USA Day 10 : BACK TO SINGAPORE

Its the Last day of our USA trip. 

Able to sleep late today as we are gathering only at 10am to depart for the Airport to catch our flight back to Sunny Island.

Was feeling kinda sad when i woke up this morning, just like how i always feel when my holidays are ending, but well, all good things come to an end, because there's an end to all great trips only then will we be looking forward to the next trip.

Upon Arrival at Los Angeles Airport, we went to check in at SQ counter and went straight to the departure halls assuming we can smoke inside the departure area. 

While inside the Departure area, after a Stringent security check, we asked around for the smoking room and was told that there is no smoking room in the airport! WTF! NO SMOKING ROOM!?!?! I almost wanted to get out of the departure hall for a smoke den come back in but it was too troublesome, so forget about it.

Waited for 2.5 hours without having a place to smoke for our boarding time.
Kind of boring as their airport is small, nothing much to shop.
Nothing to do at all except sitting down at Starbucks to have some drinks.

its always hard to say goodbye to a place where we had so much fun.

Its my first time to USA, i have never been to other parts of USA before but California left a deep impression on me. The people here are all friendly and nice, very well mannered and never in a rush.

When crossing the roads, so many times we jaywalked as there isn't any traffic lights in sight, sometimes because we are plain lazy to walk over to the traffic lights, the drivers NEVER once Honked at us when we blocked their way, they simply slow down and stop to let us finish crossing before continuing their journey. In Singapore if i do this, i will probably be honked at a thousand times or i will probably already be knocked down.

Their restaurants does not charge a standard service fee, we tipped according to how well the services rendered, ranging from 10% - Bad, 15% - Good to 18% or more - Excellent. We tipped most of the time a 15% - 18% tip as their services are all Great. The servers there never fail to have a smile on their face, they will ask you in between meals if everything is ok, they will always be there to assist you if you require any extra things, no doubt they are working for the tips, but still im happy giving it. Unlike in Singapore, even though there are nice and helpful servers, but most of the time, i have my fair bit of encounters with rude and black faced servers that makes me feel like i killed them in their previous life.

Oh, and their toilets! the most important thing for me as i tend to drink alot of water and keep having to go to their restrooms. The restrooms in California are all EXTREMELY CLEAN, with toilet seats covers for us to use and most importantly, TOILET PAPERS ARE IN ABUNDANCE! no need to be afraid of shit liao, toilet paper not enuff. lol.

Not to forget about how selfless the people i met were, they are willing to open the door for you even though you are still a distance away, a taxi driver i met at Las Vegas stop his car, wound down his window to tell us we are going the wrong way. i probably would not meet such nice people in Singapore. Not saying that Singaporeans are not nice, but we are just too Shy to be nice to strangers for fear of being mocked or scolded.

We should learn from the American culture.

THE WORLD IS NOT COMPLICATED AT ALL. HUMANS ARE. 

This trip left me with beautiful and fond memories.

Well well, actually every single trip i went with Angry Smurf, regardless long or short always gives me happy and fond memories.



This is the end of my 19-30 Dec West USA trip. 
Shall start looking forward to my 8-14 March Hongkong trip now.. 

USA Day 9 : LA - UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD

Today is the last full day we have in Los Angeles.

We are going to Universal Studios Hollywood! Another YAY!

We asked Hammond to help me purchase the Front Of Line tickets so that we do not have to spend time queuing up for the rides there. It cost us 80USD per Pax.

I've been to USS with Angry Smurf 4 times since its opening, usually when we feel that the queue for the rides are too long, we asked about the Express Pass ticket, most of the time its about SGD$75.00 and we always walk away after asking cos we felt its too expensive! However, i feel that 80USD per pax for the Front of Line tix in USH is all so WORTH IT! LOL. 

Our morning call today is around 515am, gotta meet the group at around 8am after we have our breakfast.
I thought that we will be going straight to USH early in the morning so that we have more time there as the coach will be picking us up in the evening at 630pm to head back to the hotel.

However in the morning, we are actually going to drive down to downtown Los Angeles to see the Famous Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Walk of Fame.

***************

Our OOTD. Matching Mickey Mouse T-Shirt we bought at Disneyland Yesterday

Our Front of Line Pass! YAY! NO QUEUING FOR US 4!

Hammond passed us the Map to USH. and im shocked! Shock that USH only got a few rides... :S

Driving along Beverly Hills, Hammond was showing us the house of Madonna and Marilyn Monroe, its pretty cool that Hollywood area actually have tours that shows pple where all the famous actors and actresses stays. LOL. too bad im with a tour group otherwise im sure gonna sign myself up for the Local tour to see where the Famous pple lives!

Hammond was telling us about Beverly Hill area where they actually have their own police station, meaning to say that with a call, the police have to arrive within a few minutes.

Paparazzi's are also always seen acting like a resident and jogging around the estate so that they can get first hand insider scope about the celebrities they are shadowing. hahahah!

I was asleep while Hammond is telling all us this on the coach and im surprised i actually remember some of the things he said despite i m sleeping, so its true that your brain is still taking in information when one is asleep.

The house of Madonna

The tour bus that brings you around Hollywood to see where the Celebrities lives!

The Hollywood Walk of Fame.

THE MOST LIFELIKE WAX FIGURE EVER! 
THEY MADE SHREK LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE IN THE MOVIES! LOL.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Headed to Universal Studios after our short tour at Downtown LA.

The Universal Studio Globe looks like some broken piece of metal.
Singapore one is actually much nicer.

We exchanged for our Front of Line Pass at the Main Entrance...

SAY YES TO NOT QUEUING UP! even though only once per ride la! also SHUANG LIAO!

I do not know what time the park opens, but we arrived around 10am and its already packed with people.
七早八早，人山人海了。

We Deviated from the tour group cos we are the only ones that purchased the Front Of Line passes, so no point queuing up with them.

Universal Studios Hollywood is divided into 2 Lots.
The Upper Lots which have all the shows venues.
The Lower Lots where all the Rides are located.

We headed straight for the Studio tour at the Upper Lot.

The queue for the studio is extremely long but the wait time is only 25min.
Later down in the day, we saw the waiting time to be 120 minute!

The Studio Tour is superb!
DO NOT MISS IT FOR ANYTHING IF ANY OF YOU GOES TO USH!

After the tour, i realised that so many Hollywood Movies uses fake backdrops and the effects are real cool!
Glad that we manage to experience it first hand!

Managed to get onto the front seats for the tram that is leaving as that is last 2 seats left. HAPPY!

Tram drivers giving us introductions of all the areas we passed by.

The Sound Stage where The Voice is filmed at.

The Street where they Filmed Jim Carrey's 'Bruce Almighty'.
This is the street where Bruce carried his dog and ran out onto the pathway as the dog is peeing along the way.

The Cityhall building featured in Back to the Future.
Never watched that movie before though.

This street is featured in some parts of Man of Steel and Captain America!

The streets they make to film movies are cool!
First you see a very old english street but right after a turn, its a totally different stretch of streets.

After the tour of the streets they filmed so many movies in, the tram went into a dark room, for our 3D King Kong experience! 

The King Kong 3D experience is way too cool to describe!
i did not expect that to a be simulated 3D ride...
how cool it is for such a long tram to be moving & jerking around after parking onto the tracks inside the dark room.

Ah Kong saving us all from the Man-eating T-rex that is attacking our tram.
All the photos are blurred because the tram is too shaky.

After the AMAZING King Kong 3D experience, the tram moves on to bring us around the rest of the studio.

Parking along the sides of the driveways are cars used in movie blockbusters like Jurassic Park, the Fast & Furious Franchise, The Knight Rider and Flintstones.

Right after seeing the SUPER cars parked alongside the driveway, we are brought to this stretch of streets where they filmed dunno wad movie.

Looking just like a normal street, but with the click of a button, its starts to rain, and soon CAME A FLASH FLOOD! 

Still looking Normal!

FLOOD LAI LIAO!

After experiencing how a flash flood looks like, we moved forward to a short stretch of road where some parts Skull Island is created.

The Boat seems REAL on Film, but its actually only the size of an average human lying flat.
COOL SHIT!

Now, we are taken into an underground train station.
Where an Earthquake occurs!
Fires broke out.
Water pipes burst.
Train breaking in 2.

真的很 COOL!

Next, if you watch Jaws, you will find that Amity Island area familiar.
Its actually just a small pond.

Fun Fact : the Shark Created for JAWS actually sank to the bottom of Atlantic Ocean during their first filming. LOL. The other Sharks created are always not working. so its actually quite tough filming the whole movie of JAWS with faulty fake sharks.

After JAWS filming area, we passed by the houses of the woman in Desperate Housewifes!

Watch Grinch perform after moving to the street next to where the Desperate Housewifes stays...
So they live next to Grinch.

After the Happy Performance by Grinch and frens, we drove by the Set of The Psychos.
Dunno what movie also but its actually a movie screened many years ago.

The Psycho Killer trying to dispose of the body of the woman he killed.!
HE SAW US!

Walking over to KILL US!

RAN AWAY from the Psycho Killer and came to a Plane Crash Site.
The Plane Crash site is Spectacular.
They used a real Boeing 747 plane and destroy it to make the plane crash seems real.
Even the destroyed seats inside the plane are crafted with details

After the 1 hour long Studio Tour, we sure had a TRAMTASTIC MORNING!

Time to have our lunch before continuing our day in USH.

Fried Chicken for me, Chicken Salad for Angry Smurf.

I have been eating FRIES EVERYDAY.
Angry Smurf have been eating SALAD EVERYDAY!
OK! No wonder he's skinny and im fat.

Right after our lunch, we have to do the usual thing.
Find the smoking area.
We wanted to watch The Waterworld show after lunch but USH has only 1, ONE SMOKING AREA IN THE PARK! which is located at the Lower Lot where all the rides are!

The Upper Lot and Lower Lot are connected thru escalators.

Its a long long way down from the Upper Lot to the Lower Lot, so we decided to take the rides first before going back up to watch all the shows available.

First Ride of the day. RIGHT AFTER OUR LUNCH.

Ride : Jurassic Park - The Ride
This Ride seems just like any other water rides which brings you around Jurassic Park where you get to see all the dinosaurs. Nothing scary.

EXCEPT IT DROPS 7 STOREY DOWN AT THE END OF THE RIDE!

Me and Angry Smurf are sitted at the first row!
Both of us had a GOOD SCREAM DOWN THE STEEP SLOPE! LOL!

Next attraction of USH, Revenge of the Mummy Ride.
We decided to skip this ride thinking it is the same as SG.

At the end of the day, Serene told us about the ride and we are glad we skipped it.
In USS, the Mummy Ride actually goes backwards a little, and continued going forward.
In USH, the whole ride goes backwards!

Heng we nv play, if not i might shit in my pants. and my back issue would probably come back again with the the bumpy against the back of the seat.. LOL

Ride : Transformers The Ride 3D

The Transformers ride is exactly the same thing as USS, but still enjoyed it as it is the first time Me & Angry Smurf gets to sit side by side for this ride. Thanks to our Front of Line pass.

Back in SG, we always go by the Single Rider line cos the waiting time is always more than 1 hour.

we look like Cyclops

After our 2 rides, we queued for Ben & Jerry before going back to the Upper Lot to catch some shows first.

First show we watch is The Waterworld show.
Similar to the one is USS but with more stunts and effects..

After the show, we have to wait 45min before the next show time for other shows, so we just walk around while waiting for the time.

Take before with them in USS, so USH also must take one pic.

20min more to the Furry Actors show.
Angry Smurf decides that he need to buy some coffee.
While he is queueing up for coffee, i decided to queue to take photos with the Minions! BANANA!

This photo looks like those photos Private Investigators would capture of their target.

Photos with the Minions! YAY! but only one photo per group allowed. :(
Wanted to hold the hand of the minion but too big for me to hold! so Grab one finger also can!

Time for our Furry Animal Actors show.
After watching the show, im amazed at how animals can actually all be trained if we spend time doing so!
The trainers for the shows actually trains Dogs, Cats and Parrots. sound normal right?
THEY also train PIGS, RATS, EAGLES, BIRDS & CHICKEN! INCREDIBLE!

After our 25min Animal Actors show, its time for my afternoon tea break.
Got myself a Cup of Popcorn before going to watch the Special Effects show.

After our last show of the day, we went back down to the Lower Lot to play the last ride USH have to offer.

Ride : The Simpsons Ride
 The Simpsons ride is another 4D simulation RollerCoaster ride.

After The Simpsons ride, its time to eat some BIG TURKEY LEG before going out to gather.
Angry Smurf has been wanting to eat it since Disneyland yesterday.

The Crooked Xmas Tree

Bye Universal Studios Hollywood!
We had fun!

Dejected Mickey Smurf

As we have a Universal Studio in Singapore, i cant help but compare between both of them.
No doubt, USH is very big and they have a spectacular Studio Tour, but still, i felt that USS is actually better.
Probably because USS is newer and it has more rides!
Nonetheless, i still had a day of fun at USH! There will be new rides coming back in Spring 2014.