Universal Studios Hollywood- How much time?

[OhioStateBuckeye]

The thread title kinda says it all. I am torn between taking the WB Studios Tour and the Paramount Studios Tour. I have time for only one on my other Hollywood day, and Saturday May 12 is supposed to be a day at Hollywood Studios, when we are done there it is the plan to drive down to SD and be at the gaslight district to go to some secret Prohibition Bar.

Anyway, I am just wondering how much time I should budget for Universal. I am looking at the attractions on the website, and I think I'd like to do:

-Studio Tour
-King Kong
-Transformers (if open)
-Mummy
-Waterworld

if there is extra time I wouldn't mind going on the Simpsons (did that in Orlando though) and maybe NBC Universal Experience, Animal Actors and Special Effects.

I have no idea how long any of these attractions might take, I don't even know how long the Studio Tour will last. I have no idea how busy Universal will be on a Saturday in May. My understanding is that the front of the line pass wouldn't be too helpful, since most of the attractions at Universal are shows.

Universal is open from 9 am-7 pm. We would probably need to leave Universal around 5 to make a late reservation at the SD bar. The WB Studios Tour starts at 8:20 and is supposed to be 2 hours and 25 minutes. So if I made the earliest tour, we'd be out about 11 and its supposed to be a short drive from WB to Universal. So add in travel/parking time and I think we could be inside Universal at noon.

Wow this was long winded. Anyone have any advice for me?

 

[skiingfast]

The Studio Tour at Universal is a decent studio tour, it could sub for WB or Paramount. King Kong is part of the Studio Tour.

The main problem with showing up late is the lines you will encounter, one way or the other because it's a Saturday.

Tranformer's is likely to be open, very likely, though that may be the weekend of AP previews and not generally open. Which is strange now as rumors are suggesting it will soft open everday starting in the first week of May.


The main problem is the park has an upper and lower section. Transformers will draw crowds to the park, itself, and the lower lot where it is. This will make the line for Mummy very big as well. Jurrasic Park also if you want to try this. So hit this area ASAP.


The Studio Tour is 45 minutes long and can have a long, or very long wait. After the lower lot come up and go strait to this.

Then watch the clock for Waterworld, you may have time before the show for Simpsons or something else.

 

[StageTek]

With only five hours at Universal you can see the tour and Mummy
and Waterworld with no problem - even on a Saturday. If the timing
is right you should be able to see the Special Effects show, too.
Transformers will not be open - it opens on May 25 so maybe there
will be a few hours during the day it is running, unannounced. If you
happen to be in the right place at the right time....

You can save time by getting the front of the line pass.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like I need to just decide between Paramount and WB and take the whole day at Universal. Which is hard since I really like Harry Potter and heard there is some HP stuff on WB, but I think I would enjoy the Paramount tv shows they film there more.