Should we go to Universal Studios Hollywood?

[korg]

My wife and I be coming to California at the end of September. I'm a hard core Disney fan so will be doing DL and DCA at least 2 days of my trip. My wife and I are out for a 7 days (5 non-travel days) and are trying to decide what to do on our 3 non-Disney days. Is Universal Studios Hollywood on par with DL, DCA or Universal Studios in Orlando Florida? Is it very different or very similar to Universal Studios in Florida? If it's not up to par with US Florida or DL we may pass because 5 non-travel days isn't a lot of time to take in southern Cal. and if it's more or less "the same" as US in Florida we may pass as well because we visit Florida almost every year.

Thanks in advance for your opinions!

 

[skiingfast]

It depends on what you consider Universal Studios Orlando to take into comparison. It's similiar to the studio part, Universal Studios Florida but doesn't have an Islands of Adventure.

It's certainly not nearly as great as DL or DCA. It's like the Universal Studios Florida. A few rides, and then a few shows and attractions about movies. If you like Universal Studios Florida it's worth a try to go to Universal Studios Hollywood because it's about 75% different.

Another way to put it is how much time you need to fully see it.
Universal, easily in a day.
DCA about 1.5 days.
DL 2 days.

At the least I'd suggest going to DLR for 3 days minimum. For your other days, the only other thing you could do for a full day would probably be combining a lot of area attractions, such as driving to SD seeing museums the harbor and a beach.

 

[korg]

It depends on what you consider Universal Studios Orlando to take into comparison. It's similiar to the studio part, Universal Studios Florida but doesn't have an Islands of Adventure.

It's certainly not nearly as great as DL or DCA. It's like the Universal Studios Florida. A few rides, and then a few shows and attractions about movies. If you like Universal Studios Florida it's worth a try to go to Universal Studios Hollywood because it's about 75% different.

Another way to put it is how much time you need to fully see it.
Universal, easily in a day.
DCA about 1.5 days.
DL 2 days.

At the least I'd suggest going to DLR for 3 days minimum. For your other days, the only other thing you could do for a full day would probably be combining a lot of area attractions, such as driving to SD seeing museums the harbor and a beach.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'd like to do Disney for 3 days, it's up to the wife. We've been to WDW around 9 times so she's kind of Disneyed out. She likes Disney but not as much as I do. We may look into one of those combo tickets that includes 3 days at Disney, one at Universal and one at Seaworld. The only problem with that is we're not crazy about seaworld and would rather see the San Diego zoo.

Anyway thanks for your opinion, it's appreciated.

 

[skiingfast]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'd like to do Disney for 3 days, it's up to the wife. We've been to WDW around 9 times so she's kind of Disneyed out. She likes Disney but not as much as I do. We may look into one of those combo tickets that includes 3 days at Disney, one at Universal and one at Seaworld. The only problem with that is we're not crazy about seaworld and would rather see the San Diego zoo.

Anyway thanks for your opinion, it's appreciated.

I imagine you are talking about the SoCal CityPass. It's a rather good deal if you go to Disney 3 days and at least SW or USH. You can add on the SD Zoo, but it starts lowering the amount you save. But still worth it if you do 3 disney days, that's what most of the savings is from, USH or SW and the Zoo.

You can get them with either the Zoo or Safari Park, a choice of two great places to visit. To get that option you have to buy it direct from CityPass.

Assuming you have been to SW Orlando and that why SW San Diego doesn't sounds great I would give the edge to Orlando because it has an extra exciting coaster that SD doesn't have.

What you may want to do is a Citypass with the SD Zoo. Do Universal one morning skip some of the things Florida has, and visit Hollywood itself or another area attraction. Do SW one day and just hit a few highlights, then go to the Zoo which is a few miles away or do this in reverse. Then do three Disney days or break up the Disney days with the other sites.

I understand it may seem like just more Disney. DL packs almost as much in those two tiny parks as WDW has spread out over four. DCA has 4 attractions that are at WDW, Soarin, Muppets, ToT and ITTAB the rest of the park different. DL has several attractions not at WDW, and many that are in both like POTC, and Space Mountain are different. Some attractions obviously better some worse, many just different. If you find you are there and getting bored just hop in the car and go elsewhere after the morning.

What are some of things that are not in theme parks that you want to fill your days doing? There is plenty in the area to diversify.

 

[korg]

I imagine you are talking about the SoCal CityPass. It's a rather good deal if you go to Disney 3 days and at least SW or USH. You can add on the SD Zoo, but it starts lowering the amount you save. But still worth it if you do 3 disney days, that's what most of the savings is from, USH or SW and the Zoo.

You can get them with either the Zoo or Safari Park, a choice of two great places to visit. To get that option you have to buy it direct from CityPass.

Assuming you have been to SW Orlando and that why SW San Diego doesn't sounds great I would give the edge to Orlando because it has an extra exciting coaster that SD doesn't have.

What you may want to do is a Citypass with the SD Zoo. Do Universal one morning skip some of the things Florida has, and visit Hollywood itself or another area attraction. Do SW one day and just hit a few highlights, then go to the Zoo which is a few miles away or do this in reverse. Then do three Disney days or break up the Disney days with the other sites.

I understand it may seem like just more Disney. DL packs almost as much in those two tiny parks as WDW has spread out over four. DCA has 4 attractions that are at WDW, Soarin, Muppets, ToT and ITTAB the rest of the park different. DL has several attractions not at WDW, and many that are in both like POTC, and Space Mountain are different. Some attractions obviously better some worse, many just different. If you find you are there and getting bored just hop in the car and go elsewhere after the morning.

What are some of things that are not in theme parks that you want to fill your days doing? There is plenty in the area to diversify.

Thanks for all the great suggestions! For me I'd do the whole trip in theme parks but I'm leaving it up to the wife because she's never been to California. I'm trying to lean her to the city pass package but it has to be HER decision. Our agreement was i get at least two Disney days with park hopping and the rest is up to her. BUTTTTTTTTTTT I think she's leaning towards the city pass. Like i said the only minus is Seaworld and yes we've done it a few times in Florida but if we could do the San Diago Zoo instead of Seaworld it may seal the deal. Other things she'd like to see is of course Hollywood, muscle beach and stuff like that. I'm thinking we'll simply have to go back to California a few different vacations because the state is huge, there's no way to see all the sights in a week, especially if we intend to do theme parks this trip. We're staying about half way between Anaheim and San Diago this trip, we can do more northern things NEXT trip.

Anyway thanks again for the help. I appreciate the time you've taken to make suggestions.