{"id":524,"date":"2014-10-14T10:35:14","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T10:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.garrard.com.au\/usa\/?p=524"},"modified":"2015-02-23T22:21:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-23T22:21:02","slug":"all-that-glitters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.garrard.com.au\/usa\/uncategorized\/all-that-glitters\/","title":{"rendered":"All That Glitters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We arrived in LA on Sunday evening, and planned our theme park strategy. \u00a0Monday morning we were braving the LA traffic to Universal Studios. \u00a0(Can I just say at this time that the Californian diamond lane has been our friend.) We had a fun day at at Universal Studios,\u00a0although it was marred somewhat by the great lengths to which Universal went to graphically celebrate Halloween. \u00a0Many of the displays were quite over-the-top gruesome, we thought – especially for a place regularly frequented by children.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"We<\/a>

That aside, we totally enjoyed the famed studio tour. Here we are traversing main street Genovia. This set is actually used to depict whatever\u00a0European country the studio requires (apparently!), just by changing the details and the language.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Front<\/a>

Front row seats to a subway disaster zone scene. \u00a0Way cool.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Another set which showed a\u00a0rain effect in a Mexican village, and the\u00a0flash flood that followed.\u00a0I was impressed.<\/p><\/div>\n

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This is the Wisteria Lane set for Desperate Housewives.\u00a0Rather\u00a0lost on me, as I don’t watch DH. \u00a0Nevertheless, it looked just like a suburban street.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Still on the tour. \u00a0This is for Courtney \ud83d\ude42 . (I still haven’t seen it yet!!)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Josh, Erin, Andy & Nate chose to sit in the soak\u00a0zone for the WaterWorld stunt show. \u00a0Placing value on my beloved camera, John and I chose to sit out of harm’s way. \u00a0Nate was summoned from the crowd by one of the cast members to stand at the front and get\u00a0saturated by having a pile of water dumped on him, much to his delight. \u00a0Thankfully, it was a hot day.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Nate wasn’t always keen on the rides that the older kids wanted to go on, so he and I detoured to Despicable Me’s Super Silly Fun Land, where I endured ‘Unicorns I Love Them’, evidently playing perpetual loop.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Woohoo!\u00a0– the command module prop used in Apollo 13. Pretty cool sight for a fan-girl like me.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Universal Studios in Hollywood has two levels, connected by a series of super-steep escalators.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Those escalators are almost a thrill ride in themselves, if you’re not big on heights.<\/p><\/div>\n

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A large percentage of the rides at Universal were\u00a03D effects rides, which is not altogether surprising. \u00a0Our favourite rides overall were the King Kong ride on the studio tour, Jurassic Park and Transformers, with Nate putting in a special mention\u00a0for the Super Silly Fun Land water playground.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Fun day, but not the funnest ever, thanks to Halloween graphic-ness. \u00a0Meh.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Between Universal Studios and the carpark was the Las Vegas of shopping malls, which was fun to wander around in on the way back to the car. \u00a0We found a place that sold super-delicious cinnamon donuts, freshly made and piping hot.<\/p><\/div>\n

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And this. \u00a0Too funny.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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