Universal Studios Hollywood

The red curtain opened and the whole group of us walked in - I was clinging hesitantly to KF - and started thru this dark maze of dimly-lit corridors. Chucky lunged at us (I really think Chucky-and-his-stitches is the scariest creature ever), we pushed past hanging body bags (this was gross), got scared by various horror characters, and one of us was even chased all the way out the door! Gosh, it was a BLAST! We ran out of The House of Horrors screaming and laughing. It was a great way to start our day at Universal Studios.

Pat on the head for Chucky for scaring the wits out of me!

Mr Frankenstein, I'm turning blue!

Then we settled down to Shrek 4D. If you've never been to a 4D show (like me), Shrek 4D would be a BLAST! Donkey sneezed snot onto our faces, we galloped along on a runaway wagon, Dragon snored into our hair - it was literally AWESOME.

It's always the fat guys that provide the most fun

Next up was another show : Terminator 2 in 3D. It wasn't merely a 3D screen show - there were real characters caught in a real cross-fire on stage. Suuu-per!

The very pretty Elena (though I think Zeta-Jones is more beautiful) and the too-thin Zorro

We then took the escalators down to the Lower Lot (can those escalators be any longer - they stretched for miles!) - with amazing views of the verdant hills of LA. First thing we saw at the bottom of those mega-long escalators were 2 towering Mummys - so you guessed it, our next ride. We dumped our stuffs into lockers (free for 1st hour, operated with your thumbprint - how cool is that?) and headed straight into Revenge of The Mummy - The Ride.

We were strapped in and sped off, and boy, was the ride fast. We reached one part where there were tonnes of those cave insects crawling on the walls (they even have effects where you can literally feel the insects crawl past your legs - gross!) and then the car went into downhill reverse - at full speed! Whoa - AWESOME.

I don't remember what's this guy's name

Then, Jurassic Park - The Ride. It started off great, nice and slow in a raft, winding through the Jurassic Park (can even take pictures, but we didn't), the music really gave the feel like you were in the actual set. Then, our raft plunged down an 84-foot waterfall! So yes, we got a bit wet, but it was a BLAST!

After those thrilling rides, we went in to the Special Effects Stages. This was educational, entertaining and magical - like a "making of". It consists of 3 sets. At the 1st set (Virtual Studio), we watched how audience volunteers could be virtually incorporated into movies - don't know how to describe this - you gotta see it to understand. At the 2nd set (Universal's Creature Factory), we watched how someone in the audience with strapped on mechanism could operate the actions of a huge big robot werewolf just by moving his own arms. The 3rd set (The Sound Lab) was where we learnt how special effects sounds were injected into a silent movie - and it was all done by the audience volunteers and recorded on the spot, replayed for us to hear - how AWESOME is that? The hosts did an amazing job of interacting with the audience and I left amazed at the magical wonders of movie-making.

We wandered back up the long escalators to the Upper Lot to grab a bite for lunch, then went on the Studio Tour. I was excited about this, because I knew I'd see Wisteria Lane (for the uninitiated, that's the road where the Desperate Housewives live). Now this attraction had a really long line - we queued for maybe about half an hour or slightly more. But, oh boy, was it AWESOME! (Yes, that is the catchword for the day).


We were driven through the working backlots of Universal Studios and it was the best bus ride I've ever had in my entire life!

The bridge collapsed when our bus was on it!

The set of cowboy towns

Then the bus had to wade through a flood

Grinch-land!

The Desperate Housewives were actually ON SET when we were there!

Susan's house (Teri Hatcher)

Mike's house (I think)

Then, an earthquake happened (which is why the picture is blur and shaky)

The War of the Worlds' set

Psycho-killer moving a dead body

Psycho-killer wants to kill the whole bus of witnesses!

Our final ride was on The Simpsons Ride - something like the Genting Motion Master, but about a thousand times better, rather similar to a roller coaster ride. The waiting was tedious - and at one point we almost wanted to leave already - but gee, this ride sure was a surprise, in a good way. Definitely deserved to be voted the "World's Best New Attraction in 2008".




And our final show was the very wet Waterworld. Remember that movie? Well, I don't, because I've never watched it, but I do believe the set should be rather similar to that of the movie. I was amazed at the actors' physical abilities, it was almost like a movie set come to life - actually, what am I talking about, it IS a movie set come to life!


It was about an hour before we had to get back on the bus, so we went out to Universal Citywalk to get the prerequisite Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood tee. There were loads of shops at the Citywalk with the latest hits blaring on speakers - very American, very Hollywood, I loved it! The day at Universal City was a great way to end our tour of LA. Next destination, San Francisco!