Just booked Five Star Tours...anyone have any info?

[karensi]

Hi, I recently saw an ad for and booked a company called Five Star Tours for our upcoming WDW trip in April. They had good reviews and when I called they seemed knowledgeable about the parks, FPs, etc They will pick us up at our resort, staying off site and promise minimal waits for all/most attractions.
They will take care of getting the FP's for the two days I have them booked, going to MK and AK and they promised we would have a FP for FOP.
The guide will stay with us throughout the day and I don't pay until the tour is over, $900 per park. Although I did give a $200 deposit, $100 per park.
I know this is a lot of money but we're going Easter week and I'm nervous about the crowds, long waits, not getting the FPs I want and this company seems to take care of all of that.
Do you think this could really be true?
Has anyone here on the Dis used them?

 

[kylieh]

Based on what I’ve read here about most non-Disney tour guides, I’m a little cynical. How do they take care of the FP given they’re attached to your tickets? Or are they buying the tickets on your behalf. Looking st their website it doesn’t mention anything about getting you a FP on any of their tours. Other thing to note is that the overwhelming majority of reviews on Trip Advisor are from people with one review or contribution ever.

I’m sure they can show you around, but the advice on these boards plus plus maybe a group tour from Disney themselves that includes the rides may give you more benefit.

 

[rwdavis2]

I'd be curious to know how they get FPs that you could not. I'd be skeptical.

 

[Scar1199]

Not sure I'd be paying that amount, especially at AK just to ride FOP, every other ride/attraction can easily be picked up as either a FP or short wait. We were able to get FOP FP for both of our AK days on our upcoming trip in March.

 

[kwdw]

I'd be very, very skeptical. That's A LOT of money - and they cannot get you to the front of the line. They will be using their experience on best ways to tour the park to help keep you in short lines. And you can get FP's just as easily as they can. There's no magic way to bypass the system that exists for everyone.

Now - if you NEED someone to be in charge of how you tour a park - and have money to spend - hey - if it avoids family arguments during the day - then I suppose it might have some value.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

I’m a little skeptical as well.

And 2 parks x $900 each? Yikes. At that point I’d be looking into a Disney VIP experience (AKA a plaid) which you know is legitimate.

 

[CAS239]

If I were doing a tour I'd only book through Disney. Their charging an insane amount for a non Disney tour that they can't get you to the front of the line, special FP's, etc.

Idk how they promise you minimal waits when their not Disney employees. I'd be skeptical and read the fine print

 

[Alesia]

I wish you'd have asked this before you put down the deposit. As it is, I'd cut my losses and cancel. Paying $1800 for an outside tour guide is crazy. They can't do anything for you that having a good touring plan won't do.

I really wonder how they're going to get your fast passes for you. Whatever you do, don't give them access to your MDE account

If you really want to spend that kind of money, get an official Disney VIP tour - they actually can get you special access.

 

[TravelandLeisure]

Yeah I’m with everyone else on this one. There’s absolutely no way I would be dropping that kind of money for things you can do yourself. It’s not that hard to get a FOP fast pass if you plan AK for at least the 4th day of your trip (sometimes 3rd). I managed to fairly easily pull two of them during Thanksgiving week in 2017. Take the extra money you save and spend it on some of WDW’s special events like DAH or EMM.

 

[FSU Girl]

I do know someone who used an outside company to do basically the same thing, they did get them fast passes and they had a good time. The person leading that was a former plaid. I don’t know how legitimate these businesses are though, and they might do shady things to get around rules. I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable booking a tour outside of Disney. Too many things could go wrong and it’s a lot of money. I’ve done the VIP tour and it was great, if your goal is to get special treatment and hard to get fast passes I’d go with that option, although it will be more expensive.

 

[Vertical]

If your main goal is FOP, I would keep checking to see if Disney adds a DAK After Hours event that week. There aren't any planed after April 3rd, but maybe they will add more.

 

[anomamatt]

Is this a one-off trip? If not, I think you’d be better off investing time spent on these forums learning the tricks and tips of maximizing FP. Getting fop isn’t hard if you know what you are doing.

And while these tours are not cheap, FYI to those suggesting a Disney vip tour (which are a ton of fun), the price is way higher. Easter week the Disney vip tours are $650 an hour and a minimum of 7 hours.

 

[yulilin3]

For current cm it would be easy to gather enough fps to do this as a side job, pretty sure if caught they would probably be immediately fired.
CMs are given an amount of any ride fp to use at their discretion when dealing with guest problems. It would be easy for CMs to not use these and gather them and use them for this type of tour, the anytime fp are good for a whole month.

 

[TDSAXX]

I’m assuming $900.00 doesn’t include the 20% gratuity for the guide that their website recommends?

Not sure how big your party is; but have you considered using the money you would pay them to stay onsite? That would allow you to take advantage of 60 day FP and EMH.

 

[Timmy Boy]

Too sketchy. Not sure how they promised FP for all/ most rides because you can only book 3 in advance, then once your third one is over then you can book one at a time based on availability, so theres no way for them to do that in advance. Not sure how they can promise FOP either because everyone has the same FP availability as everyone else.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I bet the "tour guide" uses a Disability Pass. That would do it.

 

[karensi]

Hi, OP here, thanks so much for everyone's input and although I haven't canceled I am rethinking this now.
To answer the question as to how they could get FP's for us the answer is that they did say that when it comes closer to my booking time they will need to have my MDE password. That really didn't bother me because I feel what's the worse they could do? Cancel a dinner ressie? Well I guess the worse would really be cancel the hotel ressie but they would have no reason to do this. They're in business to make money not screw around with peoples reservations for no reason. IDK, like I said, these are just my thoughts.
I did look into the Disney VIP Tour but yes, wayyyy too expensive.
I would love to hear if anyone here has actually used them and what their experience was.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to hear everyone's thoughts. The more I hear from you guys the better I will be in making a final decision.
Oh, one more thing, what did give me a good vibe when I spoke with them was that they say the payment isn't due until the end of the tour. I thought that was a good thing...

 

[rteetz]

Hi, OP here, thanks so much for everyone's input and although I haven't canceled I am rethinking this now.
To answer the question as to how they could get FP's for us the answer is that they did say that when it comes closer to my booking time they will need to have my MDE password. That really didn't bother me because I feel what's the worse they could do? Cancel a dinner ressie? Well I guess the worse would really be cancel the hotel ressie but they would have no reason to do this. They're in business to make money not screw around with peoples reservations for no reason. IDK, like I said, these are just my thoughts.
I did look into the Disney VIP Tour but yes, wayyyy too expensive.
I would love to hear if anyone here has actually used them and what their experience was.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to hear everyone's thoughts. The more I hear from you guys the better I will be in making a final decision.
Oh, one more thing, what did give me a good vibe when I spoke with them was that they say the payment isn't due until the end of the tour. I thought that was a good thing...

Still sounds like you’re way overpaying for something you could do on your own for no additional cost. I would much rather look into any after hours events when you’re going which are much cheaper and offer minimal waits on attractions.

This is definitely something I would not pay for.

 

[anomamatt]

If it were me, I'd worry less about it being a scam or risky to give them your MDE information -- and worry more about whether it's worth the money.

I'm sure it will be nice to have someone book Fps and then tour you around the park. But is it worth $900 a day...

 

[rteetz]

If it were me, I'd worry less about it being a scam or risky to give them your MDE information -- and worry more about whether it's worth the money.

I'm sure it will be nice to have someone book Fps and then tour you around the park. But is it worth $900 a day...

Yeah a Disney travel agent can book your fastpasses for no extra cost to you. Sure they don’t cart you around but Uber can help with that at fraction of the cost.

 

[cix00]

To answer the question as to how they could get FP's for us the answer is that they did say that when it comes closer to my booking time they will need to have my MDE password.

Sounds like they may be using "Change Party" on their end to transfer existing FPs to your party (either in advance, if you dont already have FPs booked, or on the day of touring, after your existing FPs are used up for the day). To do this, their MDE accounts must be linked to yours, thus the need to have your MDE password. Just a guess though.