I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving, and are having a wonderful weekend. For your reading pleasure this Holiday weekend, here is second half of my mini trip report of my and Buzzs first visit to Universal Studios:
After meeting the Simpsons, I noticed a couple of characters from another of my all-time favorite television shows-
I Love Lucy. I had heard that Lucy Ricardo came out pretty regularly at Universal, but I had no idea that Ricky would be out, so it was a wonderful surprise. This was defiantly my favorite character encounter of the trip. Both of them were so perfectly in character and chatted for a while.
Nearby, Marilyn Monroe was out and about greeting fans as well.
After hob-knobbing with the stars, Buzz and I headed over to Shrek 4-D. Honestly, Im not a Shrek fan at all, but we figured as long as we were in Universal we might as well check it out. If this wasnt the longest wait of the day it sure felt like it. I was pretty much over the whole attraction about half-way through the preshow. The movie itself wasnt that great either. It wasnt that funny, and I wasnt prepared for how much they really jostle your seats around. All in all, it was one of the low points of the day. If you like Shrek, youll probably like this attraction, but I didnt.
After Shrek, we decided to go get some lunch, so we headed towards Mels Drive-In. On the way, I spotted Dora the Explorers friend Diego had no line, so I went to meet him.
All up and down their Hollywood Boulevard, they have a Walk of Fame with a number of famous movie stars. I thought the Disney fans here might appreciate Julie Andrews star.
Before we got to the park, we knew we wanted to have lunch at Mels Drive-In, based on the one from
American Graffiti. We both got burgers and fries which we thought were good. The 50s diner atmosphere complete with rock and roll music and retro memorabilia everywhere was fun.
After lunch, we spotted Scooby-Doo and Shaggy riding up the street in the Mystery Machine, so I went to meet them again. A lot of the Universal characters seemed to have vehicals that were driven down the street and stop at their meet-and-greet area, which was pretty fun. The Mystery Machine was probably my favorite though. I think the line to get pictures with it was longer than the line to see Scooby and Shaggy.
Being an
I Love Lucy fan, one of the things Ive always wanted to see at Universal was always the Lucy: A Tribute exhibit. I was so glad that after all these years and so many other changes to the park, it was still there when I finally made it to Universal. It was so great to see all of the props, costumes and memorabilia from the show as well as the rest of Lucys career. A must-see for any Lucy fan!
Some actual
I Love Lucy scripts
One of Desi's drums.
Since it was October, the whole park was decorated for Holloween Horror Nights.
As Ive mentioned before, Im not a Shrek fan at all, but I heard that the meet-and-greet with Donkey was fun, so I gave it a try. Donkey was pretty cool. Hes some sort of interactive animatronic that talks to you
a la Turtle Talk with Crush and could really work a crowd.
More of Universals great architecture.
Standing among some props from the
Back to the Future films was Doc Brown who chatted with me about his new inventions.
Soon after, the Blues Brothers drove up in their police car and headed off to do a show with their band on the New York Street, so Buzz and I headed over to see them.
After the show, I spotted Fiona out with Donkey, so I decided to pay Donkey another visit.
Next, we headed off to see the Universal Studios Horror Make-Up Show. This really wasnt something I thought would be that interesting, but Buzz and I were reading before the trip that it was not to be missed, so we gave it a try. First of all, the waiting area was pretty cool- lots of displays of props, prosthetics and behind the scenes info about Universal monster and horror films. Then, the show itself was a lot of fun- plenty of comedy to keep it light and entertaining. Im glad we knew to give it a try!
Next up was Jimmy Neutrons Nicktoon Blast. This was ok. It didnt really wow us, but it wasnt a bad ride.
After the ride, I got to meet my last character of the day- Spongebob Squarepants.
Next, we decided to try Twister. We both thought this was pretty lame. Some of the special effects were kind of cool, but all in all I dont see us revisiting this one.
We still had some time to so a few more rides before closing time, so we decided to revisit a few of our favorites. We hit The Mummy first and then headed back down the New York Street.
Again, all the Backlot city sets in the park were amazing, They were so much fun to explore and photograph.
A few more Halloween decorations along the way.
Since the waits were pretty short, we had just enough time to hit the Simpsons Ride and then go next door and take one last ride on Men In Black.
I still love the architecture around Men In Black. It reminds me so much of what Tomorrowland looked like back when I was a kid.
After Men In Black, it was closing time, so we made our way out the park and take the long moving sidewalk ride back to the car.
All in all, despite a few duds (Shrek and Twister), we really enjoyed Universal. It really has a different feel than Disney, but I thought that attention to detail and attraction quality in general were fantastic. Plus, the crowds were so light we were able to do almost everything in that was open that way. The whole trip was even better than I expected, and I would love to come back here sometime and make it over to Islands of Adventure too.
Hope you enjoyed this quick look at our day at Universal. Coming up next though, Ill be taking the report back to Disney for a look at our day at the Animal Kingdom.
Next chapter: Beginning with some Magical Moments
"See" you all in December!
I Love Lucy! I always have to visit there when I'm at Universal (which isn't often.)
The ones they had out were great though. 
