Our visit to Universal Studios...

Today went a little differently to what was planned yesterday. Bruce's cousin rang at about 9 and cancelled her meeting up with us. We had a plan B in case this happened so this plan was put into operation. We went to Universal Studios on public transport; Metro Rapid to Vermont, then by train from Vermont to Universal City. Then to the shuttle bus stop near the car park, then up the hill to the Studios. The queue to buy tickets was huge but DH saw the DIY ticket sales and we quickly got in that queue because it was very short.



The bus stop for the shuttle to take us up the huge hill



View from the Studios

The first think we did was get into another queue...to do the studio tour. That was great! The highlights for me were, Skull Island (3D and shaking of the 'tour tram' by the 'dinosaur), Bates' Hotel and Norman chasing us with a knife, The flash flood in the Mexican Village, the houses in Wisteria Lane (Desperate Housewives which I've never watched) and the buildings which were all just fronts.

Facades

This used to be Alfred Hitchcock's Bungalow/dressing room

Some more bungalows, plus Mr Potato Head

The setting for' Jaws'

A plane crash set

Scooters which were ridden by some Can Can dancers; I've posted this one for you Claud!!!

Wisteria Drive

The tram that took us on the studio tour

The queues were very long everywhere but we still saw quite a bit. We loved the 'Blues brothers R&B revue so much we saw it twice! The Special Effects show was great, as was the Animal Actors and the show at Water World! At lunch time we went to an Italian cafe and had some calorie laden food...I chose 1 slice of vegetarian pizza...the slice was huge...I ate the vegies off the top and the crust...gave the rest to DH.

The Starway which is a series of escalators going down a large hill was pretty impressive. Unfortunately, Jurasic Park at the bottom of the Starway was out of action. We went and had a coffee and brownie at a 'French cafe' and a gendarme spoke to us when DH said 'Bon Jour' to him. The gendarme came out with a string of French words...but it was just random words and even I, who doesn't speak French, knew that! he was fake!!! lol

We decided to come home about 6.30 so it was back to the shuttle, train and then bus. And that's when things went a little 'pear shaped' (crappy). On the first bus, after we'd been on the bus for about 10 minutes the bus stopped. The driver got out and came in the back door...she looked just like Queen Latifa (big and tall!!!)...apparently a gentleman behind us was engaging in a spot of 'solo sex'...ah hem...then on the second bus, as we got on the driver was spraying airfreshner...hello???? We kept an eye on our map as we knew exactly where we wanted to get off the bus...pulled the cord in plenty of time...the bus didn't stop...he was talking to some scantily clad woman up the front! We went 5 blocks from our stop. We faced a long walk back...but then our luck changed. We found a nice restaurant called Izzy's Deli. Far too much food but beautifully grilled (broiled) chicken and side salad for me! Once again excellent service and yes we remembered to tip! And of course, after a nice meal the couple of kilometre walk 'home' wasn't so bad. lol
DH's cousin had left a message on our hotel room phone saying that she isn't going to come up here tomorrow either. So we will be heading off on our own...hopefully 'that man' won't be on any of the buses we catch tomorrow!