How to Meet the Grinch at Universal Studios Hollywood

The Grinch has become an increasingly popular character to meet at both Universal theme parks with wait times often exceeding a few hours!

The viral popularity of the Grinch interactions is just another viral trend on social media that has impacted wait times at theme parks this year.

The Grinch does multiple meet and greets throughout the day at Universal Studios Hollywood so let's get into how to meet him during your visit.

Grinchmas at Universal

The Grinch character interaction is part of the celebration of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas with popular characters from the movie ready to share their Wholiday with guests. Grinchmas includes entertainment with the famous Whos plus a giant 65-foot-tall Grinchmas tree which stands in the center of Who-ville.

Grinchmas activities include photo ops with the Grinch and his dog Max, storytime with Cindy-Lou Who, and a visit to the Who-ville post office.

How to Meet the Grinch

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You can meet the Grinch in three locations: in the Universal Plaza, outside the Studio Tour, and at the Lower Lot Annual Pass Member meet and greet.

The easiest option of the three is the Universal Plaza where the majority of the Grinchmas celebrations are taking place. The lefthand side of the Grinchmas tree is where the Grinch is greeting guests throughout the day. This is his main area for character interactions and this line is also the longest to meet him! Usually the line is around an hour but sometimes even longer. I recommend going past here towards the end of the night as this is when the line will be most reasonable.

The Grinch will sometimes meet guests spontaneously outside of the exit of the Studio Tour. This tends to happen most often on weekends and this is easily the shortest wait time to meet the Grinch. But there is no set schedule for this meet and greet so there tends to be a bit of luck that goes into meeting him here.

For those with a Universal Studios Hollywood annual pass, you can meet the Grinch with a shorter wait time in the Lower Lot. On select days pass members can meet the Grinch from 12PM to 6:30PM, the remaining days of the season for this opportunity are December 7, 8, 14 and 15.

Meet Max the Dog

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Max the Dog is also available in the Universal Plaza for meet and greets and his wait times tend to be much shorter since the interactions are far quicker than the Grinch.

Grinch Entertainment With No Wait Times

If you just want a chance to see the Grinch and don't care about meeting him one on one, he's the main star of the Grinchmas holiday show in the Universal Plaza. The Grinchmas Who-liday Tree Lighting includes a main appearance from the Grinch along with Cindy-Lou Who and other Who characters. It's a fun show and ends with a snowfall in the plaza. The show is about 15 minutes long and runs multiple times throughout the evening. If you want a good spot, grab a seat on the benches at least 30 minutes prior to showtime or earlier.

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