hooray for hollywood

this is what vacations do to our children.

someone should stop us.

we try to squeeze every possible thing into every possible day so they all end up like this.

the funny thing is this is on the way to universal studios. it's only about 9:00 in the morning and she's only been up for an hour and a half. poor child.

i tried to get emily and taylor to do this but they weren't feeling it.

she'll stick with seemingly harmless bunnies.

and homer simpson.

when we got to the park there weren't a lot of people here yet so we pretty much could do whatever we wanted. we went on the simpsons ride first. barf. talk about motion sickness.

and we went on jurassic park a couple times cause we could walk up and hop in the boat with no waiting at all. this was a good ride for taylor since the last six years had him convinced that we made him go on the scariest ride on the planet. after the first time i think he was convinced he might have been over reacting just a smidge.

we also went on the mummy which is one of my favorites. i kick myself every time i think about not buying our picture from that ride. 

most rides take a picture at the end but this one takes the pictures at the beginning. 

right when it takes off. 

i almost died when we saw it afterward. the looks on all of our faces were priceless.

pure terror. 

kicking myself again just writing about it.

grrrr!!!

anyway, after we rode those rides we walked around and took in a few shows.

during our stroll we ran into scooby and his gang.

we saw the terminator show, which was so cool!

we went on the tram ride which is my favorite of all. 

i'm always hoping i will see someone famous while we are on the movie lot but it's never happened.

i also dream about what it would be like to work there.

my dram job.

so the tour hasn't changed much in the 20 years i have been going to universal but a few things have.

jaws is still the same. it's funny cause he looks so vicious here but in person he is so mechanical and a little lame.

always make for a good picture though.

this is one thing that has changed.

let me back it up just a second.

we were told that sitting in the back of the tram was a little better for seeing the tour so we sat in the very last row with me on the right hand side so i could take pictures.

fast forward to now.

they have always had the psycho house on the lot but this is a new little feature.

so we drive by this hotel and this creepy guy is carrying a body out of a room.

when i say creepy i mean creepy. 

super creepy.

waaaaaay creepy.

so the tour guide is going on about how we probably shouldn't have seen this and we should get out of there quick...as the tram is driving 3 miles an hour.

so he puts the body in the trunk and looks at the tram with pure evil in his eyes.

he begins to walk over, knife in hand, in that slow, murderous, hunter stalking it's prey walk and it's creepy but entertaining. 

as the tram starts to pick up speed i'm starting to realize that by the time he gets to the tram it's going to be near the end.

where i am.

on the side that i am on.

he was so good at his character that i wanted to get a picture up close because he was so creepy. 

have i said that?

so the tram is picking up speed and before i know it he has his knife up and he is running straight at me.

this is the great picture i got between screaming and ducking.

classic right?

that guy still gives me the creeps.

moving on to shrek.

emily wanted her picture with shrek and fiona.

you can tell by her face that she isn't really sure about him.

why?

he asked her if she was a mouse, she said yes and he said that he eats mice.

she high tails it to the corner hoping fiona will protect her from the giant green ogre.

about then shrek walks over to her and she about loses it.

not really sure why he was so scary to her but this picture says it all.

she was ready to be done. she put on her "get this picture taken and get me the $!&% out of here" face and she was gone.

we saw the water world show, that is always good, and decided that we had had enough here.

then i had the great idea to take the kids to the chinese theater. 

we took them before but thought they would remember it more now so we went back.

taylor got to step in will smith's shoes.

emily held hands with emma watson, although i'm not sure why she wanted to see hers so bad since she isn't that into harry potter.

she also wanted to see "someone from mammai mia" so we lucked out when i found meryl streep.

we also learned that she has tiny hands.

we had a great day doing the hollywood thing but are ready to go home, relax and gear up for our last disney day.