
Again we decided to take our time on the way back, stopping in LA to see friends, get a tour of the Universal Lot at
NBC Universal LA and go to Universal Studios Hollywood. |

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My friend Chris was kind enough to take time out of his schedule as an employee in IT for NBC Universal (part of GE) to
give Daniel and I a personal tour of the Universal lot - in golf cart #7212 (that's a lot of golf carts)

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Soundstage 28 where the 1925 film
Phantom of the Opera was shot and had great complications, previous attempts at removing the set have involved fatal accidents...

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A large fire recently gutted much of the sets built in the lot and they're not being rebuilt

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Sets built for the official studio lot tour

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Daniel is on Wisteria Lane (duh...I didn't see the street sign above :( but I swear it is!)

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In quick succession there's Whoville, the Bates Motel/Mansion and..

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War of the Worlds neighborhood disaster set including a commercial jet in pieces (evidently traffic helicopters
reported a crashed plane during filming so it's quite realistic)

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Tough to beat up the engines though - maybe GE engines...

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Engine part numbers

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The poor Bates mansion's foundation has some problems...

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Evan Almighty and other movies were filmed in this backdrop/water area

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Chris and Daniel

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Chris and me

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Now that we've taken the real tour, time for the
Universal Studios Hollywood experience - here's that big globe as Daniel
points to Australia (I guess NZ isn't on this globe?)

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Sure - anybody just take GE Money...it's free!

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The Simpsons greet visitors

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It's CURIOUS GEORGE!

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Nice to see a poster of MILK in the park

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Now why are we bothering to tell the parents to keep their hands and feet away from brushes? Who even remembers that escalators have
little brushes along the sides, but really shouldn't we be telling the children or asking the parents to tell them?

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Universal has it's own fire department (I feel sorry for them - tough to fight a tinderbox of old wooden sets...)

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Dancing cars

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Parting the pond for the tram to cross

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A giant rubber shark that looks a bit like Jaws!

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Big set of solar panels installed for ecomagination

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They decided to give this poor escalator a break to save energy!

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