Universal Studios

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  Hollywood, California, United States
Wednesday, January 2, 2008

We set off this morning to Universal Studios. Had a pretty good drive in there too. We were going to pop in to see the Brady's on the way but silly me went and left the address at home so have had to give that one a miss for now.

We all had a good day at Universal Studios and really didn't need to rush to see the whole park. It also wasn't as busy as some of the other places as the local kids don't seem to group there, just lots of other tourists.

We walked through a House of Horrors which was hilarious. Nicole was in stitches when some creepy figure jumped out of the dark and scared the living daylights out of Alisha. Next thing this white ghosty thing comes out and chases Nicole who was then screaming and she jumped into my arms. Josh also had a fright later on in the house and Alisha got a bit put out by the werewolf, she was sure he wanted to eat her. Have walked through a few of those ghost train type things but this would have had to have been the best. Then we went to see the Terminator 3-D which was good, they had actors there doing their bits and pieces and mixed all that in with the movie, well done.

After that we went to see the Waterworld show which was based on the Waterworld movie. Must say, the show was better than the movie. We were warned before hand that if we sat on the green seats we would get wet and the silver seats we may get a sprinkle. We sat in the back row so didn't get wet and we were able to stand too to get better views. Even the pre-show entertainment was funny. The stunt actors in the show were also real actors from other movies and series, they did mention them at the end. Rick got his pic taken with a couple and Alisha had her picture taken with one of the actors from the series Heroes (the black guy who was with the strong blonde girl and he could go through things).

We did the tram tour which took us through the backlots which was interesting. Got to go through places like Wisteria Lane and the set of War Of The Worlds, New York Street, Jaws and a few others. The special effects are really good and it's fun being part of it. Think we all enjoyed the simulated earthquake (certainly wouldn't like to be in a real one).

Kids wanted to do some rides although they don't have too many at Universal. We went on the Jurassic Park ride and came off all wet, took a while for our butts to get dry. We also did the Return of the Mummy ride which you could take it or leave it, certainly wouldn't line up for a 2nd go on that one. We had a look through the I Love Lucy tribute hall then went to the special effect stages. The Backdraft one (based on the movie Backdraft) was good and they had lots of fire effects. Also good as it helped to dry out our clothes (except for our butts). We also went in to the sound effect tour. Rick volunteered to participate so they had him being tortured and screaming as well as being a cat that was attacking the female that had also volunteered. Rick was also the guinea pig for the fake blood demonstration. Oh, at one stage while Rick was being tortured it went dark and then when the lights came on he was no longer there but there was a skeleton in his place, Josh looked worried. Josh was also pulled aside with 4 other kids to help with the sound effects so he loved that too.

We saw the Shrek 4-D movie which was just the same as it was at Movie World in Queensland so no surprised there, think the chairs though and set up was better in Qld. Had a look around some of the shops too and had some pics taken with some characters throughout the day. Disappointed though that Josh missed out a couple of times for having his picture taken with Bart Simpson.

We also met a young african/american guy today (Kafshir) who spents a little bit of time chatting to us and will be interesting to see if he keeps in touch. Kafshir has been shot and also was involved in things we only read about or hear about in the news. He is looking at getting into ministry, tell his story and help others. Nice chap, reminded us a lot of Deveron but more charismatic.

After we left Universal Studios we headed up to Burbank to and Outback Steakhouse Restuarant for tea. We decided to go to that one then head back down as the one at Anaheim is always packed. The Outback Steakhouse is all decorated in an Australian theme with boomerangs, kangaroos, aboriginal drawings, Ned Kelly masks etc on the walls. The toilets are for the Blokes and the Sheilas and all the menu items are named after something australian. They also had a seperate gluten free menu which was a bonus.

Sitting here now and it's just about midnight. We've only got a few minutes of taping left on our camera (have filled up 40GB on it's hard drive already). Just transferring everything on to the laptop and then will be able to delete the camera and start again. Heading to San Diego Sea World tomorrow so no doubt will want to have the video with us.

Oh, it's the 2nd here today but would have been the 3rd over in Australia. We did send Ben and SMS earlier today so hope that you received it. If not, we would like to with Ben a very happy 10th birthday (in double digits already) and will catch up when we get home in a couple of weeks,

USA Woolfes xxx

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