I know you are allowed to record all the shows at Universal, but no clue about the rides.
Sometimes, you get the actors to "do a little something" if they see you with a camcorder. Like, at the Horror Makeup Show, one of the actors went up to the camcorder and acted out while looking directly into the lens (great if you are going to watch it again...more personalized...hehe). And another time, like at the Ghostbusters Show one of the guys comes up and shakes his behind in the camera (though, I know you don't care about that...LOL...besides the guy that did that isn't there anymore).
But those are just some examples of the advantages of recording shows.