Merry Grinchmas and Happy Wholadays everyone! Today, as a special Christmas treat, we share the festivities taking place at Universal Studios Hollywood and drop a little news on you too! Grinchmas is in full swing and will continue until December 31st. We also brave the chilly waters of Jurassic Park to share with you what to expect from this attraction which has just returned from refurbishment. Finally we ride the world famous Studio Tour and find even more Grinchmas along the way.
Entering the gates of Universal Studios, you cannot help but notice Grinchmas. Lime green bunting is strung over the entryway and the citizens of Whoville dance around the entry plaza, greeting guests and posing for pictures.
GRINCHMAS
In the center of the upper lot lies the main epicenter for Grinchmas. A large, snow filled arena anchored in the center by a massive Suessian Christmas tree. Children can play and cavort in the snow during the day, and at night, there are hourly performances of the Tree lighting ceremony featuring the Grinch.
What is Grinchmas? During the day, it is a winter wonderland of real snow that guests can play in. In the evenings, there are celebrity readings of the classic Dr. Seuss book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, with a tree lighting to top things off.
We were able to catch a showing of the Tree Lighting last Friday night and were delighted to find that it’s really more show than simple tree lighting. Very cute show. But be warned, the lines for this presentation get surprisingly long. In fact, we advise showing up 30 to 45 minutes early for any given performnce.
Grinchmas is still going on at Universal and will be until the end of the year. Below, is the listing of remaining celebrity readers for the Tree lighting ceremonies.
Dec 25th
Kate Linder 6:15pm
Chris Gorham 7:30pm
Dec 26th
Matthew Fahey 6:15pm
Kirk Cameron 7:30pm
Dec 27th
Camryn Manheim 6:15pm
Benjamin Stockham 7:30pm
Dec 28th
Ryan Potter 6:15pm
Ryan Newman 7:30pm
Dec 29th
Teri Reeves 7:30pm
Dec 30th
China Anne McClain 6:15pm
Steve Blake 7:30pm
Dec 31st
Dot Marie Jones 7:30pm
UPPER LOT
The Upper Lot is in full Christmas mode. From Terminator to The Simpsons, all is decked out and covered in snow. Up on Brooklyn Street, the streetmosphere actors were getting into the act too.
TERMINATOR is TERMINATED
Fans of the post apocalypse attraction, Terminator 2: 3D, should make their way to the park before year’s end, this attraction is slated for permanent closure on December 31st. Rumors on MiceChat’s forums have long indicated that a version of Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem would be headed to this location. Multiple sources now indicate those rumors are true.
The visibility of the show building should offer sufficient challenge for Universal Creative when coming up with a way to make the existing structure look like Gru’s fortress. We are keeping our ears open for other clues on the redevelopment of this area. We are expecting several projects to pop up prior to Harry Potter breaking ground. The park is going to need to replicate lost capacity prior to removing any existing attractions. This should be a very interesting time for Universal Studios Hollywood in the near future.
JURASSIC PARK REFURBISHED
The Jurassic Park River Adventure has emerged from its refurbishmant sparkling new and significantly cleaned up. All of the animatronics and inner workings of the ride have been spiffed up and cleaned. There are a few very minor timing issues, nothing major, that we noted on our trip that we hope are being worked on.
Overall, the attraction looks and sounds great again. During these colder months, they have worked to reduce how wet the guests get by lowering water effects and using the brakes at the bottom of the final drop. We are very happy to see the ride looking so good again.
STUDIO TOUR
On the studio Tour, we find a bit more Grinchmas along with a peek at productions in the back lot.
As the tour goes on, we get another wonderful dose of the Grinch. A nice little 3 minute medley that is a cliff’s notes version of what you see in the tree lighting ceremony in the upper lot.
The construction near the tram station may be early prep work for the upcoming Harry Potter Construction. However, this is more than likely just studio infrastructure work.
As we close out the final Universal Studios Hollywood update for the year, we would like to thank all of you for reading and being a part of our little corner of MiceChat. We look forward to continuing to bring you news and photos from this park which is soon to receive a wizarding transformation.
Merry Grinchmas!