Studio Tour
I’m not a huge movie buff–if you’ve read my movie review posts then you know this. As a result, the studio tour is not always my favorite part of the park. Don’t get me wrong–I enjoy just about everything about the park, but I don’t go for the studio tour. Unfortunately, this is the main focus of the VIP Experience at Universal Studios in Hollywood. So, if you don’t enjoy the studio tour, the VIP Experience may not be for you.
Water World
As I said in my overview of the tour, I didn’t really want to see Water World. I would have preferred to see Universal’s Animal Actors since I had just seen Water World. The tour guide even recommended I go to Animal Actors instead of Water World.
I could have done that, split off from the group to go to Animal Actors. Unfortunately, that would have likely meant the end of the tour for me, so I stayed with the group.
The Rides
Going on the VIP Experience didn’t really give us any behind the scenes experiences of the rides or even allow us to avoid the lines most of the time. We used the express line and on Pets Off the Leash, we got to cut in around the middle of the line. We did still have to wait though.
Character Interactions on the Universal Studios Hollywood VIP Tour
Although I got to interact with characters like Lucy from I Love Lucy and Doc Brown from Back to the Future, I missed out on other interactions.
Is the VIP Tour Worth It?
Based on my above reviews you might conclude that I’m going to say it’s not worth it. Here’s the thing…if you are going with friends or family, and you don’t care about the studio tour, there are going to be a lot more drawbacks than benefits. In this case, it’s probably not worth it.
However, I was not traveling with friends or family, and I did enjoy the behind the scenes studio tour because shows and movies I was familiar with were mentioned–not to mention Norman Bates coming after us with a knife. That easily had to be the highlight of the tour for me, especially considering that I’ve done King Kong (not a fan–but then the dinosaurs scare me. A lot) and the Fast & the Furious before.
While there are things I missed, there were things that I got to experience that I otherwise wouldn’t have. Since I was traveling alone, I had people to interact with during the day. I got to get my photo taken with Lucy from I Love Lucy at lunch, and I wouldn’t trade those experiences.
So, is Universal Studios Hollywood VIP Experience worth it? It depends entirely on what you’re looking for out of your day. For me though, it was worth it.
AprilCoxTravel & Freelance 