With the new opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood, it seems like everyone is flocking to the park to check out the newest attraction. I had a chance to visit the park recently since I haven't been in over 10 years. It almost felt like a completely new experience since many of the attractions have changed since I was last there. I’ve had a couple friends ask me for tips and recs at the park so here’s my post on what to expect when you go for yourself!

The Park

Any film fanatic should visit Universal Studios Hollywood at least once to immerse themselves in movie making magic. The park offers 3D rides of beloved Universal movies, amazing shows that demonstrate special effects and on-camera animal training, and lastly its famous backlot studio tour of actual filming locations for many shows and movies. There are also plenty of intricately designed buildings and areas to hang out at within the park that immerse you into your favorite TV show or movie.

The park itself is located on a massive hill, but don’t start to sweat just yet, there are rows of escalators going up and down to transport you to the upper and lower lot of the park. This actually helps a lot when it comes to planning your itinerary for the day because of the way the park is separated. When you enter the park you start out in the upper lot so you can either choose to partake in the upper lot activities until your heart’s content or you can head straight for the lower lot first and enjoy everything before coming back up to the upper lot. Of course you can go back and forth but it is pretty time consuming and boring going up and down all those escalators.

From my own childhood experience and reading other bloggers out there it was always best to head straight for the lower lot first because most of the activities were down there including the studio tour. But again many things have changed in over 10 years. The studio tour is now in the Upper Lot and the park itself has changed so much they’ve actually added a ton of stuff on the upper lot including the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter. So I suggest picking what’s important to you. If Despicable Me and The Simpsons Land interests you more, stick to the upper lot first. If you’re more nostalgic and want to ride the Jurassic Park River ride, go for the lower lot first. There’s no wrong choice when you’re just trying to enjoy yourself at a theme park!

The Attractions

Most of the rides at Universal Studios are 3D motion simulator rides where you’re strapped into a seat that moves corresponding to the action on screen. You really appreciate this on an especially hot day because you get plenty of AC indoors. It’s also great because you don’t necessarily have to enjoy the rides during the day when the sun’s out because you’ll be indoors anyway. The only downside is that with so many of these 3D motion simulator rides, you’ll probably start feeling nauseous before the end of the day.

The 3D motion simulator rides at the park includes Transformers: The Ride, Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, Shrek 4D, and The Simpsons Ride.

If you grew up watching The Simpsons like me, you'll love visiting downtown Springfield. Have a bite at Krusty Burger, grab a real Duff beer at Moe's Tavern, purchase souvenirs at the Kwik-E-Mart, oh and don't forget to pick up a giant donut at Lard Lad. I would definitely recommend getting a donut because the donut is as big as my face and a great value to boot but also for its deliciousness! We didn't think we would be able to finish it but we took it into Water World with us and we finished it off before the show even started!

Heading in for some locally brewed real Duff beer

We need more Bort license plates, I repeat we are sold out of Bort license plates

Unfortunately there aren't too many thrilling roller coasters at the park, but Revenge of the Mummy will help satisfy that for you. The Jurassic Park ride also has an exhilarating plunge and it's in the water so prepare to get wet!

3 Tips for Maximizing Time at the Park

If you do happen to be on a time crunch and want to maximize your time, here are some tips for you! Don’t worry I only spent one day at Universal Studios (during a packed 3 day weekend) and I still managed to experience all the attractions by 8pm!

1. Catch the shows and studio tour earlier in the morning

Water World, the Special Effects Stage Show, and Universal’s Animal Actors are the live shows that perform several times a day. Setting time to catch these shows earlier in the day will mean less crowds as well as ensure that you get the best seats in the audience. Just remember that sitting in the closer green seats for Water World means you’ll have a very good chance of getting splashed!

The famous studio tour is the signature attraction for the park and it’s definitely a don’t miss when you visit. The tour is a 45-60 minute attraction but during peak times it can be a 60 minute wait in line followed by 60 minutes of the actual ride itself, taking a good 2 hour chunk from your day. To avoid peak times, head to the studio tour first thing in the morning!

2. Ride The Wizarding World of Harry Potter rides in the evening

Of course the newer attractions in the park will be the most crowded. When I showed up bright and early in the morning and took a look at the lines board to see what the wait times were, it was pretty much 0-5 minutes wait for all the rides, oh except the few Harry Potter attractions that were all over 120 minute wait.

If you went to the park specifically for Harry Potter, by all means spend your time in that area all day, however if you want to enjoy the whole park it’s best to save this one for last. Luckily almost all the attractions are indoors so it’s not like the experience will be different if it’s not during daylight.

When we went to the park the very first ride we lined up for was the Forbidden Journey ride. It was by far the longest we had to wait all day and it actually turned me away from wanting to wait at all the other Harry Potter attractions. Although I do have to say the ride itself was fantastic and probably one of my favorites.

We chose to enjoy the rest of the park instead and by the end of the day we decided to check out the Harry Potter area again just to take some night shots of the castle. This is when we found the Harry Potter world deserted and all the rides were around a 5 minute wait. So naturally we went and lined up for the other attractions including the Flight of the Hippogriff and Ollivander’s Wand Shop.

I’m actually really glad we chose to experience the rest of the park before returning to Harry Potter World. Throughout the day I never saw the Hippogriff’s wait time below 120 minutes. When I actually got to sit on the ride, it seemed like the shortest roller coaster ever. The ride wasn’t worth it even when I didn’t have to wait for it.

Same with Ollivander’s, the attraction itself is not worth the wait if it’s longer than 10 minutes. Visiting the connecting wand shop is just as wondrous without going through the "ride".

3. Go for the single rider line

This is probably an obvious one but the single rider line is an easy way to cut down wait times. It does sort of change the experience though when you’re on the actual ride. When I rode the Forbidden Journey ride with loved ones, it was so fun to scream and cheer with each other.

However when I rode it the second time as a single rider, I was put with three teenage girls who were too cool for school and didn’t make a peep throughout the whole ride. No screaming, no laughing, no giggling, just dead silence and it totally killed the mood of the ride.

However I did have positive experiences with the single rider line when some of the rides still put me sitting next to loved ones. For example for both the Transformers ride and the Jurassic Park ride, they couldn’t find a party of two so they just put both the single riders (which happened to be me and the boyfriend) into seats next to each other. So we had zero wait time and we still got to sit next to each other.

The Magic

I almost forgot to mention, the cool wands that you purchase at Ollivander's aren't only for decoration, you can actually use them to cast spells at certain locations throughout Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. When you purchase your interactive wand, you'll receive a map with all the "magical locations" along with the spell name and instructions on how to wave your wand. Simply go to the marked spot, wave your wand, recite the spell, and voilà--magic!

I can't wait to take my wand and visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando next! Oh and of course I'll have another chance to binge on frozen butterbeer (the yummier of the two choices) and stock up on all the delightfully whimsical sweets at Honeydukes!