A Day at Universal Studios Hollywood

Spyral

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Hello all,

Thought would post about our recent trip to Universal Studios Hollywood. Not so much a trip report (okay, it kind turned out to be), but thoughts about the trip, what liked/didn’t like, etc. Also there isn't as much info about USH out there, so hopefully there is some info in here that folks may find useful.

There are 5 of us: my wife, son (6yo), two daughters (13 & 14 yo), and myself. We live in the Phoenix area. It would take us about 6 hours to drive, but I have some frequent flyer miles to use up, so we thought would try and do a day trip!

This was going to be not only our first visit to USH, but also a surprise trip for our kids. We woke them up early Thursday morning (10/6) around 4:30am saying we were going to go for a drive – which ended up at the airport (PHX). Needless to say, they were quite surprised.

The park opened at 9am (8am w/ early admission), but our plane wasn’t getting in until about 9:15. That meant would get to the park closer to 10am, but we knew that in advance. The park was supposed to be open to 6pm, but will touch more on that later. Originally was thinking of doing Uber from the Burbank airport to USH, but ended up doing a taxi (minivan as there are 5 of us). It worked out well. Walked straight out to the taxi area, and straight to an available taxi with no waiting. From there, straight to the drop off area at USH, which is right by the security check-in. Cost was about $30 w/ tip. We had purchased a MiFold car booster seat for my son (6yo), but the taxi driver didn’t seem to care and started to drive away before we were all buckled anyways. So my son was buckled without the booster seat.

I had purchased our tickets (annual passes) in advance w/ Costco. We’re planning on getting Disneyland annual passes soon, so when we do go back to DL, we could do another day at USH even with the blackout dates (we’d be driving most likely instead of flying). So after clearing security, with our printed vouchers from Costco in-hand, we went to the ticket takers/turnstile. They scanned the ticket vouchers and took our fingerprints, then printed a regular paper (ugh) ticket for each of us. I was hoping for a plastic ticket, but it is what it is (I believe USO has moved on to plastic annual pass tickets).

I was originally thinking of doing what most people suggest – do the lower lot first, then come back up and do the upper lot stuff. But my youngest daughter is such a Potter fan, we had to go there first. Needless to say, it was pretty crowded. I wasn’t expecting it to be so crowded on a Thursday in October, but it was. We got our pictures on the train first thing (maybe should of tried to do that later so didn’t carry them around all day, but they survived with no bends/creases/tears). Then my two oldest did "The Flight of the Hippogriff". I tried the test vehicle, but light wouldn’t turn green for me (I am on the larger side, but the issue was too tall – I am 6’ 2”). I kinda knew this might be an issue on some of the rides and it wasn’t the only ride I couldn’t go on. My wife is somewhat pooh sized to, and was not able to do the ride. Kids enjoyed it though, even though it is pretty short.

We then debated what to do next, and as it was even more crowded now, thought would work our way to the lower lot (the USH app showed almost no waiting down there still for rides). But on the way, we seen that Olivander’s had a 30 minute wait. The kids wanted wands, so we thought since we were there, we would do it (you can get them elsewhere in the park, but they wanted to go there). My son was chosen in the “wand chooses the wizard” show, which was a lot of fun- but made his sister really jealous. After the show, my two daughters wanted to be fitted as well (basically in the main store area, the sales folks ask questions about you to help you choose a wand). This part was very chaotic and had trouble getting a sales person to help. There was no order to anything and we had to wait a long time – people would cut in and you’d have to wait even longer. My oldest gave up and just chose a wand herself. After had three wands to purchase, and waiting to checkout, I chatted with one of the workers (he was directing people to the register lanes). He said it actually was a lot worse over summer! I can’t imagine that. So $130 later, walked out w/ 3 wands (2 interactive, 1 not). Got some butterbeer on the way out (another long line, but I liked the taste of it). Then we proceeded to the lower lot, down the multitude of escalators.

One thing to note, in the lower lot there were areas where did not have cell service (T-Mobile, I don't know about others), so make sure to take advantage of USH's free wifi.

Here the waits still weren’t that bad. However, I did lose $20 basically on the lockers. I decided to put some of our stuff in locker as to not have to carry and so it wouldn't get wet. Had to use a large locker due to the wands. Tried w/ CC card, but it said CC unavailable/cash only. I put in a $20, and it said “shortage’ and something along the lines of see attendant. Well there was no attendant to be seen. I figured “Oh well, it charges based on how long you use it, so will see what it says when we come back’. Needless to say, later on when we did come back, it was jam packed in there with people, and no change was given. It didn’t say anything about change at all (the person in front of me got change back … ugh). Again, didn’t see anyone around to help out, and it was so chaotic in there, I am not sure how could have gotten them to help.

The Mummy only had a 10 min wait, so my wife and daughters went to ride it (my wife turned out couldn’t), while I took my son to the Dino play area. My daughters really enjoyed the ride. After the ride, we all went on the Jurassic Park ride. We did enjoy that one and only got a little wet. By then was about 1pm, but thought would go ahead and do the Transformers ride as it only had a 15 min wait. My son did not want to go on it, so he and my wife stayed back. So my two daughter did it. I thought it was ok. Kid’s seemed to of enjoyed it more.

By then it was about 1:30 and were all pretty hungry. We decided to eat at the Jurassic Café (about only thing in the lower lot besides Panda/snack places). It had a very long line and nary a place to sit. But we were hungry and didn’t to spend the time going to the upper lot without eating. So my wife, son, and I got in line while my two daughters went to scour for a table to hold us all. The line moved pretty slow (they only had 1 side open). You’d think would be quicker as you just grab food and go to the cashier. FYI, they do have the Coke Freestyle machines, so you do have a lot of choices for the flavor/type of soda. The cups do have sensors on the bottom to activate the filling. A few people didn’t realize this trying to get it to dispense soda (not setting the cup down on the base of the machine). Food was okay. Not what really wanted (was thinking of eating in Springfield or Hogsmead). But do to timing, it is what it is.

Done eating, we managed to get our belongings from the locker area (as touched on earlier). A bit upset about the lost $, but don’t want to affect the day. We then make our way back up the multi escalators to the upper lot. By this time I am feeling bad for my 6yo son. While he seems to be enjoying himself, he hasn’t really been able to do anything except the Jurassic Park ride He had been asking to do the Minion ride over-and-over, so decided that is where to go next. The three kids went on the ride, while my wife and I relaxed for a bit by a table (I grab a couple waters and a souvenir Minion popcorn bucket – it is pretty cool). One issue with this being our first time is that we don’t know here the exits are to the rides. Turns out the exit for the Minion ride is quite a bit away from the entrance. So once I determined that, we went to find a closer place to the exit (which was actually nicer, more shaded, breezy area, just outside "Gru's Lab Café"). The kid’s did really seem to enjoy that ride.

Now my son is asking to do the Simpson’s ride, so, sure let’s go there. On the way stop and do the Shrek 4D show. I decided to wait outside while the rest of the family attended. My shoes were wearing a spot on my feet and could tell a blister was incoming. I had brought some moleskin for just such an issue, so took the time to put some on - problem solved. They all seemed to have enjoyed the show. Next time go, I will make sure to attend it to!

After that, we continued on way to the Simpsons. We get close to the ride and see that the Universal Studios Tour entrance is right there as well, and has a 40 minute wait, but it says the last tram leaves at 4:15 (it is about 3:45 now). Thought kinda strange that the last tram leaves at 4:15 when the pack is open until 6, but know it is a long tour and maybe they normally stop the tour a while prior to park closing. So to make sure didn’t miss the tour, we opted to do the Simpson’s after.

We really enjoyed the tour. I think it was my favorite part (not necessarily the 3d stuff, but going through the different areas, hearing the history, etc. We sat in the 1st tram, which was good and bad. Good because you sit there with the tour guide (which was good when she had to mute the mic due to filming going on in certain areas, she could still talk to us), but bad because you are so far up, you do miss some of the effects in those 3d /active areas (for instance, didn't see Jaws come up out of the water).

So after the tour, we go back to the Simpson’s area. Looking the park app, it shows both rides in the Harry Potter area only have 5 minute waits! Well great! I tell my daughters to go ahead and go while I take my son on the Simpson’s (my wife sat out to relax a bit). We would meet up shortly. Walking up to the ride, there is a sign out front saying the ride is going to close at 5:30. Um.. ok. Park is open till 6, but at least we can go on it. Almost to the front of the queue and my son tells me he has to go to the restroom. Ok, out of queue we go and find the restroom. It is by where my wife is at. I can see her and my two daughters with her. Hmm.. that is strange I think. After helping my son, I go and talk to them. Turns out they closed the Harry Potter area at 5pm!! Well gee… that is a fine howdy-dee-doo. My daughters are VERY disappointed as they really wanted to ride the Forbidden Journey. We also wanted to explore more of that area! Kids were also not able to use their interactive wands, though they should work on future visits. I don’t know how they can say the park is open until 6pm, but close stuff down in the park an hour early. I know the Halloween Horror Night stuff is happening (why only open until 6), but that should NOT preclude folks from riding rides prior to park closing!

I tell my daughters we have annual passes, so we will be able to come back. The point of this trip was to kinda get our bearings with the park, and on future trips would know what to expect.

We do make it to go on the Simpson’s ride, and did enjoy it. But after that, everything else was closed off unless you had a blue wrist band (Halloween Horror Nights). Could do shopping of course (minus Hogsmead), but the stores were packed. Went to the Quick-E Mart, and my son got a stuffed Bartman. Didn’t notice though that the cashier did not take off the security tag until we got into the plane. That was fun trying to get off later at home. After I did, I looked at my hands and had yellow paint/dye all over them. Turns out it has a black and yellow paint/dye packs inside of the security device in case someone tries to take it off by brute force. Luckily none of it got on Bartman, and I was able to wash it off my hands without issue. Also luckily I was doing over some paper on the table, and it just got on the papers and not the table itself.

On the way out, stopped by the Universal Store, and my daughter’s got a t-shirt each (now that store was REALLY packed by the time we got there as there wasn’t much else to do in the park). From there, we headed on out of the park.

I was thinking about taking Uber back to the airport, but thought would check out the pickup/drop off area. They had a Taxi coordinator there, and she called up a minivan taxi for us. Only waited about 2 minutes. Ride back to the airport was about $25 with tip. Again, didn’t need the booster seat, but Murphy’s Law if we didn’t have it, they wouldn’t have taken us.

We were getting hungry again, so after getting through security at the airport started looking for something to eat. Burbank being a small airport, choices are rather limited. Ending up grabbing some burgers. Not much for my son to eat though (he is a pretty picky eater), and by this time he was sore, tired, and cranky. No tables to eat at as well as like most airports, the dining areas were small.

Waiting for our plane, noticed getting busier and busier. Why is it that our flights seem much busier than others? Being Southwest and no assigned seating, and in beginning of Group B, we were a bit worried about sitting together. But talked with the service desk. The lady said looks like only 5 empty seats on the flight, but if we should board from the rear of the plane (they would have two stairs in place), we shouldn’t have any issues sitting together. She said hardly anyone uses those stairs, opting instead for the first set of stairs. As we weren’t going to be in a hurry to get off the plane, we thought that would be fine. And she was correct – almost everyone went up the first set of stairs. We went to the back and were all able to sit together. Made it off the plan, a nice gentleman in one of the carts gave us a ride back to the security area, so we didn’t have to make the long walk from the gate out. Onto the Skytrain to the parking area, and off we drove to home. Made it home a little after 11pm.

All-in-all a good trip. First time have we have ever done a day trip like that. Nice thing about the day trip was a lot less to pack. The MiFold booster seat was nice in that it is very small (fit easily into a backback along with other stuff), but as it turns out we didn’t use it on either taxi ride.

As for USH itself, next time will spend a bit more time exploring shops and all. The park itself seemed to be well taken care of (clean). We did do most of the rides wanted to, except for Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey (The one ride really really wanted to do). I do enjoy 3-d rides here and there, but majority or the rides there are 3-d rides, which is a bit disappointing, but knew that going in. It is also disappointing about seats being too small. Being on the larger side, I can do something about that (lose weight). But being too tall for some, well, nothing can do about that.

What really disappointed us though was stuff closing early. That just left a sour taste on the whole. I know is just 1hr early, but the park was closing at 6pm as it is, so now you’re talking 5pm that some rides/areas are no longer available (or tour at 4:15). With it being short time in the park, we felt like even though we got most of the rides in, we did not get to explore as much as would like to, or to see shows we wanted to see. I do feel like could do it all in a day, if the park was open later in the day (say 8 or 9pm), and they didn’t close off parts early.

We do look forward to going back, but it will be part of a DL trip (which do enjoy a lot more!!)

Thanks for taking time to read and hopefully it'll help out anyone planning a trip.

edit: typos
 
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Nice review. How great to be able to fly in for a day trip. I always do road trips too.
 
Thanks for your tips especially about the free wifi, I've been here quite a few times and didn't know about it. Also good to know about when things close as we're going in a couple of weeks on a Thursday as well.
 
Nice review. How great to be able to fly in for a day trip. I always do road trips too.

Thanks! I hope it didn't come off too negative. We really did enjoy the trip. It always seems the negative points come out more than the positive.

Thanks for your tips especially about the free wifi, I've been here quite a few times and didn't know about it. Also good to know about when things close as we're going in a couple of weeks on a Thursday as well.

No problem! It is offered by Xfinity. It asks if you are an Xfinity client or to sign on as a guest. Not sure what benefit would be if you are a client, but the free guest access worked well for us. There is a bit of information on the USH FAQ page. As for the early closings, do keep an eye out for signs in front of the ride queue entrances. We may have missed one going into the Harry Potter area though. I don't recall seeing one there, but I would hope there would have been.
 
I went on an early closing night, too. I didn't know it was going to be the first day of Halloween Horror nights. We went primarily for Harry Potter's area and spent a lot of time (several hours) there. We went to the tram afterward and both 3D parts of the tram were broken. They gave us a front of the line pass to make up for it, but it was getting close to 5pm and there wasn't really anything we could use it for. We tried to just go have a beer back at the Harry Potter area and they told us they were already closed. Any shows we were interested in were already done for the day. It was still a fun day, but seemed a bit disorganized. We couldn't use our front of the line ticket for anything at that point. We did buy season passes because the cost was the same as the 2day admission. So, we plan on going back again, probably November or January. Then, not sure I'd ever go back myself.
 
OOPS, posted in the wrong thread...
 
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Thanks for sharing. My parents just went today and also arrived shortly after 10 (regular opening). They said it was busy and basically averaged one activity an hour over about 10 hours. They rode Harry Potter's Journey single rider (late afternoon) so they wouldn't have to wait in such a long line. I told them to go straight to the bottom level, but of course they went straight to Hogwarts area and spent 45 minutes waiting to ride the Hipogriff ride. Sounds like they probably had a good day, but my mom doesn't sound eager to return. Originally she wanted to go next summer with us when we visit Disneyland. Now she says to wait until the kids are older/taller. We haven't been yet (well I've been twice, once as a kid an again more than a decade ago) and were looking forward to going. Thinking we may need to go another time as my kids love Transformers.

You arrived after early entry, but do you know if you would have gotten early entry for your first visit with your pass bought online? Or is it only for one day passes bought online? That could be a big deciding factor for us as we know being ahead of the crowds makes a big difference.
 
I believe early entry is only for tickets purchase online. At least the AP's purchased through Costco don't have early entry. I don't think the AP's through USH have early entry either. The good thing with them is that your first day attend can be on a blackout day. The day we went wasn't a blackout day, but least we knew would be ok if it was going to be (we didn't finalize the day early on).

Also received email yesterday saying that could come in on an additional day this month that is currently a blackout day. We don't plan to, but was interesting to see. If we were local, I could see potentially taking advantage of that.

Do listen to the DIS Unplugged Podcast | Universal Studios VIP Experience if get the chance. It does sound like the VIP Experience could be worth it to do, especially if only going for a day. I am very tempted to do that, but seeing how just bought the APs and there are 5 of us, I don't think it is feasible for us for the time being.
 
Great report. So neat that you could visit as a day trip.
Sorry that the park closed 1hr earlier than expected. Can understand your disappointment as you missed getting stuff done that were on your wish list and it was already closing early.
 
We found on our last trip that they kept changing the opening hours. We expected to get there for early entry and discovered the park had been open for an hour which was frustrating. Splashed out on fol passes so as to get on the hp rides as it had just opened. Discovered like others that its crazy crowded in the morning and quiet last thing. They didnt close it early so we ended up riding Forbidden Journey 3 times! It was my nephews favourite ride on our trip including all the Disney ones. Its so worth doing!!!
 

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