Following in Disney Springs’ footsteps, Universal has announced that Citywalk in Orlando will be reopening Thursday May 14th.
Select locations will be open from 4pm-10pm each day. Dining locations such as Bubba Gump, Margaritaville, Red Oven Pizza Bakery, Voodoo Doughnut, and Auntie’s Anne’s Pretzels will be open. On the retail side of things, the Universal Studios Store, Airbrush, the retail section of Huntington Tattoo Company will be reopening with the same hours as the restaurants.
With both California and Florida under Stay at Home orders, Universal has decided to close their domestic parks through at least the end of May. They had originally been closed through April 19th, but were extended due to the coronavirus situation not slowing down.
Some good news is that stats show that California has started to flatten the curve and computer models moved up its peak to April 14th, which is as soon as next week. Those projection models have the state social distancing until Mid May to complete flatten the curve. That would coincide with the time frame that Knotts and Six Flags would like to open up their parks and give Universal enough room to decide to push up the opening of its Hollywood park should the situation vastly improve by that time.
Here is the official statement from Universal below:
Universal Studios Hollywood’s Lunar New Year starts January 23rd and goes through February 9th. It will be located in the main plaza where all of the events at the park are held and for the most part seems like a repeat of the offerings from last year.
This year Universal will be offering:
Will you be going to this year’s Lunar New Year festival? What of the above offerings are you looking forward to the most? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and follow this blog for constant theme park updates!
Universal quietly dropped their annual pass prices and did so pretty significantly some time in the past couple of weeks. According to an insider Universal is pretty happy with the amount of tourists and VIP’s visiting the park, but is underwhelmed by the amount of local traffic. Repeat visitors are what drives in park spending the most so Universal really relies on passholders during the slow and busy seasons to keep up the bottom line.
The new amounts are listed as follows:
Platinum (Includes no blackout dates and Universal Express): $629 now $449
Gold: $329 now $249
Silver: $179 now $174
I expect once Secret Life of Pets opens next year and when Nintendo opens in 2021 those prices will shoot back up so I would purchase a pass and enjoy the reduction while you can. Another great option, which is what I always purchase, is the season pass which for $149 ($10 more than a one day ticket) grants you 9 months or 275 days of access to the park. It does not include parking, but I always just park at the nearby Metro stop which is only three dollars and take the tram to the entrance.
Will these new price reductions encourage you to purchase a pass? Do you think Universal still does not have enough to do to get a pass? Let me know in the comments below!
Today Universal Hollywood announced that on March 19th and 20th they will be hosting a Food and Wine Festival. The only difference between this one and other theme park festivals is that Universal’s will be an after hours hard ticket event.
The event will start at 7pm each night and cost $179 to attend on each night. That price includes food tastings, beer, wine, live competitions and photo ops with Top Chef talent, live entertainment, merchandise, and a gift. For $300 you can get a VIP ticket that allows you access to Universal Studios starting at 12pm and preferred parking with VIP tasting with alumni from Top Chef or for $199 you can get a day and night combo ticket that starts at 12pm but does not include free parking and the special VIP experiences.
If you have not guessed already this event is themed to Bravo’s Top Chef and you will be able to taste some of their delicious meals all night long! Will you be attending this festival? Would you rather it be included in regular park admission like at California Adventure? Do you think what your getting is worth all that money? Let me know in the comments below!
Universal Studios Hollywood announced today that the Toothsome Emporium is set to take over the space occupied by Hard Rock Cafe and open in 2021. Hard Rock Cafe will be closing January 8th to begin the transition.
The restaurant will feature all of the goodies in the Orlando version and be two stories. It will also feature a gift shop, dessert bar, and all day brunch. Universal Citywalk over the past few years has undergone a massive overhaul including the opening of Margaritaville, Antijitos, Voodoo Doughnuts and more. New dining and retail options should be announced in the coming months as there are several more vacant spaces throughout the entertainment center.
What do you think of the Toothsome Emporium coming to Citywalk? I personally love chocolate so I am very excited for this new addition, but let me know in the comments below what you think about this recent change to Citywalk!
Universal Citywalk continues to go through major changes as the large and iconic Hard Rock Cafe is set to close at the beginning of January. It is rumored to be replaced by a Toothsome Emporium that is currently at Orlando’s Citywalk.
Above is a picture of the Toothsome Emporium in Orlando and as you can see it is a two story full service restaurant with a large dessert section as well. There is also a gift shop attached. Have you been to the Emporium in Orlando? Are you excited for it to come to Hollywood? Let me know in the comments below!
It’s that time of the year again where the two holidays of Halloween and Christmas collide. Christmas decorations are already being set up at both Disney and Universal and now we are starting to get more information on Grinchmas with some pretty awesome news.
This awesome news is that this year Grinchmas will start on Thanksgiving Day and will run DAILY (instead of the previous just on weekends) through December 29th. Also starting at this time will be the Christmas at the Wizarding Wold of Harry Potter celebration with Christmas themed shows and entertainment including the ever popular projection show on Hogwarts Castle.
The holiday themed food and Hot Butterbeer will also be making a return and eveyr night at Universal Plaza there will be a Whoville themed lighting celebration to light the 55 foot Grinchmas Tree. As I have stated in previous articles about the holidays Christmas is my favorite time of the year at the SoCal parks and I am so excited to celebrate again this year!
What about all of you? Are you excited for Grinchmas this year? Let me know in the comments below and give this page a follow for constant holiday updates and footage!
Antijitos is now open at Universal CityWalk in Hollywood and now they have announced their next major addition that will be coming to the entertainment complex.
NBC Sports Grill and Brew (which is already at CityWalk Orlando) will be making its West Coast debut next year as Universal Hollywood aggressively continues to enhance and completely revamp CityWalk. The pub will feature three giant TV screens out front as well as over 100 HD TV’s inside the restaurant. The menu will consist of general pub and bar food and alcohol and will add to the energy and excitement of CityWalk. This should look very impressive and fit in at night when the rest of the complex lights up. Its location is great as well as it will be in the center of everything in the main plaza right next to Antijitos, Tony Romas, and Johnny Rockets.
I am very excited for new changes to CityWalk and personally cannot wait for this to open up sometime in the next few months. What do you guys think about this new addition? Do you like the new changes that are coming or have been made recently to CityWalk? Comment your thoughts down below!
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