Top Places to See for a Thrilling Tour of Universal Studios, Hollywood (Part I)

     In my tour of the US, I was prepared to experience anything and everything. This included a visit to the Universal Studios, a highly recommended movie fantasy encounter. At Universal Studios, we experienced the ultimate theme park adventure through the different action-packed attractions: rides and shows, real working movie studios, shops, restaurants and cinemas.

L-R: Lani, adventurous-Pinay and Lori at the City Walk.

     CityWalk. From the Curios George Parking area, we set foot at CityWalk (above). This is found in front of Universal Studios, so you couldn’t miss this when you visit Universal. CityWalk is a long three-block walk that will lure you to its more than 30 restaurants, numerous nightclubs, IMAX theatres and shops. If you’re not ready to enter Universal Studios, yet, you can hang-out at CityWalk to enjoy what it has to offer.

adventurous-Pinay  at the entrance of Universal Studios.

     Universal Studios. The entrance to Universal Studios features this earth model made of steel, with the words ‘Universal Studios’ and a water fountain surrounding it (above). This is the usual location of the entertainment news program ‘Extra’, hosted by Mario Lopez and Maria Menounos.

      

          Studio Tour. Our first agenda was the Studio Tour. The queue was long so we made sure to do this first to fully enjoy this attraction. In the Studio Tour, visitors ride a tram and go behind-the-scenes of their 13 city blocks (4 acres) of back lot working studio (below). These studio sets were constructed in consultation with Steven Spielberg himself (http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/attractions/studio-tour/). Each tram comes with a tour guide that may speak in Spanish or Chinese, aside from English.

The tram going around the back lot working studio.

           Brownstones. The first part of the Studio Tour was a look at buildings, like their sound studios. Another is this authentic-looking New York Street. These brownstones (Below, Upper L and R) are among the permanent sets in their back lot area. These are not actual houses, but only facades of exteriors made of foam and fiberglass.  Some of the films shot in these sets were ‘Bruce Almighty’ (2003), starring Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston (Below- lower L) and ‘Superhero’ (2008), starring Drake Bell (Below- lower R).

Brownstones in New York Streets. 

          Wisteria Lane. Another studio set that we passed by was Wisteria Lane, a fictional street used in a US Television series, ‘Desperate Housewives’ (Below: Upper photos, L and R). If you’re a fan, you could feel the atmosphere of being a resident of Wisteria Lane. The set for Wisteria Lane is actually named ‘Colonial Street’. Map below shows the houses owned by the different characters of Desperate Housewives.

Wisteria Lane used in the set of 'Desperate Housewives'.

          Fast and Furious. Another feature of the Studio Tour is the The Fast & Furious. These are race cars that suddenly dance to hip-hop music (below). “Basically, two tricked-up cars are bolted to giant robotic arms, and the arms simply pick up the cars and shake and spin them in front of the tram audience. The huge robotic arms are clearly visible (with no attempts to disguise them), so we end up looking more at the arms than the "dancing" cars (http://www.seeing-stars.com/StudioTours/UniversalStudiosHollywood.shtml)

Dancing cars in the 'Fast and Furious' set.

          Bates Motel. If you find yourself being attacked by this man in brown jacket (below), don’t be afraid. He is Norman Bates, the fictional character in the Psycho movie, who is supposed to be operating Bates Motel and killing his ‘unwanted’ guests. The tram went by him fast enough for us to get far away from him. But of course, the passengers gave out the expected gasps and screams of terror!

'Norman Bates' running after guests.

          The Grinch. Found behind the set of Bates Motel is the set of a fantasy comedy film, The Grinch, starring Jim Carrey. Again, the materials of the set are made of Styrofoam, thus, they last long (below).

Movie set of the 'Grinch'.

          War of the Worlds. The tram slowed down long enough for visitors to see the destruction wrecked by an actual sized-747 jet airliner that crashed into a neighborhood. The set is for the film, War of the Worlds (2005), starring Tom Cruise. This set brought enough fear from passengers who did a lot of flying themselves.  

Wreckage in 'War of the Worlds'.

          Jaws. As we moved along, we came across Amity Harbor. What looked like a peaceful tour of the harbor suddenly became ‘chilling’ as our tram was attacked by this huge shark (below, upper R). The scene was straight out of the movie ‘Jaws’ that became a summer blockbuster in 1975. The combination of fire and water coupled with sound and music reminded the passengers that life at sea could be as petrifying as this.

Sharks attacking guests in the movie set of 'Jaws'.

           There were other exciting attractions during our Studio Tour. But we were not able to take pictures of some of them. Two of these were unforgettable.

           

          Earthquake. Earthquake is an 8.3 earthquake inside a soundstage, designed to make it look like a San Francisco subway station. In the subway, we felt the tram shake, we saw a burning gasoline truck collapse through the roof, fire and sparks flew, the subway train became derailed, and a flood of water came gushing toward us. This studio tour optimized the use of water and fire and effectively combined music and sound effects to elicit terror from us, tourists.

Destruction in the set of 'Earthquake'.

          Parting of the Red Sea. The tram ran into a body of water around Skull Mountain Island (below). Suddenly, the waves parted, and the tram travelled between them, and guests got a view of the mini island.

On the set of 'Parting of the Red Sea'.

     This 45-minute Studio Tour was an exhilarating experience: at once terrifying but at the same time thrilling. We became nostalgic with the different movie and TV sets, terrified of getting killed by Norman Bates; scared-to-death when attacked by the shark in the Jaws set; frightened by earthquakes, fire, flood, and an airplane crash. These more than made for an invigorating start of this Universal Studio experience. We were not satiated, so we headed on to more breathtaking real-life-fantasies at Universal Studios. Read Part 2 of my Universal Studios Hollywood story in another article.