Did you know according to recent reports, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag have made some $3 million jointly from the sale of fake staged photos like this one? The on-and-off couple took Spencer's nieces to Cinderella's Castle and Splash Mountain complete with matching mouse ears.
(Aren't you glad you're catching up on their staged photo op at Disneyland for free on the Internet instead of shelling out to catch a glimpse of Heidi's "I Want More Privacy" T-shirt?)
"The Hills" is filming now and is slated to return in August 2008. Anyone else notice that the seasons are getting longer and closer together? It's like their lives don't count unless we can make fun of them!
Universal Studios is still recovering from the massive fire that broke out on Sunday, and we noticed that a bunch of FAQs about the fire were posted today on the park's website.
Not much has changed since we last reported on the fire on Monday. The King Kong attraction and New York streets are gone. But the theme park is operating normally, and there aren't any ticket discounts. A press release from the park boldly tell us that "The show must go on."
We were just at Universal on May 21 and snapped this shot of the backlot as we headed down to take the studio tour. You can see the New York set from here. Universal says it will be rebuilt--along with a new attraction to replace King Kong.
Though Florida pretends to be a mecca for theme park lovers, California is really where ride junkies should get their fix this summer. In addition to The Simpsons Ride, this year brings a lot of new goodies to the table.
First up is Six Flags Magic Mountain, which just finished a major $10 million renovation of the famous coaster X. Now known as X2, the ride features updated trains and fresh audio and visual effects. Riders spin 360 degrees in their seats while making the journey along a 36,000-foot track. This one should clearly be done early in the day, before the hot dogs and cotton candy.
One of the backlots at Universal Studios in Burbank caught fire early Sunday morning, destroying a lot of precious movie memorabilia and sets including the King Kong exhibit, the courthouse square of Back to the Future and the New York Street, along with 40,000 reels of movies.
The theme park initially said it would remain open Sunday, along with the backlot tour, but the fire department closed the park as well as CityWalk, the retail and entertainment complex attached to it. Everything is scheduled to reopen this morning at 10 am.
Despite the fire, the MTV Movie Awards were televised live from the Gibson Theater at Universal.
No cause has been given as of yet, though highly flammable sets helped fuel the fire. After the jump, a quick video of the now-gutted New York Street area of the backlot.
Update: Universal Studios just sent out a statement saying that the actual BTTF Courthouse was saved, as were about half the buildings on the square. The park also confirmed that the King Kong attraction and New York Street were both lost as reported.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon bumming around Universal Studios in Hollywood. Our first (and pretty much only) order of business was to check-out the brand-new Simpsons Ride.
You may remember that this ride replaced the Back to the Future ride which we were sad to see go. But have no fear, next to the Simpsons gift store--aka the Kwik-E-Mart--Doc Brown still lives on in his Doc Brown's Fried Chicken Stand.
Then again, Doc Brown is positively dwarfed by Krustyland, the pseudo-amusement park in which the Simpsons Ride takes place.
We already knew The Simpsons Ridewould be green, and now we've gotten a look inside. Set to open on May 15, the ride has been going through previews at Universal Orlando, and reports on what to expect are already leaking out.
The theme park obsessives at Orlando United have a super-detailed rundown of every aspect of the ride, from the lines outside to spoilers. (We won't spill any secrets here.)
We will mention that there's a clever nod to the Back to the Future attraction The Simpsons experience has replaced. "Technical Rehearsals" will continue until the official opening if you absolutely can't wait to ride this thing.
In last summer's "The Simpsons" movie, an evil EPA head plans to cover up Homer Simpson's eco-unfriendly error by enclosing Springfield in a giant glass dome.
But America's first cartoon family actually cares a lot about the environment, if Universal Studios is to be believed: The new "Simpsons" rides at both Universal Hollywood and Universal Orlando use green technology to save over 600,000 watts of power a day, enough to run your laptop computer around the clock for a year and a half.
Designers of the ride, which is based on the TV show and the movie, used energy-conserving software, more advanced motors and LED lighting to achieve the energy savings. Take that, Russ Cargill!
It's kinda hard for us to get excited about the Simpsons Ride opening at Universal Studios on May 17 because to open this ride meant closing down the totally awesome Back to the Future ride.
Still, we should be happy that replacement is something equally iconic. (We just wouldn't go for, say, a Snakes on a Plane experience.)
The LA Times' Daily Travel and Deal blog has some deets on the ride which is housed in the old BTTF ride structure and has the same motion simulator concept.
