Thanks for the detailed information! You may have sold us. One question - do you know if you're allowed to go back to the VIP lounge to take a break at different points of the day (other than breakfast/lunch)?
That's a really good question and the VIP booking phone number certainly will be able to answer that.
Mine is a little weird since I always go for Halloween Horror Nights, so the park closes early, AND the Moulin Rogue (restaurant where you have lunch) is used for the dinner service for the HHN VIP (called RIP) tour starting around 6:30pm or so. That said, for HHN you usually have dinner at the start of the tour and the place is open till midnight or 1 am with dessert and coffees/paid drinks. So.... there is a chance it's open late in the day in the summer for VIPs to swing back by and get a dessert and drink or something. Again, call the VIP booking number and they'll be able to confirm that for you.
The "lounge" area near the front gate which acts as the private tour starting point might also be open. I feel like they've mentioned we can return back there at any time to rest a little, grab a cold drink, etc. I'm not sure if they have light snacks all day long or not (in the morning before your tour they have fruit, juices, danish, little breakfast sandwich things, etc, it's good to show up 20+ minutes before your tour to check in and grab a little bite to eat, though again if you ask for the backlot before lunch, your lunch time is probably going to be first out of the groups, likely around 11:30).
Again, I usually don't return during the day since my day is a bit shorter with the reduced hours due to the halloween events and it doesn't make sense to walk all the way up to the front gate area to duck into the lounge since I'm staying across the street at the Hilton and would just call it a day and go grab a quick shower or something before whatever I'm doing next. However, during the night I DO return to the Moulin Rogue around midnight for a cocktail and desserts
Give them a call and ask all the questions ( 818-622-8477 ). Also includes valet parking if you have a car, be sure to ask where exactly that is located. It used to be in the Frankenstein garage which is VERY close, but it might have moved to Jurassic garage. I would specifically ask the VIP booking number instead of just following signs at the park... I'm wondering if they split VIP valet with general valet for City Walk or "normal" guests. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that VIPs are pushed way back into the Jurassic Garage now compared to front gate or preferred parking (paid options).
I still think it's very worth while, especially with those longer summer park hours. When you factor in price Universal Express (I don't seem to see the + option), about $230 to $250 most days next month AND that it's only good for each attraction ONCE, the extra $170 to $200/tix for the VIP doesn't seem too bad (if you can afford it of course). The meal alone feels like it's $50+ in value (granted you actually probably would only spend $30 or so per person on theme park lunch food, but it's much lower quality) and you can do front of the line unlimited times. Want to ride Jurassic five times in a row the last two hours you're in the park... no problem. Want to ride it once on the tour in the day and then once at night as it's dusk out to get a completely different vibe from it? No problem. The Mummy indoor coaster is awesome, but only like 45 second long. Kids want to go crazy on that and ride it back to back for an hour, have at it. Just request to do the backlot in the morning, that *requires* a tour guide and you can't really just join back the group after splitting off for a few hours. The backlot is worth it as long as you know you're there all day. If you have to leave by 4 or 5pm or something maybe debate doing that, but otherwise totally do it even if you're not "huge" on movie studio stuff. It's a great mix of attractions and actual studio history.
