The Western End of Route 66

Jellyfish tank at the Santa Monica Aquarium

I picked up a cold in LA - probably due to jet-lag, and so decided to take it easy today as I was planning on going to Disney on Monday. At this point I regretted not using my LA City Pass the day before as most of the easy-going stuff I felt like doing was closed or had restricted hours on Sundays, or you had to book in advance.

Santa Monica Beach & Pier - view from Palisades Park

So I decided to go to the beach!

Santa Monica is really beautiful, albeit a bit touristy. There's a very famous pier called the Santa Monica pier which is the last point on the Route 66 trail.

By Santa Monica beach there is also Palisades park - just a stretch of grassy tree area as far as I could tell - and the Santa Monica Aquarium. Apparently there is also the original Muscle Beach here too but I didn't see that (or have any interest to).

The Santa Monica Pier as the sun was starting to drop in  the sky...

Entry to the Aquarium was included on the LA City Pass - it's only $5 (or Free for kids under 12) but I'm not sure I would have bothered if it wasn't included. It's run by "Heal The Bay" - a not-for-profit environmental group who also run bay clean-ups and educational workshops. The Aquarium is great if you're interested in rocks, bones, shells, and fish eggs - not so much if you want to sit and watch fishies and other sea creatures swimming about as there's not really very many to look at. They do have interactive activities like touching seaweed or doing shell rubbings though so probably worth it if you're being accompanied by small people.

Ferris Wheel at Santa Monica Pier

Historic Route 66: The End of the Trail
A little ironic that this is where I started my journey...
One day I intend to drive along the whole thing.

On the pier there is a fun fair - rides all day are also included in the City Pass; again, not a massive save, and something I wouldn't have paid to do separately, but I had a nice time going on the Ferris Wheel and some spinning cups etc.

There are also lots of shops - beach ones selling buckets and spades, touristy ones selling postcards and souvenirs, and then a few stalls with people selling handmade jewellery or driftwood carvings. Plus all the typical fun-fair food stands with hot dogs, churros and candy-floss. Towards land, there are also some restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Just like everywhere in LA (and probably any major tourist destination or city), there are loads of buskers.

Santa Monica is Beautiful

Overall, I'd recommend visiting. Even if you're like me and completely adverse to all things sand, the views are spectacular!

64 Zoo Lane... 5333 Zoo Drive...

The LA Zoo! There's not a huge amount that I can say about this, so this is largely a photo blog.

I decided to go to Los Angeles Zoo on Saturday. For some reason I decided not to use my City Pass for the zoo - I'm not really sure why, although I suspect it's because at the time I had other plans for my 3rd City Pass day... Without the pass it costs $20, which I guess is fairly standard for a Zoo.

When I was there it was incredibly hot - the place is a sun trap and you spend most of your time there wandering around because the signs aren't that great. They have a good variety of animals - both big and small, but again, it's just too hot in the Summer!!

Spot the little guy!

Chilean Flamingos

Who knew Turtles had such long necks!!

Even the Kangaroos were
struggling with the heat

"Hey, look at the Kooo-lahs"
- a LA child to another LA Child

The Zoo is also a botanical garden

All the animals were sleeping in the shade.

Don't feed the Tortoise monsters with the crazy sharp teeth!

Rhinos

Beautiful painted elephants around the zoo 

Lots of Zebras

Baby Giraffe!!

Took me all day but I finally found the Elephants!

"You can still see it from there"

- Quote from Jenny, the Warner Bros Tour Guide about the WB Water Tower...

After I left Warner Bros Studios, I waited nearly 45 minutes for an every 10 minutes bus... I wasn't very impressed given that it was around midday and even in the shade it was very hot!

"Krustyland" - The Simpsons Ride

I finally arrived at Universal Studios at around 1:30-2pm. The buses take you to the main road and then you get a little train car up the (very steep) hill to Universal.

A house used in Desperate Housewives

Probably one of the cooler staff
outfits at Universal Studios
#Shrek

With a 3+ Day LA City Pass, Universal is included, which is excellent as tickets are around $95 (nearly £70) separately! I got in the queue (which had no shade) and was stood there for nearly 30 minutes before reaching the front - thankfully it wasn't that long, as not many people seem to go in at lunchtime, but the people in the ticket booths were rather slow... When I finally got to the front of the queue, they then told me that because I had the City Pass, I actually needed to be in the "Special Tickets" queue. I was so cross that they didn't have a sign saying that somewhere?! So off I went to the "Special Tickets" queue, only to have to wait for another 20 minutes with the other 3 people in the queue because there was only one booth open, and the woman at the front was asking some really complicated questions that took forever!

We can just blow up a few
planes for a movie, right?

I think I finally made it in there sometime around 3pm, so I was pretty annoyed as that left me with much less time to do things. I asked the Info desk what the best order to do things in was, and was advised to start with the Studio Tour, as that closes first.

More queuing followed - although that queue had shade for some parts of it, and the water sprayer things on the ceiling which helped, but the shade made it stuffy and there were a lot of hot, bothered, stroppy children both in front and behind me...

Before...

...After

Mum thought I'd love the Studio Tour more than anything - probably because she did back in the 80's - but most of it wasn't that great. They drive you around some of the Film/TV sets, and then you see some of their special effects 'studios'. Some of them were great, like one where they flooded a town in about 30 seconds, and one where they threw a load of train carriages around an underground station and made the roof collapse, but there were lots of really cheesy bits that were just a bit ridiculous and overly American... For example, a lake with a dummy diver in there, the tour guide shouts "This is our diver friend, Steve. Hey Steve", next a Shark appears in the lake behind the diver suit, and the tour guide starts screaming "Ahh, Steve look out behind you" as the shark gets closer and appears to pull the dummy below the water... "Noooo, Steve! Steeeeveee!!", she screams....

10:04pm, 12th November 1955
(Back to the Future)

They had some special "new" 3D bits too - the King Kong and Fast & Furious rides. These are pretty clever as they drive into a garage and display 3D screens on the walls around you, and the floor moves too so you feel like you're being bashed about by a T-Rex and falling off rope bridges and being caught by the King of the Jungle...

After that, I checked out the Shrek ride, as it had a short-ish wait time (around 15 minutes). That was a 3D film in one of those cinemas where the chairs shake and they spray you with water and air etc. It was a spooky, halloween kind of ride which I wasn't so into, but it was quite clever.

At this point, it was probably coming up to 5:30pm. I wanted to see the Waterworld Show at 6:30pm, but wanted to go on some more rides in the meantime. The Jurassic World ride (and a Mummy ride) is on the lower level of Universal, which takes around 10 minutes to get to as it's basically at the bottom of the very steep hill again (although on another side) and so you have to spend ages going up and down escalators to get between the two areas of the theme park.

They are building 

"The Wizarding World
of Harry Potter" 

but it's not open until
April 2016 *sob*

At the top of the very long escalator bit, I asked some Universal staff if I'd have enough time to get down there, go on the Jurassic ride and get back over to the Waterworld show in an hour. "Urrm, maybe not but just wait right here a mo", says one of the (very LA) Universal staff. A minute later, he came back with a Fast-track Queue Jump ticket for one ride. I sprinted down the several sets of escalators/stairs, and shoved my stuff in a locker (it's a wet ride), only to find out that Jurassic has a "Single Riders Line" which, very conveniently, was practically empty.

This was a fun ride. You go on a little boat trip along a river with the Jurassic Park music playing and dinosaurs moving about. Then, you go into a garage sort of thing, and have the T-Rex roar above you, right as you hurtle down a very steep waterfall and splash in the bottom.

I had loaaads of time left, plus my Fast-track ticket, so went for the Simpson's ride too. I waited in a queue for rather a long time (wasn't happy as I was told "it'll be less than 2 minutes"). This one is not suitable for anyone with pretty much any medical conditions whatsoever as it's a "Very Violent" ride - which they weren't joking about. This one you get lined up for ages in a Simpson's themed room before getting directed into your separate rooms with up to 5 other people in your queue. Then you hop into a little car which later on raises up on a pole and very forcefully pushed forwards, backwards, and from side of side while you watch a 3D video of a Simpson's rollercoaster ride with Sideshow Bob...

Waterworld Show

After that ordeal, I ran over to the Waterworld Show which from memory was due to start at 6:30pm (I had about 5 minutes to get across the whole park to get over there), thinking I was going to miss it. I thought it was a bit of a miracle there was any seats left - the only ones available were the non-wet-zone seats (no complaints from me). This was one of those generic shows involving giant spray hoses, jet skis and pyromaniacs supposedly along the theme of the Waterworld film (which I have yet to watch - IMDb only gives it a 6.1/10... I may never get around to it).

Waterworld Pyrotechnics...

Huge American
Hot Dog!

Overall, I'd recommend Universal Studios, but I'm not sure I'd go there more than once (that's a lie, I'll go there again for Harry Potter World, but that's all!). It's just rather overpriced, and it was just so soo hot in August!!

The WB Water Tower

The bus stop was at
the back of the
Jimmy Kimmel
Studio

Yet again, today started with a crazy bus ride.

I got the number 2 from outside the hotel along Sunset Boulevard and then walked to the next stop for the next change. Along comes the bus, just a moment or two later, but as I walked up to the doors, the lady bus driver locked the doors, picked up her bag, and went and sat at the back of the bus... and there she stayed for around 15 minutes.

I wouldn't have minded quite so much, but LA bus stops rarely have seats next to them, or shade. So you tend to be left standing at the side of the road in baking heat until the next bus decides to turn up - or let you on...

The TV Studio side of Warner Bros Studios

When I finally got on the bus, I asked the driver which bus stop I needed to get off at for the "Warner Bros Studio Tour". She looked at me like I was insane. "Urr, when it says 'Warner Bros...?!".

This may sound obvious, but Warner Bros Studios is not a small place, and I knew the bus went all the way around it. So when the bus said "Get off here for 'Warner Bros Studios'", I asked her again if this was the right stop for the Studio Tour. "Uh huh", She said.

Buggs Bunny and Daffy Duck welcoming you to the Tour

But no. I had got off about 5 stops early by the TV Studios for the live shows (like Ellen. And with another bus not due to appear for at least 30 minutes, I decided to just walk it instead.

About 15 sweaty minutes later and I finally made it to the Warner Bros Studio Tour. I then got mistaken for being part of the LA City College Tour group and given the 'Blue Group Tour' (which I wouldn't have minded but I didn't really want to go around with the rowdy 18 year olds).

Queue Starts Here

Pre-Tour Intro & Film

I'd booked onto the 11am Tour (the first one that was available). First you get given a letter (A, B, C, etc.) and all wait in a line for them to take you through into a cinema room. 

Once in the cinema, a rather energetic gent came to give us a short talk about Warner Bros, and then put on a film showing the best bits of some of the WB creations. I won't lie, I got a bit emosh over Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Don't judge.

Central Perk!

Once that was finished, a door opened out came a few incredibly exuberant American tour guides. They were each also holding a letter (corresponding to ones that we were given earlier) and then everyone filed out one group at a time into the tour bus parking area where we all got introduced to our over-excited guide, called Jenny. We all then introduced ourselves to the other 10-ish people in our group. I think the others were just 5 x couples but I can't remember.

The Fire-Escape for the famous
Spider-man upside-down kiss

Jenny then shouted out tv shows to see which ones we liked as they tailor the tour to you. I think everyone was into "The Big Bang Theory" and "Friends", and there were a few I'd not heard of. I was the only one that watched "Pretty Little Liars".

We then started off the tour. It's a bit like a mini-city. They have
streets worth of house and shop fronts, with roads and pavements etc. The only things missing were door handles and lights - apparently they add them pre-filming as it helps to age the set to the right era. All the walls were made out of moulded plastic and most buildings are just one-storey - no 'upstairs' in there. Apparently if they have a scene where they need someone hanging out of a top floor window, they just set up some scaffolding inside and get the actor to climb up and stand on it.

Me & the WB Water-Tower

We went past the fire escape steps that hosted the famous upside-down Spider-man kiss for the first Spider-man movie (the one with Kirsten Dunst in it). The fake rain they use in movies has a little bit of flour or white paint in it to make it easier to be seen on camera, and they make extra big droplets too. When they turned Tobey Maguire (Spider-man) upside-down for this kiss, he kept choking because the water was going up his nose so they plugged his nostrils with cotton wool! That's why she only pulls his mask up past his mouth - else you'd be able to see his stuffed nose. They also had to use warm water, because Kirsten was wearing basically nothing and kept getting too cold.

Number 4, Privet Drive
Little Whinging, Surrey

We also saw the WB famous water tower. Jenny joked about how a rabbit lived in there but only came out on special occasions... Apparently they've got it where it is because it's visible from Universal Studios, so it's a nice little reminder of the competition for them. Haha!

The Harry Potter Museum: Nimbus 2000 

Next was the Batman and Harry Potter Museum - which is on-site. We had 15 mins to wander around and see the memorabilia so, naturally, I skipped Batman and went straight up the stairs to the Harry Potter section.

Dobby the House Elf

They had the Privet Drive sign, loads of the costumes (mostly from the later films), the Marauders Map, statues of Dobby, Goblins and a petrified Hermione (from Book 2), all of the sweets, wizard games and much more. I loved it.

The Sorting Hat

They also had the Sorting Hat and stool which you could have a go sitting on and being sorted - and it actually moved and talked like the real one in the films too (it probs was the real one!) I got sorted into Hufflepuff (still not sure how I feel about it but Becky recently showed me "19 Reasons Everyone Should Want To Be A Hufflepuff" which makes me feel better about my house). I wanted a picture of my sorting experience, but sadly there wasn't anyone around to do this for me.

The Letters! #NoPostOnSundays

Jenny told us that we had to look out for the golden snitch. Apparently it was hidden somewhere but I ran out of time so I didn't find it :(

Another street... This one has been used in lots of things,
including 'The Notebook'

We also went past all the work shops - they make loads of props and things on-site. All the moulded plastic walls etc. are made there. Jenny said it's much cheaper and easier for them to just build something to use for filming on site than to hire out somewhere and travel. There is a huge warehouse full of props which people can hire on the WB Studio website. They also have a fully working gas/petrol station on-site, and they use every bit of the whole site for filming - even the car park.

7

Lorries from other studios collecting props
(The two in the middle were from Disney!)

Next was a big studio where Jenny showed us how their tv-sitcoms work. We weren't allowed to take any photos in there - I'm assuming because of 'trade secrets' or something. They have these tiny sets with open fronts and a seating area for audiences who can watch while the episodes are filmed live. This does mean that audiences are often watching the same scenes over and over again, and that a 20 minute episode can take around 4-8 hours to film.

Bat-Mobile

They also play the adverts as they would be shown at the right places and check for any advertising conflicts - for example, if there was a scene where a character just got food poisoning from eating a pizza, it wouldn't look so good if they then put on an advert for Pizza Express...

The Batman Light

The studio audience have microphones over their heads too, which picks up their laughs. If you have an annoying or great laugh, they can turn your microphone down, or up respectively. The whole idea of having a live studio audience came from Lucille Ball (from "I Love Lucy") who was used to having a live audience and found it off-putting to act with no laughter as she couldn't judge what was working or not.

After this, we went to a big warehouse known as "The Bat Cave" where they had all the Bat-Mobiles. I'm not that into Batman so wasn't too bothered but it was interesting to see how some things worked. Apparently most of the cars were real and driveable.

We spotted Raj Koothrappali from the Big Bang Theory!
He's in the car!

Last was the Warner Bros Tour Museum, known as Stage 48 (which is part of the tour and I don't think you can visit separately). There we said goodbye to Jenny. Inside they have all sorts of memorabilia from various WB films and tv shows, and then there's an interactive bit where you can get your photo taken on the sofa in Central Perk, riding a Quidditch broom, or floating in the space suit from Gravity.

Actor's Trailers

I got through that section pretty quickly as most of the interactive bits are probably better to do if you're with people, and moved on to the WB gift shop. I was fascinated by the Harry Potter wands and one of the girls in the shop told me all about the reasons behind the designs of each different wand.

Every 'Friends' script

And that was it! All in all, it took about 1.5 hours. Definitely worth doing. I think it costs $62, but it was included in the LA Go Card!

Harry Potter Wands

"Ride on the Quidditch Broom"
- You can then take home a video of you riding it

The Harry Potter Wands of
Dumbledore's Army members