Universal Studios

This was a groovy day out, almost like visiting Disney land. There were loads of rides and activities. We also got a digitally altered poster of Van Helsing with our faces on the characters. Great fun, Universal Studios is definitely on the recommended list.

Waterworld ride:
Just in case you missed it from the title, this one gets you really wet. It's a show where they cover the audience with water by exploding things, creating waves in the direction of the audience with a jetski, and if you're really unlucky, one or more of the actors will take a dislikance to you and spray you wit their water gun. So many people were literally soaked to the bone. This is one to try at the start of the day so you can dry off in the sun. We sat next to a disabled old lady, hoping for some mercy but still got soaked.

Backdraft ride:
We made the mistake of going on the Waterworld ride when the sun was going down. We decided to go on the Backdraft ride to dry off. This seemed to work and the ride was good enough, lots of things collapsing, burning and bursting into flames.

Shrek 4d:
This has to be one of the more impressive 3d rides we have seen. The cool characters, artwork and humour of the Shrek movies.

Terminator ride:
This was another 3d glasses ride which also had a bunch of actors running around shooting and driving motorcycles. It also had three separate screens that robots ran around so that it really gave a sense of atmosphere. Thumbs up for this ride also, it was pretty good fun.

Van Helsing ride:
I really enjoyed the movie but the ride was pants. Not worth going in even if there is no queue. It's like a lame version of London Dungeon.

Visul Effects Tour:
This gave a behind the scenes look at certain films special effects. It was presented in a fun way with two hosts interacting with the audience, performing special effects wizardry on volunteers. It was a pretty good laugh.

Studio Tour:
One area had cars from films such as the Fast and the Furious, Back to the Future, Magnum PI and more.

There was one teeny water pool area where scenes from Jaws and Vanhelsing were filmed. It had this naff painted backdrop.

There was a street area that is apparently used in loads of films such as Spiderman. All of the building were made from foam like material instead of brick. They had huge prop areas that would grow if for example someone wanted a bunch of different lamp posts for their film.

We seen gigantic sets for films such as War of the Worlds and the Grinch. We also went past the street where Desperate Housewives is filmed. There were countless other buildings where TV series such as CSI were being filmed.

We seen a whole bunch of other people in costumes such as Spiderman and Shrek. The park in general had loads going on. We really tried hard to cram everything into one day. Two thumbs up for Universal.