Universal July Peak Time Trip Report and Tips

RJstanis

Negative, I am a meat popsicle
Joined
May 21, 2014
Since there's not a ton of information out there for Universal Studios Hollywood I figured I would add my trip report as well from this past Wednesday July 6th.

Tips and recommendations near bottom of post if you don't want to read my cr..stuff about HP World and explanations. I'm not a fan but my kids are so I tried to treat it as something interesting.

This was during peak season mind you, but we accomplished a ton. Tickets were originally $115 or the max peak rate, but between May/June to before we bought them the weekend before we went, they had dropped to $105. We could have gotten them cheaper through website ticket vendors but buying through Universal let's you have the 1 hour early entry into HP World, which if you get there for it, it is totally worth passing up savings.

We have two boys DS3 and DS6, who are both at least 40in but less than 48in. We were on the fence on buying the FOL but due to the next price in addition to the park tickets it just didn't make much financial sense. I researched everywhere I could find for information but truly only found two websites that helped or at least had things posted for 2016. Those were Undercover Tourist and World of Universal and a few things on here.

Due to heights, we couldn't do HP Forbidden Journey or Mummy, and my DW and I don't have interest in riding anything the kids can't. DS3 couldn't do Jurassic Park being that he was only 41in but DS6 could.

We were staying in Temecula and we used the Waze App for GPS since it lets you know the night before on how long we could anticipate the drive. It was almost dead on accurate. It said we need to leave by 427a to make it to parking by 630a. We left at 435a and got there at 631a. After we parked in normal parking and walked through the you have no choice but to City Walk we made it to the gate right at 655a. People had already been let in before we got there.


Arrival:

We took a slow stroll to HP World with minimal people around. They were announcing that there was not wait for Ollivanders (which we had no intention of doing) as we passed by so we figured we'd participate since DS6 like HP so much and no wait. By 745 the line was super long. There was already two or three families inside and one more after us. By a string of luck, my DS6 was chosen for wand selection. He's typically very sociable but was grumpy and mildly shy due to the early morning and just waking up again from car ride. After he was able to start casting spells he perked up and was smiling from ear to ear after leaving. They also picked out a wand for my DS3 once everyone else left into the store. He blurted out where's the snake at, so of course the “brother wand” that “chose him” had a snake on it. The wizard guy gave both wands to a CM who said she could escort us to the register if we wanted to purchase or discreetly put back. We decided $50 was a bit much for each wand so we opted out of purchasing them. From there we walked on with zero wait and empty ride of Flight of Hippogriff. We then walked through the castle to see all of its glory since DS6 was not quite tall enough to ride. We then rode Flight of Hippogriff again twice with zero and 2 min waits. It was around 740a so we decided we'd rather be near of the front of the pack when the park officially opened so we left HP to go to Studio Tour line.


We were held at the top of the escalators for the studio tour until about 801a where they walked everyone down. When we first arrived around 745a there was about 30 ppl already there, by 8a there was about 100. We didn't realize you go left like some knew or we would have stayed near the front of the line after bottleneck. We ended up being about 50ish back instead. We still made it on the first tram with no issues. I recommend being in the middle of the tram. We got in the first car of tram and missed alot of the effects but still enjoyed.


Finished tour around 0855 or so. We then went to lower lot.

-Rode Transformers no wait (posted 10).
-Rode Jurassic Park no wait (posted 10).
-Met Optimus Prime with small wait (fast line).
-Rode Transformers again, 2 min wait.
-Met Megatron, 2nd in line
-Did Raptor Experience on way back to Up Lot
-Rode Simpsons Ride
-Met Homer Simpson 2 min wait
-Met Scooby and Shaggy 2 min wait
-Popcorn sit-down Break
-Met Bumblebee first in line
-Met Scooby and Daphne first in line
-Rode Minion Mayhem (30 min wait posted) We got lucky and was let in to FOL line due to a nice CM we talked too, so we did not have to wait.
-Met Gru
-Met Minions
-Rode SillyFunLand Swirl
-Played in Splash pad for about 15min
-Met Sideshow Bob twice, on way to bathroom and on way out.
-Krusty Burger lunch 1245 (long line, fast service).
-Ate and kids fell asleep in booth for 1.5 hours so we got a break and recharged cell phones.


So by 1pm we did all the major rides and saw a ton of characters on a “peak day” and had sat down for lunch.


Rest of the afternoon we just re-rode a bunch of rides, did a couple of shows, and met some more characters. Most posted waits were longer than actual waits. We left at 7pm.


In total we rode/did:

Transformers x 3
Simpsons x 2
Jurassic Park
Minion Mayhem x 2
-Silly Fun Land Swirl x 2
-Studio Tour
-Shrek 4D
-Waterworld Show
-Flight of Hippogriff x 3
-Ollivanders
-Harry Potter Castle walkthrough


Longest waits were 25 min for Shrek and 3rd Transformers ride in mid afternoon. Shrek was posted at 30 and Transformers posted at 45.


Characters:

Optimus Prime
Megatron
Bumblebee
Scooby and Shaggy
Scooby and Daphne
Gru
Purple Minion and short Minion
Homer
Sideshow Bob
Bart Simpson
Bart and Marge Simpson
Krusty the Clown
Frankenstein
Dracula
Mummy
Spongebob


Longest wait was mayyyybe 5 min, and that was for Gru and Minions.

We had time to do more and other shows, but we just chose to skip them or weren't age appropriate.

Tips and Recommendations:



  1. Get there early. The hour early access was big time worth it. Most people didn't want to come that early.

  2. If you get there at early hour or even rope drop you shouldn't need FOL IMO. If you sleep in and get there after 9 and you want to see everything, then maybe.

  3. Use the Universal Website for posted waits and Character Schedules. They were pretty accurate. These times are posted on billboards in almost every section of park too.

  4. I used World of Universal's 1-Day plan for the first 2 hours and then winged it from there. It was a great plan and had other good suggestions.

  5. Even if you don't like characters, you have to see Optimus Prime, and especially Megatron. These were the best meets ever, and definitely trumped any Disney characters. They have conversations with you and interact with all big time! One of them even spoke a little Chinese.

  6. Eat lunch around 12 or before, these places filled up fast after that and were packed. Emptied a bit by 215p though.

  7. By a normal Universal Souvenir Popcorn bucket. Cost $6 and had free refills for rest of the day.

  8. We brought in our own bottled water and refilled at Krustys Coke Stations for free when we passed by.

  9. Starbucks at lower lot was a life saver.

  10. Do go to lower lot within first 2 hours of day. The waits stayed at 45min-70min from about 1130a-6p. Mummy closed down at one point temporarily and lower lot was crazy full and other rides and other options down there skyrocketed in wait times. We walked on every ride first thing in morning and decided to go back alter in the day, almost regrettably.

  11. Ride first studio tour if possible. It's the biggest time eater, but knocking it out first, saved us tons of time with zero effect on other rides (this was my biggest conundrum). If you don't ride the first or second tour tram I'd wait until mid afternoon. I noticed the wait times for it plummeted back down to about 15min.

  12. Character lines are ridiculously low and fast in comparison to Disney.

  13. We didn't take advantage of it but they have souvenir cups for $16ish bit have one free refills and $1 refills after that. If your party don't mind each other's germs and can share, it seems like a good value.

  14. I wish I would have put sunscreen on...oops. At least my kids did

  15. My wife and I get bad motion sickness which sucks since most rides at Universal are simulators. I took 2 Dramamine at park entrance, my wife elected not too. I had zero issues all day until about 5ish, my wife was ill most of day.

  16. We generally take a leave the park break while at Disneyworld, but we did not stay anywhere near Universal property. We took a break in the corner of upstairs Krusty VIP dining area (just a name, not really VIP) after lunch. Kids took an hour nap, and we utilized plug by table to recharge phones. Worked out great for us for everyone to rest in AC and out of sun.

  17. We didnt do Walking Dead that just opened due to kids but other than midday, the waits were pretty reasonable early and late afternoon.

  18. We didn't ride Mummy bc kids were to short but could have easily.

  19. Ask and talk to CM, they are extremely friendly and energetic...you know, like how Disney use to be. They told me when Bumblebee was coming out so we could be first in line and another let us bypass regular line for FOL for free since we waited patiently while they tried to write a handicapped individual a return FP like ticket and held up line.

  20. Character schedule on the Universal Line Waits and character schedules was exactly right and almost always on time (with the exception of one, Frankenstein came out instead of Dracula one round of scheds)

  21. Maybe it's only during peak times, but Krusty and Sideshow Bob met outside of Springfield DMV by Studio Tour escalators instead of outside KwikEMart like Simpson family.

  22. Spider pig is hanging on ceiling on 2nd floor of Cletus Chicken Shack.
  23. Between 11am to 5pm it was super packed, like shoulder to shoulder packed.
 
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This is good stuff. Will have one day at Universal next summer, and looking to do a Monday(to avoid weekend crowds). I'd been debating FOL passes, but your post convinced me it's not necessary if you plan(and act) accordingly.

I was a Studio Guide on the tram tours back in the late 90's, and you're right, those early morning trams are great. Park guests are wide awake and ready to have fun, as opposed to mid-afternoon guests, who are generally pretty worn out by then.

We'll probably do Forbidden Journey as well, and try to get a meal at Three Broomsticks, but otherwise, your plan looks like the way to go. Thanks for the report.
 


This is good stuff. Will have one day at Universal next summer, and looking to do a Monday(to avoid weekend crowds). I'd been debating FOL passes, but your post convinced me it's not necessary if you plan(and act) accordingly.

I was a Studio Guide on the tram tours back in the late 90's, and you're right, those early morning trams are great. Park guests are wide awake and ready to have fun, as opposed to mid-afternoon guests, who are generally pretty worn out by then.

We'll probably do Forbidden Journey as well, and try to get a meal at Three Broomsticks, but otherwise, your plan looks like the way to go. Thanks for the report.

I bet that was an interesting job! I had not been to USH since the early to mid 90s, the park was completely different from what I had remembered. I was a Back to the Future kid, so of course I missed that ride, but the Simpsons that replaced it was great too and definitely better theming. Plus my kids loved it!
 
I agree with a lot of this stuff. I'm not sure how much longer they're doing the early entry for Wizarding World though but I found it helpful. I rode both rides and walked around and checked out the shops plus had time to stroll through Springfield before it opened and got in line for the 1st Studio Tour followed by heading straight to the lower lot. Worked out well for me in May without FOL
 


thanks for the info hope it won't be packed when i go in september on a weekday. My dad thought 95 dollars each for the three tickets was a lot.
 
I'm just starting to research at trip to Universal for next February and am having a hard time finding tips and info. Thanks very much for your very in depth report. Helps a lot.
 

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