Okay it is time to get back to my incredible journey that took place last summer. I have just received the pictures from the day that will allow me to finish this day and continue with the rest of the vacation.
This was one of the best days and one that I had been looking forward to since we planned this trip. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD. I was up very early because I was so excited. I wanted to make sure that I picked up Cheryl and Grace early enough that I could get to the park just as it opened. You know, growing up with a father that has an amazing concept of time is a wonderful thing, and I have since inherited his innate ability to judge time. I have the whole park laid out in my head. I got there and they were all set to go. I was so very happy because I knew that Grace knew how special this day was for me. We piled in the car and headed to the park. We got there just fine…all of those times I had been there before were coming back to me. We stopped to pay for parking and since this was a special occasion I paid for the parking that would put us right next to the door. It was great even though the girls offered a little protest. We got out and got to the gate just as they opened them for the day…what a treat. I know the routine, and have done it several times. Some times I did it on my own when I lived out here.
We headed first to the tram ride. If you do this first there should be very few people on it and it takes about an hour to take the ride. Not only that, but when we get done, people that are just getting there themselves are heading to the tram while we are now finished and ready to ride other things and see different things. The tram was just like always. 
I sat in the middle between Grace on my right and Cheryl on my left. I liked sitting in the middle because I knew what was coming up and could watch the expressions of each as they experienced each thing. For example the flood…that comes down from the left and gets the people on that side of the tram very wet. I remember videoing it and towards the end Cheryl stands up and almost jumps over me to get out of the way of the water. The other water section comes from the right. That was during the Earthquake adventure. The tram sits in the middle of this subway type scene and as the earthquake begins things rumble and then the ceiling falls in while a subway comes through. Towards the end it stops shaking and from the stairway to the right comes a rush of water. That was where Grace slid right into me pushing me into Cheryl. This was a lot of fun. I enjoyed watching them freak out. Several things were new on the tram including a huge cave set that was being used to film the new National Treasure.
They also have the set from The Grinch that stole Christmas. 
There is only one part of the tram ride that even I can’t stand and that is towards the end they drive through a tunnel. It is round all the way through and once inside it starts to roll, but the tram stays level. It is totally an optical illusion, but one I can’t do. I get dizzy very easy, and so I had to put my head in my lap and just wait till we were through it. We got off and Cheryl desperately needed to use the restroom, but that was not on the schedule…we had to get to the bottom of the hill and do several things. The first of which was the Backdraft experience. This is from the movie of the same name obviously. They show you the making of the movie, and then let you stand behind this rail as the set fire to this building. Towards the end the scaffolding you are standing on drops about two inches, scares everybody their first time. I loved it. After this we hurried next door to a place where they teach you how movies are made…this used to be Back To The Future, Hitchcock Presents, and Harry and the Henderson. To my serious displeasure this was changed since the last time I was there to The Mummy, Robotronics and Foley artist work. It was still rather fun, even though I didn’t get picked for anything. Usually I get picked for at least on thing or maybe even two. I have been used to rock the car and also did the voice over for Harry and The Henderson’s. But this time I just got to sit and watch. I felt bad because I wanted to impress Grace. Oh well maybe in some other way next time. After going from theater to theater for these three shows we left in hopes of get to the Jurassic Park ride early enough that there wouldn’t be much of a line. This is yet another water ride that sometimes gets packed as the day goes on and so I really wanted to get there, ride it and then allow Cheryl to take care of the potty business. She was a real trooper. 
We got there and there was virtually no line and so we just jumped in a raft and took off on our adventure. I tried to record the whole thing, but water kept dripping onto the new camera, and so I did the best I could. We got off the ride and checked out our pictures. They were SOOOO funny. Grace and Cheryl were hugging the protective rail and trying to avoid the water…from the front row…come on… hehehe. I had to buy the pictures to make sure that I would never forget this.
I sat in the middle between Grace on my right and Cheryl on my left. I liked sitting in the middle because I knew what was coming up and could watch the expressions of each as they experienced each thing. For example the flood…that comes down from the left and gets the people on that side of the tram very wet. I remember videoing it and towards the end Cheryl stands up and almost jumps over me to get out of the way of the water. The other water section comes from the right. That was during the Earthquake adventure. The tram sits in the middle of this subway type scene and as the earthquake begins things rumble and then the ceiling falls in while a subway comes through. Towards the end it stops shaking and from the stairway to the right comes a rush of water. That was where Grace slid right into me pushing me into Cheryl. This was a lot of fun. I enjoyed watching them freak out. Several things were new on the tram including a huge cave set that was being used to film the new National Treasure. They also have the set from The Grinch that stole Christmas. There is only one part of the tram ride that even I can’t stand and that is towards the end they drive through a tunnel. It is round all the way through and once inside it starts to roll, but the tram stays level. It is totally an optical illusion, but one I can’t do. I get dizzy very easy, and so I had to put my head in my lap and just wait till we were through it. We got off and Cheryl desperately needed to use the restroom, but that was not on the schedule…we had to get to the bottom of the hill and do several things. The first of which was the Backdraft experience. This is from the movie of the same name obviously. They show you the making of the movie, and then let you stand behind this rail as the set fire to this building. Towards the end the scaffolding you are standing on drops about two inches, scares everybody their first time. I loved it. After this we hurried next door to a place where they teach you how movies are made…this used to be Back To The Future, Hitchcock Presents, and Harry and the Henderson. To my serious displeasure this was changed since the last time I was there to The Mummy, Robotronics and Foley artist work. It was still rather fun, even though I didn’t get picked for anything. Usually I get picked for at least on thing or maybe even two. I have been used to rock the car and also did the voice over for Harry and The Henderson’s. But this time I just got to sit and watch. I felt bad because I wanted to impress Grace. Oh well maybe in some other way next time. After going from theater to theater for these three shows we left in hopes of get to the Jurassic Park ride early enough that there wouldn’t be much of a line. This is yet another water ride that sometimes gets packed as the day goes on and so I really wanted to get there, ride it and then allow Cheryl to take care of the potty business. She was a real trooper. We got there and there was virtually no line and so we just jumped in a raft and took off on our adventure. I tried to record the whole thing, but water kept dripping onto the new camera, and so I did the best I could. We got off the ride and checked out our pictures. They were SOOOO funny. Grace and Cheryl were hugging the protective rail and trying to avoid the water…from the front row…come on… hehehe. I had to buy the pictures to make sure that I would never forget this.After this ride I thought it best to get some food and relax for a while. Just around the corner is a little café that I had always enjoyed eating at when I had the time, most of the time when I would go to Universal, I would go alone. I would just do the things I enjoyed and then leave, never stopping for food. But every now and then I would enjoy eating at this lace because it has a little something for everybody. We stood in line to get our food; it was like riding another ride, or stopping for another show. The line was long but we had fun in line just talking back and forth. Cheryl and Grace made great company. This was probably the most fun that I had at Universal, and I have been there a lot.
After lunch we headed out and before heading back up the hill I wanted them to go on the E.T. Adventure ride. This is where you would first walk through a forest and then get into a bike built for 6 and then glide over the city and through the forest. It really was a nice ride. I knew Grace would enjoy it, however, they replaced the ride with “The Mummy Adventure”. This was TOTALLY different. Grace and Cheryl read the board about the ride and Cheryl wanted to go, Grace didn’t want to go and so I went on the ride alone with Cheryl. It was good we talked a lot and just had some fun. I felt bad that Grace was sitting out on the rocks, but I know that she also had fun. 
The ride was seriously intense. It started out by shooting us through this tunnel and then straight up. It reminded me of Space Mountain at Disneyland. But then it would come to a point where it would stop on a dime and then take the same course but going backwards. We were screaming and loving it. We got off and then bought this picture from the ride… 
It was a lot of fun. We met back up with Grace and then headed back up the hill to finish the day. Usually most shows and rides are packed at this point, however, at the top of the hill is Back To The Future The Ride. This is a huge movie screen where you get to sit in a car and it shakes along with the movie. There was no line though and we were lucky enough to just walk onto this ride. I remember when it opened you would wait three hours to go on this adventure.
The ride was seriously intense. It started out by shooting us through this tunnel and then straight up. It reminded me of Space Mountain at Disneyland. But then it would come to a point where it would stop on a dime and then take the same course but going backwards. We were screaming and loving it. We got off and then bought this picture from the ride… It was a lot of fun. We met back up with Grace and then headed back up the hill to finish the day. Usually most shows and rides are packed at this point, however, at the top of the hill is Back To The Future The Ride. This is a huge movie screen where you get to sit in a car and it shakes along with the movie. There was no line though and we were lucky enough to just walk onto this ride. I remember when it opened you would wait three hours to go on this adventure. After Back To The Future we walked back towards the main road and saw the animal show and the Fear Factor show, but no one wanted to do either of these. They also used to have a Star Trek adventure where people would get to participate in the show. This was replaced with Shrek 3-D. It was pretty cool it was a movie that was in 3-D and they would spray water on you every once in a while along with the movie. After getting out of this we did a little bit of shopping and walking around while we waited for the Water World Stunt Show. I have the perfect place picked out because I like the end. I’ll explain more about this later, but we had to get there pretty early in line so that we could get the spot. Cheryl and Grace were real troopers. Not too many could keep up with me. It was very hot, and the shade in the waiting area was not the greatest. You can see in the picture that even shading themselves from the sun didn’t help a whole lot…the sun really drained a lot out of us.
Once the gate opened I made a b-line towards my spot. It is of course in the front row and of course in the soak zone. Before the show started we watched as some of the actors took cans of pressurized water and sprayed people as the walked to find their seats…this created a little enjoyment and people got a little more energy that had been lost due to the sun. The show started and it was a lot of fun. I won’t describe the whole show, but the reason that I wanted to sit in this place was for one part when they shoot down the plane. It is shot over the back wall and directly at where we are sitting spraying water everywhere. The girls were screaming, but in a good way. They had a blast. And I think they understood afterwards why I wanted to sit here.After that we went shopping a bit more, took our pictures in a few places on the way out of the park.
After leaving the park we went shopping in a little place called City Walk…it is associated with Universal. It is a big novelty strip mall. They have all kinds of fun things to see and do. We went all the way to the back because that is where I knew that the Hard Rock was. Grace has been to several around the world and so I thought this would be a great place to have some dinner. We enjoyed a lovely meal and then headed back to the car stopping at two more stores. One of them was a retro store that had all kinds of toys and games from the 70’s. Grace picked up some bubbles that when you blow them you can actually catch them in your hands without popping them. I bought a few candies that I remembered liking…bottle caps and pop rocks. I also almost bought a football game that I used to envy from my friends. In today’s standards it would be stupid. You tried to get this red light from one end of the field to the other with out running into another light. High tech huh? But I remember just wanting to play that thing all the time. After leaving that place we came across a little shop that was doing water massages. I have had a couple and really enjoyed them. I knew that Grace’s upper back and right side of her neck is always requiring attention and so I thought this would be a great way to end the day. I think we got the ten minute massage and what they do is have you lay down on this bed face down. You put these head phones on that take away all noise, then they lower the lid that puts a plastic cover on you so that your clothes don’t get wet, and then they shoot the water down on you. You get to control the speed, pressure where you want it to concentrate on your back. It’s incredible. I had them done at a mall in Kansas City, however, I also know that these places have a tendency to go out of business rather quickly, so while we were here we needed to take advantage of them.
Grace got out of the machine just wiped out. It really takes it out of you, especially after the day that we had. After the massage, it was time to leave. So we got into the shiny red car and then tootled on home. From what I remembered I just dropped Grace and Cheryl off at her brothers’ house and then I went back to my hotel. I do remember once getting in to my room I just passed out. It was a GREAT day.
