RE: Disneyland vs. Universal Studios and other things I learned about Los Angeles
Hey, @wcy.
Good advice here, particularly about planning things out ahead of time. Having a backup plan is useful, too.
My family and I have been to both Disney/California Adventure and Universal Studios, and I'd say they are as you described them. From what I remember about Universal Studios (have only been there once and this was 10-15 years ago) is they had more shows than rides. At least, what I went to. I think there was a Batman stunt show (or that's what I was remembering) that we never did get into because it was full for both showings, but there was a 4D Shrek experience that was kind of cool, and what I liked the best, the Terminator show.
That had actual Terminator robots and special effects.
I'm trying to remember what else we saw, but since it's a while ago, it's not coming to mind. I'm sure it's changed since then.
Disneyland we've been to a few more times. Getting in early is my wife's specialty. She with her sister and all the kids have managed to get there when it opened and stayed well into the evening. We've never paid for the FastPass, though, which I think would have been a good deal.
I'm not much for rides, so things like the Star Wars ride they had, the Captain EO 3D music video (Michael Jackson), things like that were fine. I was not fond of Space Mountain. My wife likes Splash Mountain and waited in line for over an hour and a half once. (It had just recently opened).
The times I've been to the California Adventure side there wasn't much there, but I understand it's been built up more since then.
Very good advice about doing virtually everything during the day. The areas in LA you describe would not be places to be around at night.
I hope you do get a chance to go back. We've been talking about making a trip down to Disneyland before next spring. My wife has family down in the Orange County area, so we would visit them while we're going to the different attractions.
Congratulations on the curie. :)
Thank you ! Would love to go back and knowing what I know now, would certainly have a better and safer experience. You're right - Universal Studios is more about the show than the rides - the Water World show (not sure if you've seen it) was one of the best shows that I've seen!
Space Mountain was also okay like you said - nothing really special about it other than the fact that you can't see what's going on in the ride. Splash Mountain was great but was completely soaked after and then had to walk around in wet shoes (probably should have known to bring an extra pair of socks but at least did so when I went to Disney California Adventure the next day).
Would you have any suggestions about other places / things to do in LA? Restaurants? Other events?
Maybe it was Water World and not Batman. No, we didn't see that one, either.
I'm trying to think what else there is the LA area. We've not been to many restaurants, really. We usually end up at some kind of Mexican food place, but like El Pollo Loco. :)
There's a Six Flags (Magic Mountain), if you like harder rides. It's up the hill before you get into LA. There's Hollywood itself, the Hollywood Bowl. Take in a game of some kind at either the Rose Bowl or the Coliseum.
If you want to go farther south, into Orange County again, they also have Knotts Berry Farm. It's been a long time since we been there, but they do have a lot of rides.
And if you end up in San Diego, they have Legoland, SeaWorld, a Safari and a pretty nice zoo. You'd probably want to check out the beaches anywhere from San Diego to LA County. We really like the Laguna Beach area, which is in Orange County. Problem is, so do a lot of other people.
There's usually some kind of flea market going on where you can find all kinds of things to buy. Then, of course, you got to lug it all back. :)