Thursday, May 03, 2007

::universal studios::
last saturday, the other half and i went to the hollywood universal studios theme park! we had great fun:)

at the entrance!

the interesting movie sets/exhibits in the theme park - from top left (clockwise): me in front of the the travel book co (seen in the movie notting hill - it was the bookstore owned by hugh grant's character), the other half in the middle of a street with the backdrop of various movie sets, me with babe, the other half with a police car

from top left (clockwise): the other half with a cute yellow cab, me with the astronauts from apollo 13, the other half in front of the marvel mania souvenir shop, me in front of a french cosmetic shop


more static displays..

our first ride was the house of horrors - featuring a cast of famous horror movie characters. the effects and set up were pretty good but it wasnt that scary though..


more rides!! most of them were based on hollywood movies like back to the future, the terminator 2, the mummy, jurassic park, backdraft and shrek; while the special effects 3-stage experience allowed us to learn about the secrets behind the making of special effects in hollywood movies!

the most impressive performance has got to be waterworld, which showcased water and explosive displays, as well as death-defying stunts by the cast!

it was interesting how the cast was actually made up of working actors from tv dramas/sitcoms!

lunch was mexican food, at el pollo loco! their famous flame-broiled chicken was really yummy:)

the other half with the shark from jaws!

me with mr. frankenstein

the other half on a motor bike (from the terminator 2)

the aroma of the gourmet popcorns from popcornopolis proved to be irresistible - here's me looking very happy after getting a pack of their delicious caramel popcorns!

can u see how much caramel covers each popcorn? it was extremely tasty! i love it:) all the calories were totally worth it;) heh.

the other half taking part in a carnival game - all thanks to his polished basketball throwing skills..

he made me very happy by winning for me a popeye stuffed toy:) yayy!! thanks dear!

me, the other half and popeye - on the escalator along skyway, which connects the lower and upper lots of the theme park
a bird's eye view of hollywood and downtown LA from the upper lot of universal studios

the other half looking hungry, with an enormous burger!

me with a very stubbornly stiff british guard - i tried to poke his nose to distract him but he just wouldnt budge!

::universal citywalk::
the universal citywalk is a unique concept - a synthetic city street of interesting shops & restaurants, featuring very outlandish and bold architecture!


look at the impressive use of the very eye-catching visual displays! it was really enjoyable walking along universal citywalk - especially coz of the many street performers (mimers, magicians and magicians) who entertained the crowd!

we had dinner at bubba gump - a nice cosy restaurant owned by the real-life mr. forrest gump (who's a millionaire btw!). the restaurant chain has a concept that is is quite similar to that of fish & co. because we were still quite full after snacking so much during the day, we decided to share bubba gump's famous po-boy shrimp burger and a run forrest run smoothie (strawberry, banana and raspberry yoghurt)! the food and drink were really good:)

service was excellent too:) it was also quite interesting how they had signboards placed on each table. when customers wanted to order anything or seek the assistance of the servers, they could just flash the "stop forrest stop" sign. perhaps it is because the red signboard is so prominent, a server would respond in a matter of seconds (this has been tested and proven;) )