Private VIP Tours at Universal Orlando
If you are looking for the most exclusive way to experience Universal Orlando, then a Private VIP tour may be just up your alley. I recently got to go on one of these tours and to this day it’s one of the best theme park days I’ve ever had! Let’s talk about what’s included, how much it cost, and how your day might look like.
You can see my full experience here:
Private and Non-Private VIP Tour
It’s important to remember that there are two very different types of VIP tours that you can do: private, and non-private.
The difference is pretty much exactly like it sounds. A non-private VIP tour is going to be you and a group of up to 12 guests that are not a part of your family or party. You can have up to 6 guests that are part of your own family/party. Everyone will give some preferences of what they would like to see, but the rides and attractions will definitely be based on what the majority want to do. Primarily the goal is to hit all the most popular attractions.
You do get breakfast and lunch included in your tour as well as express pass for the rest of the day after your tour.
A Private VIP tour is going to be a group of JUST members in your family or party. The tour is 8 hours long (non-private is 7 hours) and is exactly whatever your family wants to do. You can do any ride as many times as you want and you can go at the pace you would like. The biggest difference between the two options is that you have much more control over your day in a Private tour. (as well as the price, but we’ll talk more about that later)
What is included?
Private VIP tours as mentioned earlier is made up of just your family. You can have up to 5 guests included in the base price and if you would like to add additional people, you will pay individually per person after that. You will also be escorted by your personal tour guide all day long who will give you some insider tips and history about the attractions you experience throughout the day. They will also take care of any reservations and details for you.
You also get a complimentary buffet breakfast at La Bamba that has a variety of options like pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, and more. You also get lunch and dinner included at either a quick service or table service restaurant of your choice. The best part is that your guide will make reservations for you same day! We were able to get restaurants like the highly popular Mythos without having to plan reservations days in advance. You can even opt to have your dinner after your tour is finished for the day.
You also get Express Unlimited for the remainder of the day after your tour, so if there are any rides that you didn’t get to or that you simply wish to ride again, you can!
And speaking of rides, you also get a 3 day photo package to get downloads of your ride photos!
When you are riding the rides during your tour, you aren’t just using the express lane, most of the time you will be taken in through the exit or even using some ‘back door’ entrances to truly skip the lines. This will let you get SO much done in a day and can be a huge perk if you only have a few days in the park that you want to maximize.
Meals are included, but if you want any snacks outside of that, you’ll need to purchase them, but you do get a discount as well as a discount on merchandise anytime during the day of your tour.
Pricing
Ok, now that part that I know you want to know: how much is it?
Pricing is going to vary quite a bit depending on the time of year and park crowd levels. Base or starting price is going to be around $3,000 for up to five guests and can go upwards of $5,000-$7,000+ during busier times of year. The best way to get more exact pricing is by calling Universal’s Guest Services line for your dates.
Non-Private VIP Tours are going to be priced per person and start at around $300 and again can go up to around $500+. This can be an excellent option if you don’t have a ton of people in your group, but you are looking for that VIP experience or even just a little something extra special.
It is also highly encouraged to tip your tour guide - typically around 20% of the tour price is customary, but you can absolutely tip more if you wish! Typically your guide will have venmo or other similar option, but if you can have cash, that can be great too.
Keep in mind that your park tickets are NOT included in the price of your tour, so you’ll need to make sure to have those purchased in addition.
What is the experience like?
I’ll walk you through how our day went so that you can have an idea of what to expect. Remember, this is just my experience! Your day can be whatever you want it to be!
First up we arrived to Universal Studios to check in at 8:30am. You’ll find the VIP check-in area near the fountain in front of the park entrance. We were given our VIP lanyards and escorted into the park.
We started out at breakfast at La Bamba where we were able to dine on a variety of options at the buffet. We had really yummy scrambled eggs, waffles, and even a brisket eggs benedict! They also gave us some bottled water to take with us on our day.
Our tour then officially began at 9:00am. We wanted to start our day in Islands of Adventure just in case there was rain in the afternoon. We took the Hogwarts Express from Diagon Alley over to Hogsmeade and hopped on our first ride of the day - Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure. We even got to ride it twice! They took us in through the exit, so we didn’t have to wait at all!
Next up we hopped on Flight of the Hippogriff and again, they had us get on the ride through the exit. Then some of our group wanted to ride Forbidden Journey, but the other half just wanted to see the queue, so our guide took us in a back entrance to the express queue where we could see some of the queue highlights without waiting in the line and then hopped on the ride via the exit. Those of us who didn’t want to ride just exited through the gift shop and checked out the merchandise while the rest rode the attraction.
It was time for a butterbeer break! This is where our VIP discount came in handy. We even stopped for a few pics by the Hogwarts Castle and our guide helped us snag a few content photos to get that perfect shot!
Heading over to hit up a few water rides, we jumped on Popeye’s Bilge Barges and Jurassic Park River Adventure. We then needed to dry off so we rode VelociCoaster. We got to get to the loading deck from backstage areas and then for those of us that were skipping the ride, our guide took us to the perfect spot backstage to grab a slomo video of the group before meeting them at the end of the ride.
We did ALL of that before we headed to lunch at Mythos. With our meal we were able to have an entree, dessert, and non-alcoholic beverage per person as well as appetizers for the table (1 for every 2 people). This was a TON of food, but it was so fun to be able to try a bunch of options from the menu.
After lunch it was time to head to Universal Studios to finish out our day. We took the Hogwarts Express back over to Diagon Alley and headed over to knock out a few rides like Rip Ride Rocket, Minions Villain Con, and Jimmy Fallon.
We had a few more attractions we wanted to make sure that we hit up before the end of our tour. We grabbed a ride on ET, and then we didn’t necessarily want to ride Men in Black, but we did want to see the queue! This was super special because we actually got to go down into the set of the queue and get up close and personal. This is something you can ONLY do during a VIP tour.
Gringotts was next and finally we ended with the Mummy. This was SO cool! We not only got to get on the ride through the exit, but we even got to go UNDER the ride to get an up close look at the ride track. This is also something that you can ONLY do during a VIP tour and it was the perfect way to end.
We did get to do a sit down meal at Big Fire Grill for our dinner after our tour that was also included! This was our favorite meal of the day for sure!
Should you do a VIP Tour?
This is something that I think you get an excellent value for your money! Should you go out of your way to do it every time, no (unless you have the disposable income to spend) but I think it is absolutely worth it for a special occasion or if you really want to see the parks in a different way.
It is definitely expensive, but if a Private tour isn’t in the budget, you can still get a similar experience with the non-private tour. It’s usually only a little more than purchasing Express, so it could be a great upgrade if you are considering purchasing Express anyway.
I LOVED our experience and it’s something I would consider doing again because it’s not just skipping the lines, you really get to see the park in a totally different way that you ONLY can experience by doing the tour.
