Universal Studios VIP Tour About This Page:

[nbodyhome]

I'm heading to CA for my sisters wedding in July - I'm staying extra to go to Disneyland. When I booked my car rental on Expedia, the Universal VIP tour came up as something being offered - so I booked it through Universal after seeing so many good reviews of it (I guess it's recently been revamped).

Universal Studios Amusement Park California - VIP Experience

They allow photos, so I am sure I will take plenty! I have never been to Universal Hollywood, so it will all be new to me. I loved the historic aspect of it!

[bradk]

i did it in 2005 and loved it.

[BarryH]

I would do the VIP tour if you can swing it. You get your own personal tram and your backstage tour is twice as long as the normal one. You get to stop and walk around 3 areas -- the sound studio (you may meet a Foley artist), the prop room, and whatever is filming in the soundstage (I saw the "Crossing Jordan" sets). You also get "Fastpass" access to the rides and attractions. It's well worth the money.

[nbodyhome]

Hi Barry!

Thanks! I have it all set - paid my $199, set up a date next month. I'm really looking forward to it! I know the tour has changed some in the past month or so to add more backstage areas. I think it's a great deal, and I'll be posting plenty of photos.

I appreciate your comment about it - I've not seen anything bad at all, just great reviews thus far (even from before it was the $199 tour).

[bradk]

i didn't get to do a sound studio.. hmph... i don't know what the normal tram does, but i know we did a lot of walking on sets, including those used for POTC. and spent a lot of time on the crossing jordan soundstage. that was wild in itself, because of how real a place it is and all the tricks they use to be able to film in it as needed.

[nbodyhome]

Brad -

Did you do the newer 6 hour tour? It looks like it will be awesome.

[bradk]

well i did it in 2005. i dunno what the newer tour is. i didn't do the soundstage thing. we did most of the attractions and shows. broke for lunch. did like a 2 hour tram tour which included the tram tour (jaws was out of operation and we didn't see the courthouse from back to the future).

checking my pics, my first tram photo is at 1:38 pm when we boarded and the last is at 3 pm.

but it was virtually all day. i had some time in the morning and then during lunch, but not much time left after the tour, maybe an hour or so.

i dunno what the price was either, but it had to be around the $200 mark too i imagine? i know it included the FOTL pass (which was like $90 itself).

compared to orlando's, it was a much better deal. orlando is like $125 and that doesn't include admission. at USH, not only did it include admission but they even gave us an AP (they were running that promotion where if you buy 1 day, you get an AP). and I sold mine on eBay for like $50.

[nbodyhome]

The tour is supposed to be similar, but longer (6 hours) and includes more backstage access. I have never been to Universal in California, this will be a first for me.

The tour starts in the VIP lounge, including a continental breakfast (my tour is at 11am, though I can get there earlier if I want and get my tix for the park and spend time there). The tour includes the ticket, front of the line access, I think about half/half of the backstage tour and park - getting front row seats, etc. with the guide. I am hoping to walk around the Pyscho house and/or Bates Motel. The tour also includes the all-you can-eat pass, a photo, valet parking, souvenir photo, etc. It sounds like the ticket also can be used as an annual pass later.

I have read that the tour was very recently revamped, in the past couple of months. It sounds tremendous, for what all is included - I am looking forward to seeing the sets and backstage areas.

[bradk]

we were on the tram at the bates motel/house and definitely weren't allowed to get off. i don't think you can go near it. i don't think there's even anything to it (it's not the original either as far as i know). i have the lamest pic of it too. i wanna go back just to reshoot everything with my current camera.

we also spent some time on wisteria lane which was neat. not because i'm into desperate housewives but because it has the munsters' and cleavers' homes on it (although from what i've read the original cleaver home was destroyed and rebuilt for the much later spinoff)

[nbodyhome]

Did you get off the tram much? From what I see of this tour since it's been updated, there is a lot of walk time - backlots, the props, etc. The VIP tour allows you to walk through areas that have been used as sets.

If you get out there again, that should be better for pictures instead of just taking them from the tram. I am looking forward to doing that myself.

[bradk]

my pictures are bad because i didn't have as nice a camera back then and i learned a lot in the past couple of years. photography is fairly new to me.

we were off the tram to walk on the sets, to go through the prop house (the same building that houses wardrobe but we couldn't visit those floors) and to visit the crossing jordan soundstage.

this is my favorite part, going between the upper and lower lots, you can see their nextdoor neighbor, WB (including the infamous WB water tower). they have their own studio tour as well but never got to do it.



supposedly you can see the disney studios as well, but i couldn't find them.

the tram (and our guide, i think his name is dave)



the soundstage (i'll spare you the exciting photos)



the prop house



sets we walked through



and the munsters' home (score)

[nbodyhome]

Those are still good photos, it's hard to believe you are new to taking pictures (your photos are always great).

I'm doing the tour in about 5 weeks, so it will be interesting to find out what we'll see. Each tour I guess is a little different in that sense, though it seems like EVERYONE has visited the Crossing Jordan set! I believe I just read that it was now closed - maybe the series cancelled, so I may not see that.

[nbodyhome]

I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted about it! I've got the tour for this weekend, I can't wait!