We had a great day. We went to bed last night at about 8:30 because Penny and Ray are old and Ray got up yesterday morning at 5:00 thinking about getting the book that Candace Shaw recommended I read “Project Hail Mary”. I laid in bed for a while and then got up and downloaded the book.
That is the reason we went to bed at 8:30 and that was the reason we woke up today at 5:00 AM which is plenty of sleep for even folks as old as we are.
Breakfast and coffee were consumed and at 9:00 we called an Uber to take us to Universal Studios.
We had purchased a VIP tour for Universal Studios. This was to be up to 13 people with a guide to take us to the rides via the express lanes, it included a “gourmet” lunch and a back scene tour of the sound stages and sets. Our time was to be at 11:15. We arrived about 10:00 and checked in at the proper place.
Our first bit of serendipity happened at this point.
The nice lady who helped us confirmed that our tour was for 11:15. Penny said “yes, unless we could start earlier”. The nice lady checked and said we could join the 10:15 tour with Donald (I confirmed that it was not Mr Duck and was told that was a different theme park.)
Soon Donald found us in the VIP lounge and told us we were waiting for four other VIPs, who had not yet arrived. We would wait until 10:20 and then begin.
Serendipity #2 then occurred. The missing VIPs were still missing at 10:20 and thus Penny and I set out on our private tour escorted expertly by the extraordinary Donald. He was very helpful in telling us about the various rides and how they might trigger my motion sickness.
Serendipity #3 was the fact that we virtually had the entire park to ourselves. Donald told us that the attendance was one of the smallest he had seen. We did use the express lines but they were kind of silly. There was never more than a dozen or so people in the lines.
You would be proud of Penny and me. We rode most all of the rides. Our first one was a roller coaster that had no sudden drops and no loops. It did have tight curves. The selling point was the entire ride only lasted 28 seconds. I figured I could endure anything that long especially seeing the 6 year olds in line were taking it on.
We rode Mario Kart where we wore 3D glasses and were inside the game and shooting the bad guys.
We rode Jurassic World where the dinosaurs tried to get in our car with us.
Revenge of the Mummy was fun as I had just a few days ago watched the movie. Penny skipped that ride.
The Secret Life of Pets was just too darn cute for words.
Despicable Me turned us into Minions.
All of this happened before lunch which was a buffet that was very good, especially the gelato served by the delightful Jenny that had introduced herself to my lovely bride Penny.
After lunch we were joined by Dennis our VIP shuttle driver who drove Penny and me through the back lots and sound studios. We were the only guests on the tour bus. We were taken into the sound stage where the TV show “St. Denis Medical” is filmed (although I am quite sure no film is involved in the production). I have not seen the show but will watch it now.
The sets were pretty amazing and accurate with real hospital beds and monitors. One of the things that was not accurate was the amount of space between the nurse’s station and the beds. They were very wide due to the need of getting the lights, cameras and directing folks in that space.
Many of the buildings and streets were cool as we drove through the backlot. It turns out that the courthouse that was used in “Back to the Future” was used in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and in the first episode of “The Twilight Zone”.
We also got to walk through the prop department where anyone can rent props for movies or just a party. Some props looked like new furniture or old like old used furniture because it was. There were also furniture and vases and such from the 1920s.
We got an uber to take us back to our hotel and it turned out to be a yellow cab. The drive back took longer than the morning drive due to the traffic. We avoided the freeways due to rush hour traffic and came through downtown Los Angeles where we drove on Vine St and crossed Hollywood Boulevard. Perhaps a myth but it is said that Lana Turner was discovered in Schwab’s drugstore located at that intersection.
It was a delightful day.
Traveling with Ray Owens 