USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

[socal05]

Hi all,

I'm going to Universal Studios Hollywood tomorrow for the first time in probably 20 years. I was wondering if you can answer a few questions for me (wish I had thought to post this a little earlier, but maybe I'll get lucky :-)

1. How much time does the tram tour take?
2. I don't like motion rides very much (feel sick after Star Tours at DL). What rides should I avoid, and are there any that are tame and worth riding considering this?
3. How is Jurrasic Park? I've ridden Splash Mt, and can handle the last drop. Is the drop on Jurrasic harder on you?
4. Anything I should not miss?

Thanks so much for the help - I'll post a trip report after I return.

Take care,
socal05

[FantasyWatersDude]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

Hi all,

I'm going to Universal Studios Hollywood tomorrow for the first time in probably 20 years. I was wondering if you can answer a few questions for me (wish I had thought to post this a little earlier, but maybe I'll get lucky :-)

1. How much time does the tram tour take?
2. I don't like motion rides very much (feel sick after Star Tours at DL). What rides should I avoid, and are there any that are tame and worth riding considering this?
3. How is Jurrasic Park? I've ridden Splash Mt, and can handle the last drop. Is the drop on Jurrasic harder on you?
4. Anything I should not miss?

Thanks so much for the help - I'll post a trip report after I return.

Take care,
socal05

The tour takes about 30 minutes..... the rides you should avoid would be Back to the future, Shrek 4d and Terminator, and YES the Jurassic Park drop is straight down and takes your breath away.... and do not miss WaterWorld, or Revenge of the mumy, revenge of the mummy is a dark rollercoaster that launches you off, no steep drops just turns and dips, If you miss out on JP or BTTF you will definatley misso out on the two best rides... have fun though!

[Darkbeer]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

The Tramn Tour is actually closer to 45 minutes to an hour.

As for simulator rides. I would avoid Back to the Future.

Shrek 4D is similar to It's a Tough to be a Big and HISTA, though the seat moves a bit more. There is the option of sitting in a non-moving seat (in the back). Don't miss it, even if you opt for the non-moving seats.

Terminator 2:3-D seats move a slight amount, and you should see it, no worries about motion issues.

Things that I think are must sees.


1. The Tram Tour

2. WaterWorld

3. Jurassic Park

4. Revenge of the Mummy

5. Backdraft

6. Terminator 2 : 3-D

7. Shrek 4-D

8. Special Effect Stages

9. Lucy - A tribute

10. Universal Animal Actors

11. The Blues Brothers Show

12. Mulligan's Irish Pub (if you enjoy cocktails

13. After leaving the park, enjoy some time at CityWalk (shopping and dining center next to the park).

USH is a full day park, in fact even with a VIP pass, we couldn't get everything done a few months ago.....

Enjoy your day!

[JesterMn]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

I echo everything Dark Beer has to say. The tram tour is 45-60 minutes. Ride the non-motion seats in Shrek, avoid BTTF if motion simulators get you sick, and the movement in T2:3D is so minimal, it should be no problem (they move about as much as the old Mission to Mars seats).

I'll also add that if you can handle the drop in Splash, you should be fine on Jurassic.

You don't mention how you feel about roller coasters, but if you can handle Space Mountain, you'd be fine on Mummy. It's about the same level of thrills, only shorter.

I also strongly recommened doing the "lower lot" area first, as soon as it opens, and saving the tram tour for later in the day. You will avoid a lot of the lines that way. I live 5 minutes from USH, and speak from much experience.

[socal05]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

You are all AWESOME! I'm leaving in 15 minutes - I'll report back tonight.

Thanks so much - this will be very helpful.

[EagleWings]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

USH is a full day park, in fact even with a VIP pass, we couldn't get everything done a few months ago.....

That's funny because I always manage to get everything done by 5 or 6 in the evening. I leave there bored every time lol.

[Wendygirl]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

Well, darn it! I should have read this thread yesterday. My daughter and I were there today. Crowded, wasn't it?!

We only went for a few hours but did hit Jurrasic Park. I went on Mummy, my daughter did not. It makes her sick but I love it. We both avoid BTTF. That one made us both sick the first time we went on it. I hope you saw Terminator.

Looking forward to reading your report.

[JerrodDRagon]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

USH is a full day park, in fact even with a VIP pass, we couldn't get everything done a few months ago.....

Enjoy your day!

When Ever I go I do the mummt like 5 times, JP twice or 3 times, BTTF once and the Tram twice (I love movies) see Sheik and T2 and see Water World and its like 3 or 4..I like ciy walk and stay there for like 2 hours (shopping and eating and just looking around at whats new)
If you have never been it can be a full day but for people who have gone beofore in the last 3 years you can do all the things you want in 5 or 6 hours..unlike DL which takes a full day...

[Professortango]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

I can now manage to do everything worth doing within 3-5 hours. I go on the tram, ride Jurasic Park, see Waterworld, and I'm basically done. Yeah, if lines aren't horrendous I'll ride the other attractions such as Mummy, Shrek, and T2, but I find them to be highly overrated.

I miss the shows, it was a good way to kill some time. Bring back the Wild West show and maybe even the Beetleguise show.

[socal05]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

Thanks to you all for the very helpful thread. I'll do my best to give a quick trip report...

First of all, this was a wonderful day for one main reason... It was the first time in almost 3 years that my wife and I had the day to ourselves without the kids! (I have 2 boys age 1 and 3).

The other great thing about the day was the "remember when" factor. It had been probably 20 years since I had been, so the memories were of being young with all my family from out of town. And the times were different too. You were REALLY impressed to see the psycho house, or scared to have the wolfman run up to you. I have great pics of relatives no longer around "bending" the jail bars and standing next to jaws.

How old are the memories? Well, I remember this:

http://www.theatrecrafts.com/studiotour/ush/studiotour/rockslide.html

Loved laughing at this: http://www.theatrecrafts.com/studiot...sttheatre.html

And this was the last big attraction I remember seeing: http://www.theatrecrafts.com/studiot...galactica.html

(this site I'm sourcing is a great site for history btw if you don't already know about it)

So on to the day. We got there around 1pm, and each line at that time was between 10-35 minutes. We decided to ride Shrek 3D, and ended up only waiting 10 minutes max. This show as a great start to the day, and actually turned out to be the best show IMHO. The 3D looked great, and the movie was very well produced. Amazing camera movement. Was Disney quality (and beyond in some regard). Great show.

Next we took the tram tour. Wait was about 20 minutes. This was what I was really looking forward to. When I last visited, the line out front loaded you on the tour, since it was the main attraction, and then you stopped in the middle to do other things. I really enjoyed it for old times sake, and because I love movies, but I think the times make you jaded. Passing the "movie cars" sitting under the tarps seemed a bit lackluster. Just not as easy to impress, although all the out of town tourists may actually enjoyt this stuff more, which is nice. Quick thoughts:

• The "flood" was fun to see again.
• Sad to see the collapsing bridge just sitting there (but glad it was there to look at)
• Jaws was fun, but seemed a lot smaller
• Spinning tunnel worked REALLY well :-)
• Kong and Earthquake were ok, but not great
• Tokyo Drift car show/dance was fun

Overall, it seems like they could do SO MUCH MORE with the tram attraction. I love the old stuff, and don't want to see it go, but more could be done. It is probably one of the best premise/them to build upon! "Hollywood - Backlot - Universal History" How about a section that recreates some classic movie sets one after another? How about more hollywood memorabilia? That said, I did enjoy it.

As we went back up the hill after tour, the line was double in size. This was around 2:30. Glad we got on when we did.

We ate at the Italian place on the upper level. Pizza: B-, Chicken Parm: D, Cookie: C

Next it was the special effects show. The hosts were really good (main guy was a rather large fellow, if that rings a bell for anyone). Well done and funny.

Backdraft was next. Don't know if it was because the shows before it were all good, but this was pretty bad. If this was the upgrade we got from the "burning building facade", then it didn't get much better for the money. To be fair, I'm not sure exactly what else you could do with it. I'd give it a C+

The Lucy exhibit was nice. It's just the type of stuff you expect to see more of. Fits the overall theme.

We ate at the Jurrasic theme restaurant. Pizza Hut was good, but the chicken and fries were cold in 4 minutes.

Jurrasic itself was really cool. Spielberg isn't going to put out anything bad, and his touch shows here. Enjoyed it a lot.

Next we hit T2:3D. I'm not sure what it was, but the 3D didn't work very well for me. It was very blurry much of the time. The overall concept is cool. It was the end of the day and the crowd seemed burned. Overall I'd cut the opening spiel down. The video quality seemed a bit muted too. I'd give it an A for effort and overall a B-

We were there through a special promotion for the Gas Company, which gave us free tickets. This made it possible to upgrade to a season pass for only $25. It seemed like too good of a deal, so we did that before we left.

So that was the day. I love the location of the park. The views are great, as are all the trees and being on the hillside. All the input you gave was helpfull since I knew what to go for and what to stay away from (BTTF and Mummy for the coaster).

I'll have to dig out those OLD family pictures from USH. Maybe I'll even post some of them here. Lots of great memories - big phone and scissors, frankenstein, the small garden you walked through as you exited off the tram from the first half of the tour, lifting the A-team bus, bending the jail bars, wild west show, quicksand, jaws hanging...

Take care all - socal05

[JerrodDRagon]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

I can now manage to do everything worth doing within 3-5 hours. I go on the tram, ride Jurasic Park, see Waterworld, and I'm basically done. Yeah, if lines aren't horrendous I'll ride the other attractions such as Mummy, Shrek, and T2, but I find them to be highly overrated.

I miss the shows, it was a good way to kill some time. Bring back the Wild West show and maybe even the Beetleguise show.

ME TOO the Wild West Show WAS the BEST!!!
Why did they take it out and not replace it???

[FantasyWatersDude]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

ME TOO the Wild West Show WAS the BEST!!!
Why did they take it out and not replace it???

they use it for filming now, it has appeared in several tv shows and movies, plans were to put a picnic area there which in my opinion is completely stupid..... they need a dark ride there

[Wendygirl]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

You got to the park around the exact same time my daughter and I did. You went a different direction then we did, though. But I think we may have been in the special effects show at the same time based on your description and time frame. We had not done that show on previous visits and we rather enjoyed it. The JP ride is one of my favorites.

[kickcows]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

oooh! where did you upgrade your pass?

i work at ush and handle that kind of stuff. (not at the ap center, but the hto).

glad to hear you guys had a fun time. saturday was a VERY busy day because of sempra. it was very neat though. seems like a great company to work for.

[socal05]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

BTW - forgot something I really wanted to mention. The employees were REALLY REALLY nice. Every one of them. Disneyland should make each new hire take a trip to USH. It was unbelievable! They made you feel like they were happy to have you there and appreciated your business.

[socal05]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

oooh! where did you upgrade your pass?

i work at ush and handle that kind of stuff. (not at the ap center, but the hto).

glad to hear you guys had a fun time. saturday was a VERY busy day because of sempra. it was very neat though. seems like a great company to work for.

Yeah, it was a busy but fun day. We upgraded in the room by T2. (has desks with computers where you enter the info, then two rows of tables by the exit where you register. I'm looking forward to coming back. I really did like the "feel" of the place.

Are you guys always that nice, or was it just for that event? ;-)

[kickcows]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

we pride ourselves on our service there.

i'm always nice. at least i think i am. you upgraded at the Annual Pass Center. Its great to hear that your day was fantastic. Makes me really happy to hear that.

[pveticket]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

I loved reading your report!
I'm leaving to go there myself for the first time in a few years in about 30 minutes.
I haven't been since ET The Ride was there.

[socal05]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

I loved reading your report!
I'm leaving to go there myself for the first time in a few years in about 30 minutes.
I haven't been since ET The Ride was there.

Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed it. How about you leave a report of your own? I'd be interested to see what you think.

[pveticket]

Re: USH - How much time needed - Recommendations

Hey, I'm glad you enjoyed it. How about you leave a report of your own? I'd be interested to see what you think.

Alright!
So we got there around 12 and went right to the Van Helsing Maze. It was ok, we went on Terminator 2 3d after, the pre show was WAYYYY too long and that kinda ruined the entire thing.I loved the actual show though, they did an AMAZING job.
After that we headed over to the backlot tour. We went on and then went to The Mummy. I loved i, but thought it was WAY too short, but very good effects. Jurassic Park was AMAZING. The waterfall really does take your breath away...literally.
We went back and forth between those rides if you can belive it al afternoon, and then saw Fear Factor Live later that night.
All in all it was very fun, and i would love to come back...but we are selling the remaining days on the tickets here on MC beacause we won't be able to use them.