It’s not as scary as it sounds! Were there some meltdowns? Of course, there’s four kids. Were there also magic moments? Absolutely 100%! We spent the last couple of years debating which large amusement park we wanted to go to for our first big family vacation. There was some back and forth between Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. We ultimately decided to venture to Universal Studios. Here’s what we learned along the way.
Tickets
I spent many days tracking ticket sales and deals on Universal’s website a few months before our planned vacation. I found that they routinely change the deals and rotate them. When I saw that they had a buy a day get a day free deal, that is when I decided to buy tickets. I made sure to read the fine print so that we could use our second day the very next day after our first day. If you buy this option, just check the dates that your second day pass is valid as they have some that you will not be able to use it on.
You can visit their ticket page here to view current prices and deals: Universal Tickets
This deal worked perfect for us because I knew that we would need two days to fully explore the park with no anxiety of fitting it all in one day. This was all of our first time, so it was unfamiliar territory.
Rides
Many of the rides are a mixed virtual experience, which means the car actually stays in place but is on mechanics that can tilt, shake, and move in different ways while you view a large screen. So it makes you feel like you’re on a physical roller coaster. It’s actually quite amazing how they do these rides. There are also some thrill rides that are actual roller coasters as well.
Parent swap
Our kids are 11, 9, 7, and 3. Our 3 year old could only ride a couple of the rides in the park as he was just an inch shy of the height requirement (which is 30 inches) for most. They do have a parent swap program for those rides that your toddler or baby cannot ride. When you get to the front of the line they will give you a fast pass for the next parent to ride. This way they can skip most of the wait. Even in the busy season the fast lanes were only about a 5 to 10 minute wait.
Wait times weren’t overly terrible, the longest we waited for a ride was about 50 minutes. We did go dead middle of summer so it was in the busy season. They actually have the lines zig zag indoors for many of the rides, which was nice because it is air conditioned. For other lines that are outdoors, they have fans with misters running to help cool you off. On top of that the waiting area is just as over the top detailed as the ride itself, so it makes the wait fun and interesting viewing all of the details.
One thing to note: within the ‘Super Silly Fun Land’ there is a pretty big splash pad, we were excited for it, but were unaware that shoes were required. To be honest we just didn’t even think about it so we were unprepared and unable to play it in. Somehow our kiddos were fairly reasonable and we avoided tantrums (but my 3 year old was a bit bummed). So if you are going on a hot day and plan to play in it to cool off, bring water shoes!
Schedule
There is an upper lot and a lower lot in the park, as it’s built on a hill. I had seen a couple of videos with a tip saying to start in the ‘lower lot’ of the park. Complete the rides and activities there before crowds build, then to move onto the upper lot. We went there on our first day and ended up spending the whole first day there. I do think it made a difference because we noticed towards the middle and end of the day that the wait times did go up quite a bit. We then spent the second day in the upper lot, which allowed us to explore more. I think that the upper lot is more ‘themed’ and detailed. This lot contains Harry Potter World, The Simpsons Land, and Super Silly Fun Land that is part of Despicable Me. It also has the Studio Tour which I insist you do if you go to Universal. The tour is about 60 minutes and takes you through real sets and experiences.
A bonus that really helped is there are digital display boards throughout the park that show you the current estimated wait times for the rides. On top of that they have an app you can download that also shows the wait times, as well as a map of the park. We were able to use both to sort of guide our schedule on what rides to do. We also were not on a strict schedule, so between that and the two days it honestly was a low pressure trip that made it enjoyable.
Character Meets
This part I loved! I wasn’t quite sure if we would get to meet characters. Like I said this was my first time and I just wasn’t sure how it worked. Universal had characters all around the park! I will say they aren’t wandering around the park at random, they have stations in their respective areas but they have them on rotating schedules. I think we might have met most of the characters. We got to meet the Autobots (Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime), Blue in Jurassic World, The Minions, Hello Kitty, Donkey from Shrek, and Princess Peach. None of these cost any additional money, we just waited in a short line. This was absolutely wonderful for my littlest since he wasn’t able to do some rides. He loved meeting the characters!
Food
We travelled from out of state, so we didn’t intend on bringing in our own food/meals. You are permitted to bring in small snacks or food in a small soft cooler bag (something that will fit through the security scanners). We had small snacks in our backpack, and ate our main meals there. There is the City Walk that has some restaurants before you enter the park, as well as restaurants within the park. I thought the prices were fair for the food, comparing it to other theme parks we’ve been at.
One place we tried was the 1up cafe that had pretzels and calzones (all in the theme of course). They also had fun drinks that came with a ‘bath bomb’ for your drink! It was a little sugar mushroom that dissolved and made the drink sparkly.
With any family trip there’s bound to be hiccups along the way, but honestly this one went quite smoothly. We got to the park later than we wanted on the first day, we didn’t pack the stroller or fans. But we started our venture with a donut from VooDoo donuts to fuel us up. We then headed straight to the lower lot as I mentioned earlier. I’m so glad we followed that piece of advice, but we probably could have done it vis-versa and still had a great time. I did miss the water world show, which bums me out bit but I’ll live! The best part of all of it is the memories we created. It’s been a few weeks and my kids are still thanking me for the trip.
