This year, I had the honor of being part of a private RIP tour for Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) recently at Universal Studios Florida. A RIP tour is a private VIP style tour in which your group has a private guide. If that sounds a bit exclusive, then you would be right. There are also non-private RIP tours that cost less, but the group doesn’t have as much freedom. In this adventure, I accompanied several veterans of the HHN.
Why was it important that they were veterans? Well this is my very first HHN. People often seem shocked that I’ve never been to HHN as a big supporter of Universal Orlando in terms of theme park value, but it’s still true. Needless to say, I am spoiled in terms of HHN adventures forever. I hope to bring more details about this adventure to everyone in future blogs.
Today it is about the culinary experience before the event. For a RIP tour (whether private or non-private), you enter the park through an entrance near the customer service area to check out. After this process, you are accompanied by your guide to Café la Bamba for a buffet dinner. Our tour guide Jim did a great job worthy of all #UOFistBumps.
If you’re unfamiliar with Café la Bamba, this is a special place near the Horror Make-Up Show area at Universal Studios Florida. This location is used for special events and is not available to most guests. When we arrived at Café la Bamba for our meal. We were greeted by scary actors.
Our group found a place to sit. This buffet was included in the price of our event with the exception of alcoholic drinks. Since I have a problem with diet sodas, I think I drank three Diet Cokes during my meal. I was sad that Coke Zero Sugar wasn’t offered, but that’s a problem for me. The dishes offered for this buffet were good but not great. They had a variety which always helps. These weren’t standard theme park food offerings or even standard HHN style food. You should never underestimate the time that chefs take to prepare a menu that is different from the standard offerings.
Our group enjoyed the meal but felt that something was missing. Lots of the group have been on various VIP style tours at Universal Orlando so they had a better frame of reference than I did. My favorite thing was the Latin inspired mac and cheese. On a busy Saturday night we went, the food and drink staff struggled to keep some items on the buffet due to demand.
Very easily one could complain that for such an expensive event the food should be better. However, guests are paying for front-line access to attractions and homes on their RIP tour, not so much for food. Universal Orlando could very easily not offer this part of the RIP tour. Hope to bring you more details about this HHN30 RIP tour in the future.
If you want to participate in a RIP Tour, you can find out more HERE. You can also call 866-346-9350 to book a visit.
The Private RIP Tour is more expensive but gives you more access.
RIP TOUR
Join other fans and enjoy a VIP guided walking tour of the event. See more with priority VIP entry to Haunted Houses. (Prices vary by date and tour selection, subject to availability. Restrictions apply.)
PRIVATE VISIT
Get a VIP guided walking tour of the event with UNLIMITED priority VIP entry to haunted houses for you and your party of up to 10 people. (Prices vary by date and tour selection, subject to availability. Restrictions apply.)
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Pirates and princesses (PNP) is an independent, fan-driven news blog that covers Disney and Universal theme parks, themed entertainment and related pop culture from a consumer perspective. The opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its publishers, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial source of information and has no connection with The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal, or any other company that we may cover.
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