The Top 5 Rides at Universal Studios Hollywood

In this week's episode, Jared highlights the top five rides at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Transcript

0:00

On this week's Episode of a Dryer Dose of Disney, Jared discusses the top five rides at Universal Studios Hollywood. Intro Music Welcome to this week's episode of a Dryer dose of Disney. I'm your host, Jared dryer. And today we are wrapping up our four part series where we highlighted the best rides at the Disney parks and the universal Orlando park. With today, we're going back to Hollywood and we're going to universal studios, Hollywood. And we're only going to do the top five rides over at universal Hollywood because they only have 10 rides in total. So this is a great park. We actually were just there just a little bit ago where we went and saw the new super Nintendo land. And we had a great time there. And had an episode on that. Where we talks about all the fun things on the super Nintendo world and all the cool things you can do there and the best restaurants and the food to eat and all that. And we absolutely love this park. It is a smaller park. Typically it takes less than a full day to get through universal studios, Hollywood. Versus universal Orlando. Which is a full park day. If, especially if you're going to do both parks or the Disney parks that are going to take you a full day. A universal studios. Hollywood is a little bit quicker because like I said, they only have 10 rides in total and you may skip some of them depending on what you love and what you don't love. So we're going to take you through today and we're going to tell you the top five rides not to skip. These are going to be the best five that you're going to see throughout the day. And we're going to tell you why they made our list versus some of the others. But of course, we're going to go in reverse order. Like we did on our other episodes, starting at number five and work our way down to the number one. But before we do that, we do want to say wherever, you're listening to us find that pause button, or if you're watching us on YouTube, find it and then find the subscribe button and click that. So that way you're going to get this content delivered to you each and every single week, as we give you the top Disney and universal tips and tricks that are out there. And trust me when I say we have more tips and tricks than any other podcasts that I've seen, and we've got some of the best tips and tricks that are out there. In fact, we put our very best one on Patreon. And yeah, it's at our top tier. It's a little more expensive, but it's that good of a tip or trick? We fully believe it. We fully trust it. That's why we didn't put it at the bottom tier. We put it at the top tier because it's that good? And we didn't want the secret getting out. You guys know how this works, then all of a sudden, if people catch on and they start doing the secret. Then it's going to start going away and the cast members aren't going to be as accommodating. So we wanted to make sure we got the very best tip or trick. Out there only for our paid subscribers at the top tier, because it's that good? And we skip lines every single time we go to the park. You're definitely gonna wanna check that out. The link is down in the description below for our Patreon, so you can find it there. But today we're over at universal studios, Hollywood. We're going to review the top five rides that we think in our opinion are over there. We did do a poll on our Facebook page for a universal Orlando. We did not do Hollywood because there's only the 10 rides. But our universal Orlando episode, we just aired last week. That one's a lot of fun as well. And it followed very true to what the poll showed. We did move one ride around a little bit on there, just with our opinion. But in the end it followed the pole very closely here at universal Hollywood. We'd never did a poll and these rides are very similar to universal Orlando. So for the most part, it's going to be very close. But I am going to say there are some call outs. There are some differences here at universal studios, Hollywood. So it is important to listen to this episode and to find out what we think in our opinion are the top five rides there. So with that, we're going to jump right into it. And we're going to start at number five. And at number five, we are going to say the number five best ride at universal Hollywood is revenge of the mummy. And this is down on the lower lot. So if you're not familiar with the park, you've got a handful of rides on the upper lot. And then you've got four rides down on the lower lot. And so this is going to be on the lower lot. It does open when the park opens traditionally in the past it used to open an hour or two later. Because it was on the lower lot. Then the rest of the park up on the top. But now that they have super Nintendo land right down there by revenge of the mummy, they do open that at the very beginning of the day. So you can get down there right away. But this is an indoor rollercoaster. It doesn't have any big drops or anything. It does have a couple tight turns. It is in the dark. There are a lot of special effects going on, including fire. But it just moves very quickly through this warehouse with no significant drops. So it is based on the late nineties, mummy movie. Starting Brendan Frazier, where he is fighting the mummy from regaining power. And it's, really cool. They have some really cool mummy effects and elements in there, including the scarabs. It can be a little intense, especially for little kids. Now it does have a height requirement. So I would say if your kid's tall enough to ride, then you have to gauge whether or not they're mature enough to watch the mummy or be part of the mummy ride. But because of the fire elements, the scarabs, and the fact that you do have dead things chasing you. The question is, that something that they're going to want to ride? I will say in the end, it's a great coaster. It's very quick. As a matter of fact, on this list, this is the only coaster on this list. When you compare it to universal Orlando, that the top four rides were all rollercoasters. So revenge of the mummy lands at number five, it's a good ride. Again, more for the older crowd than for the younger crowd. That takes me not a number four on our list and this one. On our Orlando list was actually a lot lower on the list, but here at universal Hollywood, we actually like it a little bit more here. And that is Harry Potter in the forbidden journey over at the Hogsmeade area of the park. So when you go in there, it is totally immersive. You do have Hogsmeade village. You've got the castle up on the hill and this is the ride inside of the castle. Now, when you go in there, it is going to have elements from all seven Harry Potter books, including most of the villains. That you're going to see throughout the books, including the baslisk, you're going to have tarantulas are the huge tarantulas you're going to have a dragon. You're going to have the dementors. You're going to have it all. And it's a combination. It's a simulator ride with a little bit of live action. But it does cover all the different elements of the books, including Quidditch and flying on a broom. And so we really do like this ride. If you are prone to motion sickness, this one will get you. I can tell you that right now. My wife is very prone to it. I am middle of the road and this one gets me almost every time. I don't feel great when I come off of it. So do know that, but what we encourage you to do is go right. Forbidden journey. And then as soon as you come off, if you're feeling a little funny, go grab a butterbeer get that cold sugary liquid inside of you. And you'll feel tons better than just a couple of minutes. So Harry Potter and the forbidden journey is definitely in the top five rides that lands at number four here at universal studios, Hollywood. Number three, and this one's going to get a lot of debate and a lot of pushback. Is the newest ride Mario cart. Now we just wrote this very recently down there. At universal Hollywood, it is a fun ride. It's very engaging. It's very immersive. When you compare it to the other rides here at universal Hollywood. So you not only go into super Nintendo world where you go through the tube and now you're in Mario's land. But you do go through the ride queue where you get to see Yoshi, get to see princess peach. Luigi, you get to see Bowzer, you get all these other elements. And then when he gets to the front, you're going to get a virtual reality Goggle set. And it actually starts with the visor. So listen to that episode, we talk about it in detail. You're going to get a visor on your head that you can put on and it's one size fits all. You get to clip it in based on how. Big or small your head is, and then you take that visor down. And when you get on the car they actually have a Goggle pair that attaches to the visor. So nothing's going to touch your face and they sanitize those visors, which is great, but that gives you an added virtual reality element to this ride, which is amazing. And it's really cool. They take you through the ride. You're scoring coins by beating up on Bowzer and his friends. But you get to go through a normal Mario kart track. Then you get to go to the water, you get to go to the sky and then eventually you wind up on rainbow road. And it's amazing. It looks really cool, especially in the virtual reality. So it's an awesome ride. It is the number one in demand ride over at universal Hollywood. Eventually it will be going to epic universe at universal Orlando, and I will say it is a great ride. It's definitely worth rope dropping. That's where everyone else is going to go. And if you listen to our episode where we talk about the new. Super Nintendo land. We update our rope drop strategy. At the universal parks and we give you two strategies. You can follow there. So go listen to the super Nintendo land one, if you want that rope drop strategy. But a lot of people rope drop the Mario cart. And we did, and I will say it's totally worth it. It's a great ride. In my opinion, it is not the number one ride in the park, or even the number two ride in the park. So with that, let's go to number two, and that is the Jurassic world boat ride. And it's funny because the boat ride in Orlando didn't make the top 10. They have too many great rollercoasters over there. And here in Hollywood, it's in the top two. And you ask, why is this one in the top two, while the reason why this made the top two is they have totally updated it for Jurassic world, including the Indominous Rex and the Mosasaurus. So if you're not familiar with those two. The Mosasaurous is the huge water dinosaur that they have in the first Jurassic world movie. That jumps up and eats the great white shark from the crane. And that's a really cool scene. But you go by these huge tank walls and the Mosasourus goes by. He splashes you and it's a really cool upgraded element to this right. Further on when you get into the ride, then you're going into the restricted area where all the dinosaurs have broken loose. But you do encounter the Indominous Rex and the T-Rex and the Raptors and all of the above. And Orlando, you only get the T-Rex and the Raptors. So having the Indominous Rex added to this ride, definitely heightened it and made it better and it made it more relevant and technologically superior than the one in Orlando. So this one's a fun ride. Chances are, as you will get wet. I did have a whole, almost bucket of water gets splashed in my lap on this ride and into my shoes. But it was a great time. We absolutely loved it. Ah, the Jurassic world ride is so much better in Hollywood than it is out in Orlando. Fingers crossed that they update that one out there in Orlando as well, to be like the one here in Hollywood. But it's definitely is deserving of number two on the list because the upgrades that they did with the in Indmonious Rex and the Mosasourus. That takes me now to our number one, in the park. Most of you would probably agree with the number one ride in the park. Although some of you will. Probably content and is not deserving of the number one spot, but I'm going to explain why we put it at number one. And that is the studio backlot tour. Some people say it's not a ride. I say, yes, it is a ride. And in fact, they incorporate multiple other rides that you have in Orlando on this one, including the fast and the furious and Kong, where he fights the Transource Rex. Previously, you also had the earthquake portion where you'd go underground into the subway and it would wreck you have the jaws portion of the ride. So to me, it's a ride. You get to do all those different elements that we would totally call rides out there in Orlando, but it's all in one. What I love about the backlot tours. You actually get to see the backlot. You get to see the cool places that they filmed like in the town square hall area, where they did back to the future. You get to see where they do the old westerns. You get to see where they do the flash flood. You get to see what Westeria from desperate Housewives, which they've reframed and redone a couple times. So they call it different things. So you get to see the psycho house. With Norman Bates in the psycho motel, you get to now see from Nope. Where the the park is the Western park that was in the movie nope, which is a new word, Jordan Peele movie. Which it's just, okay. It's not phenomenal. It's okay. His first movie get out is 10 times better than nope. So I encourage you to go check out, get out but you get to see all those elements. My favorite. As you get to see where the plane crash is from war of the worlds by Steven Spielberg. The Tom cruise movie. So that's awesome to see that plane crashed. It's just amazing. It's so immersive. It's huge. So to me it is a ride and it's an hour long. You get to see all these different elements of the backlot. You get to see all the vehicles from all the different movies. And it's just a lot of fun with a lot of nostalgia and a lot of cool elements to this ride. So to me, this is like a five in one ride, which is why it made number one on the list. Additionally, like I said, it's an hour long, so it's a great time. To get back there and cruise around the backlog. So with that, those are top five rides. You'll notice the rides that did not make it. Let me go through those real quick is you had the Simpsons ride. Which is a little bit older now it's dated, it used to be back to the future. Then they changed it to Simpsons. That one can make you pretty motion sick. You've got the buck beak rollercoaster there in Hogsmeade it's a small rollercoaster tied to Harry Potter. You've got the secret life of pets, which we actually really liked, and that almost made the top five. You've got Minion mayhem and you've got transformers, the ride. So those are the other rides that didn't make the list that are all good. Of course these are our top five. Landing number one with the backlot tour is the must do ride there over at universal studios. So I encourage you. Go check out the episode where we talk about super Nintendo land for your rope drop strategy and plan all that out. But again, a universal studios, Hollywood, not necessarily a full-day park, if you're able to get it all squeezed in and you're strategic about your day. So with that, we wish you a magical week as you're planning your next vacation. And we will talk to you next time. As we review our Disney cruise we are going on our very first Disney cruise as a family. We've done carnival, we've done Holland America, and we're going to compare it for you. And we're going to talk to you about what we loved about the Disney cruise. And we do have a Disney cruise episode if you want to tune into that with Anthony and Lisa, and that one was recorded a while ago. So you can go find that. And our, I believe season two lineup. And go check that one out as well, but we'll talk to you guys next time. Bye. Bye. End Credit Music End Credit music