For some reason, my uncle really loves Universal and this was the reason we never went to Disney MGM. I enjoyed myself enough but, along with Epcot, this is one of the least interesting parks for me. We went to most of the shows, including the 3D Terminator and Shrek shows, the Earthquake and Twister shows, the Jaws ride and my favourite one: ET. I think the problem for me with Universal is that it has been seen so many times on TV that none of it is really new. I remember watching my uncle’s holiday videos of the Miami Vice stunt show and thinking it was really boring because I’d seen it on so many TV shows. Thankfully, it’s now gone.

I loved walking through the sets and much of if was so familiar despite the fact I’ve never been to Hollywood or New York. I searched in vain for Marilyn Monroe’s star in the Hollywood area but never found it unfortunately. I think Universal would’ve been more interesting to me if they’d had areas concentrating more on the nostalgia of a bygone era. I would’ve loved to have seen some of the old costumes the big movie stars wore. The closest thing they had was the I Love Lucy shrine which did have some costumes and stuff from the shows. I also didn’t realise Betty Boop was still so popular!

Having said that, I had more fun laughing at my mum’s reaction to some of the shows. We got soaked on the Jaws thing and by the time we got on the Earthquake showcase, her face was a picture when all the water started cascading down towards us. LOL!

The souvenirs were so expensive here - more so than Disney I thought. I have a thing where I buy keyrings wherever I go but I liked none of them here at all so my KSC keyring ended up being the only one I ever bought the whole trip.