Sorry for the long gap between posts, I’ve had some book stuff come up (I’m still accepting quotes from tweens and teens about WDW attractions, resorts, and table service restaurants until October 10).  If you missed day 3 part 1, you can catch up here.  After a fun-filled morning at Disneyland Park, we were going to brave the notorious Los Angeles traffic and make the journey to Universal Studios Hollywood to visit some minions.

The drive across town was typical LA stop and go traffic.  We were glad for the GPS to help us get through and around some of the slower spots.  It took us about an hour to get to Universal Studios Hollywood.  We had three attractions that we had to do and nothing else really mattered.  We wanted to go Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, enjoy Krustyland, and go on the Studio Backlot Tour.   One major difference between Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood is the quality of the on-site photographers.  The pictures from Disneyland are top quality and are pictures that we would want to buy and look at again and again.  The Universal pictures were lesser quality (no attempt made to get everyone to look at the same thing) and much more expensive.  We decided not to buy the Universal pictures.  We were able to get some good pictures of us with some Minions before my daughter and I enjoyed Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem.

My daughter and I enjoyed the attraction so much and it was so well-themed on the inside that we needed to ride it again right away.  Thankfully, the wait time was very short.

On our second time through the attraction, we ran into our next glitch.  The attraction broke down and could not be re-started right away.  After about 10 minutes of waiting, we escorted from the attraction but not before my daughter and I were each given a Front of the Line  pass good for any attraction and included the bearer plus five guests and a Front of the Line password that we could use with the cast members at the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem attraction for the remainder of the day.

We were hungry and moved into Krustyland and Krusty Burger to grab some much-needed lunch.  Our first option of grabbing a hot dog from the hot dog stand was thwarted when the hot dog stand ran out of hot dogs.   Rule #1: never run out of food during busy meal times.  So, my wife waited in line to get our Krusty Burgers and I went upstairs with my daughter to find a table.  One thing that I enjoyed was the amount of detail that Universal has put into the different attractions and restaurants.

After our Krusty Burgers, Squishees, and trip to the washroom, it was time for the Universal Backlot Tour.  The trip to the washroom is important because the tour is over an hour-long and that does not include your wait time.  But the tour is well worth it,  you get to see some fun sets and how the same set can be used in different shows/movies with some creative camera work and editing.  Drove past a couple of live sound stages where we had to be completely quiet.  It was a fun tour and well worth the price of admission.  Plus, it helped having a front of the line pass to cut our wait time down to 10 minutes from the posted 45 minutes.

My wife made a very important Simpsons merchandise purchase while my daughter and I used our password to get the front of the line at Minion Mayhem before we needed to leave the park because we had a dinner out with some family friends.

The GPS really came in handy on the return trip to the Grand California as some freeways were closed and/or had long back-ups so the GPS routed us a very creative way home but we were moving the entire time.

Next up, our last full day at Disneyland.

Thanks for reading!