Home Universal Hollywood Grinchmas Grinchmas hits Universal Studios Hollywood

Grinchmas hits Universal Studios Hollywood

December 5, 2014

Welcome to Universal Studios Hollywood! Today we jump right in to the Christmas cheer with a report on the beginning of Grinchmas. Yes, the Grinch has returned, but we hear he’s nice now. We shall see about that. There is still plenty to see around the park as we bring you the latest construction pictures and information from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Springfield, and Fast and Furious Supercharged. We also have pictures from the sad destruction of Soundstage 13 and a full report on how Universal Studios Hollywood handles its guests in the rain.

Grinchmas

The Whobilation begins tomorrow at Universal Studios Hollywood as Grinchmas invades the park. Included in the park admission, Grinchmas is a Christmas celebration based on Dr Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. To kick off the celebration, or rather the Whobilation, some special people showed up to the park last night.

After the Grinch mugged for the camera and the little kiddies in attendance, he invited Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to take the stage. Speaking on behalf of the growth of tourism to the Los Angeles area, Mayor Garcetti stated that the city’s goal is to reach 50 million visitors a year by 2020 and credited Universal as a major contributor to this goal.

After this announcement Garcetti welcomed Yvette Nicole Brown, Alexa Penavega and Carlos Penavega to help light the gigantic 60ft tree.

The Grinch and Mayor Eric Garcetti flipped the big switch to light the tree.

From Left to right, Mayor Eric Garcetti, The Grinch, Alexa Penavega, Carlos Penavega, Yvette Nicole Brown

Mayor Eric Garcetti poses with the Grinch and President and Chief Operating Officer of Universal Studios Hollywood, Larry Kurzweil.

When Grinchmas begins on Saturday December 6th, guests will be able to visit Universal Studios Hollywood and meet all of the Whoville citizens along with The Grinch himself! The whole area known as Universal Plaza is taken over by this event and decorated with the whimsical, Seussian touches that are synonymous with this time of year at the park.

Each night the park will hold a special tree lighting ceremony in the evening featuring The Grinch, Max, and a host of other characters. Throughout the day there are a number of fun activities that children and their families can enjoy.

The Who-bilicious Cookie Dec-Who-rating

Kids can purchase fresh baked gingerbread cookies and decorate them right on the spot.

Who-ville Post Office

Visitors can partake in the “Grow your heart 3 sizes” campaign here by sharing their good deeds on a post card and mailing it to The Grinch. In return Random House Children’s Books will pay it forward by donating a book to a child in need on behalf of the sender.

Trim the Tree Lot

Here, guests can design and personalize their own Christmas tree ornament to decorate the Grinchmas trees in the lot or they can take their ornament home as a souvenir.

Storytime with Cindy Lou Who

Cindy Lou Who will gather guests and Who’s of all ages for a reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

World Famous Studio Tour addition

Along the tram route, at the Who-ville set, guests will encounter a live performance that re-enacts scenes and songs from the Ron Howard directed film.

There will also be live performances throughout the day at the Universal Plaza. This includes Martha May Who-vier and the Who Dolls and the Who-liday Singers singing a cappella concerts at night.

Christmas in the Park

Aside from all of the Grinchmas offerings, there are plenty of holiday accents to be enjoyed throughout the park. Between the decorations and the retail offerings, they have it covered. Outside the park, at the Universal Studio Store, everything Grinchmas can be had along with Despicable Me merch.

Last night all of the Grinchmas decorations were fully installed so we got a look at what the entrance to the park looks like in full Grinchmas mode.

Standing at the front gate, looking at the globe.

The entry plaza fountain is turned into a poinsettia planter festooned with red and green.

The New York facade near the center of the park is all decked out too, complete with the local color.

Baker Street in the rain is actually very pretty.

At the end of Baker Street, the Despicable Me facade carries an orange wreath and modest queue decor.

Super Silly Fun Land has been accented with trees and decorations.

Of course, the shops are filled with Minion Christmas items.

Bleeding out from Super Silly Fun Land, into French Street the decorations become more opulent.

Even the Starway, leading to the lower lot, gets a light decoration.

While riding the Starway, guests are treated to audio from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Moving on to the construction projects throughout the park we see that the Wizarding World is progressing very quickly now. The project is shoring up the berms and the details are becoming obscured. This is where things get interesting.

Out back there are still basic surface tests going on as the work transitions from here to onsite work in the park.

Inside the park we see the scale of the gate to Hogsmeade, As well as its proximity to the other structures in the park.

Little was happening at the time of these pics due to the rain.

Around the side we see the Three Broomsticks restaurant.

Deeper inside we can see that landscaping and vertical work is moving inward, that’s Waterworld is in the background with the fire.

To the left is the show building to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. In front of it is the area behind the Hogsmeade structures.

Springfield

Moving on to the Springfield, we see that surface and paint tests have begun backstage for these facades too.

Inside the park, Luigi’s is enjoying new vertical construction.

We can now make out the Aztec Theater façade.

The restrooms near the entrance to the Studio Tour are also getting the addition of walkways behind the recently built structure.

Fast and Furious Supercharged

The new finale to the Studio Tour, Fast and Furious Super Charged is now fully enclosed and the tram pathways are now laid and in place. We can also see that a small entrance façade is being constructed where the trams enter the building.

After entering the building the tram will then pull into the projection room.

Stage 13/House of Horrors

The former Stage 13 building on the upper lot that housed the beloved year round haunted walk-through, House of Horrors, is being bulldozed to make way for more shopping and retail. This area of prime real estate was, admittedly, an odd spot for a spooky walk-through that really didn’t fit with the more polished and grandiose opening act for the park. It’s still sad to see something we loved so much disappearing.

If you look closely you can see parts of the Mummy hallway still in place.

Oh and there are bits of Frankenstein’s lab.

Shrek 4D

Recently Shrek 4D went behind the ever expanding construction walls allocated to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Despite the writing that appears to be on the wall for this archaic attraction, a number of sources insist that this is part of a normal refurbishment and that the attraction will return around December 20th. That’s too bad. We’d love to see this attraction make way for something more repeatable.

Universal Studios Hollywood in the Rain

After months and months of dry, perfect weather in Southern California, the rains have FINALLY arrived. We can’t complain about that. Unfortunately, for the tourists from out of town, rain can challenge your theme park experience. Last week we were able to share with you how Disneyland operated in not-so-perfect weather. As the rains continued so did the news and we found ourselves at Universal Studios Hollywood in similar weather. Let’s consider how this park keeps the show going even when the weather isn’t so perfect.

Notice anything different? No red carpet.

At the threat of rain, the red carpet needs to be rolled up.

Uncommon dark sky about Universal at mid day.

With inclement weather, Universal always sets aside space for guests to get in from the cold and wet.

Characters await arriving guests in the dry zone.

Best of all there is free coffee and hot cocoa! That is a classy thing to do.

The show doesn’t stop outside either as the characters are simply given umbrellas and allowed to roam around!

Another interesting programming change is with the Animal Actors Show. The theatre that the show is normally presented in is outdoor. When it rains, that becomes an impossible venue.

What to do? Universal doesn’t cancel the show due to rain. They just move the show to the indoor Special Effects Stage. Both shows are presented here, indoors, on rainy days.

Unfortunately, there are no meet and greets with Bumblebee or Optimus Prime as they might, uh, short circuit.

It’s funny, signs are left out in front of attractions reminding guests of how dry conditions are inside.

Even Marilyn on the Studio Tour is kept out for photos.

Parking Structure

Lastly we take a look at the progress of the new Parking Structure that will service the bus parking and more guest parking. This thing is going to be huge.

And that’s our update from Universal Studios Hollywood. It’s certainly a great time to be a fan of this ever-evolving movie studio and theme park as there is so much on the horizon to be excited about. The construction walls are about to start coming down with Springfield and Fast and Furious Supercharged, which will both be open by summer. Then there will be Harry Potter coming in 2016. The evolution of Universal is impressive in scope and will certainly increase its drawing power and frequency of guest visits.

Well, time for us to hang up the umbrella and dry off. Have a great weekend everyone. We’ll see you again soon In The Parks!