I was not expecting to be able to visit Universal Studios Hollywood on this trip, or any other this year, but in a lovely surprise we managed to wrap up everything else we wanted to do in LA early leaving enough time to visit the original studio theme park! I've never really known what to expect from USH, with it's relatively small footprint and ride line-up it never had the same draw for me as it's descendants around the world. But with the recent addition of The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash, the Jurassic World re-theme of Jurassic Park: The Ride and of course the Studio Tour I certainly wasn't about to turn down an opportunity to visit!
The Studio Tour
The studio tour is undoubtedly the centrepiece of a visit to USH. Whilst most other rides in the park have comparable attractions (if not clones) in other parks, since the closure of the Disney's MGM/Hollywood Studios tour, the tour stands alone amongst the theme parks of the world (to my knowledge) as a tour of an actual working studio. (I mean sure, other studio tours are available around Hollywood but you how many animatronics can you see whilst you're there?) The tour takes you around long-time sets used repeatedly in movies, as well as some iconic scenes from absolute classics with a few bonus simulator-style attractions along the way.
Being honest, I felt most of the more modern attempts to develop the tour in to more of a theme park attraction detracted from the overall experience. Whilst I enjoyed the classic examples of physical effects including flooding and earthquakes, the mid-tour simulators and corny Jimmy Kimmel segments just left me wanting to get back to the tour. Also, if that is all that Supercharged is in Orlando? Wow. Y'all weren't lying.
However, when the tour was... touring(?) it was really quite special. As a huge fan of both The Good Place and Psycho, seeing those sets was magic and seeing more of the day to day operation of a film studio such as the offices and trailers felt like a real sneak peak in to another world. Our tram even passed by two sets that were closed off with 'hot set' signs, which felt so exciting!
Jurassic World - The Ride
Or: Why I Should Never Be Sad About a Retheme Until I Experience It Ever Again - The Ride.
Like a significant chunk of millennials, I'm a bit of a Jurassic Park maniac. That movie (and The Mummy (1999)) had an oversized place in my childhood, and the book remains my absolute favourite to this day. Sadly, this just made it even more heart-breaking when I didn't enjoy either of the Jurassic World movies. Safe to say I wasn't exactly enthusiatic when USH announced Jurassic Park: The Ride would be re-themed to Jurassic World. Then the POVs dropped, the ride looked great and I hoped I'd be able to ride it one day.
Then came the Indominus Rex. Holy cow, the Indominus Rex. This thing looked insane on the POVs, but nothing could have prepared me for seeing it in the (latex) flesh. The finale of Jurassic World - The Ride is quite possibly the single greatest 5-10 seconds I have ever experienced on any theme park attraction in the world (with the possible exception of any seconds spent Rising the Resistance). Until I was up there, I didn't realise quite how invisible the T-Rex is. You cannot see a single scale. So, for that behemoth to come out of nowhere and launch itself towards the other enormous animatronic standing right in front of you... it was just like nothing I've ever seen before in my life, and left me sobbing and scooping my jaw off the floor. Absolute perfection.
(The rest of the ride rocked too.)
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Attempting to review TWWOHP is a task akin to reviewing The Beatles. I can promise that I have nothing of value to add to the discussion surrounding the land that changed modern theme parks forever. But wowwwww. Like many, I've fallen out of love with Harry Potter over the past few years. Back when I visited Orlando in 2015, I was still a superfan and spent most of my time in the land squinting through tears. I really didn't expect it all to hit me so hard this time but oh boy did it. It's just a perfect theme park land isn't it? From the themed food, to Moaning Myrtle in the toilets, you're just there. Right there, in Hogsmeade.
The queue-line for Forbidden Journey remains every bit as astonishing as it was upon opening, taking you on an almost exhaustive, completely immersive tour of Hogwarts before you step on to one of my favourite ever dark rides. The screen sections may be starting to show their age a bit, but the sheer scale of the physical scenes stole my breath away, whilst the movement was far more than I remembered and I found it so much fun!
As we were leaving the park 5 minutes before close, we noticed Ollivanders had no line so scooted over and got to experience the wand ceremony for the first time. We were joined by just two other groups, including one child, so obviously the child got chosen for the ceremony (not bitter at all, nope, not one bit) and the whole thing was genuinely magical! The Wand Master was magnificent and brought such gravitas to the occasion. I can only imagine how special a moment the ceremony was for that child, I just wish it existed when I was that age! Sure, it's the most elaborate merchandise sales pitch ever but damn, it works!
The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash
Or: The IP Doesn't Matter When You're Building A High Quality Family Attraction: The Ride.
I can't start to talk about SLoP: OTL without jumping straight in to say that this is one of my favourite queue lines ever. The whole thing is just fun! It's a long queue line, with room after room of animatronics, interactive elements (open the letterboxes!) and jokes hidden in graphic design. Like Forbidden Journey, this is a queue where I found myself pulling over to let people go past whilst I just spent a little time enjoying myself. There are some attractions (such as Star Tours) where I'm never put off by a moderate wait because I know I'll have a blast in the queue, and this definitely falls in to that category.
Then there's the ride itself. I can't describe how good it feels to see a good old-fashioned dark ride be built. Sure, this ride isn't a game-changer. But, it's just nice! was grinning all the way round and Chris and I were both pointing out cute details to each other. The Dachshund is definitely the MVP of this ride, he stole each and every scene. Even as someone who really didn't enjoy the movie, this was a really fun ride and I hope it makes it's way to Orlando eventually!
Entertainment
Large-scale entertainment is something I've really missed at theme parks since covid struck and it's been really great over the last few months to see it gradually return! During our visit USH offered two main shows: Animal Actors and Waterworld. We were able to catch both and whilst they were about as different as two shows could be, both were absolutely fantastic!
It says all you need to know that a 1995 show based on a box-office-bomb movie from the same year is still being performed. There is a reason Waterworld is still going, the show is completely batshit insane. Everything you could want from a ridiculous water-based stunt show is right here and I won't say too much (can you really spoil a 27 year old show?) but the finale genuinely stunned me!
Animal Actors was a lot smaller in scale, but was one of the highlights of my day! I'm a huge animal lover, so for me this was just the perfect show. The animals in the show are all rescues, who have since performed in film, television and advertisements and watching them perform is an absolute joy. Although, admittedly watching them do the wrong thing was even better! I could quite happily have watched every performance of this show and wouldn't dream of missing it on a future visit.
Express Pass
As mentioned at the start, we didn't expect to be visiting USH. Usually, I try and plan my theme park visits so I can make the most out of my day but as we were buying our tickets 11pm the night before, and our visit was on a weekend I decided to grab us each an Express Pass. We opted for the ticket that gives you 1 Express admission to each attraction in the park, as well as priority seating for each show. Was it worth it? Well, no. Not really. Even though it was a sunny Sunday, most rides were walk-on for the majority of the day with queues only picking up toward the end of the day. The exception to this rule of course was The Simpsons Ride which stayed at around 60 minutes all day. So, for most of the day we didn't use our pass and when we did use it for TSR the Express still took 30 mins, given TSR is one of the worst rides I've ever experienced we would have just skipped it had it been posted as such. The pass did however become really useful at the end of the day when we wanted to grab some re-rides. JW and SLoP were still only posting around 30 mins, but having the express allowed us to quickly fly through second rides on everything to wrap up the day.
Long story short, if you're visiting off-peak I'd say to assess the crowds once you've arrived at the park and buy Express only if you need it!
Universal Studios Hollywood really exceeded my expectations and was, for me, a nearly perfect theme park day. I met characters, saw some great shows, rode some world-class attractions and even saw the workings of a modern movie studio! What else could you want from a day out?
Speak again soon,
Claire
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