In addition to their holiday offerings, all our favorite rides are still running amidst the festivities and the whole park is decked out for the holidays. I finally got to try out the Mario Kart ride in Super Nintendo World, and it was absolutely surreal. It was perhaps the best ride I have ever been on, period. Personally, I am still thinking about how cool it was to see Rainbow Road come to life! Also, the studio tour on the tram is also one I always, always recommend — it’s loads of fun and a nice chance to get off your feet for a bit!
Universal Studios was kind enough to give me an express pass for the day, and I cannot stress enough how much easier and, frankly, more fun the park was with it. The Grinchmas tree lighting and Hogwarts light shows are both pre-scheduled, and it was already pretty tricky to arrange a time during our trip to watch both…and then rework our schedule several times because the ride we were in line for was taking longer than we’d expected or we were too far away in the park to make it in time. You can definitely still see all the holiday happenings and ride some rides without it, but I’d 1,000% recommend getting there right when the park opens to do so and planning to make a whole day of it.
