Behind the scenes

Someone told me,"You either love NY or LA." It's pretty obvious that I enjoy NYC tremendously. So, how will I feel about LA?

My first full day in LA was spent in Universal Studio. The weather was crazily hot. I mean 101 Fahrenheit? That's like heat wave. But there were no other days.

We arrived at the studio around noon. I could feel the heat burning my skin as we left the car. We passed the City Walk before arriving at the entrance. There was a red carpet rolled out in front of us. As we tried to locate our entrance (WP bought an annual pass), two guys were sweeping the floor. Suddenly, one of them started dancing. We then realised they were entertainers! It was a pretty cool trick.

Our first stop inside the studio was the special effects stage. We needed shelter from the sun and the show was about to start. The host appeared, asking for volunteers. WP volunteered to be the leading lady and got us the VIP seats, facing the stage! It was a lot of fun as the hosts showed us studio tricks. Nothing is ever what it appears to be. A Tokyo subway scene from Hero was completely fake. In one scene, WP had her arm cut by the host. I thought there will be camera tricks but when he cut into her arm, blood began to ooze out. The knife did look as if it was cutting into her flesh. The scene caused a kid to cry. I had to close my eyes while holding my camera to record it. Pretty scary. The trick was in the knife which hold a pocket of red juice attached to the handle.

As the day was hot, we bought ourselves ice-cream from the Ben & Jerry stall. I tried churros for the first time. Pretty good I must say although very unhealthy at the same time. That was to be my brunch. Next, we went on the hour long studio tour. We got a glimpse of the sound studios where productions are made. We drove past sets from Friends, Jaws, War of the Worlds, Desperate Housewives, Psycho, Bones and a host of other movies / dramas. The tram ride itself comprised of 3D experience. We experienced an awesome fight between the King Kong and a dinosaur as the two monsters threw each other around us. We saw water parted in front of us to let our tram passed. We went through an earthquake scene from Bones. It was the exact same scene. It's hard to tell which is my favourite. I must say driving past Wisteria Lane was totally awesome. The only downside was me getting toasted by the sun.

I am not much of a ride person but WP persuaded me to go on the Jurassic Park ride. It was supposed to be non-scary. The ride would have been uneventful if not for the dramatic plunge straight down an 84-foot vertical drop waterfall. At that point, both of us lost our hats. The camera caught the moment, our hands on our heads as we attempted to save our long gone hats. Luckily, we were seated in the middle and so, our hats ended on the passengers behind. Hehe. WP was soaked from head to toe. I was spared from the splashes as I got the middle seat. We agreed that that will be our last water ride.

I was not keen on the Mummy ride. Hence, we moved on to the Simpsons Ride, which is a virtual roller coaster. The line was long but the ride was totally worth it. That was one of the most enjoyable ride without any physical pain involved. Once I closed my eyes, the effect was not so bad. One of the more interesting part about the ride is whenever the characters from Simpsons use anything involving water, we get sprinkles of water upon us. That was neat. The ride ended too soon and we had to leave. We spotted Homer sweeping the floor outside Kwik-e Mart. We asked for a photo with him. When my turn came, he played a trick on me and closed my face with his hands. That was funny. We managed to take another proper one.

Shrek was the next "ride" on our list. It's a 4D adventure. The seats not only moved but you also feel the effect from wind blowing, water sprinkling and spiders falling on you. Interesting but not as much as the Simpsons ride.

We stopped for drinks and admired the halloween deco. There was only one last attraction, the Waterworld before the studio closes at 6pm. No firework for me due to the early closure.

We didn't realise they have moved the closing hour earlier as fall has arrived. Waterworld was fun as there were real actors performing some death-defying stunts complete with plenty of explosions and gunshots. We had great seats and not too far from the soak zone. Those on the soak zone were completely drenched before and during the show.

We ended the night with dinner at Tea Station, a popular Taiwanese restaurant.