Universal Studios Hollywood

How to Get There

From Los Angeles (8 mi): Take US-101 N toward Hollywood, exit at Universal Studios Blvd, follow signs to Universal City, and continue up the hill to the parking structures and theme park entrance.

Overview

Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within as Universal City while the rest lies within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketing headline is "The Entertainment Capital of LA". It was initially created to offer tours of the real Universal Studios sets and is the first of many full-fledged Universal Studios Theme Parks located across the world.

Outside the theme park, a new, all-digital facility near the Universal Pictures backlot was built in an effort to merge all of NBCUniversal's West Coast operations into one area. As a result, the current home for KNBC, KVEA and NBC News with Noticias Telemundo Los Angeles Bureaus with new digital facility is on the Universal lot formerly occupied by Technicolor SA. Universal City includes hotels Universal Hilton & Towers, the Sheraton Universal Hotel, and Universal CityWalk, which offers a collection of shops, restaurants, an 18-screen Universal Cinema and a seven-story IMAX theater.

Areas and attractions

Universal Studios Hollywood is split into two areas on different levels, connected by a series of escalators called the Starway. These areas are known as the Upper lot and Lower lot. As of 2021, Universal Studios Hollywood contains ten rides, seven shows, and two play areas. Each lot features a collection of rides, shows and attractions as well as food, beverage, and merchandise shops.

Upper Lot

The Upper Lot consists of a variety of family-based attractions. The theming of the Upper Lot includes a Mission Revival entrance pathway, known as Universal Boulevard, that features the large Universal Plaza that opened in 2013. There are not as many fully themed lands as there are small environments linked together with a common Art Deco theme that reflects the glamour of Old Hollywood. Universal Boulevard is home to Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular, and the DreamWorks Theatre, the latter which currently serves as the main location for Kung Fu Panda Adventure, a slightly modified version of Kung Fu Panda: Unstoppable Awesomeness from Motiongate Dubai.

In a small area north of Universal Boulevard called Production Plaza, there are two of the park's longest-running shows called Universal's Animal Actors and Special Effects Show.

The Upper Lot is also home to the Streets of the World, which opened in 1989 and currently contains six streets within. One of the first streets - 1950s America - is next door to Universal Plaza, and is a dining area home to Palace Deli & Market and Mel's Diner, the latter being a replica of the Mel's Drive-In that was featured prominently in the Universal classic American Graffiti. The next two streets are French Street (a French-themed avenue with quick service dining), and the cozy cobblestone-paved Parisian Courtyard. Minion Way is themed after the Universal Pictures and Illumination's Despicable Me franchise, and features Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, a motion simulator ride that takes you into the world of minions. Next door is a play area that contains a large outdoor dry and wet play area for children named Super Silly Fun Land, in addition to an aerial carousel named Silly Swirly Fun Ride. Minion Café and Despicable Delights are the two themed eateries in the street. The newest street to be included in Streets of the World is Pets Place, a colorful version of Manhattan that is based on The Secret Life of Pets franchise and is home to the dark ride The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash!. The final street is Baker Street, which was originally set in old England as seen by the fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. However, between 2018 and 2021, a great majority of the area has been rethemed as the Manhattan-inspired Pets Place, while the remaining facades of Baker Street (between Pets Place and Universal Boulevard) are left untouched as of 2021.

Springfield, U.S.A. is themed to The Simpsons. This area contains The Simpsons Ride, a motion simulator ride, along with multiple eateries themed to the show, a gift shop themed after Kwik-E-Mart, and several character meet and greets.

Right past the Studio Tour Plaza, the Studio Tour attraction is a 45 to 60 minute ride which uses tram vehicles to take the visitors from the Theme Park's Upper Lot to the back-lot where actual filming of many shows and movies take place. The tour is the signature ride at the theme park and the wait time varies by day and seasons. The tour begins with a video introduction by Jimmy Fallon and a trip down the hill into the Front Lot. After drifting through the sound stages of the Front Lot and transitioning into the Metropolitan Sets of the back lot. The tram then takes the guests to Courthouse Square section and then other buildings in the back lot. Afterwards, the tram enters a tunnel leading to the attraction: King Kong: 360 3-D. Then the tram travels through sets from Jurassic Park and encounter Dilophosauruses. Following that, the tram travels to the Flash Flood attraction. The tram continues through Old Mexico, Six Points Texas, a miniature model of the SS Venture from King Kong, and Little Europe before experiencing Earthquake: The Big One attraction, movie sets themed as Amity Island from Jaws, Whoville from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Bates motel from Psycho, and the crashed plane set from War of the Worlds, before leading to the final attraction on the tour, Fast & Furious: Supercharged based on the Fast & Furious film franchise.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Universal Studios Hollywood", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0