Day 8 - Universal Studios

Thursday we tackled our third theme park day in a row, at Universal Studios. 

Our tickets included transport, which turned out to be a tour bus driven by Guido from Mexico, who claimed to have won his green card on eBay, got his licence at Autopia in Disneyland, and promised to take us to Vegas instead and sell the bus for gambling money. We could dump the children at Circus Circus and he’d call his wife to tell her “Hasta la vista, baby!”. 

Of course, he also claimed to have had two tequila shots for breakfast and once dated Sandra Bullock, as well as having done the stunt work for the bus jump in Speed, so I’m not entirely sure he was serious. 

The first ride we went on was Jurassic Park. Having learned my lesson from Splash Mountain, I insisted on buying a waterproof poncho before embarking on it. Nevertheless, the hood blew off on the 84-foot near-vertical drop after the Tyrannosaurus Rex tried to bite our heads off, and I got drenched anyway. 

The next most exciting ride was The Mummy, a rollercoaster that at one point goes backwards. Also notable were the Transformers, which nearly made my heart stop (in 4-D with motion chairs, it’s remarkably easy to convince me we are in fact hurtling towards the ground at great speed). I got turned into a Minion on the Despicable Me ride, and sprayed with water at the Waterworld show – which, despite the movie being so crap, was an amazing show filled with clever stunts (and a lot of water). 

I think I found MH370.

We took the Studio Tour, where we went round various sets including Jaws, a plane crash, a 3D King Kong experience, and a set done up like a subway platform where we experienced an earthquake, a truck crashing into us and setting afire, and a train derailing into our path. Thankfully, the earthquake didn’t feel particularly real, but I did flinch at the derailed subway train. 

Safely back in Anaheim, Emma and I decided some grown-up relaxation was in order, and we nipped over to the Sheraton across the road for a wine in their bar. We met the loveliest bartender called Cynthia, who was sweet and hilarious and served us our first California Sauv. It was the perfect end to the day.