溪边椰楼: 好莱坞环球影城(一) [中英文双语习作]

           


7月30日, 星期二。 环球影城 (之一)

今天带儿子去好莱坞环球影城。在家磨磨蹭蹭，中午十二点到，没想到晚上十一点才回到家。孩子玩得尽兴，我也很开心。这次多亏买了“免等快票”！！！普通门票是84元，但在每个景点就要排队，排队的地方有一个显示牌，告诉你以目前的速度要排多少分钟，基本上好玩的都得排70分钟以上。我以前吃尽了这种苦头，有一次在另外一个地方为了一个7分中的空中观景车等了125分钟，给孩子讲古人吃苦耐劳的故事讲了一箩筐，最后终于轮到我们的时候已经筋疲力尽，七分钟下来哭着说太短啦！所以我这次坚决买了169元的免排票，每到一个景点出示牌子就直接上去。最尽兴的是变形金刚三维电影，我们连玩两次，你要是来这里也一定要尝试一下! 时间就是金钱这话没错，可是环球影城的一天，金钱不但帮我们节省了时间，还增值了快乐！ 用儿子的话来说: 'This is awesome!'
 
值得一提的是，现在的环球影城增加了很多中文服务，还有专门的中文导游车，中国小朋友到处都是，儿子偶尔听懂几个中文字，欣喜若狂，告诉我他简直像回到中国一样。看看咱这海外赤子的爱国热情！！！
 
好莱坞环球影城的正式网址是: www.universalstudioshollywood.com, 可惜目前网站还没有中文，希望精彩的画面应该让你感受一下我们当日的快乐！
 

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!