Theme Park Review- Universal Hollywood

First on the park slate in California was Universal Studios Hollywood. It wasn't in our original plans, but once we found out there was a new attraction opening on Thursday, July 1, they made up our minds for us.

The park as a whole is very similar to its Orlando brother. It's missing the Rip, Ride, Rocket coaster and the Men in Black shooting ride, but it stole Jurassic Park from Orlando's IOA and has its own mega-attraction in the Studio Tour. Yes you heard that right; the Studio Tour was what everyone was there to see!

To give a bit of reference to this, we should all remember that MGM's backlot tour is pretty much the last thing I would go on in the park. Never-the-less we followed the crowd heading for the Studio Tour as soon as the park opened. Oh sure it may have had a lot to do with the fact that the brand new King Kong 360/3D had its grand opening that day and was a part of the Studio Tour, but either way it was strange to see people sprinting to the Studio Tour.

On this 45 minute tour through the Universal working backlot, there was plenty exciting to see. All of the sets used for multiple movies and tv shows were interesting, as was the anticipation of seeing a celebrity walking through the area. But what everyone was there for was Kong...

In the middle of the tour, the tram takes a turn into a darkened cave representing Skull Island of King Kong fame. Once inside the attraction is like nothing else out there today. It was from the Simpsons/Soarin' but instead of a big screen right in front of your face, there were two hemispheric screens on both sides of you. So the 3D action was going on all around you and it was fantastic.

The only problems with Kong 360/3D was that 1) it was way too short and 2) it was inside of the Tour which left no room for a story line or a good theme in the queue.