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Some of you know that we went to Branson and Silver Dollar City 4 times
last year and that we are now in the process of editing the latest video. This
time however we think we may call it the Smith Family Video 2000 since we
made so many trips it might not be called an actual or "official" vacation.

We shot 4 of the 5 seasons of Silver Dollar City during these trips and have
video material for the SFV-2000 that will be enjoyable as well as vacationally
educational.

Logging video tapes is one of the most time consuming things I can think of.
We would rather be editing video, creating graphics or special effects but
logging the contents of the tapes is very important in order to create the most
impressive video. We take the very best of all the hours of tape we shoot
and pack them tightly into a single 2 hour video tape. Any of you who have
received one know that we fill the tape from start to end with interesting facts
and fun filled antics of Laura and Kristy. Last tape they were "aliens" who
came down to the Planet Branson and had so much fun we decided to do it 4
more times in 2000.

If someone would like a copy of it they should e-mail us and we will give you
an address where to send a donation of $10 + $3 for shipping and handling.
Of course you can donate more than $10 if you like. That would be fine with
Laura and Kristy and would help cover some of their production expenses,
making it more fun for them to produce these wonderful, entertaining, cute
and sometimes funny videos each year.

We can't update this website anymore because Windows XP will not work with Web Studio.

I'm attempting to edit it with MS Frontpage 2002 just so you will know what's going on in the event you should find yourself on this webpage.

We have some new website editing software now but the old pages are not compatible with the new website software.
Bloopers
Dream-Link
Young Actors
New Mexico 98
Laura's Website
Kristy's Website
Links
Rainbow
Productions
H.P.D.Fest
Christian Wings
Christian Help
Ft. Smith Lib.
KHBS 40-29
SFV-2001
The Latest News 3/17/2001
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If you have been following the Smith Family News here, we
just returned from LA, CA and did all the things we said
we were going to do, and then some. We visited 4
production studios. We spent two days at Universal
Studios and had a ball and don't forget the "new"
Universal City Walk. Yes, Universal Studios is so large
they have their own "city" called "Universal City". They
have their own mayor, fire dept., hospital and all. The
Jurassic Park ride is a blast but watch out, you WILL GET
WET. Not to fear, we have video of the ride and though I
did get my camera a might wet I managed to get it under my
coat before we hit the water at the bottom of the 80 foot
drop. Naturally when we do this SFV-2001 we will show
some clips from this ride. Splash Mountain EAT YOUR HEART
OUT! People were coming back in yelling, "Man, I got to
do that again!" And of course they did. Kristy would have
just camped on that ride if we had let her. 4th time
around though we managed to catch her and pull her out of
the line.

Studios we visited..

... Universal Studios, Front and Back Lot. Kristy was
chosen twice on the behind the scenes events. She "fell"
from the Statue of Liberty and worked on a Foley Stage
doing 3 different sound effects. They were shooting
production in several of the sound stages and one TV show
was being shot during our tram ride through the back lot.
The production crew waved at us when we went by and I do
believe I got video of them working there but I have no
idea what show they were shooting.

... Warner Brothers Studios, wasn't all we had hoped for.
They would not allow any pictures or video of any kind in
98% of the compound. No Video at all and only allowed
photos in places that we could have mostly cared less for,
like the old Bonanza western set. The kids saw one star
of a TV show as we passed by but it was a show I never
watch and I never saw the guy having lunch on a curb
outside of the set he was working on. We saw 3 of the
original Batman suits and in their museum almost nothing
was in glass cases. You could have literally reached out
and touched anything there but they asked people not to so
no one did that I know of. It gives you a feeling of
"being right there" to be that close and able to touch
even though you don't. Sorry we can't show you much from
in there but I will tell more about this later in the
Vacation area of the website.

... NBC TV Studio Burbank, not much to say about it. It
basically stunk and they wouldn't allow any video cameras
or pictures either. They did allow pictures in the last
two rooms but there wasn't anything there of interest
anyway. The high-point of the trip was when the guide
took us out the back door next to Jay Leno's stage where
we saw Jay's blue and white Ford Cobra car. I was told
that was the same car (a different color) that was
actually used in the movie Romancing the Stone when the
woman was kidnapped and the kid drove the car to the
kidnappers. I wanted the kids to see the NBC Studio so
they did.

... Paramount Studios, was the highlight of all the
studios we visited. Though the sign and all the info we
had on the tour said they didn't allow video or cameras of
any kind when we got there we discovered they had just
recently allowed people to take pictures in certain areas
of the studio. Our Guide here was the best of all the
guides we followed around. He told us the reason that
Paramount had not touristized the studio was because they
were saving it for those who were really interested in
production. This way they would take only 20-30 people in
a group on a walking tour of the studio and this way it
was possible to literally get right up next to the stars
and actors during the tour. He said, "Now if you see any
actors or stars walking around the studio don't go running
up to them, but if they choose to come talk to you then
that's all right." He was true to his word and sure
enough we not only got to see several stars during this
tour, but one star Brian Denehey (not sure how he spells
that last name - played the head alien 'Walter' in Cocoon
& the Return) and one actor from the set of Voyager did
speak to us. The actor right off the set of the Voyager
was walking from one of the sound stages to the dressing
rooms and walked right beside us. I said, "Are you guys
still lost in space," and he laughed and I said, "Excuse
the pun, that's from another movie," and he said, "That's
all right. We are shooting the last two shows right now.
The show has been canceled." Then he went on ahead and
had some fun with our guide and the rest of the tour
group. Like our guide had told us, some of them are very
friendly and are glad to greet the tour groups. At
Paramount you can even go into the Commissary and eat with
the actors and stars. This is the only Studio that I have
seen where the tour groups could literally eat the same
food that is served to the stars and actors who work
there, and be able to see them all around you while you
eat. The food was excellent and wasn't over-priced as you
might expect.

We visited the La Brea Tar pits, Long Beach Aquarium of
the Pacific, Queen Mary, and a Russian Sub. Some of you
are curious about our ghost hunting trip to the Queen
Mary,
my answer to you is you won't be disappointed, yes
the places is highly haunted and we did capture some ghost
"orbs" on video tape in the boiler room of the ship.

Dawn and I also spent the entire day on the Spiderman set
in Downey. When you go to see the movie Spiderman you
will be able to find us in some of the final crowd scenes
at the World Unity Festival. Yes, we were there with
Peter Parker (Toby McGuire) and even the creator of
Spiderman, Mr. Stan Lee, and Macie Gray (with her band),
with the director, the cameras, the hot lights and what
fun. We got a first hand experience of what it was like
to work on a real live movie set. NO they don't allow
anyone else to have cameras there. Only special people
who work on the set can have cameras. Let me just say the
set was most impressive and literally like we had been
transported in a moment from CA to New York Time Square,
right down to the Imperial Grand hotel. This is all built
in a large fenced in parking lot in Downing, CA. Is it
secure ? You bet it is, they have guards everywhere and
once we entered the gate that morning, it closed behind us
and didn't open again until quitting time at 6pm. I would
love to tell you more but things like that are kept under
hat until the movie comes out. Be sure to watch for the
new movie Spiderman. Go to my links page and check out
the tvtix page and read more about it there.

We saw a few other stars out and about. We were a few
yards away from Jim Carrey while he was shooting in
Hollywood at the famous Chinese Theater on the star
walkway. Thing is, we left before he came out of the
building. We saw a few other actors there who were
working in the film with him. The movie they were
shooting is Majestic or something like that and time set
in the 50's.

We are still working on the SFV-2000 video and when we get
that done we will start on the 2001 video.

I'll be building a new "Vacation / Current Trips" area of
the website to accommodate the new pictures and our SFV-
2001 area of this website.

If you have any questions e-mail me.
Vacation
SFV-2000
The Wreck!
GHOSTS!
If you wish to know what's going on with us you should check the old/new Smith Family Website. I've returned to it and started doing a little bit of updating.

Ever seen a GHOST ? Would you like to ? We went
ghost hunting in the Queen Mary and yes we did
capture some ghosts on night vision video.

Want to know what's new in the Rainbow Studio ?
Studio News
Spooky Places