Universal Hollywood VIP Experience Review 2007 (160 Photos)

When I planned my trip to California (for my sister’s wedding), I had already knew I’d go to Disneyland – but a pop-up on a travel site mentioned the Universal VIP Experience.

The tour isn’t cheap – it is $200.00.  But that includes (as of this writing): valet parking, admission to the park, front of the line pass, the 6 hour tour with reserved seating/special access to attractions that we visited.  Also, the food pass, bottled water, a small continental breakfast, we were given ponchos and sunscreen towelettes as well.   Oh – and of course, the backstage experience (walking on sets, etc.)

The tour starts in the VIP lounge.  This area is used for tours and private events – and it’s a really comfortable place to spend time prior to the tour.  Bottled water was handed out, as were ponchos (for Jurassic Park) and sunscreen towelettes.    You could also ask for a soda at the bar area.   The tour itself is different each time, you never know exactly what you’ll see!

One of the touted items of the VIP tour is the continental breakfast.  Don’t bank on this one, there were muffins and cookies – fortunately, I’d already eaten.  This is what was available when I arrived:

 

Remember that you get the food pass all day.  My tour was at 11am, and I could have arrived and received my packet as early as 9am.  So I really could have gotten in, and had some breakfast prior to the tour.

Some photos around the lounge, there was a balcony as well that we could walk out on:

Nothing was being replenished as other guests arrived (eat something first, just in case! :)):

A last look at the lounge:

The first part of the tour, we went on a number of attractions in the park.  We started with Shrek, and then headed to Waterworld.  Just to show, we had the reserved seating for shows and were brought in the back door for rides (that queue for Shrek?  We didn’t get in it):

The day was really busy, so that worked out well!  I wasn’t  that enamored with the Water World show (which was touted as “the best show at Universal” by the tour guide).   But the stunt people were actually very good at what they did.  I found it interesting that each one was from a variety of TV shows and films – and they did this show in between their other jobs.  I am glad we didn’t get seated near the front, you can see that the pre-show consists of hoses and buckets to get everyone wet (prior to getting wet during the show!)   Someone in our group felt bad for those in wheelchairs – it looks like all the wheelchair areas are in the wet zone.

Next, we moved on to the Universal Animal Actors show.  The animals used for this show were in Evan Almighty (another movie I’ve not seen).  It was actually quite entertaining.

We had lunch at Mels Drive-In.  We had a piece of paper which said we’d be asked for our order, but we actually did go through the line (we were brought to the front-of-the-line once).

The food was pretty good for counter service.

 

The area we ate in is supposed to be like Paris:

And through an alleyway, London (Mind the Gap!):

 

We had an hour for lunch.  Now was the part I was most looking forward to – the backstage tour!  Some of it is similar to the normal tour (except we were on a trolley).  There was also a fair bit that is only done for the VIP tour guests.

We had to go down the escalators to get to our trolley.   The view from upstairs is fantastic, I’d never been here before and could have just looked out over the scenery for a long time!

 

Our trolley:

One of our first stops was where we couldn’t photograph (that was the only area we weren’t allowed to film). This included the area where those coming on and off the lot would drive through, as well as the outside of the Foley (stage) building.    

Stage 12 – where National Treasure, Evan Almighty, and some of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed.  I find it very interesting the “synergy” that Disney and Universal have in California.  In Florida, it’s a huge competition.  Well, not huge yet (maybe once Harry Potter comes to Universal).  But in California, Disney and Universal work together.  You can add a Universal stay to a Disney package.  Desperate Housewives films on the Universal lot.   Pirates of the Caribbean has filmed on the Universal lot.    I like that!

Stage 28 is the oldest soundstage.  This is where we got out to walk around the Phantom of the Opera set:

This to me, is the part of the tour I love the best.  I once worked on a film – and it is not the most exciting thing in the world (long, slooow days!)  But visiting sets, especially ones with historical value – I really did enjoy this, and wish this part of the trip was even longer!  Each tour will be a little different.  I went on a Sunday, so not much was going on on the sets.   And what sets you walk on can be different from tour to tour.

We were told that Britney Spears filmed her Toxic video (which I’ve not seen) here:

Sound Stage 27 – Some of Apollo 13 was filmed here: 

Looking out over the lot: 

Studio cars used in a variety of films:

We were taken to see what could be called a mini-stuntshow with cars from the Fast and the Furious:

Some set pieces from Jurassic Park:

We then were taken through “Old Mexico”, which includes a flash flood:

And were nearly attacked by King Kong:

We then went to the Property Department:

The prop department isn’t something that is generally accessible to the public.  It was really interesting, on one floor they have like a million props!   It reminded me of backstage at Disney – if you are taking a costume from Disney, there is a bar code and it is scanned.  It’s the same here.   If someone wanted a prop for a movie, they would scan the item out.   There are hundreds of phones, hundreds of cameras – so many of each item!

From Back to the Future:

We were told that some of these swords were used for Pirates of the Caribbean:

 

A set from “Spartacus”, “History of the World, Part 1” and “Princess Diaries”:

The blacksmiths shop from Pirates of the Caribbean:

A fountain used in many films (including many horror films):

You can find Jaws in this area, but the film wasn’t shot here:

However, Desperate Housewives is:

This is the Munsters house: 

We then went from Wisteria Lane to the Bates Motel (how different is that?) :):

And passed through the set of War of the Worlds:

 

The set from “Coach”:

The inside of a house that is actually not just a facade, but used for tapings.  I believe some of “The Breakup” was filmed in the living room.

The “Leave it to Beaver” house:

This is from the Mummy experience towards the end of the tour. 

And the end of the tour, the view again into the hills:

This may be the best tour I’ve ever taken. Normally I say that the tour guide makes a tour good or bad.  In this case, the tour guide was okay – not nearly the best I’ve had, not the worst.  But the tour supersedes that.  This was my first trip to Universal Hollywood, and I wasn’t so much impressed by the park.  But the combination of seeing some of the park, and the backstage area was terrific.  I would be happy if it was ALL backstage!  I also found it interesting how very close some of the sound stages are to the park (right next to some of the attractions!)