Universal Studios, Los Angeles – Planning Guide and Suggestions
A trip to Los Angeles would be incomplete without a visit to the Universal Studios and Universal Studios is the place where moving making experience comes to reality along with Studio Tour, live Water Works, exciting rides, and attractions. But then, only well- planning helps to maximize your time in the studios and enjoy the world-famous attractions.
Here are my tips and recommendations to maximize your time and enjoyment in Universal Studios
Get your ticket in advance:
We purchased Universal Express in Online. Book the ticket earlier in Online to save time at the front gate. Also, it’s $10 off in online. It includes One-Time express access to each ride, attraction and seated show.
It’s double dhamaka – Save time at the front gate and save time using Express Access for each ride.
There are various types of tickets available in online. Do select according to your preference. But I highly recommend Universal Express if you are visiting for a day.
Please take a picture of the parking lot with the lot number. The parking area is wide and you don’t want to search for your car when you come tired at the end of the day. I usually take a picture of the parking lot with lot number whenever I go for a trip. This has saved us most of the times.
Arrive ahead:
Be there before the park opens. In that way, you can find parking lots in few minutes and skip the queue at the front gate to enter the park. If you arrive earlier, then you will one of the very few people in the park and can enjoy rides with less wait time
Have breakfast before your arrival:
I highly recommend having breakfast before your entry into the park, so that you can maximize your time inside the park to enjoy rides and attractions.
Download the app:
I highly suggest downloading the park app before your entry into the park to track location, know about rides, their operating times, wait times and other special events. This greatly helped us to plan our day.
Schedule your day according to the events:
As soon as you enter the park, one can easily figure out the Studio Discovery Board which highlights the shows and their timings. Please do take a picture of the board and schedule your day according to the show times. Use park pamphlet as your guidance.
Visit lower lot in the morning:
The park is divided into an Upper lot and lower lot. Series of escalators connect to the lower lot from the upper lot which usually takes around 10 minutes during peak time. Since the lower lot is away from the park entrance, it is usually less crowded in the morning. Hence, visit the lower lot in the morning to avoid wait times and utilize your time in park effectively.
Attractions in the Lower Lot
- Transformers 3D,
- Revenge of the Mummy
- Jurassic Park Ride
- Walking dead attraction,
- Despicable ME
- Water World
Attractions in the Upper Lot
- Special Effects Show
- The Simpsons Ride
- Springfield
- Studio Tour
- Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Try to reduce commute time in the park:
If you visit lower lot at any time of the day, try to complete all the attractions in the lower lot at once so that you will reduce your time in commuting between lower and upper lot.
Utilize Single Riders Line:
For most of the rides, singe rider option is available and is usually free with very few people. Try to utilize the single rider’s line to reduce wait times for each ride. Single Rider’s line is the fastest way to enjoy a ride even without the Universal pass
Attractions with the Single Rider Line:
- Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
- Jurassic Park – The Ride
- Revenge of the Mummy – The Ride
- Transformers: The Ride 3D
Do not shop:
The park has a number of shops with attractive stuff. Don’t get carried away by the glitters. You never know how much time you will spend inside a shop because every shop is stocked up and you might miss our rides/attractions.
Shop at the end of the day when you are about to leave the park, but not during the day.
Do studio tour in the heat of the day:
The studio tour is what makes Universal Studios Hollywood. Don’t skip the tour and head to the studio tour when your legs need rest and the sun is shining brightly because you will enjoy the 13 city blocks on four acres of area in the back lot which is creatively designed with the consultation from Steven Spielberg himself. The studio tour closes before the park closes, hence do check the timings in the app and plan accordingly.
Have lunch during off times:
Try to have lunch during off times to avoid the crowd in the restaurants and you will save most of the time if you dine during off times. There are notable service restaurants inside the park in case if you want to prefer to do the reservation.
Take a walk in the Universal City Walk
Don’t forget to take a leisure walk on the City Walk. The themed mall offers familiar and unique dining, shopping and entertainment
Don’t spend time in searching for Characters:
Ask any team member inside the park to know about the appearance times of your favorite characters and their locations. Usually, the Minion characters are located near Despicable Me and Super Silly Fun Land. The characters do appear for a prescribed time. Hence don’t spend your time in searching your favorite characters
Visit Motion Simulated rides followed by Roller Coasters:
Few rides like Flight of the Hippogriff are roller coasters that dive and spirals which can be enjoyed in every theme park. Allocate your time for such roller coasters once you have completed the unique rides offered by the Universal Studios. Complete the motion simulated rides before enjoying usual roller coasters
Watch out for the events:
The park hosts a variety of events throughout the year. Watch out for the event during your visit and show your participation. The park hosted Lunar New year during our visit. We had a chance to visit Mr.Ping’s Noodle Shop and Mr.Ping. The events provide ample amount of photo opportunities with your favorite characters like Po and Tigress. We had a chance to meet Mandarin speaking Megatron from Transformers. And wait, we witnessed wishing trees, wrote our wish for the New Year and hung it on the Plum Blossom Wishing Tree for Good Luck
That's long read! Isn't it? Look out for my recommendations and ratings of the rides in the Universal Studios in my next blog post
If you haven’t visited the Universal Studios yet, then I highly suggest you include it in your travel plan and let the inner child in you rejoice.
If you have visited Universal Studios, do let me know about your experience in comments. If you like my space and would like to connect, then do like and follow my profiles here – Facebook, Google, Instagram
Thanks,
Karthi
