Blisters, Blunders & Bright Lights.....

Hey y'all,

Sorry for not getting a blog up for you yesterday but we had a long day which ended with a late night (by our standards anyway) and Gordo with a migraine (minus the puking thank goodness, it was close though).

Our day yesterday went a little something like this....

We let ourselves have a sleep in until 9:30am as we we're still wiped from our big 32km San Fran day and our airport waiting around day.  Once we did rise we had some breakfast and decided to walk around Hollywood via Sunset Strip and down Melrose - which all sounded well and good at the beginning however some 10kms later we we're blistered and Toot with a sunburned head.  So we bit the bullet and caught a cab back up to the Hollywood and Highland Centre and had "linner" again (still waiting to hear the verdict from you guys as to what the correct terminology should be?). 

We had dinner early as we were due to go to a taping of the "Mike & Molly" show.  We caught a cab to the Warner Brothers Studio two hours before the shows taping which we thought we be sufficient time.  However we were VERY wrong!

When we arrived there was no logical order to the line for getting into the show (it is apparently first in best dressed)....which again we didn't realise this as we had booked out tickets a month ago and stupidly assumed this would allow us to automatically get in....NOPE not the case at all.

We sat down on the third bench not knowing what this would mean. When the 2 WB Studio guys walked around checking our tickets and ID's and stamping us, they then informed us we were on "standby" (6th & 7th in the standby queue) and couldn't tell us what our chances were of actually getting in.  Can you believe it??  Toot was p***ed and Gordo started to get her headache (and of course the Panadol was back in Hollywood in our hotel room - damn it).

The WB Studio staff started to send people home that were another 30 behind us a little while later the 5 people in the standby queue in front of us were let through.  We finally found out the reasoning behind all of this "standby" crap is because they have quite a few VIP tickets and not all of the people turn up so they basically keep you around waiting/hoping until the last minute so they can at least fill the seats inside.

It was now 6:20pm (the show is due to start filming in 10mins time) at this point we're giving up hope that we're going to make it in.  Then one of the staff walks over to us saying there were the last 2 seats but they're not together in which we have both replied in unison - "That's fine we don't need to sit together".  Woo hoo! We made it in....the last bloody minute. Ermehgard!

So we get taken across out of the parking lot where we have been desperately waiting, over into the studio lot and go through 2 x metal detectors and 2 x bag searches (poor guy had to go through Toot's bag and had to deal with her snotty tissues - oops).  However we finally get inside the studio and are shown to our seats which end up being at the end of a row on the aisle behind one another which wasn't too bad at all. 

They had a "crowd warmer -comedian" , trying to hype up the audience and get them laughing and keeping them entertained before the first scene was shot.  They kindly fed us a piece of pizza (our first one since arriving in the US) and it was huge.  They also served us a small bottle of water.  They introduced the cast and they started to get the show rolling.

For those that haven't seen the show Mike & Molly - the series stars Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy (who has been in Bridesmaids, The Heat, Identify Thief & Gilmore Girls) as the titular Mike and Molly, a couple who fall in love after they first meet in a Chicago Over eaters Anonymous group. 

After they shot the first scene we were ushered to other seats that were together and just so happened to be right up the front in the middle (clearly two VIP's didn't show up).  Another woo hoo moment for us.  Between each scene the comedian guy would entertain us by doing little competitions with the audience members so they could win some things like Mike & Molly shopping bags, wine glasses, drink bottles and even signed photos of them oh and as well as money.  During one said break this competition was a "dance off" and of course Toot jumped at the chance and got picked.  She didn't win but did walk away with a bag.

The show finally wrapped filming just after 10pm and then the cast  came out again for a final round of applause and were signing autographs - Toot managed to score the 3 main characters signatures as well as having bit of a chat with Melissa McCarthy who was super lovely.  What almost ended up being a horrible night and being turned away from WB Studios ended up being a funny memorable one.  Hallelujah.

So....now on too today's events.  Today we had tickets to Universal Studios.  We had such a fun day.  We we're so glad we had Front of Line tickets (which means you get to jump the queue (only once each attraction) on rides and shows in the park and special backstage passes to certain shows).  Well worth the money in my opinion as it saves time having to queue everywhere.

We went on a few rides - Jurassic Park, Krustyland (The Simpsons), Shrek and walked through the House of Horrors (much scarier than the Ghost Train at the Royal Show) (lucky both of us get motion sickness so didn't do too many daring ones - as we have both gotten sick on ride at the Royal Show in previous years - yup we're hopeless)- we didn't consider The Mummy or Transformers ride as we both knew  we would have been holding each others hair back. Ewww.

We watched a few shows such as Waterworld Stunt show and  the Special Effects show which also included the behind the scenes info and also did a Studio tour of the back lot which takes you through some of the sound stages and shows some of the facades and shooting locations such as Wisteria Lane, The Bates Motel, War of the World plane, Amity from the Jaws movie just to name a few.  This also included King Kong 3D experience (which again Toot had to close her eyes to avoid getting sick and Gordo wasn't too far behind).

We spent a measly 6 hours in the park trying to look at everything as it was sooooo huge.  We were happy with what we accomplished and Gordo even got to try a hot cinnamon bun which she highly recommends.  We picked up a few souvenirs of course and we then headed alond the Universal city walk which is packed with shops and restaurants and even a cinema.

We ended up having some dinner here before we headed back to the hotel and Gordo got carded while trying to order a beer - this has made her trip the old chook thinks she looks like a 20 yo. Puh lease!

Anyway clearly we're back at the hotel  and have done another load of washing and trying to get this blog up for you but we've also just heard some awesome news that we're Aunties!  Congrats to Sav and Damo on the safe arrival of jelly bean Madeline Isabel Walkom - we can't wait to see her and have a cuddle hopefully at Adam and Maree's wedding when we arrive home!

Hope everyone is well?   Mum can you please tell Oma I say hello and give her a hug & a kiss from me (and Gordo).  And Caz can you please give Pud a cuddle from Gordo (and Toot).

Until next time....