For part 3 of 3 covering my visit to Universal Studios Hollywood, I’ll be giving an overview and a bit more insight into their VIP Experience. In case you missed it, I already posted some photographs two days ago from Universal CityWalk Hollywood, which is the free-to-access area outside Universal Studios that is lined with shops and retail attractions.
Yesterday, I shared my thoughts of the Studio Tour, a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on at Universal Pictures. The VIP Experience was split into two portions—the Studio Tour and the theme park. My tour started with the Studio Tour as the first portion, and then we moved on to getting expedited access to rides for the second portion.
Even before that, the VIP Experience started with priority admission by way of a side VIP entrance with no line. I was greeted and specially escorted to the VIP lounge, in which there was a selection of food and beverages comparable to that of a premium continental breakfast. After finishing check-in and having a chat with our dedicated assigned tour guide to get an overview of what we can expect from our day, we gathered out on the balcony with this nice view of the park entrance to group up and walk towards the Studio Tour.
After the Studio Tour, we walked back to the main theme park and started with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
After sightseeing the architecture, we were taken to our first ride, “Flight of the Hippogriff.”
… It’s time for a story.
I am very prone to motion sickness. As a kid, I would get motion sick pretty much everywhere. Every time my parents brought me somewhere in a vehicle, I would get car sick. Every time I rode on a plane, I would get airsick. Even when I play first-person perspective video games, I’d get motion sick.
I’ve solved some of this in my adulthood. I found that I get less carsickness in larger body-on-frame vehicles, so I drive a pickup truck (among other reasons, the primary of which is just the versatility and capability of pickup trucks). When I’m riding with friends, I usually sit in the passenger seat and recline all the way back. When I call rideshare services, I usually call a “Black” or other premium-tier service to increase the chances of me getting a large SUV with captain’s chairs in the second row so I can recline back. On aircraft, I try my best to book business or first class tickets so I have a more comfortable seat with greater recline.
In general, I get more sick when I’m upright, and my motion sickness diminishes when I’m leaning back or laying down. Another strategy I’ve used to help with motion sickness is to eat a lot. I noticed that I get worse motion sickness on an empty stomach, so if I eat enough to refuel my body and give myself enough energy, that usually helps. (I still haven’t found a solution for FPP video games, though.)
Even then, things sometimes catch me off guard. As part of the VIP Experience, I agreed to go on this Harry Potter ride because I figured that I had a hearty breakfast that morning and assumed I would be fine. However, I was horribly mistaken, as Flight of the Hippogriff triggered an intense sense of motion sickness that kept worsening.
At first, it was a bit jarring and I felt a bit dizzy, but I was mostly fine. I got off the ride (which tilts you at an angle at high speeds and, I presume, makes the blood rush down and away from your brain) and walked it off. However, as time passed, I got increasingly dizzy and my urge to vomit got worse and worse. The VIP Experience was less than halfway over though, so I decided I would power through it and assumed that I would start feeling better soon.
The next ride was “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.” For this ride, the tour guide specifically pointed out that a lot of people get motion sickness and have sometimes even had their days ruined from it, so I wisely opted out from the ride. I was still able to walk through the castle though, which was nicely decorated.
While the rest of the tour group was on the ride, I sat on a bench off to the side. I was still feeling worse and worse, and after staying seated for a while and standing up, I had a fairly severe and lengthy bout of orthostatic hypotension where everything in your vision flashes white for a while before gradually going back to normal. Still, the VIP Experience had a lot more to it, and I kept hoping that I would soon start feeling better.
I was so confident in my ability to slowly get better that I even agreed to go on “The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash” because our tour guide said that it is a very mild ride and it barely goes five miles an hour. I agree that it normally would’ve been perfectly fine, except the fact that my motion sickness had already been triggered meant that even the slightest movement and spinning of our seats meant that I felt even more sick.
Regardless, I thought the ride was enjoyable and heartwarming. It tells the story of two sheltered puppies that get adopted, and the ride brings you through the process scene-by-scene until you’re at the end in your new home with your new family.
It was time for lunch. The VIP Experience comes with access to a private restaurant with a premium buffet with an amazing selection of food. However, by this point, I genuinely felt like any kind of sudden motion would make me vomit. Even turning my head too quickly made my stomach lurch. At this point, I could do nothing but sit rigidly still and just enjoy the comedy of the fact that a roller coaster that took barely over half a minute to finish managed to absolutely knock me out for a few hours.
I ate nothing during lunch, but at the very least, managed not to vomit. At this point, I realized that I was most likely not getting better anytime soon, especially if I were to remain upright and keep moving around. I decided to make the call that I should head back to the hotel and lay down for a bit.
I checked in with my tour guide and confirmed that basically the entire rest of the VIP Experience was just going from ride-to-ride and being able to skip all the lines. That was a relief to hear, as I think the rides are the least appealing part of an amusement park for me, so it felt like I wasn’t missing out on much by surrendering and leaving the tour early.
I walked back to the Sheraton Universal Hotel, returned to my room, washed my hands and face, changed into my pajamas, and laid down. After a few more hours, I still had a mild headache but was no longer anywhere close to vomiting. I headed over to the Bonvoy elite lounge to get some snacks and determined that I was back to a level of reasonable functionality.
The great news about the VIP Experience is that it also comes with general admission to the park. My designated tour time was 11:30 AM, and I was out of the park by 3 PM. After resting and recovering for a few hours, I re-entered the park at 6 PM and still had three more hours left before closing time to walk around and enjoy the sights.
The part of Universal Studios Hollywood I was most looking forward to seeing was Super Nintendo World. After having a little bit of difficulty finding the entrance (because it was hidden at the end of a long path that originally appeared to only go to the Transformers area, but in reality, turned off into a large green pipe from Super Mario Bros.), I entered into the magical world of Super Mario.
For a little while, I thought that Super Nintendo World was a completely covered indoor area because of how pure and empty the sky happened to be at that time. I’m sure you can imagine how confused I was when I eventually noticed the moon.
Super Nintendo World is an amazing environment. I tend to be known as someone who doesn’t really consume much mass media, but the Super Mario series is a franchise with which I am very familiar. It gave me a lot of nostalgia seeing everything built life-sized around me, and it triggered one of those “inner child” moments where I just stood there looking around with a gaping mouth and happy eyes. There were a lot of people around who were interacting with the exhibits, and those interactions activated Super Mario sound effects that added to my immersion.
I liked this environment so much that, if this was a publicly-accessible location back in Las Vegas, I would literally come here at least a couple times a week just to look around, enjoy the sound effects, people-watch, and eat lunch. I’ve never really had a “happy place” like a lot of other people do, but I think Super Nintendo World is as close as I can get to something like that (alongside something similar to this, but Pokémon-themed too).
I also took a walk through Bowser’s castle. Normally this is the area for “Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge,” but because of my VIP badge, I was able to just enter the castle on the side and sightsee without having to wait in a long line. Once I got to the end, I was able to turn around and exit without needing to partake in the ride.
After soaking in as much of the Super Mario joy I could, I headed out and towards the main entrance of the park, as it was approaching 9 PM and closing time was imminent. For my last half hour remaining, I walked around Super Silly Fun Land and the Despicable Me area.
On my way to the exit, I walked through Universal Plaza where they had a live DJ and a bunch of costumed characters dancing and having fun with the kids. I thought this was very nice, as it was basically the equivalent of a family-friendly rave for children.
Before exiting, I snapped a photo of the statue at the front entrance. You can see the VIP sign on the right side of the photograph, affixed under the balconies upon which I started my day.
The VIP Experience is very worth it. I paid US$489.00 for my ticket, which seems like a lot, but regular tickets were already US$149.00 per person that day, and upgrading to Universal Express was US$299.00. If you’re already spending that much money, then I think adding on an additional US$190.00 to upgrade to the full VIP Experience is very good value. (Note that pricing is dynamic, and the VIP Experience during the off-season can go as low as US$359.00 per person.)
The number and amount of lines my tour group was able to skip because of our VIP credentials was insane. Out of the rides and experiences that I was there for, I would’ve already saved about two and a half hours of wait time, and that’s even with me having left early and missing out on a vast majority of the rides. The lines for rides are so ridiculously long that it seemed like a no-brainer to get Express or VIP, and it even went as far as to make me wonder whether Universal Studios was overselling general admission tickets.
Also keep in mind that VIP also comes with free breakfast and lunch, and even though I didn’t eat due to my motion sickness, it’s actually pretty good food by the looks of it. It’s also really helpful to have an unlimited stream of cold water bottles wherever you go so that it’s one less thing for you to worry about. Add on the free valet parking that otherwise would be US$60.00, and the VIP package gives you a lot of convenience-based add-ons that makes your trip very comfortable.
Would I go again? Of course not. The VIP Experience doesn’t really make much sense for people who would go on zero rides. If you’re just going there for sightseeing, then a general admission ticket is plenty. But do I regret going? Absolutely not. Even though I wasn’t able to milk full value out of the VIP Experience, I still really enjoyed what I was able to do.
A lot of people are surprised when they hear this, but I’ve never been to Disneyland Resort before. I spend nowhere near as much time in California as I used to back when I was helping set up the Tempo Storm esports team houses, and when I am in California, I’m usually only there for a specific purpose before heading back out and don’t have much time to take a leisurely trip to a theme park. Whenever people have invited me to Disneyland, I’ve been somewhat avoidant in going because it didn’t really seem particularly compelling to stand out in the sun all day surrounded by children. However, after my overall positive experience at Universal Studios, I feel like I’m more agreeable now to visiting Disneyland to see how it compares.