Universal Studios.

WARNING!! More spoilers ahead!

Since we had to check out that morning we didn't manage to get to the Theme park until about 10 o'clock. As we entered through the gates we were already aware that it was going to be a scorcher of a day. We quickly headed for the first queue we saw to get out of the sun. This turned out to be the Shrek ride and after waiting the obligatory 5 mins we were ushered in to what is a combination of 3D cinema with moving chairs and effects to make you feel like you are in the film. Not a true simulator as such but still a lot of fun. After fighting our way out of the traditional gift shop we headed over to the Hollywood Rip Rocket roller-coaster. The main feature of this ride is that you are allowed to choose what music you would like to listen to as the ride goes round from a selection of 36 tracks split into 6 categories, however since you have no idea what songs are available until you get on the ride and only have 30seconds to strap in and choose it's quite easy to end up with a song randomly chosen for you. Rather than the usual harness, you are are strapped in by a sort of ring which makes everyone look like they are wearing life belts. While this allows you more freedom it actually puts a lot of strain, especially since the initial climb is completely vertical, on your neck and both of us found we had a sore head every time we rode it. We then proceeded through the mock New York, which was less than convincing as the roads were far too well maintained and it was nowhere near crowded enough, to enter the Revenge of the Mummy ride, this turned out to be our favourite ride in the park as the roller-coaster is completely in the dark and includes several pyrotechnic effects which all add to the experience, we were also oddly impressed by how well the mummy figures moved. After emerging into the scorching sun once more we just had a short walk to the Blues Brothers performance complete with arrival in a beat up old police car with a HUGE speaker on top. As usual the quality of the performances was really high and thoroughly entertaining. By this time it was so hot that we were dodging from shade to shade as we proceeded to the next ride. However we discovered that it had a wait time of half an hour as it was approaching midday. We had noticed by this point that all the Americans only show up to the theme park at about 11.30 and go home at about 4 which effectively means that they all end up queuing all day because they all show up at the same time, and during the hottest part of the day. After discovering that the Jaws ride was having technical difficulties we headed to the Men In Black ride. This turned out to be similar to the ghost train at Alton towers but it took itself far too seriously and lacked the comedy awfulness of Alton towers, as a result we left slightly disappointed. After a quick stop at the 'refresher' station which merely soaked the back of your legs we headed for the Simpsons ride. This is a true simulator which has you whizzing around KrustyLand and Springfield while attempting to escape Sideshow Bob. The effect is really well done, we both left with big grins on our faces. We just had time to catch the Terminator 2 show before lunch. This is a really cool 3D film where the actors enter and leave the screen several times throughout the show. After grabbing something to eat we headed back to the Disaster ride to find that the queues had now gone down to 15 mins since all the American had gone to lunch. In this ride you took on the role of an Extra who has answered an add to be in their latest production. 6 people are chosen to play particular parts and you are then ushered into the next room where they film various scenes and have you wondering how they could possibly be related, you are then herded onto a mock subway train and proceed to the next station where an earthquake is simulated while a person on the screen tells you how you are supposed to react all the while. After the collapsed road, derailed train and flooding station your train then heads back to where it started and the TV screens play the trailer for Disaster Studios latest production which includes all the scenes which have been filmed while you were on the ride, very clever really! Since the Jaws ride was still having difficulties we then went on the two roller-coasters again before it was fixed. This ride has you riding around on a boat tour around this island where the attack which inspired the film originally happened. After a short while a distress call comes over the radio and as you turn the corner you come across a sinking tour boat. It's at this point that the shark appears and starts to attack the boat. The ride continues as you try to escape from him until eventually he is killed by a high voltage cable. We decided that we were on the wrong side of the boat and went back on the again a bit later. It was really interesting to see the same script delivered in a completely different way by our new tour guide. This time we were on the correct side of the boat and got sprayed by the nice cooling water as Jaws was killed for the second time in 10 mins. We then just had time to go on a couple of rides again before it was closing time. As we wandered around CityWalk again we came across a club which had a free performance by Josh Kelly who neither of us had heard of but turned out to be really good. Him and his mate Eric bantered quite a bit and not only sang and played very well but liked to mix things up by incorporating other peoples songs into theirs at random points!! After that there was just time to find that the Latin bar was not playing Salsa music (MEH!!!!!!) before we headed back to the car and drove off to a rest stop for the night.