I’m not a very theme park kinda person yet I’ve visited all the major theme parks throughout the word… I guess what made this one slightly different was that beside the theme park… we got to visit a real working studio.
This post is mainly gonna be about pictures… and some insight here and there. There were quite a no of rides… but those ride shots are captured in actual physical photos from those theme park camera and I don’t have soft copies to put up. Compared to Universal Florida I find the rides much less exciting… but then again Universal Florida lack the studio experience Universal Hollywood has.
The normal entrance fees are about USD65 per person but we took the VIP tour instead which is USD199 per person. I think the VIP tour is value for money if you are not on a tight budget. We had valet parking and a very nice breakfast served to us at the VIP lounge when we got there. A tour guide was assigned to us for the entire day to bring us backstage and to the filming and recording areas of the studios where it is not opened to the general public. We are given priority in both seating and queues for rides as well as to take photos with the different characters wandering around the park.
I was there when the writers strike just ended so it was really busy at the studios. Recordings of Ghost Whisperer and Lipstick Jungle were in progress! But we weren’t allowed to take any photos when we were indoors and had to be really quite so we don’t disturb the recordings.
Under the VIP tour… we took the same route any dignitaries that visited the studio would take and the guide will explain all the little legend behind each area.
Visited all the places where props and sets were made… and it’s amazing how real they all look until you touch them! Even tiny me could lift most of the stuff up as it’s made really light for transport purpose.
We took a tour of the sign shop… which designs sign boards… and labels for the fake food you see on tv… it is also the place where the map from Pirates of the Caribbean and paintings from Heros are created. I was pretty shocked that the real artist that drew all those fantastic “future predicting” drawings is color-blind!
After exploring the front lot with the director’s offices and production studios… we headed the the back lot.
One moment you are in New York and the next you could be in Europe or in an old western town… it’s amazing!
In the picture below I was standing in one of the scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean! I just need Johnny Depp here with me to complete the picture!
If you are a desperate housewives fan like I am (seems that most people are too ashamed to admit they like such a soap-like TV serial even though we all know what a big hit it is)… the you might recall that the picture below is the place where somewhere in season 4 Susan’s car fell into the river and Ian had to save both Susan and Mike. Oops… I forgot to mentioned I visited Wisteria Lane too!
Gonna continue about Universal in my next post as it’s too long!
