A Visit to Holidays at Universal Studios Hollywood
It doesn’t seem possible that we’re officially in the 2025 holiday season. Wasn’t it just the 4th of July? If you want to get into the holiday spirit, you might want to book a trip to Universal Studios Hollywood for their holiday festivities.
We got to check out Holidays at Universal Studios Hollywood, courtesy of Universal, and, as always, it’s an absolute delight.
The entire park is decorated and full of holiday cheer, from the Grinchmas tree close to the entrance to the holiday light show in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We went on opening day and headed straight to Super Nintendo World.
Before you go through the rainbow tunnel entrance, there is a Christmas tree with holiday statues of Mario and Luigi snowmen to take a picture with.
Everything inside is decorated, including Princess Peach’s castle, and the stores are full of holiday merchandise. (I resisted as hard as I could, but it’s all so shiny, and the Nintendo music was playing and… I failed to leave without a bag.)
Do yourself a favor and get the Universal Express Pass that gives you one express line for each ride and show, so you can ride the Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge, which is like playing Mario Kart in real life.
Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is back as well, with an English Holiday Meal, hot spiced apple cider, a hot spiced apple toddy, and hot Butterbeer. However, you should also hit Honeydukes for some sugary treats.
They’ve brought back their holiday light show, projected onto Hogwarts, with fireworks at the end, and it’s beautifully done.
You can’t miss the topsy-turvy holiday tree lighting in Universal Plaza, and if you’re a fan of the Grinch, it’s like walking inside the movie. You may want to get there early to get close up, but you can still see the tree sparkling from the sides.
Before you even get there, you’ll see the Grinchmas-themed Hollywood & Dine, and as a vegetarian who often has trouble finding food at theme parks, I was thrilled. Not only do they have items like the Gooey Gobble Melt with turkey and Swiss, and Max’s Hot Dog, but they also have The Roast Beast-less Loaf, which is plant-based meatloaf with Brussels sprouts and garlic herb mashed potatoes.
There were tons of costumed characters when we visited, which was later in the evening. We saw Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster and his Bride, and Princess Peach, to name a few.
Then, without realizing it, we wandered over to check out a very specific DeLorean before realizing Marty McFly was standing right there! (We got a picture, of course.) Speaking of pictures, make sure to get one with the Grinch himself, over by the Jurassic World ride.
Visiting Universal Studios Hollywood was an absolute pleasure, and it actually felt like the holidays, even though it’s around 80 degrees Fahrenheit in Los Angeles this week.
Make sure you take a few pics of the construction on the upcoming Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift roller coaster, which looks delightfully terrifying! Head over to UniversalStudiosHollywood.com for tickets and info. Merry, happy, joyous everything, friends!
