Spotlight: Universal Studios Hollywood

Covering more than 400 acres in the middle of Los Angeles, Universal Studios Hollywood gives you a behind-the-scenes peek into Hollywood’s inner workings. You’ll learn what makes the movies so thrilling—and so enchanting—as you immerse yourself in real-life and virtual film sets and take a seat for world-class action rides amped up with dizzying special effects.

Ride the Studio Tour

Start by taking the one-hour World Famous Studio Tour, constructed with creative advice from Stephen Spielberg. The tram tour gives you a peek at 13 blocks of back-lot movie and television show sets, plus some simulated thrills. Inside your tram car, your tour is video-hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon. Cinema buffs will love seeing actual props and film characters like King Kong, Jaws, and dozens of dinosaurs. You’ll cruise by the Bates Motel from the film Psycho and the set from the TV series Desperate Housewives (remember Wisteria Lane?). You’ll experience movie-making virtual reality as you “survive” an earthquake, flash flood, and avalanche.

Explore the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Next, step into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, with a towering Hogwarts castle and all the classrooms, corridors, and passageways you know from the films. Watch a wand choose its owner at Ollivanders, and sample food fit for wizards in Hogsmeade Village. Buy chocolate frogs and peppermint toads at Honeydukes, or sip a mug of butterbeer or pumpkin juice at Three Broomsticks, a fairy-tale tavern serving traditional British fare (bangers and mash and shepherd’s pie). You might need a reality check after “flying” over Hogwarts on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. (Ask your companions: “Did that just happen?”). Young kids will enjoy the not-too-scary Flight of the Hippogriff rollercoaster, which zooms around Hagrid’s pumpkin patch.

Enjoy Jurassic World–The Ride

Watch a showdown between dinosaurs at Jurassic World–The Ride. This “sequel” to the park’s Jurassic Park ride was created by some of the same folks behind the blockbuster movie series, including Steven Spielberg and Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow. Board a 25-person boat and glide through various lands of dinosaurs, check out the video “warnings” from Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt and BD Wong, then watch an Indominus rex and T. rex battle it out—all before your raft takes an 84-foot water plunge. On your way out, let the kids dig for fossils in the play area or relax with some refreshments at the area’s Isla Nu-Bar and Jurassic Café.

Survive AMC’s Walking Dead Attraction

Revenge of the Mummy is touted as California’s fastest indoor roller coaster, and thanks to high-tech robotics and advanced animatronics, it’s undeniably scary. But even scarier is AMC’s Walking Dead attraction. Imagine the most frightening haunted house you’ve ever visited, then multiply that by 100. Just try not to get infected by the undead as you navigate your way through the creepy hospital maze. (Warning: Expect to see a lot of simulated blood and gore. This is a zombie apocalypse, after all.)

Watch Waterworld Live Show

The 1995 Kevin Costner film WaterWorld may not have been a big box-office hit, but it makes a thrilling live outdoor show. You’ll cheer on steampunk-garbed stuntmen and stuntwomen as they perform daredevil feats—diving into the water from impossibly high towers and racing around on jet skis. The stunning pyrotechnic effects in Waterworld will blow your mind. Even though anything is possible in Hollywood, it’s still hard to believe your eyes when a flaming seaplane flies over the set and crashes with a big splash.

The idea of “Hollywood magic” takes many forms at Universal Studios Hollywood, but it seems especially apt in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Even if you don’t know all of the nuances of the bespectacled kid with a lightning-bolt-shaped scar, this six-acre attraction offers an abundance of whimsy and fun. With world-class action rides, wizard-worthy shops, and no shortage of Butterbeer, you’ll find your disbelief suspended in no time at all.

The eye-popping centerpiece is 200-foot-high Hogwarts Castle, home of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Pass through the castle gates and wander the hallowed halls lined with portraits that talk, just like in the books and movies. Peruse the office of headmaster Albus Dumbledore, peer into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and scope out the Gryffindor Common Room, where Harry and his fellow housemates have been known to dish about those sullen Slytherin kids.

Then it’s time to board the site’s signature attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. You’ll ride on your own broomstick for a set of thrills that combines a robotics system, elaborate filmed action sequences, and immersive visceral effects. Expect to be as impressed as the stars of the Harry Potter movies who have also ridden it. “It’s so immersive,” reports actor James Phelps, who played one of the red-haired Weasley twins. “When you’re in it, you can’t see anyone else riding the ride as well. It’s just you.”

Outside the castle, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is also home to the first outdoor coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood, the family-friendly Flight of the Hippogriff. In the re-created wizard town of Hogsmeade, the immersive experience includes cobblestone streets, snowcapped roofs, and an assortment of locals, from the train conductor welcoming new arrivals to merchants peddling all manner of sorcery (wands at Ollivanders, screaming yo-yos at Zonko’s, and chocolate frogs at Honeydukes). Don’t miss the Owl Post, where resident owls hoot as you pass by. Mail a card from this location (written with actual pen, or quill, and paper) and it will get a Hogsmeade postmark.

The Three Broomsticks restaurant offers hearty Anglophile fare such as fish and chips, shepherd’s pie, and beef pasties, as well as classic desserts like chocolate trifle. And there’s good news for Muggles over the age of 21: The adjoining Hog’s Head pub has original draft beers and spirits created exclusively for the attraction, including Dragon Scale, Wizard’s Brew, and Fire Whisky. All around Hogsmeade, you can also order an all-ages-friendly Butterbeer (think cream soda, with a twist), along with Pumpkin Juice, Pumpkin Fizz, and gently flavored Gilly Water. After all, fending off the Dark Arts works up a thirst. 

HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter Publishing Rights © JKR. (s17)

With a behind-the-scenes look at movie-making magic, plus blockbuster-themed detours along the way, the world-famous Studio Tour that snakes you through the back lots at Universal Studios Hollywood ranks as a must-do ride in California. Sure, it’s primarily a theme park ride, so you’re probably not going to see Brad Pitt strolling by, but you really do get to see the sets and learn about classics ranging from Frankenstein to Jaws. Then slip on 3D glasses as you drive into wraparound action, especially the technologically advanced Fast & Furious—Supercharged thrill ride —where make believe becomes reality as you’re placed into the action during a high-octane scene. The groundbreaking attraction, presented as the grand finale to the Studio Tour, catapults you into the high-stakes underground world of street racing at perceived speeds of more than 120 miles per hour/193 kilometers per hour.

Another detour takes you into a 360-degree, 3D jungle that feels startlingly real, especially when King Kong emerges to battle dinosaurs—with your tram rocking and rolling in the middle of the brawl. Mellower sections of the tram tour wind through real sets of make-believe towns, cities, and suburban neighborhoods used in hundreds of films and TV shows, as well as original sets from major films like Psycho, Jaws, and War of the Worlds. Live guides and onboard videos featuring late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon add entertaining insights along the way.

Insider tip: Lines can get long here, but don’t worry—trams depart almost non-stop, so lines move fairly quickly.