{"id":67928,"date":"2018-12-27T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/?p=67928"},"modified":"2022-04-08T23:02:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T03:02:48","slug":"review-studio-tour-universal-studios-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/review-studio-tour-universal-studios-hollywood\/","title":{"rendered":"A Review of the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where can you get a behind-the-scenes studio tour of movie and TV productions and take in several experiences in one ride? At Universal Studios Hollywood, of course!<\/p>\n

All Aboard the\u00a0Studio Tour<\/h2>\n

There is a queue, but, fear not\u2014trams leave continuously, and each tram carries 192 people. The trams take guests past working soundstages and parts of the back lot. It is unlikely that you will run into any celebrities, but John Badham, the director who gave us WarGames<\/em>, the 1979 version of\u00a0Dracula<\/em>, and Saturday Night Fever<\/em>, once worked as a tour guide, so you never know.<\/p>\n

\"Studio<\/p>\n

The tram passes through various street scenes, some looking like old Western towns, others dubbed \u201cgeneral purpose sets\u201d for town scenes. Even Walt Disney Studios has used the back lot for movies such as 101 Dalmatians<\/em>\u00a0and the Pirates of the Caribbean\u00a0<\/em>series.\u00a0The Wisteria Lane neighborhood is home to the Desperate Housewives.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Other sets include the house used by Hitchcock for Psycho\u00a0<\/em>and Dr. Seuss\u2019s How The Grinch Stole Christmas.<\/em><\/p>\n

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War of the Worlds:<\/em>\u00a0One Costly Movie Set<\/h2>\n

Steven Spielberg\u2019s 2005 War of the Worlds <\/em>set is the most dramatic one that the tram passes, and it did cost a small fortune. While the movie was shot on several locations, the airliner crash scene was shot at the Universal Studios lot in Hollywood. Spielberg purchased and transported a Boeing 747 to the lot, where it was chopped apart into massive pieces to create the wreckage scene, with damaged houses built around it. The price tag for the airliner was $50,000; transportation costs were an additional $2 million. Spielberg filmed on set for three days; the scene appears in the movie for a few minutes.<\/p>\n

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The tram also passes an area featuring all kinds of vehicles used in movies and TV shows. The cars on display change at times, but currently you can see the Ford Mustang built for Knight Rider<\/em>, Biff’s Ford from the Back to\u00a0<\/em>the Future\u00a0<\/em>movies, the M2 Bradley IFV from Transformers<\/em>, and several cars from the Flintstones\u00a0<\/em>movie, just to name a few.<\/p>\n

About Earthquakes, Flash Floods, and Monsters of the Land and Sea<\/h2>\n

Special effects are on full display when the tram enters a soundstage simulating an 8.3 earthquake inside the San Francisco BART station. Sparks fly, gasoline tanks explode, and water floods the station in an impressive show of movie magic.<\/p>\n

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That same magic is also at work at the Old Mexico buildings, where torrential rain leads to a flash flood. Old Mexico has been used in movies such as Three Amigos\u00a0<\/em>and is the site for Tortuga in Pirates of the Caribbean<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The tram passes several bungalows used by famous directors throughout the years. Bungalow 5195 is marked by a silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock who had his personal office here.<\/p>\n

The set of his movie Psycho, <\/em>including the Bates Motel and Psycho house, is one stop where the tram does not linger long, as a knife-wielding actor, portraying Norman Bates, is on the lookout for another victim.<\/p>\n

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Talking about victims, Bruce, the shark from Steven Spielberg\u2019s Jaws,\u00a0<\/em>looms in the harbor of Amity. The New England seaside village is a reproduction of the Martha\u2019s Vineyard location where Jaws\u00a0<\/em>was filmed.<\/p>\n

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The animatronic shark seems to move effortlessly in its current setting, but Bruce gave Spielberg lots of headaches while shooting on location, as he did not do well in salt water. In addition to having a penchant for sinking to the bottom of the sea, Bruce also needed extensive, daily cleaning.<\/p>\n

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The King is Back and Reigns on Skull Island<\/h2>\n

Peter Jackson\u2019s award-winning remake of\u00a0King Kong\u00a0<\/em>shines inside a soundstage turned into Skull Island. Here, dinosaurs wage a ferocious battle, even attacking the tram. Special effects of the King Kong: 360 3-D attraction are fabulous. The tram drives on a motion-based platform\u2014tilting, raising up, and dropping down\u2014all the while, riders are exposed to air blasts, water, the jungle\u2019s mist, and even Kong\u2019s breath. The ride replaced King Kong Encounter, an attraction destroyed by a massive fire in June 2008.<\/p>\n

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Fast & Furious: Supercharged <\/i>Finale<\/h2>\n

The Studio Tour ends in an 809-feet-long building featuring the world\u2019s longest 3D projection installation. Here, the riders of the tram come upon a racer party\u00a0in full swing. Agent Novak puts an end to the fun, and soon guests are in the middle of a high-speed car chase.<\/p>\n

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The entire Studio Tour takes about 50 minutes and is an absolute must for any visitors to Universal Studios Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Have you visited Universal Studios Hollywood for the Studio Tour.\u00a0Let us know about your experience in the comments,\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0<\/em>on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/em>!<\/p>\n

Did you like this article? Make sure to share it with your friends! Check below for easy ways to share!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Want to visit the California themed destinations? Contact\u00a0The Magic for Less Travel<\/a>\u00a0for more information and a free, no-obligation quote.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    Where can you get a behind-the-scenes studio tour of movie and TV productions and take in several experiences in one ride? At Universal Studios Hollywood, of course! All Aboard the\u00a0Studio Tour There is a queue, but, fear not\u2014trams leave continuously, and each tram carries 192 people. The trams take guests past working soundstages and parts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":67940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[276],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-adventures-to-destinations-other-than-disney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67928"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68142,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67928\/revisions\/68142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themouseforless.com\/blog_world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}