Kirstie's Travel Diaries #9 - Universal Studios Hollywood

Catch up with #8 here.

DAY 9 (08/03/12) 

It was a Thursday and we had planned on this day to go to Universal Studios!
We had heard so much amazing stuff and seen so many amazing leaflets and posters that we knew it was high on our list of things to do (the Desperate Housewives set was a major selling point)! As our hotel was only 1 metro stop away from it they sold tickets for a discounted price which was great - I think it was about $75 each for a day ticket (and believe me, it was worth it!)
We headed down to the Hollywood/Highland metro stop early - about 9am. we were a little nervous as we hadn't used the Subway in NYC at all and weren't quite sure how it worked but guessed it was just like the tube so we went on down!
We were surprised by how clean and well-lit it all was to be honest, not the dingy subway station you would imagine or expect!
We got our tickets and hopped on. funnily enough we saw the couple which we had shared the minibus from the airport with on the same metro heading to the same place - small world/city!

We got off the the metro one stop later and crossed over the road towards the Universal building! It was there that we waited for one of the special free minibuses to come and pick us up and take us to the entrance.

We reached the top and reached Universal Citywalk (lots of stores and resturants!) and walked straight up to the entrance to Universal Studios.
Of course before we went in we had to get some photos!

The first place we wanted to go was to the Studio Tour itself, we knew this would be the busiest attraction so we thought going to it first would be our best bet and we were right.

As we had got there not long after the park had opened we more or less got straight onto the tour which was amazing. Cameras out and awesome tour guide in tow, us and a whole minibus full of other movie/TV enthusiast's started on the studio tour.

If you didn't know already Universal Studios is a fully active and running studio full of sets, stages and backdrops, so even when we were there there were things actually being filmed - so we had to be quiet (all very very exciting!)
Being a major movie and TV geek buff I was seriously in my element here! Just seeing some of the special effects stages and the actual real life sets was enough to make me squeal!
They showed us how they can make a flood happen in a matter of seconds and seconds later have it disappeared again - it was insane!

Some of the sets are just incredible, you'll recognise the photo below from films like Bruce Almighty (remember when he's trying to teach his dog to pee outside?) and The Saturdays music video for Higher! Look the back of a HUGE backdrop in the middle of the Studio too - so cool!

There are so many sets here and things to see, I loved seeing Whooville from The Grinch and the plane crash from War Of The Worlds. We are went rhough the 4D King Kong ride which was so so clever - a must do if you go to LA and the studios!

 A major highlight for me was the Desperate Housewives set, yes the real life Wisteria Lane. It is insane that there is this whole road/street/neighborhood just made in the middle of a film studio! It all looks so so real it was so surreal to be in there! (as you can see there is security there 24/7!)

After the tour we thought it was time for some of the rides and attractions! The Shrek ride was the closet to where we had walked to so we started off there! Obviously when we saw Shrek we had to get a photo - what a babe!  We then headed down the escalator the the bottom section and to the rest of the rides!    The mummy ride had to be our favourite I think we went on it about 3 times in a row! I loved this place so so much! Definitely my sort of day out! If you are in La I highly recommend heading over to Universal Studios - it is definitley worth every penny if you are a movie lover, thrill seeker or fun-lover (aka anyone!) Wish I could re-live this day again, loved it so much! Here's some more photos from this fun Thursday!

Just chilling at Universal - check out that view!

We lasted around 30 seconds in here down to my wimp of a best friend who screamed and ran out of the fire exit, I wish everyday that I had filmed it.

As a massive Simpsons fan this was amazing - the ride is so so clever and all the shops and stuff around it really make you feel like you are in Springfield!

'Thank you come again.'

Crash Bandicoot and Fivel - my inner child just couldn't say no!

The end to an incredible day - I seriously loved this place.

Next travel post - Venice beach, Santa Monica and I meet some seriously big YouTubers!!!

Kirstie's Travel Diaries #7 - The Hollywood Hills Part 1

Catch up with #6 here.

DAY 8 (07/03/12) - Day 8 will be split into 2 posts this is Part 1

Well if you have read the previous entry (link above) you will know that we had part of our day sorted! 
Aswell as wanting to obviously go on the celebrity houses & Beverly Hills tour we also knew that we were going to go and watch TWO stars get their stars on the walk of fame! These two Hollywood babes were Felicity Huffman (Lynette from Desperate Housewives) and her husband William H Macy. This was happening at  around 11am I believe it was so we left our apartment a bit before to have a look up and around Hollywood Blvd! We also got our tickets for the tour later that day! 

We decided to go with Starline tours - we had heard alot about them, they seemed really legit and it seemed just up our street! 
We booked on to the 12pm or 1pm trip and with our tickets in hand headed over to where the paparazzi were setting up hoping to get a good view of this once in a lifetime opportunity!

We were so excited that after only waiting there a few minutes Felicity appeared and came towards the crowd that was mounting! She seemed so lovely and was making time for everyone - she obviously looked stunning - amazing body, amazing hair and amazing teeth was all I could think.

A little while later and with all the paparazzi there ready and waiting for the ceremony to begin we noticed that hovering to the right of us was gorgeous red head that is - Marcia Cross aka BREE! 

I know this is Hollywood and we probably should have expected it but ... it was exciting! Two girls from the little Isle Of Wight in the middle of an amazing LA event!

Not only did Marcia turn up but so did Vanessa Williams - excitement overload! They were literally sat on chairs in front of us about 2 metres away having a massive chat and laugh - it was surreal! (there are about a million other photos of this hour or so but I thought it may be a bit much to include them all haha! Here is the official write up on the Daily Mail!) 

The speeches they gave were brilliant and hilarious and after the stars were revealed and the press had gone bonkers it was time for us to head to our awaiting tour bus!

Our tour guide was called Andrew and we loved him! He was so so informative and you could tell that he loved his job! 

The tour was a good few hours and it was in an open top mini bus which was so fun (although it was actually quite windy which meant we were bloomin' cold but it didn't bother us!) We all wore headphones so we could hear Andrew and had our cameras at the ready!

Our first stop was to go to a viewing point and check out the incredible sights of downtown LA and the world famous Hollywood sign then onto Beverly Hills and the houses of the rich and famous! (the rest of the tour and the day will be in Part 2 of Day 8!)

1. Hollywood Bvld. the road next door to our hotel was where the tour began there were about 10 of us in the mini bus I would say and from all over the world - America, China, Germany and of course us Brits!

2. This is the incredble view of Downtown LA. I'd seen this view so many time before on my TV (*cough*The Hills opening credits*cough*) so seeing it in real life was a bit crazy. (a bit like this whole trip to be honest!) 

3. This is us just as the trip was abaout to begin - Headphones in and ready to take it all in!

4. Me doing an awkward pose with the world famous backdrop - there was a queue to take photos so I definitely ran in - ran out. Not impressed with my hair or pose but thats life haha!

5. Check out the sign - the Beverly Hills sign! We both definitely let a squeal of joy creep out when we saw this! Everything in BH is so.... rich. Even the fire hydrant's are painted platinum! 

6. What a sight - Hello Mr. Hollywood Sign! All my life that is all I ever wanted to see, so happy and proud that I've managed to see it already! (Keep looking out for these posts as we do go a little closer in a few days time)

7. The Hollywood Bowl we only drove past this quickly but it wasn't actually that far from our hotel so we did drive past it a few more times throughout our stay in Hollywood - so many amazing artists have played here and more recently it was featured in 90210 - remember that?

8. Now I thought I'd just pick a few houses out for this post as I have photos and photos which you probably all just won't care about! This is Julia Roberts home and it at the end of a Cul de Sac road if I remember rightly and next door to Elvis' first west coast home!

9. This house isn't up high in the Hills like a few of the others but actually down a street in Beverly Hills and believe it or not it is actually Simon Cowell's house! Yup you could just walk on up to that gate if you wanted, Andrew said that previously that week they'd had Simon come out and greet the tour bus - can you actually imagine! 

10. Well you may recognise this house if you watch a lot of TV.... it is The Osbournes! Remember that gate from the opening titles of the show? I knew who's it was before they'd even said it, although I'm not sure that they still actually live there!

11. Well the only pf this house you could see was the part of the roof, this family does not want to be spotted and fair enough to as it is The Beckhams! This is the closet the bus coould get so I got photos of the most I could!

I have so so many other photos from this day and didn't want this post to be overly photo heavy/the longest blog post in history so that's it for this post.

 I will be uploading part 2 of Day 8 really soon -  more of the tour around LA,  Madame Tussuards and my first trip to Hooters!