Last month, I was fortunate enough to do the Universal Studios Hollywood VIP Tour when I visited the park for the first time. Given that it’s an expensive day, I thought I would write an overview of the day and a list of pros/cons to help anyone deciding if this tour is worth the high price tag.
Universal Studios Hollywood VIP
Given that I had only one day to experience this park, I decided to splurge and try the VIP tour experience. On the day I took it, a random Tuesday in September, this tour cost $379! Unfortunately, that is one of the cheaper days! Although, that price includes your park ticket, a light breakfast, lunch, and more!
Check-in and Breakfast
When you book this experience online, you don’t receive an email with park tickets. Instead, you check in to the right of the regular park entrance at the VIP entrance. At check-in they give you a special lanyard to wear for the day. Then, you are allowed to head upstairs to the VIP lounge to relax and enjoy a light breakfast. I was impressed with the food spread for the breakfast. I enjoyed a croissant sandwich and a guava cheese pastry with some water. You are free to relax in the lounge until your tour time, however I headed out into the park for the Super Nintendo World Early Access. Then, I returned to the lounge afterwards for my tour.
Park Tour
For my tour, we started with the park portion of the day. Over the course of about 3 hours, we hit all of the major attractions found at the park! The lanyards allow you to skip the ride lines all day long, since it acts as a Universal Express pass. However, the tour guide is able to take you in the back way to some rides and skip even some of those lines! Plus, the tour guide holds all of your bags so you don’t have to deal with lockers! Our tour guide was even able to fit in the Waterworld show for us! I was pleased with how much we were able to accomplish in three hours!
Lunch
About 3 hours after the scheduled tour time is lunch. My tour time was 10:45 AM and my lunch time was 1:40 PM. USH calls it a “gourmet meal” but it’s really an elevated buffet lunch, similar to a nice wedding meal. There were some characters roaming around the dining room. Unfortunately, they all skipped my solo adult table and I didn’t get to see any of them. They mostly focused on the tables with children. I suppose that’s why it’s not advertised as a character meal. The food was pretty good, but nothing stood out as particularly amazing to me personally. Also, there’s only two bathrooms for the whole restaurant. So, don’t wait to use the restroom here.
Studio Tour
After lunch, we had the studio portion of the tour. This was the main reason I booked the Universal Studios Hollywood VIP Tour. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see the lot where Back to the Future was filmed as it was closed for filming. This portion of the tour was equally rushed. In fact, it seems it was truncated. It was supposed to take 3 hours also, but we only got 2 hours. Some of the area was closed for Halloween Horror Nights and some of the other areas were closed off for filming. I understand that’s the nature of these things, but it was disappointing nonetheless. I enjoyed the brisk walk around the props department.
Pros
- Skip lines – The longest lines I waited in were for check-in, Early Access entry, and lunch.
- No lockers – It was so useful to have our tour guide take our stuff before we got on rides and to be waiting outside the ride with our stuff. It was great to not have to deal with lockers.
- Backstage lot – We got to see where they filmed “The Good Place” and some other places that the regular tram tour doesn’t take you.
- Tour guide – Navigating a new park can be confusing, so having a knowledgeable tour guide is useful.
- Includes park admission and Express Pass – On the cheapest days, it’s a little over $100 more than a regular park ticket with Express. So, that probably makes it worth it on those days.
Cons
- Expensive – $369 is the cheapest this tour gets. Around the holidays, it’s $499!
- No guarantees – Since Universal can’t predict when something will be filming on the lot, they can’t guarantee which lots you will get to see.
- Fast paced – I don’t recommend this tour for those who tire quickly. It’s a fast paced day.
- Not exactly personalized – They try to please a group, so there’s no guarantee will you have time to hit up a certain ride.
Tips
- Consult park hours – If you want to do both the Early Access Hour and the VIP tour, I recommend booking a tour 30-40 minutes after the park opens. I had a 10:45 tour with a park opening of 10:00 AM. I did the Early Access Hour from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM and then casually walked back up to the upper lot with time to spare for my tour. They ask you to return to the lounge 15 minutes before your tour time.
- Not ideal for sightseeing or pictures – This was a fast-paced tour. Some people grabbed some Butterbeer and then basically had to chug it. I would suggest taking pictures and being leisurely outside the tour as you should have extra time before/after the tour to explore.
- Wear comfortable shoes – It’s a lot of walking.
Is the Universal Studios Hollywood VIP Tour worth it?
I think the value of this experience depends heavily on the day you visit and what you value. I think most people will do fine with a regular park ticket and Express Pass. However, it was nice to splurge and enjoy this experience. I don’t know that I would do it again, but it was neat to do once.
Have you ever done it?
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