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.
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