Froze last night. Tim had set the thermostat to 60. Escaped from Chinatown about 10:30. Drove straight to Universal. We got preferred parking - which was in a structure in the shade and pretty close to the entrance.
Before we went in we had a break at a western restaurant. I ordered "non-hot" chili which was too spicy to eat, so they gave me fresh fruit and I had a bar. We bought hats for Megan and Tim and all slathered up with sunscreen.
We decided to go on the tram 1st since the lines were longest. I was worried about bladder control, but I made it thru the 45 minutes of waiting and 55 minutes of ride. As with all attractions, there have been updates based on what's current in the media. Features of the tram included a 3-D King Kong Experience, with raptors, spiders, T. Rex and Kong fighting up close. Very realistic and exciting.
Lots of squirtings on all productions today. We did the Earthquake - the Big One , tho couldn't see it all due to being in the first car. Went thru the circling mummy cavern - Miranda got nausea. Dilophosaurs squirted Megan. The shark from Jaws came up right under Tim. Norman Bates came out with a knife - looked just like Anthony Perkins.
Tim, Miranda and I got separated from Megan later by park attendants clearing the street for a can-can routine (unfortunately Miranda said I couldn't wait for the dance to finish). 2nd thing we did was Terminator 3-D. It was pretty much the same as in the past. At the end the seats ratcheted up, then slammed down - not too pleasant. The Terminator 2 gift shop had lots of comics figurines and statues - many were large and expensive (Iron Man was $7000). Tim made a Terminator 2 penny.
Back to the Future has become the Simpsons ride; no one cared about that. ET and his strange smell have disappeared, replaced by the Mummy roller coaster. Waterworld (the old A team) didn't interest us.
The 3rd thing was Jurassic Park. Megan's leg was sore and I didn't want to get wet, so we sat it out and let Miranda and Tim ride. We sat in the semi-shade. There were mummy girls on stilts. I saw the Monster Mash with Beetlejuice, Mummy, Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein and Wolfman. On the way back up to the top level (4 sets of escalators).
Oh wait, after the JP ride, we went to Jurassic Outfitters store, which had mummy and dinosaur stuff. There were some very expensive figures and statues (like the $300 Spinosaurus) that were neat. Tim got a JP shirt.
Back to the return up: Tim walked up 3 of the 4 levels and was a mess when he got to the top. Very dramatic. But that was nothing compared to his reaction to the Haunted House (the best Haunted House I've ever been through). At one point Megan elected to go up an elevator rather than the stairs (and we lost Miranda, who had gone on ahead). Megan, Tim and I waited for the elevator. Lots of monsters got off (which we wouldn't have seen on the regular tour). We rode upstairs with Chuckie.
After that, Tim was a basket case, clawing onto us, screaming and crying like a girl - totally off the deep end! Over and over, hysterically, he cried "They forced me to come in here - don't scare me!!!!". Every new thing to jump out, he went bananas. (I don't think he was faking - we all wanted to take him back to it.)
The last show we took in was "Animal Actors". The birds were magnificent, especially the falcon. There was much humor. The fox nipped at it's trainer. The orangutan was hilarious.
We were all exhausted and in pain and hobbled out. Megan's experiment to try walking was a failure. It was definitely decided today that Tim is now taller than I am.
We drove to Oxnard. It was much closer than we anticipated - less than an hour drive. We saw a gazillion birds of some kind on the telephone wires. We petted a long-haired dachshund named Chloe; her owner reminded me of Ron.
We ate dinner at Carrows - it was all good. I had chicken cordon bleu, creamed spinach and clam chowder. Everyone had a lavish dessert but me - I wonder how much I'm losing. Tim ate like a pig and we all made fun of him. He had another punch-drunk episode and kept babbling about incomprehensible things.
My comments:
Before I comment on this day, I want to say how hilarious I am finding it that Bill is putting down just about everything he eats. My mother used to make me keep a journal when we went on trips, and I faithfully recorded every meal. Of course, I was only a kid at the time, but it's obvious that food is VERY important to our family.
The reason that Tim and I bought hats is Miranda and I had gotten sunburned at Sea World. We hadn't thought about it, because it was an overcast day, but my arms, back of my neck, and especially the top of my head were very red. Bill rubbed Kerosin ointment on them, and I never did really peel, but I was more careful after that.
One of the changes on the tram tour was Bates Motel and Norman Bates. Before you just saw the house and were told what it was. This time they had the motel as well, and this guy (who really did look a lot like Norman Bates) was carrying an obviously wrapped body to stuff into the trunk of his car. When he noticed the tram car, he came running towards it with a long knife. We barely escaped!
All of us were clueless when they started talking about Desperate Housewives and Wisteria Place, although we got to see all of their houses. I think that is probably my favorite part of the tram tour - seeing all the backdrops and outdoor sets and being told what movies they were in. They still have the flash flood (although being in the front car we couldn't see as well), but they no longer 'part the seas' to cross over like Moses did. Miranda was particularly thrilled to see one of the space vehicles from the Firefly series.
It seems like these theme amusement parks are turning more and more to using 3-D and screen images rather than animated figures. It's probably both cheaper and easier to maintain, but I rather missed the old King Kong looming up next to the tram. However, I really liked the race cars that did the Macarena. THAT wasn't done with screen images.
We really did have problems staying together. Since lots of walking makes my legs hurt, I had a tendency to walk quickly (in order to get there faster). I would assume that the other were right behind me, only to turn and realize I had lost them again. This was frustrating for all of us.
Actually, I think it was exhaustion that kept me off the Jurassic Park ride. I just didn't want to stand in line for half an hour. Besides, I had gotten wet enough from that dumb dinosaur on the tour ride who squirted me - and ONLY me (at least in our car).
I was rather sorry we couldn't go on the Mummy roller coaster. The entrance was really impressive.
Unfortunately the Mummy gift shop was closed (everything was relocated to the Jurassic Park store - although there wasn't much), but I loved the sign.
The last show we went to before we limped out was the Animal Actors show, which was a lot of fun as always. I especially liked the dog that kept circumventing orders to get the treat. When the falcon flew down from it's box, it went right over our heads. If we had reached up, we could have touched it.
I enjoyed Universal Studios, but I am sad when I think about the things they used to have that are gone. No more ET ride; no more Backdraft; no more Conan adventure; no more going through and learning about how special effects are done. I particularly remember this last one because they always chose a child from the audience to demonstrate riding on ET's bike - and one year that we went, Maleen was the child chosen. They also no longer have the Star Trek show (where people from the audience would dress up like Klingons and have contests with each other), or the American Tail show (with Feival). I really wanted to try out the new Shrek 3-D, but nobody else was interested and we ran out of time. The mummy ride might have been fun, but we were told that people who get motion sickness don't do well on it, which blew that for us.
I thought I would end with a picture of how Tim spent his time in all of the various hotels we stayed in.
1 comment:
That makes me sad to hear of the things that are missing. I really liked BackDraft, and Back to the Future. But it makes sense that as generations grow up, only the older people remember. And I wouldn't have been interested in Desperate Housewives either. (I do remember doing the ET ride, and I didn't love the American Tail show, but you made me go.)
I don't know if you would like the Mummy Ride. It was a pretty intense roller coaster that goes for a bit and then stops and does the whole thing backwards. I'll have to go with Miranda some year, but I think it would be too much for Tim.
Oh, and I totally noticed too that Dad talks about everything he eats. Funny.
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