Southern California - 2019 2. Universal Studios Day 1

[Libby]

Part 1 of report here

Thursday August 8th Universal Studios Hollywood day 1

After a really early night we are both wide awake by 3am. Our lost suitcase and the emails and tracking set up by BA very much on our minds.

DH checks the info on the case (we are both mildly amused that lost luggage is given a case number by BA) and is now not sure if the case is to be sent to our hotel or returned home.

To add to the confusion when I check on my emails (I don’t have a smart phone so have to make the effort to check my mail each day on my tablet) I find one from BA. The case had been assigned to me at the manual check in and I had been sent an email before I had even left LAX to explain what had happened to the case. It seems that in the pilot’s hurry not to miss our take off slot one container of cases wasn’t loaded on our plane and would be arriving on the next one. There was space to fill in the details of our hotel.

So now we have one lost case, 2 case numbers and it may or may not arrive at the hotel. What a pickle!

We Skyped DD to warn her the case may turn up at home and just to keep it if it does.

We eventually gave up trying to sleep at 5.30 am. Today’s plan is to visit Universal Studios Hollywood and there is no way a lost case will stop us from doing that.

As soon as breakfast is available we wander down to the breakfast room. On the way we stopped off at reception to warn them a suitcase might be delivered only to be told it was already there! It had arrived at 4am (while we were still fretting about what to do.) I was so happy I could have kissed the receptionist – I didn’t.

After taking the case back to our room we returned to eat breakfast. Not a huge choice of food but enough for an included breakfast. Cereals, yoghurts, 2 hot items, bread, bagels, muffins, waffle maker and fruit.

DH decided to drive to Universal Studios. $25 to park (not the most expensive parking this holiday by any means.) We were quite early and we followed the signs through one car park to the next and eventually parked at Curious George level 3.

We walked through city walk, a strange place that early in the morning, and got to bag check before the park opened.

We had bought our ticket online so had early entry included. We didn’t arrive until 8am and I thought early entry was at 7, but it was actually 8.30 (goodness knows what I had been reading.) We waited a little while at the turnstile before being let in to wait at the rope. (Like at Heathrow the scanner wouldn’t read our home printed ticket so the cast member had to type in the number manually).

While waiting at the rope I chatted to someone who was saying he visited frequently and asked his advice on what to ride first. He suggested Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and then to go down to the lower lot to ride Jurassic Park. So that’s what we did.
As soon as the rope was down the whole crowd speed walked to Harry Potter. The scenery was amazing but we decided to do the ride before taking photos. There was a 20 minute wait for the ride but it was 20 minutes of continuous walking through the amazing queue area. I didn’t know what to expect and really enjoyed the queue and the ride.

Then we took some photos before heading off to the lower lot.
Universal Hollywood is built on a hillside and it took 4 escalators to get to the lower lot. It was now after 9am and Jurassic Park was open. It felt very familiar so I assume this ride is also in Orlando, although it’s 10 years since we visited Universal there.

We managed to ride lots of rides in the morning as well as doing the backlot tour. The tour takes over an hour and incorporates events which are part of stand alone rides in Universal Orlando.

We had pizza slices for lunch then watched a couple of shows before admitting defeat. We had 2 day tickets so no point carrying on when we are so tired. There are lots of random characters wandering about which is nice. The queue lines for the rides were now very, very long so we window shopped our way back to the car.

We managed to get lost on our way back to the hotel. Just at that moment the satnav ran out of power and the power cable is in the boot. There’s no way we will get back without it so we pull onto a petrol station forecourt and sort ourselves out.

Back at the hotel we have a short rest before deciding to go for a walk to keep ourselves awake. We passed some nice looking restaurants before looking for Warner Bros Studio which we’re visiting the day after tomorrow. It takes less than 10 minutes to walk back. Again we are very tired so grab a quick meal from Chipotle.

Back at the hotel a boy of about 10years old tells us that Chipotle is the best food ever before his dad says “not always”. I know its just a quick, convenient option so I’m not expecting the best meal ever.

We spend the rest of the evening sorting out the things from our lost case and watching TV.

We manage to stay awake until 9pm.

[Libby]

*bump*