Tourin' Over California 2017 - Day 15 Universal Studios

[Birtie]

27 July

After an unsettled night's sleep due to receiving 2 random phone calls in the middle of the night, Megan woke us up asking if we had forgotten to set the alarm as it was 6.30 am. Fortunately it was only 5.30 but the hotel clock was showing an hour later! We drifted back to sleep before being awoken by my alarm going off on the phone.

We made our way to the reception area to wait for the minibus to Universal Studios. Megan had put her make up in my backpack to "finish off" putting her face on.

The minibus pulled up just after 7.00am, with another family already in.

We got dropped off just outside the entrance and the driver told us that was where he would pick us up from later.

We made our way through security quickly and into the park with our early entry tickets and joined the 10 minute standby queue for Forbidden Journey.

The film went off just as we had boarded but and we were left with nothing to look at in the dark before it quickly resumed.

We got a photo with train conductor at Hogsmeade.

We then got in line for the studio tour - the first tram of the day at 8.00 am. This was what we had been really looking forward to, as it been a good few years since the tour at US Florida closed.

We enjoyed this ride which included riding through the street sets that can be dressed to look like various cities, and past some of the other sets and props. The tram tour also included fast & furious and earthquake.

Tracey and Megan didn't put their 3D glasses on for King Kong as we had experienced this ride in Florida over the Christmas and New Year, and they didn't rate it!

We decided to do the Simpsons ride while we were in the area before moving down to the lower level. This had a 20 minute standby queue time. The park was beginning to busy up a bit now.

We made our way down to ride The Mummy. It had 20 minute standby queue. Megan and I then rode Jurassic park - Tracey had stayed off as she didn’t want to get wet. She went into the shop and got us all 1st visit badges.

We all then rode Transformers which although posted as 35 minutes wait, only ended up being 20 minutes. The crowds were beginning to build now so we decide to take in a show. We grabbed a couple of bottles of water and Megan decided that she wanted a hot dog.

We went to the special effects show, which ended up being cut short with no explanation.

We went to the French Bistro where I had an Italian turkey baguette and Tracey had roast beef and pepper baguette - disappointing.

We then decided to ride Shrek 4d, which had only opened at 11.00am. The standby queue was 35 minutes, and this ended up being spot on.

That then took us nicely round to getting in line for the Water World Show. Even though we were in line 30 minutes before the show was due to,start, the queues were very busy and the sun was getting really hot now.

We enjoyed the warm up to the show and it was funny watching all the people in the splash zone getting absolutely soaked. The show itself wasn't up to much.

We then decided to do the final show – Animal Actors. We had a 45 minute wait until the start but got in line near the front. We have done this show many times in the past, and this time wasn't any better than previous times.

As the minibus was picking us up at 5.30 and it was now 4.00 pm, we had a Starbucks stop. Tracey and I had strawberries & cream frappacino and Megan had her usual double chocolate frappacino. We just sat inside people watching whilst we drank our drinks and cooled down.

We made a move out of the park, having done everything except Despicable Me, but we have done this in Florida before so weren't bothered, calling at the store to purchase the obligatory magnet and pin. We were disappointed that they didn't have any Universal Studios, Hollywood pins.

We took a couple more photos on way out of park and then managed to get a Hollywood pin from the Universal Studios store actually outside the park on city walk. Megan was asking for a Despicable Me unicorn but we remained firm and told her that she had enough soft toys.

We sat waiting for the minibus, which pulled up at 5.15, dropping people off. We boarded and waited a couple of minutes before the same family who were with us this morning boarded the bus too.

15 minutes later we were dropped off at our hotel. Me and Tracey changed into our swimming stuff and went for a dip in the pool. Megan stayed in the room, had a nap and face timed Ellie It was 3 am back home so we told Ellie to go to sleep!

Megan said that she had found somewhere to go for tea. She wanted "English" food! and had found the Buchanan Arms on the internet. I had a quick look, saw it got good reviews, and so drove round. It was only just over a mile away.

We ordered our food. The mains came with either soup or salad. I had salad and both Megan and Tracey had soup. Megan had mulligatawny and Tracey had broth. They both enjoyed it.

Megan had sausage and mash. She wanted a side of Yorkshire pudding as well.

Me and Tracey both had ribeye steak. I had chips and Tracey had mash. Both came with a Yorkshire pudding.

There was live music in the pub - a man and his guitar, playing mainly 60s classics

We then made our way back to the hotel and settled down for the evening.

Day 16 here

[summersun]

great day

how did you book the shuttle x

[disneypars]

Looks like a great day and managed to get a lot done. Need a decent meal after that.