Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood^®

worst theme park experience ive had. long lines that rich people can skip. certain rides are literally stationary chairs that move around a little bit while you watch a video. the minions ride malfunctioned and all we got was a voucher to SKIP THE LINE. waste of a day i could have spent at disneyland.

A bit about us for some context - We're a family of 5. We've been to US Orlando several times and love it! We believe Express Passes are worth their weight in gold and we're always there for Early Entry. We parked around 7:15 and got through security and were lined up for the gates around 7:30. They opened the gates and let us go to the rope. At 7:45 they physically walked us down in an orderly fashion to Mario World. They clearly have it dialed because we walked in just at 8am! At 8:01 we were walking into Mario Kart. The theming of Mario World is really well done and so is the queue for Mario Kart, but the ride itself isn’t the blockbuster I expected. I really thought it would be a live action Mario Kart where we got to drive. Nah… You rode on a track system and have augmented reality visor on so you can see the other cars/characters and shoot them with shells and stuff. It was cool, but nothing that I’d go through the hassle of EA for again. We checked out the side games before the got slammed and they all had a small wait and most of them were pretty lame really. The 2 that were fun were the ones where you had to change all the colors to make them the same before time ran out. And we didn’t get the wristbands, so our scores meant nothing and we couldn’t even play the Bowser challenge which is apparently the best one. Oh well. We left Mario world just after 9 and went straight to Revenge of the Mummy. We beat the crowd there so we didn’t have to use our EPs. It was a fun ride, and I’d say scarier than the one in Orlando, but it was shorter and didn’t have the effects or the “Brendan Fraser” magic that Orlando has. Transformers was closed, so we hit Jurassic World next. This was the same ride as Orlando, but themed as Jurassic World, so it had Owen and the Indominus Rex and it was really well done. We also got pretty wet on the drops. I’d give the edge to this one over Orlando! We were done with the Lower Lot, so we went back up the escalators, stopping to get some pics of the city along the way (the famous smog was out today). We started with the Simpsons Ride and the wait time was like 45 min so we just used the EP. It still takes along time to ride thanks to all the pre shows. It was the exact same as Orlando. Done and done. We were ahead of schedule, so we decided to do the Studio Tour now. We got onto the cart train and waited for the tour to start. It was actually a really nice tour and I appreciated not having to walk! The tour lasted 50 minutes or so and we saw lots of cool stuff. The highlights were the earthquake/flood, Kong 360, Jaws, Psycho (the live actor just made it) and Hill Valley and the clock tower from Back to the Future! It was a really cool tour, I’d give it the edge over the Warner Bros. myself. After the tour, it was almost 11:30 so we made our way to Three Broomsticks for lunch. Luckily it wasn’t too crowded yet. We ordered BBQ ribs, shepherds pie, fish n chips and mac n cheese to share. We also got butterbeer and a fishy green ale that was very good (and had boba). Everything was pretty good and then we wandered over to Forbidden Journey. We used our EP so we didn’t get to experience all of the queue, but it looked the same as Orlando. The ride was exactly the same, but that was ok because its such a great ride! Flight of the Hippogriff was right there and the girls wanted to do it, so we rode it (all 30 seconds of it)! That was short, even shorter than Orlando. We were done with the rides in Hogsmeade, so we let the girls get their wands out and do some magic. They had fun with the ones they could get to work, but not all them did. We got them more butterbeer as they walked around. Once they were done, we went on to do Despicable Me. Like Simpsons, this ride just takes forever because of all of the pre shows. So even with the EP it takes 20 minutes. It was the same as Orlando, and this one just isn’t my favorite. We did Secret Life of Pets next. This one was new for me so I was kind of excited for it. But it was pretty lame. Just a slow track ride through different scenes of the movie (which I haven’t seen). But the lamest “ride” of the day was Kung Fu Panda. Just a 3D/4D show that was pretty boring. We had done it all already, but we decided to go back to the lower lot and reride Mummy with our EP. We rode it again and it’s the best ride at US Hollywood (if you don’t count the studio tour). Now the girls wanted to reride Jurassic World. As we were on the ride, they put away the stegosaurus and brought out Blue. I thought for sure my kids would want to see Blue, but they didn’t really care. I watched it a bit from a platform as we were heading back up. We thought about sticking around for the Waterworld show, but it wasn’t til 4 and it wasn’t even 3 yet so we took off. We hit the store on the way out and they had some really cool autographed stuff in there, but we didn’t buy anything. Then we left the park and hit City Walk. Everything I read about US Hollywood was basically true. Mario World is very well done. The ride is cool, but not a blockbuster. The best thing about the park is the studio tour. The best coaster is Revenge of the Mummy and the best ride is Forbidden Journey. We enjoyed the park, but it is much smaller, and much less of a "thrill" park than US Orlando.

From thrilling rides and shows to a real working movie studio, this theme park has something for everyone. The Studio Tour is a highlight, providing a behind-the-scenes look at iconic movie sets and special effects. The park's attractions, such as the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Jurassic World, are immersive and well-designed, making you feel like you're part of the action.