Taste of Universal

April 11, 2021

We went to Universal Studios Hollywood for their Taste of Universal event on April 11, 2021.  The State of California had just announced a lifting of restrictions for theme parks, but we attended before this went into effect.  We attended with my “adopted” family, and it was the first time I had been back at Universal Studios for about two years. 

The price of the tasting card included admission to the park, general parking at Universal CityWalk (premium parking was an additional fee), and five tastings.  The all-new Minion Café was also open, and included on the tasting card. 

We started our day at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and that’s when I heard the sound of the Flight of the Hippogriff rollercoaster running.   I looked at the ride and saw people riding it so I immediately told my nieces, “Listen.  Do you hear that?” That means the rides are running.  They got really excited so we rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey first since that usually has the longest line.  The girls’ mom doesn’t like rollercoasters so we had to convince her to ride it, and both their parents weren’t up to riding Flight of the Hippogriff so we took the girls on that one. 

We left the Wizarding World and headed to the Minion Café and saw that the new Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash ride was also doing a soft opening.  We got tickets to come back for the ride then headed to the Minion Café. I really enjoyed the macaroni and cheese I got at the Minion Café, and the rest of our party liked their food.  I definitely want to go back and try the nachos and some of the desserts.   Once we finished our food we took some photos at a few photo ops then headed to the Secret Life of Pets ride.  We really liked the way the queue is full of fun things to see and watch as you walk through the building to the boarding area.  The ride is really cute and does justice to the films.

We went to the Lower Lot of Universal Studios to ride Transformers which just happened to close as we got there, but the staff at the front gave us a password to use to come back when they opened so we could go through the single rider line instead.  The girls’ parents didn’t want to ride Transformers and had gone to get a couple of beers so we met up with them to wait for Transformers to re-open.  The girls also decided to get more food while we waited.  After waiting about forty minutes we went to Transformers to see if they were open, and they were so we rode it while the girls’ parents relaxed with their drinks. 

We went to Moe’s Tavern for our last tastings, and I bought a large doughnut to take home since I was really full.  The doughnut is still really soft and delicious the next day in case you’re wondering.  We had a great time and noted how much better the food was at Universal Studios than what we had had at the Halloween and Christmas tasting events at Knott’s Berry Farm in late 2020.  We also left Universal hoping that Knott’s Berry Farm would be testing a few of their rides when we visit on April 25^th.