The park was set to be open 9am-8pm that day. We knew we would have to leave by 6pm, so we decided to arrive right when it opened. Unfortunately, everyone else thought the same thing that day.
The Trek to Get In
Right at 9am, there were lines into the parking lot. We payed $27 for General Parking, which was a 20-minute walk through Universal Citiwalk just to get to the security checkpoint.We had gotten our tickets online; so, after the security checkpoint, we were finally able to bypass the ticket counter and go straight through the turnstile -- which took slightly longer than the security checkpoint. Overall, it must have taken almost 35 minutes from the time we parked the car to actually get into the park.
The Plan vs. The Reality
To get us through what I anticipated to be a long hot day, I had packed a sun visor, water, snacks, and a portable charger. We were also a little dressed up for "9 3/4s" day, but we were more interested in exploring the park than participating in the "9 3/4s" events.Needless to say, there are lots of things to do at Universal Studios Hollywood. In the short time we were there, we ended up doing the following:
- Wizarding World of Harry Potter
- Flight of the Hippogriff
- Dreamworks Theatre Featuring Kung Fu Panda
- Walk Through Springfield
- Studio Tour, featuring King Kong 360-3D and Fast & Furious Supercharged
- Jurassic Cafe
- Dinoplay
- Jurassic World - The Ride
- Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey
- Donkey from Shrek
- Scooby Doo Gang
- Sideshow Bob
Wizarding World of Harry Potter
My daughter is such a fan of Harry Potter, that we almost spent our entire morning here until I alerted my family to the fact that there is so much more to do and we should get to it! There's shops, scenery and wizardry -- my daughter even cast a few spells!Flight of the Hippogriff
The wait for this little roller coaster was never more than 35 minutes all day. I wish we had done this ride last and gotten to all the other big rides first before those lines had gotten too long. We went early, so our wait was only 15 minutes. In my opinion, the ride is too short for the wait. But it sure was fun! It had twists and turns and went very fast, but no drops or speeding upside down. |
| In this ride, one flies over the Hippogriff's nest! |
Dreamworks Theatre Featuring Kung Fu Panda
Walk Through Springfield
We walked through a life-sized replica of Springfield, home of the Simpsons, on our way to the Studio Tour. Here is a video of what it looked like the second time we went through it -- after I discovered, during the first walk-through, that I should have had my camera on...
Studio Tour, featuring King Kong 360-3D and Fast & Furious Supercharged
This ride is worth doing early to avoid the wait. There are warnings everywhere to use the bathroom first, because this tram tour is a full 60 minutes long. (And there were never any lines in the ladies' restrooms anywhere -- it was miraculous!)
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| Psycho House |
Jurassic World
Jurassic Cafe
We discovered that this is the only cafe in the entire park that had a dish that would accommodate all of my allergies; I needed a meal that was vegan and gluten free at the same time. Most restaurants could accommodate one or the other, but not both. I had the Jackfruit Mojo, without the corn cake to avoid the gluten. It was yummy! But next time, I'm bringing a thermos with my own food in it. |
| Can you believe this is a fruit and not pork? |
DinoPlay
This little playground might have been more fun for my daughter if it wasn't so packed. It's charming for younger children. Plenty of climbing and sliding. At least my daughter can chime the Jurassic Park theme song now...
Jurassic World - The Ride
This ride was our longest wait: 80 minutes! We should have done the big rides in Lower Lot first, when the wait times were only 30 minutes. Again, the ride felt too short for the wait. And yes, we got wet. In fact, we got wet as soon as we entered the ride: the seats were wet! Highlights included the shark-eating Mosasaurus that splashed us from its tank, a little "dip" in the beginning, and the animatronic T-Rex and Indominus Rex that were so captivating we didn't see the end coming...
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
Our last ride for the evening -- this was, by far, our favorite ride in the whole park. Just an hour after the park opened, the wait for this ride was already up to 60 minutes, and it never got shorter than that all day. At one point, wait times peaked at 135 minutes!
Between the time we entered the line until we got on the ride:
- We were asked to stow all loose objects and belongings in a locker. Trust me, there is nowhere to stow anything on this ride. People who took their cell phones secured them in their pockets.
- There were the usual thrill ride posts warning about motion sickness, dizziness, etc. One of our friends took 3 hours to recover from the motion sickness on this ride.
- There was a test seat to ensure that you will fit, and remain sufficiently restrained, in the ride.
- There was a video showing how the seats moved: up, down, and all around.
They were not kidding.
We definitely flew up, down, and all around. The motion of the vehicles we were strapped in, combined with the dizzying on-screen flight simulation and the animatronics that darted out and "breathed" on us, made for a wizardly ride that is better experienced than explained. Wizardry indeed.
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| Happy to have survived our "Forbidden Journey" |
More to Do
- Simpson's Ride
- Special Effects Show
- Transformers 3D
- Despicable Me Minion Mayhem
- Super Silly Fun Land
We'll be back...
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