Into every life a little rain must fall. Well, not literally, being as how this is California and they’re in the middle of a pretty horrific drought. Perhaps the better way to phrase it is “into every life some disappointment must come”
Even on vacation…
Even on this vacation..
It’s only natural that in the amount of time we’ve been away from California a lot of things will have changed. But sometimes change isn’t for the better.
When we last went to Universal Studios Hollywood it was much less tourist trap much more working studio. Yes, there were a few rides, but it was mostly special effects exhibitions (like Backdraft) and movie history stuff. And the back lot tour featured stories about Chaplin and Carey Grant much more than highlighting things like Desperate Housewives.
Not so any more. The park has become disorganized, overcrowded (mostly with over-priced fast food chains) and vastly overpriced for what you actually get.
And I swear, I liked the movie and all, but if I saw one more promotion for “Despicable Me”…
That said, it wasn’t all bad. There were a few highlights. For one, they’ve installed the Transformers ride here, which is just as awesome here as it is in Singapore, so my parents finally got to actually see one of the things I keep going on about! So that was cool.
Secondly, I finally made it through Jurassic Park with my eyes open! HA! Take that T-Rex! Sadly, I have no photographic proof of this epic achievement because the photos were just too expensive. Well, actually I don’t really know how expensive they were because the employees behind the counter were too busy chatting among themselves to notice me in order for me to find out how much they were (seriously, everyone who works at Universal needs to take lessons from a Disneyland Cast Member as far as hospitality goes, I mean really, learn how to at least fake interest guys!).
Thirdly, and this was actually the coolest thing for me – they had the original DeLorean on display, with all the history and plans and such. THAT was pretty awesome to see.
Eventually we ended up salvaging the day by going to Universal City next door (which was much more interesting than the actual park), and had dinner at the Hard Rock Café, which was delicious, and the place was nearly empty. We were chatting with the waitress and mentioned that we’d ended up with kind of a disappointing day…and her response?
Oh you mean the park? I never go there these days. If I ever go to a theme park, I just go to Disneyland
That from someone who works *right* next door!
So, sadly, overall? I never actually thought I’d say this about a sister park versus an original, but …the Singapore park actually far overshadows its older sibling..
But hey, you live and learn right?