Universal Studios Hollywood Trip Report

[chabelita545]

For all of you planning a trip to USH and wanting to know what to expect, here's our trip report (DH, DS13, DS10 and me.) Hope it helps!

DATE: Thurs. 8/22/13 (2nd Thurs. before Labor Day)
WEATHER: Forecast 84 degrees, Actual high 95. Gorgeous clear blue skies and cool breeze.
BEST PART OF PARK: cool misting fans are located throughout and you get at least a little water on every ride.
PHONE/INTERNET/WAITTIMES AP: Ushwaittimes.com is great and refreshes every minute if you have internet signal (TMobile on iPhones had internet only on upper lot but phone signal everywhere.)

ARRIVAL: 8:55 (left Beverly Garland Holiday Inn on free shuttle at 8:45.)

9:00 am rope drop.
Walked briskly to lower lot
TRANSFORMERS 3D (2 minute wait)
Back to upper lot. (Takes a while to get from upper to lower and back because of 4 loooong escalators. Don't say, "Let's take the stairs up for fun." Halfway up you'll wish you were on the escalator.)

STUDIO TOUR (grabbed 3D glasses at 9:42 - total wait 10 minutes?) tour started 9:48, over at 10:36. Ride in one of the middle cars. Lots of action happens behind the front car of the tram.

PHOTO OPS (MARILYN MONROE, Dodger Stadium, dead JAWS shark)
THE SIMPSONS (posted wait 30 minutes. Entertaining queue with Simpsons on TV. Got thru turnstiles to preshow area at 11:08. Done with ride at 11:40.)

Back down to lower lot
Used FREE LOCKERS by the mummy ride
JURASSIC PARK (posted wait 20 min., actual wait 5 min. AWESOME RIDE! We sat in front and got soaked. Tucked my phone in my pants by my belt and leaned into lap bar. Phone stayed dry but the rest of me (mostly head and torso) was drenched.

Retrieved backpack from lockers
12:10 LUNCH by Jurassic Park (Panda Express) 3 minute wait. Line got longer later. We bought 2 containers of sushi, 2 combo lunches (noodles, rice, 2 entrees), watermelon, pineapple and a beer for DH. Total with 15% military discount, a little over $50.

1pm THE MUMMY (DH and DS13 - 25 minute wait. Roller coaster in the dark. 2nd half of ride is backwards.) Meanwhile, bathroom break and shopping for DS10 and me.

1:40 PHOTO OPS: Mummy characters, waited to get in line first at 1:55 for 2pm meet n greet with OPTIMUS PRIME - very cool.
2:05pm JURASSIC PARK for me - posted 30 minute wait. I use single rider line and walk on with no wait. Rest of family gets slurpees.

USH starts to get crowded.

2:20 TRANSFORMERS suddenly opens after midday breakdown. (Posted 40 min. wait, actual wait about 10 min tops, due to flood of people in front of the line pass line). During ride closure, CMs were passing out free pkgs of Jelly Belly candy.

2:40 THE MUMMY (posted wait 20 min, actual wait 3 min)
Meanwhile, DH and DS go on SIMPSONS again. (Posted wait 40 minutes. Close to accurate.)

PHOTO OP for DS13 and me (BART SIMPSON, SPONGEBOB). Shopping, waiting for family in front of misting fans.

3:20 SHREK 4D show
PHOTO OP (SCOOBY DOO).
4:20 got in line for 4:35 show of WATERWORLD (Sat in soak zone on purpose and it felt great to get wet. More than wet. Drenched. We all loved the stunt show.)
5:15 shuttle to hotel to swim

FAVORITES: DH Transformers, me Jurassic Park, DS13 The Mummy, DS10 The SimpsonS. Kids liked King Kong on the studio tour and we all loved Waterworld. Skipped Haunted House, Curious George Splash playground and Flintstones Carnival games. Also skipped Blue Bros. show, special effects show and animal actors show.

Had a great time but don't feel the need to go back for a long while. As DS13 said, "Disneyland is way better!"

 

[SnowWhite09]

Great recap - thanks so much for posting!

 

[Lynne G]

Chabel,
Funny. We were there the same day. We did almost the same things. First thing in the morning we hit all the rides in the lower section. Rode Transformers twice with not much of a wait. Since we had bathing suits and quick dry clothes, we also did Jurasic. We stayed at the Sheraton, so we went back to the hotel to change, then did the Studio tour with a 20 minute wait, and the upper area rides. We also did most of the shows, and no character interaction, as my kids DS15 and DD11 (12 a few days later), like shows but not waiting to take a picture with a character.

We too really enjoyed the water show. We did the last one they offered, then explored CityWalk and ate a late dinner.

I didn't think the lines were that bad at any time, and I am glad I did not pay for the express pass. I did not mind the heat, and we had no issue getting a large glass of ice water whenever we needed it, and the misters around the park were nice too.

Although we are Universal fans, I am not sure we will return to USH. USO is so much more things, that we will most likely return to USO rather than USH in the future. I am glad we got a chance to see USH, and we enjoyed our day there.

Thank you for your report.

 

[chabelita545]

I saw a lot of people with those very expensive front of the line passes and I am also glad we didn't spend the extra money on them. Totally unnecessary as there are only about five rides. I agree with you; glad we did it but we won't likely be going back for another visit.