ghost007jas Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Hello and welcome to my Universal Studios Hollywood trip report! *Massive fanfare plays* Alright.. so.. I'm not one to type out huge paragraphs at the beginning of my reports that no on reads anyway, so I'll let the pictures, and their captions do the talking! After a forty minute drive, we're here! Ethan in front of the Universal Studios sign before we go get our tickets from will call. After picking up our tickets/gate a's we got in line to purchase a meal pass. A really good value, even if you only eat twice. I liked this picture with the way the sun was shining on the building. As you can see, everyone made a mad dash to the Simpsons Ride. The House of Horrors, which we didn't check out. Once was enough for me, it's good for nostalgic purposes but that's about it. I really enjoy the themed streets they have set up throughout the park. It makes up for the lack of "themed areas" at the park. Everyones favorite great white shark just hanging around. /overused joke. More from the studio tour later. We're still making our way to The Simpsons Ride. It was sad hearing the obnoxious voice of Bart Simpson blaring out of speakers inside the chicken "restaurant". Oh well, that's the circl of life kids. The Kwik-E-Mart, which was nicely themed. Although they didn't have any squishees for purchase, which was a little disappointing. And now for the main attraction! I wrote up a review for Coasterdom which can be found here. And here are some pictures of the all new Simpsons Ride. After our ride we decided to head down to the lower lot to get some rides on The Mummy and Jurassic Park. It's a really nice view from the many escalators. Lets go ride E.T! Oh.. right.. Couldn't you take my Ford instead! If you put your hand on top of this book some loud roaring sound effects play, it's pretty cool. I love the new locker system for The Revenge of the Mummy. It's much easier then having to carry around a paper with a code on it. After a couple of rides on the Mummy and a ride on Jurassic Park we went over to the Jurassic Cafe to grab a bite to eat since we hadn't eaten breakfast. And, well, it was free! Green is Universal. I'm curious as to how they sort the recyclables from the trash.. Hmm. After another spin on Jurassic Park we went to dry off on BackDraft. As can be seen here, a large cable ruined the chance of getting a decent picture of the gate. The large show building for Jurassic Park the ride. A really remarkable view of the sound stages. Universal Studios never hesitates to shamelessly whore themselves, their tv shows or movies. Now on to some studio tour pictures, I actually only took a few as I was in a middle seat which doesn't offer a great spot to take pictures. mmm DeLorean.. mm.. And here are some pictures of the Jurassic Park cars. Here are some pictures of the War of the Worlds set. I'll post my Kong video at the end of the report. So if that's the only reason you're reading this.. scroll down! After the tour we decided to check out the second of three dinner places available to us via our all you can eat pass. Walking through the London "sets" to get to the Terminator 2 "show". Another set. I had forgotten how long this preshow/show was. It was a good thirty minutes before we were out of there even with our Gate A's. It's a really good experience, although it definitely varies on how good the actors are. Me trying to be artsy. Now to the Shrek 4D show. I really like these shows, with the moving chairs and the like. Yay for the three not so little pigs. We then went back down to the Mummy where I got this picture. Didn't turn out as well as I thought it would. No flash + Dark Room = this picture! Now for the last ride of the day, and our third ride on The Simpsons Ride! That's a 90 minute wait.. yay for gate a's! I really did enjoy the experience this ride has to offer. It's a really neat ride that you should definitely go check out! And the last picture of the day. Thanks for reading! And here's the Kong video I promised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almightyfire Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 What type of ride is the Simpsons? Is it a coaster or a virtual ride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost007jas Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 ^ It's a motion simulator. Much like Star Tours, or.. some other motion simulator... So a virtual ride I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skramp Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 That video makes me sad, like watching a race car driver wreck really bad then learning later that they died in that wreck. Watching it and knowing that may be one of the last times anyone saw Kong. I remember seeing it back in 94 and being blown away by the sheer size of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 Nice pics. The King Kong video has such an "aww " factor now. Must have been weird to be at the park, and the next day here there was a big fire there. That meal pass seems pretty cool, I never knew they offered that there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost007jas Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 ^ Yeah, it's a really odd feeling. I almost feel honored to have been one of the last people to see the attraction, but at the same time it's very sad to know I'll never get to see him again. I have a lot of memories from when I was very little being awestruck by his size alone.. Thanks for the comments guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesdillaman Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 ^ You didn't set it, did you? j/k, don't incriminate yourself, the Constitution protects you!! Good to hear more praise for the simpsons ride. I was worried it wouldn't be executed well. -James Dillaman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 ^ Nah, he didn't set it...Kelly King (the news reporter in the helicopter) finally had enough of getting smacked down by Kong for the 8 millionth time. It was her revenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verticalzero Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 I've only seen Kong once and that was back in late 86, I was blown away by the sheer size of him.. Detail'd description of the ride: http://www.thestudiotour.com/ush/studiotour/kingkong.shtml Kong will not be re-born as he will be replaced with another attraction. Universal Studios Hollywood officials said the “King Kong” attraction, a key element of the movie and television theme park’s back lot tram tour destroyed by Sunday’s fire, won’t be rebuilt and will be replaced with an all-new, yet-to-be-determined attraction. The studio tour resumed abbreviated operations on Monday, with tram-bound visitors whisked up to the cusp of the burn area and encouraged to snap photographs of the devastated New York back lot streets, which Universal officials said would be rebuilt. Visitors reported that some elements of the normal tour, such as the “Earthquake — The Big One” attraction and the “Parting of the Red Sea” effect at Park Lake, were not included. Fire trucks and emergency personnel blocked parts of the studio back lot Monday as crews continued their investigation of the blaze. Built in 1986, the $6.5-million “King Kong” attraction included a 30-foot-tall, 7-ton animatronic gorilla inside a 26,000-square-foot soundstage built to look like a city block, http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/universal-studios-ho-1977/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
handy-andy Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 Great photos and video, you are lucky you managed to get on the studio tour/king kong becasue if you had waited another day the thing wouldn't have been there, that must feel weird. Anyways great trip report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost007jas Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 ^^ It's interesting, the three times I have been on the studio tour since I've lived down here (About four years) I have never seen the earthquake or parting of the red sea or the earthquake set. I was of the mind that they didn't do them anymore. As said before the Simpsons Ride really is a full package. Great queue, decent ride, great "themed area" around it. It all works very well. And no, I didn't set the fire, hah.. Again, thanks for the comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shepp Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 I was there the day before you, and saw poor Kong on his next-to-last day of life. Sniff. "It wasn't the airplanes, it was hot asphalt that killed the beast." This being my first visit to USH, though having been to USF a number of times, I was looking forward to the tram tour, but it was a big disappointment, Kong or no. Jaws, for instance, was a pale shadow of its Florida version, and since I don't watch Desperate Housewives, it was hard to get excited about riding a big tram down a suburban street, fake or not. The Earthquake segment was down, the parting of the waters a joke. For those interested in an actual studio tour, I'd highly recommend both the Warner's and Paramount tours. They're small (8 people per group at Paramount!) and you actually get off the trams and walk around the hospital from ER (WB) or the soundstage for Everybody Hates Chris (Paramount). Plus I got to see beautiful-but-evil Kimber from nip/tuck filming just six feet away. The Simpsons, though, is totally great, by far the funniest ride I've ever been on (with the possible exception of Psyclone). Much better (and smoother) motion simulation than BTTF. Amazing detail everywhere. As Homer says, let's ride it again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haiderodes Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 ^^ It's interesting, the three times I have been on the studio tour since I've lived down here (About four years) I have never seen the earthquake or parting of the red see or the earthquake set. I was of the mind that they didn't do them anymore. As said before the Simpsons Ride really is a full package. Great queue, decent ride, great "themed area" around it. It all works very well. And no, I didn't set the fire, hah.. Again, thanks for the comments. Ya, Earthquake is still around...its actually newer than King Kong. The parting of the red sea still takes place, but in all of my visits in the past 3 years they havent referred to it as such...they just use it as a mechanism to get the tram at water level so you can see a miniature from the King Kong movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost007jas Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 I used the wrong version of sea.. *sigh*. Well that makes sense now, I had completely forgotten about that segment of the tour. And I will agree with others that have commented on how lame the tour is. It's really a disappointment to be. The acting is atrocious, as are the scripts, although the tour itself isn't too bad. And please, get Whoopi (or however she spells her name) off those videos, she's awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobafett Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Great pics and report. I went on the tram tour back in 2000 and I enjoyed it very much. It was nice to get a break from walking around all day and sit down and take in the sites. I got my picture taken with Professor Klump of The Nutty Professor when I was out there. Not as big as USF, but still a nice park.Poor Kong , may he rest in peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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