Maggi, Greg the two girls and myself left the hotel at 8 am to walk around to the Universal Studios complex. Entrance to the site was slow and secure. We had to have our bags and persons scanned as well as demonstrate that we had been vaccinated.
Once inside we had a lousy cup of coffee at Starbucks and then began our rides. The first was very tame as we passed through on a slow conveyor belt about extraordinary pets.
Next stop was Funland again a very easy ride, slowly going round and up and down in a toy plane with 10 other planes.
Alex then joined us and we queued up for Flight of the Hippogriff which was a real rollercoaster. After queueing for 15 minutes and supposedly another 30 minutes to go Alex decided that this was no fun and she disappeared to buy express passes for all of us. We jumped the queue and were whizzed around the framework. I’m so glad we didn’t spend all the time in the queue because the ride only took a few seconds.
Our next adventure occurred in “Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey”. This is a simulated ride where you appear to be diving through the sky as part of a game of quidditch. I rated this ride as brilliant and everyone agreed it was the most exciting of the day.
The Simpsons Ride was also a simulation ride where the car in which you sit is tossed around and the sense of movement is enhanced by the 3D movie taking place around you.
We descended to the lower lot where we were stuck on a boat in the Jurassic Park water ride. The weather began to cloud over and it became much colder.
After pottering around a bit more we moved onto the Universal Studio Tour. You leave the park in a tour bus and pass by several lots which are closed to outside viewers. The bus then passes by several permanent sets of townscapes. One of the places we stopped was a scene from Jaws which has been used in other dramas.
After the 1 hour tour we returned to the Universal Studios experience and by now the parked was absolutely packed. Maggi and Alex queued for 45 minutes in order to buy a coffee at Starbucks. At this point Maggi and I returned to the hotel while the kids stayed on and carried on with further rides.
The park had become so busy that for all the great rides available the place was just a nightmare. This feeling of being hemmed in by so many other human beings became even more disgusting when one thought about the potential for catching Covid.
In the evening
When we returned to the hotel Maggi and I spent sometime researching different restaurants in the area. Eventually we chose Prosecco Trattoria which was not that far away and we knew the kids would accept. We arrived at 6 and left an hour later. The food was fine. I had a seafood linguine which was fine.
Greg wanted to visit the Hollywood sign as a mark of our visit to LA. However he set the satnav up incorrectly and we ended up at the Griffin Observatory. Glenn Andrews had written about a walk to the Observatory on my blog. Greg re-set the satnav and after a few more small mis-directions we arrived underneath the famous sign.
We returned home and Maggi look shattered. She had gone to sleep before 9:30 and I followed hers soon after.