We visited Universal Studios Hollywood for the first time in May 2022, we had previously visited Universal Orlando and were pleasantly surprised with our trip to Universal Hollywood.
We travelled by Metro and found it very easy to find, there is a free bus that leaves from across the bridge from the metro station and takes you straight to the City Walk. We also got an Uber home and it was very easy to organise.
We travelled on a Thursday at May and were blown away by the low crowds, we arrived at 10 am just as the park was opening. We headed straight to Harry Potter and the Forbidden journey as we had previously queued over 90 minutes for this ride in Florida. Imagine our surprise when we walked straight on to the ride!
Our good luck lasted most of the day, by 11am we had done both Harry Potter rides (flight of the Hippogriff is very short, less than a minute and not worth waiting more than fifteen minutes for), the new jurrassic world ride and the mummy. This was everything we had set out to achieve and we were there barely an hour.
The park is considerably smaller than Orlando but it was very manageable and enjoyable for a one day trip. Some of the theming could be better in areas (particularly on the lower lot) but the Harry Potter area is excellent. We were disappointed in the mummy ride, both the story and the experience are better in Orlando.
The real highlight of the video for us was the studio tour. We ended up doing the tour twice, once at 11am and once later in the day at around 4pm.
The tour is more like a ride that takes you into the movies, I wouldn't want to give too much away but it was brilliant. Both our tours were different as some sets and lots were closed for filming in the morning, I imagine you could do it several times and see something new each time.
We also managed to take in the Waterworld show and the animal actors show, Waterworld was amazing! Much better than the film itself, animal actors wasn't for us but may appeal more to families.
Our longest wait overall was 25 minutes for the secret life of pets and we stayed from opening to close. We followed that up with dinner at Vivo Italian kitchen at Universal City walk. This was very enjoyable and I will write a more detailed review.