniques, while at Backdraft we saw some extra fire special effects. We got bored with Shrek 4D show, T2 was better and we had fun with Jurassic Park ride (pic 1). For Waterworld be there early to grab a good seat and avoid the wet spots :)

The park is open daily 10.00-18.00

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This is a great day with children or not. In May 2008, the Simpsons ride was only just opened -it is a re-branding of the old Back to the Future idea, meaning the car wobbles dips rears up etc. but the real sense of motion is mainly from the surround screen.

Revenge of the Mummy is also relatively new, it is a reversing rollercoaster ride through animation base on the modern franchise.

Others are Jurassic Park - a sail through the automated dinosaurs to a T Rex encounter, and the Universal Horror show based on classic 1930s and even 1920s (Chaney Phantom) characters and sets which you walk through while being menaced.

There are shows explaining sound effects and such like in an entertaining way and the 3D cinema live action melange Terminator-2.

We only snacked here and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe on Universal Walk adjacent the park.

There is a great Kwik E Mart gift shop by the Simpsons Ride; you can buy a can of Duff - it's a glucose or energy drink and not the beer inside so all can join in!