We finally got to experience Universal Studios during the holidays and it did not disappoint! Hopefully we can make this a new Christmas tradition because everyone in the whole family had SO much fun. If you remember my blog post from when we went almost 3 years ago, we realized how much fun there is for families with little ones at Universal Studios. This last trip made me totally fall in love with the park with all of the extra fun and holiday decor it had to offer. We can’t wait to experience Grinchmas and the magic of Christmas in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter again! I’ll break down some of the highlights we loved about the holidays and the rest of the park.
* Thanks to Universal Studios for hosting us. All opinions shared are my own. To read more about my sponsorship and disclosure policy click here.
Grinchmas
The entire main plaza has been transformed into Whoville and it is epic! There are movie props, characters meet & greets, special treats & merch, and a topsy turvy tree that twists over 65 feet high! We wandered around chatting with characters like Martha May Whovier, the Mayor of Whoville, and other fun townspeople. We even wrote letters to the Grinch that helped benefit tutoring fro homeless youth. We waited in line to meet Max (who was an actual animal actor which was so fun for the kids!) and the big green guy himself, the Grinch. Our time with the Grinch was 1 million percent worth the wait in line. He took so much time interacting with us and it really felt like we were meeting the real Grinch! There was storytime with Cindy Lou Who and epic tree lighting ceremonies every 30 minutes after the sun went down!
Christmas at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Obviously this part of the park is already extra magical already, but there’s something even more special about it all decorated for Christmastime! We walked around and used our interactive wand from Olivander’s to make magic throughout Hogsmeade. Our dinner at Three Broomsticks was hands down the BEST theme park food I’ve ever eaten, ribs and roast chicken with potatoes and corn of the cob and it was 10/10 delicious! The whole family absolutely loves the Flight of the Hippogriff ride and the adults are obsessed with Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Ride! The entertainment is super fun too, the singing frog choir and the tri wizard spirit rally are a bit hit! If you’re a fan of the books or films even in the slightest you will want to devote some extra time to this area because every detail is so perfectly done, down to Moaning Myrtle in the women’s restroom!
The Rest of the Park
This trip we really got to explore every nook and cranny! Last time we had an unfortunate experience with clothing getting wet in the Super Silly Fun Land water play area and it cut our day short. This time we did not miss a thing! Except we did miss one thing actually, which sadly was the Animal Actor show because we just barely missed the last performance of the day. We went down to the Lower Lot for the first time and got to experience the Jurassic World ride (all of the kids rode it) and met Blue in the Raptor Encounter. Christian got to ride Transformers and Mummy rides and said they were both awesome. While he did that the kids played on the Dino Playground and they could have been happy playing there for hours! On the Upper Lot we did the Secret Life of Pets ride (mega hit for my kids) and the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem ride (their most favorite of the day). We hung out at the playground in Super Silly Funland and went on the Silly Swirly Fun ride. We ended up getting to do the Studio Tour this time, more on that next. Toward the end of the day we caught the Waterworld show and as someone who grew up on that movie, it was absolutely epic. Right before leaving for the day we caught the Kung Fu Panda show at the mulit-sensory Dreamworks Theatre. We had such a full and fun day and I think most of that was thanks to the Universal Express pass, it’s a ticket upgrade that allowed up to literally walk onto every ride with less than a 5 minute wait. Hands down, 100% worth the extra money!
The Studio Tour
When the world first shut down at the beginning of the pandemic we spent a ton of time watching our favorite theme park rides on Youtube. The Universal Studios Studio Tour was a suggested video one time and after watching it, it became a regular on our rotation. I will say that there are some more intense moments throughout the tour but none of my kids seemed phased, and I think it helped that they knew what to expect. So, pro tip every single ride and show is available to watch on Youtube so if you’re concerned about if your child will do well with a ride or experience, just preview it either by yourself or together. We saw a first hand look at how Hollywood depicts some of the things we see in movies, like city streets, floods & rainstorms, earthquakes, and we even got to see some of the set from War of the Worlds with the crash site of the 747. Whenever they show you something there is a clip that will play on the tram showing what it looked like in actual film or television. The tour is about an hour, so it takes up a chunk of time but it was super cool and in my opinion you have to do it at least once!
We really did have the best time! If you have any questions about our trip, feel free to email me or send me a message on Instagram. See you again next Christmas Universal Studios!
