06/10. Los Angeles

On 06, we set off early in the morning to make the most of the day. It was supposed to take us 3.5 hours to get to our first chosen destination from Barstow. But the drive was worth it, and by 11:30 am we were at Malibu Beach. A very beautiful beach, great waves, and pure sunshine!!! The drive through the mountains towards the Pacific was a dream. So we drove a bit on the famous Highway No. 1, and after a stop in Malibu, we headed towards Venice Beach. However, after seeing the parking prices of $48 at St. Monica Pier, we decided to go to Universal Studios. Here, we not only visited the Citywalk, a shopping mall in front of the actual park, but also the park itself. After going through the security check and entering the park, we were in a different world. Various sets are replicated here. Our first destination was the studio tour, which took us about 1 hour on a car train through the original film sets. In between, there were impressive 3D and show performances as we entered some studios, where the train was parked on a movable platform. After the studio tour, we went to the live show with stuntmen and women called Waterworld. It's a movie that we both really like, and we were thrilled with the performance. Then we walked through the new attraction of 'The Walking Dead'. This attraction took us on foot through various scenes from the world of zombies, which were filled with live actors. After the final scare, we moved on to the Minion world. Thanks to 3D effects, we were shrunk to minions in size and went through our training with a wild flight through the Minion world in Gru's house. After this 'training', we went to Hogwarts in the world of wizards. Here, we walked through the shopping mall of wizards to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Inside the castle, there was another 3D roller coaster. This time, we followed Harry Potter, who showed us the many good but also dark aspects of Hogwarts. That was our last attraction, as the park closes at 6 pm. After 1.5 hours of slow traffic, we arrived exhausted at the campsite.