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Old 5 Feb 19, 06:58 PM  
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pinkstargirl
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Join Date: Mar 11
Location: West London
The 321 Trip - Day 5 - Universal Hollywood (4/11/16)

Apologies for the massive wait between days - I think I posted day 4 back in Sept 2017! Life just gets away from me sometimes. I’m hoping to finish this trip report now, I don’t think much will have changed in the places I visited so it may still be of some use! If not it will just be my own record of an amazing trip.

You can find my trip index here if you’d like to read from the beginning.

Day 5 - Friday 4th November 2016

I woke a few times in the night, the bunk I was sleeping in was very noisy and creaky! I got up at 7:45, and after getting ready, I left the hostel at 8:25. After passing an… interesting looking museum, and grabbing donuts (I have a picture of one but I’m assuming I was piggy and had a maple frosted one too as thats my usual Dunkin’ order!) I got the subway to Universal City, arriving at 9. To get to the Universal Studios shuttle, there is a walkway above the road, I finished my coffee on the way over and rode the shuttle up the very steep hill to the park.




I had a brief look in Citywalk as I made my way to the park. After a quick restroom stop, I got into the park at 9:40. Similar to Disney, I believe most of the attractions didn't open until 10, however the rides in Hogsmeade were operating so I went there first. I rode Flight of the Hippogriff followed by Forbidden Journey. I went into the single rider line for this, but I must have missed a turning and I quickly found myself in the main line instead. I had ridden both of these by 10.25.



After this, I went to ride Minions, exiting at 11. I haven't made a note of the queue times but my notes say “Queues seem a little longer than advertised.” I then headed to Springfield and took some pictures before I went to see the 11:30 special effects show. This was finished at 12, and I rode The Simpsons ride before getting Krusty Burger for lunch.



After lunch, I took the many escalators down to the lower level of the park. I was dismayed to find that The Mummy ride was closed. Instead I hopped into the single rider line for Transformers, which only took a few minutes as I was off the ride within 10 minutes of joining the queue. I don’t remember if the Jurassic Park ride was open or not but I definitely didn’t ride it. I picked up a cold brew from Starbucks and made my way back up to the main area of the park.



I decided I would go on the studio tour, there was one leaving at 2:35. This was about an hour long, and was a really good mix of sets and props. They had bits that I recognised from US Orlando rides, such as the Jaws attack and the subway earthquake from Disaster. There was also a scene within a tunnel that has now been replicated in Orlando as the Fast and Furious ride. A second tunnel scene was either Jurassic Park or Kong - it wouldn’t surprise me if it was Kong and they’ve replicated that as well!




After the studio tour, I bought myself some Simpsons character magnets, had another meet and greet, and headed back into Hogsmeade. I was feeling like I was almost done, I’d ridden most of the rides, and certainly all the ones I’d wanted to. I found the proper single rider line for Forbidden Journey and I was on the ride within 5 minutes. Both times I’d ridden this today, I’d been placed with a group of three, but instead of sitting together and leaving a seat at the end free, both times they had sat as a 2 and a separate 1, leaving me to sit in the middle of the group. The second time, I was on a ride with teen boys who appeared to know nothing about the movies. We got stuck for a few minutes at the Whomping Willow bit, and I made a note that the teens were “shouting, swearing and generally being buttholes”.



I headed out after this, deciding to walk back to the subway station instead of waiting for a tram. This was a very steep downhill walk, and I arrived back at Hollywood/Vine station at around 5 and walked back to the hostel. I found a note on the door informing everyone that due to the road being closed for a running event the next morning, no one would be able to leave via car the next morning until approximately 11am. As I needed to leave well before that, I went down to reception, grabbed my car keys and moved my car. I drove round for a while but eventually found parking spaces on a bridge over the freeway, only a 5 minute walk from the hostel.



I walked back, uploaded my pictures to my laptop and planned to charge my phone while I had a shower and got ready for the theatre again. A girl sharing the room got to the bathroom just before me and tied it up. I was just getting my stuff ready to nip in after she got out, when another girl got in there just before me. I was not impressed, that’s the frustrating thing about hostels sometimes, when you want to use the bathroom or shower and can’t!

I planned to nip in just after her and change into my jeans and have a quick wash as I didn't have time for anything else now. After the bathroom became free at 7 I did quickly jump in the shower, and was ready to go at 7:35. I was in my seat at the theatre (upstairs this time) by 7:50. The show was, again, amazing - I will never tire of it and I hope it comes to the UK at some point! The show finished and I was out of the theatre just before 10, and had a (brief) debate about going to the stage door again. I found even less people waiting than the previous night and got a great spot.



Lena Hall came out first, and I got another picture with her. Then a short wait before Darren came out of the theatre. I was a little surprised that he remembered me by name from the night before, and he gave me a big hug immediately. I floated back to the hostel on cloud 9 for the second night in a row, getting back at around 11 but had a late night again!


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