Universal Studios Hollywood Rides: 2026 List and Printable Checklist

Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift

📍 Location: Upper Lot
📏 Minimum height: 51″ (130cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 20 minutes, in technical rehearsal
🧍 Single rider: Not confirmed at opening

Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift is Universal Studios Hollywood’s first outdoor roller coaster, and it opens to the public on 16 September 2026.

This ride reaches up to 72mph across 4,100 feet of track, according to Universal’s own figures. The trains are made up of four cars that rotate 360 degrees, giving the drifting sensation the name promises.

I went on this ride twice in preview, on 1 and 2 September 2026, and it is the most intense ride in the park by a considerable margin. Revenge of the Mummy, the old benchmark, feels tame next to it.

Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift does go upside down, but it’s smooth. The over-the-shoulder harness means there is no rattling, and I came off both times without a hint of motion sickness.

The ride itself lasts just over one minute and carries the tallest height requirement in the park. Wait times for the ride during preview ranged from five minutes to over an hour.

I skipped the queue on the VIP Experience, so I cannot tell you what the queue will be once it is officially open. Expect it to be the longest queue in the park for its first few months, and check the eligible ride list before you buy Universal Express.

Loose articles have to go in the lockers provided before you queue, so allow a few minutes for that.

The World Famous Studio Tour

📍 Location: Upper Lot
📏 Minimum height: None
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: Closed for the day by 5:14pm
🧍 Single rider: No

The World Famous Studio Tour is still the attraction Universal Studios Hollywood is built around. A tram takes you through the working backlot for roughly 60 minutes, the duration posted on the Studio Directory board, so use the toilet first.

Each tram has four or five carriages, and every tram carries a live guide and a driver. Unless you are on the VIP Experience, you stay on the tram the whole way round.

The big change since 2025 is what is missing. Fast & Furious: Supercharged, which used to close the tour, shut on 10 March 2025 and has not been replaced. King Kong 360 3-D is now the only 3D segment, and it is not optional, so warn small children before the tram rolls in.

The practical sets are the reason to ride. The highlights on my tour on 2 September 2026 were:

• The Bates Motel and the Psycho house
• The War of the Worlds plane crash site
• Jaws, which still gets a scream from the back rows
• The flash flood, which comes far closer to the tram than you expect

During Halloween Horror Nights season, in September and October, parts of the backlot are closed off for the event’s houses and the Terror Tram, so the daytime route is shortened. Mine on 2 September 2026 was already running the adjusted route.

It is a working studio, so you may be asked to keep quiet while a shoot is under way. The last tram also leaves well before park close, so ride the Studio Tour in the morning rather than leaving it for the last hour.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

📍 Location: Upper Lot
📏 Minimum height: 48″ (122cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 5 minutes
🧍 Single rider: Yes

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the motion simulator inside Hogwarts Castle in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The queue is half the attraction, winding through some of the most recognisable rooms in the castle:

• Dumbledore’s office
• The Gryffindor common room
• A Hogwarts classroom

If the wait is short, walk through even if you do not plan to ride.

You fly a broomstick over Hogwarts with Harry, Ron and Hermione, and it does not go smoothly for long. There are no 3D glasses, and the screen and the movement stay in sync, so it is easier on the stomach than the park’s other simulators.

Unfortunately, the restraint is the catch. It comes down over your head and locks in front of your chest, and the entrance sign warns it may restrict riders due to body shape and size. Try the test seat at the entrance before you queue.

The sign also asks you to keep your head firmly against the headrest for the whole ride.

Flight of the Hippogriff

📍 Location: Upper Lot
📏 Minimum height: 39″ (99cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 5 minutes
🧍 Single rider: Yes

Flight of the Hippogriff is one of the few outdoor rides at Universal Studios Hollywood, and until Hollywood Drift it was the only proper coaster in the open air. It sits next to Hogwarts in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and is one of the best rides at Universal Studios Hollywood for kids.

The queue winds past Hagrid’s hut and his pumpkin patch. The train is styled as a Hippogriff, the creature with the body of a horse and the head and wings of an eagle, and each carriage seats two side by side in the open air.

The ride itself is short and mild. One hill gives you a good view of Hogwarts Castle, then it is gentle twists, turns and small drops with no loops and no real speed. It rarely runs a long queue.

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem

📍 Location: Upper Lot
📏 Minimum height: 40″ (102cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 35 minutes
🧍 Single rider: No

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem is a motion simulator inside Gru’s house, close to the park entrance. The story turns you into a Minion and races you through Gru’s laboratory with Margo, Edith and Agnes along for the ride. The same ride runs at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando.

It drew the longest posted wait in the park on 1 September 2026, peaking at 55 minutes around 4:45pm while most rides showed five. Ride it first thing or in the last hour.

The seating is theatre-style, like The Simpsons Ride, with rows of motion seats facing a large curved screen and a lap bar on every seat. The movement is milder than The Simpsons, but if you are prone to motion sickness ask for one of the stationary seats.

Children between 40 and 48 inches must ride with a supervising companion.

Silly Swirly Fun Ride

📍 Location: Upper Lot
📏 Minimum height: None, but children must sit up on their own
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: Not shown on the board
🧍 Single rider: No

The Silly Swirly Fun Ride is in Super Silly Fun Land, just behind Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. It is the one ride in the park built for toddlers.

Each vehicle is a brightly coloured bug that circles a central point, high enough to see across the whole of Super Silly Fun Land. I took my son on it at 14 months old on an earlier visit, and he loved it.

A lever in each bug controls how high it flies. My son was not tall enough to reach it, which turned out to be useful, because it means an adult can keep the bug low for a child who is nervous of heights.

The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash

📍 Location: Upper Lot
📏 Minimum height: 34″ (86cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 15 minutes, Virtual Line or standby
🧍 Single rider: Yes

The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash is one of the best rides at Universal Studios Hollywood for younger children, and it has a surprisingly tall height requirement for what it is. The vehicles trundle through the streets of New York at about five miles an hour while you look for a forever home.

Each vehicle seats four in two rows of two, with a lap bar. It is one of the newer rides in the park and it shows, with sharp special effects and 64 animatronics along the route.

It runs a Virtual Line through the Universal Studios Hollywood app, which the Studio Directory board flags, but on 1 September 2026 the standby queue was open too. Check the app when you arrive and take whichever is shorter.

The Simpsons Ride

📍 Location: Upper Lot
📏 Minimum height: 40″ (102cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 30 minutes
🧍 Single rider: Yes

I love The Simpsons. Unfortunately, this is still the worst ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, and it kept that title on my September 2026 visit even with Hollywood Drift arriving. The problem is the motion sickness it causes.

The ride opened in 2008 and shares its concept with the Orlando version. Krusty the Clown has opened a low-budget theme park, Krustyland, and you and the Simpson family are thrown through it at speed, smashing and blasting through everything in the way.

It is a theatre-style motion simulator facing a domed screen, and the mismatch between what you see and how the seat moves is what turns stomachs. On 1 September 2026 it drew the second-longest posted wait in the park behind Minion Mayhem.

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge

📍 Location: Lower Lot, Super Nintendo World
📏 Minimum height: 40″ (102cm), 40 to 48″ with a companion
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 10 minutes
🧍 Single rider: Yes

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge was the newest ride at Universal Studios Hollywood until Hollywood Drift. It is the headline attraction in Super Nintendo World and uses augmented reality rather than a screen in front of you.

For its first year the queue regularly ran past two hours, and the Universal Express Pass did not cover it. That has changed. As of September 2026 Express does cover Mario Kart, and on the quiet Tuesday I visited it was close to a walk-on all afternoon.

The queue is an attraction in itself, winding through Bowser’s Castle with no interactive elements but a ridiculous level of detail:

• Bowser’s throne room, with the throne surrounded by trophies and battle gear
• The armoury, stacked with Koopa shells and Bob-ombs ready for the race
• The grand hall, with its statues of Bowser looming over the queue

You collect an AR visor from a team member near the boarding area, and a series of screens shows you how to fit it and how to play. It took me a couple of goes to get the hang of steering and throwing shells at the same time, so do not be put off by a low score on your first ride.

The ride uses a lap bar, which has to sit securely across your waist. There is a test seat at the entrance, on the right before the stairs.

Jurassic World: The Ride

📍 Location: Lower Lot
📏 Minimum height: 42″ (107cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 5 minutes
🧍 Single rider: Yes

Jurassic World: The Ride is the Lower Lot’s water ride, and the sets, animatronics and effects were rebuilt in a multi-million dollar refresh that still looks sharp. You board a boat in rows of five, with one lap bar across each row.

The premise is a calm tour of Jurassic World that goes wrong once a dinosaur gets loose. It ends with a 26m drop into the open air, where the crowd on the path gets to watch you take the splash.

You will get wet, and on a cool day you will stay wet, so ride it in the afternoon rather than first thing.

Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride

📍 Location: Lower Lot
📏 Minimum height: 48″ (122cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 5 minutes
🧍 Single rider: Yes

Until Hollywood Drift, Revenge of the Mummy was the scariest ride at Universal Studios Hollywood. It is now the second most intense, and the one to build up to if you are nervous about the new coaster.

It is an indoor coaster in the dark. It does not go upside down, but it reaches 45mph (72km/h) and runs backwards for a stretch, which is what catches most people out.

Seating is four across with an individual lap bar for each rider, and there is a test seat at the entrance.

Transformers: The Ride 3-D

📍 Location: Lower Lot
📏 Minimum height: 40″ (102cm)
⏱️ Posted wait, 1 Sept 2026: 5 minutes
🧍 Single rider: Yes

Transformers: The Ride 3-D is an indoor 3D simulator dark ride. You ride in EVAC, an Autobot, and join the mission to keep the AllSpark away from the Decepticons as the city comes apart around you.

Each EVAC seats three rows of four, with one lap bar per row. It tilts in every direction, slides on its base and spins a full 360 degrees while moving along a track, and that combination of 3D and real movement is a known motion-sickness trigger.

If you are doing both simulators in one day, ride this one before The Simpsons, not after.

Shows and Attractions That Are Not Rides

Three things on the Studio Directory board are attractions rather than rides, and every ranking of the park folds them in, so they belong here for completeness:

• DreamWorks Theatre Featuring Kung Fu Panda, a seated 4D show on the Upper Lot that the board lists at 15 minutes
• WaterWorld, the outdoor stunt show, which was still running daily during Halloween Horror Nights season in September 2026
• Raptor Encounter, the walk-up velociraptor meet next to Jurassic World: The Ride on the Lower Lot