UNIVERSAL STUDIOS (Day 5 - part 7)

Next, Colonial Street (or Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives) was a generic suburb that could be modified for different shows.

A few more film cars ...

We stopped in front of the Bates Motel. Psycho was a 1960 horror film by Alfred Hitchcock. The tram tour has included the Bates Motel and mansion since 1964.

Suddenly a hotel door opens and Norman Bates appears, carrying a corpse to a car. After placing the body in the trunk, he notices the tram and very slowly and steadily walks towards it while holding a large kitchen knife. The tram leaves just in time to escape! Wow, we sure are having a lot of close calls on this trip!

Noticing the tram

We turn down a street that looks like it was hit by a tornado. It's a set from War of the Worlds, a 2005 remake of the 1953 science fiction film.

Apparently an airplane crashed, tearing up the houses and scattering plane parts everywhere.

A decommissioned 747 aircraft was cut into pieces and brought here using flatbed trucks. Once filming was done, the only change to the set was to clear the road (which was covered by houses) to make room for the tram.

Jupiter's Claim is the set for the 2022 science fiction horror film Nope. The western theme park attraction (which was rebuilt here) opened the same day the movie was released.

Yikes!

Unfortunately I haven't seen the movie so am not sure what happened here... other than this is clearly where the metal horse sitting face-first in the car came from.

The "Fast & Furious: Supercharged" ride opened in 2015 and is based on the series of fast-paced, high-action movies. The tram entered a soundstage made to look like a garage and we watched a short movie in which we were told that we need to be taken to a safe location.

The tram moved forward to the next bay where there is a big dance party going on. This isn't just a movie, however, it really looks like real people in a real room. The technology involves a movie that is reflected off of a nearly-transparent, thin layer of foil which both projects the image into a different area as well as allows one to see the actual objects behind it. It essential creates a hologram effect, but because we can't see the projection surface, our eyes can't distinguish between 2D and 3D figures.

The tram then moves into yet another section which is the thrill ride. We put on our 3D glasses while the tram tilts in all directions as we become part of a massive car chase. We are immersed in the experience by a massive curved screen (some 400 feet long and 40 feet high), combined with a total of 34 4K projectors. Just as with the movies, the action is waaaaay over the top... a thrill a second, no matter how unrealistic.

Again, we survived!

return • continue