Disneyland 3: 2 Universal 4 Accessibility
Oct. 13th, 2016 04:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrSo yesterday we went to Universal Studios Hollywood! And to give an idea how tiring it was, we both slept in until 8:30am this morning instead of the usual 5am, got some shopping, then napped until 2pm. It had a few hurdles, both expected and wtf, but was overall a great day.
So! Cam had booked us VIP tours since he'd really enjoyed his last time, and while they're ridiculously expensive it's also a unique experience. We were going to use public transport to Universal which is just outside LA and thus an hour from Anaheim, but at the last minute booked a Grayline bus. Cam rang to check it would fit my wheelchair but when it turned up it could not, and everything got delayed while the driver talked to main office and then had to physically lift the chair in with Cam's help. It turned out we weren't going straight there, either, but stopping at the bus depo to get Universal tickets for those who booked them with their transport. "It's ok we're still running 45 minutes early for the tour" said Cam.
And then... the police showed up. In large numbers. All buses were grounded and the passengers forced to get out and line up on the tarmac. "Probably a fugitive, lol" said Cam. The driver (who seemed resigned and cynical about the police) said I should stay, so I did. And waited...
Finally everyone came back, turned out it was a fugitive! A carjacker had run into the bus depo, but the search hadn't flushed him out, he seemed to have gotten away. All that had been achieved was making us late for our tour. Very thoughtless of him and the police! /entitled tourist grumbling.
I was thus rather more tense on the hour long drive than I would liked to have been, but did enjoy the driver's cheery notes on interesting places we passed and advice for Universal. I'd been looking forward to the buffet breakfast but had brought food so ate that. We rushed to the VIP area for our tour and were told it had just left, a staff member took my power chair, got me a manual wheelchair then walked us to the bus/trolley. There was the option to bring my chair on the trolley with a wheelchair lift but it sounded annoying and Cam was fine pushing me for the short walks involved.
The tour was really fun! The basic one just drives around but the VIP one involved getting out and looking at stuff. The tour guide was an absurdly pretty little man called Cory with neat designer stubble, shades, and overwhelming self confidence who unsurprisingly turned out to be an aspiring actor. Something he and the other staff did was mention the names of Universal directors/actors etc as much as possible, in a "I'm Troy McClure, you may know me from..." sort of way. He was good at explaining the context of buildings and sets and effects etc, less good at the guiding thing, confidently striding quickly through crowds or up stairs without paying much attention to whether everyone was able to follow.
We got to see inside a soundstage setting up for an episode of the gameshow Hollywood Game Night, which had a "room" minus fourth wall and an "outdoor" section with fake plants and skyline. We then saw a bunch of back lot sets, including the Back To The Future clock, alleyway where Captain America got beat up and Spiderman kissed Mary Jane, Bates Motel, seaside setting of both Jaws and Murder She Wrote (which now has a very fake animatronic shark to splash tours), and Whoville. There were also a bunch of Generic Streets eg New York, Western, Old Mexico, Europe. I understand the usefulness, and the way they get redecorated to be different periods and places is very clever, but I kept thinking about how their existence encourages the generic nature of movies and tv, since the more different the setting the more it costs to change the facades. Every time we saw a thing the tv in the trolley would show scenes from that thing being used in movies and tv which was cool.
Then, amusingly, there was a fake "police fugitive search". Unlike the real one it was thrilling and fun, with Fast and Furious actors in prerecorded "video conversation" with Cory and then in various not quite convincing 3D-ish scenes on a track. There was also a cool fake subway station that had an earthquake and got flooded with water, we then got to see the same set used in an episode of Bones. Cory's ability to be convincingly scared about the fugitive/earthquake etc does not give me great hopes for his acting career. Finally we saw the props department, including props from some famous movies and the fake, different-enough-not-to-get-sued Beverly Hills sign Universal uses to avoid paying fees for filming the real one.
Then the return of my powerchair and on to rides and lunch! Lunch was a VIP tour exclusive buffet which was fantastic, including a number of tasty things I could eat. The rides were fun too. The default Universal ride seems to be a chair or 4-6 seater trolley that may move a little on a track but mainly stays in the same place. Most of the "ride" comes from the screen in front of you showing a movie, with the chair possibly tilting on it's axis to match the motion on the screen.
Minions: (Mostly?) stationary seat with 3D glasses and a silly but fun 3D movie where you get turned into a minion and have wacky adventures in the laboratory with Gru and his daughters. The bus driver had warned parents not to go in or they'd be forced to buy piles of merchandise, and the shop as your exited certainly did have a lot.
Walking Dead: Sit outside with tour guide and a bored tween, lol. Cory's "US service staff who is also an actor" friendly facade cracked slightly when forced to make small talk with the kid, it probably didn't help that she was really into him. Apparently for those less squeamish the "walk" was a SCARY AS HELL walk past animatronic zombies supplemented with actors who reach out and touch you.
Waterworld: Really good acted live action show on a Waterworld set with a cheesy action script (I was happy about a female character showing up until I realised she was there to be menaced and rescued) Lots of pyrotechnics and acrobatic fight scenes. Also there is a "soak zone" section, before the show started actors revved up the audience by spraying this zone with water going "Are you REALLY SURE you want to be in the soak zone? *spray with water* If so say yeah!" *happily soaked people shout* Pfft, that wasn't loud enough! *spray with water*" etc. And then during the show the actors did a great job during the jet ski chase scenes of "happening" to bank in ways that splashed the soak zone and noone else. There were wheelchair sections at the front in both the soak and non-soak sections, luckily they were pretty easy to find since Cory had walked up the stairs with the rest of the group without warning.
Flight of the Hippogriff: So afaict the queue (which VIPs mostly skip and wheelchair users skip entirely) gets a video of Hagrid talking about Hippogriffs. But for me it was go up in a rollercoaster, see an animatronic hippogriff for some reason, then just fall in spirals for a bit. Cory was dismissive of it as just for kids but I enjoyed it. Cam and another tall, fat guy in our group were too tall to ride it at all.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey: This has test seats to make sure people aren't too big, and Cam and the same other big guy had to sit it out again. Meanwhile I got moved into a manual chair and pushed towards the ride proper by a nice staff member in a Slytherin outfit. The queuing section under Hogwarts was so pretty I was a little sad I didn't get to wander through it at the usual ablebodied-non-VIP pace: long stone and wood walls, moving paintings, floating candles, fairly convincingly integrated video of Dumbledore in his office etc. Then it was onto a moving platform to jump into a 4 person seat with those over the shoulder things they use on the kinds of rides which send you upside down. Which it kind of did! The plot is that you're a muggle who's gotten on a broom for some reason and are avoiding a dragon with Ron, Hermione and Harry. It moved on a track between a combination of 3D-ish video and animatronics, tilting so quickly and at such extreme angles I was too disoriented to notice the transitions. At one point you're jerking about amongst giant spiders that spray you with water, and there's convincingly scary Dementors, it was all very thrilling and SUPER AMAZINGLY fun, probably my favourite ride I've been on all trip. When I got out I tried to downplay how cool it was to Cam, he said I didn't succeed but appreciated the effort.
Olivander's: A tween was picked out of the audience by an actor with a fairly convincing "eccentric English Witch" persona to try out different wands, each of which caused some special effect (flashing lights, moving objects etc) When she found the right one there was a magical glow and sound, it was pretty cool, the girl seemed very happy with her wand. We were then led into the chaotically crowded wand shop itself. The default exit is the top of some stairs, which was annoying, but I managed to push my way back through the crowd to an accessible door. We had a bathroom break, there was a Moaning Myrtle soundtrack I couldn't quite make out and the decor vaguely resembled that from the movie.
At this point it was 5pm. I asked Cory when the tour would end and he said around 6pm. Since our bus left at 6:45pm I pondered if I'd have more fun staying in Hogwarts, Cory said "Oh yeah, I was going to talk to you about that, the next 3 rides are in the "lower lot" which can only be accessed in wheelchairs via a shuttle that can require an up to 45 minute wait". Thanks for the warning, Cory. Cam wanted to do those 3 rides since he'd had to sit out all the Hogwarts ones, so after having a taste of his butterbeer slushie (like butterscotch creaming soda with half liquid icecream on top) I split off from the group by myself to wander the Harry Potter section.
IT WAS SO GREAT. I was worried I'd be put off by how American it is but just thought of it as an American wizarding town with similar names to the English one (and presumably magical snow given the hot LA sun haha) The Hogwarts castle was almost convincingly huge thanks to forced perspective (and is legitimately pretty big) and while the Hogsmeade section is fairly small it was all very atmospheric, with little cobblestone alleyways and themed shops and all the staff in robes and hats. There's spots to stand and do spells with animatronic shop displays that seem to respond, I was highly pleased to have the chance to correct a fellow adult's pronunciation of Wingardium Leviosa at a shop window with moving quidditch balls. The "frog choir" singing with puppets on a stage was pretty silly though.
The whole Olivander's experience had successfully made me want to buy a wand, but they turned out to be $40US plus tax for a bit of prettily moulded plastic which, no. The price didn't seem to put off the many people happily waving them around. I have to wonder how many are successfully persuaded to see them as collectible, nice work Universal. I did want a souvenir though so tried on McGonnagal's hat (too floppy) and settled on a time turner key ring. Honeydukes was fun to walk through and look at sweets but the lines were too long so I eventually left for the rest of the park.
The nearest interesting looking section was the Simpsons area. This is quite large, with stuff like a Krusty Burger and themed sideshows. I went on the Simpson's ride, which was a great ride to end on: it's set in Krusty's theme park and is one big joke about theme parks and theme park rides, including joke "wait time" videos, referring to us as "those tourists" etc. The actual ride is very simple, just a tilting set of seats in front of a screen, but it was funny and enjoyable.
At this point it was now 6ish, so I found a power point in the Three Broomsticks and waited for Cam, who'd finished the tour and wanted to poke around Hogsmeade a bit, then we rushed back to the bus (now with ramp!) and went home. The bus was playing "Finding Neverland" with the sound off, I did my best to ignore it since afaict it has the kind of theme park approach to history I find really annoying and I don't want to be feeling grumpy about theme parks right now.
There's a lot of Universal we didn't get to explore much but the lack of accessibility for both of us was off putting. Maybe we'll go again if we're ever in LA. It was certainly a very Hollywood experience!
So! Cam had booked us VIP tours since he'd really enjoyed his last time, and while they're ridiculously expensive it's also a unique experience. We were going to use public transport to Universal which is just outside LA and thus an hour from Anaheim, but at the last minute booked a Grayline bus. Cam rang to check it would fit my wheelchair but when it turned up it could not, and everything got delayed while the driver talked to main office and then had to physically lift the chair in with Cam's help. It turned out we weren't going straight there, either, but stopping at the bus depo to get Universal tickets for those who booked them with their transport. "It's ok we're still running 45 minutes early for the tour" said Cam.
And then... the police showed up. In large numbers. All buses were grounded and the passengers forced to get out and line up on the tarmac. "Probably a fugitive, lol" said Cam. The driver (who seemed resigned and cynical about the police) said I should stay, so I did. And waited...
Finally everyone came back, turned out it was a fugitive! A carjacker had run into the bus depo, but the search hadn't flushed him out, he seemed to have gotten away. All that had been achieved was making us late for our tour. Very thoughtless of him and the police! /entitled tourist grumbling.
I was thus rather more tense on the hour long drive than I would liked to have been, but did enjoy the driver's cheery notes on interesting places we passed and advice for Universal. I'd been looking forward to the buffet breakfast but had brought food so ate that. We rushed to the VIP area for our tour and were told it had just left, a staff member took my power chair, got me a manual wheelchair then walked us to the bus/trolley. There was the option to bring my chair on the trolley with a wheelchair lift but it sounded annoying and Cam was fine pushing me for the short walks involved.
The tour was really fun! The basic one just drives around but the VIP one involved getting out and looking at stuff. The tour guide was an absurdly pretty little man called Cory with neat designer stubble, shades, and overwhelming self confidence who unsurprisingly turned out to be an aspiring actor. Something he and the other staff did was mention the names of Universal directors/actors etc as much as possible, in a "I'm Troy McClure, you may know me from..." sort of way. He was good at explaining the context of buildings and sets and effects etc, less good at the guiding thing, confidently striding quickly through crowds or up stairs without paying much attention to whether everyone was able to follow.
We got to see inside a soundstage setting up for an episode of the gameshow Hollywood Game Night, which had a "room" minus fourth wall and an "outdoor" section with fake plants and skyline. We then saw a bunch of back lot sets, including the Back To The Future clock, alleyway where Captain America got beat up and Spiderman kissed Mary Jane, Bates Motel, seaside setting of both Jaws and Murder She Wrote (which now has a very fake animatronic shark to splash tours), and Whoville. There were also a bunch of Generic Streets eg New York, Western, Old Mexico, Europe. I understand the usefulness, and the way they get redecorated to be different periods and places is very clever, but I kept thinking about how their existence encourages the generic nature of movies and tv, since the more different the setting the more it costs to change the facades. Every time we saw a thing the tv in the trolley would show scenes from that thing being used in movies and tv which was cool.
Then, amusingly, there was a fake "police fugitive search". Unlike the real one it was thrilling and fun, with Fast and Furious actors in prerecorded "video conversation" with Cory and then in various not quite convincing 3D-ish scenes on a track. There was also a cool fake subway station that had an earthquake and got flooded with water, we then got to see the same set used in an episode of Bones. Cory's ability to be convincingly scared about the fugitive/earthquake etc does not give me great hopes for his acting career. Finally we saw the props department, including props from some famous movies and the fake, different-enough-not-to-get-sued Beverly Hills sign Universal uses to avoid paying fees for filming the real one.
Then the return of my powerchair and on to rides and lunch! Lunch was a VIP tour exclusive buffet which was fantastic, including a number of tasty things I could eat. The rides were fun too. The default Universal ride seems to be a chair or 4-6 seater trolley that may move a little on a track but mainly stays in the same place. Most of the "ride" comes from the screen in front of you showing a movie, with the chair possibly tilting on it's axis to match the motion on the screen.
Minions: (Mostly?) stationary seat with 3D glasses and a silly but fun 3D movie where you get turned into a minion and have wacky adventures in the laboratory with Gru and his daughters. The bus driver had warned parents not to go in or they'd be forced to buy piles of merchandise, and the shop as your exited certainly did have a lot.
Walking Dead: Sit outside with tour guide and a bored tween, lol. Cory's "US service staff who is also an actor" friendly facade cracked slightly when forced to make small talk with the kid, it probably didn't help that she was really into him. Apparently for those less squeamish the "walk" was a SCARY AS HELL walk past animatronic zombies supplemented with actors who reach out and touch you.
Waterworld: Really good acted live action show on a Waterworld set with a cheesy action script (I was happy about a female character showing up until I realised she was there to be menaced and rescued) Lots of pyrotechnics and acrobatic fight scenes. Also there is a "soak zone" section, before the show started actors revved up the audience by spraying this zone with water going "Are you REALLY SURE you want to be in the soak zone? *spray with water* If so say yeah!" *happily soaked people shout* Pfft, that wasn't loud enough! *spray with water*" etc. And then during the show the actors did a great job during the jet ski chase scenes of "happening" to bank in ways that splashed the soak zone and noone else. There were wheelchair sections at the front in both the soak and non-soak sections, luckily they were pretty easy to find since Cory had walked up the stairs with the rest of the group without warning.
Flight of the Hippogriff: So afaict the queue (which VIPs mostly skip and wheelchair users skip entirely) gets a video of Hagrid talking about Hippogriffs. But for me it was go up in a rollercoaster, see an animatronic hippogriff for some reason, then just fall in spirals for a bit. Cory was dismissive of it as just for kids but I enjoyed it. Cam and another tall, fat guy in our group were too tall to ride it at all.
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey: This has test seats to make sure people aren't too big, and Cam and the same other big guy had to sit it out again. Meanwhile I got moved into a manual chair and pushed towards the ride proper by a nice staff member in a Slytherin outfit. The queuing section under Hogwarts was so pretty I was a little sad I didn't get to wander through it at the usual ablebodied-non-VIP pace: long stone and wood walls, moving paintings, floating candles, fairly convincingly integrated video of Dumbledore in his office etc. Then it was onto a moving platform to jump into a 4 person seat with those over the shoulder things they use on the kinds of rides which send you upside down. Which it kind of did! The plot is that you're a muggle who's gotten on a broom for some reason and are avoiding a dragon with Ron, Hermione and Harry. It moved on a track between a combination of 3D-ish video and animatronics, tilting so quickly and at such extreme angles I was too disoriented to notice the transitions. At one point you're jerking about amongst giant spiders that spray you with water, and there's convincingly scary Dementors, it was all very thrilling and SUPER AMAZINGLY fun, probably my favourite ride I've been on all trip. When I got out I tried to downplay how cool it was to Cam, he said I didn't succeed but appreciated the effort.
Olivander's: A tween was picked out of the audience by an actor with a fairly convincing "eccentric English Witch" persona to try out different wands, each of which caused some special effect (flashing lights, moving objects etc) When she found the right one there was a magical glow and sound, it was pretty cool, the girl seemed very happy with her wand. We were then led into the chaotically crowded wand shop itself. The default exit is the top of some stairs, which was annoying, but I managed to push my way back through the crowd to an accessible door. We had a bathroom break, there was a Moaning Myrtle soundtrack I couldn't quite make out and the decor vaguely resembled that from the movie.
At this point it was 5pm. I asked Cory when the tour would end and he said around 6pm. Since our bus left at 6:45pm I pondered if I'd have more fun staying in Hogwarts, Cory said "Oh yeah, I was going to talk to you about that, the next 3 rides are in the "lower lot" which can only be accessed in wheelchairs via a shuttle that can require an up to 45 minute wait". Thanks for the warning, Cory. Cam wanted to do those 3 rides since he'd had to sit out all the Hogwarts ones, so after having a taste of his butterbeer slushie (like butterscotch creaming soda with half liquid icecream on top) I split off from the group by myself to wander the Harry Potter section.
IT WAS SO GREAT. I was worried I'd be put off by how American it is but just thought of it as an American wizarding town with similar names to the English one (and presumably magical snow given the hot LA sun haha) The Hogwarts castle was almost convincingly huge thanks to forced perspective (and is legitimately pretty big) and while the Hogsmeade section is fairly small it was all very atmospheric, with little cobblestone alleyways and themed shops and all the staff in robes and hats. There's spots to stand and do spells with animatronic shop displays that seem to respond, I was highly pleased to have the chance to correct a fellow adult's pronunciation of Wingardium Leviosa at a shop window with moving quidditch balls. The "frog choir" singing with puppets on a stage was pretty silly though.
The whole Olivander's experience had successfully made me want to buy a wand, but they turned out to be $40US plus tax for a bit of prettily moulded plastic which, no. The price didn't seem to put off the many people happily waving them around. I have to wonder how many are successfully persuaded to see them as collectible, nice work Universal. I did want a souvenir though so tried on McGonnagal's hat (too floppy) and settled on a time turner key ring. Honeydukes was fun to walk through and look at sweets but the lines were too long so I eventually left for the rest of the park.
The nearest interesting looking section was the Simpsons area. This is quite large, with stuff like a Krusty Burger and themed sideshows. I went on the Simpson's ride, which was a great ride to end on: it's set in Krusty's theme park and is one big joke about theme parks and theme park rides, including joke "wait time" videos, referring to us as "those tourists" etc. The actual ride is very simple, just a tilting set of seats in front of a screen, but it was funny and enjoyable.
At this point it was now 6ish, so I found a power point in the Three Broomsticks and waited for Cam, who'd finished the tour and wanted to poke around Hogsmeade a bit, then we rushed back to the bus (now with ramp!) and went home. The bus was playing "Finding Neverland" with the sound off, I did my best to ignore it since afaict it has the kind of theme park approach to history I find really annoying and I don't want to be feeling grumpy about theme parks right now.
There's a lot of Universal we didn't get to explore much but the lack of accessibility for both of us was off putting. Maybe we'll go again if we're ever in LA. It was certainly a very Hollywood experience!
