Universal Hollywood

[circa1978]

I am starting to explore the idea of taking DS12 to California to go to the Super Mario area at Universal (and other stuff there) but I have been to Disney World once for six hours as an adult and have never been to California so I'm out of my depth. Recommended time, hotels, travel agents, planning websites, anything really?

[quesyrah]

I highly recommend doing the early access to SNW. It’s a small additional fee on top of the tickets ($20 I think). But SNW is so tiny and the wait time for the ride often exceeds 2 hours. They also sometimes use a virtual queue and limit entry into SNW. I would
also spring for express passes. It drastically reduces the amount of time you spend waiting in lines (the Harry Potter lines get long). It doesn’t work on the Mario ride, but if you do early access it doesn’t matter.

The butterbeer is delicious, highly recommend trying it.

Sheraton universal is a short walk to the parks.

[1confused1]

I also recommend the Sheraton Universal. It was really nice to stay so close. They have a shuttle to the City Walk (at least they did prior to Covid) and the pool is nice.

[nancybotwin]

We live near the Universal and go often. You don't need more than one day, really, for Universal. You could stretch it to two if you really want to do things more than one time. The Sheraton is nice, and you can walk or take the shuttle. I'm happy to answer any other questions!

[freshsqueezed]

Jun 6, 2023 12:43:06 GMT -5 nancybotwin said:

We live near the Universal and go often. You don't need more than one day, really, for Universal. You could stretch it to two if you really want to do things more than one time. The Sheraton is nice, and you can walk or take the shuttle. I'm happy to answer any other questions!

Is this still the case with SNW now open? We are going in September and I’ve wondered if we should get a 2 day ticket now.

[quesyrah]

Jun 6, 2023 22:44:31 GMT -5 freshsqueezed said:

Jun 6, 2023 12:43:06 GMT -5 nancybotwin said:

We live near the Universal and go often. You don't need more than one day, really, for Universal. You could stretch it to two if you really want to do things more than one time. The Sheraton is nice, and you can walk or take the shuttle. I'm happy to answer any other questions!

Is this still the case with SNW now open? We are going in September and I’ve wondered if we should get a 2 day ticket now.

If you do the early access to SNW one day is plenty.

[freshsqueezed]

Jun 7, 2023 10:29:57 GMT -5 quesyrah said:

Jun 6, 2023 22:44:31 GMT -5 freshsqueezed said:

Is this still the case with SNW now open? We are going in September and I’ve wondered if we should get a 2 day ticket now.

If you do the early access to SNW one day is plenty.

Great thanks. We are ABSOLUTELY doing early access but we may do 2 days because once you buy 1 day going up to 2 isn’t really that much in the grand scheme. It looks like we may be able to add the second day during day 1 so I’m considering buying 1 day and upgrading if needed.

[ny96]

Jun 6, 2023 12:43:06 GMT -5 nancybotwin said:

We live near the Universal and go often. You don't need more than one day, really, for Universal. You could stretch it to two if you really want to do things more than one time. The Sheraton is nice, and you can walk or take the shuttle. I'm happy to answer any other questions!

Can we ask, we are also very near Universal, but have never been. I’ve thought many times about getting passes just to have the option of taking the kids to the splash zone areas on hot days. On summer weekends, if we were to pop over for a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon (when we would most likely be going), would it be worth it, or too much of a zoo.

[nancybotwin]

Jun 8, 2023 9:15:45 GMT -5 ny96 said:

Jun 6, 2023 12:43:06 GMT -5 nancybotwin said:

We live near the Universal and go often. You don't need more than one day, really, for Universal. You could stretch it to two if you really want to do things more than one time. The Sheraton is nice, and you can walk or take the shuttle. I'm happy to answer any other questions!

Can we ask, we are also very near Universal, but have never been. I’ve thought many times about getting passes just to have the option of taking the kids to the splash zone areas on hot days. On summer weekends, if we were to pop over for a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon (when we would most likely be going), would it be worth it, or too much of a zoo.

I think it depends, but if you had passes, you could go for a few hours on a weeknight, and then I think it would be worth it. I probably wouldn’t do a Sunday afternoon in the summer…but we went once on a Sunday in February when it was overcast and drizzly and the park was empty.

[somersault72]

We just went 2 weeks ago. We did one day express passes which was plenty. The Mario part was INSANE-wall to wall people. It was REALLY cool though. If you plan on getting the bracelets and playing the games, I will warn you, you do actually have to play the mini games to get the keys to enter Bowser Jr's castle and they don't let you get a key unless you win even if it's a little kid (and the lines were like 45 minutes were for some of the mini games).

We stayed at the Universal Sheraton which had a shuttle to the park that came every 15 minutes. My only complaint about the hotel is housekeeping came at 730 one morning and 8 another morning. We did pay to stay on their club level which included free breakfast, snacks and drinks every evening and they put free bottled water in your room.

[circa1978]

Thank you all for the spot on advice! We just finished our day at Universal staying at the Sheraton. Getting to and from the park/City walk was easy on the shuttle or walking. The park was so very walkable but yes, Super Nintendo World was a total cluster. If they had more than one ride in the area or the mini games took less time, it would not be so bad but when we waited like an hour in the heart for one 30 second game that we lost, it wasn't a highlight. Overall DS was thrilled.

[Jalapeñomel]

We went over spring break, and we thought it was overrated and way too much money for what it was.

[gretchenindisguise]

Jul 30, 2023 9:12:13 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

We went over spring break, and we thought it was overrated and way too much money for what it was.

I think this is true of every theme park.

[circa1978]

Jul 30, 2023 11:10:42 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

Jul 30, 2023 9:12:13 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

We went over spring break, and we thought it was overrated and way too much money for what it was.

I think this is true of every theme park.

I agree but the issue with SNW right now is that is that it one of the smallest parts of the park and also in highest demand and people are flying from all over the world for the experience so it was the closest thing to Black Friday I've experienced IRL. I'm not sorry we did it but operationally it is just a hot mess. The early access tickets aren't enough, at least on a high demand day.

One tip that saved me in my kid's eyes, because he would have been so sad if we missed it, is that once we were in the park, I used the QR code posted on Reddit for the Toad Stool Cafe and therefore didn't have to physically run to the land to scan it. I got our reservation at 7:15 am. I was worried that it would be a fake link but it worked.

[quesyrah]

Jul 30, 2023 17:13:17 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Jul 30, 2023 11:10:42 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

I think this is true of every theme park.

I agree but the issue with SNW right now is that is that it one of the smallest parts of the park and also in highest demand and people are flying from all over the world for the experience so it was the closest thing to Black Friday I've experienced IRL. I'm not sorry we did it but operationally it is just a hot mess. The early access tickets aren't enough, at least on a high demand day.

One tip that saved me in my kid's eyes, because he would have been so sad if we missed it, is that once we were in the park, I used the QR code posted on Reddit for the Toad Stool Cafe and therefore didn't have to physically run to the land to scan it. I got our reservation at 7:15 am. I was worried that it would be a fake link but it worked.

Agreed. Overall the area is just way too small and that’s the real issue. If SNW was bigger it would be less of a cluster.

[circa1978]

Oh, the other thing is that the Sheraton is currently in union negotiations so if you stay there any time soon, don't be shocked if there are protests. They started at about 6:30 am the second day we were there. We are generally pro union and pro the right to protest but DH was really conflicted about staying in a hotel that hadn't settled its contract with workers (his grandfather was a union leader in Chicago and it's a very serious thing for him). We were unaware of the issue before we arrived so if it's important to you - either for labor reasons or because you have little ones who would be woken up by the noise - and it was loud- be advised. I understand that they were working with people to rebook other places if needed. I don't think the Hilton is having the same issue.

[ny96]

Jul 31, 2023 14:02:18 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

Oh, the other thing is that the Sheraton is currently in union negotiations so if you stay there any time soon, don't be shocked if there are protests. They started at about 6:30 am the second day we were there. We are generally pro union and pro the right to protest but DH was really conflicted about staying in a hotel that hadn't settled its contract with workers (his grandfather was a union leader in Chicago and it's a very serious thing for him). We were unaware of the issue before we arrived so if it's important to you - either for labor reasons or because you have little ones who would be woken up by the noise - and it was loud- be advised. I understand that they were working with people to rebook other places if needed. I don't think the Hilton is having the same issue.

Most of the Hilton’s are having the same issue. There are Hotel Workers Union strikes happening all over LA (15,000 workers in all) and most of the area hotels have failed to reach a contract deal.

[circa1978]

Thanks, ny96. That makes me feel better because H said he checked a list and that the Hilton property wasn't on it and then I think he felt bad we weren't staying there. We stayed at three different hotels around LA (all Marriott Bonvoy properties) during the week and that was the only one impacted but the other two probably wouldn't have been very strategic for protesters because they were more out of the way (Long Beach and Marina Del Rey). I hope it gets settled soon!

[gretchenindisguise]

We are here today. Sooooo glad we did early access for SNW. We were on the Mario ride at 7:05 and did the games before 8.

We did Toadstool reservations for 11, so went out and came back in with the reservation.

Hoping to go back in after dark.

We are staying at the Hilton and the walk was fine!