Day 31 of the trip saw us visit another of Los Angeles famous attractions, Universal Studios. Universal contains elements of a theme park alongside a studio tour with similarities to that of the Warner Bros, VIP Tour (see Day Two for Warner Bros pictures). It was another real highlight of the trip, especially the studio element...
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| The entrance area of the studios |
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| The park contained London and Paris themed areas. The London area was impressive and included items such as the iconic London red bus |
Studio Tour
The Universal Studio tour is not so much about seeing active TV & movie sets but rather about old sets & effects that have been preserved for theme park tourists. None-the-less it is very good and we saw a period film, Paul Revere, being filmed...
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| The studio where one of the biggest entertainment shows on US TV, The Voice, if filmed. |
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| This was the office of legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock. As tribute to him his famous outline can be seen to the right of the door (in the grey circle) |
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| One of the city sets dressed as New York for About a Boy, an American sitcom |
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| The rear of the city set showing the buildings are not real |
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| Jurassic Park scenery which moves during the tour and splashes water - very impressive! |
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| Picture 1 of 3 of a flash flood set. This very set was used in the films Big Fat Liar and Fletch Lives |
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| Picture 2 of 3, showing the initial stages of the flood |
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| Picture 3 of 3, showing the flood in full flow |
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| A San Francisco Subway station, as used in the TV series Bones. |
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| The very same set with special effects (that happen live in front of you) of an earthquake having taken place, resulting in a truck falling through the ceiling, fallen power cables and a flood... |
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| A lake themed set that includes a Jaws mock-up, here Jaws attacks a suba-diver |
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| The finale a of the Jaws mock-up includes some fire effects... |
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| A full view of the lake set seen in the above Jaws mock-up. This set was also used in the opening credits of Murder She Wrote (see below) |
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| A still from the opening titles of Murder She Wrote based in the same set as the above picture |
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| One of the most impressive sets on the lot is the plane crash set from War of the Worlds. The set is intact on the site and features as part of the tour (picture 1 of 3). |
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| Plane crash set (picture 2 of 3) |
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| Plane crash set (picture 3 of 3) |
Waterworld Show
One of the main attractions on site was the live action show based on the 1995 film Waterworld...
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| The set used for the Waterworld show, which featured fire, explosions, boats and lots of water being splashed about... |
Rides
The rides at Universal are not traditional theme park roller coasters in the large but rather special effects rides. The effects are particularly special on these rides and in their way they certainly hold their own against roller coasters and other 'traditional' theme park rides...
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| One of the more traditional rides was the Jurassic Park water coaster - it was very wet which was appreciated on such a warm day! |
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| Scenery in the ride which is amazingly well done... |
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| Another impressive dinosaur created specially for the ride |
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| The Shrek 4D ride is one of the older rides but is very funny, much like the movies (well the first two!) |
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| The waiting area for the Shrek ride. The level of detail is quite exceptional and differentiates this park from the traditional theme parks |
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| The Transformers ride was a recent addition to the park |
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| A human dressed up as a Transformer - very convincing costume! |
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| The queue area of the Transformers ride contains interesting scenery to keep waiting riders amused |
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| More from the queue area of the Transformers ride |
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| The Despicable Me ride which is good fun |
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| A 'family tree' from the queue area of Despicable Me which shows the amazing level of detail and attention that goes into these rides |
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| The Simpsons ride is one of the classics of the theme park. Universal contains a whole Simpsons theme world - very impressive again with a great attention to detail |
Harry Potter Construction
Universal Hollywood is currently constructing a Harry Potter zone which will house the Harry Potter rides that are currently only found at Universal Orlando. Construction is underway and is expected to be complete by 2016...
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| Construction on what looks like the Hogsmead village |
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| Construction on what one would assume to be the main Harry Potter ride |
...And Finally
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| The Universal park gave some fabulous views of the Los Angeles mountains and town |
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