Universal Hollywood! (8/29/05)-very long, possible spoilers

[Sterm26]

This is a long and rather involved report on my recent trip to Universal Studios Hollywood. If you're merely interested in my take on the differences bewtween this park and Florida's, please skip to the last post.

Our family had decided to check out California on this vacation, since we had been to Florida twice in the past 18 months. While the bulk of our time was spent at Disneyland, we did set aside one day for Universal Hollywood.

This is the original Universal Studios, a 90-year old working movie studio set on the side of a hill (mountain?) north of LA and Hollywood. Not only does the park offer many of the same thrilling attractions as Universal Florida, there's a unique tour of the studio backlot, where you can see some of the sets and props from several of the most famous movies ever made. We are extreme movie buffs, so we took the VIP tour...very expensive at $140 per person...and I think it was worth every penny. (Regular admission starts at $43 for a one day pass).

Our tour started at 10 AM sharp. We were staying in Anaheim, about 30 miles south of here, and we left very early in case we ran into one of LA's notorious traffic jams. Surprisingly, we only slowed once, and were parked by 9:30. This gave us plenty of time to check in for the tour and take some cool photos in front of the marquee.

At check in, were were ushered into tthe VIP lounge, where we were treated to a free continental breakfast and all the water we could drink. There were svereal movie props on display, including the Sports Almanac and Marty's western outfit from "Back to the Future 2", a cheerleader outfit from "Animal House", and Jake and Elwood's sunglasses from "Blues Brothers" A mere taste of what was to come...(cont'd)

 

[Sterm26]

VIP tours are limited to parties of 15, and we had 10 people on our trip. Our tour guide, Rick, escorted us to our own tour tram (regular tour trams resemble the trams in the Disney parking lots, with video screeens, ours was a one group special), and we were on our way.

I did mention earlier in the post that Universal is set on the side of a hill...well, we had to go down a 1/2 mile steep grade to get to our first stop. On the way down the hill, we had a spectacular view of the backlot, including the courthouse from "Back to the Future", with the sprawl of LA as a backdrop. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the BTTF courthouse up close, they were shooting a new movie there!

We saw some of the sound stages and recording studios, drove past working soundstages where "Pirates of the Carribean II" was being filmed, and took a 15 minute tour of Universal's massive prop warehouse...literally tens of thousands of knickknacks that are needed to make a movie more realistic. Shelves upon shelves of police badges, silverware, swords, soda cans...it looked like the world's biggest garage sale! Some "retired" props were housed under glass at the front, such as Joe Friday's ID card from "Dragnet" and the Bates Motel guest registry book.

After this, we were taken on a walk-through of the set of TV's "Crossing Jordan", which was very neat. Since it was a Monday, there was no filming going on, (TV shows usually begin filiming on Wednesday, according to Rick), so we were allowed to film and even touch stuff at will. The mortuary was very interesting, there were some cadaver dummies lying around....we had to shoo our daughter past this one. I'll have to watch the show now to see how the fakeness I saw looks on TV. On the way out, we saw star Jill Hennessy's S.U.V. (woo-hoo!)..at least, it was parked in her reserved spot.

Now, we got to experience some of Universal's reknowned special effects. In the California park, some of the attractions that stand alone in FLA are incorporated into the backlot tour. For example, our tour tram entered a sound stage...the guide told us it was the set of a new movie...that those of us who had been to FLA recognized immediately. It was the subway station of the "Earthquake" ride! After getting shaken and almost blown up, we entered another soundstage, where "one of the biggest stars of all time" awaited. Yes, it was King Kong, swatting helicopters and shaking the tram, bellowing and breathing his hot bananna breath on us. This was very cool, since he has been retired by the FLA park for some time. (cont'd)

 

[Sterm26]

Other special effects along the rest of the backlot tour included a simulated flash flood (similar to "Catastrophie Canyon" at Disney/MGM studios), the "Parting of the Red Sea" (inspired by the "10 Commandments", actually seen in Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part I"). We drove by Amity harbor, where everybody's favorite mechanical shark, Bruce, made a bloody and fiery appearance (not very scary, though).

We drove very close to the original Bates Motel (complete with Norman peering out the door), the Psycho house that looms above the hotel (complete with the skeletal Mrs. Bates peering out of the bedroom window), a set from "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" (placed, weirdly, directly next to the Bates Motel), and "Wisteria Lane" from the T.V. show "Desperate Housewives". Also, a very eerie set from the recent "War of the Worlds" was presented. Here, a 747 has crashed into a suburban New Jersey suburban neighborhood. An actual 747 was torn up for this, and with the smoke, overturned cars and smashed houses (no bodies, however) very realistic.
We also were allowed to leave the tram and walk around a Roman set from "Spartacus" (among other films), as well as Fountain Square used in many of the 1930's Universal horror films like "Frankenstein" and "The Werewolf".

Finally, the backlot tour ended, and Rick took us to part 2 of the VIP tour, the theme-park portion of Universal Studios Hollywood. (Cont'd)

 

[Sterm26]

If you've stuck with me this long, thanks! Now we get to the part that compares the Hollywood theme park with Florida's.

The Universal Hollywood theme park is divided into 2 distinct areas, the Lower Lot and the Upper Lot. The main park entrance is on the upper lot, however, our tour tram left us at the Lower Lot. The LL contains most of the "big" USH attractions. Using our VIP badges as FOTL passes, we rode Jurrasic Park (very much the same as IOA's), the Mummy (ditto), and a "Backdraft" attraction. You experience a fire at a chemical plant....very hot, scary, and impressive!

That's pretty much it for the LL, so we broke for lunch and ate at the Jurassic Park restaurant.

Separating the LL from the UL is a 1/4 mile (!) escalator system, one of the longest in the world. There are 2 landings on the way up (or down), offering spectacular views of the San Fernando Valley. There are maps placed near the overlooks to point out what exactly you are looking at. Some of the sights include the Rose Bowl and the sprawling Walt Disney Studios.

The UL is home to some familiar attractions. Shrek 4-D, Back to the Future, Terminator 2 3-D, and the Fear Factor shows are all exactly the same as their USF counterparts. We saw all the big attractions, and Iwent back down to ride the Mummy and Jurassic Park a few more times before dinner and park closing. We ate at Mel's Diner...standard theme park burgers and such, with a 50's soundtrack. Full, sore, and hot, we trudged to the main souvenier shop, used our VIP cards for a 25% discount on the usual things, and began the long drive back to Anaheim. (concluded next)

 

[Sterm26]

Comparing USH to USF:

Things unique to USH are the Van Helsing: Fortress Dracula walk-through (about as scary as your local Halloween haunted house), the Waterworld stunt show (much better than the actual movie), and the Nickelodeon Blast Zone (much better than the Woody Woodpecker/Fievel/Barney playgrounds at USF, IMO). Conversely, USH doesn't have E.T., Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast, or Men In Black.

As Universal Hollywood was orginally built to be a movie studio, and doesn't have much room to expand, the park can get very crowded, even on days when attendance isn't very high (like the day I was there). Also, the lack of anything like Islands of Adventure may turn off the thrill-seekers in your group. I can see why USH offers "buy one day, get the rest of the year free" tickets...it may keep some of the locals coming, I see no reason for a tourist to make a return visit on the trip, unless the park was so crowded that some of the big attractions were missed. USH does offer FOTL passes like FLA does,.

I found the CM's, if I may, to be much more personable than their FLA counterparts, for whatever reason. Interestingly, and off-topic, I found that the WDW CM's are much more friendly than their Disneyland counterparts. Just an observation.

Bottom line: As a one-time destination for someone who loves movies, Universal Hollywood is not to be missed, even if you don't splurge on the VIP tour. There are many unique and historical items to be seen. As a stand-alone theme park...USH makes a nice museum. There is simply no comparison between this place and Universal Orlando/IOA for sheer theme park thrills and inventiveness.

Of course, I still like Disney better!
Thanks for reading!

Sterm

 

[Seahag]

Great post, thanks for taking the time to post all those details!!

 

[HeatherinNC]

Loved reading your posts! I went to Universal in 86 and can still remember the thrill seeing the BTTF courthouse! Glad it's still there.

 

[damo]

Great posts! We were in USH last year. We enjoyed comparing the parks and debating which had the better versions of Mummy and Jurassic Park. We all got sick on BTTF (we were hoping it would be different than at USF but no). We treated ourselves to FOTL passes and really enjoyed ourselves. We really missed MIB!

 

[Sterm26]

Thanks for reading and your positive comments. I'm just trying to capture the spirit of the thing....

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for posting.