At 4:30pm on Friday 19 October - we checked in to the Hilton Hotel at Universal Studio City in Los Angeles. Weary, grubby and backsides sore from our epic drive - we freshened up and wandered downstairs to enjoy the Hilton's famous Rib & Seafood buffet dinner before calling it a night. Our room overlooked Universal Studios and it was fun to watch the excitement of people entering for the Halloween Horror Nights from our high vantage point.
On Saturday, we took the I5 down to Commerce and spent the morning having some retail therapy at the Citadel Outlet Mall. I am lucky that Mr Clipped accommodates my sick fetish for Halloween. He took me to the Halloween Warehouse nearby, where we stocked up on some gnarly gravestones and other useless stuff that I plaster our house with on October 31 each year. We invested in a delightful corpse that we named Phil. The weather was getting quite warm by now, so the three of us returned to our hotel for a well earned swim (not Phil).
Sunday dawned bright and clear. Today we were going to be VIP's at Universal Studios. We skipped breakfast at the hotel, as they include this in your ticket price. It's a hefty AUD500 per person. But we have done Universal Studios with four screaming kids for many years and this was our reward. We hopped along nice and early (2 minute walk from our hotel) and slipped through the VIP entrance with the anticipation of a pair of kids who were going on their first school excursion.
We checked in to Reception, where we were welcomed with a warm smile from 2 dapper looking guys who presented us with our souvenir lanyards. The words VIP were big enough so that all cast members (and other patrons) could clearly see you were part of the Elite Chosen Few. There was a barcode on the back for scanning at all attractions and events.
Breakfast upstairs consisted of a generous choice of savoury croissants, sweet pastries, or yoghurts/fruits with tea/coffee and cold juices. It was an elegant dining room. There were also numerous staff waiting on you politely - discreetly clearing plates or refilling your beverage.
Our tour guide came over to introduce herself: Donna was a cheeky bundle of knowledge - sly jokes coupled with an enormous passion for her job and a cracker of a host. Loud and always smiling. My kind of gal.
When it was time to start our day, a group of us gathered at the top of the stairs. Probably around 12 people. Donna came over and whispered that she was releasing the 2 of us to the second tour guide (Tony) as her group turned out to be overseas visitors with little English skills and she didn't want us to be disadvantaged with the language barrier. We moved to Tony's group and met some thoroughly lovely people from all over the world. Another couple of Aussie girls picked our accent and gravitated towards us when they found out we had extensive Park experience. But we let Tony do all the talking - he wasn't as electric as Donna, but he was a great bloke with wonderful insight.
So, we cruised down the main avenue, past the now huge crowd waiting for the Park to open to the general public (another hours wait lol). It was incredible to wander past attractions and experience Universal Studios when the streets are empty. It's almost surreal. The VIP tour had already paid for itself.
The day was filled with hilarious anecdotes, private access to film sets, intimate walks to areas that are normally inaccessible. It was pure heaven. The Prop Shop was amazing - and the Absolute Front of the Line access to all rides, whenever we wanted - was probably the memory that stays with you. Around midday, we were taken to a dining restaurant I had always thought was a stage set front. The heavy glass doors opened to reveal another beautiful dining room - chefs with starched white uniforms and those adorable chef hats, all busying themselves around a comprehensive hot/cold buffet. We chose to dine alfresco and picked a fabulous table on the balcony overlooking the Park. I must have tasted every item on the menu, from tender beef ribeye roast, to fresh mussels and white wine pasta. The sweets were almost too beautiful to eat. But I ate them anyway.
As it was Halloween, a couple of "characters" made their way into the dining area to entertain guests. I spotted Dracula and immediately flashed my neck for him and a classic photo op.
After lunch, we rode some more rides and caught a couple of shows before it was time for Tony to say goodbye. There was still a couple of hours left - so we all split up and went our separate ways to enjoy the VIP experience on our own. I have to say, the ticket price was totally worth the amount of entertainment you get, compared with hour long wait lines for the rest of humanity. We saw everything, rode everything (sometimes twice) and generally felt very VIP, which I guess is why they call it that.
We wandered home as the gates to Universal were closing and we reflected on what was an epic finale to our American holiday this year.
