Pandemic Universal Studios Hollywood….
FYI… Links to the rest of this journey can be found at the bottom of this post.. 🙂
Mom and I, Miss Kayla has only been to Universal in Orlando. Not big fans of it except for characters and sometimes the colors and architecture. So since Universal here in Hollywood was reopening at low capacity, mom decided we should go and take advantage of the lower capacity. Knowing they have strict protocols and hearing that they were enforced during their event they held a month or two before reopening mom knew it would be safe for us. And hey, if we get there and didn’t feel safe we would just leave.
Mom did some research asking reliable people about staying at a hotel checking in the day someone checks out, etc. Mom has been nervous about that and we can’t always get a room that has been vacant for 24 hours and like this trip, it just wasn’t feasible to pay for a vacant room for 24 hours. Granted, cheaper and better than getting COVID, but the risk is so low. So mom found this great little hotel/motel a couple of miles from Universal. It had excellent reviews and mom inquired and the lady was so nice and helpful that mom felt comfortable staying. They also have a 1pm check-in time so that means mom and I would not get there til maybe 4pm at the earliest so there is 3 hours already it is empty and good chance longer. I, Miss Kayla had to go to West Hollywood to pick up my new medication I just started on a month ago so they wouldn’t have to mail it so that delayed us even more arriving to the hotel.
I, Miss Kayla went to day camp that morning to hang out with my friends. Then mom picked me up at 12:30pm (a tad earlier than usual) so we could get on the road and not have too much traffic since we will be going on the LA portion of the 101. This part of the 101 you always want to avoid if possible. Then we had a lot of side street driving to do as well in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I was so excited. It wasn’t too bad of a drive up. We picked up my medicine and then went to our hotel to check in. Such a cute little place. The Tangerine Hotel. Mom checked us in which went quickly and well. And come to find out, our room had been vacant for two days (bonus). We got settled in and then mom and I, Miss Kayla went for an evening stroll since it looked to be a nice area.
People were following protocols to a T and taking COVID seriously here. Restaurants employees were wearing masks and good quality shields. We past by a few restaurants on our stroll from across the street and there was one right next to our hotel so we were able to see them in action in their outdoor dining sections. But the whole area was so different than San Diego County, they just took COVID seriously and followed protocols even if they didn’t truly have to at times, they did. Like me, sometimes its just easier for me to say wear a mask as we go for a stroll so all I have to do is worry about getting Kayla’s on when needed. We went for a good 1 1/2 mile walk/stroll coming across a lot of the WB buildings as the sun was setting. It was a really nice evening out and the area was safe. Other walks, joggers, bicyclists were out too.
When we got back to our hotel I, Miss Kayla watched Friends from my w/c while I ate my “ham sandwich” mom made me. It was ham, lettuce, tomato, mustard with some water pureed together. It was so yummy. That was my first time having that.
Our hotel was very clean, cute and friendly. Our room was very clean, large with lots of space and individual a/c – heat unit. The only downside was the bed was sagging in areas so mom and I didn’t sleep all that well, unfortunately. We have never stayed at a hotel before with such a sagging bed and we have stayed at a lot of hotels!
The next morning was gorgeous and already quite warm. Warmer than what the hourly forecast said. Oh great as if it would have been more accurate mom would have brought me capri pants and sandals. I didn’t even need my sweatshirt on backwards to keep my arms warm – that is how warm it was. Unfortunately, I, Miss Kayla wasn’t in a very good mood. I was overly tired and fussy and mom just wasn’t sure exactly what all was wrong. I was upset getting ready off and on. Mom got the car loaded up and then we got in and off we went to Universal Studios Hollywood, just a few minutes away.
I, Miss Kayla was fine in the car and getting out and such there but then mom put my mask on and I was upset all over again. Mom parked at the opposite end of the parking lot near the front gate where no one else was parking, just police car further down to monitor it. Mom took me on a parking lot stroll, talking to me about what we are doing, what I needed to do (wear a mask) and such. We strolled for about 10 minutes or so then mom tried the mask again. I fought a little bit, got a little upset, but nothing like earlier. Mom kept pushing me towards the entrance and then I was okay. Maybe that is all I wanted was to hurry up and get in to the park to check it out as I heard Sponge Bob lives here. I wore my SpongeBob mask and my shirt.
We entered and an employee asked if we had been here before and we said no, this is our first visit so she had us go into guest services to get my day pass. They gave us first time here pins to wear. Mom wasn’t too keen on going indoors but we did since only one other person in there besides two employees and made it a fast visit. And that is where I found out that SpongeBob is no longer living there. Oh no!! So I wore my SpongeBob mask and shirt in his memory. I was bummed that SpongeBob was no longer there and of course, Mickey doesn’t live here either. So now who.
We continued on into the park.
Mom took me through this one store briefly just to try to cheer me up and no one else in there, plus they just opened so.
We continued on and headed to their new ride, The Secret Life of Pets. I, Miss Kayla heard this was a slow ride, very cute and colorful and it is their only one that has a wheelchair car that I can go in to ride it.
We were able to go right on in. We had to take an elevator up and then you walk through all these cute rooms and such to get to the start of the ride. They did a really good job.
I, Miss Kayla kept my mask on the entire time even on the ride. Mom was so proud of me. And I loved the ride – I kept my eyes open, looking all around and the ride was slow enough for me to look everywhere and enjoy it.
After the ride we continued on making our way to the elevator to the Lower Lot as mom wanted to do that earlier than later since a shuttle is involved. We walked through Minion, French Quarters or France, Harry Potter, Simpson areas before arriving to where you go to Lower Lot.
View from upper lot just next to the elevators.. The people that get to go down the escalators get to see some fabulous views like this one as they go down.
We went down the elevator and got out where we saw 3 other people in same group waiting for the shuttle. It looked like we had a 30 minute wait. I, Miss Kayla played, vocalized and took my mask off since it was very safe to do so and far from anyone else. Easy to keep a far distance from the other group and no one else came down behind us so.
I, Miss Kayla got on the shuttle which is just like my school ones. I didn’t like (protested a little) having to wear my mask but I did. Mom was so proud of me. It was a quick ride over through all the backstage movie areas. Kinda cool.
We arrived to the lower lot and mom was surprised how small it was which made it seem more crowded despite it not being too bad.
Mom was hungry and the only thing decent open was the Panda place so she got something to eat and all I could have was sweet n sour sauce which I loved. Mom felt bad I couldn’t get something more. She was surprised I was wanting to eat by mouth that early anyway.
We had some time so mom took me over to the Jurassic Park waterfall and found a spot where I could enjoy the sounds without my mask on. I, Miss Kayla loved listening to the people on the Jurassic Park ride as they came down the drop and the sounds of the water..
We saw that the transformers were coming out soon and in between the two of them the raptor encounter was happening so we did all three. Mom asked an employee if something was coming out here, just across from the Panda place where the sign about the transformers coming out was but mom just wasn’t sure. The employee said these robots will come out like a character encounter. Mom thought cool and we will see it. Well mom was thinking robots were little, little did she know. We had some time so mom took me over to the store near there to see if they had any hats for me. They did, mom bought one for me and I loved it. We headed back out of the store and headed to see the transformers. We went around the corner and mom was in shock – she thought, wow, that is a HUGE robot as she was expecting these little 4 footer robots, ya know like R2D2. Lol.
It was getting warm and busy in the lower lot. I, Miss Kayla got to see the transformer then mom took me over to Blue the Raptor to see as he came out just after the transformer. He was scary, but really cool.
Then after seeing Blue, mom took me back over to the transformer area to see the Bee… The bee was kinda weird and by then I could of cared less as I was ready to move on.
Back to the shuttle to head back up to the upper lot in hopes of there not being too long of a line yet. Mom made us a reservation for the Pets ride (I, Miss Kayla loves that ride) so we needed to get back up. Well, we arrived to the shuttle and there were two parties ahead of us and then one other came shortly after we did. Ugh, long wait but I, Miss Kayla played my music and vocalized to stay busy in the shade. Well, the one couple was wanting to see the transformers so mom informed them that the bee transformer just came out and would be out another ten minutes or so. They took off to go see it.
The shuttle arrived and the nice driver asked the father and son if they mind if two other people rode with them. They said no and we were next in line. Mom said she didn’t mind as long as we all wear our mask fully covering our nose and mouth, otherwise we will wait. Everyone agreed including me. Well, I protested a tad once I got on but then I agreed. Its just so weird for me to wear a mask on a shuttle that looks just like my school shuttle bus and I never had to then. I did. Mom said it was dangerous not to so. So up we went and we got back up to the upper lot a half hour sooner. Going in the shuttle we get to see where all the stars dressing trailers and where things are filmed. We saw some people dressed up walking away from the road so I wonder if they were famous actors. Maybe that is where Sponge Bob went to. Hmmm.
Back up to the upper lot and boy was it getting busy.
We started heading towards the Secret Life of Pets ride when we ran into Homer from the Simpsons. Hey friends, have I told you that my very first TV show that I watched was with my dad in the hospital when I was one day old was the Simpsons?? Yep, it sure was. My dad and I loved watching the Simpsons together.
Then we ran into the Donkey.. He was funny..
As I, Miss Kayla and mom were getting closer to the Secret Pets ride we ran into Frankenstein. He was a little creepy but cool. He let me hang out in the shade for a few minutes as it was HOT!
And then we ran into a Minion.. Mom LOVES the Minions.. 🙂 Can’t you tell (her mask)?? 🙂
Now back to the Secret Life of Pets ride.. 🙂 Yay!
Mom and I, Miss Kayla strolled around some more trying to see other characters like Hello Kitty and Scooby Do… I haven’t seen Scooby Do tv for a long time. I need to watch it again. Mom got the scoop on Hello Kitty and asked about Scooby Do as we kept going by his van but he was never out. During all this we ran into the French Lady.
So mom saw the line was really short at the Mexican food place and knew they had guacamole, something I could eat so she bought me some and her some water.
We just found a table in a quiet area away from everyone else so I could eat my guacamole and just as I was starting to eat it a security guy approached mom (scared the living daylights out of mom – lol) to let us know that Scooby just appeared out of his van. Mom thanked him and was grateful for his good deed but we decided to wait and try to see him later. Well mom felt bad that he went out of his way to let us know so mom quickly threw our masks back on, packed up all our stuff we had out so I could eat, etc and went over and saw Scooby. 🙂
Mom tried really hard the rest of our time there looking for the security guy to thank him again and let him know we did see him after he left but mom never did find him.
We found another quiet table with no one around so I could eat my guacamole. It was so good.
We strolled around some more trying to find some characters and see what we see when we noticed that the lighting was better at the Harry Potter entrance so took a photo. We didn’t go back in because its all cobblestones like in the french quarters so that makes it very bumpy for me in my wheelchair. Not good right now with my seizures acting up these days so we didn’t go back through, but that was fine as we saw it this morning.
Mom got word that Poppy the troll was going to be out at 2:30pm and Hello Kitty at 3pm in their locations…. They were hard to catch on our own so mom asked for times. 🙂
Poppy was so cool looking and I, Miss Kayla loved her pink.
Well then we left Poppy and turned the corner and saw that Hello Kitty was already out and it wasn’t even 3pm so we ran up there to see her. Crazy.. It was so sunny and hot that I didn’t really enjoy it but I at least said hello and got a quick photo with Hello Kitty. 🙂
The stores were pretty open with lots of ventilation going through them from all the outside air coming through and not too many people in them so mom took me in to see what I see. I loved shopping. I even perked up, vocalized, laughed a tad and played my toy all while wearing my mask. That was like a first. I loved it!! And I got a few things. 🙂
Then we went sightseeing to see what else we could see.. Mom made us another reservation for the Secret Pets ride but that wasn’t for a little while. Saw a couple of cool things..
Then when we passed by the Minions again another one was out.. So cool!!
Then we went back towards the Simpsons area so mom could get me some ice cream since it was so hot out and I, Miss Kayla likes ice cream. Unfortunately, it was really crowded in Simpson town and long lines everywhere. The ice cream line wasn’t too bad and looked doable. She got me a watermelon flavor. We went back to the quieter area and found a table away from others. The ice cream was interesting, but it was good, just difficult to eat – the texture was different. I had a little bit of it as it was really messy and such. I didn’t want a whole lot anyway..
Continuing on we saw this area that was off to the side, in-between two sections of the park so we decided to check it out. It was very quiet, no one around and had this incredible view..
‘
After that we went over to the Secret Pets ride since it was almost our time to go on it (we had a reservation) but mom was noticing heading over there a lot of people not wearing their masks, employees not mentioning anything, came across some smokers (non smoking park) and people were getting in the virtual line for the ride without masks on, employees again not saying anything. Mom stopped us and watched to observe and decided this just isn’t a good idea. Most of the way to get on the ride is indoors, not monitored and you go quite a ways before you reach the “car” to get on. Mom thought it wasn’t a good idea, too risky being indoors with people without masks on and we had already been on it twice so. Plus we were tired as it was 4pm, got there at 8 something so it was a good time to go. Mom was just trying to stretch the day longer there so we wouldn’t hit too much traffic going home. I started to fall asleep on our way out.
Mom took her time getting us into the car and organized and such for our ride home. It was a long drive home but worth it. Mom expected me to sleep most of the way but nope, I was awake, vocalizing and playing most of the way with just a short nap!! Mom loved it! Plus I, Miss Kayla had to tell Cubby all about my day on the way home as she stayed in the car all day to watch my stuff. 🙂
With the lower lot and Simpson area and a couple of other areas being as crowded as they were, mom can’t imagine what its like full capacity. Mom is really glad we went with lower capacity. Mom has always wanted to go at Christmas time but last two years before the pandemic it didn’t work out with our traveling, weather, etc. Maybe this year if its safe for me to go! We shall see.. I, Miss Kayla hopes to go back to Universal to ride the Secret Pets ride as its such good visual therapy for me and I LOVED it, so we shall see what God has planned for me… 🙂
Until next time…
Love,
Miss Kayla
Links to other parts of this journey:
