Hollywood at Universal Studios

Hollywood is the park's other backlot street: a 1950s Los Angeles boulevard with a Brown Derby hat, Schwab's soda fountain and Mel's Drive-In with the cars parked outside. It closes the loop back to the entrance and it is where the park's live-show programming lives.

Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show has run since the park opened in 1990 and is the best thing in this park that is not a ride. It is a twenty-five-minute two-hander about practical special effects, it is genuinely funny, it is scripted to be scary for about eight seconds and comedic for the rest, and it plays in a cool theatre that never fills. The Bourne Stuntacular, which opened in 2020, is a live stunt show fused with a moving LED wall and is the most technically impressive thing staged at Universal Orlando.

E.T. Adventure sits at the far end where the boulevard meets DreamWorks Land. It opened with the park in 1990, it is the last original opening-day ride still running, and it is a slow flying-bicycle dark ride at 34 inches — the lowest height requirement here. It is dated and it is also the only ride in the park that feels like it was built to be gentle.

The lagoon frontage along Hollywood is the other viewing side for the nighttime show, and Mel's Drive-In behind it is a large air-conditioned room that stays open late.

Do not miss

Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show, running since 1990 and still the best non-ride here
The Bourne Stuntacular, live stunts fused to a moving LED wall
E.T. Adventure at 34 inches, the last opening-day ride still operating
Animal Actors on Location, the park's most reliable option for young children
Mel's Drive-In and Schwab's Pharmacy, both open late and both air conditioned

Hollywood tips

The Horror Make-Up Show almost never fills and runs on a published schedule. It is the highest-value twenty-five minutes in the park and most guests never go in.
Sit in the middle third at the Bourne Stuntacular. The LED wall is designed for a straight-on viewing angle and the effect breaks down badly from the sides.
E.T. Adventure asks for your first name at the boarding station and uses it in the closing scene. Give a real one; the payoff is the only reason the ride still charms anyone.
Mel's Drive-In stays open past most of the park's kitchens and has substantial indoor seating. It is the fallback when everything else has shut its windows.

Attractions in Hollywood

Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show

Any height

Show · 25 min · Express

A twenty-five minute two-hander about practical special effects that has run since 1990, is genuinely funny, and almost never fills.

The Horror Make-Up Show has been running since the park opened in 1990, which makes it the longest-running attraction here alongside E.T. Adventure. It is a live two-hander: a host and a make-up artist demonstrate practical special-effects techniques from Universal's horror films, with props, prosthetics and a lot of ad-libbing.

Tips for Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show

This is the most underused attraction in the park. Twenty-five minutes, air conditioned, almost never fills, and better than several of the rides.
Sit in the middle third. Close enough to see the prosthetic work on the table, far enough back that you will not be brought up on stage.
The performers vary and so does the show, because a large amount of it is improvised. Two visits on different days are not the same visit.
Two moments are engineered to startle. Sit near an aisle if you are bringing a child under about eight, so leaving is easy if it goes wrong.
Check the schedule and build it into the worst hour of the afternoon rather than treating it as something to do if there is time.

Full guide to Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show →

The Bourne Stuntacular

Any height

Stage show · 25 min · Express

A live stunt show fused to a moving LED wall, and the most technically impressive thing staged at Universal Orlando.

The Bourne Stuntacular opened in 2020 in the theatre that held Terminator 2: 3-D, and its central idea is that the boundary between a live performer and a screen image should be invisible. A huge LED wall runs the length of the stage and moves; performers run onto and off it, hand off to a filmed version of themselves mid-motion, and the audience genuinely cannot always tell which is which.

Tips for The Bourne Stuntacular

Sit in the middle third of the theatre. The screen effect is built for a straight-on angle and it visibly fails from the far sides.
The pyrotechnics are felt as much as heard. Consider ear defenders for a noise-sensitive child, and sit further back rather than closer.
The theatre almost never fills. Arriving ten minutes before a performance is enough on all but the busiest days.
It offers very little to a guest with significant vision loss, since the effect is entirely visual. The Horror Make-Up Show is the better choice in that case.
Pair it with the Horror Make-Up Show in the same afternoon. Both are cool, both are close together, and together they cover the two worst hours of the day.

Full guide to The Bourne Stuntacular →

Animal Actors on Location!

Any height

Show · 20 min · Express

A covered-amphitheatre show of trained animals performing film and television behaviours, and the safest twenty minutes in the park for a small child.

Animal Actors on Location is a live show in a covered amphitheatre in which dogs, birds, pigs and other trained animals perform the kinds of behaviours used in film and television work, introduced by a presenter who explains how each one is trained.

Tips for Animal Actors on Location!

Sit toward the front if you have a child who wants to be picked for the audience participation segments; the presenters choose from the first rows.
It is covered but not air conditioned, so it buys shade rather than cool. Pair it with the Horror Make-Up Show for the cold part.
Check the schedule in the app. Performances are spread across the day with long gaps between them.
This is the single most reliable attraction here for a child under 40 inches, and worth planning the afternoon around if you have one.

E.T. Adventure

34"86cm

Dark ride · 4½ min · Express

The last opening-day ride still running, a suspended flying-bicycle dark ride at 34 inches with the lowest height stick in the park.

E.T. Adventure opened with the park in June 1990 and is the only original opening-day ride still operating. It is a suspended dark ride: you sit on a bench built to look like a bicycle, hanging from an overhead track, and glide through a dark forest, a night flight over a city and finally E.T.'s home planet.

Tips for E.T. Adventure

Give your real first name at the boarding station. The personalised goodbye at the end is the entire point and it does not work with a nickname the machine cannot pronounce.
At 34 inches this is the lowest height requirement in the park, which makes it the anchor of the ride list for a family with a small child.
The forest section at the start is dark and the agents appear close. Warn a nervous child about that specifically; everything after it is gentle.
Boarding requires stepping up and swinging a leg over the seat, which is harder than the ride itself. Ask at the platform if that is a problem.
Ride it in the middle of the day. The queue runs through a cool dark forest set and the ride is air conditioned, which makes it a rest as well as an attraction.

Full guide to E.T. Adventure →

CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular

Any height

Nighttime spectacular · 20 min

The nighttime lagoon show, running fountains, fireworks and projection to an orchestral score, and worth about twenty-five minutes of your evening.

CineSational is the park's nighttime show, staged on the central lagoon with fountains, water-screen projection, flame effects and fireworks set to an orchestral arrangement of Universal film scores. It launched in 2024 and runs on most nights the park is open late.

Tips for CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular

Watch from the San Francisco railings rather than Hollywood. Better angle, thinner crowd, faster exit.
Claim a spot 25 minutes ahead on a busy night, 10 on a quiet one. Longer than that and you have overpaid in time.
If you are skipping it, ride. Revenge of the Mummy and Transformers both fall dramatically while the whole park is at the water's edge.
There is a light spray on the front railing rows when the wind is onshore. Stand a row back if you are carrying a camera.
Ask a team member about accessible viewing well before the crowd forms. It exists, it is not signposted, and it fills.

Full guide to CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular →

Eating in Hollywood

Quick service · Hollywood

Mel's Drive-In

A 1950s diner on the Hollywood boulevard with classic cars parked outside, a jukebox, and the latest kitchen hours in the park.

$$Mobile order

CuisineBurgers and shakes
ReservationsNo reservations

Quick service · Hollywood

Cafe La Bamba

A hacienda-style quick-service in Hollywood doing grilled and rotisserie plates, with an open courtyard and irregular opening hours.

$$Mobile order

CuisineGrilled chicken and Latin-influenced plates
ReservationsNo reservations

Snack cart · Hollywood

Schwab's Pharmacy

A recreated Hollywood soda fountain serving sundaes and floats, small, air conditioned and usually empty.

$

CuisineIce cream and soda fountain
ReservationsNo reservations

Snacks worth stopping for

Mel's Thick Milkshake

Mel's Drive-In

$9.99

A thick hand-spun milkshake in vanilla, chocolate or strawberry, served in the 1950s diner on the Hollywood boulevard.

Our take: The best thing at Mel's by a distance and one of the better desserts in the park. Thick enough that the straw is decorative, which is the correct standard for a milkshake.

Near the top of the list Sweet Vegetarian Walkable

Mel's Cheeseburger

Mel's Drive-In

$17.99

A standard diner cheeseburger with fries, ordered at the counter and eaten in a red vinyl booth.

Our take: Unremarkable, and the room is doing all of the work. Come here for the booths, the jukebox and the late opening, and order the milkshake rather than the burger.

Savory

Hot Fudge Sundae

Schwab's Pharmacy

$9.99

Vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry, built at the counter of a recreated 1940s Hollywood soda fountain.

Our take: Cheaper than the themed desserts elsewhere and made in front of you at a counter almost nobody sits at. Eat it on a stool rather than taking it away; that is the whole experience.

Sweet Vegetarian

Nearby

Universal Studios Florida map See where this land sits All attractions Every ride in Universal Studios Florida Production Central The entrance area and soundstage district, holding the park's only outdoor coaster and its loudest screen ride. Minion Land A bright Illumination district built along the front-left of the park, with two screen attractions and the park's best-designed quick-service.