Heck you are at Universal Studios, so don’t miss out on the studio tour. It is a classic must do. The tour is taken in an open air roof covered trolley. The tour lasts about a hour, it could be longer depending on how long you stay at the photo opportunity station. Each trolley has a driver and guide. Our guide was hilarious. Very fun personality.

We started by driving through some classic old outdoor city backdrops. We drove through the area where they have studios that film current TV shows. But since it was a weekend, the area was dead.

We experienced a San Francisco subway station train cash, explosion with fire, earthquake , and flooding. Pretty cool. The cooler thing is how do they clean that all up to do it again for the next tour bus trailing minutes later. Speaking about bumpy rides, the Jurassic Park experience was cool. The trolley experiences the chase from the dinosaurs.

Desperate Housewives homes on Wisteria Lane was neat to see. The landscaping is real and immaculately kept. The homes were not full scale but more than just a front wall. They use this setting for other films and shows. Talking about famous suburbs, we spotted Doc’s DeLorean parked outside of Lyon’s Estate subdivision gates.

We had a Jaws encounter in the harbor of Amity Island. That pesky Jaws created quite a mess. The trolley went through Jupiter Claim, the western theme park, featured in Jordan’s Peele’s 2022 movie Nope.

The stop and trolley change over was at the photo opportunity station. The stop is at the Bates Motel. Norman is walking and staring ominously at his gawkers. The photo stations are staffed and they can take photos for you with your camera.

Stations:

• Hollywood sign backdrop: They have a mini version on a hill. So from the angle they take it, hey it looks like you’re there to the untrained eye. Cheesy, yes.
• Norman Bate’s car with mother’s house in the background: The house is in the distance on the hill. The trolley will drive by to get to this s stop. Look for mother in the window, she’s there.
• Fast n Furious cars: There are three. You can take photos with each of them. The engines roar too.
• Jaws: Poor Jaws is strung up and hanging with pooled blood dripping g from his mouth.
• King Kong: This one was super odd looking and the most cheesiest. So cheesy, it was hilarious in the best way. The prop is his fist with his arm from his hand short of his elbow. But the backdrop photo is a photo of him chest up with arms. So it doesn’t align with the prop. The prop up close looks like car tires, tubing and cheap cloth. Movie magic!

You can stay as long as you want at this station until closing time. To get back, hop onto any of the departing trolleys which roll through every 15-20 minutes.