- [Announcer] Yellow Productions Presents.
- 10 Things to know before you go to
Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles.
I'm Chris (chuckles) and today we're gonna
tell you everything you need to know
if you're considering visiting this theme park.
It's a cross between a movie studio and
a working theme park.
Number one, let's talk about tickets.
Where should you buy your tickets?
Anywhere else except in front of the park,
they're gonna be the most expensive
at these gates right here.
Buy them online, buy them from Costco,
buy from the AAA, you'll find discounts
from a lot of places online before you get here.
There's regular tickets, there's express tickets,
which are like bypass the lines tickets.
Those can be between $170 to $250,
and that depends on how busy the park is.
Universal Studios has implemented demand pricing,
those are probably only needed if you're here
on some of the busiest days.
Then, if you really wanna splurge,
there's the VIP pass, which is like $400.
You get a private tour guide, things like that,
so if you're rolling in the dough,
check out the VIP pass.
The second thing to know before you to go to
Universal Studios Hollywood, is about getting here.
Most people drive here, $25 is the cheapest parking,
$50 if you want front of the gate.
If you're staying around downtown LA,
you can take the subway, or the LA Metro,
there's a subway stop right in front of
Universal Studios Hollywood, shuttle up the hill,
Lyft or Uber is also a good option to get here.
If you're here in Southern California for Disneyland,
a lot of the Anaheim hotels offer shuttles
to get to Universal Studios Hollywood as well,
so that is an option.
But, I'll tell you if you're coming from Anaheim,
or points far away, expect traffic in LA.
So, if you're trying to get here at opening time,
add a good hour to whatever Google Maps tells you.
That'll give you time for traffic,
and time to park, get through security, and get in the gate.
The third thing to know before you to go to
Universal Studios Hollywood, is about when to go,
to avoid crowds, and I will say do not go in summer.
Summer is the worst time to come to
Universal Studios Hollywood,
it is the hottest, it is the most expensive,
because the ticket prices go up,
and everybody and their mother is here.
Also, Christmas is the time to avoid,
the rest of the year, probably not so bad.
Weekdays are gonna be the least busy,
but if you wanna pick really the least busy day,
use one of the crowd tracker websites.
If you type into Google, Universal Studios Hollywood
Crowd Tracker, you'll find calendars
that'll tell you when the least busy days to come are.
Also, to avoid the crowds, you can come
an hour before park opening if you buy your tickets
from Universal Studios directly from their website,
and also the crowds have a tendency to thin out
at nighttime, so stay til about park closing.
Then you'll probably able to just
walk right on the rides, no big deal.
The fourth thing to know before you come to
Universal Studios Hollywood is about
how to get the shortest lines.
I think I just said a few things about it but,
get here when the park opens,
no not when the park opens, before the park opens.
You want to be through security, and at the park
as they drop the rope to let you into the park,
and the best place to go for the shortest lines,
it's down the lower lot.
The lower lot, it's down low,
and so people usually don't get there
right when the park opens, so that's you wanna go
for some of the shortest lines.
Also, at park closing time,
you can walk on a lot of the rides
between eight or nine o'clock at night.
I will mention, if you're taking the Studio Tour,
which you should, because it is the
quintessential ride here.
Make sure to do the Studio Tour before it ends,
it closes before the rest of the rides do.
The fifth to know when it's related to lines,
is about single rider lines.
A few of the rides here have what they call,
Single Rider Lines, and those will be the best ways
to get on the rides, the quickest,
as long as you don't need to sit next to you,
and your closest friends.
Look for the signs that say Single Rider Lines,
and that'll be your fast way on
to lines that have long lines for the rides.
The next thing to know before you to go to
Universal Studios Hollywood, is about the shows.
Universal Studios Hollywood has a lot of shows,
well three main shows.
Waterwold is probably the biggest of them,
it's based on the movie of the same name.
Here's a little bit from the Waterworld show,
this is Universal's most action-packed show,
water splashes, guns, fireworks,
people diving into the water, lots of excitement.
There's an animal show where they have
lots of cute animals that run around.
The show is great for animal lovers,
and the whole family.
They show how Hollywood trains animals
to do really neat movie tricks.
There's a special effects show,
where they show you behind the scenes of how
they make some of the coolest movie magic.
But, one of the things they show you,
is actually setting someone on fire.
This is something that virtual fire isn't very good,
so they still do real fire.
This guy burns for about 20 seconds,
he's got a whole bunch of protective layers on,
and then they'll put him out.
It is real, cause if you were sitting there in person,
you could feel the heat from that fire.
What I'll tell you about the shows is,
make sure to get there about 20 minutes early,
because if you don't, you might not end up
not having any seats.
By the way, if you go to see Waterworld,
make sure to not sit in the green seats
unless you wanna get wet, and when I mean wet,
I mean really wet.
By the way, they also don't print the show times.
So if you wanna know the show times,
this leads us into the next thing to know, which is
you need to the Universal Studios app.
The app will tell you show times, and wait times.
It'll also give you a park map,
and if you're trying to do the shows,
make sure you don't wait too late
because, pretty soon you'll run out of show times if you do.
You should also know about the escalator
from the upper lot to the lower lot.
This can six and a half minutes
to go from one to the other,
so minimize the time you go
from the upper lot to the lower lot.
Go down to the lower lot, ride all the rides,
then head up the lower lot.
If you're doing this a whole bunch,
you'll be wasting a bunch of time,
just hanging out on the escalator.
Wee!
So the escalator, see these are the other segments
about it, but I'm going down here to ride the Mummy.
So, let's talk about rides now.
Universal Studios, in addition to shows,
has a lot of cool rides.
The biggest and most popular ride,
it's the Harry Potter Castle ride.
It's like a motion ride, that has a projection screen,
so you go through the castle.
Down here, where I'm going,
to see the Mummy, or ride the Mummy,
it is a indoor roller coaster.
There's Jurassic Park, that one you'll get wet on,
so do that one only
if you're not worried about getting wet.
But, the epic ride, the one you have to take,
is the Studio Tour.
Don't leave Universal Studios without
taking the Studio Tour, did you hear me?
Take the Studio Tour, I'm just trying to make sure
I don't fall down at the end.
I'm gonna restart and talk more
about the Studio Tour at the next escalator.
The best time to ride the Studio Tour,
late afternoon, early evening.
Typically cause it's the must-see attraction,
most people do that on their way into the park.
So, as your walking around the park,
you're looking on your mobile device,
check out the wait times as it starts to get
less later in the day,
that's when you wanna check out the Studio Tour.
We just got off it, it is super awesome,
it is worth the wait, let me tell you.
The other thing I wanna say about
the rides here at Universal Studios in general,
a lot of them are sort of these projection screen rides.
If those make you dizzy, well then,
take a look, and maybe skip those rides.
Or if you're dizzy on the motion projection rides,
just close your screen, close your eyes,
then you won't see the screen for a while.
Just one more thing about rides,
a lot of the rides have these lockers
that they'll have you put your small belongings in,
and you have to put them in there.
If you have big belongings, the lockers cost money.
But, if you have small belongings, the lockers are free.
So, don't bring any really big backpacks,
otherwise you'll paying a bunch of money
to store them in the lockers.
The tenth thing to know before you go to
Universal Studios, is about Universal CityWalk,
right here at this outdoor shopping mall
located right next to Universal Studios,
there's a whole bunch of restaurants,
there's a whole bunch of shops,
there's a movie theater, there's nightclubs.
If you're looking for some of the cheapest food to eat
at Universal Studios, and I think the best,
the cheapest, check out the food court upstairs.
The best restaurants are around here.
It's a pretty neat complex, it's open usually
a couple hours after park closing time,
and by the way there's a,
there's a really big King Kong, that's pretty cool.
Well hey, I hope you enjoyed this video,
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Thanks, bye bye.