Universal Studios Hollywood is fun to watch, but with a little knowledge and planning, you’ll be able to enjoy more. The tips below are based on dozens of more visits. Someone else has made all the elusive mistakes, so you don’t need to. This guide will help you have more fun with less hassle. Whether it’s your first trip or your ninety-first, you may want to know what’s new at Universal Studios Hollywood this year.
Buy tickets online before leaving. Why buying online can save you money, and to know where to buy your tickets, check the Universal Studios Ticket Guide.

When to Go:

If you want to enjoy Universal without crowds, go on autumn, winter or spring (excluding Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays). Avoid weekends and any public holidays. The summers are not only crowded but heated and best avoided if you can. Some guides are supposed to arrive 30 minutes before the park’s official opening time, which you may find a few minutes earlier than everyone else.
To do this, you must drive to the parking garage about an hour before departing from the subway.
If you plan on arriving mid-day instead, you can sleep late and get irritated before heading to the park. You can avoid the crowds that gather after opening the gates and then rush to the rides that take place. While you are waiting for the waiting times to be shorter. For a 90 minute wait in the afternoon, you can go straight in at 8:00 am and in the summer, it gets much cooler (depending on the temperature) after sunset.

Plan Your Day:

The perfect way to plan your day depends on your preferences, endurance, and a bunch of other things that only you can predict. Use these tips to help figure out how to best spend your day at Universal.
The upper and lower lots are connected by a long series of escalators that take about seven minutes to travel one way. Because of that, you’re better off to do everything on the lower lot in one trip. In the summer, the lower lot is hotter than the upper one. If you can, plan to go down there as early in the morning as possible – or after the sun goes down. Look at the show schedule when you arrive and plan everything else around any of them you want to see. Ride Jurassic World between morning and mid-afternoon. That will give you a chance to dry out before temperatures drop. The studio tour closes before the park does. During winter, the last tours of the day can be cold and chilly. The best time to go is mid-day. Even if it’s hot, the trams are shaded, and your feet can get a rest.

What to Take to Universal Studios Hollywood:

You already know most of this, but don’t be offended by the reminders — and don’t be surprised when you find something on the list that you hadn’t thought of.
Take these things with you:
Patience: Waits can be more than an hour at peak times. If you’re short on that, get a VIP Pass to get to the front of the line faster.
Motion-Sickness Remedies: Many of the rides could turn a sensitive person into a puke-a- Saurus. Bring the remedy that works best for you.
Comfortable Shoes: You’d be surprised how many people walk around with blisters on their feet because they just had to wear that stylish pair of shoes.
Quick Drying Clothing: You’ll be glad you wore it after Jurassic World – The Ride.
Heavy cotton fabrics and jeans get soggy and stay that way for an uncomfortably long time.
For Water Play: If your kids are going to play in the splashy part of Super Silly Funland, bring swimsuits and a towel so you can get them dry afterward. There’s a changing area nearby.
Sun Protection: Sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses, especially in summer.
Glasses Case: You’ll need it to put them in, so you don’t lose them on the rides.
3-D Glasses: If 3-D glasses give you headaches and you use them often enough at movies and theme parks to justify a $20 to $30 investment, you may want to go shopping before going to Universal.
Hank Green’s 2D Glasses turn the 3-D back into 2-D, or you can get circularly polarized clip-one for your everyday glasses. You can also buy and bring your own 3-D glasses, which may have better optical quality than the ones at the park. More (and Less) Clothing Than You Might Think: Even on a hot summer day, it can get chilly fast after sunset. During the day, it may be hotter than you expect. Check the weather forecast for Studio City, which can be as much as 20°F hotter than the coast during the summer.
Rainy Days: Umbrellas are a hassle in a theme park. Bring a hooded rain jacket or poncho instead. In summer, know that overcast mornings seldom mean rain later.

Things Not to Take When You Go to Universal Studios Hollywood:

Anything You Don’t Need:
That includes that pile of store discount cards, the office keys, and anything else you don’t need while you’re in the park. They take up space and weigh you down. A small waist pack or sling bag works well to carry the rest.
Anything Embarrassing: Your bags will be inspected at the park entrance.
Food and Drinks: They aren’t allowed inside the park except for water, fruit, and baby food. Leave the GoPro at home. Most rides have appropriate no video/photo policies inside.
Pets: Animals aren’t allowed inside the theme park (except for trained service animals). Leave your furry friends somewhere else if you can. If you bring them on your trip and need a kennel, see the information at the end of this guide.
Your Car: If you’re staying at a nearby hotel, ask if they have a shuttle. It may save you the cost of parking.
If you’re too far away for a hotel shuttle, you can ask if there’s an MTA station nearby and take that to the Universal Studios Sto

Things to Do in Universal Studios Hollywood:

What to Do with Your Stuff:
You can take it all on with you. If you’re sitting on the outside seats, hang onto all of it and be sure nothing slips out below the sides.
Boarding: You’ll wait in a line in numbered rows until your team arrives. To board, you’ll step up into the tram, and if you’re the first one on, you’ll walk across to the far side.
Where to Sit: Avoid the back row of any tram car, unless it’s cold weather. That’s where the engine is, and it’s both hot and noisy. If you want to get a really good look at the Jaws shark, Whoville or the Bates Motel, stand in the front of the boarding line and go to the far side of the tram. For better views of the picture cars, flood and War of the Worlds, get in line to board last in your row. Children must sit in the middle of the row.

The Experience:

The Universal trams are iconic and started out as vehicles to carry people around Universal’s film production facilities. They still do that, but these days, they’re also part attraction ride. Along your journey, you’ll experience

• King Kong 360 3-D, an encounter with the giant ape that surrounds the tram with 3-D images.
• A simulated earthquake and flood in a subway station set.
• Fast & Furious, is a 3-D experience based on the film franchise. Special effects make it feel like you’re being pulled along at breakneck speed on the LA freeways.

You’ll also take a drive through some of the backstage filming areas (when they’re not being used), go past the Bates Motel and Psycho House, pass Whoville, see that creepy Jaws shark and go through the airplane crash scene from War of the Worlds. The exact route varies depending on where people are filming.
Rating the Studio Tour: Everyone likes the studio tour. It includes some fun sights and great special effects. It’s almost worth it just for the King Kong part.
However, if you think you’re really going to see people making movies and television shows on this tour, you’ll be disappointed. Think of it as more of an enhanced ride than an in-depth tour of a working studio.

Studio Tour Tips:

Studios seldom work on weekends, You’ll see more hustle and bustle during a weekday tour, but on weekends, you may get to drive through sets that are in use during the week. The tour stops running before the park closes. Take it early to be sure you don’t miss it.
If you’re sitting on the sides, keep your camera strap around your neck. If you hold it on your lap and let go for just a second at the wrong time, it will end up dancing on the pavement. Some parts of the tour can scare small children, especially the Jaws shark. You’ll see some shooting schedules posted near the entrance. Don’t let them fool you. They let you know what’s being filmed at Universal that day but may give the mistaken impression that you’ll be able to watch all of those filming sessions.

Wizarding World of Harry Potter:

Location: Upper Lot
It took the Wizarding World of Harry Potter a while to make its way to Universal Studios Hollywood, but folks in California can enjoy some of the same attractions as visitors to Universal’s Florida parks do.
In California, Wizarding World covers about 6 acres, making it about half the size of the one in Florida.
But before you start feeling all upset about that, you need to know that the Dragon Challenge roller coaster takes up two-thirds of Florida’s Wizarding World. That makes the rest of the California World only slightly smaller.
The main attraction is the ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It’s a motion-based simulator ride through a replica of the interior of Hogwarts castle. The hyper-realistic journey makes its U.S. debut in Hollywood. Guests wear Quidditch-inspired 3D goggles as they follow Potter’s journeys, spiraling and pivoting 360-degrees along an elevated ride track. Does this ride have a 48? (122 cm) height requirement and employs restraints that may not accommodate guests due to their body shape or size. There’s a test seat outside where you can find out if you can fit or not.
The other side is the family-friendly Flight of the Hippogriff. It’s slightly taller, longer and faster than its Florida counterpart. Do you have to be at least 39? (99 cm) tall to ride with a companion and taller than 48? (122 cm) to ride alone. You can dine at the Three Broomsticks restaurant, which recreated the inn and pub from the movies. And get a butterbeer to drink.
Shops include Ollivanders wand shop, Zonko’s joke shop, Honeydukes candy store, Dervish and Banges clothing store, Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods gift shop, Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment, Gladrags Wizardwear, and Owl Post stationery shop.
The magic wands are fun, and new spells are added regularly. It’s best when you can walk up and do your hocus-pocus right away, but less so if you have to watch a half dozen people do it ahead of you (and wait while they photograph themselves doing it).
Don’t miss the little things, especially in Wizarding World. Listen for Moaning Myrtle in the Hogsmeade restroom, and stop to get a compliment from Madam Malkin’s Talking Mirror in the corridor between Dervish and Banges and Gladrags Wizardwear.
To make room for all of that, Universal demolished the Gibson Amphitheater and Adventures of Curious George water play area.

The Walking Dead in Universal Studios:

Based on AMC’s television series “The Walking Dead,” this attraction is a walk-through maze, similar to the ones Universal puts up at Halloween, but open year-round. It features scenes from all seasons of the popular show. Visitors don’t just watch the action but are immersed in it, cast as survivors of a zombie apocalypse and trying to survive. Compared to the Halloween version, the effects are much more realistic, including “utterly realistic flailing arms,” says USA Today theme park writer Arthur Levine.