Simpsons Ride Opens at Universal Studios Hollywood

Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the new Simpsons Ride opened to the public Monday, May 19, 2008 at Universal Studios Hollywood. Replacing the Back to the Future Ride, Springfield's Krustyland also offers a motion-simulator experience with animation projected on an 80-foot dome. The entrance to the "theme park within a theme park" is through a giant Krusty The Clown head. The waiting area takes you through a carnival midway populated by familiar characters from the TV show. The 24 characters are all voiced by the original actors.

Given that the ride seats 192 people at a time in groups of eight per car, the wait times I saw of 30 to 50 minutes on Tuesday before Memorial Day seemed unreasonable high for the few people who were in the park, so they may not have been running at full capacity. In any case, once kids are out of school the lines are bound to be crazy. A Front-of-the-Line Pass cuts the wait down to 5-10 minutes.

Read my Review of The Simpsons Ride.

For more ride details, visit www.simpsonsride.com. Buy Tickets.

Southern California locals act quickly to get $14 off the general admission price for tickets purchased by May 18, 2008, or an annual pass for the price of one day through June 1, 2008 only available online at www.universalstudioshollywood.com.

Read my Universal Studios Hollywood Visitors Guide.

Illustration courtesy of Universal Studios Hollywood