The VIP Experience at Universal Studios Hollywood is the best and most exclusive way to visit the California theme park. VIP tickets range in price from $369 to $479 and come with many benefits to ensure you have the best day in the park!
Booking the VIP Experience
The VIP Experience is a breeze to book; you can take care of the entire booking through the Universal Studios Hollywood website. Visit the ticket buying page and choose the VIP option before moving on to the next step. Now, you can look at a calendar of available days and prices. Weekends and holidays tend to be more expensive.
After you choose the date you wish to visit, you can select the time you want to start your tour. Times range from early morning around the park opening to early afternoon. Don’t worry too much about morning versus afternoon; you will have a great time no matter what; I’ve done both timeframes, and each has its benefits, but overall there is no downside to either.
Arrival for your VIP Experience
The VIP Experience ticket includes complimentary valet parking; follow the signs and show them your VIP barcode to utilize the perk.
If you are like our recent group and have an electric car but forgot your valet card, don’t worry; head to the parking garage and explain the situation. The valet will not allow you to park your car, but the garage should give you complimentary preferred parking in place of the valet.
After you park, follow the crowds to the security checkpoint, there is no special security line for VIPs, so make your way through with the rest of the park guests, once inside head towards the entrance gates, but go to the immediate right of the gates for the VIP entrance, it should be noted with a labeled red awning.
It’s now time to check in – if your tour is in the morning around your arrival time, you will be given your VIP lanyards and asked to wait upstairs for your guide and party. If you have an afternoon tour, you can pick up your lanyard and start enjoying the park and your exclusive benefits.
VIP Lounge and Snacks
The VIP lounge is a great place to have a light breakfast or some snacks. A handful of snacks and drinks are available until the last tour departs. Stop in and have a bite to eat before you start your day.
Additionally, the lounge has bathrooms and various items available for VIPs, such as hand sanitizer, lip balm, and water bottles. There is also a location to charge cell phones.
VIP Experience Perks
Not only does your VIP pass give you entry to the park, but you also have Unlimited Universal Express access to all rides where the option is available. So unlike the regular Universal Express pass, which allows you to ride each ride through the express lane a single time, the VIP pass allows you to ride as many times as you want through the express lane. This also grants you access to priority seating at shows and entry into Super Nintendo World.
In addition, you also get a 6 to 7-hour guided tour, which I’ll get into the specifics of through the remainder of this guide.
If a guided tour doesn’t seem interesting, don’t worry, there is no pressure to go on the tour; you can buy the VIP pass and go on your merry way if you so choose. You can also meet up with your group at specific times for things you may be interested in; it’s entirely up to you how you want to utilize your VIP Experience.
The VIP Experience Guided Tour
The guided tour starts in the VIP lounge, where you will meet your tour guide. Make sure you arrive 15 minutes before the start of your tour. The tour guide will introduce themselves to the group and give the group a chance to get to know each other. Your guided tour will have up to 18 people. In my experience, having gone on the VIP tour twice, I have not had 18 people; it has been closer to 10 people both times.
If you have gone on the VIP tour previously, chances are the tour will be different from your previous tour; the guide will try somewhat to customize the day to the group’s interests. You can expect to hit most of the larger rides, a show, and the backlot tour. Your guide is connected to the other guides and employees in the park at all times and will facilitate the day depending on what may or may not be closed at a given time. The only parts of the day with set times are lunch and the backlot tour.
Priority Seating at Shows
The VIP pass offers priority seating at the shows. Your guide will likely take you to the Waterworld show; seating for this show is on the center set of bleachers and high enough that you will not get wet. Take advantage of this one if you haven’t seen it before; the show is a stunning look at stunt work in Hollywood!
Rides and Experiences
Your guide will consider what your group may or may not be interested in; if the whole group isn’t interested in a particular ride or experience, you will skip it. As an individual, you can skip certain rides and experiences if the rest of the group is interested.
For instance, on our most recent tour, nobody wanted to ride the Simpsons ride, so we completely skipped that area of the park. Additionally, our little group of three had all done the Ollivander’s Wand Shop experience multiple times, so we skipped that and picked up Butterbeer while we waited for our group. Everything is highly flexible to make sure YOU have the best day possible.
As for riding the rides themselves, the guides are very experienced with the rides and will give you as much information about the rides as possible beforehand. This can help you decide if it’s something you are interested in or comfortable riding. They will then walk the group to the front of the line and will also hold your bags so that you don’t have to deal with lockers.
You will also be given a complimentary poncho for the Jurassic World ride, so don’t worry about getting wet!
Lunch or Early Dinner
The VIP Experience includes a gourmet buffet lunch and a predetermined time for your tour group. Your tour guide will take you to the lunch location and give you a time to meet them back at a location outside the restaurant. You will have about an hour for lunch.
One of my biggest questions when booking our afternoon VIP Experience was how did the lunch work? When we took our morning tour, lunch was at lunchtime. But I wasn’t sure what to expect when our tour started at 12:30 PM. The answer is that you will have a late lunch or early dinner. We took our lunch break around 4:00 PM.
Lunch has a wide variety of food options; you can be as healthy or unhealthy as you wish. There are also a lot of options for drinks as well. The lemonade is delicious though. Make sure you also try the chocolate chip cookies.
Exclusive Backlot Tour
The Exclusive Backlot tour is the second part of your VIP tour with a pre-determined start time. Your group will head down to the normal backlot loading area but will continue to a special private area where you will board a private trolly-style bus with one other VIP tour group. The trolly has open windows, giving you a great view during the tour.
On this tour you will see the standard backlot tour, some special areas, and have the chance to walk around some of the sets. Depending on what is filming in the lots during your tour will determine where you go that particular day.
We missed the New York City set on our first tour due to filming, but we saw it on our second tour. At least 50% of the tour differed between the two times we went on it. Personally, this backlot tour is my favorite part of the VIP experience. Walking around some sets and seeing the prop house is a unique experience, especially if you LOVE movies.
Conclusion of the Tour
Your tour will likely end after the Backlot Tour; you are free to go off on your own and either finish your day or continue having fun in the park.
One last thing to mention about the tour is tipping your guide. Tips are never required, but the tour guides will accept them. On our first VIP tour, we were the only ones who didn’t tip because we didn’t think about the possibility of tipping and had no cash. We made up for that on our most recent tour, but this time we were the only ones in our group to tip. It’s up to your discretion, don’t feel like you need to; I’m just giving you the heads up it may happen.
What to do when you aren’t on your tour
When you aren’t on the tour with your guide, you can do as you please and utilize your VIP pass to its full potential. Ride your favorite ride ten times, visit the few rides and experiences you didn’t see on your tour, or spend all your time in Super Nintendo World. It’s up to you!
We spent most of the time outside of our tour in Super Nintendo World or trying various tasty treats throughout the park. Do whatever makes you happy!
Is the VIP Experience worth the Price?
The simple answer is yes.
The VIP ticket is expensive, especially if you buy it for a whole family. However, considering all of the perks that come with the experience, the price is more than reasonable. The combo of a 1-Day Park Admission plus the Universal Express Access pass is $308. Add on the guided tour, front-of-the-line access, unlimited express access, priority seating, ponchos, breakfast, lunch, and ease of entry into Super Nintendo World. It’s honestly a no-brainer.
You are going to have a fulfilling day while also being relaxed. You are never going to feel overwhelmed, and you will also get to experience everything the park has to offer in a single visit. I’ve done the VIP Experience twice and would 100% do it a third time.
