Non – Private VIP 1 Day, 2 Park Universal Orlando Tour
I wanted to give a trip report of the non-private VIP tour at Universal Orlando because I couldn’t find nearly enough information on it before I booked it but we said what the heck. My husband and I both agreed to forgo birthday presents this year to enjoy this special day as we had never been to universal before.
We are staying at Caribbean Beach at Disney and drove here, so we drove up to the valet parking as it was included in the tour price (and very easy to find and close!) at around 9:30. We dropped our car, walked over to Universal Studios and in to the VIP area by Guest Services. A very nice group of people checked us in and we headed up the stairs to the VIP lounge area. We were given lanyards with VIP on them and then told to help ourselves to food and beverages. There was coffee, espresso drinks from a machine, orange and apple juice, bottled water, lots of pastries and HUGE muffins to choose from. It was a lovely area, nicely decorated, with very nice bathrooms (haha).
Our tour guide gathered the group. We were a group of 11 guests ranging in age from about 22 to 60 (we’re around 30 for comparison). The tour guide was fantastic. She had worked at Universal since 1993 and seemed to know everything. We all walked out of the lounge and off we went at around 10:00 AM!
We started at Transformers, going in the exit and getting directly on the ride. It was fantastic, I had never been on a ride before and I was blown away. From transformers, we walked over to Rip Ride Rockit and again went in the exit and walked straight on. I played “Happy” while I was thrown into the sky. After that, we went through an employee door behind Rip Ride Rockit and got a lovely tour of the giant studios between IOA and Universal Studios. We saw soundstages and learned a bunch of history and even saw all the Mardi Gras floats being prepared.
We emerged at IOA in Dr. Seuss land and then walked over the Marvel Island. We strode onto the Hulk. WHOA. That is a ride. We then went right over to Spiderman and walked in the back. We rounded out Marvel with Dr. Doom which was the only ride of the day that was a bit of a letdown. It wasn’t even noon at this point!
I’m going to take a momentary pause to say that we didn’t have much choice in the itinerary. After talking with the guide, it seemed like there was a bit of a set tour if the group was comprised of adults. The other adults in the group were …. interesting …. They didn’t seem like they were all that excited to be there, while my husband and I were practically squealing at everything. Everyone was given a choice in whether they wanted to ride or not. Sometimes the non-riders waited by the exit, sometimes they waited in the baby swap room. We also took a quick bathroom break every hour or two. A few times someone wanted to buy something or get a drink and we paused, no big deal.
Next up was Jurassic Park. No one really wanted to get wet so the tour guide gave out free ponchos and got everyone in the back row and it worked. This was the only ride I chose to sit out because I really, really hate being wet at theme parks. We then walked over to Harry Potter!!! Hogsmeade was just beautiful. We walked through the castle and stopped at the all the good parts and heard the videos and then rode Forbidden Journey. It was amazing but the only ride that made me a little queasy. My stomach was churning a bit when we walked off and then we practically immediately got on Dragon Challenge (we got on the Chinese Fireball because the tour guide liked it better). Thankfully, it was about 1:00 PM at this point and we were escorted inside 3 Broomsticks and got an hour break for lunch. My husband and I split the roasted chicken and a butterbeer and it was delicious. After a nice long sit, we were feeling much better.
The group then got on Hogwarts Express which was amazing. After emerging in London, we popped over to Diagon Alley. Wow! I was a little bummed that it was SO CROWDED. There were some crazy tour groups and I would have loved a little more breathing room. However, we did get to skip the line at Gringotts (went through the lobby, saw the opening sequence, then used exits to go up and back down to the start of the ride, no waiting!) and it was a really fantastic ride. No queasiness this time!
We wandered Diagon a bit and got some neat tidbits about the park, then went over to Men in Black, again through the exit. It was super fun and we got some tips on high scores (Stephen Spielberg alien newspaper, eyes in the trees, hold down button after you see will smith) and had a blast. We then skipped over to the Simpsons, where we had to wait like 5 minutes for an open car. People in our group actually complained. I wanted to slap them.
(by the way, are you tired yet reading this? It was amazing getting to do so much but WHEW was I starting to lag at this point. By the time I got in my car, my pedometer said I had walked 7.5 miles)
Our final two rides of the day were the Mummy and Despicable Me to end the day. It was about 5:00 PM at this point. We went over to Diagon Alley to shop a bit but it was too crowded to be fun so we headed home with huge grins on our face.
So that was 14 rides (!!!) in two parks in one day. Amazing.
Cost -$299/per person plus park admission (breakfast, express pass after tour and valet included)
Express passes would have been something like $120/per person that day. Valet parking is normally $35 I think.
I wanted to give a trip report of the non-private VIP tour at Universal Orlando because I couldn’t find nearly enough information on it before I booked it but we said what the heck. My husband and I both agreed to forgo birthday presents this year to enjoy this special day as we had never been to universal before.
We are staying at Caribbean Beach at Disney and drove here, so we drove up to the valet parking as it was included in the tour price (and very easy to find and close!) at around 9:30. We dropped our car, walked over to Universal Studios and in to the VIP area by Guest Services. A very nice group of people checked us in and we headed up the stairs to the VIP lounge area. We were given lanyards with VIP on them and then told to help ourselves to food and beverages. There was coffee, espresso drinks from a machine, orange and apple juice, bottled water, lots of pastries and HUGE muffins to choose from. It was a lovely area, nicely decorated, with very nice bathrooms (haha).
Our tour guide gathered the group. We were a group of 11 guests ranging in age from about 22 to 60 (we’re around 30 for comparison). The tour guide was fantastic. She had worked at Universal since 1993 and seemed to know everything. We all walked out of the lounge and off we went at around 10:00 AM!
We started at Transformers, going in the exit and getting directly on the ride. It was fantastic, I had never been on a ride before and I was blown away. From transformers, we walked over to Rip Ride Rockit and again went in the exit and walked straight on. I played “Happy” while I was thrown into the sky. After that, we went through an employee door behind Rip Ride Rockit and got a lovely tour of the giant studios between IOA and Universal Studios. We saw soundstages and learned a bunch of history and even saw all the Mardi Gras floats being prepared.
We emerged at IOA in Dr. Seuss land and then walked over the Marvel Island. We strode onto the Hulk. WHOA. That is a ride. We then went right over to Spiderman and walked in the back. We rounded out Marvel with Dr. Doom which was the only ride of the day that was a bit of a letdown. It wasn’t even noon at this point!
I’m going to take a momentary pause to say that we didn’t have much choice in the itinerary. After talking with the guide, it seemed like there was a bit of a set tour if the group was comprised of adults. The other adults in the group were …. interesting …. They didn’t seem like they were all that excited to be there, while my husband and I were practically squealing at everything. Everyone was given a choice in whether they wanted to ride or not. Sometimes the non-riders waited by the exit, sometimes they waited in the baby swap room. We also took a quick bathroom break every hour or two. A few times someone wanted to buy something or get a drink and we paused, no big deal.
Next up was Jurassic Park. No one really wanted to get wet so the tour guide gave out free ponchos and got everyone in the back row and it worked. This was the only ride I chose to sit out because I really, really hate being wet at theme parks. We then walked over to Harry Potter!!! Hogsmeade was just beautiful. We walked through the castle and stopped at the all the good parts and heard the videos and then rode Forbidden Journey. It was amazing but the only ride that made me a little queasy. My stomach was churning a bit when we walked off and then we practically immediately got on Dragon Challenge (we got on the Chinese Fireball because the tour guide liked it better). Thankfully, it was about 1:00 PM at this point and we were escorted inside 3 Broomsticks and got an hour break for lunch. My husband and I split the roasted chicken and a butterbeer and it was delicious. After a nice long sit, we were feeling much better.
The group then got on Hogwarts Express which was amazing. After emerging in London, we popped over to Diagon Alley. Wow! I was a little bummed that it was SO CROWDED. There were some crazy tour groups and I would have loved a little more breathing room. However, we did get to skip the line at Gringotts (went through the lobby, saw the opening sequence, then used exits to go up and back down to the start of the ride, no waiting!) and it was a really fantastic ride. No queasiness this time!
We wandered Diagon a bit and got some neat tidbits about the park, then went over to Men in Black, again through the exit. It was super fun and we got some tips on high scores (Stephen Spielberg alien newspaper, eyes in the trees, hold down button after you see will smith) and had a blast. We then skipped over to the Simpsons, where we had to wait like 5 minutes for an open car. People in our group actually complained. I wanted to slap them.
(by the way, are you tired yet reading this? It was amazing getting to do so much but WHEW was I starting to lag at this point. By the time I got in my car, my pedometer said I had walked 7.5 miles)
Our final two rides of the day were the Mummy and Despicable Me to end the day. It was about 5:00 PM at this point. We went over to Diagon Alley to shop a bit but it was too crowded to be fun so we headed home with huge grins on our face.
So that was 14 rides (!!!) in two parks in one day. Amazing.
Cost -$299/per person plus park admission (breakfast, express pass after tour and valet included)
Express passes would have been something like $120/per person that day. Valet parking is normally $35 I think.
