Universal CityWalk Hollywood opens its doors as the park inches closer to reopening

Following in the footsteps of its sister park in Florida, Universal CityWalk Hollywood reopened to guests this week. Join us as we take a tour of the new social distancing requirements, and look at some of the changes around the area!

universal citywalk hollywood
Photos by Joseph Spencer

Parking is free for the time being at CityWalk. However, you do still need to get a ticket from the ticket booths. All parking is done in the Jurassic Parking Garage.

parking

Inside the garage, cars are parked with an extra space between them to maintain social distancing guidelines.

universal citywalk hollywood

Near the temperature check station, there is a vending machine that offers face masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer in case you forgot any of those items.

vending machine

Here’s a closer look at what is available inside the vending machine.

universal citywalk hollywood
safety information
universal citywalk hollywood
entrance sign
universal citywalk hollywood

Before you enter CityWalk proper, you are required to go through a temperature check station, and you’ll exit outside Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. in the main hub.

mini monster
universal citywalk hollywood
physical distancing

Throughout the area, there are plenty of ground markers to help you stay appropriately distanced from other guests, even outside of businesses that are still closed.

universal citywalk hollywood

Right now, there are very limited offerings, but some stores, such as Sephora, appear to be opening on June 20.

universal studio store
universal citywalk hollywood

While the Universal Studio Store, located right before the entrance to Universal Studios Hollywood, is still closed, they seem ready to open soon.

the secret life of pets

They’re also ready for the opening of the new “The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash!” attraction that was originally set to open this spring. You can see some of the merchandise available through the windows.

The ticket plaza, which holds the world-famous Universal Studios globe, is open and available for guests to take pictures!

universal studios hollywood
universal citywalk hollywood
universal studios hollywood
universal citywalk hollywood

Closer to the actual ticket and entry gates, you can see that they are preparing for the opening with plenty of social distancing markers in place, or at least are planned to be put down.

bubba gump

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. has both indoor and outdoor seating available. The merchandise shop is also open, however, there were no social distancing markers inside of it.

universal citywalk hollywood
voodoo doughnut

Voodoo Doughnut is handing out paper menus and also has a QR code so you can open the menu on your phone. Despite this, the team member I spoke to wasn’t sure if the QR Code was active yet or not.

universal citywalk hollywood

Buca Di Beppo is also open and seating every other table. They even have their own unique social distancing markers.

universal cinema
universal citywalk hollywood
amc imax

The Universal Cinema, which is run by AMC, is closed for the time being. It was interesting to see movie posters for “Onward,” “The Invisible Man,” and “I Still Believe” still hanging outside. One major change to the theater is that the touch screen ticket stations outside appear to have been removed.

universal citywalk hollywood
cityfood

Throughout the CityFood food court, tables are spaced out over 6 feet apart. It doesn’t seem that they are doing an ‘every other table’ scenario but things are very spaced out.

universal citywalk hollywood

It appears that “Smash Burger” has closed and will be replaced by a Habit Burger Grill.

toothsome chocolate emporium
universal citywalk hollywood
toothsome chocolate emporium

At the very least, exterior work is continuing on the former Hard Rock Cafe site, which will soon be a West Coast version of Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen.

universal citywalk hollywood
team members

During my visit, I saw several maintenance team members both cleaning throughout CityWalk and touching up paint and other cosmetic details.

universal citywalk hollywood
bubba gump

Nearly every bench in CityWalk has reminders about social distancing, even the ship’s mast outside of Bubba Gump!

universal citywalk hollywood
nbc sports grill & brew
universal citywalk hollywood
nbc sports grill & brew

Work continues on the former Tony Roma’s restaurant, soon to be the NBC Sports Grill & Brew. In fact, you can see some signage on the inside that already displays the logo for the new establishment.

universal citywalk hollywood

Everyone enters and exits Universal CityWalk Hollywood through the same point into the Jurassic Parking Garage outside Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. While this is nice for convenience, it does create a little bit of a pinch point as visitors can’t stay 6 feet away from each other through the entrance and exit.

Overall, Universal CityWalk Hollywood has done a lot of work to make sure that its grounds are prepared for opening in a socially-distanced world. It’s heartening to see work being done looking towards the future, and it will be exciting to see what’s next for Universal Studios Hollywood.

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4 Comments

  1. Thank you for the very detailed information! I was wondering about that company that does the weightless floating (sorry can’t recall the name) — wondering if it is open yet?