Addicts Take Hollywood

Hey Howdy Hey Tappers!

A week ago today the Addicts gathered on the West Coast to take on Hollywood!

Universal Studios Hollywood that is.

I really hated turning that new Michael Bay movie down, but Crunchy Cranky told me it was a bad deal.  Then Wook touched him with “not his wish hand”..and things got awkward.  So, while no major movie contracts were signed (although we did make our own independent films…via Facebook Live), we still had a blast walking through the streets of Springfield in Hollywood. And hey, Patric did have a celebrity moment!

It was awesome to see sights from our own pocket-sized Springfields in real life, although I’m not sure I 100% agreed with their design choices.  I mean they had Krustyland front and center…and we all know how everyone feels about Krustyland!

So the real reason we were in Springfield, there is a point to this post after all, was to meet up with YOU!  It gave us an awesome opportunity to meet up with fellow Addicts at Moe’s Tavern.  We were able to share a few laughs, a few stories and lots of hugs all over Flaming Moe’s and Duff!

So let’s recap…

The meetup was fantastic!  We got to meet up with some longtime readers & put faces to their names! (and real names to their names)

We’ve got some video of the meetup you can view here (in case you missed it on Facebook):

First, I’ve got to say a big THANK YOU to Wookiee Mama!  Yes, Wookiee Mama…literally Wookiee’s mom.  I was thrilled to finally get to meet her after all of these years.  Somehow despite knowing the Wookster for more than 4 years Wookiee Mama and I have never had the chance to meet face to face.  (Including a time when we were both in Disney World at the same time, but couldn’t make our schedules work to meet up)

So thanks Wookiee Mama for everything! I was thrilled to get to hang out with you for a couple of days. Hopefully, we can do it again soon! 🙂

As far as the readers that showed up…that actually paid their hard earned money just to get a ticket for Universal Studios to see us…we were totally blown away by that!  You guys are awesome!

It was always fantastic to get to FINALLY meet some readers who I feel like I’ve known forever!

BrickguySD was the first Tapper I got to meet.  He was so gracious and sweet, I couldn’t help but give him a big old hug.  Not only was he super sweet, he also donated some AWESOME Simpson LEGO Mini figs to the site, so look for them in a contest soon!

Fred was next.  I had heard a lot about Fred (Fred was a long time reader of Patric’s old site) and I’ve enjoyed the interactions we’ve had in the comments over the last year.  So needless to say when I heard Fred would be coming I was very much looking forward to meeting him!  Fred’s great!  A fabulous presence and a great sense of humor.  Not to mention his wife was just the best!  They even had a sense of adventure as they joined us on the studio tour later that afternoon.  And you need a good sense of adventure to take on King Kong and Jaws.  You’ve got to be careful…Jaws will pop up out of nowhere and scare the bejebus outta you! 

Next up was Wandering Caveman.  Wandering Caveman has been a reader of Addicts for as long as I can remember.  I was pretty excited to meet a reader that I remember from way back in the early days of the site!  Not to mention he did some character drawings way back in the day.  It was so great to finally sit down and chat with WC face to face!  He’s every bit as sweet and funny in person as he’s been for years on the site!

Finally, Sliqstream wandered into Moe’s.  Another long time reader, who’s been around since pretty close to the start of Addicts. Yet another sweet Addict who shared a lot of laughs with us!   It was so great to put yet another face to a name I’ve been seeing for years!

While Brickguy, Fred, Wook, Pat and their significant others wandered out into Springfield later that afternoon, Sliqstream and Wandering Caveman hung around Moe’s chatting with me, Riley & my husband. Really great getting a chance to hang out with these two…I feel like I’ve known them for years!

Before we parted ways I had to stop and take a selfie with them and Barney!

Thanks to everyone (and their friends/significant others) for coming out and hanging with us!  We had so much fun getting to know y’all and I can’t wait until we can do it again!

I know there were a bunch of you that reached out right before the trip saying you were hoping to make it, but weren’t able to come down.  We missed you! Hopefully we’ll see you during a future meetup!

So what did we do with the rest of our day? We were in Springfield after all!  Did we find Wiggum and try to steal his donut?  Did we hang with Bart?  Catch Sideshow Bob escaping again?  Or did we dare venture to Krustyland? Did we indulge our inner “Pot Head”? (Wook’s nickname for Harry Potter fans)

All of that and more!

My husband, Riley and I spent most of our time in Springfield.  Universal Studios isn’t exactly a park for the little ones.  So there wasn’t a whole lot we could do with Riley in tow, but we did manage to hang out with some minions and ride a few rides!

Initially, after leaving Moe’s we did a walk around the park, including a tour of Springfield before our scheduled meet up time with the Wookiee family for the Studio Tour.  For those that may have missed it, here’s a quick tour of Springfield…

Pretty cool right? Loads of stuff from our games, so fun to see in real life.

If you’re in Universal Studios Hollywood I highly recommend the Studio Tour.  It’s pretty cool and a fun time. We grabbed a selfie with the Wookiee family while on the tram:

That’s Mrs. Wookiee and baby Wookiee in the back…and of course y’all know the giant fuzzball next to them.  I’ve got to say I had so much fun hanging with Heather (that’s Mrs. Wookiee’s name) while we were in California.  She’s the perfect match for Wook, there’s no doubt about that!  Great lady, and so much fun to hang out with!  And baby Wookiee…what a little heart throb!  After some warming up he and Riley got along great!  Including being in sync with their temper tantrums!

Here’s a little scene from the Studio Tour that I remembered to film…

Be careful on that tour, you never know what might happen to you!

After the Studio Tour, we decided to embrace our inner “Pot Head” and venture over to the Wizarding World.

We met back up with Pat and Debbie to ride the Harry Potter ride together!  Fun ride (Riley and baby Wookiee couldn’t ride it, so we took advantage of the rider swap…for those curious), but definitely spins you around a bunch.  Not one for those with a weak stomach.

After the ride, we then headed back over to Moe’s for one last drink and a few more Addicts videos (and photo opportunities) before Patric parted ways with us for the long trek back to Oregon. (by way of San Francisco) We did however get some parting thoughts from Cranky…some interesting insight:

After Cranky headed out, we went with the Wookiee family over to the Minions pier to let the kids run around and go on a ride just for them.  Riley sure did have fun on the flying bugs…all twirl, no hurl:

And becareful over there, you never know who you may run into (or who’s running away from you):

Finally, it was time to part ways.  So we took one last trip to Springfield so we could see it at night.  Wook said it was awesome at night, and he was certainly right!  Glad we got to see it!  We did one more quick wrap up video, a few more photos and then it was time to head out.  By that point both baby Wookiee and the Tiny Addict were D-O-N-E…and it was time to get them home and into bed.

All in all it really was the…

Mostly because I got to spend a few days hanging out with that guy on the left.  When you live on opposite coasts you don’t always get a chance to hang out as often as you’d like, so it’s always a blast when Wook and I can catch up!

And now, before I get to a bunch of photos from our trip to Springfield, some of you may be wondering: “what’s better, Springfield, Orlando?  Or Springfield, Hollywood?” Having been to both I can tell you their both great, but their both totally different.

While some elements are the same (like Moe’s, Krusty Burger, Duff Gardens), others are different (Hollywood has Luigi’s, Phineas Q. Butterfat’s & a lot more facades, while Orlando has the Twirl and Hurl, a Jebediah Springfield Statue, a Duffman and has a lot more room to move around), they’re both their own unique experience.

You’ll still get an awesome Duff Beer, or Flaming Moe, at either location (locally brewed)..and you’ll get a real sense of nostiglia for Springfield, your favorite yellow family and a certain pocket-sized town.  So if you get a chance to go to either, do it.  You’ll have so much fun.  And if you get a chance to go to both, do it.  You’ll have a different unique experience at each one.

(One other note: Universal Orlando is HUGE in comparison to Hollywood.  But Orlando has a lot more room (Hollywood is an actual working studio, so they have room but for movie sets and offices) so it makes sense that it’s bigger. (and in this case, bigger means more expensive to get entry to)

If you want to know more about the differences Wook did a recap post of his trip to Orlando in 2013 and the opening of Springfield Hollywood in 2015. 

Now onto the photos!

Here’s the view when you first enter Springfield…love the Welcome Sign 🙂

Of course we stopped to take a photo in front of that awesome sign..

We also stopped to take a group photo in front of a very familiar sight….

We also tried to get one with all of us doing the “Cranky Point”…but I ended up covering Wook’s face…all 5’4” of me…

Guess I’m not as short as Wook likes to think… 😉

I learned a lot of things about the boys while we wandered around Springfield…

First thing I learned…don’t turst Wookiee with your cell phone, otherwise you end up with Wookiee selfies…

(Ok so he took that one in Disneyland the day before when he had my phone..but same concept)

While we’re on the topic of Wookiee…I think he may be a long lost relative of Cletus, can you see the family resemblance?

I also learned that Pat and Wook share a love for donuts.  Not just the premium currency kind.  They love them so much they had “a moment” while enjoying one from Lard Lads…

And they both share the same thought when it comes to Chief Wiggum…

Hmm…looks like Pat’s got a finger from “not his wish hand” in Wiggum’s coffee….

We grabbed a couple more group shots before Pat and Debbie had to head up north…

And then we had to take a few shots with our inner 7 Duff…

We decided Pat is surly

While that day Wook was for sure Tipsy…or at least doing his best Tipsy impression

And I couldn’t decide who I was in that moment.  But I later went back and took a selfie with Edgy, I think his facial expression best describes me at times on this site..

Of course we couldn’t leave Springfield without checking out some of the famous yellow residents, and taking some photos with them..

Ahh Sideshow Bob!  And me doing my best to look at the camera, but totally distracted because Sideshow Bob is towering over us! 

And finally, Wook said I needed to buy this shirt.  I didn’t, but I think he may have been right…

And a few more sights from around Springfield…without us in them

Oh and for those curious about what it looked like, here’s a Flaming Moe in action….

We also spent a day in Disneyland as a group, but this post is entirely too long as it is so I won’t post any more photos.  But 2 thumbs up (as always) for the House of Mouse!  

All in all a great trip!  Fun times, good food, good beer & great friends!  Thanks to everyone that came out and had some fun with us, we had a blast!

Special thanks to the boys…

It was so great to be able to give Pat and Wook real life hugs.  Some days I feel like we go to battle together, so it was nice to just relax and have some fun! Time went entirely too short, I can’t wait to do it again soon!

And even more thanks to the boys significant others, Debbie & Heather…

I had an absolutely great time with both of you!  So glad we got to spend some time together and thank you for lending me your guys, I couldn’t do this site without them!

And, even though he won’t read this, special thanks to my hubby for putting up with all the Addicts chaos on this trip (and in life in general)!

And now that this page is over 2300 words, and a whole lot of photos, I’ll end it here!

Great trip, can’t wait to do it again soon!

What did you think of Springfield in Hollywood?  Have you been there?  Made it to the one in Orlando? Where do you want the Addicts to visit next?  Sound off in the comments below, you know we love hearing from you!