Revealed: The Scariest Rides at Universal Studios Hollywood

Suppose you are a person who treasures the exhilaration and chills that riding scary amusement park rides offer. 

Your heart begins to race, and your palms get sweaty just from the excitement as you near the queuing area. If those descriptions scream you, then you must check out the superior and scariest rides that Universal Studios Hollywood has to offer. 

Located in stunning southern California, Universal Studios Hollywood delivers all the shouts, screams, and rushes you could imagine. 

Whether you want to engross yourself in a 3-D/4-D action ride, become a leading role in one of your favorite films, or even tumble through complete darkness, our list of the scariest rides at Universal Studios Hollywood will get you prepared and ready to go.

1. Revenge Of The Mummy: The Ride

Topping our list as the scariest ride at Universal Studios Hollywood is Revenge Of The Mummy: The Ride. Since the ride’s introduction in June of 2004, it has consistently earned the title of the scariest ride at the park. 

Revenge Of The Mummy: The Ride is tucked away in the park’s lower lot and commonly has standby wait times posted as over an hour due to the ride’s immense popularity. 

Revenge Of The Mummy: The Ride hurls you at speeds up to 45 mph in practically total darkness; as you “run” from the Mummy’s revenge. 

Around virtually every corner, thrills and excitement await you with adrenaline-pumping special effects and unpredictable twists.

Something different about the Revenge Of The Mummy: The Ride is that it is an actual physical ride, not a simulator or 3D/4D ride that Universal has been best known for skillfully developing over the years. 

The ride features nearly every potential monstrosity from ancient Egypt, including warrior mummies and a scarab beetle invasion. 

You will even catch a peek of the Egyptian god Imhotep when he materializes from sand in a mural and advises guests to “Serve me and savor the riches of eternal life.”

Revenge Of The Mummy: The Ride also includes a sudden launch, forwards and backward movement, and surround sound speakers inside the vehicles to keep the riders thoroughly immersed in the action.

The queue wraps the quests through the Museum of Antiquities, featuring props from the movie. It ends in a 1940s archaeological dig inside an Egyptian tomb complete with hieroglyphs and a giant statue of a scarab beetle. 

A fun fact about the ride’s queue is that many Egyptian hieroglyphics on the walls spell actual words and ancient prophecies.

Revenge Of The Mummy: The Ride utilizes safety restraints that may limit guests from riding due to body shape and size. Guests whose waistline is 40″ or greater may not be able to ride. 

Guests are strongly urged to try the test seat provided at the attraction entrance to guarantee their ability to ride Revenge of the Mummy safely and comfortably. Guests must also be 48″ (122 cm) tall to ride.

2. Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey

Next on our list is the fantastic ride, The Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey, located inside The Wizarding World and the world-famous Hogwarts area of Universal Studios Hollywood. 

The Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey is a motion-based dark ride with seating in an enclosed capsule that climbs and plunges on a track that ushers you through the backdrops of Hogwarts. 

The Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey ride flawlessly combines the sensations of a roller coaster with 3D screens and effects to make the ride appear more natural than nearly of its kind. 

The blend, however, can typically lead to motion sickness, but overall, the ride will get your heart pumping and your mouth screaming!

Along the way on the Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey ride, you will encounter a flight around Hogwarts castle and even bump into a few Dementors. 

You can also fly through a Quidditch match, just as every Harry Potter fan has always dreamed of doing. 

The Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey ride includes several drops, numerous twists, and turns but does not turn upside down. You are, however, at one point laying flat on your back in the ride.

The Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey ride utilizes safety restraints that may limit guests from riding due to body shape and size. 

Guests whose waistline is 40″ or greater may not be able to ride. Guests are strongly urged to try the test seat provided at the attraction entrance to guarantee their ability to ride Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey safely and comfortably. 

Guests must also be 48″ (122 cm) tall to ride.

3. Transformers: The Ride-3D

Ever since the ride Transformers: The Ride-3D appeared at Universal Studios Hollywood, it has been a fan favorite. 

You can find Bumblebee standing guard over the entrance to the ride in the Lower Lot area of the park. Transformers: The Ride-3D is an exhilarating, immersive thrill ride that seamlessly blurs the lines between movie life and real life. 

The ride transports you directly into the epicenter of a war as you battle alongside the well-known transformer Optimus Prime. Your goal during the ride is to try to persist as you guard the Allspark against the evil Decepticons.

Transformers: The Ride-3D utilizes a combination of 3D HD media and flight simulation technology, making this ride an adventure that impresses and excites super fans of the movie franchise and newbies as well.

Transformers: The Ride-3D features an interactive standby queue area, where you will spot stars from the films; you might even be able to snap a few pictures with them as well. 

4. Jurassic World: The Ride

Jurassic World: The Ride, located in the heart of the Lower Lot at Universal Studios Hollywood, is surrounded by realistic elements from the movie Jurrasic World. 

There is an excellent kid’s play area themed after dinosaurs nearby for those who want to skip a scary ride, and if you keep a close eye, you might even encounter a velociraptor. 

For those willing to travel to a forbidden world, Jurassic World: The Ride is waiting for you. The ride combines a dark ride with a water ride attraction that transports you straight into Jurassic World. 

Jurassic World: The Ride recently underwent a much-needed significant refurbishment and has just recently reopened. And fans are loving it! The ride features a huge 84ft drop and breathtaking rollercoaster technology advancements. 

The queue feels just like you are waiting for a ride in Isla Nublar, featuring posters and billboards describing the dinosaurs you might glimpse at the park. 

While in the queue, you can watch clips from “Jurassic World Network,” playing on tv monitors featuring even more dinosaur facts and unique interviews with characters from the movie.

5. The Simpsons Ride

Based on The Simpson’s famous animated television series, this ride is a motion simulator ride. The Simpsons Ride, located in Springfield, USA, is in the park’s Upper Lot. The ride itself is actually in the Krustyland theme park mask. 

The Simpsons Ride is a virtual reality roller coaster that will send you hurling through all the fictional town’s famous and infamous locations. 

Your journey begins when the sneaky Sideshow Bob sabotages Krustyland. As you travel along with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, you will find yourself cruising, dropping, twisting, and turning throughout the town. 

And while The Simpsons Ride merely involves you sitting in a Krusty-shaped vehicle and gazing at a giant screen, the motion platform that the vehicle sits on, mixed with the amazing 4D effects, makes the ride pretty realistic and ridiculously fun. 

The ride is so intense, in fact, that people with heart conditions, motion sickness, or claustrophobia should not indulge in this ride.

The queuing area offers almost as much excitement as the ride, featuring highly interactive areas with unique, never-before-seen Simpsons animations and features. 

Height requirements for The Simpson Ride is a minimum height of 40″ (101.6 cm), and anyone under 48″ (121.9cm) needs to be accompanied by a supervising companion. 

A quick warning, though, while The Simpsons Ride may look silly and childlike from the outside, if you are prone to motion sickness, you might what to rethink riding it. 

If motion sickness is not a concern, then strap in for some high-speed twists and turns that would make even Homer Simpson let out a famous “woo hoo” or two.

Final Note

Thrill rides are something you either love or hate. The idea of a controlled sense of fear and that unbelievable adrenaline rush is the perfect way to spend a day for many people. 

Universal Studios Hollywood is a great place for thrill seekers searching for scary rides. The park offers an action-packed experience all in one place. 

All the thrills and chills a heart can take are waiting for you at Universal Studios Hollywood. Whatever type of scary adventure you are looking for, we are sure you will find it at Universal Studios Hollywood. 

With our list of the scariest rides at Universal Studios Hollywood, you will absolutely find that perfect ride to make you scream.