溪邊椰樓: 好萊塢環球影城(一) [中英文雙語習作]

           


7月30日, 星期二。 環球影城 (之一)

今天帶兒子去好萊塢環球影城。在家磨磨蹭蹭，中午十二點到，沒想到晚上十一點才回到家。孩子玩得盡興，我也很開心。這次多虧買了“免等快票”！！！普通門票是84元，但在每個景點就要排隊，排隊的地方有一個顯示牌，告訴你以目前的速度要排多少分鍾，基本上好玩的都得排70分鍾以上。我以前吃盡了這種苦頭，有一次在另外一個地方為了一個7分中的空中觀景車等了125分鍾，給孩子講古人吃苦耐勞的故事講了一籮筐，最後終於輪到我們的時候已經筋疲力盡，七分鍾下來哭著說太短啦！所以我這次堅決買了169元的免排票，每到一個景點出示牌子就直接上去。最盡興的是變形金剛三維電影，我們連玩兩次，你要是來這裏也一定要嚐試一下! 時間就是金錢這話沒錯，可是環球影城的一天，金錢不但幫我們節省了時間，還增值了快樂！ 用兒子的話來說: 'This is awesome!'
 
值得一提的是，現在的環球影城增加了很多中文服務，還有專門的中文導遊車，中國小朋友到處都是，兒子偶爾聽懂幾個中文字，欣喜若狂，告訴我他簡直像回到中國一樣。看看咱這海外赤子的愛國熱情！！！
 
好萊塢環球影城的正式網址是: www.universalstudioshollywood.com, 可惜目前網站還沒有中文，希望精彩的畫麵應該讓你感受一下我們當日的快樂！
 

Tuesday, July 30, 2013. Universal Studios Hollywood (Part I)

We visited Universal Studios Hollywood today. We arrived at 12noon and didn't get home till 11 o'clock in the evening.  It makes you feel good when you know your kid has had fun, and thanks to the "Front Of Line" pass! The general admission for the season costs $86, it allows you get in the door, walk around, but you have to wait in line at each ride, pretty much all the fun rides take more than 70 minutes waiting time. I have had terrible experience in the past - one time in another theme park we waited 125 minutes for a 7-minute skyrider. After I'd exhausted all the ancient Chinese motivational stories I could possibly share with Ethan and when it was finally our turn to get on the ride, we were both physically drained. After the 7 minutes' short ride, Ethan broke down and cried with disappointment.  I would never do that again!  So I have no hesitations when paying almost double the price for the 'Front Of Line" tickets.  We were able to skip all the lines and enjoy every single ride of our choice!  Our most favorite is the Transformers 3D experience, we played twice and we suggest you give it a try as well!  Yes time is money.  But today in the Universal Studios Hollywood, money not only saved us time, it added our fun exponentially!  Like Ethan says: "This is awesome!"
 
One thing worth noting: the park has added many services directly targeted at Chinese tourists, Mandarin-toured buses are also on the schedule. There are Chinese families and kids everywhere in the park.  Ethan is always thrilled when he catches a few words the kids are saying in Chinese, he says it is like being back in China - what a patriotic Chinese-American young man!
 
The official website is www.universalstudioshollywood.com, unfortunately there is no Chinese version yet, hopefully its pictures provide let you imagine the fun we have enjoyed!