Hollywood Ride Guide Independent & unofficial

Universal Studios Hollywood

Lower Lot

The bottom of the hill: three of the park's biggest rides, reached by four long escalators and very little else down there.

  • Attractions6
  • Places to eat3
  • HeadlinerJurassic World — The Ride

The Lower Lot is where Universal Studios Hollywood put the things that needed room. Jurassic World — The Ride, Revenge of the Mummy and Transformers: The Ride-3D all sit down here, along with a handful of food windows, a bar and the shops attached to each ride. It is a narrow strip of the hillside rather than a land in the theming sense, and there is no attempt at a unifying story.

Getting here is the whole planning problem with this park. The Starway is four long outdoor escalators in sequence, and the trip takes four to five minutes when everything is running and considerably longer when a section is down or the queue at the top backs up. Coming back up is the same journey against gravity, at the end of a long day, usually in the dark. There is an accessible route between the levels that does not use the escalators, and it is worth asking a team member about at the top rather than discovering the escalators are the only obvious option.

Because the trip is a commitment, the Lower Lot behaves differently from the rest of the park. It is frequently quiet in the first hour while everyone stays up top at the Wizarding World and Super Nintendo World, and it empties again in the last hour as people head back up to leave. Both windows are the best value on the property.

Plan the day so you come down once. Do all three rides, eat if you need to, then take the escalators up and stay up. People who bounce between levels lose an hour of walking they never account for.

Do not miss

  • Jurassic World — The Ride and its 84-foot drop
  • Revenge of the Mummy, the park's only real roller coaster
  • Transformers: The Ride-3D
  • The Raptor Encounter, which is better than any character meet up top
  • The first hour of the day, when almost nobody is down here

Lower Lot tips

  • Come down once and do all three rides in one pass. The escalators are the hidden tax on this park and every extra round trip costs you close to fifteen minutes.
  • First thing in the morning is the best window down here by a wide margin, because the crowd defaults to the Upper Lot lands.
  • Use the lockers before Jurassic World rather than after. The soaking is real and the front rows get the worst of it.
  • All three big rides here run single rider lines, and they work. If you are two adults, riding apart on all three saves the better part of an hour.
  • Ask about the accessible route between the lots at the top of the Starway. The escalators are not the only way down and the alternative is not signposted well.

Attractions in Lower Lot

Jurassic World — The Ride

42"107cm

Water ride · 6 min · Express

A boat ride through a dinosaur park that goes badly wrong, ending in an 84-foot drop in the dark — the best big ride here.

Jurassic World — The Ride is the 2019 retheme of Jurassic Park: The Ride, which opened on the Lower Lot in 1996 and was for years the most expensive attraction ever built. The bones of the original are intact: a boat drifts through a dinosaur preserve, something goes wrong, and the escape route is an 84-foot drop through the dark. The 2019 work updated the scenery, the animatronics and the story to the newer films.

Tips for Jurassic World — The Ride
  • Ride it first thing. This is the best thing on the Lower Lot and the Lower Lot is nearly empty in the first hour while everyone else is up top.
  • You will get soaked, not splashed. Use the lockers by the entrance for phones and bags, and think hard about riding this at 7pm in February.
  • The single rider line works well here and is one of the most effective at the park.
  • The front row gets the worst of the water and the best view of the Indominus rex. Pick your priority before you reach the platform.
  • Children who just cleared 42 inches often handle the dinosaurs fine and are genuinely shaken by the drop. It is much steeper and darker than the rest of the ride suggests.

Full guide to Jurassic World — The Ride →

Revenge of the Mummy

48"122cm

Roller coaster · 2 min · Express

An indoor launched coaster in total darkness with fire, a reverse section and a false ending — the park's only real roller coaster.

Revenge of the Mummy opened on the Lower Lot in 2004 and is the only genuine roller coaster at Universal Studios Hollywood. It is an indoor, fully enclosed, electromagnetically launched coaster with a themed first act: you move slowly through Egyptian tomb sets, an animatronic Imhotep threatens the car, and then the launch takes the whole thing from a walking pace to full speed in about two seconds.

Tips for Revenge of the Mummy
  • Use the free lockers. Enforcement is strict, there is nowhere to hold anything, and phones do not survive the launch in a lap.
  • Ride it first thing. The Lower Lot is close to empty in the first hour and this is often a walk-on before ten in the morning.
  • The single rider line is short and effective. In total darkness you cannot see who you are sitting with anyway.
  • Do not tell first-time riders about the ending. It is the best gag at the park and it only works once.
  • The fire effect above the track produces genuine heat, and the whole ride runs in true darkness with no reference points. Clearing 48 inches does not mean a child is ready for it.

Full guide to Revenge of the Mummy →

Transformers: The Ride-3D

40"102cm

Dark ride · 5 min · Express

A motion-base dark ride through a Transformers battle, technically excellent, extremely loud, and hard on the inner ear.

Transformers: The Ride-3D opened on the Lower Lot in 2012, using the same ride system as Spider-Man at Islands of Adventure: a motion-base vehicle on a track, moving between enormous 3D screens with practical sets, effects and lighting between them. The premise is that you are riding an autonomous vehicle helping the Autobots protect an artifact from Megatron.

Tips for Transformers: The Ride-3D
  • Ride it in the first hour with the rest of the Lower Lot. Doing Jurassic World, Revenge of the Mummy and this back to back before 10am is the most efficient block of the day.
  • Do not stack this with The Simpsons Ride, Forbidden Journey or Minion Mayhem in the same hour. Those four together are how people lose an afternoon.
  • The middle row gives the cleanest 3D image and the least motion. Ask for it if you have a choice.
  • The single rider line is effective and, given that this ride is a wall of noise, you lose nothing by sitting apart.
  • This is the loudest attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood. If anyone in your group uses ear defenders, this is the ride to bring them for.

Full guide to Transformers: The Ride-3D →

Raptor Encounter

Any height

Character meet

A puppeteered velociraptor on the Lower Lot that behaves like an animal rather than a costume, and it is better than it sounds.

The Raptor Encounter is a character meeting on the Lower Lot near Jurassic World — The Ride, and it is the most convincing piece of live performance in the park after WaterWorld. The raptor is a full-body puppet worked by performers inside and out, with handlers in character managing the interaction as if the animal were genuinely dangerous.

Tips for Raptor Encounter
  • Ask the handlers to hold the raptor back if your child is nervous. They will, and the photograph still works from a few feet further away.
  • Do not wave your arms. The raptor tracks movement, and that is what triggers the lunge — which is fine if you were expecting it and less fine if you were not.
  • This is the best character meeting in the park, which surprises people who wrote it off as a photo stop.
  • Combine it with your one trip down to the Lower Lot rather than making a special journey. The escalators are not worth a photograph on their own.

Transformers Character Meetings

Any height

Character meet

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee appear outside the Transformers ride, and the costumes are considerably better than they need to be.

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee appear on a rotating schedule outside the Transformers ride on the Lower Lot. The costumes are large, articulated and genuinely well built, with working lights and processed voices, and the performers stay in character throughout.

Tips for Transformers Character Meetings
  • Check the app for appearance times. The sets are short and the gaps between them are long.
  • Stand back a little for the photograph. The costumes are tall enough that a close shot cuts the head off.
  • The voices are loud and processed, which is enough to startle a small child on a first approach. Give them a moment before stepping in.
  • Fold this into your single trip to the Lower Lot rather than coming back down for it.

The Starway

Any height

Transportation · 5 min

Not an attraction: four long outdoor escalators between the Upper and Lower Lot, and the single biggest drain on your day here.

The Starway is a chain of four long outdoor escalators connecting the Upper Lot to the Lower Lot down the hillside. It is listed here because it behaves like an attraction in every way that matters to planning: it has a queue at peak times, it takes real minutes, and it is the reason people fail to see half of this park.

Tips for The Starway
  • Go down once and come up once. Plan the whole day around that and you will get more out of this park than any other single decision achieves.
  • There is an accessible route between the lots that does not use the escalators. Ask at Guest Relations on your way in — it is not signposted where you would expect.
  • Use the restrooms and buy drinks on the Upper Lot before you go down. The Lower Lot has far less of everything.
  • Do not come back up for lunch and go down again. Eat on the Lower Lot or wait until you are back up top.
  • If a section is out of service, expect the queue at the top to back up substantially. Check before committing to a late trip down.

Eating in Lower Lot

Quick service · Lower Lot

Jurassic Cafe

The Lower Lot's main restaurant, next to Jurassic World, and the only substantial place to eat without going back up the Starway.

$$Mobile order

  • CuisineAmerican — grilled chicken, ribs and burgers
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Lounge · Lower Lot

Isla Nu-Bar

A Jurassic-themed outdoor bar on the Lower Lot, serving tropical cocktails to people who have just been soaked.

$$

  • CuisineTropical cocktails and beer
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Quick service · Lower Lot

Starbucks (Lower Lot)

The Lower Lot's coffee stop, and the reason you do not need to take the escalators back up for a cold drink.

$

  • CuisineCoffee, pastries and cold drinks
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Snacks worth stopping for

Smoked Ribs Plate

Jurassic Cafe

$23.99

A half rack of smoked ribs with sides, served at the Lower Lot's only substantial restaurant next to Jurassic World.

Our take: Ordinary barbecue in the one place where that hardly matters, because the alternative is four escalators each way. Eat it and stay down here.

Savory

Grilled Chicken Plate

Jurassic Cafe

$19.99

Grilled chicken with rice and vegetables, the lightest main course available on the Lower Lot.

Our take: The sensible order if you are riding Jurassic World afterward, which you probably are. The ribs are better and considerably worse timed.

Savory Gluten-friendly

Mac and Cheese

Jurassic Cafe

$12.99

A baked macaroni cheese served as a main or a side, and effectively the only vegetarian main on the Lower Lot.

Our take: Adequate, and the only real vegetarian option on this level of the park. That is a criticism of the Lower Lot rather than of the dish.

Savory Vegetarian

Frozen Tropical Cocktail

Isla Nu-Bar

$17.99

A blended rum-based tropical drink from the covered bar beside Jurassic World, served in a plastic cup or a souvenir vessel for considerably more.

Our take: Sweet, strong and correctly timed. Coming off Jurassic World soaked and sitting in the shade with one of these is among the better twenty minutes available here.

Drink Vegan Walkable

Cold Brew Coffee

Starbucks (Lower Lot)

$6.49

The same standard Starbucks cold brew, from the Lower Lot location that most guests do not know exists.

Our take: Listed because knowing it is here is worth more than the drink is. It is the reason you never need to take the escalators up for a coffee.

Drink VeganGluten-friendly Walkable

Nearby

Universal Studios Hollywood map See where this land sits All attractions Every ride in Universal Studios Hollywood Upper Lot The park's original level: the entrance, the Studio Tour boarding area, every show, and most of the walking. Springfield A built-out corner of the Simpsons town, with one ride and a genuinely funny run of themed food windows.