Universal Hollywood/ Halloween Horror Nights, Yosemite, Kings Canyon/ Sequoia, Knott’s Berry/ Scary Farm, and Disneyland, late 2023

My wife and I spent 10 days in southern CA visiting Universal Hollywood/ Halloween Horror Nights, Yosemite, Kings Canyon/ Sequoia, Knott’s Berry/ Scary Farm, and Disneyland. It was a lot and I won’t be able to recreate every moment. But I will share some highlights.

We had an early flight into Hollywood Burbank Airport which was a 10/10. We walked off the plane and outside to the baggage claim. The rental car from Budget took and obscene amount of time. We were given a Kia K5 sedan which I grew to really enjoy the more I drove it, especially on the mountain roads in the national parks.

We went straight from the airport to the JapanLA store so my wife could shop for some Kawaii goods. I was wishing we would have stopped at our hotel first because I was feeling run down and cranky. I found All Season Brewing Company down the road for lunch which was in an architecturally relevant decommissioned Firestone station. Food and beer was good.

We made it back to Sheraton Universal Hotel at around sunset to see HHN fans lining up for the free shuttle. We got upgraded to a King suite on the 20th floor with access to the lounge which was nice to have. Despite the desire to go to The Comedy Store, hot tub, or hit City Walk we crashed at 7 because we bought Super Nintendo World early access for the next morning.

Super Nintendo World

We took the free shuttle which drops you off half way into City Walk but that would be the only time we would use it. The walk from the hotel is short (if a bit of a steep hill) and you end up directly in front of the park’s main gate. After the walk to the escalators and down we walked into Super Nintendo World. First impressions are that it’s small! Second impressions are that it does feel like you’re inside a Mario game. We got our bearings then walked on to Mario Kart™: Bowser's Challenge.

Mario Kart™: Bowser's Challenge

The queue is long but we walked right up to the little preshow and then on to the ride. The hat you wear is comfortable but barely fit my large (size 8 hat) head. You enter the kart and attach the AR visor to the hat and it all snapped together intuitively. The ride itself feels like it’s ahead of its time. It’s fun but the AR tech is not quite there yet. I am hopeful that they can upgrade that like they say they intend to. We immediately went back around and on again, this time having more time to enjoy the queue. It’s all really well done and if you’re a Mario fan you’ll really love it.

(The view from the Mario Kart ride queue. The sun was still rising)

After our second ride we planned on getting a snack at Toadstool Cafe but we didn’t realize you needed a reservation even this early in the morning. That was disappointing and a failure on our part to plan. There’s a lot to do here IF you purchase the Power-Up band that costs more than we were willing to spend and given that we had a lot to do today we decided to pass until Epic Universe. All in all we spend about 1.5 hours in Super Nintendo Land.

The Mummy

A walk on so we rode it twice. I seem to recall not really liking this version of the ride compared to Orlando but I think I prefer this version’s coaster parts. The dark ride is just not as good as Orlando but the roller coaster is better IMO.

Jurassic World - The Ride

A walk on so we rode it twice. OMG screens. If you didn’t know the opening brontosaurus scene was replaced with an indoor tank scene featuring a mosasaurus. It’s fine and given that the brontosaurus animatronic has been in sad shape for years it’s an improvement. The indoor section is a nice upgrade with a lot of water squirts and scares but the showdown before the drop is truly impressive.

That was it for the lower lot so we began the trek up the escalators.

The Studio Tour

Our early entry ticket comes with Express Pass for the Studio tour to use before 11 so we hit that next but ultimately we didn’t need it. The studio tour is a classic and a nice time to sit down. It’s interesting to see the improvements to King Kong and even Fast and Furious with the permanent versions.

The rest of the day was a mix of the following.

The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash

This attraction is really great. The queue has a lot of nice touches but was a little frustrating given that it was a series of rooms and the Express merge was slowing things down. It felt like the ride was down but I don’t think it was. Once on the ride however it’s a joy. I hope it comes to Orlando.

DreamWorks Theatre Featuring Kung Fu Panda

My wife described this as the Shrek 3d replacement and that sums it up. The preshow was slightly compromised because of the HHN overlay. I couldn’t tell you much about the movie but I enjoyed it and the tech on display in the theatre is impressive.

We finished off the day with a Duff beer, churro, pretzel, and some shopping. We needed to head back to the hotel early because we needed to rest up for our HHN RIP tour.

To be continued...

I think Mario Kart is a winner, though I do think knowing in advance that it's not a fast ride helped. I wish I had booked Early Entry, but unfortunately I waited too long and it was sold out for my visit. During the regular operating day, the lines for the mini games were long and slow moving, so although I bought the power up band, it didn't really get used. I gave up on the one mini game line I got in because of how much time it was taking.

It has been interesting to watch the USH Mummy get re-appraised over the years. I feel like when the rides were new, the perception I ran into often was that USH had the better dark ride and USF had the better coaster segment, while now those perceptions seem to have reversed. I'm not as familiar with the Florida Mummy, but I never had a problem with the California Mummy in a way that some did when it first opened.

I hope that the impending opening of the new coaster will mean that FATF will leave the Studio Tour soon-to me it puts a damper on the rest of the tour.

Secret Life of Pets is a great ride, I just wish they had taken a different approach with the restraint system.

A size restriction on an attraction like that is a baffling choice.

Halloween Horror Nights RIP Tour

7am early entry and HHN on the same night is certainly not ideal however our flight was changed and forced us into doing one day. Express was sold out so we decided to send it and buy RIP. We did go back to our hotel for some hot tubbing and a nap before we started our evening.

Universal Hollywood’s RIP tour includes your admission, a tour guide, a buffet, a private Terror Tram tour, priority seating at The Purge stunt show and some additional little attractions along the way. You also get an unlimited RIP pass which takes you directly to the front of the house queues. It’s a true skip the line pass which you can use as much as you want.

I’ve been struggling to sum this up so I will just say that this may have spoiled us.

Our guide was nice but I wish she would have done more to introduce the group to one another so we could experience everything together. As it was we were a group of independent couples just sort of there together.

My only complaint about the evening is that it was full of starts and stops and it doesn’t flow very well. If Hollywood’s HHN could hold a candle to Orlando’s I think we would consider LA as the weather is more our taste but it’s just not the same level and not worth doing every year IMO.

I will try sum up some the attractions they have that Orlando doesn’t.

The Purge: Dangerous Waters
This show takes place in the WaterWorld water theatre and frames a jet ski and diving show as The Purge. I am glad we made a point to go see it.

Blumhouse: Behind the Screams
This takes place in the Dreamworks Theatre and is framed as a behind the scenes tour of various Blumhouse films. The lobby was full of Blumhouse props with the puppets from Five Nights at Freddy’s were in the center. There’s a host talking about how great Blumhouse is. Think old school Universal here. We got there late so we didn’t get to spend much time checking out the props before being ferried into the theatre. The host returns once everyone is seated and he introduces some clips.

At this point it just seems like it’s going to be a Blumhouse sizzle reel but after a few minutes they break the 4th wall and a M3GAN kills the host and the lights go out. There’s no light leakage and the screen is crazy bright so it’s pretty much pitch black to my eyes. When the lights come back on she’s on stage and a dance routine starts where the lights continue to go out and more M3GANS appear until there are like a dozen of them throughout the theatre. My wife and I both loved the film and really dug this experience. We almost didn’t make it to this because it was getting close to 2am but I am really glad we did.

Terror Tram
This uses the Studio Tour trams to ferry you down to the War of the Worlds plane wreck set. We had a private tour bus but we got off at the same place. I can’t say that I thought this was any good this year. There were a lot of people being pushed through and hosts were yelling at everyone to keep moving which spoiled the atmosphere. It ends with you walking through the “Nope” set but there’s not really much going on. They also mixed “Nope” with “Us” and I don’t know how I feel about that.

The RIP tour guests have a small extra maze to go through and there was a photo opportunity with “The Grabber” from “The Black Phone.”

We somehow made it from early Super Nintendo World entry to the 2am Halloween Horror Nights closing time and we had a long drive to Yosemite in the morning... I bought a Terror Tram t-shirt before walking back to the hotel and crashed.

A few people I trust said the Chucky House in LA was their fav house of the whole Halloween season, and way better then Orlando's take. Lots of custom animatronics etc. Did you make it to it?

Yeah. It was really fun and while I didn't hate Orlando's like so many other people did I thought it was the better of the 2.