Our day started with a trip to the train for the one stop journey into the San Fernando Valley. We then caught the courtesy shuttle to the top of the hill, where Universal Studios and City Walk are and made it into Universal Studios as VIP's. Once registered we met our tour guide Matthew and were able to sit down for about 20 minutes and have a buffet breakfast. We then were shown around the park a little and made our way to the sound stage where we were treated to a show about special effects in movies. Bazz was used as a volunteer for the show.
After that we did the Transformers, Jurassic Park and The Mummy rides. We were able to get to the front of the line because of our pass and didn't have to wait to use any of the rides.
We were then treated to a buffet lunch that was really fancy in a dining room that only VIP's could use.
After lunch we were shown around the backstage lot. We were able to get out of the bus and go onto a sound stage where they are filming Covert Affairs. We went into the set of the press room and oval office in that sound stage. It smelt and looked like a theater backstage area and the sets were very similar to theater ones also.
After that we toured around some more and were able to get off the bus again and have a real up close look at 'Clock Tower Square' from Back to the Future. It's been used as many different places in different movies and looks a bit different today than in the Back to the Future movies.
We then went and checked out Universals prop department, which is the largest prop department in the world. It was amazing how many things they have.
There was also a really impressive scene from the movie 'The War of the Worlds' were a plane had crashed. The movie actually bought a plane (about $200,000 all up) and shipped it to the lot where they trashed it for one scene in the movie. It was something.
We went and did the Minion and Simpsons rides and were then freed from our group to do what we wanted. We headed down to the first group of rides we did and did the transformers ride twice, Jurassic Park three times and the Mummy one last time before it was time for us to the exit and do some shopping.
We checked out the mall in Universal City Walk and tried Taco Bell for dinner. We weren't really that impressed with it, but after all, it is fast food.
We made our way back to our hotel (after catching the wrong shuttle once) and had a few drinks. We then went out into Hollywood to go to some night clubs and were disappointed to find out that clubs shut at 2am in California. We went home sad and went to bed.
Here are other pictures of Universal that didn't make the blog.
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| The shuttle to Universal Studios |
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| At the VIP lounge |
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| The shwanky VIP toilets |
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| At the Special Effects Stage |
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| Bazz got chosen as a volunteer |
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| Bazz being safari guy.... or something |
After that we did the Transformers, Jurassic Park and The Mummy rides. We were able to get to the front of the line because of our pass and didn't have to wait to use any of the rides.
We were then treated to a buffet lunch that was really fancy in a dining room that only VIP's could use.
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| Some Scenic View from Universal |
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| The entrance to he Transformers ride |
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| The entrance to the Jurassic Park ride |
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| Some more shwanky toilets at lunch |
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| The lunch buffet |
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| And the view from our table |
After lunch we were shown around the backstage lot. We were able to get out of the bus and go onto a sound stage where they are filming Covert Affairs. We went into the set of the press room and oval office in that sound stage. It smelt and looked like a theater backstage area and the sets were very similar to theater ones also.
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| Behind the set |
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| The plan of the set |
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| Hehe, lucky we're VIP's |
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| Every detail even down to a cup of pens and pencils |
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| Honest Abe and... me |
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| SAFE!!! |
After that we toured around some more and were able to get off the bus again and have a real up close look at 'Clock Tower Square' from Back to the Future. It's been used as many different places in different movies and looks a bit different today than in the Back to the Future movies.
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| Inside the current facade is the pillars from Back to the Future |
We then went and checked out Universals prop department, which is the largest prop department in the world. It was amazing how many things they have.
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| The tags are people reserving the props |
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| That's a big trolly |
There was also a really impressive scene from the movie 'The War of the Worlds' were a plane had crashed. The movie actually bought a plane (about $200,000 all up) and shipped it to the lot where they trashed it for one scene in the movie. It was something.
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| A real dead tree with fake stems stapled to it |
We went and did the Minion and Simpsons rides and were then freed from our group to do what we wanted. We headed down to the first group of rides we did and did the transformers ride twice, Jurassic Park three times and the Mummy one last time before it was time for us to the exit and do some shopping.
We checked out the mall in Universal City Walk and tried Taco Bell for dinner. We weren't really that impressed with it, but after all, it is fast food.
We made our way back to our hotel (after catching the wrong shuttle once) and had a few drinks. We then went out into Hollywood to go to some night clubs and were disappointed to find out that clubs shut at 2am in California. We went home sad and went to bed.
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| MMM Taco |
Here are other pictures of Universal that didn't make the blog.
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| Some props from movies |
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| The new Harry Potter are being built |
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| I GOT IT!!! |
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| Some music magic with a knife |
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| Megatron |
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| The Delorian from Back to the Future |
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| It's a Minion |
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| The Simpsons Area |
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| The Castle of Hogwarts being built |
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| At a fake Hollywood sign |
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| A legit fire department on Universals land |
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| Streets of New York in the Back lot |
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| Some random cars from different movies on display |
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| A little village that gets flooded from the movie Big Fat Liar |
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| A western street that was used in Saving Mr Banks as Allora |
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| A flooded Subway scene from Bomes |
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| Some scenes from Jaws |
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| From How the Grinch Stole Christmas |
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| Bates Hotel from Psyhco |
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| Art from the Minion ride |
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| Bazz and I with a wax copy of Vin Diesel |
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| A T Rex from the Jurassic Park ride |
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