One and a half day of our time in LA were spent in Universal Studios Hollywood. We carpooled in Zoe family’s minivan and, like the ambitious type-A folks we were, arrived both mornings 15 minutes prior to the park opening time.
We all purchased the “buy one day and get the second day free” ticket deal. I thought that was a smart marketing strategy. The theme park was small enough to reasonably do everything in a single day, so most people were unlikely to pay much for a second visit. By allowing people to return for a second day, Universal made the per-day cost appear much lower than what some may be willing to pay. Additionally, allowing guests to tour the park at a more leisure pace meant more potential food, drink, and souvenir revenue.
We had a strategy of arriving early and hitting up the most popular rides first. It sure helped, but we were also surprised that the park never got as crazy busy as Disney. The longest wait we had was merely 40 minutes, and most attractions were in the 15-minute range. It allowed us to relax and not worry too much about optimization. We did what we felt like, redid what we enjoyed, and even had time to go on rides that we had ruled out as unnecessary in the beginning. Compared to our Disney World family vacation just two months prior, Universal Studios Hollywood was far less stressful.
The park had two sections separated by a steep 20-story hill. The upper lot near the entrance had the original movie studio attractions, Hogwarts, and various cartoon stuff. The lower lot was the Super Nintendo World plus a mishmash of more exciting rides for the older kids. Between the lots were a series of escalators that took a while to traverse. Although this topography seemed inconvenient at first, it was actually nice to split the park into two smaller, more manageable chunks. And it gave us some exercise running up and down those stairs.
They were constructing a Fast and Furious roller coaster right on the steep hill separating the two lots. It looked to be the upcoming most thrilling ride here.
In my distant memory, Universal Studios may have more thrilling rides and attractions aimed at adults, but its attention to detail was nowhere near Disney’s level. As such, their parks felt cheaply made. This trip completely changed that impression. I was amazed by how immersive Universal Studios Hollywood’s themes were and how creatively the rides were designed.
Super Nintendo World
It was a big deal when Universal debuted this “world” last year, and it remained the hottest attraction here. Its vibrant colors were surreal.
Though it felt like a lot of space, the Super Nintendo World only had one ride: Bowser’s Challenge. It was an interactive Mario Kart experience, that was both technologically fascinating and somewhat too complicated. The queuing path leading to the ride, though, was among the prettiest parts of the park.
There were also a bunch of interactive mini games scattered throughout Nintendo, reserved for the hardcore fans who shelled out extra money for those pricey wrist bands. We skipped those without hesitation. Fortunately, there were still a few photo spots left for frugal guests like us.
From there, I shall hereby declare that the Toadstool Cafe was the best theme park dining experience I had ever had. It had an on-theme menu with utensils and some food items made in the shape of Mario characters (I would have never ordered a meatball as an entree, but it came with a Bowser-shaped pastry). The ambiance was cute and those LCD windows featured a “view” of the surrounding village that sometimes went into chaos (similar to a Rainforest Cafe experience). The service was reasonably fast, the space was comfortable, and the food was surprisingly tasty and not too expensive.
A big reason why I’d call Toadstool Cafe my favorite theme park dining experience was the simple fact that we were able to get in. There were reviews indicating potential long and stressful waits in line, so when our party first brought it up I was of the opinion that we didn’t have to eat there. However, just the evening prior, I was blown away to see how easy it was to make a reservation on my phone for a party of 8. We had never tried the “better” Disney restaurants because we had no interest in fighting for an online reservation at midnight some months in advance. But if Toad would give me a seat without much fuss, sure!
Hogwarts
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was easily the most impressive and immersive part of Universal Studios. Hong and I saw the construction of Hogwarts castle in Universal Orlando back in 2008. Shortly after, we started hearing raving reviews about this one-of-a-kind theme park, and reading about how the book author’s meticulous personal involvement brought many magical details to life. Now we finally set foot here in the California version of Hogsmead. And yeah it was awesome.
I didn’t personally care about the franchise until Xuan and Ting got into it a couple years ago. Thanks to our countless dinner conversations, they brought me up to speed with most of the story and much trivia in the Harry Potter universe. It allowed me to appreciate the butterbeer vendors, Ollivander’s shop, and the Gringotts Bank ATM (which dispensed real US dollars).
We had visited Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in both Anaheim and Orlando before coming here. Now it seemed to me that Disney’s major Star Wars investment had to have been inspired by the success of this Harry Potter Land. In terms of immersion, though, it’s hard for anything to surpass this part of Universal Studios. Because Hogsmead in its source material was already filled with regular humans, including plenty in their preteen years, park guests fit right in and cast member costumes looked on point. The whole place felt believable. On the other hand, however hard Disney tried, kids with Mickey ears just didn’t look natural next to Stormtroopers or animatronic aliens. Nobody in the Star Wars films drank Diet Coke labeled in the Aurebesh language, so it didn’t seem “real” the same way butterbeer could.
Among the coolest things here was Ollivander’s. I had no idea why anyone had to wait in line to go into a shop, and thus wasn’t initially interested. It turned out to be an elaborate sales presentation cornering parents into paying for overpriced souvenir for their children interactive reenactment of Harry Potter’s wand fitting encounter involving a randomly selected lucky young fan. Though gimmicky, being in that dark, cozy space with the elderly wand-making grand master felt so much like a legit movie studio tour. Better yet, Ting was the chosen young wizard and became part of that performance. Her outgoing personality and deep knowledge in the spells made the whole thing seem almost rehearsed. I’m not an easily impressed guy, but those five minutes seeing my own child in a live performance felt so special.
From there, Ollivander made a smooth transition in handing “the wand that chose this young wizard” to a sales associate. I was prepared to pull out the silver Amex in my wallet to pay the $59.95 plus tax. Maybe times two to be fair. It was a ridiculous number for a mere plastic stick, but the luxurious packaging and the whole wand-fitting experience made it kind of acceptable. The less wizardy-looking salesperson repeated some of Ollivander’s words, but was clearly talking to me this time despite still looking at Ting. I was gonna nod when she turned to look at me, but was surprised to hear a crisp “no thank you” coming out of her mouth. She turned that salesperson down with such decisiveness that I felt thrown off… but simultaneously, wow, what a proud parenting moment. My child who always chased after random shiny things now saw through this consumeristic garbage that would stop working as soon as we left the park. Without hesitation, she walked away and hurried us to the next attraction.
Studio Tour & Water World Show
I came to Universal Studios Hollywood at age 10, with family and as a part of a tour group. No idea if the park had any rides back then, but the studio tour and the live stunt performance etched in my memory something truly special. To me, Universal had always been about seeing how movies were made, so experiencing those things again was important to me.
Water World had to be a new show since the movie was made years after our visit. The types of stunts, stage sets, and fire/water features seemed familiar, though. It was fun to watch, and felt like a more committed performance than the Indiana Jones show at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
The Studio Tour was a mix of the stuff from 30+ years ago and newer movie sets. Jaws, storm flooding, and the subway tunnel earthquake were all exactly as I remembered from childhood, and the nostalgia was top notch.
Shortly after going home from the first visit, 4th-grade me saw in the newspaper about Universal adding a King Kong feature. It was an extension of the studio tour where (I think) the tour tram would get on a bridge in front of an NYC skyscraper, and Kong would shake that bridge. Despite having never seen the movie as a kid, I was a King Kong fan and I dreamed of coming back. Well, what was new then became forgotten history by now. However, the tour these days featured a 4D experience with Peter Jackson’s version of King Kong. The tram parked in a dark room with plenty of shaking and sound effects, surrounded by 3D screens showing Kong fighting t-rexes. Basically, the entire tram of tourists replaced Anne in the most action-packed scene of the movie. Loved it.
The Rides
I was pleasantly surprised by the wide spectrum of experiences offered by the limited number of rides at this park. There was something for everyone, and not too many options were out of reach of short kids or the faint hearted. I also appreciated how most of the rides combined physical and digital technologies, as opposed to going 100% old school or 100% screens.
My personal favorite was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Like Avatar: Flight of Passage, our favorite thing at Disney World, it used a silly story to showcase many scenes, locations, and characters from the movie series. We got strapped into this bookshelf-looking seat and began flying with our feet dangling below. Our faces got pushed in front of videos of flying wizards around Hogwarts, as well as physical dragon, spiders, Whomping Willow, etc.. While the Avatar ride was a more adrenaline-filled thrill, this HP ride was by far the most magical. I spent most of the second ride-through trying to figure out how it worked, and was so intrigued that I had to look it up later that same day.
For completeness, here’s the full list of rides we did at Universal Studios Hollywood, with a mini review for each.
- Mario Kart Bowser’s Challenge (2x)
- A legit race where you could – and we did twice – lose to Bowser’s team. Winning required everyone on the 4-person team to get enough points, and the control was somewhat complicated. Very fun but hard to balance trying to win with enjoying the ride
- Jurassic World – The Ride featuring Mosasaurus Splash (2x)
- A hardcore version of Splash Mountain where we face planted into a wall of water in the end. The story path leading up to the drop was brief but featured both giant screens and animatronic dinosaurs
- Revenge of the Mummy – The Ride
- An indoor roller coaster with props, some screens, and creepy effects of beetles at the feet; went forward and backwards reminiscent of Expedition Everest
- TRANSFORMERS The Ride
- An escape mission story well integrated with the waiting queue. The pod-based ride relied heavily on big screens, with jerky motions and in-your-face 3D effects truly embodying what it was like to be in a Michael Bay movie
- Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (2x)
- See above
- Flight of the Hippogriff
- A really short roller coaster for kids. Terrible wait time / ride time ratio
- Ollivanders
- See above
- Minion Silly Swirly Ride
- A spinning ride for kids. Terrible wait time / ride time ratio
- Despicable Me Minion Mayhem (2x)
- A 4D movie with a giant screen and moving seats
- Kung Fu Panda Adventure
- Another 4D movie with a giant screen and moving seats, with some neat optical illusions
- The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash
- A slow and quiet ride through a world of animatronic dogs and cats, with a little bit of screen for effects
- The Simpsons Ride
- An ironic theme park ride simulating a bunch of theme park rides gone crazy. While the technology wasn’t too different from other 4D movies, the way we waited in queue and got seated felt like actually boarding a roller coaster in a cartoon carnival
Universal Studios 2025
Universal Studios 2025 (1/2) – There and Back in Four Days – Peter's Blog
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