Finding Magical Jewels on the West Coast...9/18/2015 review (16,000+ photos & videos)

[Clarea]

That's sounds like fun. Do you know how much of the equipment that is still used was really from her sailing days and maintained vs replaced and upgraded?

When I was a volunteer there, they had some old non-functional radios on display. The functional radios were all modern stuff.

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Griffith Observatory

The Griffith Observatory must be the most known unknown location in LA. Now that I’ve been there I see it pop up in movies and commercials where I recognize it, but by name I never knew it before going there. Amazingly though it was probably the most difficult place to get to out of everything in LA because so many people were trying to go there.

 

We attempted to take the official direct recommended way, but the road was closed due to work going on so instead we had to take the longer round about way up to it from the other side. As you drive there you wouldn’t even know you were near LA because the areas is more like a suburban community leading into the forest as you enter the park. Once we got anywhere near it there was a traffic jam. All along the road up to the observatory were cars pulled off on the side of the road to park and walking the rest of the way. It seemed to be a couple miles of cars parked leading to the observatory with police directing traffic and controlling the area. At the actual observatory most of the official parking lot was marked off for handicap parking which was beneficial for us.

 

The observatory has a telescope and planetarium that can be used for a fee, but they also have a large collection of high end telescopes that are setup around the property by hobbiests with them pointed at different interesting areas of space including a black hole to look at. As I mentioned, there were a lot of people there that night, but the lines to view the telescopes were surprisingly short. With the clear skies up there above the light pollution of LA I could get a clear shot of the moon with my camera.

 

While the location is focused on space, for tourists though the main reason to go there is the view of Los Angeles below.

 

 

 

From up there it was also possible to see the Hollywood Sign. Since it was night it was almost impossible to see, but with the right settings and an incredibly steady hand (held it on a railing and used my phone to view what was in the shot and click the shutter, physically clicking would shake it to much) it was possible to get a great closeup shot (and one so close it’s nothing but the sign).

 

It was a great way to end our big LA tour day where we crossed from Long Beach to Hollywood and ended at the observatory. I was surprised how many people actually visit the observatory, especially sine it was a week night outside of the tourist season, but everyone up there seemed to be there for the right reason so it was a very fun and relaxed place to end the night.

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Universal Studios Hollywood

This was my first exposure to the Universal Studios brand. I’ve been to Disney World many times and this was the first trip to Disneyland, but I’ve never been to either Universal Studios Orlando or Hollywood before. I’ve been told by many people that if your interested in Hollywood you’ll enjoy Universal Studios Hollywood since it’s more focused on the movies while Orlando has become more about the theme park without any actual production taking place. With that in mind we decided to give Universal a visit for the first time during our trip to LA.

 

I allocated an entire day to the visit and found a deal online to get a two day pass for less than the price of a single day (Universal itself was also offering buy a day, get a season pass free but at a maximum of 2 days it was more than what I went with).

 

The first thing I noticed when we entered the property was that it was no Disney. As you enter the property it has a very stark industrial feel with roads that seem to go in all directions to a variety of standard looking parking garages. There isn’t much to look at on the way in or really any atmosphere at all.

 

The nice thing though is that each of the garages has it’s own movie theme and colors. At the exit of each garage they have maps little cards to take that identify what parking garage and level your parked in so you don’t forget. Unlike Disneyland where the garage is a bit of a walk or tram ride from Downtown Disney, in Universal the garages are scattered around the outside of Universal Citywalk so that you can step right out of the garage and into their shopping, dinning, and entertainment district.

 

Downtown Disney and Universal Citywalk are identical in their concept and purpose, yet somehow feel miles apart from each other. It’s kind of surprising considering that they share many of the same elements such as a movie theater, concert lounge venue, and even an outdoor stage. Where they feel different is in their vibe. Walking through Downtown Disney makes you want to take a leisurely relaxing stroll. When walking through Universal Citywalk it just makes you want to move, it’s a much more energetic and happening vibe in the air even during the day when it’s rather dead.

 

Most of this has to do with the architecture of the venue. Downtown Disney is a single level with all of the buildings being rather low with a lot of open space between the two sides allowing for plenty of sunshine and natural trees and plants to grow. The theming of the buildings is even relatively well maintained throughout giving an even and tame fun vibe. In Universal Citywalk the buildings are a couple stories tall, and in most areas have structural elements and signage that extends even higher than that. They are also significantly tighter to each other which enhances that towering feeling. In addition to the actual height part of the area features a second floor level with more dining venues. The single most noticeable element though is that there is very little consistency throughout. On the ground there is very little on the path while above each venue went all out with their exterior branding and over the top elements which really creates that more energetic vibe.

 

 

 

They even have an over the top Johnny Rockets restaurant.

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The over the top vibe of Citywalk just like Downtown Disney then drops you right into the entrance plaza of the park. This is where the iconic Universal Studios globe is located.

 

During most week days you’ll also find Mario Lopez in that area filming Extra.

 

That led to the main park entrance. Unfortunately there was some halloween decorations up to take away from the icon image of the giant gates, but it was still impressive. The area in general was much more casual than the setup in Disneyland. There weren’t really any checkpoints and the ticket booths were right next to the turnstiles. It was clearly designed to handle much fewer guests than the other resort.

 

Inside the park was well themed and had an easy layout, but was incredibly small. Just like all the Disney parks it featured a beautiful statue right in the entrance.

 

The park is mainly a large circle around a fountain plaza with a few dead end paths leading out in different directions.

 

The oddest part of the layout though is that the park is actually divided with a second small “L” shaped area known as the “Lower Lot” on a lower level that is divided down a hill by three escalator runs.

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There is a very big difference between the two lots. The lower lot features three high thrill rides mainly contained within sound stage looking buildings with very minimal environment theming outside.

 

Transformers The Ride was an incredibly cool and impressive feat of technology. It features cars on a track with full 360 degrees of motion along with the ability to angle in all direction. The entire ride then consists of video screen and special effects while the riders wear 3D glasses. It’s about the closest to feeling like your in the movie that you can get and worth the ride. All the motion was a bit too much for me though so it was a once and done.

 

That style is the format for the majority of rides in the park. Most rides are some kind of motion simulator or 3D video. There are very few actual rides in the park that are truly a ride in the traditional sense. As a family that doesn’t do well with motion simulators that saved a lot of time by eliminating a good portion of the small number of rides.

 

The upper lot was more thoroughly themed with different lands that contained their own rides (mainly 3D simulators) including Despicable Me,

 

a traditional French village,

 

and The Simpsons

 

 

which featured the famous giant donuts! It’s seems like just a small cake, but it was delicious. Never realized that there really is something distinctly different about donut dough, even when it’s huge!

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The lack of rides is pretty clear when you look at the directory board that contains just 12 items. Luckily almost everything was walk on or just a short wait.

 

Part of that though is because they have three hollywood behind the scenes shows. The one is a special effects show reminiscent of the Indiana Jones show in Disney’s Hollywood Studios but with more focus on the actors, small stunts, and green screens rather than large stunts.

 

They have an outdoor show titled Universal’s Animal Actors that features a variety of animals including the basic birds, dogs, and cats as well as pigs, chickens, and more that are all trained to perform. Most of them have appeared in movies and/or TV shows already.

 

 

The headliner show of the park though is Water World, a high octane stunt spectacular featuring pyrotechnics, aquatic stunt driving, combat, and aerial stunts.

 

 

I was surprised how good this show was. For being a multiple time per day production on a weekday mid afternoon it was very well produced and executed with plenty of explosions and high energy stunts. They even had a majority of the stands marked as wet zones and throughout the show the speed boats and jet skis splashed plenty of water on to those people. Before they even started the show they had part of the cast out getting the audience energized and getting the splash zones pre soaked.

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The main feature of the park though that made it famous is the studio tour located at the back of the park to take you throughout the backlot area.

 

Like most of the things in the park, before you board the large trams you pick up a pair of 3D glasses. From there the tour takes you out into the soundstage area where many shows are filmed including The Voice.

 

From there the trams make their way through several city backlots including New York City, small towns, and suburban that have been used for outdoor scenes in shows such as Desperate Housewives.

 

 

 

One of these backlots was a western town currently being used to film a wild west themed movie.

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In addition to the actual studios and backlot sets that are used for filming shows and movies they also have several staged effects and scenes from famous movies. This includes the town from Jaws with a staged scene out of the movie.

 

The Bates Mansion with a staged actor from Psycho.

 

The plane wreck scene from War of the Worlds which was huge with a ton of small pieces of staged debris that are surprisingly durable to be out there all these years in the weather and still look like a perfect recreation.

 

 

We also saw a new plane that had just arrived on the backlot for use in an upcoming movie that could not be named yet. But it had just arrived and was in the early days of being prepared for use in the movie.

 

There are also several large scale scenes like the famous subway earthquake scene in which the tram enters a subway only to start shaking as an earthquake strikes and everything starts collapsing. As a result a tanker truck from the street above falls into the subway and starts on fire.

 

Disney’s old backlot tour in Hollywood Studios of course doesn’t have an earthquake, but it was easy to see where they got all of the inspiration for their exploding tanker scene. Out of all the faked scenes this was probably the funnest.

 

In addition to these high quality physical fake scenes though they also had two 3D digitally faked scenes that were less impressive. The first was based on King Kong and involved the tram driving into a large sound stage with a 360º projection screen (Yes, Quantum had them beat!) that played a 3D movie from King Kong. In addition to the movie playing in 3D the tram itself was on a moving surface to create a motion simulator effect to go with it.

 

The second film scene just opened in June and was far more elaborate featuring The Fast and The Furious. It started on Wisteria Lane with the tram operator spotting a car from the movie that shouldn’t be there. The tram then enters the large garage from Fast and the Furious and is greeted by members of the cast on a video screen before continuing through the garage to another 360º 3D video and motion simulator ride like King Kong. This one had far more motion than King Kong, a bit too much motion and fast paced video IMO.

 

The Tram tour was certainly the highlight of the park, but the King Kong and Fast and Furious 360º 3D motion simulators were just out of place and took away from the ride. Every other part of the ride let you see and experience movies and how Hollywood worked, but those two scenes were just watching movies rather than experiencing how they are done. The level of movement and motion sickness that can be caused by the video also made what would be an otherwise tame and enjoyable ride for all off limits for many. They really should be offering a version that excludes those two scenes because their is no way someone with a physical issue could enjoy the ride at all just because of those two scenes which account for just a small portion of the total ride.

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This was as I said my first exposure to the Universal Brand and just like Disneyland they had characters around to take pictures, some rides, and some shows.

 

But it certainly was not the same. Universal Studios was small, even compared to Disneyland which is considered small. The park had very few things to actually do, but enough to enjoy and when we went it was empty so there was no issue getting through everything. The park has no parades or evening fireworks shows, it doesn’t even stay open at night, instead having very short hours of just 10am to 6pm on the day that we went. We got to the property at 10:15am, entered the park at 10:45am, and by 4:45pm were leaving the park already. We managed to ride every ride that we could, saw every show, and took a few photos with the characters that we wanted. Our tickets allowed us to return a second day and I allocated time to add on another half day, but we were able to fully experience everything we wanted in just the 6 hours we spent in the park with no real interest in wanting to return afterwards.

 

The park itself is very tight feeling with everything being so small and close together, but it was barely noticeable since the park was empty. That is going to change this spring though as the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens up. It wasn’t open for our visit, but we could see the construction and much of the completed area was visible from different parts of the park. It looked cool, but also awkwardly small scaled as much of the stuff in the park is. I’m sure it’s probably not that way in Orlando where they have tons of space, but from the bits I saw there was nothing about it that made me excited for it, even as a Harry Potter fan.

 

 

 

You can see part of the rollercoaster in this picture I took from the queue for Shrek.

 

So I certainly enjoyed Universal Studios Hollywood and in no way regret going and experiencing it. It was certainly a very fun day, even if it was a bit quicker than expected. We actually spent a few hours in City Walk and got dinner after the park and still made it all the way back to Disneyland in time to watch World of Color again. So if I had to pick one thing to cut for price/time, this would be the first to go. IMO Disneyland offered a far superior theme park experience and as I’ll mention in the next posts the WB Studio Tour offered a far superior movie experience. So between the two of them you can get everything and more than Universal Studios Hollywood offers. The only reason to still visit the park is the fact that each studio does have it’s own set of brands and different films to showcase.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the great photos of Universal Studious.

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WB Studio Tour

When it comes to seeing where movies and TV are made in Hollywood there is no shortage of choices. Out of everything we did on our visit to LA this was the one activity category where we actually had to make a decision. Nearly every studio except for Disney offers public tours of their lot. Each have their own style, Universal as mentioned above is probably the most over the top, most are just a variety of different walking or driven guided tours around the lot. Some have additional exhibits and other features to show, and a couple offer higher priced more in-depth tours. The majority are all around the same price and length though so the choice comes down to which studio do you like more brands from, who has the more interesting tour setup, and what the reviews say.

 

That is why I chose the WB Studio Tour. WB has created some of my favorite TV shows including Friends, ER, and Chuck. They started filming my favorite show of the fall season, Undateable Live, just a week after we were in LA so unfortunately I couldn’t go see it. They are also responsible for some of the best movies including Harry Potter and Batman. So from a catalogue selection it was an easy win. They also had the best reviews out of the different studios and a variety of exhibits to show.

 

We did the tour on a Sunday and picked the first time slot so the traffic wasn’t too bad to get there. WB has a parking lot that you can pay to park in, but there is also plenty of parking on the street right in front of the studio as well which is where we parked. To start the tour you enter the main office building of the WB Studios. To get in you have to go through a security checkpoint that includes a metal detector and can then enter a lobby area where you check in for your tour.

 

 

Before heading out on the tour we were brought into a decent sized screening room where a film was shown that reviewed the history of the studios and it’s immense catalogue. From there our tour guide took our small group of about 10 people outside to where the golf cart was waiting.

 

Entering into the Warner Brothers Studio is like entering a whole other world. It doesn’t take long to feel the film making magic and forget the world outside exists. Visiting it actually made me better understand just what Walt Disney was attempting to pull off with Disneyland and how well he actually did. Both places really had a magical feel to them. Everywhere you look around the property are buildings and objects that double as different purposes for film making as well as for real world use and filming. One of the first places the guide pointed out was this building which houses offices but is designed to look like a hotel or it’s true identity of an office building with a few cosmetic tweaks.

 

Even things like the bus stops and coffee shops are designed to be generic enough and flexible so that they can be quickly altered to look like they are located in any city they need.

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The guide then took us through the diverse backlot sets discussing the different items that were filmed in each place and how they were changed to appear as many different locations so you wouldn’t notice them popping up in every show and movie. It was amazing how they managed to have an area that could either be in the jungles of south america and North Korea, or right in the Pocono mountains.

 

 

The quality of the WB backlot was incredible. It made Universal’s look like a playground. Everything was so incredibly detailed and realistic looking. It truly transported you to different worlds like this suburbs that featured several instantly recognizable and detailed houses. It was a rainy morning so we didn’t get off the golf carts in these areas but the guide did to open the doors of some of the houses to show how fake many of the structures are beyond the surface.

 

 

The most impressive of the sections and often used is the streets of New York City. These streets are instantly recognizable from many shows including Friends. In this area we got to leave the golf cart and freely walk around the streets to see everything. It was like walking through a post apocalyptic version of New York City with no one around and an eerie silence.

 

As we walked through the streets the guide once again pointed out all the different scenes that were filmed in various locations as well as what each building was used as the outside of in films. He also went through some of the history of the different buildings and shared stories of how different producers have requested that buildings be refinished multiple times throughout the years to make them fit what they want them to be like.

 

Before leaving New York City we went into one of the buildings where they had a TV setup to watch a short video that showed several scenes that were filmed on those streets to exhibit all the different appearances it has taken on to disguise it as different locations and times in history.

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From the backlots we then headed toward the soundstages, first stopping at an office building looking area that contained the Warner Brothers Museum. Inside the first floor was dedicated to the Batman franchise with props, costumes, and exhibits on all the films from the franchises history including ones from the new movie that was scheduled to come out 6 months later, Batman vs Superman which cam out the other week.

 

 

 

The second floor was then dedicated to Warner Brothers’ other major IP, Harry Potter. This one featured many costumes throughout the center of the room along with props from the movie around the outside.

 

This petrified Hermione was exceptionally creepy looking.

 

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After the museum we then took a trip through the soundstage area where we saw the location of several famous shows, each identified by plaques on the sides of the buildings including the Friends Stage.

 

 

 

 

While at stage 25 we were not allowed to take photos, but got to go inside the sound stage to see the Big Bang Theory set and take a walk backstage.

 

We then continued our tour through the backstage production areas to where all of the props, sets, and costumes are created and stored.

 

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The final section of the backstage area that we went to was the garages where all the vehicles for both production and on camera purposes are built, altered, and maintained. They converted one of the garages into a large storage museum for the vehicles used in the Batman films. We got to walk through there and see all the cars from the first batmobile to the newest one for Batman vs Superman and everything in between.

 

 

 

 

Growing up with Batman it was obvious that has been maturing in recent years, but seeing all of the vehicles in one place it’s incredible how they’ve progressed from smooth matt black plastic shells, to shiny and glowing futuristic vehicles, to the current militarized looking creations in the recent movies.

 

The final stop of the tour was then at "Studio 48: Script to Screen” which had recently opened as a self guided interactive museum on movie and tv making as well as the warner brothers historical IPs. It featured recreations of the offices used for each stage of the process including casting and storyboarding.

 

Throughout the process they featured authentic items from the preproduction stages including an assortment of models used in the planning of sets for recent movies.

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Being Warner Brothers it obviously heavily featured Friends with copies of the signed scripts and a recreation of Central Perk to take photos.

 

 

 

In addition to several other smaller set recreations they had a large section on all of the special effects they use from the most basic makeup.

 

To interactive green screen experiences.

 

And even interactive motion capture areas.

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The last section of the museum featured many truly historic pieces of television and movie history. My personal favorite was the showcase that featured the employee ID of each person from the show ER.

 

They also had the items from Jack Warner’s office including his phone and phone book which was opened up to the page that contained Walt Disney.

 

 

This area also featured many of the items from movies long before my time.

 

They also had a showcase that featured several awards that the studio has won over the years.

 

 

If you visit Hollywood and want to see the film business I would absolutely recommend doing the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. It was well worth the price and a far better experience than Universal Studios. If I had to pick just one non Disney thing from this trip to do, it would have been this. While Universal was nice, it was a fake theme park that talked about the film industry. The Warner Brothers Tour truly allows you to experience and learn about the industry. From start to finish it always acknowledged the great history of what had happened there while also looking at the present. It was an incredible couple of hours full from start to finish with interesting information and things to see. I’m really curious how the Sony or Paramount tours would have compared to this one, but I certainly am happy with my choice and wouldn’t want to change it. When choosing when to go though consider the day of the week, their are pros and cons to each. The movie industry seems to operate 7 days a week but television is more of a traditional work week. So when we went on a weekend their was some filming in two locations, but for the most part it was very quiet and calm. That had the benefit of not having areas designated as off limits, but it also meant less excitement. So their is a pro and con to each day choice.