Universal Studios/Grayline Tours

[toromom]

Hello-

My family and I are planning to visit USH this summer,via Grayline Tours I have heard many good things about them. One thing I did read is that they don't stay until the park is closed. So.........my concern is will there be enough time to see all the attractions and rides before the tour is over????

Can anyone who has been lately give me any insight or tips???? It would be greatly appreciated


Thanks!!!

Toromom

 

[mystic_path]

I have never ever had the experience of Gray Line coming early to pick you up before park closing. That kinda defeats the purpose of purchasing a ticket that is good for the whole day. For the last 7 years we take a trip to Universal Studios with Gray Line and they have been very good with us. The bus drivers are knowledgable and can tell you about the Anaheim and LA areas where movies and TV shows were filmed, where some celebs live etc.

The only downfall I have experienced is that you rarely arrive at Universal Studios for park opening. You may miss park opening by a half hour at the worst. But you are still able to make it to all the top attractions before the lines form. But you are there all day until park closing when you meet everyone back at the bus to return back to your hotel.

I dont know if you considered it as an option, but there is a Universal Studios/Hollywood tour. After Unversal park closes, you get on your bus and you take a tour of Hollywood making stop at places like Hollywood Blvd, Chinese theater, and a few other places. You also get a full tour of Hollywood and get some insight to the Celebrity world. Its pretty great. The last tour we went on we got to see the premier of the A Team at the Chinese Theater. We saw all the choppers flying around, all the celebs coming down the red carpet, the tanks rolling in etc. It was amazing.

But if you are just doing Universal, I dont think you have anything to worry about regarding if they pick you up before park closing.

 

[toromom]

I have never ever had the experience of Gray Line coming early to pick you up before park closing. That kinda defeats the purpose of purchasing a ticket that is good for the whole day. For the last 7 years we take a trip to Universal Studios with Gray Line and they have been very good with us. The bus drivers are knowledgable and can tell you about the Anaheim and LA areas where movies and TV shows were filmed, where some celebs live etc.

The only downfall I have experienced is that you rarely arrive at Universal Studios for park opening. You may miss park opening by a half hour at the worst. But you are still able to make it to all the top attractions before the lines form. But you are there all day until park closing when you meet everyone back at the bus to return back to your hotel.

I dont know if you considered it as an option, but there is a Universal Studios/Hollywood tour. After Unversal park closes, you get on your bus and you take a tour of Hollywood making stop at places like Hollywood Blvd, Chinese theater, and a few other places. You also get a full tour of Hollywood and get some insight to the Celebrity world. Its pretty great. The last tour we went on we got to see the premier of the A Team at the Chinese Theater. We saw all the choppers flying around, all the celebs coming down the red carpet, the tanks rolling in etc. It was amazing.

But if you are just doing Universal, I dont think you have anything to worry about regarding if they pick you up before park closing.

Thanks Mytic Path... the tour I was looking at picks you up from your hotel around 9:15 and drops you back off at around 6:30. Looking at the park schedule it apprears that it stays open till 10 or 11. So thats why I was concerned about maybe not having enough time.I guess it probably also depends on the day of the week too regarding how busy the park may be...

 

[toromom]

anyone else????

 

[mystic_path]

I would call Gray Line and confirm it with them just to be on the safe side. I have done just the Universal day as well, but we went in off season an the park closed at 6. But we were there all day until closing and brought back to our hotel. Hopefully others here have had experiences to share.

 

[Disneylovers2000]

Our experience with Grayline was just as you think. We did get there at about 10:15am and had to be back to board the bus at 5:30pm even though the park didn't close until 10:00 or so. Although I LOVED Greylines for our trip the first time - Next time we go, we will choose to drive so that we can get all of the park hours out of our trip. We did feel rushed to get everything done when we were there. We were lucky that the park was not that busy and we were able to get most of what we wanted done. We did miss a few shows - small shows - so it wasn't that big of a deal, but we didn't get to go down the strip of shopping etc. that is beside the entrance to US as we had to get back on the bus. Greylines is a fantastic option though for those who choose to use it!

 

[KiwiMouseGirl]

My nan and myself went on the southern california Greyline Universal Studios 'tour' at the end of April, and I can't do anything but rave about it! They picked us up promptly right outside our hotel and took us to their depo where we exchanged our tickets and switched to our tour bus. Our driver Starla, was amazing! She told us lots of facts about the areas that we were driving through, and even though the side mirror on the bus fell off, she kept us entertained by telling us her stratergy for getting everything done at U.S with hardly any wait. We even bet the other tour bus there! We arrived before opening, and managed to get through bag check and get in line just to catch the opening sequence. We spent all day in the park until it closed at 6, which ment we got an hour to grab some dinner before meeting the bus at 7.

 

[BlackFlowerGirl]

We did the Grayline tour to Universal plus tour of Hollywood/LA after on the 14 July. We got to Universal about 10.30am and were picked up at 7pm for the drive around. This is plenty of time to spend in the park, personally my mum and I found it too long, but that maybe because we did not find it anywhere near as enjoyable as Disneyland.

 

[NWT]

we did this tour every time we have gone, sometimes twice in the same trip. We found that we had time to check everything out, and had time to leave the park and have lunch next door at one of the good places to eat at Universal City Walk.

 

[HenDuck]

My DS and I just did this tour package in early August. We paid for front of the line passes as well. They picked us up at our Anaheim area hotel at 8:30 sharp and took us to the tour place. The bus left from there maybe around 8:50 a.m.? We got to Universal around 9:30 or 9:45 a.m. The park had opened at 9:00.

We had no problems getting on rides without our FOL passes, so we saved those for mid-day when the park was busier. Bus came back to get us at 6:00 pm. That was enough time for us to do everything we wanted, but we skipped the kiddie stuff.

I would do it again!

Good luck with your choice.

 

[rszdtrvl]

This is great to hear!

We are getting the City Pass because we planned on spending a day in Universal during our February trip.

We have the page bookmarked for the shuttle, and I was trying to decide between the Hollywood Tour/Shuttle or just the plain shuttle.

I believe we are going to tour Hollywood! Great info!!