Sirk TV Spotlight: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOLLYWOOD (Winter 2025 Magic Celebration) [Universal City, California]
Even if never snows in Hollywood (last time I saw snow was Jan 1990!), it always feels like a magical enchanting time during the Holidays and early January at Universal Studios Hollywood.
This has been a long 18 years old tradition, starting with my first born son Felix who was only 2. We started to cover the park for the various outlets I have been lucky enough to work for and, with the kindness of the PR team of Universal Studios Hollywood (Thank you Anastasia Lee for your support).
This year was no exception as five of us (I am sadly divorced but Felix is happily engaged, so his fiancée Alex joined us) were ready for another memorable ride!
We started at Super Nintendo Land for a yummy lunch at the ToadStool Café which is our favorite place to lunch the park. Not only does it provide an escapism atmosphere where you feel like immersed in a Nintendo game, but they also create some truly nourishing and delicious dishes such as the Super Mushroom Bowl along with a side of cheesy garlic knots you can dip in a commemorative bowl.
I also highly recommend the Bowser’s Fireball Challenge which is made of a pound of meatball topped with mozzarella cheese and a puff pastry. It comes with hot sauce on the side...and is simply insane. As we exited the restaurant, just next door, what a better way to get into the mood but to partake to the Mario Kart Bowser’s Challenge! It was so much fun to put on the special “Enhanced 3D View” goggles and battle other teams through various underwater and cloud courses.
Super Nintendo Land is on the lower lot of Universal Studios Hollywood, so we decided to complete the other rides in that section of the park first. There you can immerse yourself in the 3D world of The Transformers, which fuses photo-realistic HD media and elaborate flight simulation technology. We then braved the fastest and darkest roller-coaster: “Revenge of the Mummy” (Fun Fact: The Book of the Dead displayed in the queue, before getting to the ride, is an actual prop from the 1999 “Mummy” movie.
The last ride we experienced in this section was “Jurassic World: The Ride.” Some time ago, I was part of a press event for the first incarnation of this ride which wa based on “Jurassic Park”. The whole experience now has been re-invented and you come face-to-face with the Indominus Rex! If you survive, treat yourself for a cocktail at the Isla Nu-Bar.
Once done with the lower lot, we took a “walking break” to do the “lazy” back-lot tour! I say “lazy” because you need to pace yourself if you want to walk throughout this entire park. The 60 minute ride through the “behind the scenes” of Universal Studios Hollywood is, at times, jaw-dropping sight from the real-life incarnation of the famous shark that launched Steven Spielberg legendary career in “Jaws” to coming face to face, with “King Kong 360 in 3-D” ride. This was the first ever attraction on the Studio Tour to feature 3D technology, creating a fully immersive experience of Skull Island!
After the tour we suggest a fun time experiencing the classic “Life of Pets”, inspired by the classic animated movie before moving on to the fun motion-non-sickness-but-craziness: “Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem”. We then experienced the magic of ‘The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’ and its main attraction: “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey”.
While we were there, the construction was continuing on ‘Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift’! We saw this mesmerizing new roller coaster being almost completed! It will feature a groundbreaking 360-degree rotation of the individual vehicles that creates seamless sensation of drifting cars ad they spin in motion at speeds up to 72 mph!
On a final note, we highly recommend you attend the Universal Studios Hollywood New Year’s Eve Party. This is the way to celebrate in your rightful way the passage into 2026!
By Emmanuel Itier
[Additional Reporting By Felix itier-Bina]
