Franchise · Tertiary · since 1912
Universal Studios
A working backlot you can ride through, and the parks that build the best themed lands going. Every destination below (Hollywood, Orlando, Japan, Singapore, Beijing and Texas) links to its own official site.
Ride the Movies.
Universal Studios Hollywood, since 1964
Universal is the oldest of them (1912, older than Disney by eleven years), and it started letting people onto the lot to watch films being shot before it ever thought of itself as a theme park. The tram tour came first; the rides were built along the route afterwards.
That origin still shows. Disney builds you a place and asks you to believe you live in it. Universal builds you a set and lets you see the seams on purpose, because the point was always that a film was made here. Both work. Universal is just funnier about it, and it takes bigger swings on the rides.
The Studio Tour: older than the theme park built around it, and still the point of Hollywood