After visiting Pacific Park two days earlier, I went to Universal Studios Hollywood to check out The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Transformers, Springfield, and more attractions and areas that have opened since my last visit in 2010. With that said, let’s get started with my (rather long) trip report from Universal Studios Hollywood.
First up was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This dark ride has a phenomenal queue, with all of the main actors from the Harry Potter films explaining the backstory on the ride. The ride itself for the most part is great, but I do have one complaint about it. During the ride, when I was sitting on the outside of the robo-arm, at some points throughout the ride I could see the track of the ride, and even other vehicles, not even by looking around, but in front of me for a half of a second. Of course this might seem like a petty thing to complain about, but when you are so immersed into the story and believe that you are flying, only to see a huge track holding up a different ride vehicle.
Next up was Flight of the Hippogriff, one of two coasters at Universal Studios Hollywood. This is very much a family coaster, and is therefore extremely tame. The one great part of this ride is the throughput, which is extremely high for a ride of this size. While in line, there was never a train that sat on the brake run for more than 15 seconds.
Next up was The Simpsons Ride, which by far has the best line entertainment at Universal Studios Hollywood, with a lot of inside jokes about amusement parks, and even a look at a parody of Busch Gardens theme parks, Duff Gardens. Don’t worry, those inside jokes are carried on to the attraction, with numerous jabs to Disney and the ride being extended just to exit through the gift shop.
After The Simpsons Ride, it was time to go down to the Lower Lot, for what turned out to be my favorite ride at the park, Transformers The Ride-3D. First off, the queue for this attraction, like many other attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood, is extremely well done, with many different pre-show segments, and an escalating story throughout the line. Now for the actual ride; you start by boarding Evac, a Transformers car created just for this ride, and go through the city on board battling the Decepticons, fighting for the All-Spark. Out of all of the rides at the park, Transformers combines the use of screens and scenery the best. Overall, Transformers The Ride 3-D is a must ride any time one visits Universal Studios Hollywood.
Jurassic Park River Adventure was also a stellar attraction, and is a nice break from all of the screens used on other rides. The T-Rex animatronic at the end of the ride gets me every time, and the drop after isn’t anything to joke about it. If there is one thing I do not like about Jurassic Park, it’s that the televisions in the line explaining the ride cannot be heard over all of the people talking in line.
Next up was Revenge of the Mummy, a Premier Rides launch coaster with fantastic theming and a better than anticipated launch. Also, thanks to Universal Studios Hollywood only pulling up on restraints and not pushing down, you can leave yourself a lot of room for airtime. The first dark ride section of the ride is one of my favorites on any ride, with the titular Mummy claiming your souls before launching you into the coaster segment.
When I was waiting for Revenge of the Mummy, I saw what looks like construction on another escalator (yay), which should make it so that there are always two escalators going back up to the Upper Lot, and two escalators going down to the Lower Lot.
Going back up to the Upper Lot, I made the poor decision to wait over 30 minutes for by far my least favorite ride in the park (yes, even Flight of the Hippogriff is more enjoyable). The one enjoyable part of this ride for me is the pre-show, which singles out one group of the crowd and tells them they need to take a shower.
The last major ride in the park that I had not ridden was Shrek 4D, which has a stupendous capacity, with a huge theater that can put in just massive amounts of people. The attraction itself is okay, although I am definitely not a part of the demographic this ride is meant for.
That is all for this massive trip report from Universal Studios Hollywood! I hope you enjoyed this article.
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