My Universal Studios (LA) experience

I had heard a lot about the Universal Studios so I was pretty much excited. I was supposed to be travelling alone but then it is not so much fun to be all by myself. I would need someone to encourage, discuss, take pictures and enjoy with me. So I literally dragged my friend who was a classmate at college to accompany me on the trip to Universal Studios. Though grudgingly at first (I was pulling him out of his family time and that too to a place he would have visited umpteen number of times), he very chivalrously offered to give me a conducted tour of the place.

We reached Universal Studios around 9:30 am (a good half hour later than we originally planned) and then upgraded our tickets to the Universal express. (This is similar to the Rs. 300 ticket that we Indians normally take when we are visiting Lord Venkateswara at Tirupati….) They handed us a map of the Studios, but there is an app that one can download, which will give good information about the attractions – rides and shows along with the timings and wait times, if any. One good thing about the US is that there is free WiFi in every public area, so one can stay connected and instantly share pictures and videos too.

The first attraction for every age group is definitely the Harry Porter theme. So we got to see the Hogwarts express, the castle, some magic and the Harry Porter ride on the Forbidden journey. It is better to watch a Harry Porter movie or read a book prior to visiting, so that one can enjoy the ride better, relating to the characters. I was a little apprehensive about the rides, imagining a 360 degree turn or a giant wheel kind of experience, but this one is a sort of tram ride that takes you through a certain route, going up and down, with virtual reality scenes all around you. So you essentially are following Harry Porter in his adventures.

The studio tour is a ride for an hour on a tram. They take you around the studios showing you different shooting spots, experiences of various kinds, earthquake, fire, floods, car crashes, rain, skylines, bungalows used in films and television shows, skylines, etc. The best part is that the tour guide explains these and also shows the same scenes in the movies, so you can actually understand how it looks on screen.

There are rides with Simpsons, Despicable me, Transformers, the Mummy Returns, Kung Fu Panda, et al. I have not watched any of these movies, so I could not relate to the characters, but the rides are fun. For most of these rides, you are sitting at a single location, with virtual reality shows. So you would move front, back, up and down, tilt in all directions, but at the same location surrounded by the characters from that movie. The Mummy ride is a little scary as it is very fast, but then it is also exhilarating and enjoyable. The Jurassic Park theme was closed down as it was being redesigned.

The Special Effects show gives you a good idea of how the stunts are done, different sounds are produced to accompany the actions, how people survive a fire accident. So it is very enlightening. Another interesting show was the Animal actors. How animals are trained to perform in the movies, do tricks, act with strangers, was also very entertaining.

The best one that I liked in the Studios was the Water World show. It is simply amazing. This was like a theatre show. An action show, depicting an island with chases and fights, motorboats, firing from all directions, accidents, fire on the lake, water jets, chaining and killing, rescue scene. It was simply amazing to see the actors with so much energy, climbing ladders, chasing on motorboats, jumping, hanging off cliffs. It is one thing to watch such scenes in a movie, but seeing them performed live is an entirely different experience.

You also see various cartoon characters at different spots where you can get photographed. The food stalls are all over the studios, at every step. As soon as you enter, you see food even before you enter any ride. I think Americans are very fond of food.

All good things come to an end, and so did our trip. The Express pass ensured we did not have waiting time at any of the rides. There were long queues with wait times upto 60 minutes or 75 minutes at some of the rides, so I was glad to skip the waiting. Without the express pass, it would not have been possible to cover all the attractions in a single day. All in all, the Universal Studios is a must-visit spot for anyone visiting the United States.