In November, we spent a week visiting Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. The hotel we stayed in was across the street from Disneyland, which was convenient for the 3 days we spent there, but provided a challenge when we wanted to go to Universal Studios.

It’s only 36 miles (58 km) of direct freeways from Disneyland to Universal Studios. Unfortunately, that stretch of freeway passes through downtown Los Angeles and is often very congested. According to Google Maps, it normally takes 1 hr 5 min to 2 hr 20 min to drive that section in the morning. The last thing I wanted on our vacation was to be another person stuck in L.A. traffic complaining about L.A. traffic.

So I did some research and figured out how to get to Universal Studios using the regional trains (Metrolink) and subway (Metro). It was definitely more complicated than just taking a rideshare vehicle, but the total time was similar (1 hour 50 minutes), it was way cheaper ($36 for a family of three vs $90 USD), and I love a good public transit adventure. If you’re like me, sitting on a train is way more enjoyable than being stuck in freeway traffic.

Google Maps will give you decent public transit directions from Fullerton to Universal City Station, with a transfer at L.A. Union. It’s the best tool for figuring out train schedules and timing, but if you plug in your hotel and Universal Studios as start/end points it won’t give you the best route. It’s often missing the most efficient way to get to Fullerton (take a Lyft/Uber) and doesn’t know about the free Universal shuttle that picks you up at the Metro station.

Here are more detailed instructions.

Step 1 – Rideshare to Fullerton Station

The first step is getting to a train station. Anaheim is the closest station to Disneyland, but Fullerton is only a few minutes farther and gives you twice as many train options, with the orange and blue (91/Perris Valley) lines converging before heading to Los Angeles. If there are problems on one of the lines, then you’ll be able to catch the next train coming down the other line (which is what happened to us).

Fullerton station is only 12 minutes by car and costs about $10 for an Uber or Lyft, depending on where your hotel is.

Step 2 – Metrolink Train to L.A. Union Station

The Metrolink trains are clean and comfortable double-deckers with washrooms and tables between some of the seats. This was the most relaxing part of the journey and we amused the kids with Harry Potter activities to get them excited about the theme park.

The train ride takes about 43 minutes and costs $8.50/person.

Step 3 – L.A. Union Transfer

Once your train pulls into L.A. Union, you need to transfer to the subway. It takes about 6 minutes to walk from the above-ground train platforms to the bellow-ground subway – look for the “Metro B (Red) Line”. Everything is pretty well signed.

There’s a cool piece of art at the top of the escalators called A-Train. Unfortunately, it was broken when we visited. When it’s working, it will do celebrity impersonations if you speak the right names into a speaker on the plaque, like “Johnny Weissmuller”, “Duke Ellington”, and “Marilyn Monroe.”

Step 4 – Metro Subway to Universal City Station

Your Metrolink ticket includes free transfers to the L.A. Metro subway system, so hang onto it and scan it to open the fare gates. The train you want is the B Line (Red), which departs every 12 minutes (schedule). This part of the journey feels much slower, as the train makes 12 stops and takes 27 minutes to reach the Universal City/Studio City Station.

Step 5 – Shuttle to Universal Studios

After departing the subway station, take the pedestrian flyover to the other side of the street and wait for the free shuttle up the hill to the entrance to Universal Studios Hollywood.

Our shuttle arrived just as we were crossing the pedestrian bridge (it might be timed with the subway) and left a few minutes later (no need to run). It takes less than 10 minutes to get to the park entrance and saves you a walk up the hill.

Summary

Los Angeles is known for its extensive freeways and horrible public transit. While the freeways only get more congested every year, the public transit system is seeing steady improvements. A lot of the expert websites I read before our trip told me to just rent a car, but I’m glad I ignored them and figured out how to get to Universal Studios by public transit.

We took an Uber home at the end of the day because Metrolink trains don’t run that often in the evening (only 3 departures after 5:30 pm). It’s also not as fun on the train once it gets dark.

Taking an Uber back to our hotel took 90 minutes and cost $90, and gave us a taste of stop-and-go freeway traffic that validated our decision to take the train in the morning. Admittedly, our Uber was still faster to drive (90 minutes in the car vs 110 minutes on public transit), but it cost 2.5x more ($90 vs $36) and was far less enjoyable.

The main downside to taking public transit is the crappy frequency. Metrolink trains primarily serve the commuter rush, so if you want to travel outside of that time you might be forced to use a car. And the L.A. Metro subway trains have horrible headways. For a world-class city, it’s pretty embarrassing to have 12-minute waits between subway trains during rush hour.

I’ve read that Metrolink is usually pretty reliable, but they do share track with freight trains and delays can happen for all kinds of reasons. We were unlucky enough to have a 20-minute delay for our Metrolink train because of some problem. But we had given ourselves a bit of buffer and still arrived at Universal Studios right at opening time.