Updates! Universal Has Crazy Good Wait Times Right Now

Hey, what's going on everybody? Rick here and this is what's happening right now at Universal Studios Florida. Now there are some things I need to share with you about CityWalk, but I'm gonna save that till the end of the video. Well, it looks like Universal has completed the repainting of the administration building. The whole thing is white now, but that leads me to another question. Do we think they're going to paint the archway here? Will this be made white as well? If you look at Hollywood, Universal Studios Hollywood, their arch is white. I think it's a good possibility, but you let me know what you think in the comment section below. And for today's video, I will reply to every comment left after the first 48 hours posting. Let's enter the theme park, shall we? They have been doing just facial recognition. No pass or ticket needed. Just show your face. Right after you scan through, the restrooms to the left are under a major renovation. Supposed to take about five months. All I can say is they need to be completed before Halloween Horror Night starts. They are not playing any music at the archway or the front of the park. They're doing some special filming around here. I saw Joy Fatone earlier. A little promo adverts being done, I suppose. As usual, we're going to go this way. I almost went the other way today, but there is an update like down that way. One that we kind of helped make happen, so I want to share it with you sooner rather than later. Well, these construction walls are still here and we've got music playing down Hollywood Boulevard. I guess they're not going to do any filming or promotional work down here, and they're playing a new song. I've never heard this song on Hollywood Boulevard. They have added some new music around the park. I've noticed Cyndi Lauper and Madonna in New York City. I don't recognize this song they're playing right now, though. The Mystery Machine today is parked the opposite way. It's actually kind of the wrong way for the side of the street it's on. No ticket yet. I can see they have a bag of Scooby Snacks up there on the dash. Inside the Brown Derby, they still have some Mardi Gras merchandise. 70% off. Even the Spirit shirts over here, which I'm trying to remember if Nikki bought one of these for full price last year. Looks like the only size they have is extra small. And they still have a section for the Irish stuff that was in Rosie's Irish Imports, which is now closed. And a small section for like Super Nintendo merchandise. A little bit. A few little items there. Well, this is interesting. The first song, new song I heard, mentioned the word Hollywood a lot. The one that just ended was, is it Smash Mouth? Who sings all-star? Hey, now you're an all-star. So, oh my goodness. This is, this is crazy. Now I hear Taylor Swift. Yeah, it's more, it's like City Walk music. And I'm not liking it. I'm not liking it. I like the more classic, you know, music from like Marilyn Monroe's era. Then we have some more VIP people getting trained up. A whole new batch of VIP tour guides. But enough of my opinion. Let's talk to some people on the street. What does Beetlejuice think about the new music they're playing here? It's Taylor Swift right now, bro. Who? Taylor Swift. Yeah, that's exactly who. Yeah, I've never heard of her. That juice is like, what? That's what it is. It's killing him is what it's doing. This music is just killing him. Beetlejuice, not a Swifty or maybe he's becoming a Swifty. Now I know you guys really couldn't hear it. I was kind of talking over it. I didn't want any copyrights. But what do you think of the change in music for Hollywood Boulevard? Taylor Swift. Smash Mouth. More up-to-date music versus classic Hollywood era music. Let me know. I should have mentioned this as I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard. The parade path of the Mega Movie Parade. But I was so distracted by the new music I forgot. But returning May 23rd, which is a Saturday, at 7 p.m. The Mega Movie Parade. I will be here doing a live stream for the return of that parade. We'll see if it's the same as usual or if they've added anything new. Regardless, it's a great parade to see. So we'll bring that to you live May 23rd, 7 p.m. The DreamWorks Land looking a little quiet today. But I do have an update for you in here. Here at Swamp Snacks. Last update video, we learned that the Swamp Dog was now $10.49, but the sign was still wrong. It used to say $9.99 here until we alerted the problem to team members. They fixed it. It now has the correct price of $10.49. And I am still sad that it is no longer an under $10 item. It is so quiet, so empty in DreamWorks Land today. Oh my goodness. The troller coaster just went by and there was only one person on the ride. She did choose the front row. Let's go this way and I'll show you how to get a cool little shot of the troller coaster in action. All right, here it goes again. A little more people on it this time. Is it full this time? Let's see. Yeah, it's actually full this time. Or maybe the last one's empty. The last little car. But get a whole shot. The whole view of the troller coaster from here. You can see exactly how long it lasts and everything you do on it. A little kiddie coaster. Ta-da! That's it. By the way, the ground in this play area, the little rubberized stuff they used, is so bouncy. I love it. They should have just done the whole epic theme park this way. Since it's a new theme park, new technology, instead of concrete. Probably would have been expensive. But it would have been way more comfortable on your feet. So, so bouncy. This is the cushiness. Is that a word? So cushy. This is so cushy. So bouncy. It's the best theme park surface I've ever been on. E.T. is just a 10-minute wait. I think I'll ride it today. Give you just a few highlights of the ride. All right, let's get our interplanetary passport. Now this is what I call a cozy mosey. I don't think the the scent is as strong as it used to be from like years and years ago. I think it's more subtle now. People heed my call. Heed his call. I had one of those. Jackson Springs right there. Sorry it's not smell-o-vision. So you can get a hint of that, that like pine smell. All right, about time for us to board our bicycle. Wait, they got E.T. Uh-oh, trouble. Hold it right there. You're under. Whoa! Yeah, we're flying. Yeah, we are. E.T. did a very good job saying my name today. Well, look at that. Those crepe myrtles are already blooming. And this one, I don't know if you can see it. I'm going to zoom in on it anyway. It has some Mardi Gras beads in it. It's a nice day to be walking around the park. Mostly cloudy. High right now, or the temperature right now is just 74 degrees. It will get a little higher, but very pleasant right now. All right, the love tester. Last time I was Hubba Hubba. Let's see what it is today. Oh no, we're down a notch today. It's been a while. Let's get a little shot with my man Duffman. Are we twinning? Correct me if I'm wrong, but in the past didn't the Kwik-E-Mart have like a mug that had like some like that gel in it so you would keep the mug in the freezer so it would be like a frosted mug all the time? I don't see it anymore. I kind of wanted that. Team member says they are just out of stock. It is coming back. Just like E.T., the Simpsons ride just a 10-minute wait, but unlike E.T., I have no desire to go on it today. The bridge to London has some temporary fencing here. Oh, they're staining it. Oh, you can even smell it right now. They're staining the bridge to London. It's gonna look nice with that darker stain. It might be again another 10-minute wait. Single Rider line's open too. I will go on this today and hopefully I can break. Let's try to break 700k today. And here we are in the Single Rider queue. Well, I missed my goal. 629.1k. So, uh, I missed it by, you know, like 70k. Still pretty good though. I can do better than that guy. He's right there. Okay. I wonder what other rides are just a 10-minute wait. Hopefully, it'll be the mummy. There's the HHN Stadium sponsored by Spirit Halloween. Maybe Gringotts is just the 10-minute wait. We'll see in a few minutes once we get inside. But first, I have to do a food review. I've actually already done it. It was in a live stream. I got the sausage roll wrapped in a flaky pastry dough for $14. Let me tell you about it. As I said in the live stream, it was okay. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. The sausage wasn't very spicy. I like a spicier, like, hotter sausage. So, the sausage inside was just okay. It was a pretty good, uh, light and flaky roll that it was in. It was very flaky. Very flaky. I liked it best when I tried it with the spicy brown mustard. And now, when I did this on the live stream, my UK friends, uh, they disagreed. They're like, we don't eat it with mustard, Rick. But I will say, I liked it better with the mustard. So, and that would be my advice to you. If you do get it, um, it is a hearty meal, though. It's a hearty little snack. It will hold you over till you get to the next real meal, is to, uh, get the spicy brown mustard and eat it that way. All right, Gigan Alley. Let's see what's happening here today. Looks a little quiet already. Celestine and Warwick and the Banshees performing at the moment. I'll give you 10 or 15 seconds of this. Escape from Gringotts is a 25 minute wait. Unacceptable. I wanted 10. Let's go check on the mummy. Today, we're going to give you a unique perspective on the Gringotts dragon. Right there's Gigan Alley. Up above, from behind, we have the dragon. Trust me, it's coming. Any second. Here it comes. Celestine and Warwick and the Banshees still performing, but this is the last number of the set. Look at all the prams. Look at all those strollers. That's a different, uh, place for them. In case you're wondering, Globus Mundi still closed, as is Wands by Gregorovitch. Now into San Francisco. Home to the Chinese hamburger, which is right here. I like that Chinese hamburger more than that sausage roll in London. They've moved the signage for Bar 41 on the pier. A little more out here on the street. It's located way back there behind Lombard's. I had the bruschetta. Fantastic. Um, they don't have prices on the board here, so I'll walk back this way and try to find the price. And I can't remember. I showed it the other day. I know. I just can't remember. I don't think there was anything like under $12. I think that's my new mark as an affordable snack. What's this? Do we have pricing on here? We do. The bruschetta was $14. The sweet and spicy chicken bites $14. $16 for the beef skewers. Those are good though. I think those are kind of like the same thing they had for Mardi Gras. My new mark for a good cheap snack. Do I have to raise that to $15 or under? Looking that way. The exit to Fast and Furious still has the cars removed. We have arrived at Chez Alcatraz just in time for Murph to do the shark show. So I really like the orange blossom pilsner here. The honey they put in it is from local orange blossoms. So that's pretty cool. Next month smash burgers coming to Richter's. Oh no. Looks like I'm too late for the rock and spill but they're still performing. Safety is universal. Exactly. Yeah. And just to make sure Lauren here is extra safe. We're going to lower down that line. How are you feeling up there Lauren? I'm doing pretty good. Pretty good. And what's that you say? You guys are amazing. Oh you're amazing. All right now for everyone else we need your help on this one. Put those hands together for us one more time. We're going to see how fast you can build these beats. Building some beats. All right let's do this. Yeah keep it going. Don't stop. Don't stop. You're doing great Lauren. Into New York City and you can see today really really a light crowd. So as the beat builders finish up over there I can hear jazz playing on Delancey. Looks like the blues brothers are getting ready to start. There's a look at the Finnegan's facade that's all torn up. I think that's going to be the area perhaps of the indoor outdoor bar. The mummy. Also a 10 minute wait. I'm getting on this too. They have the indoor section like all roped off like they're going to use the indoor queue for the mummy. So obviously they're not doing any work for a Halloween Horror Nights tribute store here. That's going to make me guess that the HHN tribute store is going to be back on Hollywood Boulevard. I mean I guess they could still work on it in there but right now it looks like they have no intention of doing so. All right guys I am going to go hop on the mummy today. Apparently 10 minute or wait time ride day for me. I wish I could take you with me. Is it working? It is. It is. It's working. I guess I'll show you a little more of the queue. Reach for it. Oh it got me. Might as well show you all this since I can't take you on the ride. Unless I might have some stock footage. But I guess now we'll end the video for you. I'm going to hop on the ride now. I'll let you know how it was. That was super fun and just like the other rides today I'll walk on. Today has just been, I don't know if I have a lot of updates in this video but I am having a good time. Here is what the construction is looking like today for Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift. Lots of action in there. I'm excited to have a new ride especially since I had given up on riding Rip Ride Rocket so I'm really looking forward to this new ride. But with that being said Universal still needs to add another ride here. This is a replacement ride. The ride count number is not rising because of Fast and Furious Hollywood Drift. It's just replacing Rip Ride Rocket. They need to add another roller coaster I think or a thrill ride on the other side of the park. Now back to talking about the music that's in the park. Disco Inferno is playing right now in New York City. Again like I said earlier leave a comment. I'll reply to it. What do you guys think about the changing of the music here? I've already told you I'm not in favor of it. I don't like it. Construction walls still here right by Minions right before you enter New York City. Like I said earlier in a previous video pretty sure it's some concrete or underground work. And while you're leaving comments in the comment section let me know what should I do for 4th of July? Should I be here at Studios or should I be live streaming at Epic Universe? They'll have more activity like here I think at Music Plaza. But I believe the fireworks will be better at Epic Universe. Now I believe at the beginning of the video I did promise some updates in City Walk. So we're gonna make our way back to City Walk. Show you some things I skipped over. When I first came in though and I did record it but I don't think I'm going to show it. They were doing some filming. Promotional work it looked like. Joy Fatone it looked like to me. And they had a bunch of cameras out there. He was kind of doing a walk and talk. Not exactly sure what they were promoting but I recorded it from the balcony or upstairs the second level of City Walk. And then when I got done I came back down and I could hear one of the production crew stop someone from taking a photo of Joy Fatone. So I'm not going to include the footage of Joy Fatone doing his little commercial or whatever. As it appears they don't want any of that. Or I guess I could I could make it real blurry. I'll blur it out. Or you guys could just take my word for it. Joy Fatone doing promotional work for Universal in City Walk today. So that was one update but we have more once we get out there. Something I promised to show you I think on Friday. Friday's update video for Islands. I promised I would go back to City Walk and show you this particular thing. So I'm going to keep my promise. No Hello Kitty right now but that is where she hangs out. And there's the bathrooms I mentioned that are going to be or currently being refurbed, renovated. And yeah you gotta have those done by HHN don't you think? That HHN food's a little crazy. We need all the bathrooms we can have around here for HHN. I realize that's a weird comment to make but it's true. So outside of the NBC Sports Grill and Brew have a little sign here for the Kentucky Derby. Saturday May 2nd 12 to 8 p.m. I guess they're doing a little special viewing here. Live entertainment. Specialty drink offerings. Reservations highly encouraged for the Kentucky Derby viewing at NBC Sports Grill and Brew. Here we go. Universal FanFest Nights merchandise which is not an Orlando event. It's a Universal Hollywood event but we get merchandise at least. The very least. So some Sailor Moon. $35 for that little t-shirt. I don't have my glasses on me. This will be difficult. More Sailor Moon. These. I don't know what. Oh it's their mugs. It's a mug. Okay there. There we go. Here's the other picture. You can see that a little better versus looking at it through the the plastic. Pricing $25. Let's get you back where you were. Oh here is a a Spirit. Spirit jersey for Sailor Moon. Look at that pink. That pink and gold there. Pretty Guardian. Sailor Moon. Universal Studios. That's the back of it. And there's the front. $85 as usual for a Universal Spirit jersey. We have this mug over here. A different mug. This one's $20. Let's see. Make sure that's in focus for you. My eyes are not in focus so hopefully that's in focus for you. There's one side. Anything on the other side? Just the words there. So that for Sailor Moon. Looks like a pin here. Yes a pin. $17 for the Sailor Moon pin. Let's see. On the side over here we have Dungeons and Dragons. D&D. A $65 hoodie. Zips up the front. That's the left chest. You have something on the arm here. The left arm has a graphic that goes all the way to the back. Okay so it wraps around. That's the wings. Wraps around. The dragon wings. Wraps around the back to part of the left and right sleeves. $65 for it. What is this bag? What's the bag? It's $75. Is it? Oh it's a Dungeons and Dragons bag. All right. That's the front of it. Let's see. Can I open it up for you? There you go. What did I say for that? $75 for the Dungeons. The D&D bag. And another hoodie. This one. Oh it's more like a kind of a fleece hoodie but it does pull over your head. There are pockets. There are pockets on the front as well. The sleeve here says Dungeons and Dragons. Front graphic. Is there anything on the back? No I didn't think so. Not with a front graphic. They usually don't double up front and back for graphics. $65 for that D&D hoodie. Can I see what it's made out of? I can't. Like I said I didn't bring my glasses. It's 60% cotton and 40% polyester is that. And more D&D roll for intimidation. D&D t-shirt. Nice green color. $35 for it. Potion of Healing water bottle. $28. Take a good look there. Okay. A D&D tray. I think it's leather. Leather tray. For $25. I think I saw this weeks ago. I think maybe the Lost Continent. I saw something like that. And we have some Adventure Dice set for D&D. I don't see the price on this one. Oh here we go. $35 for it. Cleric. And then Wizard. Should be the same pricing. And another D&D t-shirt. $35. And is this? I don't know D&D but we have an owl. I'm assuming it's somehow related to D&D. $45 for that big plush. The big plush there. Same thing over here but it's like a keychain plush. What's the pricing of this one? $35 for the... Is it an owl? It doesn't make... No. Yes. No. It can. Yes. No. I don't know. You tell me. You guys got to tell me about this. The face obviously looks like an owl. That's quite the body for an owl though. Okay. Oh more pins. I'm sorry. My lack of D&D knowledge is disturbing. Two pins there for $14. And I showed you a little bit of the One Piece merchandise the other day. I didn't show you this side. Also for Universal Fan Fest Nights. $35 for that tank top. We have this little item here to put on a desk or whatever. The ship there. Seems fragile. Like if I lift it up I'm going to take it apart. I've got to be careful here. Let's see the price. Don't want to break it. If I break it I may have to buy it. $30. Okay. There we go. Let's get back in there safely. $30 for that. Keep that on your desk or whatever. Some type of necklace here. A One Piece necklace. $55. There's other charms there. I can't really can't see them. But down there below the main the main piece of the of the necklace there's some it looks like two or three charms down there to go with it for $55. I'm a little surprised at the price. And then this cap. $28 for it. That's the only graphic you see right there. Right there on the front. Then we have reversible plushies in this box. It's a mystery box. $12. So you don't know what you're going to get with these reversible plushies. Those Oh here's your options. Could be these. Okay. And is that the end of it? I think I showed you. I showed in the other video. I showed you all that. I surely did. What about the other side? Oh I don't think I showed this side. $35 for that One Piece t-shirt. The hoodie looks pretty cool. I'm not gonna lie. That's a pretty good looking hoodie. I like the coloring of that. $65. Pull over your head hoodie. Pockets in the front. Graphic in the front means no graphic in the back. But wait a second. Holy smokes. It's double graphic. There's a graphic on the back too. That's rare. You hardly see double graphic. Well that's a steal. No no not really. $65. I showed that. Here's your water bottle for One Piece. Again. Fan fest nights at Hollywood. Not here. $30 for this water bottle. Let me rotate it around for you. There you go. One Piece. Very very popular anime. Also there's a live action on Netflix. The magnet here. $14. 14 bucks for the magnet. And then what are these? It's a mystery collection. It's a mystery to me. Oh there you go. That's I guess they're pins. Yeah they're pins. You never know what you're gonna get there. And the price of these. $16 for your mystery pin. Uh one last I think. Oh no no let me go to the other side as well. But we have this here. One Piece puzzle. Is it a puzzle? It's a Funko. Anyways it's uh. I don't see a price. No price. It's One Piece. It's a it's a little uh it's a vinyl. Okay there we go. It's a vinyl. It's a mystery. And this side I showed I showed the uh Lounge Fly the other day. I didn't show the hat. I saw someone wearing this today in the park. $35 for the very colorful very bright yellow One Piece cap or hat I should say. That's gonna do it for today but I will be live tomorrow night at Epic Universe. Thanks for watching. Don't miss the magic. Don't miss the fun. See you then.