the studio tour has been a staple at universal studios dating back to when it first opened in
1915. back then guests could sit on bleachers and watch silent films being made for only 25 cents
in the 1960s universal introduced trams which carried guests around
the lots and gave them a sneak peek at some familiar tv and movie sets
by the late 1960s and early 1970s universal started to spice up
the tour by adding mini attractions like the runaway train and even jaws
and while these attractions entertained guests universal also found that these
scenes could conveniently be reused as cheap and ready-made sets for use in future film productions
the first of these mini attractions was the mexican streets and flash flood
it was launched in 1968 so it's not a surprise that it's shown up in several
films like fletch lives nacho libre and was featured in the 2002 film big fat liars
the mexican streets have also been seen on the tv show monk
and appeared in music videos by janet jackson as well and more recently lady gaga
they've been shooting a film in here but every time they go on break they give us the green
light to go in so you can see what the inside of the sound stage looks like one of the more
memorable studio tour attractions is earthquake the big one which opened in 1989 the studio tour
tram enters stage 50 which at first appears to be a quiet movie set then the ground starts shaking
let's get out of here before the water main breaks that thing
this set was actually used for filming an episode of bones
that's him right over there and was re-themed as the alien attack ride
in the movie beverly hills cop 3 with eddie murphy foley is heading for alien attack
attention attention this is a red alert
uh
sometimes the tram tour has played itself like in this episode of
different strokes where arnold and dudley try to track down their hero
knight rider along the way they run into the now retired runaway train
it's too late
it's a fake jaws hey look at that fisherman over there
no way no fish could live in that dirty water come on
and make a visit to the psycho house she looks spooky up there
maybe we shouldn't go oh come on what is that to be afraid of
yes well we were just wondering if you could tell us how to find knight rider but after getting in
some trouble the boys eventually track down knight rider and get a picture with david hasselhoff
no one says good morning to me what am i chopped liver hey could we get a picture
of you yeah better yet how about the three of us get together and take a picture with kit
oh the car great idea yeah hey it's really nice of you to go through all this trouble for us
no trouble at all the last time i took a picture without kit he didn't talk to me for a week
and speaking of knight rider david hasselhoff and kit were also known
to hang around the universal lot like one episode where they visited the psycho house
well this place looks really familiar sometimes films will give you a glimpse
at the studio tour attractions that no longer exist like in the movie the wizard
which includes a trip through the king kong set which ended up burning down years later
come on
another retired studio attraction appeared in the six million dollar man in this episode he
fights none other than bigfoot played by the legendary andre the giant after a battle he
ends up chasing bigfoot into an ice cave which is played by the now retired avalanche attraction
so next time you're watching a show keep an eye out you might
just recognize one of your favorite universal studios tram tour attractions
and if you want to see more universal check out my video on the top 10 lost studio tour attractions