All attractions are based on Universal movies. They offer different "levels" of tickets. If you buy the higher priced tickets, they claim you don't have to wait in as long in the line.

This park is more heavily geared towards younger guests. Plan on spending the day here as lines for each attraction can be long. Visit the City Walk when you're done. It has shops and restaurants.

The Los Angeles version of Universal Studios is nowhere near as good as the one in Florida. If you are in the area, it is worth a visit, but if you have been to the Orlando version, you will be disappointed!

Many of the attractions are the same, such as ET, Back to the Future and Terminator 3D but many of the other ones such as Earthquake, Jaws and King Kong are incorporated into the Studio Tour and are very tame in comparison to Florida equivalents. If you are a first time Universal visitor, you are sure to be impressed.

Other attractions here include City Walk – shops and restaurants including Hard Rock Café. Water World a water stunt spectacular, Jurassic Park Ride and Backdraft.

All rides are very good fun, but as I mentioned before, the Orlando version is much bigger and better.

E.T.'s Adventure is getting tired!

This is a very slow ride appropriate for children and for people who don't like thrills. The premise is that E.T.'s planet is dying and they need E.T.'s healing touch to save them. Your mission is to bring E.T. home to his planet on a nine-person bicycle. Posters show happy children bringing E.T. home.

The only problem is that very few children today seem to know who E.T. is.

Because the ride is dark and E.T. is a bit scary looking to children who don't know him, many children are too scared to even sit on a ride vehicle. However, once they complete the ride, they usually love it.

There are no drops, no loops, and the ride travels at a very sedate speed. Most people who love thrill rides are frankly bored by it.

E.T. has more technical difficulties that any attraction in the park and many of these can cause the ride to close for hours. The ride has been known to close for an entire day due to wiring problems caused by a bad light bulb.

In addition, the ride simply looks a bit old.

If there is less than a 15 minute wait, go ahead and ride. It's cool, dark, and a nice break from a hectic day. However, if the wait is much longer, there are other things in the park that are much more exciting and much more up-to-date.

I worked at Universal Studios Florida for a number of years, so of course, I had to see the ''real thing!'' Our trip was rather rushed. Allow the better part of a day to see the whole thing, and plan well if you want to see shows like Water World.

Backdraft
This short show goes into detail about the making of the movie Backdraft. There are three stages to the show, two of which describe fire and how they made the movie, and then the last stage of the show is an all-out live show with lots of fire. Basically, they set the stage on fire and things blow up. It's pretty interesting, but (obviously) very well-rehearsed and scripted so that nothing goes out of control.

Revenge of the Mummy (Roller Coaster)
This is the only real roller coaster at Universal. Also, it is indoors. Unlike a real roller coaster, however, this one uses small cars that hold about 16 people. It twists and turns in complete darkness, occasionally stopping with something from the movie jumping out at you. There are no loops in the ride, but because it is pitch black, it feels much scarier than the coaster actually is.

Terminator 2: 3D
This is another well-made show. It's presented as if the audience is part of a presentation being put on by the company that makes the terminator robots. But then things get out of hand, and the show gets really wild. Live-action actors are mixed in with 3-dimensional films being shown on the screen. So, you have 3-D objects flying at you from the screen, and then actors with fake guns and lots of smoke physically in front of you in the theater. If you are a fan of these movies, the show is definitely worth seeing. The only disappointments were that some people (in the audience) had never heard of Terminator 2 (nor did they know Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the film) and that the volume of the show was extremely loud.

Back to the Future Ride
As with most of the shows at Universal, the audience often feels more part of the ride, and not just an observer. The Back to the Future ride is no different. After walking through two different rooms with videos playing, you then enter the main part of the show. You are placed in a replica Delorean and then are sent off in a high-speed time-traveling race. The ride shakes and moves a lot, and you really feel like you’re part of it. Once again, I would recommend this ride.

Van Helsing Fortress Dragon
This is basically a big haunted house. It is not very scary, aside from the few live actors who jump out from the darkness to scare you. I did one walk through it and walked away laughing. It really is not scary at all.