Universal Studios Hollywood By Missholly By missholly on - Updated Oct 15, 2011
Over Easter break my family and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood. Altogether the park is pretty cool! My 8 year old son had fun and left exhausted. However, there are some aspects of the park that you might want to take into consideration before planning to stop there on vacation.
Universal Studios is mostly show oriented. If you have little ones that aren't going to want to sit through shows this might not be the place for you. They only feature 5 rides to go on. One of them is 'Return of the Moummy' from a title like that I'm sure you can guess that small children are not allowed to ride. 'Studio Tour' is a family ride that takes you all over Universal Studios but is very loud and has some "scary" moments that young children might have a hard time with. There are a few walk through attractions, such as the 'House of Horrors' which again, is not suitable for children or 'Curious George' which is just for kids. The 'Curious George' section of the park is a huge jungle gym with cascading and squirting water everywhere. The kids had a blast here.
The shows are wonderful. The 'Terminator 2' show is in 3D and usually a big hit with everyone. Waterworld is packed with explosions and well... water everywhere. And if you're sitting in the soak zone, prepare to be drenched!!! Among the other shows are; Fear Factor Live, The Blues Brothers, and Universal's Animal Actors. All the shows are entertaining, just not geared for the younger ones. It would be my guess that children under 5 or 6 might find some of this boring. My niece got very impatient during the shows. She's 3 and it is very hard for a 3 year old to sit still for 20 minutes.
One other thing worth mentioning, going Universal over Disney or Magic Mountain is definately a penny saver. Right now when you buy your tickets you get a second day at the park free. Also, for $25 a person you can buy a meal card. This buys you food from ANY vendor in the park all day long!! It's an amazing deal.
So would I recommend Universal Studios? Yes I would!! But to those families who have older children.
Two things I forgot to mention:
Universal owns Nickelodeon. My son nearly died when he got to mean SpongeBob. On the other hand I was a little irritated with all the Simpsons geared scenery in one section of the park. Some of it was less than appropriate.
Changing tables. Not all the bathrooms have them. There are designated baby changing stations that have changing tables and they are few and far between. It's particularly difficult if an older child needs to go to the restroom and you keep passing them in search of one with a changing station. :)
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Universal Studios Hollywood
I remember going to Universal Studios when I was a little kid and being traumatized on the tram tour by the story of the Bates Motel and Jaws!
I've been wanting to take the kids when they get a bit older.
I think you are right about Universal being more appealing to older kids. I have not been to Hollywood Universal though!
This is really good information. We were there LONG ago with one teenager and had a good time.
I won a free trip there once, but never went. Sounds like I missed out!
This is one of the places I've always thought would be fun to visit but never got aroun to it. Sounds great for older kids (of all ages, LOL!) :)
I used to live by Universal. My sister spent alot of thime here when we were teens. Its a fun place if your older. Thaks for sharing