VIP Tour - January 2022

[karenc15]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience! Can you tell me how was your guide? I have read experiences where some rave about how engaging and accommodating their guide was and others that said their guide was a dud. I am hoping for someone more engaging. I have requested Kelly Ball and Tom Fox. Hope we get one of them! If not, I'm sure it will be fine. Just excited for this once in a lifetime opportunity!

It is suggested that we meet our guide near the entrance once inside Hollywood Studios by the stroller rental. I wonder if we should change the meet to closer to GE. Interesting. Will have to talk to my husband about that. Your itinerary sounds similar to ours: starting off at HS (MMRR, ROTR, Slinky and TSM) and ending up at fireworks viewing. Thanks again for sharing.

Our guide was pretty good, and my 10yo son loved talking with her. For that reason, I didn't have as much interaction with her. She had lots of fun facts and was able to accommodate our fairly packed schedule. She also took some fun group pictures for us and even took a video of us on Slinky Dog. She also tried to get us some Space 220 reservations on a different day, but was not successful. Let me know if you'd like me share our full ride itinerary to gauge against your plan.

 

[quandrea]

Our guide was pretty good, and my 10yo son loved talking with her. For that reason, I didn't have as much interaction with her. She had lots of fun facts and was able to accommodate our fairly packed schedule. She also took some fun group pictures for us and even took a video of us on Slinky Dog. She also tried to get us some Space 220 reservations on a different day, but was not successful. Let me know if you'd like me share our full ride itinerary to gauge against your plan.

I’d love to see that!

 

[ZerasPride]

I would love to see your itinerary! Thanks!

 

[trompettecon]

To everyone has done a VIP, how much did you tip? If you feel like sharing...

 

[karenc15]

Here was our itinerary for reference:

We were a group of 9 with 6 adults, two teenagers and one 10yo.

Start at Baseline Tap House at DHS at 1:00PM
ROTR
SDD
TSMM
MMRR
ToT
RNRC

Drove to AK
EE
FOP (group was dizzy)

Drove to EPCOT
Went to Remy but ride was down
Frozen
Rechecked Remy but was still down

Drove to MK
SM
Mobile order for snacks from Cosmic Ray's
Guide brought drinks and ice cream!
SDMT x 2
Then it was around 7:50PM and fireworks were at 8:00PM, so we went to the VIP area.
Took one last picture with guide and said goodbye right before the show started,

This was definitely a crowded day, so I think on a less busy day you might fit 1-2 more rides Our guide was also kind enough to take group photos at ROTR, video at SDD, in front MMRR, at Pandora, and in front of the castle before the fireworks.

It was such a packed day, but an amazing one.

 

[MollieKayDavis]

Our guide was pretty good, and my 10yo son loved talking with her. For that reason, I didn't have as much interaction with her. She had lots of fun facts and was able to accommodate our fairly packed schedule. She also took some fun group pictures for us and even took a video of us on Slinky Dog. She also tried to get us some Space 220 reservations on a different day, but was not successful. Let me know if you'd like me share our full ride itinerary to gauge against your plan.

I would love to see that as well.

 

[Centopar]

We did a tour today (a gift from a very kind friend who has a Club 33 membership). We have a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old, so our itinerary will look a bit odd to some of you, and we did not cover as much ground as people without an intermittently sleeping baby and a double buggy might manage! Because we were with the kids we elected to have the guide pick us up at our hotel (the Waldorf) and drop us off; if we hadn't had them with us we'd have met him in the park. We started in HS and went to MK after lunch. We rode:

Tower of Terror
ROTR (this took a while because the baby fell asleep, so I went on with our daughter and my husband went on when we exited - it took about 25 minutes for each of us from start to finish because of the pre-show. We loved it.)
Alien Swirling Saucers (x2 - the baby LOVES this ride)
SDD
Runaway Railroad

Poly for lunch at Capt Cook's

Dumbo
Ariel
7 Dwarfs
Small World x2
Carousel x2
Pooh
Peter Pan
Splash Mountain

We tipped $400 for the four of us. Our guide was Jacob, who was an absolute delight. My daughter spent most of the day holding his hand as we walked around.

 

[jgl130]

My friend’s family (all first timers! friend, Friend Husband, Friend Mom, Friend Dad + kids 9, 6, 4) and I (Disney vet but first tour) have a VIP Tour booked on 1/19. This will be day 4 of our trip and we will have been to all the parks before tour day, so will likely be doing re-rides of “favorites” or first times If we missed it earlier in the week for long lines, broken down or weather.

I’m trying to realistically figure out how much we’ll actually be able to get done. Tour starts at 12:30 at AK. We will have done a 10:30 meal at Tusker House, so planning on snacks (both brought with us and bought during the tour) throughout the tour and QS dinner at MK. Here’s what I’ve roughed out

AK:

• FOP only, will do Navi and Safari before our Tusker House ressie.

EPCOT

• Frozen Ever After
• Remy’s
• Test track (?)

HS

• ROTR
• MFSR
• Slinky
• Aliens (if the 4 year old wants)
• MMRR
• ToT for the 9 + FH and me

MK

• SDMT
• BTM or Pirates or Peter Pan depending on what the kids want to do
• Anything else we have time for if at all
• Fireworks seating since the tour will end close to fireworks time

Luckily the 4 year old measured 40 inches no shoes at the end of October, so she’s good to go to ride pretty much everything but FOP. And with Everest and Splash Mountain closed that takes out two rides we would do.

I feel like this is a bit aggressive, but don’t have a feel for what’s realistic. I figure worst case we tack on an extra hour at MK if there’s something the kids are dying to do one last time before the fireworks.

FH and I will park our cars at TTC that morning so we don’t have to wait for the busses and meet up with the crew at AK for breakfast.

 

[katied]

I was told by the VIP tour guide that in 7 hours, you can get through 10-11 rides (we planned 3 parks). We did add an extra hour to get though our list and run till fireworks, but that can also be a last minute decision.

 

[TriSeb°o°]

I was on hold for 3.5 hours with VIP services just to make a minor change this afternoon. Yowsa!

 

[eclipseSD]

Is there any level of service at which you get "call to chat" executive-style support that luxury brands would typically provide at this type of price point? Maybe Golden Oaks/Club 33? Four Seasons Concierge?

 

[katied]

Once you are booked, you can communicate any details or small things (other than date changes) via email. Your confirmation has the email.

 

[sophy1996]

My friend’s family (all first timers! friend, Friend Husband, Friend Mom, Friend Dad + kids 9, 6, 4) and I (Disney vet but first tour) have a VIP Tour booked on 1/19. This will be day 4 of our trip and we will have been to all the parks before tour day, so will likely be doing re-rides of “favorites” or first times If we missed it earlier in the week for long lines, broken down or weather.

I’m trying to realistically figure out how much we’ll actually be able to get done. Tour starts at 12:30 at AK. We will have done a 10:30 meal at Tusker House, so planning on snacks (both brought with us and bought during the tour) throughout the tour and QS dinner at MK. Here’s what I’ve roughed out

AK:

• FOP only, will do Navi and Safari before our Tusker House ressie.

EPCOT

• Frozen Ever After
• Remy’s
• Test track (?)

HS

• ROTR
• MFSR
• Slinky
• Aliens (if the 4 year old wants)
• MMRR
• ToT for the 9 + FH and me

MK

• SDMT
• BTM or Pirates or Peter Pan depending on what the kids want to do
• Anything else we have time for if at all
• Fireworks seating since the tour will end close to fireworks time

Luckily the 4 year old measured 40 inches no shoes at the end of October, so she’s good to go to ride pretty much everything but FOP. And with Everest and Splash Mountain closed that takes out two rides we would do.

I feel like this is a bit aggressive, but don’t have a feel for what’s realistic. I figure worst case we tack on an extra hour at MK if there’s something the kids are dying to do one last time before the fireworks.

FH and I will park our cars at TTC that morning so we don’t have to wait for the busses and meet up with the crew at AK for breakfast.

I was told by the VIP tour guide that in 7 hours, you can get through 10-11 rides (we planned 3 parks). We did add an extra hour to get though our list and run till fireworks, but that can also be a last minute decision.

I think the plan is relatively realistic if you don’t have a big group and are prepared to move. In May DH and I did I think 18-19 rides (including re-rides) in 4 parks in 7 hours (5 in DHS, 2 in AK, 8-9 in MK, and 3 in Epcot). We met the guide at DHS, and he left us at the end in Epcot, so no transit time on either side. And we only stopped for a quick snack during the tour. We ate meals before and after.

 

[TriSeb°o°]

Once you are booked, you can communicate any details or small things (other than date changes) via email. Your confirmation has the email.

Yeah, but when you don't get a confirmation or a response, there is no choice but to call and wait on the line.

 

[twodogs]

We just did our 4th VIP tour last week. They are so fun and amazing, but you do need to have a plan with your party to make the most of the time. I think you need to talk to all the others in the group and make sure you share the same ride priorities, such as are you doing re-rides and which rides to skip. Also, make sure everyone agrees about eating, are you sitting down for a meal, stopping for a bunch of snacks all day, eating on the go? Try to coordinate bathroom stops if you can so that you aren’t stopping all the time for that, which can chew a lot of (expensive) time. Since it looks like you will have grandparents down to a 4 year old, it may be hard to keep a focused, fast-ish pace (we now have 2 teens, so they are easy on this part, but when they were younger and we also had my parents with us, we had to really stay together and focused to get it all done). Make sure the kids are well rested because you are going all day, no time to sit on a bench or in line like a normal day in the parks with down time. The guide can stay with the 4 year old if they are too short to ride something.

I usually let the Plaid pick the order for the rides, and they often adjust on the fly if something is down. I just tell them generally what rides we want to do (or what we want to skip, if that is the shorter list). They will drive you between rides at one park sometimes if that is shorter. We usually skip TT and Soarin’ since they take a long time to do. With the new way they do HM, you can skip the stretching room which saves a bunch of time. You can only ride ROTR and Remy’s once each, but can re-ride everything else. Don’t be afraid to re-ride those favorites like SDMT and FOP that will always have a long wait otherwise.

We did all 4 parks this time (only went to EPCOT to ride Remy’s), but I booked 8.5 hours going in because we wanted VIP viewing for the MK Fireworks, and your tour must either go through the entire time of the fireworks (guide stays with you) or must end at 7:45pm (fireworks at 8pm), which is what we did. This worked great because she took us to the VIP viewing area, then she got us “free” Mickey ice cream bars and ice cream sandwiches and bottled waters and then we stayed for the fireworks. We only really stopped for a QS late lunch at Sunshine Seasons (didn’t ride Soarin’ but this was very close to where she parked the SUV behind EPCOT).

I think your list is very doable if everyone is on the same page. Have FUN!

 

[katied]

Only thing I’d add is know your “musts” and what you are willing to sacrifice. Our tour was this past Wednesday, and Slinky and ROTR were done for quite a while. These were MUST do’s for us… we started at HS, left for AK without these rides since they were still down, hit our AK rides, but gave up on Na’vi and fireworks to make time to return to HS to get in ROTR and SDD. The back and forth ate up some of our time so we had to give us something to make it work.

we did have a 4 yr old with, as well as my older kids (11 and 14). We did order rides a bit around the 4 year old’s nap so we rode things like FOP and Dinosaur while he napped.

 

[GoingSince1990]

To everyone has done a VIP, how much did you tip? If you feel like sharing...

Our last VIP tour was 7 hours at $700 per hour and I tipped $300. Tips for tours are genuinely not expected and you have to be quite well prepared to tip as there is no way to put it on the credit card that you used, so you need to remember to bring cash in an envelope.

 

[LYSE]

Is there any level of service at which you get "call to chat" executive-style support that luxury brands would typically provide at this type of price point? Maybe Golden Oaks/Club 33? Four Seasons Concierge?

The cheapest room at four seasons gets you chat via their app, I did not use it for our VIP tour as we were staying at CCV cabins.

 

[jgl130]

We just did our 4th VIP tour last week. They are so fun and amazing, but you do need to have a plan with your party to make the most of the time. I think you need to talk to all the others in the group and make sure you share the same ride priorities, such as are you doing re-rides and which rides to skip. Also, make sure everyone agrees about eating, are you sitting down for a meal, stopping for a bunch of snacks all day, eating on the go? Try to coordinate bathroom stops if you can so that you aren’t stopping all the time for that, which can chew a lot of (expensive) time. Since it looks like you will have grandparents down to a 4 year old, it may be hard to keep a focused, fast-ish pace (we now have 2 teens, so they are easy on this part, but when they were younger and we also had my parents with us, we had to really stay together and focused to get it all done). Make sure the kids are well rested because you are going all day, no time to sit on a bench or in line like a normal day in the parks with down time. The guide can stay with the 4 year old if they are too short to ride something.

I usually let the Plaid pick the order for the rides, and they often adjust on the fly if something is down. I just tell them generally what rides we want to do (or what we want to skip, if that is the shorter list). They will drive you between rides at one park sometimes if that is shorter. We usually skip TT and Soarin’ since they take a long time to do. With the new way they do HM, you can skip the stretching room which saves a bunch of time. You can only ride ROTR and Remy’s once each, but can re-ride everything else. Don’t be afraid to re-ride those favorites like SDMT and FOP that will always have a long wait otherwise.

We did all 4 parks this time (only went to EPCOT to ride Remy’s), but I booked 8.5 hours going in because we wanted VIP viewing for the MK Fireworks, and your tour must either go through the entire time of the fireworks (guide stays with you) or must end at 7:45pm (fireworks at 8pm), which is what we did. This worked great because she took us to the VIP viewing area, then she got us “free” Mickey ice cream bars and ice cream sandwiches and bottled waters and then we stayed for the fireworks. We only really stopped for a QS late lunch at Sunshine Seasons (didn’t ride Soarin’ but this was very close to where she parked the SUV behind EPCOT).

I think your list is very doable if everyone is on the same page. Have FUN!

Thanks for all the tips! We’re doing brunch at Tusker House at 10:30 before the tour, so will have a solid meal in. The kids aren’t huge eaters, so are figuring snacks will get us through the day.

I think we’ve scheduled it so the tour finishes up at 7:30 pm, so hoping this is close enough to the fireworks for good seats.

When did you give your guide your ride list? I’m thinking email it the day before?

 

[glocon]

Not sure what time fireworks are when you are there, but from what I’ve read on the DIS, your guide can drop you off at a VIP area after your tour to watch the fireworks. Someone else might have more knowledge about that to pass on.