Universal Studios

Our trip to Universal Studios was a resounding success. We all had a great time and made a ton of happy memories. It was absolutely all we could have hoped it would be, and our almost 10yo was very happy with this special trip we took to celebrate his double digit birthday.

Saturday: Driving to LA

We left at 8am on Friday, only 15 minutes later than planned. We stopped to grab a dozen bagels on our way out of the Bay Area, and I wouldn’t realized until several hours later that when my key ring opened there, my ADHD medicine container rolled under the counter so I didn’t see it. Not having my ADHD meds was absolutely the biggest wrinkle in the whole weekend, and I handled it fine. It was actually nice to learn that I can manage the insanity of long car trips (I’m always the only driver) and hyper stimulating environments without my meds. It’s not what I would have chosen, but I’m proud of how I handled it.

We had a couple hiccups charging the car on I-5, especially at the Grapevine, where demand far outstrips supply, but we never had to wait more than 10 minutes to start charging, and the super fast stations really do charge super fast, so we never felt like we were losing much time. We ended up charging in Los Banos, then Kettleman City, then in Lebec (though we realized we didn’t really need that last charge, but we were happy to not need to charge it again before we left LA).

There were definitely moments when I felt frustrated at the stress of finding a charger that was open and functioning, but ultimately it was not really an issue. When we last drove the car down south – to San Diego in 2018 – we had to take 99 because there weren’t any fast chargers on I-5. So things have definitely improved, just not as much as one would expect in five years in California.

We did make it to my friends’ BBQ, but I missed one friend because we got there later than expected. We only ended up staying for about an hour, and I was a little disappointed at the time, but it was nice to see a couple people I hadn’t seen in several years.

We checked in to our hotel around 7:30pm and were pretty beat, so we went to bed early.

Sunday: Day 1 at the park

The park opened at 8am on Sunday, but our hotel’s free shuttle only left on the hour, so we got there a little after the gates opened. My husband had installed the app earlier in the week, and had been watching wait times to see if there were patterns in their ebb and flow. Super Nintendo World, which just opened in the spring, was always packed in the morning but got more manageable in the afternoon, so we decided to avoid it first thing. Instead we went to the Jurassic World ride, which had almost no wait. My son and I have watched all the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies – he’ a big fan – so it was the perfect place to start. We were all super stoked with it as our first ride and everyone was smiles when it was over. We didn’t even get that wet!

My husband and daughter went on the Mummy ride while my son and I hit up the Nintendo World store and then went back up the escalators to Springfield, aka Simpsons World, where we met the rest of the family in the Kwiki-Mart.

My son is super in The Simpsons right now, so he was very excited to be in Simpson world. I have to admit, the attention to detail pretty much everywhere is very impressive.

The Harry Potter ride had a pretty decent wait, so we headed there next. I have to admit, since we just visited the Harry Potter studios north of London last summer, I was less interested in the Harry Potter area at Universal Studios, butyt it was really impressive.

Pretty much all of the rides at Universal are doing the same thing, which would be a bummer, except they do that one thing really, really well. And that one thing is making a ride that is actually a movie that you move through very fast. Kung Fu Panda is a giant theater where the seats move a little and you feel wind and a little water on you as the story takes place on screens that surround you on three walls. The Simpsons ride has you in a car thing with 8 people that raises up into a 360 screen and moves you around a lot. By the time you get to Harry Potter, you’re in a row of four seats that is being flung from one bubble screen to the next as you switch between insane movie clips and animatronics. Harry Potter was an exceptional ride, but it also made me very, very motion sick. For the last third I was just wishing it were over, and I passed up an opportunity to go again at the end of the second day. It was too much for me.

But the line sets were exceptional. I have to admit, they do give you a lot ot look at while you wait 60+ minutes for their most popular rides.

After Harry Potter we went on The Simpsons ride. The apparatus was less impressive, but I loved the story of the ride, and the way the built up the story even during the safety videos and other media we saw in line. It was one of my favorite experiences over all.

And since we were already in “Springfield,” we went to Krusty Burger for lunch. They had a one-hour loop of restaurant-themed Simpsons moments that was just coming back around when we left.

After lunch we went to the Studio Tour. We decided an hour of sitting and looking around was exactly what we needed at that point in the long, hot day.

I’ve been to Universal Studios once, exactly 30 years ago on a school trip at the end of 8th grade. I remember absolutely nothing about my visit to the park, except the escalators (you have to use four super long escalators to go from the “Lower Lot” where Transformers, Jurassic World, and now Super Nintendo World live, to the “Upper Lot” where everything else is) and two parts of the Studio Tour. The parts of the Studio Tour I remembered were this street that floods on demand and the Jaws area.

Now they have some cool Jurassic Park stuff, and I have to admit, this scene with an actual downed 747 (from War of the Worlds) was really impressive.

We also got to drive through the Jupiter Claim set from Nope, which I just watched last weekend. That was super cool.

And of course, you get to drive past the Bates Motel, and the house on the hill from Psycho.

Most of the tour is just on a big tram being driven around the sets and back lots, but there are two parts where they drive the tram into a tunnel full of screens and do ride simulators – one for King Kong and one for Fast and the Furious. Both are pretty impressive, especially when you consider they are moving this giant tram thing around.

After the Studio Tour we headed down to Super Nintendo World, where the wait times were more manageable. We got our son a Power Up Band so he could play some of the games down there. Luckily our daughter was okay not getting one because they cost $40! So many people were wearing them, they must be making a killing off those things.

The Mario Kart ride wait was only 60 minutes at the end of the day Saturday so we went for it. Again, the attention to detail in the line was impressive.

The Mario Kart ride was probably my least favorite. You are supposed to be driving and shooting at stuff. It was chaotic and I never really understood what was going on. The interface is definitely impressive, but if I had to wait three hours for that ride (as many do), I’d be pretty annoyed.

We had reserved spots on the 4:30pm shuttle that day because we figured we’d be pretty fried after so many hours in the 95* heat. And we were correct! By 4:30pm we were ready to go, but also excited we had another day at the park.

When we got back to the hotel the kids went swimming with my husband while I grabbed some margaritas and milk from Whole Foods and burritos at a nearby Mexican food drive through. We ate on the little raised hang out area above the pool. Then we passed out early again.

Monday: Day 2 at the park

We originally planned to spend only one day at the park, purchasing the early access to Super Mario World for that day. But then I talked to a few people and we decided that since it was only $20 more a person for a whole second day (instead of just early access), we decided to do that. And I’m glad we did. The second day ended up being more crowded (this surprised us because it was a Monday), but we didn’t mind because we’d already done most of what we wanted to do. The park opened at 9am on Monday, but we still got the 8am shuttle, so we could be there before the park opened. We were in all the lines to get to the “Lower Lot” right at 9am, but we were trying to get on the Transformers ride, not go to Super Nintendo World. But when we got down there Transformers was closed (just like the day before) so we headed with everyone else to Super Nintendo World. We stood in line for some of the key games, with my husband in one line and me in the other. Then Transformers opened right as my son and I were getting to the front of our line, so my husband and daughter went on that ride while we won our first key.

The line was so short they actually went on it and then met us in line to go again. Transformers has one of the longest lines in the park and I understand why – it’s a killer ride. It gave me a bit of a tension headache (I think it was the 3D glasses), but it was still super fun. I would have gone again if the wait time wasn’t always 120+ minutes.

After Transformers we did Jurassic World again. Then we went back up the escalators to do some of the smaller scale rides we had missed the day before. Kung Fu Panda and Minions were both short lines, but fun rides. We had another early lunch, then headed to the front of the park for the Waterworld show.

It’s funny because Waterworld was not a very popular movie, but the show at Universal Studios has been a big hit since it opened over a decade ago. We were told not to miss it, and we were glad we didn’t. Even with a little technical difficulty that stalled the show for a few minutes, it was a super impressive event. There are jetski tricks, pyrotechnics, water stunts, explosions and more. We avoided the splash zone seats and I’m glad we did, because those people got really wet.

We spent the rest of the second afternoon just walking around and enjoying all the details in all the areas. We also made our final choices at the gift shops and did some damage to our wallets. Super Nintendo World hit us hardest, but we got some cool stuff (tshirt for daughter, sweatshirt for son, and Mr. Toad hat for my class).

We ended the trip in Super Nintendo World, where my son got his three keys and we were all invited to fight Bowser Jr. in his castle. This was a really innovative, immersive experience, and I’m glad we saved it for the end of the trip.

Monday night we went to our friends’ new house for dinner, which was really fun. I have never appreciated a home cooked meal more! It was also fun to see our friends and get a tour of their new house. They really wanted us to come by and I’m glad it worked out.

Tuesday morning my husband got up early and charged the car while I got us packed up. The kids ate cereal in our hotel room every morning and we did that Tuesday as well. By 9am the car was charged and packed. We stopped and charged the car in Santa Clarita, Kettleman City and Los Banos on the way home. We came back via the South Bay, which I appreciated because we missed some East Bay and Bridge traffic at the end. We ended up listening to 8 hours (over half!) of The Creeping Shadow (4th Lockwood & Co) book, along with several episodes of the 99% Invisible podcast.

{Oh, and I want to mention that my husband rocked it on this trip. He managed all the car charging logistics – he was the one identifying options and watching availability. He also managed the park app and was always watching to see how long wait times were and ushering us to different areas as they became less crowded. He even ordered our meals on the app so we didn’t have to wait in the restaurant lines. The trip would have been way more stressful and frustrating without him and I hope I expressed my gratitude adequately because I certainly felt it.}

When we got home we ate dinner and I worked out on the elliptical machine so I could start writing this post. And now I’m finishing it on Wednesday night, because if I don’t I never will and it won’t go up and I uploaded too many pictures for that to happen.

Re-entry has been a little rough, but Wednesday was the best day for me to do it, so I can’t complain. The kids even got their teeth cleaned this afternoon! Tomorrow is my killer day at work, then it’s Friday! Can’t really bitch about a three day week.

All in all I’m really happy with the trip. Now we’ve taken both kids to Disneyland and California Adventure, Legoland, and Universal Studios. I hope to take them back to Disneyland and California Adventure now they they are older and will be more interested in the rides, but otherwise I think we’ve hit all the California amusement parks. We’re lucky there are so many that are relatively nearby.