Tips for enjoying Universal Studios Hollywood

We've been to Universal Studios four or five times now. We went twice in Orlando and two or three times in Hollywood. Is it terrible if I can't remember? We've gone every couple of years since our daughter turned 3.

We recommend it if you have at least school age children. While there are fun things for preschoolers, you will enjoy the park more if your child is old enough to ride the attractions.

According to the Universal Studios website: The Transformers and Simpsons rides require being 40 inches tall; Jurassic Park has a minimum height of 42 inches; and the Mummy ride requires riders to be 48 inches tall. Shows can be quite entertaining for all, and several attractions — Shrek 4D, Terminator 2: 3D and Studio Tour (including King Kong 360 3-D) — allow you to just sit and watch.

Here's how we made the most of our day and a half at the park. Since we've gone before, we knew what we wanted to see and do (the new stuff and the cool stuff — all personal preferences).

We started by buying tickets at Costco. Offers vary from store to store, but we found 2-day passes for $64 each. The ticket allows you to use your second day within 90 days of the first use; and the first use has to take place before Dec. 31, 2012. Since we don't plan to return until maybe 2014 (we want the kids to be old enough to be part of a studio audience), we opted to go two consecutive days.

However, if we thought we'd go more often, we would have opted for the Universal Studios deal of the moment: Buy a day at the park and enjoy the rest of 2012 and 2013 for free. Blackout days do apply. This is a great deal if you are a regular traveler to the LA-area.

We then started looking for hotels in the area. We didn't want to spend a ton of time stuck in traffic. Seems being stuck in traffic adds to everyone's stress, and we start the day in a bad mood. That's not what we wanted. But the hotels within walking distance of the park seemed pricey, so I started looking on priceline.com and Hotwire.com. I could see the possibility of a much lower rate, but no guarantee I'd get the hotel I wanted. So then I called one of the hotels — the one that I saw had a complimentary continental breakfast and snacks service in the evening. This could be a huge food savings unless the food wasn't what we wanted to eat.

I let the reservation agent know the lowest rate I saw, and if she could get me something close. She ended up telling me of a deal where the first night is full price, but the second is 40 percent off. The savings was $100 off, so I booked it.

I hoped the food would help cut out dining out bill, and it did. The evening snacks ended up including complimentary wine and beer, and the sampling of food was good. For breakfast, I had two ham croissants with a side of cinnamon oatmeal and Starbucks coffee. My son went to town on pastries. My daughter loved the cereal and fruit. We were all satisfied and only needed to snack at the park before dinner.

As for the evening snacks, there weren't tons, but there was a nice spread of cheeses, veggies and finger foods. Did I mention the free beer and wine? The selection was limited, but the wine and beer were rather nice touches after a long day out.

At the park, we didn't have to deal with shuttles or parking since it was a 5-10 minute walk. Tickets in hand, we only had to stand in the entry line.

We started the day on the lower lot to make sure we hit the Transformers: The Ride 3D. This was one of the new attractions since we last went. We then hit Revenge of the Mummy and Jurassic Park the Ride, both old favorites. Lines were short since it was a Monday, so we did a few repeats.

Then we headed to the upper lot. Happens the Simpson's Ride always seemed to have a 25- to 35-minute wait, so we hopped in. You're entertained by show clips, so the wait doesn't feel as long. We then did the Studio Tour — another attraction with long waits because of the King Kong 360 3-D experience. Very cool! You feel as though you are in the middle of the jungle with Kong and the T-Rex he fights. Another bonus of the tour: Jimmy Fallon offers some funny commentary via video.

We wanted to see House of Horrors, but it was closed. We'll need to return another time for that. Then we made time for the shows we've enjoyed in the past, including Shrek 4D, Special Effects Stage and Terminator 2: 3D. We skipped Waterworld and Animal Actors. Our kids aren't into the kiddie play areas anymore, so the splash pads and foam balls at the Curious George and Dinoplay areas were ignored. They are a lot of fun for all ages, though.

Day Two: We made sure to repeat the four rides we enjoyed most: Studio Tour, Transformers, Mummy and Jurassic Park. We also made time to take a few photos with characters.

Oh, we did hit one big glitch, which could have wrecked the day. Our studio tour was cut short because of a water line break. As we were escorted off the backlot, we paid attention to the daily password given to jump to the front of the

line on the Transformers ride. We also asked (super nicely) to jump the line when we returned to the studio tour. The employee allowed it (I suppose he could have said no), so we got to ride in the front car for the first time. I have to say I like car 3 or 4 best. Don't recall being in car 2.

We left feeling like we got to do everything we wanted. We grabbed a bite before our 6-hour drive home. We also lucked out not having to pay more than $4.49 for a gallon of gas.

Tip: Gas up in Quartzsite, Ariz. Once you hit California, gas shoots up in price. When we went, it was about 75 cents a gallon more.

Cheers!