Wednesday January 11, 2012:Today we took a small break from the magical world of Disney by heading over to Universal Studios. It was interesting to compare Universal to Disney. A lot of the same storytelling concepts are there, but I don't think they are normally noticed. Universal also has attractions with stories. Like Disney, sometimes the stories aren't easy to find and some people never even notice some of the smaller details. One example that the tour guides used to display storytelling was The Mummy attraction. We got on the attraction, which was very well themed, but also really scary. I guess I can't explain how well themed it was because my eyes were closed for most of it. I can't handle almost any and all roller-coasters, but something slow and intense like The Mummy is something I can't handle!
We got our turn on a couple other attractions, but I thought the themes of the different sections of the park were interesting. Because Universal is a movie production company, the park is set up as so. There are several sound stage buildings (some real & some used for other purposes). The sound stages were probably only interesting to me and Jerry. I'm the only media student on the trip, so the sound stages probably didn't mean much to the other students. The other areas of the park are sectioned off into different cities; New York, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, etc. The areas are like this for movie purposes. If a scene of a movie needs to look like it is based in New York, the buildings will fit accordingly.
After our tour, we grabbed some lunch at a cute little diner and then watched Shrek in 4-D. We also found ourselves at the E.T and Simpsons attractions. E.T was unique in that we rode on bikes with baskets, just like Elliot and E.T. The Simpsons was a motion simulator that I laughed hysterically through. I love that I felt like I was traveling up, down, and around a real city when actually I was just in a simulator car. The best ride of the day was the Rip Ride Rocket Roller-Coaster. The first hill is literally a 90 degree angle that drops you off the other side. Not only was that different, but the roller-coaster is themed as a music video production. When you get in your seat, you get to pick a song to jam to. Then, cameras on the backs of the seats record you as you complete the thrill ride. I rode with Kayla (reminder: she hates thrill rides) and our video was hilarious. Our faces were priceless as we climbed up the 90 degree hill! We got a bit of rain on our day in Universal, but we managed! Otherwise, the weather has been beautiful so far!
(Did I mention we met Scooby & Shaggy!?)
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