r/UniversalHollywood

Went on Mario Kart around 12 times today and my band ended up scanning only 2 times. Can kinda see why the daily high scores end up being so much lower than expected from presumably even the top players getting a broken scanner. Couldn’t even hit the top 10 for daily scoreboard just to knock out that achievement.

This was my second Fan Fest attended, and while the experience has always been a top treat, I couldn't shake a particular episode. I read before that park actors find themselves confronted with similar sensitive situations.

I witnessed a rather concerning exchange between two young sisters (one was around 8-9, the other a very early teen) and a character at the Scooby Doo experience. It must be incredibly challenging to be in the position of a character receiving traumatic information from children who finally find safety in a familiar figure and I hope they are supported in addressing this.

On Saturday evening (05/16/26), those two sisters were telling Velma the real villain was their stepdad who would, I quote, "hold their younger brother upside down when upset". They kept saying how they wish he would just go away and the older sister said while looking down, "yeah, he is mentally and emotionally...unstable". It took the actress aback for a second before she answered in character, "jinkies...is your brother's brain OK?"

This exchange really stuck with me. I hope they get the right support, but I'm not sure what chain of actions would be helpful to children in such situations when they finally get a moment to unload to a familiar figure. 💔💔💔 Any recommendations other than emailing guest relations?

Fiancé brought up a good question and I’m shocked I never even thought of it.
Do characters at USH sign stuff? He wants to get Shrek to sign our photo we took last trip. Even a cool time to get others to sign stuff too then. Thanks in advance!

I am thinking about getting passes for my husband and I. We would maybe make it out 2-3 times in the year. Would getting one gold and one silver be a good idea just for the free parking and the discount in-park vs only Citywalk? I usually get tickets through the MWR so it is usually cheaper anyways but if we go multiple times, passes make sense. Just wondering if the parking is worth the extra $100 if I would only make it out at most 4 times and if it would matter that I have gold and he has silver. Any advice would be helpful as I have never bought a season pass to any park.

I’m going to universal May 21st and it sound like that when there gonna be grad night happen. Should I be a bit worried about the crowd level ? Because if so I might need to plan around it and try to get all the popular ride out of the way first.

I made the decision to go to celebrate my birthday at FFN after having to cancel a Vegas trip. First off, I want to compliment almost the entire staff that day. After receiving my birthday button, almost every staff member no matter how tired they were during their shift told me "Happy birthday!" in the kindest and most excited tones. And during D&D, the actress who was guiding the activation made it a point to make me a part of the action by calling my name out and including me in her script. That was very cute.

Really happy I took the advice from this sub to choose the 2pm entry ticket. Entered right on time after making a quick stop to both Cinnabon for my free bday cold brew and the Habit for my free bday Charburger. As soon as I entered, they had a line for combo tix holders and gave us our wristbands at the gate which was great. I headed straight to Hollywood and Dine for my FFN dining package lanyard, but they weren't stocked yet. I swung by Waterworld to ask about some general info about where line would start that evening for One Piece. I will be upfront and say due to not planning too well, I missed the show. They only had 3 showtimes since it was a light crowd on Thurs, and I was all over the place downstairs lot to come back up the escalators on time to line up.

Back to my review, I took some time to enjoy Kung Fu Panda, Pets, Minions and Harry Potter Forbidden Journey and bought a Lard Lard donut all before running downstairs late for my 4pm reservation at Toadstool. As soon as I get in line for ordering, it's packed. I waited for about 20 minutes and once I got to register they tell me that the Apple Melon smoothie was sold out. They only had Blueberry. I was bugged, and asked if they would have any at night. Cashier informed me they would have a limited amount for the event. Looking at the time, I went back up to upstairs lot and went to pick up my lanyard. When I passed by Sailor Moon M&G at 4:45, there had already been a small line forming, so I decided to cross one of my entrees off my list and bought the Katsu at Sanji's Galley (sp?). I also impulse ordered Luffy's strawhat cheesecake since I wasn't going to use the plan for my Yoshi smoothie anymore. The katsu itself was good with moist chicken and a nice crunch on the potato chip crust. The sauce was a nice mix of spicy and sweet. The rice and slaw were hella bland, and there was a minimal scoop of rice overall. Luffy's strawhat cheesecake was good enough but the chocolate center was still frozen. Overall the meal was a 5/10 combined.

As soon as I finished eating I dashed to the line for Sailor Moon m&g and right as I got there at 5:15PM, it closed. I begged the attendants if I could please join the line since I was alone and it was my bday. They were kind enough to push the line up a little to let me join. I felt bad because people attempted to line up, but at that point they were strict w the closed line and informed ppl they could line up for the 7:15 m&g. So many ppl attempted and some ppl complained that they got early entrance just to line up, but they were strict w it. Almost as soon as second line opened at 5:45PM for the 7:15 m&g, it was filled. Then I watched another wave of ppl told they could line up at 6:45PM for the 9/9:30PM m&g. I was so relieved and felt so lucky I didn't have to go through that. After waiting in line for an hour and a half, I got to meet Usagi! I was nervous because as it approached closer to 6:45, the attendant was giving the Usagi actress a countdown. I was scared after all the begging I did that I wouldn't make the cut to see her. Luckily, I met her. I took a couple pics and recorded a vid of the actress saying hi to my OOT friend and ran directly to the Sailor Moon show line. I was happy because Sailor Moon m&g and show were my original priorities next to Scooby & Universal Monsters. By the time I got out of Sailor Moon show, I got my glitter pink SM churro and then ran straight to Harry Potter search for the hippogriff. I thought I was lucky because I ran through 3/4 of the line pretty quickly and then hit the line where the mandrake plants are. Surprisingly I was only in line about 30ish minutes before my tour group were led in to the activation. I will say, it was a little disappointing. Literally that long line to see a dude in horse legs and the hippogriff animatronic.

Directly after, I ran to Scooby Doo to try the mystery and get my Scooby Snacks. OMG I loved Scooby Doo so much! It was great to see both Fred and Shaggy live in front of me! And both actors were so hot especially Shaggy! I was a little miffed cuz I thought I solved the mystery, but it was the wrong person! I also was being a jester because I kept calling Frankenstein's monster "Jacob." People got the joke though. I really enjoyed the Scooby Snacks. They were surprisingly moist! Though I am bugged I paid $12 for 4 cookies. After Scooby, I made sure to get on the Simpsons ride to ensure I rode it before they officially close Simpsons' land soon for deconstruction. Lines were going so quick! I was so happy. After that I went downstairs lot to attempt to get my smoothie at Mario land--but no luck. Fully sold out of them. So I rode Mario Kart and luckily it was the last round of the night. I also picked up a crown and enjoyed seeing the different colored Yoshi's around.

I decided that I wasn't going to make it to any of the One Piece shows, so I stayed in Downstairs Lot to ride Transformers a couple of times, and Mummy Coaster. I also checked out Raptor Encounter w the hottest raptor wrangler who filled out his pants well. I also checked out Jurassic Park activation which had a "live" triceratops! I also yelled at Wayne "Where's the Barbasol can?!" and he shushed me! I also shook John Hammond's hand and thanked him for creating the park. I also checked out D&D. As I mentioned earlier, I thoroughly enjoyed myself because the actress involved me so much into the activity. After, I ran to the D&D cafe, and bought the chicken wings and dragon's egg cheesecake. Both tasted really off like they were spoiled. I was scared I was going to get food poisoning from those wings. I really wish I didn't waste my meal plan on either item. The cheesecake was frozen and tasted off as well. By that point, I was all done w my meal plan. I was really disappointed in the food options. Luckily I rode all the rides I wanted to ride, and enjoyed the activations minus the One Piece show.

On my way out at the end of the night, I rode Simpsons Ride one more time for good measure and took plenty of pics of Simpsons land. Then I decided last minute to get the Sailor Moon Sprite/Boba drink and the Tuxedo Mask macaron. I reaaaally should've left well enough alone as both were not good. BUT the clerk was nice and gave me a birthday discount which def helped.

Overall I had a good experience at the park. I accomplished my original goals of seeing Sailor Moon and Scooby Doo; and I rode my favorite rides. I will reconsider the food choices at the park next year, because honestly overall they weren't too pleasant. (And cuz of all the coloring, they made my poop green.) All in all, I give the night 4 stars. Lesson to take away, if you want to meet Sailor Moon early, line up at 4:30PM.

If you get early entry for 6pm, don't expect to meet Sailor Moon or the early entry m&g for their 1st or 2nd m&g. Fans started lining up at 2:30PM for the first m&g on 05/14/2026, and line closed prior to 5:15PM. Line for 2nd m&g was already at capacity 10 minutes after it was announced. I had to beg to be let into 1st m&g line and was let in. I watched multiple ppl, a person in a scooter, full cosplayers, and kids get turned away and told to wait for the other m&g's. If you want to be first, you gotta opt for the 2pm ticket in the future. Just saying.

The Mushroom Kingdom completely transforms at night during Universal Fan Fest Nights 2026 at Universal Studios Hollywood. Multi colored Yoshis are appearing throughout SUPER NINTENDO WORLD™ for special meet and greets, photo ops, and nighttime interactions that make the land feel even more alive.

Don't get me wrong, events are fun, but having just the regular park is like returning to rest, like a deep breath to get the park geared up for the next thing

Yeah, Butterbeer season is still happening to the end of May, but that event is so minimal it really has zero practical effect on the rest of the park (get the waffles and cream puffs before they go away again if you haven't, by the way; both are decent imo)

Right now, we're in between the end of Fan Fest Nights and the start of Mega Movie Summer. Spring break season has passed, but peak summer still hasn't hit yet

It's a good time as a local/regular to go in and enjoy an ordinary park day imo :)

(and I know someone in the comments will mention Jan/Feb is deader and I agree but hush that's already gone for this year let's just enjoy the present moment as it is now)

I know he’s a original character for Epic Universe, and with a meet & greet in a few days, but how would anyone feel and react if Universal brings Captain Cacao to Universal Studios Hollywood for next year’s fan fest nights as a meet & greet?

If so then incredible song choice😭