BURNED BOY TAKES HOLIDAY.

Byline: Steve Carney Daily News Staff Writer

For another day, Denis Nefedova was able to forget the pain of his burns, as well as the pain of the operations to repair his scarred skin, and to play Sunday in the temple of American pop culture that is Universal Studios.

The 10-year-old Russian boy got to meet his hero Spider-man, play with a capuchin monkey and hug actors in the plush costumes of dinosaurs from the animated film ``The Land Before Time.''

``I couldn't wait until this day,'' said Denis, eager to leave early for his 11 a.m. visit. ``I woke up at 7 o'clock and couldn't go back to sleep.''

Badly burned on his head and hands in an explosion at his home last year, Denis came to the United States two months ago so he could be treated at the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks. Between his operations, his mother, who accompanied him, and some newfound friends in the local Russian-American community have tried to offer him happy distractions, such as visits to Disneyland, the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific and Universal Studios.

``We just wanted to take him here so he would forget about everything,'' said his new friend and translator, Jenny Chernetsky, 12, daughter of Mila Chernetsky, who works at the Grossman Burn Center.

Denis ran through the park with Jenny, skipping eagerly to the next attraction, and danced to ``The Power of Love'' while waiting to board the Back to the Future ride.

He even volunteered to go on stage in front of 1,500 people at the Animal Stars show during a skit with Beethoven the dog, and he braved the threat of the St. Bernard's prodigious drool.

Without a trace of self-consciousness, he spent the day immersed in the thick Sunday crowd and the pleasures of the park.

``Back at home, people would look at him like some kind of I don't know what,'' his mother said through a translator.

``With friends and at school, it was OK,'' she said. But adults as well as children pointed and stared when he appeared among strangers. ``I felt like crying. He said, `Just don't pay attention. Don't worry.' ''

People in the United States have been more polite, she said. Denis glided through the crowds Sunday, as did other children there with families and friends.

During a power outage, Denis lighted a candle at his family's apartment on Sakhalin Island, north of Japan. The candle ignited fumes from gasoline the family stored in the home, and his head and hands were engulfed in a fireball.

He was treated by doctors in his hometown and in Moscow, but their expertise and facilities were insufficient to prevent severe scarring. A doctor from North Hollywood contacted colleagues at the Grossman Burn Center, and Denis and his mother arrived in March for the boy to begin treatments to repair his face and restore dexterity to his hands.

He faces a year of operations and treatments - the next at the end of the month, when surgeons will cut scar tissue from his left cheek and graft more elastic skin from his leg.

Because of what happened to him, Denis said he was anxious about some of the rides at Universal, where nearly every attraction includes fire or explosions.

During the Waterworld show, he applauded and laughed during some of the near-slapstick violence. In his beginner's English, he called out ``good shot, good shot,'' when the good guys took out the bad guys. He even watched in wide-eyed excitement during the pyrotechnics while he was in the safety of his mother's embrace.

``He liked it, but it was scary for him in the fire, so he closed his eyes,'' his mother said.

But he insisted he wasn't really scared.

``No,'' he told her. ``Everything's fine. It's not real. It's like the movies.''

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2 photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Denis Nefedova, 10, visiting from Russia for burn treatment, sees the Incredible Hulk at Universal Studios on Sunday.

Tina Gerson/Daily News

(2) His mother takes his hand Sunday as Russian burn victim Denis Nefedova, 10, sees explosions at Universal Studios.

Tina Gerson/Daily News