I took my adult son here for his birthday treat. It’s been a while since I was last there, so I forgot some stuff. We went in August… I forgot, there is very little shade at universal. Many of the lines have you standing out in the sunshine with no shade. Many of the lines were 2 hrs or more long. We arrived at 8.30am and stood for 30 mins before being let into Mario land… waited 90 mins for ride. There was No place to sit along the way and No sign of any Universal staff. While waiting m the ride broke down, you couldn’t understand the announcement because of the acoustics. While in line the Transformers ride also went down. By the time we got through the ride (was it worth it? Urmmmm maybe, but there are quite a few upgrades I’d recommend), Transformers was up again. We did single riders and got straight on. Next we wanted the Mummy - it was down. Went and had lunch, food was barely passable. Mummy ride came back up, it lasts approx 1 minute. Next we headed for the Simpsons… 90 mins wait, it went down, 2 hrs later… next Hagrids Hypogriffe ride… over 90 mins with no shade. That ride lasts about 30 seconds. Next Hogwarts Ride. Again, we did single riders so got straight on (otherwise 90 min or more wait)… got on ride, ride broke down. They ushered all the regular line out, we were left in chairs. A wonderful cast member called Caitlyn kept us entertained . 10 mins later the ride started up again, only to come to a stop at the first Video… 3 or 4 mins hanging there with the screen blinking, sound but no picture, then off we went. Next was Backlot Tour… line moved quickly (ignore the wait times advertised on screens in park.) I love that ride, a chance to sit and rest and enjoy. Big shout out to the tour guide Sam and driver Andy they did an awesome job! However, one of the main attractions, Fast and Furious broke down just as we got there. Basically, every ride in the park went down while we were there. Considering Universal shuts at 8pm every night and they really don’t have that many rides, it’s bad form.
Realize that almost every ride (bar the Hypogriffe) is relying on 3D screens… not great if you have Motion Sickness.
We did Minions (fun) and some other like it.
Beware of families/groups pushing through the long lines pretending to look for family members but really just line jumping. We came across a family of 7 doing this. When we pointed them out to cast members, they did nothing. Universal, you need to address this! More crew on the ground in the lines!
Food was minimal and crap really.
Not many places at all to just sit and chill after being on your feet for hours on end.
At Disneyland, there is grass to sit on, under trees etc… nothing like that here. Either you sit in a food place, or under the Owlery i Harry Potter Land or nothing.
Universal, you definitely had a ‘single’ guy design your business. no thought for mothers (parents with children) the elderly or infirm at all.
It’s a one time visit for me. Disney is wayyyyyyy better.
I had high hopes and great expectations for this visit. The parking was quite expensive but the entry to the park was efficient. We followed the advice and downloaded the universal app so we could monitor queue times. We loved the transformers 3D ride and the Mummy ride. The studio tour was great and our lunch was served speedily.
The reason for the lower rating is because of the Jurrasic ride being closed and the misleading queue times for Harry Potter. We started when it said 45 minutes - but we queued for well over 120 minutes for the Harry Potter ride. So many people jumped the queue but nothing was done. The express line just kept getting longer and longer and we waited and watched them go ahead of us. After the Harry Potter ride - which was fabulous- we watched the waterworks show. We loved it, but again, the queuing system needs considerable improvements. Our ticket enabled us to return to Universal within a week but we only had 2 more days in LA and the Jurrasic ride was closed for both the days so we didn't bother. It was the ride that I was most interested in riding. Overall all, I feel that we didn't really get value for money because of the waiting times, the defective rides and the inefficient systems that universal has in place.
Discover00849851996
27 Aug 2023
We did two days in the park and were able to do everything at least twice. You don't need more than two days and I would think the Express Pass would be a waste of money, you can still get everything done without it. I must say the Super Nintendo Land was a bit of a disappointment. We did the early entry and spent the entire time in line for the only ride, which was underwhelming. Our teens didn't want to get the expensive bands to wait in endless lines to play the games so aside from the ride, we didn't spend much time there. (*Note,we went on one rainy day and one sunny day and spent way less time in line for Bowser's ride on the rainy day without early entry than we did on the sunny day with early entry.) Generally speaking, if you can visit on a rainy day, do it! People stay away and you can ride the rides as fast as you can get to the next one. (We rode the Mummy three times in 20 minutes.) The lines are all pretty much inside/ under cover.