I had a work trip to Florida last week, so I took the daughter along. We flew out last Friday the 16th, and went to Universal Orlando on Saturday the 17th. With Universal - as with Disney also - you have to buy the park tickets, and then the add-ons like express pass are separate. Since we just had the one day and wanted to see/do everything, I got the two-park tickets and added on their "VIP Experience". Man, that was a great decision!
The VIP Experience was an additional $340/person. Just the express pass was going to be ~$180 per person. The VIP Experience tour went from 830am till about 430pm. After that your pass counted as express passes for any other rides you wanted to do. It included breakfast and lunch at different restaurants, and bottles of water (which I believer would've been $6 each.
It was the best possible version of "skipping the line" - the guide took us through side/exit doors and put us straight onto all the main rides (I think it was 14 different rides). There was no waiting at all. The only exception was the Gringotts Bank ride, in which the stuff to see while you're in line is part of the experience - so he took us through that, still skipping past people along the way.
The guide we had was great. He said he's been doing these tours there for >30 years. He told stories about the park and the rides throughout the day. He kept us moving, but it never felt as though he was rushing us - plenty of stops for restrooms and more water. Between the tour and walking around afterwards, my watch said we did 23k steps/10.5 miles. We were wiped out at the end of the day.
I think it ended up being a really good value for what we paid, and I recommend it to anyone going to Universal!
/csb
The VIP Experience was an additional $340/person. Just the express pass was going to be ~$180 per person. The VIP Experience tour went from 830am till about 430pm. After that your pass counted as express passes for any other rides you wanted to do. It included breakfast and lunch at different restaurants, and bottles of water (which I believer would've been $6 each.
It was the best possible version of "skipping the line" - the guide took us through side/exit doors and put us straight onto all the main rides (I think it was 14 different rides). There was no waiting at all. The only exception was the Gringotts Bank ride, in which the stuff to see while you're in line is part of the experience - so he took us through that, still skipping past people along the way.
The guide we had was great. He said he's been doing these tours there for >30 years. He told stories about the park and the rides throughout the day. He kept us moving, but it never felt as though he was rushing us - plenty of stops for restrooms and more water. Between the tour and walking around afterwards, my watch said we did 23k steps/10.5 miles. We were wiped out at the end of the day.
I think it ended up being a really good value for what we paid, and I recommend it to anyone going to Universal!
/csb
