Monday, December 29, 2003

Universal Studios!

Up at 9:00. I'm over my jet lag, slept awesome.

Me and four other guys headed for Universal Studios shortly after 10:00, took the subway, only one stop away. $49 to get in, but they had a special offer, buy a one day pass and get a year free, so I have a pass that's good for a year, in case I ever go back next year sometime, I'll get in for free.

We went on these rides/shows (in this order!):
Shrek 4D - a 3D show (you wear the special glasses), but they added a fourth dimension. The chairs moved and shook at appropriate spots, you got sprayed with water when one of the characters sneezed, for example, cold shots of air at your neck when appropriate, and things "grabbing your feet" at appropriate moments in the show. It was excellent!

Terminator 2:3D - WOW!!! The show seats 700 people. Excellent. Once again, a 3D show (with the glasses), they also had live actors interacting with the stage (and the screen, going into and out of the screen!), the seats moved, pyrotechnics galore, appropriate smells (i.e. gunpowder during gun shooting scenes), and the explosion at the end, when Arnie and the kid blew up Skynet was spectacular. The explosion was on screen, but a huge cloud of "smoke" overcame the audience as well. WOW!!!!! There was a little kid next to me, he was terrified, he had to grab on to his mom half way through the show.

The Mummy Returns - A "haunted house" walkthrough with live actors scaring the bejeezes out of you.

Jurassic Park - Very cool water ride, with lots of animated dinosaurs and a cool drop at the end. Got a little bit wet.

Backdraft - Experience a chemical warehouse fire, Hollywood-style. Based on the movie. This was excellent.

Waterworld - Perhaps the most spectacular, it had a HUGE set with live actors flying around on jetskis, incredible stunts, incredible animatronics, lots of water flying into the audience (we were stuck in the "wet zone" seats...at least we weren't in the "soak zone" seats), one of the best shows at Universal Studios. The best part was when this biplane came crashing through the building and slammed into the water, soaking half the audience. INCREDIBLE!

Back to the Future - First person "thrill ride", the "car" you're sitting in jolts and jumps around as you chase Biff through time. Most excellent!

They left to go back to the hostel at this point, I stayed and did:
Animal Planet Live - Trained animals come on stage and perform various feats. The had dogs, cats, rats, monkeys, birds, and an orangutan. Very fun!

Spiderman Rocks - 20-minute rock opera based on the movie. Spiderman flying around on srage on his sticky string. Good stuff.

The park was very busy, most rides had a 30-45 minute wait in the queue.

I got back to the hostel about 8:45.

Made a couple of sandwiches, read for a while, listened to music, paid for three more nights, then went to bed.

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