Visiting Universal Studios Hollywood on Christmas Eve in a pandemic

I went to Universal Studios Hollywood on Christmas Eve for three reasons.

First was to see if I could take the Metro system in Los Angeles from Santa Clarita to Universal Studios and back home.

Secondly, to see if I could find the new Super Mario World that is being built at Universal Studios.

And thirdly, to see if the discounts with the annual Silver Pass actually work in City Walk.

Metro

Parking at Universal Studios Hollywood is $30. It’s $10 after 5 p.m. Part of the reason I wanted to try to take Metro to Universal Studios was to see if I could find a less expensive way to get to the park.

I made my way to Union Station in downtown LA in the morning. It cost $15 for a round trip ticket from the Santa Clarita Metro Station to Union Station. That is already half as much as it costs to park at Universal Studios. The round-trip tickets are per person as well. The more people who take Metro, the more it costs.

That was not the best start to my Christmas Eve adventure to Universal Studios.

Once at Union Station, there are plenty of options and experiences. Olvera Street is within walking distance. And there are plenty of Metro lines to take anywhere in the city. That was a bonus to taking Metro to Union Station.

A daily pass on the Metro Lines is $3.25. That is way more affordable than the $15 Metrolink tickets. It is probably best to eliminate the Metrolink step altogether next time.

Getting from the Universal City Metro Station to the front gates of Universal Studios is fairly easy too. There is a tram stop over a bridge and across the street from the station that takes visitors to Universal Studios.

The Metro option is a convenient way to avoid paying for parking at Universal Studios. But it is not exactly the most affordable. 

Super Mario World

The new Super Mario World is under construction and, depending on who you trust, is expected to open either in the spring or fall of 2022. It probably won’t be ready until fall, but there are some reports that it is going to be ready in the spring. Probably wishful thinking at this point.

From the escalators to the lower level of Universal Studios, the progress on Super Mario World can be seen. The green hills and mushrooms are clearly visible. Other structures are in construction. It’s hard to tell what they might be, but one is purple. The whole Super Mario World doesn’t look very big, but none of the lands in Universal Studios are very big.

Discounts

One of the first places I visited on my trip to Universal Studios and City Walk was the Pink’s hot dog stand. It is one of the places that is supposed to honor the discount that comes with the Silver Pass. 

It worked.

There are a few restaurants in City Walk that are supposed to honor the Silver Pass discount, between 10% and 15 %. Johnny Rockets, Ben & Jerry’s, Blaze Pizza, to name a few, offer 10% discounts. It’s not much, but any savings are appreciated.

Antojitos Cocina Mexicana, Margaritaville, VIVO Italian Kitchen and Wetzel’s Pretzels offer 15% discounts with the Silver Pass.

On my way out, I stopped at Voodoo Donuts. They offer 10% discounts. However, Voodoo Donuts boxes do not travel well on Metro.

Once in Universal Studios, I spent most of my time in Whoville, watching the shows, listening to music and enjoying the tree lighting. 

Next time, I will have to see what some of the buttons in The Simpson area do.

Universal Studios Hollywood in the era of the pandemic

 

As a Christmas present, in the middle of a pandemic, I bought season passes for my son and me. We have the Silver Pass, plenty of days for us to visit. All the weekends in July and most of August are blacked out. But I figure those are peak tourist times and I probably don’t want to visit Universal Studios Hollywood with a bunch of people from out of state, especially in the middle of a pandemic.

That is my biggest reservation about joining the Universal Studios Season Pass Club. How safe is it to go to a theme park in the middle of a pandemic and will the pandemic affect how often we can actually go?

When I bought our passes, the pandemic and the coronavirus looked like it was starting to fade out. Cases were dropping, hospitals were not seeing as many patients with COVID, and there were not as many people dying from COVID complications.

But that all changed with the emergence of the omicron variant. Now, NHL and NBA are being postponed, NFL games are being rescheduled, theater performances are being canceled at the last minute, all because of COVID. I would imagine it’s only a matter of time before theme parks and amusement parks starting closing, or adding restrictions to visits. We have seen this movie before, and even Universal Studios does not have the power to write its own script for it.

We wait to see how this part of the pandemic plays out. For the time being, I am optimistic, albeit cautious, about what the future holds. 

My son and I went to Universal Studios on Saturday, Dec. 18, the first day of season passes started. Here are some of my thoughts on our first visit and what the park is doing to make it as safe as possible during a pandemic.

First, there’s parking.

The Silver Passes were $179 apiece when I bought them. They are $199 now.  

Parking

It’s $30 for general parking for Universal Studios with the Silver Pass. This is a little steep. It is definitely going to play a part in how many times I visit and use the passes. I have heard that there is parking for $3 at the Metro lot near Universal Studios and a tram that goes to the entrance of the park. I also hear finding parking in that lot is nearly impossible. I will have to check it and report back later.

Season pass store discounts

The Silver Pass is supposed to come with a discount to select stores in City Walk. I have yet to find a store that takes it though. We only tried a couple, but had no luck using the passes for discounts.

I did buy a Ravenclaw scarf for $40 and my son found a Harry Potter conductor cap that he wanted. But we paid full price, overpaid really, for them. For our first visit, it was worth the expense, but until we find the stores that honor the discount, we are going to cut down significantly on the souvenirs.

Rides

The wait times for rides at Universal Studios varied. It was a 70-minute wait for The Forbidden Journey in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter when we got there at around noon. The wait time for The Simpson Ride was 90 minutes. They were a little long. But that wasn’t the scariest part of the wait for The Forbidden Journey.

The locker room area for The Forbidden Journey is more frightening than the Avada Kedavra curse. People are shoulder to shoulder looking for available lockers, all pushing the same buttons on a locking system that requires a fingerprint, and doesn’t always work when people return and want to get their stuff out of the lockers. Bumping into so many strangers and touching the same button as other people who may or may not be infected with coronavirus is a different take on the Chamber of Secrets. 

Getting in and out of the locker room was more intimidating than fighting a fire-breathing dragon.

And a word of advice to the bodily challenged (otherwise known as fat people), the lap bar on the ride needs to go down three clicks for you to be able to ride. I am right on that edge, and need to lose about 10 pounds (my son says 20 pounds) for this not to be a problem. I needed a little help to get that third click to connect. I was lucky to ride. There were some riders who were not so lucky. They were relegated to the penalty box of fat shaming, waiting for the rest of their party to ride The Forbidden Journey.

There were some highlights from our first visit to Universal Studios with our new season passes. The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle is worth fighting through the crowds. Even though people are packed tightly to watch the show, it is at least outside. That makes it feel a little safer, but it definitely isn’t the safest of places in the park.

The fake snowfall at night is a nice touch. It does make it feel a little more like Christmas, even with fake snow. 

There was plenty of room in the Grinchmas area of the park. We went early in the day though. It might have been a little busier at night. 

And finally, buying a real wand that does “magic” in Hogsmeade might have been our best investment. My son could have spent all day walking around Hogsmeade and doing magic. The wand cost $60, but it is something my son can bring to the park every visit. I have a feeling it will be a cost-saver in the long run.

Valencia falls to Scripps Ranch in CIF State Regional Championship game

The Valencia football team ended its season with a 45-38 loss to Scripps Ranch of San Diego in the CIF State Regional Division 2-A Championship game at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo on Saturday night.

The two teams swapped leads four times in the second half before Scripps Ranch pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Giorgio Spiropoulos scored two rushing touchdowns and Duhron Goodman caught two touchdown passes for Valencia, which won its first CIF Southern Section championship a week earlier against Oaks Christian.

Scripps Ranch (13-1) took a 17-0 lead in the first half before Valencia (8-6) scored its first touchdown of the game. Goodman caught a 33-yard touchdown pass just before halftime. Scripps Ranch led 17-7 at halftime.

Valencia scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 28-24 lead. 

Goodman cut the lead to three points with his second touchdown catch of the game in the third quarter. He scored on a 16-yard pass with 7:54 to play in the third quarter.

Scripps scored a touchdown in the third quarter to take a 24-14 lead. But Spiropoulos scored his first touchdown with 3:59 to play in the third quarter to cut the Scripps Ranch lead to three points again.

Spiropoulos scored his second touchdown at the end of the third quarter to give Valencia its first lead of the game, 28-24.

Scripps Ranch took the lead back, scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter to take a 31-24 lead.

But Valencia answered with a touchdown by Don Ray Hall to take a 35-31 lead with 9:04 to play in the game.

Scripps Ranch followed by scoring 10 unanswered points to take a 45-35 lead.

Valencia ended the scoring with a field goal with 2:22 to play in the game.

Scripps Ranch quarterback Jax Leatherwood completed 18-of-26 passes for 438 yards and five touchdowns. 

Scripps Ranch plays Wilcox High School in the CIF State Division 2-A championship game.