This past summer the first lady of Neato Coolville and myself were treated to a fun day at Universal Studios in California. I've always wanted to visit Universal Studios since I was a kid and I'm thankful we had the opportunity. For the Halloween countdown, here are some of the monster related things we spotted on our tour. We entered the park just at the right time to see the mascot parade. I love that Dracula is driving the hearse. Zoinks! If you click on the photo, you'll notice Frankenstein's monster pointing at me. At the time I wasn't sure why. At the bottom of this post I'll tell you why.
The first attraction we visited was Universal's House of Horrors. It's a walkthrough into the world of Universal Monsters. At the time, we didn't realize that 2014 was the last year for this attraction.
The lobby has lots of monster stuff to see before you enter the walkthrough. Monster movie posters, monster mannequins, monster props and lots of monster etc. It was monsterrific!
One of the first things you see or glimpse at is Dracula. He only shows up in a flash when lightning strikes. I was lucky to snap a pic at the right moment.
Probably the coolest part was seeing the Phantom of the Opera. I wasn't able to tell if this was a person in costume or an animatronic. Sorry for the blurry grainy photos.
Though I like how this pic sort of looks like an old pulp magazine cover!
Wooooooolf Man is in the building! Or is that a Bigfoot? Yeti? Sasquatch? Hmm... I'm not sure.
The Bride of Frankenstein is sleeping on the job in this photo. Wake up Bride and say hello!
Old Frank kept reaching out and trying to grab people. My terrible photo makes him look more like Michael Myers than Frankenstein.
This was a fun walkthrough and it's sad that the attraction went dark forever. Hopefully they'll come up with something else to honor their monsters. Click here to watch a video of the final walkthrough.
Now for the main attraction, the Universal Studio Tour. The hour+ wait was worth it!
The closest I will ever get to the famous Stage 28. This is where some of the greatest Universal Monster movies were filmed including The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula and The Bride of Frankenstein. Sadly, this historic stage was demolished back in September.
The Court of Miracles is hallowed...or maybe I should say, horrored ground. On this site, famous monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, Wolf Man and the Hunchback of Notre Dame walked the streets. Even though the original sets burned back in the late 1960s, it was cool for this monster kid and his bride to see the replicas.
We're going to need a bigger tram!
It might not look like it, but this is where the Munsters lived on 1313 Mockingbird Lane. I snapped the photo below of a production model of the Munster House located in the lobby of the House of Horrors attraction.
Production model from the 1988 TV show, The Munsters Today.
Neat, it's a Halloween Universal Studios yard sale! Nope. Just a bunch of props left on the street. Probably from the Home & Family show. They tape in one of the house sets close to the Bates Motel. I'm not sure, but some of those Halloween props look like the work of fellow Halloweeen Countdowner and prop master Dave Lowe.
There! The Bates Motel just looks better in black and white! The house sits just behind the motel.
Mother Bates sits and watches all the trams go by. Day after day after day. When you go on the tour, be sure to wave to Mother when you pass the Bates house.
This almost does it for my monster tour of Universal Studios. Here's the reason Frankenstein's monster was pointing at me in the first photo. He needed an abby normal brain! I said Beetlejuice three times for some help, but that just made matters worse. Luckily, my old Weird Al shirt saved me! Thanks Al!
I will leave you with two Frankenstein images below.
Outside the park and on the Universal's CityWalk is a cool theater with a neat Frankenstein front!
The best parking garage name ever, Frankenstein Parking!