December 2-12, 2007 (Grand Californian Hotel) - First Trip to Disneyland for an Early Christmas & Dose of Disney Magic **Updated 10/30** COMPLETE About This Page:

[chezp]

What an awesome day! That tour sounds so neat - and I never realised how much they do at Disneyland to celebrate Christmas. Maybe one day we will have to visit during the holiday season.

[PrincessSharon]

Alison, I've just discovered your TR, and I'm so glad I did! Your writing is so detailed and descriptive I feel like I am right there with you. You've also convinced me that I need to visit Disneyland during Christmas. Hurry back with more, please!

[Colexis Mom]

Great updates Glad you are having a great time! More please

[Flik]

Loving your latest installment. It sounds like you two had a very magical trip.

[DyanKJ130]

What a full day you had!! The tour sounds wonderful! Can't wait to hear more

[Big Sister]

Originally Posted by chezp

What an awesome day! That tour sounds so neat - and I never realised how much they do at Disneyland to celebrate Christmas. Maybe one day we will have to visit during the holiday season.

Yes, the tour was great I thoroughly enjoyed myself on it, and loved learning all the little bits of information one normally wouldn't know if it weren't for the tour. The out of action Christmas plans, such as the star on top of the Matterhorn, were particularly important to me for nostalgic reasons.

Even though it was quite crowded when we went, I would still recommend going to Disneyland California during the Christmas season, as there's the Christmas tour, the fantastic Christmas decorations everywhere you look, exciting Christmas goodies to buy in the shops, as well as a wonderfully happy atmosphere everywhere you go.

[Big Sister]

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

Alison, I've just discovered your TR, and I'm so glad I did! Your writing is so detailed and descriptive I feel like I am right there with you. You've also convinced me that I need to visit Disneyland during Christmas. Hurry back with more, please!

Hi Sharon,

I'm glad you're enjoying my TR - it means a lot to me . I remember when I used to write pages for my English projects decades ago, and I used to get told off (and marks deducted! ) for writing too much! I thought a teacher's job was to encourage their students! On her good days, she would photocopy my work and pass it around the class for them to use as examples for their own work.

One of the reasons I haven't let memory of my teacher stop me from writing the way I do, is because when I get older, I want to be able to look back on vacations, for example, and be able to remember them as if they were just yesterday, from reading what I wrote.

Yes, you must go to Disneyland during the Christmas seasons! I found it rather crowded, even though I went early December, but it's still worth it to see all the Christmas magic.

If I don't pass out from chocolate overload during this Easter long-weekend, I will see what I can do about churning out one or two more entries

I see you've got a solo trip coming up - I look forward to reading that. I was planning on a solo trip to WDW in the years to come, but my brother has realised he's onto a good thing.

Alison

[Big Sister]

Hello Everyone,

Apologies for the huge gap inbetween posts. On the morning of my birthday a couple of days after Easter, my Mum suffered a stroke in the carpark of our supermarket. I thank our lucky stars I was with her at the time so I could get an ambulance to the scene without delay. Mum has since made a great recovery, and was back home with the family after a couple of days in hospital. Family is the most important thing to me in the world, and I'm sure you'll all understand that I took time out to look after them.

Best wishes & health to you all,
Big Sister

************************************************** ************************************************** ***

4TH ENTRY: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD

WEDNESDAY, 5 DECEMBER 2007

I've dream about going to Universal Studios ever since I was a little girl. It was the only themepark I was continually aware of until my introduction to the wonderful world of Disney back in 2001. Ever since the middle of Primary School (around 10 years old), I've been a big fan of the Jaws movies (my parents didn't like me watching them at such a young age though, and I can remember many a time the TV being switched off in the middle of a Jaws attack), and around the end of Primary School/beginning of High School (12-13 years old), I've been a huge fan of Lucille Ball. I first heard about attractions based on these interests of mine, from an old world traveller friend of my Nan's. Roughly two decades later, I would finally be able to experience them for myself.

************************************************** **

Nest and I were awoken at 6am sharp by Boney M's Rivers of Babylon. Now whenever I hear this song, I instantly relate it to early morning rises. Straight away, I placed a breakfast order with Room Service - Mickey waffles for two, a hot chocolate for Nest, and an iced water for myself - and then set about getting ready so we wouldn't miss our 8.25am bus to Universal Studios. Despite the early rise, we ran, shirt tales flapping and trainers still not laced up, all the way to the bus, which was waiting for us out the front of our hotel behind the valet parking area. I was a bit confused that it was a Magical Express bus, but it all made sense once it dropped us off at the Anaheim Tourist Centre, where we learnt we'd be catching another bus.

Our new bus driver's name was Juan, and he had a fantastic sense of humour, which became obvious the moment the bus set out. For example - early on in the bus ride, he got us to write down two numbers, the first one being 65772, and the second one being 9550. The first one, Juan told us, was what our bus number was going to be all day. With the second number, he got us to put a decimal point in the middle, and then told us that that was what our taxi fare would come to if we missed the bus - $95.50!

This was the first time since our arrival, that Nest and I had been outside our Disney environment, and it was really interesting to see what it was like out there. It was SO different to Australia, which was good, for if everything were the same or similar, things would be quite boring. I like being able to tell that you're in a different country when you're on an overseas holiday. The differences that jumped out at me the most, were:

1) The abundance of palm trees everywhere: the only ones I've seen in my hometown of Canberra, are outside a fitness centre. Obviously our climate doesn't suit them, as most of them have passed away, and the ones that haven't, look embarrassingly shaggy. I'm not familiar with California's climate year round, but with Canberra, half the year is boiling hot, and the other half is icy cold;

2) Big mountains close by, instead of far away in the distance; and most noticeably;

3) Multi-level highways: these were so interesting for Nest and myself to see, as there's absolutely nothing like this in Australia. They really made us feel like we were in a different country.

The entire time we were travelling to Universal Studios, Juan was giving us a running commentary on whatever was around us at the time. Both Nest and myself were incredibly excited when he pointed out the drain/alleyway where the truck chase part of Terminator 2 was filmed - we absolutely love that movie! Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the bus to take a photo, and the scene whooshed by before we could do anything more about it except imprint it in our mind. Another Big Arnie moment, was when Juan pointed out a building across from the Staples Centre, which was used in The Last Action Hero where Arnie's pursuing the villain on a horse. Once again, the building was on the other side of the bus. Next time, we're sitting on the right-hand side! Seeing as we didn't see the building properly, my second favourite famous scene spotted, was the world famous Hollywood Sign. Like with all the other sights, we were on the wrong side of the bus for this too, but because Juan told us it was coming up before-hand, Nest readied himself with his camera, and got some fantastic shots. It was so exciting to see this sign ourselves, after only having seen it in books, magazines and on the tele.

We arrived at Universal Studios at 10am, and headed straight for the Universal Studios globe once off the bus. After getting a couple of photos in, Juan walked with us to the entrance to make sure we got in (none of us had paper tickets - only special stickers which we were to wear all day to show that we had paid.) While waiting in line, I remember looking up at the Christmas decorations on the white entrance arch, and thinking how beautiful they looked against the pure blue sky. It was a gloriously sunny day, with not a cloud in sight.

Once inside, we were stopped to have our photos taken professionally (poor Nest looks embarrassed in each one, as he generally refuses to let people take his photo back home.) Once that was done, we followed Juan's advice and went straight to the back of the Upper Lot, and took the Skyway down to the Lower Lot so we could go on all the rides before the place got too crowded.

The first ride of the day was Jurassic Park : The Ride. I enjoyed it's jungly entrance complete with dinosaur and a slab of concrete signed by Steven Spielberg. As we trekked our way through the jungle, we came upon the queuing area, and were ecstatic to see that there was no one in it! We ran with excitement to the boarding gate, and joined an expedition boat already partly filled with a group obviously as excited as we were about things. As we set off, I can remember bursting with excitement, as this was a brand new ride for me, and I just didn't know what to expect (despite having read a description about it in a book - that info went out the window at that point in time), except a whole lot of fun and perhaps a bit of water. (A bit? Huh!)

The ride started off by being hoisted up a steep incline. From there, we drifted through a non-threatening jungle environment where herbivores grazed peacefully around us - it was so relaxing ... until one of them rose up from underneath the water and sprayed water all over us!

After drifting through a curtain of mist and some caves, the atmosphere became noticeably threatening. Our fears were confirmed when we saw an electric fence destroyed and sparking loudly away, and dinosaurs roaring menacingly nearby. We had all only just faced the front from having seen this spectacle, when velociraptors came at us from all sides, hissing away and spitting poison at us (this was when all the squealing and shouting started.) And the danger didn't stop there - around the corner to our right, a jeep came crashing down the side of the building, stopping short of the river, and to our left appeared more spitting velociraptors.

We had a brief reprieve from all the adrenaline as we gingerly made our way through a deserted plant, before coming face-to-face with the king of all dinosaurs, T-Rex. He seriously leant down so closely over our boat, that it was as if you could almost touch him! Our only means of escape from this frightening situation, was a sheer drop over the waterfall directly ahead of us, so over we went. I was so scared when first faced with this drop, as the whole drop was in full view, and not partly hidden like in the considerate Splash Mountain. I automatically went through my trio of scary ride reactions - screaming, eyes shut tight, and clinging on for dear life! I later found out that this drop was 84 feet (good job I wasn't aware of this before-hand!)

If we didn't get wet from all the surprise water attacks during the ride, then this water feature succeeded in all aspects. Laughing, Nest and I waddled through the shop, taking care not to drip water on any of the merchandise, and made our way over to the photo counter to purchase our souvenir ride photo, which was hilarious as usual. In most drop rides/rollercoaster souvenir photos, I always have my eyes closed, so I must make an effort to stop doing this.

Leaving Jurassic Park behind us, we went across the way to have a go on Revenge of the Mummy : The Ride. There were signs all around the entrance to this attraction, saying that bags weren't allowed, so we stashed ours in the nearby lockers, before continuing on our way. Not having my backpack with me, was a terrifically light feeling. Due to our excitement about experiencing yet another new ride and the lack of crowds, I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention to the entrance and queuing area of the ride, and raced right on instead. According to my scant back-up memories cross-referenced with Nest's, I do remember the Book of Life displayed on a pedestal in an alcove just inside the entrance. When we went up and touched it out of curiosity, these bright lights suddenly illuminated it further, and a deep voice boomed out something threatening. No wonder we rushed on from there!

We wound our way through a large queuing area marked out with brown bars (probably to deal with maddening crowds during much busier times) and surrounded by walls of rough brown rock, like the interior of a mountain. There were six other people waiting for us in a jeep packed ready for an archaeological dig when we arrived. I was so looking forward to this ride!

Driving off in our jeep, we were soon immersed by darkness in unknown territory. During our travels over the bumpiest terrain imaginable, we experienced temperatures of heat more extreme than the height of an Australian summer, humid rain, a flesh eating bug infestation inside the jeep (I instinctively lifted my feet off the jeep floor at the first sign of them!), and groping skeletons from above. And then, without warning, the jeep came to such an abrupt halt, that I almost wet myself from the unexpectedness of it all! (Honestly, a lady should be forewarned of such things so she can prepare herself! To be fair, there were signposted warnings at the entrance, it's just I wasn't expecting the sudden stop to be that sudden.) Just as quickly as we had stopped, we started again, re-tracing our steps in reverse at high speed, before finding ourselves totally enveloped in a cool impenetrable mist, bringing our adventure to an end.

Revenge of the Mummy was highly intense, but disappointingly short, so imagine our glee when the tour operators waved us on through for a second trip when we emerged cheering from our initial trip! I personally could've gone on like this till lunchtime at least, and I'm sure Nest could've too, but it was time to disembark after our second consecutive trip. We followed our party down to the souvenir photo booth, and all had a good laugh at the results. Eternal thanks to the four lads sitting in the front row for such a fantastic first go on The Mummy photo result! I love it so much, that I have it on my document holder at work, where I can see it every single weekday. It reminds me of the fantastic time Nest and I had in California, and keeps me motivated to work hard so that I can return sooner rather than later.

From purchasing our photos (I thought it interesting how there were signs up saying not to take photos of the photo monitors), we collected our bags from the locker area, and made our way to the next attraction, which ended up being a most painful experience for Nest.

A teenage dream of mine came true the second I stepped into Lucy : A Tribute. I was just so happy to be there, and found the attraction to be so much more than I had imagined and expected for all these years. I thoroughly enjoyed looking at everything on display: awards, scripts, home movie excerpts, I Love Lucy excerpts, and interactive displays. I was sorry to leave after only about fifteen minutes or so, as I could've spent a good hour or so in there, but I was well away that poor Nest's interests lay elsewhere, so we left after two hurried photos and lots of, "Time to go!" On our next visit, I'll have three brothers with me, so they can amuse themselves in the nearby games arcade while I go through Lucy's Tribute a lot more thoroughly.

Having experienced Lucy's Tribute and all the rides in the Lower Lot, we then returned to the Upper Lot, taking in the views from the Skywalk as we went. It was at this point that I noticed a massive Matt Damon advertisement on one of the soundstages at Warner Bros Studios next door, and stirred Nest about it. (Last year, a shop keeper mistook Nest for Matt Damon (as Matt was in the country at the time promoting his latest Bourne movie), and went into near hysterics! It was one of the most hilarious things I've ever witnessed, and Nest hasn't been able to live it down since! Eg. I took great delight in discovering Matt Damon was voted sexiest man by some magazine towards the end of last year, and couldn't wait to stir Nest about it later that day. What are sisters for?! Nest has since changed his hairstyle so this mistake in identity can never occur again.)

On reaching the Upper Lot, we decided it was time for a snack. I spotted a cinnabons stand just past the large gorgeous Christmas tree, and remembering a colleague's lament on how she can't feed her addiction to them in Australia anymore since they're no longer available here, I suggested to Nest that this was what we should have, and he agreed. We both had a classic cinnabon (a bread scroll with cinnamon swirled through it, and covered with cinnamon icing) which was served hot, and bottles of water. The cinnabons were so big and filling, that I had to get Nest to help me eat mine so it wouldn't go to waste - it was too yummy a snack to end up in the bin. Next visit, I look forward to trying a caramel pecan cinnabon.

Stuffed to the brim with cinnabons, we then discovered that we were in time to see the next showing of Terminator 2 : 3D, so that's where we headed to next. We received a pair of 3D glasses each on entrance, and were ushered into a seatless cinema foyer type area, where we waited for what seemed like around half an hour for the show to begin. We were joined by a few more stragglers before the doors were finally closed and the show began.

Up on this balcony in the area we were standing, a representative for Cyberdine Systems (the company responsible for Judgement Day according to Sarah Connor's beliefs in the movie) appeared and gave a presentation on what a great company Cyberdine Systems was, and how all its great work can help the human race advance and live more comfortable lives in the future. Things couldn't have been going more well for the presenter, so you can imagine how upset she was when her presentation was interrupted on the same frequency by Sarah and John Connor, and the Terminator (portrayed by the actual actors from the movie - Arnold, Linda and Eddie.) They told us what a bad company Cyberdine was, and told us all to get out quickly, as they had set a bomb to destroy the place. This was when alarms went off and emergency lights started flashing. Doors opened up ahead, and we all hurried through into a large theatre, where we took a seat and popped on our 3D glasses to watch the up-rising unfold further.

Nest and I gravitate more towards the rides than the shows when in themeparks, but we both thought the Terminator show was absolutely brilliant - definitely an attraction for people to put on their 'Not to be missed' lists for future visits to Universal Studios. It was a combination of real life actors running around the front of the cinema, 3D movie footage filmed especially for the show starring Arnie, Linda and Eddie (and scary morphing terminators with pointy moving parts that made me take my glasses off a couple of times), in-house pyrotechnics, and a lot of smoke machines, which completely engulfed the cinema towards the end. All very exciting stuff! I was most impressed with how the actors in the cinema worked in with what their namesakes were doing on screen. Eg. When the John character in the theatre was about to run across some pipes on screen, the leap in media was so seamless, that it had me craning forward at times, trying to get a glimpse of the in-theatre characters' faces, knowing at the same time that they couldn't possibly be the on-screen actors in person for obvious reasons.

As a teenage turned adult fan of the Terminator movies, I thoroughly enjoyed the show, but found myself wishing I could've experienced it as a teenager during the height of my fanaticism - I would've appreciated it all so much more (though I must admit I found my teenage excitement for the movie returning when I saw the footage filmed especially for the show, which I had never known about before this.)

We exited the theatre down a ramp which led into the suitably themed giftstore. The amount of Terminator merchandise inside was overwhelming, and we left without buying anything, despite being big fans. As we were walking out into the fresh air, I wondered what the response of my teenage self would've been in response to all that merchandise - I had a pretty good inkling.

Next door to the giftstore, was the Cyber Grill, where Nest and I elected to stop for lunch. Nest had a chicken burger with fries for his meal, and I had a cheeseburger with mushrooms and onions, accompanied by fries and a Sprite. We ate our lunch in the outside eating area overlooking the Coke Soak attraction and nearby mountains.

I've turned into a big chicken in my old age, so the decision to walk through Universal's House of Horrors after lunch, was a confusing one, to say the least. I could describe the experience in one word - "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!", but when have I ever done anything half-heartedly?

Like with Nest and his Lucy Tribute experience, the House of Horrors was my most STRESSFUL Universal Studios experience. I found myself constantly on edge, and I didn't let go of the back of Nest's sweater once - give me Disney's enjoyable Haunted Mansion any day!

It took us a good ten minutes or so to walk through the House of Horrors - I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest at each turn! It was very dark throughout the house, with monsters jumping out from behind us along the way - I was especially caught out while walking through the graveyard - I thought I had cleared it without incidence and therefore let my guard down. Further down the track, we discovered a bottleneck of timid trekkers at the entrance to a long hall with body bags hanging from the ceiling. The girl at the front of bottleneck said that everyone was worried that one of the body bags was going to move due to a monster hiding inside. I was just SO proud of my baby brother when he took the lead after this without a moment's hesitation, and led everyone safely through the hanging body bags section without incident! (After that, everyone was on their own again!)

The end of our walk through the House of Horrors was a bit of an anti-climax, but that was absolutely fine with me in this instance, as my heart had jumped out of my chest enough times already that day. With screams of terror from other visitors reaching us from other parts of the house, we began to walk through the last section of the House with great trepidation ... until we saw a monster down the very end of the section, come back from scaring some visitors, and re-position himself for us. Despite giving the monster as wide a berth as possible, he still jumped out at us. For the first time in that House, I didn't jump out of my skin! Nest remained as cool as a cucumber the entire walk through, and tried convincing me to go through again, but I declined the invitation, so we decided it was time to experience the world famous Studio Tour. We got on without much of a wait, which was fantastic. In the queuing area, were huge posters of famous movie stars, with all their work listed. Nest and I were in the line with the Robert De Niro poster. Our Tour Guide was Brian, and he turned out to be the best guide we had all day because of the anecdotes he told us in addition to his script. We were informed that Angelina Jolie and Adam Sandler were on set, and to keep an eye out for them.

As we started off in the tram, I noticed we were very high up in the park, as you could see over some Studios roadways on the right, and a bit further on down the road, we had a great view over the jungle waterway section of Jurassic Park. Also, lining the introductory road we were going down, were framed posters of some of the Studio's most famous movies, and the year in which they were released. When Brian wasn't talking, there was a filmed commentary hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, running. I was really happy to find out that some of my favourite TV shows such as The Incredible Hulk, Colombo, The Rockford Files, The Office (US version), and Murder She Wrote, were filmed at Universal Studios Hollywood.

It was great being in amongst the gigantic soundstages, knowing the kind of fantastic work that goes on inside them on some of the most successful TV shows and movies known around the world. It was also exciting to see a parking lot full of big trailers that the stars use, and a street lined with writers' bungalows, including the one that Alfred Hitchcock used.

Other highlights of the Studio Tour, in no particular order, were:

Wisteria Lane: I wasn't excited about that fact that it was Wisteria Lane, as I don't watch Desperate Housewives, I was excited because Brian told us that the set was used for one of my favourite movies when I was a teenager, The 'Burbs, starring Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, and Corey Feldman. It's weird how I didn't recognise the set as this until told, and then the memories and recognition fell into place. Due to the popularity of Desperate Housewives, there was a Security Guard stationed at each end of Wisteria Lane - probably to deter any desperate souvenir hunters who may have escaped from the tram. Though I do remember Brian saying that during the Writers' Strike when segments of the show were still being filmed, there were bona fide protesters to be contended with.

The Great Outdoors: I was surprised to see the big lodge from the funny John Candy movie, The Great Outdoors, in tip top condition in the middle of a huge green field, after all these years. I haven't watched this movie for years (which is my excuse for not recognising it), and only just recognised it when Brian pointed it out (in the movie, the lodge is surrounded by a lot of trees, where-as when we saw it on the tour, only a sprinkling of trees were nearby.)

War of the Worlds: This set was HUGE ... well it would have to be, with an annihilated Boeing 747 in it (one of the last things you want to see when you have to travel in one to get back home.) The set was really realistic, and it was amazing to be in the middle of it and be able to picture the scene from the movie at the same time. The tram stopped here for a couple of minutes while we took photos (but we weren't allowed to get out.)

Whoville: This set was fantastic, and even though I've only seen The Grinch Who Stole Christmas once, I was so excited to be driving past the set and seeing it with my own eyes - it was all so cute! I was surprised to see how small it was though. The buildings were made out of polystyrene, which became obvious when you saw them from behind (but you wouldn't have guessed it from the front.) I wouldn't have thought that polystyrene was a durable set building material.

The Bates Motel & Mansion from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho: This was one set I was super excited in seeing, so you can imagine my disappointed when we seemed to drive by it so quickly. I found it vaguely amusing how Whoville was right next to the foreboding Motel - it just seemed so wrong!

Which brings me to the best Brian anecdote of the day: One day as a Tour was approaching the Psycho mansion, they saw a figure on the steps, cloaked in a white sheet. As the tram drew nearer, the cloaked figure shot off the steps and tore towards the leading tram, brandishing a knife. Everyone on board was genuinely traumatised by the incident, especially when the figure jumped aboard, but that feeling immediately dissipated when the figure revealed their true identity - Jim Carrey! How exciting for everyone (after the initial shock, of course!)! It was during the year The Grinch was being filmed, and Jim was amusing himself during a break in filming. I thought it was great how not even the Tour Guide knew what was going on at the time, so it was a surprise for everyone.

Maybe the above is why tours now drive by the Psycho set so quickly.

Jaws: After almost twenty years, I finally found myself in the little seaside town of Amity Island! I was so relieved that I was still so excited to be there as I would've been as if I was still that little girl waiting to see it all those years ago. There was the little row of shops against the waterfront, and the nearby pier, where we stopped. Looking over the water, we suddenly became aware of a diver splashing about. As everyone knows, movement attracts sharks, and the diver found himself in trouble in no time. The white splashes turned red, and the screaming diver silently disappeared. Even though the attacker remained underwater that whole time, everyone just knew it had to be Jaws. Our attention was soon jolted from that thought when the pier we were parked next to, exploded into flames - it was so hot! Once the fire had settled down a bit, Jaws came careening up the side of our tram, spraying us with water in the process. It was fantastic how we were so close to the action. I definitely wasn't disappointed - the twenty odd year wait was well worth it!

As we were leaving Amity Island, Brian mentioned how the set doubles for Cabot Cove in Murder She Wrote. We were almost out of sight by then, but I managed one more quick backwards glance, and couldn't believe how more familiar it suddenly became - what I was seeing, was the set used in the opening credits to Murder She Wrote (and obviously the show itself), where Jessica's riding through the town on her bicycle and waving, which always makes my brothers laugh.

One more thing I remembered as we drove out of Cabot Cove/Amity Island, was hearing Steven Spielberg talking on the TV monitors, how they had a lot of trouble with the shark model they first used in Jaws, as it kept on sinking on them.

Scorpion King/Pirates of the Caribbean: This set was big, though it just contained sterile building facades. It was still interesting to see, which turned to excitement when you thought of all the hot Hollywood actors who had set foot there - The Rock, Johnny Depp, and Orlando Bloom.

Interactive parts of the tour, were:

An earthquake in the San Francisco Underground: The underground set was so realistic looking - absolutely amazing! And even though I've fortunately never experienced an earthquake before, the way we were thrashed about in the tram, drowned by water gushing in from the right, and scorched by fire on the left caused by the ceiling collapsing on a nearby train, I'd say that was pretty near realistic too!

Meeting King Kong: Driving past a prop storage lot, which had the Lyons Estate gates out the front from the Back To The Future movies, we soon came to the miniature set of Skull Island from Peter Jackson's King Kong movie. Nest absolutely loved this set, and thought it hilarious how a duck made himself at home going for a swim, therefore ruining the scale (ie. the duck was almost as big as the ship!)

Then we drove into a darkened soundstage, which became a night time Downtown neighbourhood scene in a state of disarray (blocks of flats with fire escapes, TVs visible by us spectators looking in (where a newsreader informed us that King Kong was rampaging through the city), and a crashed helicopter nearby.) We drove onto a bridge, which is where we found King Kong, shaking the bridge and roaring. He was built to a massive scale, so it was easy to imagine how petrified you'd be if he were real, especially being face-to-face with him like we were.

The Mummy: We're big fans of The Mummy movies - we absolutely love them! With this interactive experience, we drove into this near claustrophobic cave, which when the cave exit and entrances shut, we found ourselves in the pitch black darkness. To our right, some display rooms came to light for a few seconds, but not long enough for me to take everything in, especially as things were beginning to happen in quick succession. The only display room I can remember, is one full of glowing Egyptian artefacts. I think another room was full of televisions with tour co-host Whoopi shouting something about the flesh eating bugs swarming, and then the lights went out and you could hear the bugs scuttling about. Even though I knew it was all pretend, it was still pretty unnerving, as the bugs sounded so close, and I didn't know if things were going to rush out and brush against us or not. A traumatic experience for a person who's afraid of bugs and spiders ... especially spiders! Lastly, the cave walls took on a glowing appearance, and starting spinning around, faster and faster. It's totally amazing the effect optical illusions have on people - I seriously felt as if I was going to fall out of the side of the tram!

Special Effects Show: After driving past a long line of well-known cars from famous movies (Nest and I were hoping that the A-Team's van was going to be in this line-up, but unfortunately it wasn't. Perhaps it's in Universal Studios Orlando?), and props from The Fast & The Furious : Tokyo Drift, we came to a small set where we stopped to watch a demonstration involving cars. As the demonstration unfolded, I found myself strongly wishing that Kib was with us, as he would've absolutely loved it. I so hope that it's still running when he comes with us next time. What the demonstration involved, was seeing how bullet effects and explosions were made, and how cars lift off the ground as a result of big explosions. All very interesting stuff!

Film crew: We also got to interact with the cast and crew of an unknown* movie as we drove slowly by. They gave the people on the left side of the tram high fives and big smiles. (As luck would have it, Nest and I were sitting on the right side of the tram.) None-the-less, this interaction put us all in very high spirits. (The second time Nest and I took the tour, just a little boy came pelting out from the set to wave to us, which I thought was cute!)

*(We were told what the movie was called, but neither Nest or myself can remember what it was, as we hadn't heard of it before (or since.) I think it was called something like Aran?)

The Studio Tour goes for approximately 45 minutes, but to me, it seemed to take no time at all. It was so super enjoyable, that I wished it could've gone on and on and on. It was fantastic being in the place where some of my favourite movies were made, which in turn, involved a lot of nostalgic memories for me, about what was going on in my life at the time of the movies' release dates. Ahhhhhh, those were the good ole days ... and there's a lot more to come! I was so happy and excited when Nest said to me as we were disembarking the tram, that we should go on the last Studio Tour of the evening, and I immediately agreed. I thoroughly recommend this tour to anyone visiting California. Even if you don't have much time, it's seriously worth the admission to Universal Studios alone!

Nest wants to be a wildlife photographer when he finished college at the end of 2008, and expressed interest at going to see Universal's Animal Actors show, not only to see the animals, but to also practice his animal photography skills. He took a lot of great photos, but my favourite had to be the one he took of the monkey handler and his charge. I think it's a really beautiful photograph, which captures how happy the handler is with his cheeky little charge.

The show in itself was entertaining. While we were waiting for it to begin, facts about animals, as well as animals in relation to training, were flashing up on the screen on stage. Because cats are such independent creatures, I learnt that they're the most difficult animal to train and work with.

The show featured dogs quite heavily. At first, the dogs only seemed interested in the treats in their handlers' pockets, which I thought was funny, but in the end, they performed quite well, picking up cans and putting them in the bin, as well as running an obstacle track.

Nest's favourite parts included the monkey MC at the beginning and conclusion of the show, and the pig that trotted from one end of the stage to the other. My fave parts included the cat that shot across the stage (a blink and you'll miss moment), and the racoon (because we don't have them in Australia - I've never seen a real one before until now.) We also enjoyed seeing how they get those huge blue and yellow tropical parrots to fly in the one place with the use of a medium-sized industrial fan, and how they can change the scenery the parrot flies by, with the use of blue screen technology.

When the show had finished, we walked to the Ben and Jerry stand for a hot fudge sundae each - delicious! On the way, we bumped into SpongeBob, so Nest took my photo with him. Nest didn't want the favour returned, as he was too embarrassed, despite being a big fan.

During a recommended bathroom stop before heading back to catch the last Studio Tour of the evening, I discovered these foot vibrators outside while waiting for Nest to re-emerge. I sat down, put my feet in the indicated spots, popped a quarter in, and the fun began! I simply couldn't believe how strong the vibrating sensation was up through my feet, especially as the footplate wasn't even moving. I didn't realise until then, just how tired my feet had been, and the foot vibrator made them feel like new again! After getting off and walking again, it was if I was still on the machine. It was an unusual sensation. I made Nest get on the machine when he emerged from the bathroom, so he could see what I was raving on about. All themeparks should have foot vibrators to relieve guests' tired and aching feet, as they really do work! (We eventually located one in Disney's Main Street, but it's not as strong as Universal's.)

Once through all the distractions, we eagerly made our way back down the escalators to catch the last Studio Tour of the evening. There was a guy at the foot of the escalators who's job it was to tell jokes to the people on the escalators, and when he saw Nest and I coming down them eating our hot fudge sundaes, he started singing about it. Nest was highly embarrassed by this, and shot off into the queuing area the moment he got off the escalator!

This time round, our Tour Guide was Chris. Nest and I were so happy and excited to be back on the Tour despite only having been on it an hour or so before. I did my best to pay 200% attention to catch the things I had missed before, especially as I knew it would be my last ride for the next couple of years. I also took a video of the special effects car demonstration to show Kib when we got back home. It was great touring the backlots at night, as it made it seem like a different experience, and we got to see things in another light. It was especially exciting seeing Jaws and driving past the Psycho set at night. It would've been especially frightening if someone had run out of the hotel or mansion at this hour!

Night had well and truly set in once our second tour had concluded - it was so sad having to get off the tram after all that enjoyment. As long as I don't have to wait another twenty odd years to come again! Instead of going straight down the nearby skyway to have last goes on Jurassic Park and Revenge of the Mummy, we re-traced our steps so we could drop into the Kwik-E-Mart from The Simpsons. (The Simpson’s ride was still under construction at that stage.) Inside the Kwik-E-Mart, were so many great things to buy! Nest and I spent ages in there, and eventually came away with a nice selection of gifts for ourselves as well as family members back home:

· T-Shirts:My fave is a light blue t-shirt with Ralph's face all over it. He has the same expression in each picture, but underneath each one, a different emotion is listed - hilarious (only if you're familiar with the show, which I'm sure you all are.);

· A hungry Homer talking fridge magnet: I wish I had bought more of these for everyone, as they're so funny! Kib was so interested in it, that he took it completely apart to see how it worked, before putting it back together!;

· Simpson-themed Christmas tree decorations; and, best of all,

· A giant donut almost as big as my head!: A dream come true! I absolutely love donuts! They were my undoing from a trim size 10 to my current size 16. Still, I can't resist them! What's life if you can't have the odd treat occasionally?!

On the way back to take the Skyway to the Lower Lot, we noticed how sparkly and glowing the Christmas tree looked that night, so Nest took the opportunity to take a few shots, before continuing on our way. Seeing as we had accumulated shopping bags from the Kwik-E-Mart, we went to the lockers next to the Mummy ride, and put all our bags in there so they wouldn't impede our riding enjoyment on Jurassic Park, which we decided to ride on first. We made a pact not to hang on this time when going over the waterfall, and for once, I actually succeeded - we had a fantastic ride!

Racing over to the Mummy ride, we fitted in two successive rides, before then racing back over to Jurassic Park for just one more ride, only to find it had already closed. I suppose the ride operators have to go home sometime. We tried our luck with the Mummy ride, but it had since closed too, so we collected our bags from the lockers, and consoled ourselves with a bit of retail therapy in Jurassic Outfitters (t-shirts, keyrings and postcards.) When we came out of Jurassic Outfitters, we discovered with horror that we had forgotten about Tomb Treasures, the Mummy themed gift shop. Unfortunately, it had already closed, so we had no choice but leave it till our next visit.

Heading back up the Skyway after such a big day, I couldn't help but think how glad I was that the escalators were working, as I would've handled the stairs quite badly. The view of LA at night from the skyway, was absolutely beautiful. When we got to the top, Nest stopped to take a few foties. We would've liked more time to appreciate the view, but were aware that the park was closing, so hurried on our way after about three shots. We collected our professional photos from Hollywood Photoland near the entrance to the Studios, and then said our goodbyes. We had about ten minutes till our bus departed, so we headed straight over to the meeting place - I didn't want to be forking out $95.50 for a taxi fare back to Disneyland!

Once at the meeting place (the Universal globe), we turned back around for a view of the Studios while we reminisced about the fantastic day we had had, when we happened to lay eyes on Universal CityWalk. It's pretty hard to miss, all brightly lit up in all the colours of the rainbow. We were having so much fun in the park, that going to CityWalk had totally slipped our minds, as difficult as that may be to believe. We had really wanted to go there and look around all the shops and have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, but time just hadn't allowed it. As it was, we didn't experience all the park had to offer, and there was nothing we did that day that I would've been happy with cutting just so we could co to CityWalk, so another trip here is definitely on the cards. We took a photo of the bright lights of CityWalk from where we were standing, and then hopped on the bus home.

Juan drove us all back to our individual hotels, which was much appreciated. I fell asleep big time, despite trying desperately to keep awake to see all the bright lights of the city. Before nodding off, I remember Juan pointing out the six lines of bumper to bumper traffic, which looked like strings of diamonds and rubies, and saying something about the Disney company spending one billion dollars on new rides!

Nest and I were dropped off at our hotel around 7.30pm - early enough to order from the full room service menu (all the nights before, we ordered late and had to stick to the limited night menu ... though I'm not complaining - there were still delicious options to choose from.) But not before we got stuck into the giant-sized donut first! We ate dinner while watching Seinfeld, followed by an episode of Criminal Intent. Nest's dinner consisted of chicken breast strips with [very stinky] BBQ sauce, a personal pizza with toppings of cheese, red onion, pineapple and roma tomato, followed by a slice of New York cheesecake. I opted for a New York steak sandwich with shoestring onions and fries, followed by an apple cobbler. We went to sleep quite stuffed from dinner, and superbly contented with that day's activities.

[DyanKJ130]

So to hear about your mom, Alison, but glad that she is recovering nicely. Sounds like you had a wonderful day at Universal with Nest! Can't wait to hear more

[chezp]

I'm sorry to hear about your mum, but thank goodness she is recovering well.

Sounds like you guys had an awesome day at Universal.

[Colexis Mom]

Pixies for your Mom, I'm glad she's doing well!!

What a great trip you had Thanks so much for sharing your adventures with us

[Hugmonster]

For your family. Glad to see you are back to updating.

[PrincessSharon]

So sorry to hear about your Mum, but glad to hear she's recovering. Universal Studios sounds like a lot of fun. I've been there, but it was many years ago when all there was to do was the tram tour (but that took hours). I like the idea that it's a functioning studio, so I think a return visit is in the cards for me.

[Big Sister]

A big collective thank you to all you people who sent me your best wishes for Mum's recovery and the well-being of our family - we were all very touched.

And (my English teacher told me never to start a sentence with 'And') I'm glad you're all still enjoying my trip report. I'll do my best to make the posts a bit more frequent than they have been.

[Big Sister]

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

So sorry to hear about your Mum, but glad to hear she's recovering. Universal Studios sounds like a lot of fun. I've been there, but it was many years ago when all there was to do was the tram tour (but that took hours). I like the idea that it's a functioning studio, so I think a return visit is in the cards for me.

Goodness - I was meant to reply to this ages ago! I'm so sorry re my lack of communication once again - I need time off work to catch up with my writing!

I was shattered when I heard about the destructive fire at Universal Studios Hollywood at the beginning of June . As I was still half asleep when I first heard the news, I took it that the entire park was destroyed. Thankfully that wasn't the case after all, as I discovered once fully awake (though it's still sad how part of the Backlot was lost.) I'm also relieved to hear that their main film archives weren't damaged (as well as the rides! )

So my brothers and I have now resumed looking to a visit there sometime in the not too distant future. We hope to do the VIP Tour to get a bigger overview of the entire place .