The vacation began on 25th December, 2012 - when I landed in San Francisco Airport. The flight was long and even had some issues with the baggage but arrived in SF around 11:30 in the morning. My husband was already there and together we left for Los Angeles right away.
A cloudy day it was and we decided to take the 'Route 1' - known for a picturesque drive along the ocean. This drive has also featured in the book 'Drives of a lifetime: 500 of the world's most spectacular trips'; it sure lived up to the expectation and even beyond that. It begins in the city of Monterey and passes through Carmel Highlands, old coast road and the beautiful bixby bridge; along two state parks and the incredible pacific coastline.
The ride is truly breathtaking - with twisting and winding roads, deep blue ocean views and an unbelievable scenery. It took us approximately six hours to reach Los Angeles via the route 1 with a few stops on the way.
View along 'Route - 1'
Next, we went to the 'Terminator 4D show' which was really good, there were real actors who were playing the parts of the robot and the mother-son duo along with the 3D movie. From there, we got in the long line for 'Shrek 4D', which was again pretty awesome, the seats were literally making us jump out. And the Shrek story as usual ended on a happy note with Fiona & kids.
After that, we headed to the market area, and played some games and yeah! we won some cute stuff toys. And then, we went for the famous 'studio tour', for which we had to get in a line again and wait for almost 30 minutes before getting on the tram car. The tour began with an introduction by Jimmy Fallon, and we were driven through the sets where so many famous movies and shows have been shot.
The sets looked so real - the streets of Texas & New York, Wysteria Lane of desperate housewives, plans crash site where they have used a real aircraft to create it, dancing cars and many others used in the movies like batman, the set of the movie 'Tokyo Drift', a flooded village, the inflatable shark used for the movie 'jaws' and much more. And the 'King Kong 360 3D' ride - which was out of this world, it felt like we are on a train which is caught in a fight between king kong and T. Rex - one hell of a ride. It was fabulous to see all this and this was definitely the best part of our visit to the studios.
And then it was time for food, we had lunch and went to the souvenir shop as well. The next was the Jurrasic Park ride, and surprisingly, there was no line for it. Another fun ride, especially the part when it falls on a steep slope and the dinosaur head pops out. Next was the awaited 'Transformers: The Ride 3D', and the wait time was almost an hour before we finally got in. This was the most thrilling ride of all, it was like falling off a building and then being saved by the transformer. The following one was the 'Revenge of the Mummy ride', which was different as it was pitch dark and it actually stops suddenly in front of a wall and goes back in reverse at a fast speed.
We wanted to see one more show before leaving and that was the 'Water World' based on the movie by the same name. That was fantastic, with great actors and water stunts, it was the prefect ending to our visit. After watching that, we clicked some pictures, had dinner and left for citywalk. We spent some time there, the place was bustling with people and had some really good options for shopping. Around 9:30, we left for hotel and called it a day.
Our tickets to Universal Studios
The ride is truly breathtaking - with twisting and winding roads, deep blue ocean views and an unbelievable scenery. It took us approximately six hours to reach Los Angeles via the route 1 with a few stops on the way.
The drive was amazing but tiring and we checked into the hotel around 8:30 after a dinner stop in between. The next day, we decided to visit the Universal Studios & left from hotel around 11. We were there in half an hour, parked our car and got in the long line for tickets. The studios were completely decorated in the 'Grinchmas' theme - with red all around. We got in and went straight to the 'House of Horrors' where we had quite a great time especially because of the people in front of us in the line - they were all shouting and making scary sounds. We actually came out laughing out of a horror house.
Next, we went to the 'Terminator 4D show' which was really good, there were real actors who were playing the parts of the robot and the mother-son duo along with the 3D movie. From there, we got in the long line for 'Shrek 4D', which was again pretty awesome, the seats were literally making us jump out. And the Shrek story as usual ended on a happy note with Fiona & kids.
After that, we headed to the market area, and played some games and yeah! we won some cute stuff toys. And then, we went for the famous 'studio tour', for which we had to get in a line again and wait for almost 30 minutes before getting on the tram car. The tour began with an introduction by Jimmy Fallon, and we were driven through the sets where so many famous movies and shows have been shot.
The sets looked so real - the streets of Texas & New York, Wysteria Lane of desperate housewives, plans crash site where they have used a real aircraft to create it, dancing cars and many others used in the movies like batman, the set of the movie 'Tokyo Drift', a flooded village, the inflatable shark used for the movie 'jaws' and much more. And the 'King Kong 360 3D' ride - which was out of this world, it felt like we are on a train which is caught in a fight between king kong and T. Rex - one hell of a ride. It was fabulous to see all this and this was definitely the best part of our visit to the studios.
And then it was time for food, we had lunch and went to the souvenir shop as well. The next was the Jurrasic Park ride, and surprisingly, there was no line for it. Another fun ride, especially the part when it falls on a steep slope and the dinosaur head pops out. Next was the awaited 'Transformers: The Ride 3D', and the wait time was almost an hour before we finally got in. This was the most thrilling ride of all, it was like falling off a building and then being saved by the transformer. The following one was the 'Revenge of the Mummy ride', which was different as it was pitch dark and it actually stops suddenly in front of a wall and goes back in reverse at a fast speed.
We wanted to see one more show before leaving and that was the 'Water World' based on the movie by the same name. That was fantastic, with great actors and water stunts, it was the prefect ending to our visit. After watching that, we clicked some pictures, had dinner and left for citywalk. We spent some time there, the place was bustling with people and had some really good options for shopping. Around 9:30, we left for hotel and called it a day.
