Disney World VIP tips

[bamboy92]

Hello everyone, we're planning to do at least one day of VIP during our trip the first week of Jan 2024. We're doing 3 days at disney but staying off-property. Im usually pretty good at planning everything and getting all the reservations we want even if we're off property, but i want to avoid having to be in front of my phone the majority of the day checking back and forth. So hopefully VIP can give me some peace of mind. My idea is that if we do most rides during VIP then the other days in the park will be more relaxed.

-When should i make the booking if im interested in doing VIP for Jan 3rd?
-Is there a specific time i should call? Im from California so i understand there'll be a time difference.
-How many hours do you recommend for the tour? we do want to ride all major rides at all 4 theme parks. We're 5 adults so i think we'll be okay with the amount of walking that'll require.
-Is parking included?
-Do we have to follow the park hop rule of 2pm?
-Will VIP be able to book other enchanting extras in their collection or do i have to do that separately?
-I'm torn between ending the tour for the nighttime shows. Happily Ever After, Fantasmic, or EPCOts nighttime fireworks?
-Is there an annual pass discount?
-Any idea for an estimated price range per hour for the first week of Jan? (I understand it'll be a busy week in the new year and i know it wont be cheap but if anyone has done it before id love to hear anything/everything from you)

Any other information would be greatly appreciated. Im going with first-timers and just want their visit to be as seamless as possible. Thank you!

 

[nw6675]

When should i make the booking if im interested in doing VIP for Jan 3rd?
-Is there a specific time i should call? Im from California so i understand there'll be a time difference. 9 AM 60 + 10 days out
-How many hours do you recommend for the tour? we do want to ride all major rides at all 4 theme parks. We're 5 adults so i think we'll be okay with the amount of walking that'll require.
-Is parking included? No, and you must have PH tickets
-Do we have to follow the park hop rule of 2pm? No
-Will VIP be able to book other enchanting extras in their collection or do i have to do that separately? No, and you don't want to waste time on it during the tour anyway.
-I'm torn between ending the tour for the nighttime shows. Happily Ever After, Fantasmic, or EPCOts nighttime fireworks?
-Is there an annual pass discount?
-Any idea for an estimated price range per hour for the first week of Jan? (I understand it'll be a busy week in the new year and i know it wont be cheap but if anyone has done it before id love to hear anything/everything from you) - at least $600 per hour.

There are groups on FB that will find people to share to cut cost, but will also list out the prices by day as they release.

I answered just the ones I knew.

 

[twodogs]

We have done several VIPs at WDW. They are wonderful!

You should call at exactly 9am Florida time exactly 60 days from the day you want the VIP. They book up immediately for holiday times. Rates are $450-900 per hour, minimum 7 hours, for 10 people (infants included and counted), so total $3150-6300. This does not include tip for the guide or the required park hopper tickets. You can hop whenever you want on a VIP. They will pick you up at your hotel or meet you in a park, you choose the park and start and end times. If you want VIP seating for an event such as fireworks, you must still be “on tour” when the event starts. You can extend beyond 7 hours, at the hourly rate, in 15 minute increments. They can sometimes book dining for you for after the tour, if desired, but not guarenteed. Expect your tour to be near $900/hour due to the holiday time.

 

[twodogs]

Also there are no discounts unless you are Club 33, in which case you have some number of free VIPs per year, to my understanding.

We just give VIP services a general idea of which parks and the major ride priorities, and they figure it out. We usually skip TT since this takes so much time. Most rides you can do as many times as you want, with a few exceptions (such as ROTR, which I think you can only ride once). You will generally go in the LL (this is not front of the line access). A few rides will have special or back entrances.

 

[twodogs]

Here is the WDW site:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/e...MImarX35HCgQMV_zHUAR1V9AeFEAAYASAAEgKM0vD_BwE

 

[Marthasor]

I would recommend ending either at Happily Ever After or EPCOT, which will have the new Luminous show at that point (honestly, if they have solved the sight-line issues they had with Harmonious and Luminous has good view throughout the lagoon area, Happily Ever After with the VIP will probably be your biggest bang for the buck). The VIP seating for Fantasmic is very limited and there is a chance you will be waitlisted for it - that has happened to us twice and it's not worth the stress, IMHO. If you want to see Fantasmic, you are better off doing a dining package on another night or just doing stand-by if a second show is offered on the date of your DHS visit.

 

[mmouse50]

I am doing the tour during the Columbus Day weekend - it is $900./hr. I called exactly at 9:00 am on the 60 day mark which was a Sunday so they are open 7 days a week. The only drawback was that I had to book my dining reservations that morning before I found out if I really had my preferred date for the tour. But it all worked out - our tour is on my preferred day and ends at the time as our dinner reservation in Epcot. The are 7 of us, everyone is able to ride all rides - my plan is to hit all of the Studios and most of Epcot. We are meeting at the Studios so that we won't be wasting time to travel from our resort. Touring Plans has the Studios listed as a 9 and Epcot listed as an 8 for the day so I am not sure what will be accomplished. Since almost every ride at the Studios has a pre-show I am assuming that it will take most of our time and hopefully optimistic that we will be able to knock out much of Epcot or atleast GoG, Test track, Remy and Frozen.

UPDATE: Just got back - Our tour was from 9:30 to 4:30 due to the time I had to settle for a Space 220 reservation. The VIP tour in the Studios and Epcot was totally worth it. We met our guide at by Sci FI at 9:30 and hit ROR, Smugglers Run, Slinky Dog, Toy Story Mania, MMTrain, RnR, TOT all by 12:40. Got Water, pretzels and churros and then went over to Epcot. Rode Remy, Frozen, Test Track was down and I kidded about making everyone ride the boat ride in Mexico, so we rode that (that line was all the way to ramp going down inside the market - But we walked right on with the guide) - Test Track was back up so we rode it, GoG, Test Track again, then said goodbye to the guide at Spaceship Earth and walked straight to our dining reservation at Space 220 from Spaceship Earth and made it with 5 minutes to spare. It was a perfect day.