Universal Studios

It was a cool but lovely day today. We were up early and out of the RV at 8 headed for Universal Studios for our first visit there. Universal has two parks right next to each other: the Studios and Islands of Adventure. The Studios are more like Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Islands is more of an amusement park. We went to the Studios today. We are so used to the huge parking lots that Disney has. Universal has several huge parking structures. We have read that when the park is crowded, getting out at closing time can be a real pain.

We bought an Express Pass, but with the crowds so small today, we really didn’t need it. It is not a bad park, but it certainly isn’t Disney. First we went to the Simpsons ride which was probably the best ride in the park. It is similar to Soarin’ at Disney in that one is in a car in front of an IMAX, but this takes you through a cartoon adventure. It really was fun. After we came out, Marge and Homer Simpson were in character costumes outside, so Bill took my photo with them.

We went through most of the rides at the park except for one heavy duty roller coaster. We had lunch at a food court, and I had some decent orange chicken, fried rice, and some excellent stir-fried veggies. We also liked the Horror Makeup Show. In the lobby was a display of The Creature of the Black Lagoon that actually mentioned my friend Ben Chapman who played the creature. The show itself had a makeup artist and his sidekick doing a comical presentation of different kinds of makeup. We were especially intrigued with a knife that appeared to cut an audience member’s arm, but it actually had a hole in the knife blade. There was a small Lucille Ball museum that was rather interesting. We left about 4:30.

I posted some more photos which can be see by clicking on the Disney 2009 link to the left.