My Dad, Brother and I caught an Uber to Universal Studios early last Friday morning (that’s 5 days ago) and we were lucky as my Dad got Front of Row passes that allowed us to get to the front of lines for rides and shows. Mum did not come as she went for lunch and also shopping with her friend Hatty (which I think she preferred to do as she was scared of some rides in Disneyland)
The first ride that we went on was Transformers, which was a 4D simulator. The story line was like the movie (I think but I haven’t seen the movie so wouldn’t know).
It was really fun because it looked like you were being sucked into a porthole- it was really cool.
My rating is 8.5 out of 10
The next ride we went on was Revenge of the Mummy, which was a Scary but really fun roller coaster ride. It was indoors and the carriages went forward and backwards really fast which was really cool. There were skeleton hands coming out of the ceiling, which was freaky. Kyran tried to high five one, which was funny. We enjoyed it so much that we rushed straight back on again
I would rate this roller coaster 9 out of 10.
Next it was time to go on the Studio Tour. It was not as boring as you may think, although at the start there was a lot of talking and not much action. During this we got to experience King Kong and Fast and Furious 3D simulators, which were amazing. Then, there was Jaws! Which is where our bus went through water. Kyran was sitting on the side where Jaws jumped up and did a jump scare. We also got to see movie-sets from the Grinch, Back to the Future (Clock tower) and even a serial killer guy who was loading a body into the back of a car and then slowly came towards us with a knife- it was scary (Dad says it was from a movie called Psycho)
I would rate this tour 8.75 out of 10.
After the tour we rushed to the Simpsons ride. This again was another simulator. The story line was that we were at ‘Crusty the Clowns’ theme park and Sideshow Bob had taken over it and was trying to kill the Simpsons. It was really cool as it felt like we were on the ride with the Simpsons. At one point Bob had this massive wrecking ball and it smashed the roller coaster and we went flying (but not really). It was super funny.
I rate this ride 8.75 out of 10.
We then made it just in time for The Special Effects Show. The hosts showed how movies used things to create visual and sound effects. A guy was set on fire for 17 seconds, which was a bit scary. They also had stunt guys working through a fight scene plus a lot of interacting with the audience.
I rated this show 7.5 out of 10.
Animal Actors was the next show we went to watch. It was a quick 20 minutes that highlighted the use of animals in movies and they bought out dogs, cats, roosters, guinea pigs, birds, pigs, mice,. All of them produced some awesome tricks for us.
I rated this show 7 3/4 out of 10
We then went to a Castle where we watched a short Shrek 4D film in a mini cinema. Shrek had to rescue Fiona from an evil ghost and we were taken on the journey again with 3D Glasses on.
I rated this experience 7.5 out of 10
The final Show we saw was WATERWORLD, and wow it was worth the wait. 1000 people were seated inside a real life movie set with water, bridges, towers and real actors. There were fights, jet skis, boats, guns and even a plane that crash-landed and splashed water on everyone. The baddies killed a lot of goodies but the evil leader was finally defeated.
I rate this 9 out 10.
By now it was 4pm and time to get to the final simulator which was “Despicable Me- Minion Mayhem” It was again 3D. It was funny, enjoyable and even little kids will love it. Kyran and I rushed back in there for 2nd time as it was so good.
I rate this one 9 out of 10.
What a full day of fun. I didn’t really have a favourite as they were all very good and would definitely recommend Universal Studios for the entire family – even for the Mums in the world that may enjoy shopping and tea more.