Head of the Line Rocks!!!
We came down to LA last night. The drive wasn't too bad for the most part. It takes a little over 5 hours to get from Monterey to LA. We did get caught up in some really bad traffic on 101 South just after entering the city because of an accident. But overall the trip was nice.
We checked into the Staybridge Suites in Torrance. The last time we drove across the country, we joined the Holiday Inn Priority Club and so now we try to stay in a hotel that will earn us points in the program. We've stayed in two Staybridge Suites and I recommend them. They are pricier than a Motel 6, but I am a big believer in the idea that you get what you pay for. Not only am I paying for a decent hotel room, but I am also sure that we are staying in a room that will not make my wife unhappy. We stayed in a Motel 6 once, and it wasn't worth the saved money to hear about how crappy the place was for the night and the next day.
Today, we got up early and got ready for Universal Studios. We decided to go based on a recommendation of a buddy of mine from work who went last weekend. He said his family had a lot of fun.
After discussing tickets with my wife, we decided to buy the Head of the Line tickets online. Again, a little pricy, but let me tell you, I think this may be the single best thing to happen to theme parks since the roller coaster. Whoever marketed this idea should get a bonus and a promotion if they haven't already.
These prepaid tickets got us to the front of the line at the ticket gate. They also get you to the FRONT of the line everywhere in the park. With these tickets, you get to go through a special gate at every attaction that puts you at the front of the line. If it's a show, you get to go in first and if it's a ride, they put you on before they go to the general line. In a span of thirty minutes, we got to ride the Mummy's Revenge twice and Jurassic Park once. The wait time for these rides was over 60 minutes for one ride. If you don't go to theme parks often, I recommend spending the extra bucks and getting these tickets. They were the BOMB!
We did all pretty much all the attractions. I think we skipped the tribute to Lucy and and Backdraft, but we did everything else. It was a blast. Thank you, PTK PHK GE!. This was a great idea. Waterworld rocked. Spiderman Rocks was very good. Van Helsing was a bit lame - it's a walk through and while I enjoyed it, it just wasn't up to the level of a lot of the other attractions. Back to the Future was a lot of fun. Shreck was probably the best show, in my opinion. The 3-D looked better than the Terminator 2 show and I just enjoyed it a lot more. The theater was newer than the Terminator theater and everything worked in it, too. For example, when Donkey sneezed at us in 3-D, we felt the water spray, but when the monster in Terminator blew up, my sprayer wasn't working.
Overall, it was a great day. I lived in Florida for 7 years and never went to Universal Orlando and now I wish I had. Universal Hollywood is a great place to spend a day.
Tomorrow we go to the Dodgers game. WOO-HOO!
First Edit -- Added a picture. Hopefully this works.
Second Edit -- OK, the picture thing didn't work, so check it out here.
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