It’s time for April’s photo update around Universal Studios Hollywood!
Let’s get started!
Park Update Index
» CityWalk Hollywood
» Baker Street
» Animation Studio Store
» DreamWorks Theater
» Studio Tour
» StarWay Refurbishment
» Lower Lot
» Jurassic Park: The Ride
» The Mummy Greets
» A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That
CityWalk Hollywood
The guitar outside the Hard Rock Cafe is looking a little worse for the wear. They’re claiming it’s being refurbished, which seems likely, but we’ll continue to keep an eye on it.
No shrimp outside today, but there’s lots of catchy t-shirts.
Johnny Rockets is back open with less of an emphasis on the sports lounge, but the old sign is still up there on the left side.
Nectar is open, where everything inside is basically a Tide pod for your bathtub.
Sephora is nearly open, not sure why the walls haven’t come down yet, but all the lighting and electrical is hooked up. The sign looks great at night. In case you can’t see, the billboard announces their opening date as April 20th.
Walls have finally gone up around Saddle Ranch. Most of the fixtures on the outside have been pulled away.
Baker Street
Face painting isn’t new at the park, but the sign is definitely unique and appropriate. Hi guys!
Little details are all around. It’s nice to find them. Have you found where Sherlock Holmes lives?
Walking Dead still closes a fair bit before the rest of the park. This day, the park closed at 9PM, so this went down well before then. It rarely has a long line, though, so going whenever you feel bravest is fine.
Sebastian was out on the piano today, even while they were settings up for an event near the Globe Theater.
You can see that this area of the street was blocked off. To get to Despicable Me you had to go through the Parisian Courtyard.
But Mel’s is still around and plugging along.
Animation Studio Store/Laemmle Court
The new court has been open for a bit and it’s gorgeous.
Inside is just perfect. It’s not too crowded, especially considering how busy the rest of the park was.
Fountains are always a great touch.
Seriously, this is a nice place to hang out. Maybe for meetups?
If you aren’t paying attention, you might miss the characters in the planters like Keroppi.
Or this cat character that I don’t remember the name of. It’s on the tip of my tongue.
DreamWorks Theater
The new theater housing a Kung Fu Panda show will be opening very soon, just announced as June 15th.
Half the walls are down, exposing some billboards. These are likely temporary but are good for a quick photo op.
Getting past the crowd shows how big this area is. Makes you wonder how much work went into the short lived garden design of the Shrek queue.
Did you get a chance to see Po around the park? He’s usually nearby the Animal Actors show.
Behind the walls you can see more of the new theater.
Universal Studios Hollywood has a solid track record of nice billboards like these. Remember the British themed ones while they were making Universal Plaza?
And did you come by during the Lunar New Year’s Celebration and get some noodles from Mr. Ping?
This is where the theater transitions to New York Street. The planters here are temporary.
Still a bit more before they’re grown in. I imagine there will be some kind of food cart here otherwise guests will just sit all over this.
From inside Hogsmeade we can see the back of the theater peeking over.
Looks better than the giant box of Shrek.
Studio Tour
Time to go out for a studio tour! It’s world famous!
America’s Got Talent was filming on Sunday. Our tram tour had multiple
Safety railings seem to have popped up on the collapsing bridge.
StarWay Refurbishment
It seems like this is always under eternal refurbishment. But right now it’s a mix of which escalator is under refurbishment on each floor.
They’re also redoing the pavement.
A peak behind shows it all exposed.
Which of course leads to a cramped walkway.
Lower Lot
Headed down, we can see the Mummy ride. And no HHN construction! But new mazes and scare zones are starting to get announced!
A look out on the other soundstages.
This was being used as a holding corral for America’s Got Talent. Not sure when this land will be properly developed.
It’s kind of amazing that The Shining fit in that small area.
It’s a working studio. Magic is developing inside those giant boxes.
From here you can see a good chunk of Jurassic Park, and the 25th anniversary is coming up!
Jurassic Park: The Ride
It was running fairly well today. No falling Explorer, but that’s expected at this point.
Big bones are all around.
A bargain at ANY price!
The Mummy Greets
Normally the Mummy hangs out with Dracula and Franky on the upper lot, but for a quick bit today he was in front of his own ride.
It’s not often he’s down here, if at all. By the time we walked back, the stilt walkers had returned and the mummy was gone.
A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That
A view from the Curious George parking lot out towards the tram tour.
The skies were fairly clear.
The wait times were pretty steady but fell down to nothing by the time it got dark.
While the 20th anniversary of Jurassic Park came and went without so much as a peep from the parks, they’re really playing up the 25th anniversary, with a special premium ticket event in the park.
Somehow the switchbacks for Lard Lad’s Donuts weren’t placed out, so the line for donuts went out past the entrance of Moe’s. People love their donuts, even if they aren’t Dole Whip Donuts.
It’s always interesting to find areas where there aren’t a lot of guests on busier days like here, behind the Bumblebee Man Taco Truck, by the Starway.
If you need assistance on the lower lot, look for this kiosk near the Mummy lockers. No more podium near the base of the Starway.
The Lower Lot studio store has been completely stripped of any characters. It’s now all generic Universal Studios merchandise.
No more photo op with a giant yellow Minion. Just some well-designed branded merchandise.
That’ll do it for this month’s update. Be sure to follow Inside Universal for continuing coverage of Universal Parks and Resorts.
