There’s Christmas magic, and then there’s Christmas movie magic. This month at Universal Studios Hollywood, the park is doubling down on all things cinematic and magical with special celebrations at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and in Whoville, for Grinchmas, inspired by The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
Celebrating Christmas Like Harry Potter
There’s magic in the air at Wizarding World at any time of year, but during Christmas, that magic gets taken up a level. Hogwarts Castle, which you walk through before getting on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride, has decorations throughout, including Christmas Trees in the Gryffindor Common Room and wreaths around the Sorting Hat. Three Broomsticks serves a special English Holiday Dinner, with roasted turkey, sourdough stuffing, ginger-glazed carrots, Brussels sprouts and a bacon-wrapped sausage – plus Hot Butterbeer, which is a butterscotch version of hot chocolate.
A lot of the entertainment in Wizarding World comes from making magic happen around the town: swish and flick your wand and you’ll illuminate lanterns, levitate Quidditch balls or even come close to letting a dragon out of its lair. There are also performances from “visiting” students from other wizarding schools – Durmstrang and Beauxbatons – who are staying at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament that happens in the fourth book and movie of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In it, there’s a Yule Ball, which is a Christmas dance. The special holiday entertainment at the park this season centers on that Yule Ball: the frog choir sings Yule Ball songs, which are sort-of Christmas carols; and the light show that illuminates Hogwarts Castle every evening is Yule Ball -themed, too. After each evening’s performance of The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle, the music swells and “snow” starts to fall from the sky. Even though it’s really only special effects, it still feels a little magical all the same.
Stealing Christmas Like The Grinch At Grinchmas
In another part of the park, there’s an entirely different take on Christmas. There, the Whos are celebrating the season in Whoville, and The Grinch is having some conflicted feelings about the holiday. The warning signs he put up all around his cave telling people to stay away have all been painted over with messages of welcome, and he and his dog Max will come out at different times throughout the day to take photos. Clearly, we’re meeting the Grinch whose heart has already grown three sizes. Once the sun sets, there’s a performance by The Grinch, who lights the 65-foot Christmas tree. Then, there’s a dance party in Whoville, complete with snow falling from the sky. In what might be the most true-to-Seuss detail, the restaurant next to the Grinchmas attraction is serving Who Hash, a corned-beef-and-tater-tot concoction that’s surprisingly tasty, and Grinch cupcakes.
Other Food & Festivity Around The Park
One of the most beloved features at Universal Studios Hollywood is the Studio Tour, which takes visitors through real working sets that have been used in some of Hollywood’s biggest movies. The downside to visiting in December, though, is that it’s a busy time for filming, so you don’t get access to all of the areas. It all depends on what sets are being used on what day. While you’ll probably be able to glimpse inside one of the sound stages for Superstore or The Voice as you drive by, you won’t be able to visit every place on set – on my December visits, “Little Europe” was being used by The Good Place, and the “Metropolitan Set” was being used by Good Girls. The other upside: if you’re especially lucky, you might catch a celebrity driving by your tram in a golf cart. You do, though, get to see the actual Whoville set from the live action version of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, all lit up for the holidays.
Around the park, there are other festive touches that make it feel like Christmas: twinkling lights all over the palm trees, hot cocoa cupcakes at French Street Bistro, and photos with snowmen on the New York set as a bantering couple in an upstairs window shout holiday greetings to passersby. It really does feel like the holidays, even if you’re still wearing shorts – because it’s still Los Angeles, even if it’s December, and it will probably be warm enough for you to go to the beach tomorrow.
