Universal Studios Hollywood
A plan, not a list of adjectives. What to sort before you go, what order to do things in, and the mistakes that cost first-timers two hours a day.
This is a one-day park and the plan below assumes you have one day. There is no version of Universal Studios Hollywood that needs two unless something goes badly wrong on the first, and any guide that tells you otherwise is selling a ticket upgrade.
Three decisions shape the day, and all three happen before 10am: buying Universal Express or not, going down to the Lower Lot first or starting with Super Nintendo World and Harry Potter, and where in the day the Studio Tour goes. That last one matters most, because the tour is a sixty-minute commitment you cannot squeeze into a gap.
Wait times, mobile food ordering, the Super Nintendo World virtual line when it is running and the Power-Up Band game layer all live in the app. Set up the account and the payment method before you arrive, because the in-park network is congested and the morning you need it working is the worst morning to troubleshoot it.
Express here is priced per day and swings sharply with the date — it can more than double between a quiet Tuesday and a Saturday in July. There is no hotel tier that includes it the way three of the Orlando hotels do. On a genuinely busy day it is the difference between doing everything and doing half of it; on a quiet weekday in the off season it is money for nothing. Check the price for your specific date before you decide.
The park is on a hillside and split into an Upper Lot and a Lower Lot connected by four long escalators. The Lower Lot holds three major rides and nothing else you need. Plan one trip down and one trip up, not four. This single fact will save you more time than any other piece of planning.
Forty inches is the gate that matters here. Below it, a child cannot ride Transformers, The Simpsons Ride, Minion Mayhem or Mario Kart, and Jurassic World is 42 inches on top of that. A family whose youngest is 38 inches will find this a much thinner park than the marketing suggests.
There is no table-service restaurant inside this park. CityWalk sits immediately outside the turnstiles with a full range of real restaurants, and same-day re-entry is allowed. Walking out for lunch and back in afterward is a legitimate strategy rather than a compromise.
Minion Mayhem, The Simpsons Ride, Transformers, Forbidden Journey, Mario Kart and King Kong on the Studio Tour are all built around screens with motion. If anyone in your group gets motion sick, this park will find out. Plan which ones they skip in advance rather than at the loading platform.
Parking, the walk up through CityWalk and security screening together take longer than people expect — budget 30 to 45 minutes from parking your car to standing at the turnstiles. Arriving at the posted opening time means entering the park close to an hour later than the people who planned for it.
Rope drop
Take the Starway straight down to the Lower Lot and ride Jurassic World — The Ride, Revenge of the Mummy and Transformers: The Ride-3D back to back. Almost the entire arriving crowd turns toward Super Nintendo World and Harry Potter instead, and the Lower Lot stays quiet for the first hour. This is the highest-value hour of the day.
About 10:15am
Come back up the Starway and go straight to Super Nintendo World. Check the app on the way in case a timed entry is running. Ride Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge once and start the Key Challenges if you have bought Power-Up Bands.
About 11:15am
Walk to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, then Flight of the Hippogriff if the posted wait is under 30 minutes. It is a sixty-second ride and it is never worth more than that.
About 12:15pm
Ollivanders wand ceremony, then a Butterbeer. The ceremony runs for a small group at a time, takes about ten minutes, and is the best-executed small thing in the park.
About 12:45pm
Eat. Toadstool Cafe in Super Nintendo World is the best food inside the gate, Three Broomsticks is the reliable option, and walking out to CityWalk is legitimate if you want a real restaurant.
2pm
Ride the Studio Tour. It is a full hour including the queue, it is the reason to come to this park, and the middle of the afternoon is the only part of the day large enough to absorb it without disrupting anything else. Sit on the left-hand side of the tram for the better view of the backlot street sets.
3:15pm
WaterWorld. Shaded stadium seating, a genuinely good stunt show, and the highest-capacity thing in the park — the posted wait is a show time rather than a queue. If you sit in the front rows you will be soaked, which is a feature at this hour.
4pm
The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash. It is the most underrated ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, it is air conditioned, and the wait almost never matches its quality.
4:45pm
Despicable Me Minion Mayhem and Super Silly Fun Land, or the DreamWorks Theatre if you want to sit down. This is the part of the afternoon where a shaded seat is worth more than a ride.
5:30pm
The Simpsons Ride and a walk through Springfield. Ride it now if you are going to — the queue drops in the evening and the area looks considerably better with the lights on.
6:30pm
Eat properly, or eat entertainingly. Krusty Burger and Cletus' Chicken Shack are the fun version. Moe's Tavern is where the adults should be. Lard Lad's Big Pink Donut feeds three people and photographs better than it tastes.
7:30pm
Back to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The village is at its best after dark, the castle is lit, and the queues at both rides collapse in the last two hours.
About an hour before close
Second trip to the Lower Lot only if you genuinely want a re-ride. Waits down there fall to almost nothing at the end of the night, but you will be taking those escalators back up afterward and it is a long way at the end of a long day.
Close
Walk out through CityWalk rather than straight to the parking structure. It is the way you have to go anyway, it is open later than the park, and the food out there is better than anything inside the gate.