one of the most fun experiences on a ride. i’ve never ridden a ride on the last day before. kinda emo but so excited for hollywood drift. got the tshirt too 😭
Bonjour par ici, je suis à Los Angeles actuellement et j’ai prévu d’aller visiter Universal Studio vendredi, savez-vous si colonial street est ouvert ? Je sais que c’était inaccessible à cause du tournage de The Burb’s. Je vous remercie 😉✨
So we always hear references to Disney adults but never Universal adults. Does Universal have that type of fandom? I love Disney but I love Universal more. I find myself at Universal 3 to 4 times out of the year and I'm in Maryland, but the minute I walk thru Disney's gates after having not been for 2 or 3 years, my friends jokingly call me a Disney adult.. Are people who frequent Universal parks just considered lovers of theme parks? Do you think it has to do with the nature of the attractions at the Universal parks and the IPs? When I go to the parks, sometimes I go all out with my Ravenclaw robe or most recently at Epic Universe with my Mario shirt and hat. People see pictures and it's all in good fun, but the minute I put on ears, even if that is all the memorabilia I might be wearing, I'm a Disney adult.
For context. my husband, brother-in-law, and I are going to Universal Studios Hollywood on 9/15/26 or 9/16/26. We are planning on renting a car to do so, and would likely arrive there (from Anaheim) around 11am-12pm.
We mostly are just wanting to do Super Nintendo World... and anything else that is worth doing... but I know for sure that is on their list! Does this leave us enough time to explore?
Thanks!
For context. my husband, brother-in-law, and I are going to Universal Studios Hollywood on 9/15/26 or 9/16/26. We are planning on renting a car to do so, and would likely arrive there (from Anaheim) around 11am-12pm.
We mostly are just wanting to do Super Nintendo World... and anything else that is worth doing... but I know for sure that is on their list! Does this leave us enough time to explore?
Thanks!
F&F SUPERCHARGED HAS PERMANENTLY CLOSED AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA SAY IT WITH ME YALL! GOOD RIDDANCE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!
Curious for folks advice. I grew up near Universal Hollywood (Los Feliz) so I spent many weekends at the CityWalk and had a semi-annual trip to the park. I haven't been back since I was a teenager and a lot has changed since then. I want to take my kids for the first time (4 and 8 years old) in a couple of weeks and they finally published the hours. My choices are going Tuesday September 1st where the hours are 10 am (9 am with early admission) to 6 pm or Labor Day Monday September 9 am (8 am with early admission) to 8 pm. The extra three hours seems like a lot of time, but I wonder if it cancels out with the crowd?
We want to do upper and lower lot. I expect we will spend the most time in Mario Land, Minions Land, and Harry Potter World. I'm sure my kids will want to play in the water play ground and we will also want to do Water World Show and Studio Tour. We will do most of the rides (but not the Mummy, Transformers and Fast and the Furious ride). We could probably take or leave the Simpsons ride. I was going to grab a dinning reservation Toads Stool Cafe. Could we do it all on a shorter day? My dad also has mobility issues, he will be in ECV, and we won't be running around the park. Plan was to do lower lot in the morning with early access hours then finish at upper lot.
We really only have one day to do it because of family commitments and it is my kids' first time so I want to do as much as possible. Any feedback would be much appreciated.
I’ve been thinking about how a One Piece land would work, and I can’t decide if it would work better in Islands of Adventure or Epic Universe.
Let’s start with what I would have for the land. I’m not super familiar with the property, (I merely watched 2 episodes of the 1000+ episode Anime, yes i’m a larper) but I would incorporate elements from both the Anime and the Live-Action.
I would have a boat ride (that gets you fairly wet) featuring animatronics, voices and designs from the Anime. (There would be a location in Japan as well, which would use the original voice actors, the Orlando location would use the voice actors from the English dub.) I would also have a dark ride based off the Live-Action show, starring the cast of the live act adaptation. There would be a full-service restaurant based off a dining place exclusively in the Anime, (From what I understand the Live Action cuts out a LOT) and a quick service one based on the Live Action. The goal with this land is to engage people with both versions of the show. I don’t know exactly how to theme these rides, I’ll let you guys make suggestions and get creative.
Now, which park would this land would fit best?
Let’s start with Epic. Epic has a LOT room for expansion. There is a seven acre lot between Mario and Dark Universe, and an over-twenty acre lot between Ministry and Berk. The twenty acre lot will likely be split into two or so lands. This land would allow for the park to actually expand and significantly increase capacity.
Plus, Epic only has one actual water ride, Fyre Drill at Berk. It‘s ability to get you wet is…inconsistent. Either you will come out bone dry or soaking wet, at least in my experience. Epic deserves at least one more water ride, especially for the other side of the park. (I know there’s rumors about Creature from the Black lagoon but for our purposes we’re going to forget about that) I think the seven acre lot would work perfectly for this area.
As for Islands, there is absolutely zero expansion space-you would need to replace something to build it. I think that when Lost Continent finishes demolition and reconstruction, Toon Lagoon will be next on the Chopping Block. I love it, but the characters haven’t been relevant for decades, hell, weren’t relevant even years before the park actually opened, and the park hasn’t been maintained the same as other lands-As of late they haven’t consistently been running the water features there (or so i’ve heard), it’s pretty clear to me that the land really isn’t a priority for Universal.
Replacing it with the FORCE that is One Piece would make a LOT of sense, especially considering there is a lot of water based infrastructure there. It would make a lot of practical and financial sense to retheme the area instead of building something new from scratch.
Thoughts?
Edit: Damn, didn’t realize that this wouldn’t be a popular idea. I thought the Live Action/Anime mix was a clever idea, but oh well.
The sound mitigation efforts continue at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Two additional sound walls are now being installed around Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift — and here’s a look at one of them getting ready to go up.
At this rate, Hollywood Drift may eventually have more sound walls than track. 😂
Universal has continued adding sound mitigation around the new outdoor coaster as testing and operations have progressed.
Will two more walls finally tame the screams? We’ll be listening. 👂🎢
Hi! My family is visiting Universal Studios LA for the first time next week (probably Tuesday). We're currently trying to figure out how to plan our trip so it's the most enjoyable and we avoid long lines (my family can be impatient and we're NOT getting express passes).
My mum and I are huge Harry Potter fans and want to check out every single thing there! I was thinking of starting out there but it seems like it doesn't get as busy?
We're also debating getting early access for SNW and going to HP right after.
I also love Jurassic World and wanna do the Studio Tour and The Mummy and whatever else seems fun/we have time for.
We don't really care about kids rides btw.
Do you have any tips for how to plan the Harry Potter best?
Also how early should we arrive and where should we park?
I'll appreciate all and any help!!!!
IATSE local B-192 just put this petition on their Instagram page.
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🏁OUR PETITION IS NOW LIVE! Please take a moment to sign the petition at the link below.
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Universal Studios theme parks made $2.4 BILLION in revenue in the second quarter of 2026—a 2.7% increase—but are refusing to negotiate a living wage with IATSE Local B-192 members. While Universal Studios Hollywood (USH) profits, they plan to give us net-of-inflation pay cuts for the next five years.
None of USH's executives care that their workers can't afford to pay rent on such low pay, and will be forced to join the other employees who are homeless into camping in their cars at the theme park. And with USH's terrible wage offer for our new contract, workers are rapidly approaching that point. We already can't make ends meet and everything—rent, groceries, gas—is going up, EXCEPT our paycheck from an enormous and profitable company that can pay its CEOs more than $100 million per year.
The bargaining team of IATSE Local B-192, representing nearly 4,000 workers of USH, has been treated with disrespect from USH representatives at the bargaining table. When USH refuses to pay us wages that keep up with the rising cost of living, it's no surprise that there are workers who are sleeping in their cars on USH property.
We are ready to fight for the respect, fair wages and fair contract that we deserve.
Tell Universal Studios: NO MORE POVERTY WAGES!
This is from the Hollywood Premiere Parade at USJ (c. 2002), Boris and Natasha were also there. 2004 was when Rocky and Bullwinkle were last seen in this park
Trip report here. Just finished our trip in Orlando. I want to preface this by saying that this was my first ever experience in a Universal park. I've never even been to Universal Hollywood. I know, I know... I did 4 days of Park hopper at Universal and 4 days of park hopping at Disney, but this is a Universal forum and I'm only going to talk about that.
Islands of Adventure:
This and Epic were the two parks I was looking forward to the most but enjoyed the least. I was actually shocked at the lack of entertainment in this park. No theaters, no shows. what? The two shows I did see were in Hogsmeade and they were mediocre. I also didn't see a lot of roaming characters or character meet and greets. The meet and greet I did do was the Velociraptor encounter which I LOVED!!!! Disney would never lol..
The Theming at Islands was quite good, especially with Hogsmeade. I see how people say Hogsmeade laid the groundwork for themed and immersive lands moving forward. The interactive wand activities were a blast.
Food: Unfortunately this is another place this park lacked. My partner and I are foodies, so we purchased a lot of food items throughout the park. We only enjoyed food at three locations; Confiscos (I think I spelled that incorrectly), Mythos (AMAZING), and Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. I did want to add that the butter beer ice cream and soft serve in Hogsmeade and Diagon alley have become my favorite ice cream flavor!! Too bad they don't sell it commercially.
Rides: Velocicoaster is the best coaster I've ever been on in my life!! Wow!!! Hagrids, I ended up liking more than Cosmic Rewind, Hulk reminded me of a coaster at Magic Mountain that I haven't been on in years!! I enjoyed it but it wasn't my favorite. Spiderman was excellent!! its on my list of favorite dark rides. I can say as far as rides it's really where this park shines, but is SEVERELY lacking in entertainment which to me places it low on my list as it being an overall complete theme park experience.
Overall Islands is a very well themed and immersive park, but the lack of entertainment and streetmosphere, and things for people who don't want to ride rides is what made us enjoy it less!
Universal Studios Florida:
Loved this park, from the parade, to the shows, to the food, to the store options, and walk thru experiences, so many roaming characters, and the met and greets. I think I liked it more than Hollywood Studios. If all of this was at Islands of Adventure, it would have made that park amazing amazing instead of just going from ride to ride....
Rides. I know the park is criticized quite a bit on the simulator screens but I didn't mind them. I thought they were done well. I ADORED ET. it reminded me of Peter Pan. I also LOVED Men in black. It reminded me of buzz light year. The mummy was an amazing themed coaster experience, and it looks like they are building another amazing coaster to the Fast and furious franchise. Speaking of which, The fast and the furious ride was the only one at the entire park that I didn't like. Did they rush that attraction? Forbidden Journey Queue is one of the best themed queues I've ever seen. So elaborate. Sensational was a great nighttime show.
Shows: Bourne Stuntacular has joined my list of favorite theme park shows of all time. Like how did they do that lol
Epic Universe:
The theming and immersion of that park is number three on my list of all the parks that I've visited for theming and immersion after Tokyo Disney Sea and Shanghai Disney!! Wow. As far as the United States, Epic takes the cake for making you feel like you are literally in that world from the food, to the characters, the music, everything. I don't know what to say about this park. The food was as good as Epcot. The rides fell so well rounded. Everything in the park isn't throwing you around or spraying you with water like the other two parks.
Rides: Battle at the minsistry is a world class attraction. Monsters unchained is a world class attraction. I absolutely LOVED Donkey kong (favorite game as a kid). I think I spent 2 hours in Super Nintendo world playing the games. I wish the people mover was longer in that land. Curse of the werewolf, loved it stardust racers, another coaster that took me out. I was being thrown out of my seat left and right!!! it was amazing, but due to the intensity, we just chose to ride each side once during the day and once at night.
Shows: Both were fabulous, and the untrainable dragon show is also on my list of new favorite shows in a theme park.
Extras: I met this cute bear, but I'm not that familiar with his back story but I'm always down for a meet and greet.
Toothless meet and greet was just as magical as any meet and greet at Disney if not more.
Overall I loved the Universal Orlando resort. Disney really has some competition down there. Is Universal Hollywood as good as Universal Orlando?
The one thing I missed is photographers. I'm used to seeing one every 20 or 30 feet lol. Is that not a thing at Universal? Also the app. None of my ride photos and videos came to my phone? Can I contact support about that?
Thanks for reading.
Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous in Seuss Landing- Islands of Adventure. Crispy funnel cake topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, powdered sugar, and OREO cookie crumbles for $11.99.
I absolutely loved this. I was impressed how good the funnel cake was. Soft and pillowy inside, crispy edges. I can't wait to try the strawberry version.