Welcome to Cindy and David's 2014 Adventures
Universal Studios
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After an uneventful train trip (hurrah!) back to LA we stayed downtown (Mexican quarter - great food!)
We arranged a trip to Universal Studios and this vehicle turned up at the hotel to take us there!!! Looks fun but was amazingly uncomfortable and downright dangerous!!  We hung on for dear life as another mad driver whizzed us around the streets of LA at high speed.  No seat belts and wooden seats.  Ha!
This photo has absolutely nothing to do with anything.
However, it is right at the entrance and we felt it had to be taken - Universal Studios etc.
I know that my family will not believe that I headed for the Simpsons show!
However, I read in the brochure it was a show to see so we did and it was completely over the top and an amazing ride (virtual).  I admit most of the time I had my eyes closed.  Far too realistic for me.  Now the Shrek show was different. Enormous fun!  The best was the actual back lot studio tour.  Very well done and extremely interesting.  However, I am sure I will not view future movies in quite the same way anymore!
The site is situated on a hill overlooking amazing views (this shows all the studios below).
All these "streets" are continually used in tv shows and movies. They are just "fronts" and are changed around slightly as needed.
There is a car museum of cars used throughout the ages, esp the ones used by heroes of films as in Fast and Furious and we couldn't resist taking a shot of the Flintstones vehicles!
Above left taken just after a demonstration of how they can turn on flooding waters gushing down the street!
All false.

Below is the shark used in many films.  Tiny water ponds turn into vast seas!
This motel was used as the Psycho set plus just about every other motel scene required in any movie.
Left is the house used in Psycho and "Norman" who glared at us as we passed proceeded to chase us down the road waving a huge knife!
The Studio bought this plane wreck some years ago and it has been used extensively!  Every now and again, the train would stop and we would be shown relevant parts of films that used the props we were looking at.
The best part of the tour was a long tunnel where we stopped and were attacked violently by dinosaurs and the great ape in King Kong.  They climbed all over the train and rocked it and thumped it and fought each other making a huge racket.  It was brilliant effects at their best.  Not sure some of the tiny kids on board were so thrilled!
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