Universal

Morning finds me suffering from a hangover. Hardly surprising when you consider what was consumed last night. I stay in the hotel with Anita and kids, as I couldn't face a cooked meal. We all (the Starlings) have breakfast in the room. We have decided that today we are going to use one of our two days at Universal. Off we climb into the A-wagon and away we go. Universal Studios is further out than the Disney Parks, so we drive for about half an hour.

Once again we are spoilt for choice as to what to see first. Russell takes charge and we are off to see Terminator 3D which is the most expensive piece of cinematic film ever produced, It cost over $60 million for approximately 15 minutes of film. Still I bet it has easily paid for itself. Once again this is not merely a film that you watch, you really experience it. Intermingling with the film itself is live action and even robots around you. Unfortunately Andrew gets a bit scared over this and I have to remove his glasses for him to get away from the 3D effects. Still I enjoyed what I had seen.

Andrew riding on ET's bike

We then move on to probably one of my favourite rides in Universal - ET. It is so well done, it really is breathtaking. The pre-show which we are now used to takes away the feeling of having queued for a long time, well twenty minutes or so. You first view a piece of film, narrated by Spielberg himself, telling you of the story of this ride. You then pass through an area where an operator takes your names, and gives you your passport. You are then taken through a magical forest, where you have to get on your bicycle for the ride of a lifetime, helping ET to save his world. As the ride finishes, ET wishes you goodbye, by name. Absolutely Brilliant! In the shop that follows the ride (There is always a shop after a ride) you can have your photograph taken with ET. Both of the kids look brilliant in their photos.

Next on our adventure is the Back to the Future ride. This is another simulator ride, but one with a very good story. You actually climb into a Delaurean Car and are then shook about in a mad chase through time. The kids loved this one, although they didn't want to sit in the front. I'm fairly thankful that the hangover from the previous day has worn off, and that I didn't eat a big breakfast!

Lauren riding on ET's bike

As we continue around the park we find Jaws. This time it is a boat ride and we go around the lake to viewing where the shark attached Amity all those years ago. Suddenly you are faced with a boat that has been destroyed, and then our boat is attacked. Fortunately our tour guide has a gun, and we manage to fight off the shark. Hooray we say. One thing I must add is the effects are very good, especially the fire which is extremely hot!

Another exceptional ride is the Earthquake ride. It starts as a movie "show" where you get to see some of the effects used in the film. In the second part of the show there is some audience participation, and Lauren volunteers to be filmed in a sequence. The idea is that she is being struck by an enormous earthquake, as she is shopping. As the camera rolls, there she is on the big screen (where she will probably end up one day I think) and she begins to shake. The rest of the participants are really falling around, and Lauren, bless her little socks, is doing a shimmy. She was the star in my eyes. We then go on a train ride, which is also hit by the earthquake. A super ride.

Next on the agenda is what was to become one of the favourite rides, - Kongfrontation, a meeting with King Kong. This is another really good ride, which the kids are ecstatic about. When we finish the ride there is a booth where you can have your photograph taken with King Kong. This is probably the only photograph taken during the holiday, which contains the entire "mob".

Everyone in the grip of Kongmania

We continue on and find the Hanna-Barbera ride, which is similar to Back to the Future, in that you are in a simulator, but you must help Yogi and Boo-Boo rescue Elroy Jetson from Dastardly & Muttley. This ride is probably one of the cutest rides. However on the third time I don't take much notice of the ride just the other people. It is actually quite scary watching the other simulators jumping around. It doesn't feel too violent, but the movement when you watch the others is quite striking. We then go on to what would probably have been Anita's favourite place had not other factors come together at this time, The Hitchcock experience. You view how the great man made some of his films. You view a piece of the birds shot in 3-d where the birds appear to come out of the screen at you. You can also see how some of the special effects are made, using blue screen technology. We did not, however, get a good view of these items as we were upstairs when things were happening downstairs and vice versa. I think we enjoyed it, but Lauren desperately wanted to take part in the presentation, but unfortunately didn't.

There is the Twister experience, which shows how some of the stunts were performed form the film of the same name. You also get to view a twister in action, with flying cow! Please refer to the film if required. Another spectacular experience. At Animal Actors you get to view some of the animal stars of the screen, like Benjy etc. They are very funny, especially the chimp. There is another presentation showing how the trainers work with the animals. The child that is being used as the "patsy" steals the whole show. When the plastic crocodile appears in the water he takes the stool that he is sitting on and tries to throw it at the croc, which was unexpected by the audience and the showman and woman.

Another notable event seen was the Blues Brothers, a show with two very good lookalikes of Belushi and Ackroyd. Those boys sure can sing. We are also taken through another presentation showing how they make Xena and Hercules the television series. There is a Wild West stunt show, which we didn't get time to see, today.

As we are all starting to feel hungry we decide to eat at Universal. We choose the restaurant at Lombards Landing. The meal is superb; we all enjoy it thoroughly.

There is a final event to view. There is a stunt show that takes place on the lake. We find what we think is a good spot, and the stunts begin. Unfortunately our choice of viewing area was very, very wrong. We only got to see a very small amount of the show. Still we decide that when we return for our second day we will definitely find a better spot to view this show.

Off we go back to the hotel, where the kids fall asleep quite quickly, and we watch some television and have a quiet drink in the room.