Day 5 - Universal Studios Hollywood

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the sunburn on the left side of my neck and a little on my chest. Random. It wasn't hurting or itching so I figured it wasn't too bad. Guess I must have missed the sunscreen right there. I made sure to slather it on before getting dressed to go to Universal!

Surprise! Hotel buffet for breakfast again! Still no chocolate muffins and I was losing hope. S had wanted to be at the park for opening, but S and his siblings aren't the speediest bunch when it comes to getting ready in the mornings, so we didn't leave until 11 or so (park opened at 10am). The hotel was about 45-60 minutes away from Universal and it was a weekday so I was anticipating traffic. We did hit a little bit and used the handy dandy detour function on the navigation to bypass it!

As we were driving through downtown there were canvases hung on the walls to each side. It was a nice change from seeing grey slab after grey slab. And also, very minimal graffiti!

We found Universal quite easily, and there was hardly any traffic driving into the park. I almost hoped it would be deserted, but really all the people were already inside since it was afternoon at this point.

Spinning globe out front.

Walking into the park!

We went to see Shrek 4D again, like in Orlando. I tried to get a picture of Shrek afterward, but he wouldn't turn around. Rude! We also passed Spongebob Square Pants trying to tickle some random girl. I think I'd be creeped out if a character was trying to touch me.

We passed The Lorax as we were walking to the Simpsons ride. He's funny lookin' with that big ol' mustache.

 The Simpsons!

 

Showing off my Front of the Line pass, which means we got to go in the fast pass line for every ride one time. It was pretty awesome - we hardly waited anywhere.

Also rockin' my new Disney hat that I bought the day before.

Waiting to get on the Simpsons ride.

After The Simpsons, we went over to The Mummy, Transformers and Jurassic Park. We were able to do all rides in well under an hour with the fast passes! 

S was super excited about the Transformers ride and we were really hoping it would live up to all the hype! It did end up being really good - similar to the Spiderman ride in Orlando.

As we were walking down the street we saw Bumblebee walking away (too fast to get a picture) and then Optimus Prime came out for photo ops! I asked S if he wanted a picture, but I guess he's too cool for that ;-)

After Transformers, we hustled on over to Jurassic Park, where we got soaked, even though we weren't in the front row this time! We went to check out the picture they take of you right before the giant drop, and it was hilarious. All of us were screaming, mouths wide open.

Since we were soaking wet, we decided to stay outside in the heat and potentially dry out by taking the studio tour, which is an hour long tram ride through the back lot of Universal.

We piled on a tram that took us through the back lot and past the sound stages where shows and movies are actually filmed. Both CSI and a new show called Go On (starring Matthew Perry - can't wait to watch!) were both on set that day. Too bad we didn't see any actors.

 

During our tram ride we were caught in a flash food!!

Oh nooooo! So much water!!

Pretty cool effect, no?

 We drove past a set used for How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Whoville!

It's JAWS! Dun dun. Dun dun. You know the theme music is playing in your head right now =)

Shark + water + fire = scary!

Wysteria Lane!! I love Desperate Housewives and was really excited to drive down this street. I took a picture of all the houses. This is Susan's house, for those of you who don't watch. Or didn't I should say. Sad Panda.

After the Studio Tour we hit a couple souvenir shops because I wanted a shot glass for my collection. I found one with "Universal Studios" and my name on it! On a side note, I really need to figure out how to display all my shot glasses. Maybe some kind of mounted cabinet? Anyway, after the shops we headed back to the car to sit in more traffic. We left around 5pm, which is rush hour of course. Somehow we ended up driving up a mountain to Dodger Stadium and getting caught in game traffic! We pulled a U-turn, found a freeway and just decided to wait it out because these detours were getting too crazy!  

We ate at the OC Brewhouse again and I decided to try something different. I went with the pulled pork bbq sandwich, served Memphis style which means with coleslaw on top! It was really delicious. S got pizza - surprise!

After dinner, we went to crash in the super comfy beds. Only one more full day left in LA now!