How We Spent a Day at Universal Studios, California
When we went on our honeymoon back in April, we took the opportunity to visit Universal Studios, Hollywood. Only an hour away from Anaheim, where we were staying, it would have been rude not to pay this attraction a visit. There's so much to see and do in Universal Studios, Hollywood, despite it being one of the smaller parks around.
The Universal Studios in Hollywood is actually quite small. It means that you'll have plenty of time to get on as many rides as you want, possibly even riding some of them more than once. We managed to get on every single one, other than The Mummy, because that ride scared me in Florida and it scared me this time, haha.
Aside from giving that one a miss, we did both of the Harry Potter rides, Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge and even Jurassic World, which had been down all day but it re-opened later in the evening. The theme park itself shut at 7pm, because it was a Thursday and it was off-peak season.
But aside from that, we managed to do a lot while we were there for just one day. Seeing as we managed to get everything done that we wanted to do, all in one day, I thought I'd share with you how we spent one day at Universal Studios, Hollywood.
Rope-dropping 'Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge' & grabbing some special 'Just Married' pin badges
We paid a little extra to get into the park on hour earlier than everyone else. This meant that, while everyone else was waiting for the park to open fully, we managed to get through and into the park before anyone else.
We took the opportunity to go straight to the new ride that opened inside the Super Nintendo World that's there; 'Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge'. It gets rave reviews and the queue times are always horrendous, so it made sense to head that way first, and we did.
We only waited about 15 minutes to ride it and it was awesome. Although, I think the ride concept itself, with the virtual reality aspect, is still in its infancy. So in my opinion, it didn't really live up to the hype for me. I wouldn't go all that way to ride the attraction.
If you want to give it a try, wait for it to open up in Florida, because California is a long way to go for a ride that just isn't quite there yet, technology-wise. However, the Super Nintendo World itself is really cool. It's so bright and fresh in comparison to some of the other lands they have around Universal Studios Hollywood, setting it apart from the crowd in the process.
But after riding the Mario Kart attraction and wandering around Super Nintendo World, we went to customer relations to get some pin badges to reflect the fact that we had just got married - how amazing are they?!
Riding both attractions in the 'Wizarding World of Harry Potter'
You might think that there are more attractions to ride in the 'Wizarding World of Harry Potter' than just two things, but there's plenty more in the Florida park that you can experience. Here, there are two main rides: 'Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey' and 'Flight of the Hippogriff', and we managed to ride them both.
Both rides are fast-paced and exciting, with neither one being suitable for small children, even 'Flight of the Hippogriff' despite looking tame on the face of it. However, both of the attractions were unbeatable and unlike anything else they have in the park. Again, if you have motion sickness, these probably aren't the ones for you, unless you take a travel sickness tablet, like I did.
Although, even if you do give them a miss because of your motion sickness, there's still a lot to do and see in the 'Wizarding World of Harry Potter' itself. Whether you go for Butter Beer in the Three Broomsticks or go and get your own wand from Olivander's, its THE place to go for all Harry Potter fans, no matter how young or old. Even musing around Hogsmeade is an experience not to miss out on.
60th anniversary Universal Studios Tour: Glamour Trams, Doc & the Do'Lorean & Bates Motel walk-through
Despite the park closing earlier at that time of year, and on a weekday, we still had plenty of time to ride the Universal Studios Tour on a Glamour Tram that had been refurbished to look like the ones used on opening day, 60 years ago. It was such a special occasion that they had an actor outside of the Back to the Future set to mimic Doc and he was stood next to the De'Lorean car, which isn't something they normally do.
Also, we were allowed to get off the tram - something that you aren't normally able to do either. Seeing as it was the 60th anniversary tour, we managed to disembark at the set of Bates Motel, where the original house from the 1960 movie, Psycho, still stands - how cool is that?! Normal Bates was even flapping around just to put you on edge, haha!
Finally going on the new Jurassic World attraction
Before we went on our honeymoon, we made a list of the rides we wanted to go. We manged to do all of them, including the Spiderman ride and the Transformers attraction, but we missed out The Mummy because I know that it scares me from the Florida experience.
But at the top of our list was the Jurassic World attraction. It's like a more modern version of the Jurassic Park ride at the Universal Studios in Florida. However, it was actually down for most of the day and we slowly started to come to terms with the fact that we may never get the chance to ride it.
Although, to our amazement, it came back up on the electronic boards, with a wait time, we couldn't quite believe it. So we hot-footed it over to get in line, ready to hop on and experience it for ourselves. Having ridden both rides, the OG in Florida and now this one in Hollywood, I much prefer this one.
I think it's more scary and has more of a wow-factor than the Jurassic Park ride in Florida. In fact, I think they should change it to Jurassic World at some point, which is something I never thought I'd say being a fan of the OG rides, generally. If you find yourself here, you NEED to give this ride a go. It's worth the wait time, trust me!
Springfield & the Simpson's 3D ride
It wouldn't be a trip to Universal Studios without stopping off and having a look around Springfield and going on the 3D Simpson's ride. I don't do well on simulator rides because I get motion sickness. So I was taking travel sickness medication to try and offset the effects of the rides we went on.
But let me tell you that this ride is not one to be underestimated. It might look tame a kiddy, but it really isn't. I knew this already because I have ridden the one in the Florida, but if you have children, be aware that this ride is actually quite rough. It's also lengthy in comparison to other simulator rides, so if, like me, you get motion sick, I'd either take a tablet, like I did, or give it a miss altogether.
Although, don't be sad if you have to miss this one out because you can have so much fun looking around Springfield, spotting all of the Simpson's characters, visiting Krusty Burger for some lunch, having an ice cold beverage in Moe's and shopping in the Kwik-E-Mart. We actually bought a brand new beach towel from there, but there's so much to do in Springfield alone. Don't skip over it if you do go to Universal Studios, Hollywood.
Grabbing some lunch & watching the water stunt show
That time came around where we were super hungry, so we found a little place close to the entrance for some lunch. We shared a burger, some fries, a biscuit that was decorated like the Glamour Tram and a drink which came in a souvenir 60th anniversary sippy cup. The great thing about the drink was that you pay a one-off fee for it and then you can have unlimited drink refills on the day of purchase. So it lasted us the entire day!
After lunch, we refilled the cup and then headed off towards the water stunt show. It's been on there for nearly 30 years, and for good reason. It was so entertaining, even from the start when we were waiting for the show to begin. Of course, there were splash zones, but we chose not to sit in the wet seats, haha! It was packed with amazing stunts and performances.
I hadn't seen any water stunt shows on that scale before. I just think that Universal Studios does everything bigger and better than any other theme park, especially when it comes to pyrotechnics, and this water stunt show had plenty of that! If you ever get a chance to come here, don't skip the water stunt show, because you really would have missed out.
Getting some dinner on City Walk & some last minute photo opportunities
We didn't have the time to get any photos of the entrance when we entered, because we wanted to get to the Mario Kart ride right at the bottom of the park. So we went back during closing time and managed to get all of our pictures then.
We took some of the famous globe, the sign before you head don the escalators and the red carpet that brings you inside the park itself. The opportunity for some pictures was just too good, especially seeing as the sun just setting in the sky, so the lighting was perfect.
It was then time for us to get some dinner, so we stopped off along City Walk at a diner-style restaurant, that I can't remember the name of right now. I know what you'll think when you see the picture, it looks heavy and greasy, but it really wasn't. It was actually really delicious.
The portion sizes were also pretty huge, so I didn't actually eat all of my dinner, but Tom certainly enjoyed what was left. We then noticed that there was a Cinnabon along City Walk as well, and there's nothing quite like an American Cinnabon, so we stopped off and took one back to the hotel with us. That concluded our day at Universal Studios, Hollywood!
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I hop you enjoyed this blog post? Let me know in the comments below whether you've been to Universal Studios, Hollywood, or if you're planning on going any time soon and I will see you again soon with some brand new content!
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