What about Universal in CA?

[sfeisen]

Has anyone been there? Is it worth taking time out of our trip to go?

 

[denyd]

Need more info:

How many days in LA?

Will you have a car?

How many in your group? Ages?

Universal can be a very fun park for the right crowd.

 

[cmputerdazed]

what would be the right crowd? I have 4 grown up kids going and a 13 yr old a 6 yr old and a 2 yr old. Would that be good? What kinds of things do they have at universal. I haven't been for about 20 yrs and It was fun back then.

 

[barry7767]

The main attraction is no doubt the Backlot Tour, which incorporates rides such as Jaws, Earthquake and Kongfrontation etc. This lasts about 45 minutes from memory and takes you around lots of movies sets, such as the Clock Tower as seen in Back To The Future, and I believe this year the plane wreck scene from War Of The Worlds. Other rides here are Jurassic Park River adventure, Backdraft special effects show, BTTF the Ride, The Mummy indoor rollercoaster to name but a few. May not be much for younger kids, but me and my gf loved it last year so much so that we visited it 3 times that trip! When you consider the traffic can be horrendous at times from Anaheim we must have enjoyed it. The park is split level, with escalaters transporting you up and down to each level. The views are marvelous. It is worth at least one days visit, even with young children. Rides like Shrek 3d should keep them entertained.

 

[HydroGuy]

We went in summer 2004 with four boys ages 8-12 at that time. They liked it a lot. There are rides, but the rides are a side issue and would put them as secondary priorities. The real things to see are, besides the backlot tram tour, the sound stage tour and special effects stage tour, and the Waterworld stunt show.

Is it worth it? Yes, especially if your kids are like mine and love movies.

 

[NancyIL]

We visited Universal Hollywood in 1998 as part of a 2-week Southern California vacation. We spent 2 nights at the Hilton at Universal Studios, which was a beautiful hotel and extremely convenient to the park. We were at Universal just 1 day. I think it's worth visiting if you are staying in the area, but it would be a long drive if you were staying in Anaheim.

 

[denyd]

The right crowd would be teens, pre-teens & Gen-Xers. Most of the popular attractions (Mummy, Backdraft,Jurassic Park, etc) are geared towards the 8-18 age bracket. Most of the rides are nicely themed and there are lots of non-rides things to do. Most toddlers & seniors soon run out of things to do as the rollarcoaster/thrill-rides don't really suit them and attractions like Van Helsing are out of context with their movie expierences.

For a family with a couple of teens, this is a very fun park, but for those with toddlers and/or grandparents in tow, parks like SeaWorld & Legoland are a better choice. And to quote a great mind of our time (Dennis Miller) "Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."

 

[brenda1966]

OK, what happened to the E.T. ride? I was thinking of taking my 3.5 year old there specifically for that ride and they don't seem to have it any more! We won't be going.

I agree that Universal can be fun for teens and big time movie fans. I loved seeing the Back to the Future set. But it's obviously been a long time since I've been there because E.T. was one of my favorite rides.

 

[sfeisen]

Thanks for your help!

We'll be there the entire week of Thanksgiving. We are renting a car. Our group consists of my DH, myself, DS12, DD10, DS9, DD5.

 

[DMRick]

We don't like Universal much in FL, since we aren't thrill ride people. I like the shows and movie type things. We weren't going to go to Universal in CA, until somone wrote and told me I'd like the parts I like much better in CA. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[blackjackdelta]

We did USH in August and it was a blast. The shorter people are 19,17,15,13 and we just about had to pry them from the park. Because of traffic, it took us two hours from Anaheim to N Hollywood(31 miles). We parked about 50 yrds from the entrance, made it real easy to get out.
A fun place and it can be done in a day. We had FOTL passes which made life easy because it was very hot and crowded.

Best of luck

 

[sfeisen]

What are FOTL passes?

 

[denyd]

Front Of The Line Passes - US version of FastPass. Cost about $15 extra

I've never used them (in my 3 trips), so I can't comment on how well they work, but when travelling with a 3yo I didn't visit many of the high demand attractions.

 

[blackjackdelta]

We used the FOTL passes for everything, vertually no waiting. If you do not want to wait they are the only way to go. Go to www.universalstudios.com where you can find the current pricing. Every time we have gone to USH it has been hot and very crowded. "The Mummy" had a 120 minute wait(in the afternoon), we just walked on. It all breaks down to what you want to spend the bucks on. It also gives you PS for all the shows( you get seated first be for the commoners come in LOL.

 

[karylrocks]

We went on the last Monday in August and the crowds were manageable. Our youngest is 13 with a couple of 20-somethings, and we had a blast. The park closed earlier than we were expecting so we did not get to do quite everything we wanted. Most of the attractions are too frightening for younger kids, but there is Animal Planet and Nickelodeon Zone (both of which we skipped), and Shrek 4-D.

 

[HydroGuy]

Thanks for your help!

We'll be there the entire week of Thanksgiving. We are renting a car. Our group consists of my DH, myself, DS12, DD10, DS9, DD5.

You are going to USH for an entire week? I have a hard time seeing anyone spending more than a day at USH. Now DL is different. One could easily spend a week there.