A unique personal tour for you and your group, covering all of the attractions of the theme park and a longer tour of the backlot with the opportunity to get off your small tram and take photos impossible to take on the main tour. There’s also an exclusive opportunity to look inside the Prop Warehouse, and subject to availability, you’ll visit a soundstage (usually the sets for a tv show – Crossing Jordan was visited in the past).
If you’re in a small group, it may be possible to ask your VIP Guide to take you to a specific place on the backlot.
Like the Studio Tour, the VIP Experience changes every day, depending on production work happening at the studio. If production work is happening in a particular area, it will not be possible to visit that area on the VIP Experience.
2007 Photo Gallery
Press Release – April 9 2007
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., April 9 — Universal Studios Hollywood has raised the bar for its star-treatment “VIP Experience,” granting limited parties of guests expanded behind-the-scenes access to previously “off-limits” areas of the famed Hollywood dream factory, pampering them with an elegant continental breakfast at a VIP Lounge, offering unlimited food service at favorite theme park locations and ushering them to the front of the line at such world famous attractions as “Revenge of the Mummy — The Ride” and “Jurassic Park — The Ride.”
The additional access to key Studio production areas now allows “VIP Experience” guests the opportunity to see the machinery of the filmmaking process in its entirety, including sound stages and standing sets, post-production bays and craft support facilities, as well an up-close view of an authentic Academy Awards(R) Oscar(R) statuette.
Guests are steered through the famed studio’s movie lot in groups of no more than 15 persons and travel aboard comfortable trolleys designed to provide them with an optimal view of every facet of the studio. VIP Guides, armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of the studio’s history as well its current production schedule, provide a personalized commentary.
Created by the Studio as a perk for its stars and business associates, the “VIP Experience” has been a favorite of celebrities ranging from European sovereigns to Hollywood royalty. Only in recent years, in response to growing demand for a “luxury” studio experience, has the program been offered to the public and never before with these new enhancements.
The new additions to the program — which extend the all-day “VIP Experience” by nearly two hours — include a private tour of the production facility where movie set and scenic design as well as lighting techniques are created. Guests now have a chance to observe film and television sets in the early phases of construction and also get an illuminating glimpse at the complexities of set lighting design.
A tour of the world’s only fully functioning “Production House” located on a remote part of the backlot will involve guests in another facet of the movie making process by showcasing the use of a practical house, constructed for the sole purpose of accommodating entire film cast and crews in a real house environment.
The immersive experience also includes a visit to Universal’s famed Property Warehouse, situated in the heart of the studio’s backlot. Built in 1915, the “Prop House” is the largest of its kind in the world. A 100,000 square-foot, three-story facility, the “Prop House” contains an eclectic assemblage of more than 400,000 items representing virtually every set dressing and handheld article required for any movie across time the world over. Miles of aisles inside the Property Warehouse reveal a limitless collection of furniture, draperies, kitchen supplies, statues, musical instruments, jewelry, weapons and more.
The “VIP Experience” also introduces guests to the intricacies of film and television sound post-production with a behind-the-scenes tour of the Studio’s Sound Department where they will observe various techniques applied in dubbing, sound mixing, ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) and Foley sound effects.
“VIP Experience” guests also disembark from the trolley to stroll along an array of movie sets made famous in such hits as Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds,” “Bruce Almighty,” “Evan Almighty,” “Back to the Future,” “Spartacus,” “Psycho,” and “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” as well as sites for such horror favorites as “Frankenstein,” “Dracula,” and “The Wolf Man.”
A highlight of the “VIP Experience” features escorted, hassle-free front-of-the-line privileges at many of Universal Studios most popular attractions, and complimentary breakfast and lunch with the inclusion of the theme park’s “All You Can You Eat” program to help round out a complete VIP day.