Have you ever done a VIP tour?

kniquy

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Our next trip is with out in laws and might be the last extended family trip to disney. We were toying around with the idea of splurging and doing the garden dessert party for HEA, but then my FIL threw out the idea of a VIP tour for a day - escorted around to hop on what ever rides/parks we want all day. We (me and DH) were talking about it and as cool as it sounds -- the price tag is a bit steep $400/hr - and we almost feel as though we would be missing out on many things -- the lines themselves for many rides are entertainment in itself. This would only be for one of our 7 days so we would still have plenty of time to stand in lines.

Just wondering any ones experiences doing such a tour. I am sure it would be amazing to be pampered for a day, but with the cost it seems insane to do such a thing.
 
There is also a tour that gets you on some of the main attractions. It isn't a private tour but the cost is less expensive.

:earsboy: Bill

 
Our next trip is with out in laws and might be the last extended family trip to disney. We were toying around with the idea of splurging and doing the garden dessert party for HEA, but then my FIL threw out the idea of a VIP tour for a day - escorted around to hop on what ever rides/parks we want all day. We (me and DH) were talking about it and as cool as it sounds -- the price tag is a bit steep $400/hr - and we almost feel as though we would be missing out on many things -- the lines themselves for many rides are entertainment in itself. This would only be for one of our 7 days so we would still have plenty of time to stand in lines.

Just wondering any ones experiences doing such a tour. I am sure it would be amazing to be pampered for a day, but with the cost it seems insane to do such a thing.
We did it in November with our friends. It was the first time they were going to Disney (and they were planning on it being a one time trip- they never thought theyd have the desire to go back, long story short they're coming back with us in september :P) it was amazing. They pick you up from your hotel, drive you to the parks (you enter through some back entrance) when you're going from certain rides you drive backstage in the car, they were able to get us reserved seats for the parade and fireworks, and were able to get us dinning reservations for places that were booked.... since it is a 7 hour minimum, you probably want to start earlier in the day and end the tour guide before dinner so you're not paying someone $400+ while you're sitting and eating or do quick service. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have!
 
We've done a 6 hour VIP tour in the past with 8 family members. We did the morning on our own and met the guide at noon. It was nice having FP+ access to all of the premium rides and also to learn some Disney secrets. We transferred from HS to MK halfway through the tour and finished up there. We had dinner reservations once the tour ended. Our guide rode a few rides with us. We had a couple of nieces who couldn't be with us for the entire trip, so it was nice for them to get on a bunch of rides in a short amount of time. It was a nice luxury and we felt like it was worth doing it for our family who we were traveling with.
 


I'm happy to answer any questions you might have!

I would love to pick your brain about this!

So for that unavailable dining reservation did they just book it that same day or arraigned ahead of time?
I would imagine they were able to schedule your dinner reservation for after you were finished with the tour guide
Where was the location of your fireworks viewing (how are you ensured your VIP access if your tour technically has ended?
It sounds like for what you have paid for those 7 hours you can kind of extend your VIP treatment to include a hard to get reservation and fireworks? If they are taking you through back entrances -- do you need to purchase separate park tickets (i would imagine you would)?
Did you tip your guide at the end? a percentage of the cost?

I'm sure i will have more questions when i talk with my hubby tonight. If we are already thinking about paying $400 for the dessert party might as well go all out and make it a whole day and get the great fireworks view too!
 
I would love to pick your brain about this!

So for that unavailable dining reservation did they just book it that same day or arraigned ahead of time?
I would imagine they were able to schedule your dinner reservation for after you were finished with the tour guide
Where was the location of your fireworks viewing (how are you ensured your VIP access if your tour technically has ended?
It sounds like for what you have paid for those 7 hours you can kind of extend your VIP treatment to include a hard to get reservation and fireworks? If they are taking you through back entrances -- do you need to purchase separate park tickets (i would imagine you would)?
Did you tip your guide at the end? a percentage of the cost?

I'm sure i will have more questions when i talk with my hubby tonight. If we are already thinking about paying $400 for the dessert party might as well go all out and make it a whole day and get the great fireworks view too!

For dinning- it kind of was made before and the day of. We made the reservations for 1900 Park Fare before through the vip tour, but the day of we decided we didn't want a buffet or a character meal so the guide was able to get us reservations that day.

We had our guide for 10 hours. When you book you don't tell them how long you're going to use them for. We initially planned for 7 (basically 7 hours until our 1900 park fare reservations) but our reservations at the wave gave us the ability to have the guide for longer without paying for him to sit through dinner with us. Our guide did ask us during the day though if we were ok going over 7 hours, or if we wanted him to leave at 7 hours and he would tell us when that was. So if you don't want to go over the minimum- just let them know. I believe the max is 12 hours.

You do need park tickets. We did Epcot and MK. Our guide took our magic bands when we went on Soarin to scan tickets and again when we watched the parade.

For the fireworks you have to still have the guide with you in order to get the vip seating. We watched festival of fantasy with the guide, it was at the top of the train station. It was blocked off i think there were about 10 other people there.

We did tip- $200 at the end. We weren't sure how much to tip either.

When we did the guide DVC had a 25% off discount, so we paid a little under $400 an hour. I believe it can be up to $600 an hour depending the time of year.

Also, I would start the tour at the park, not have them pick you up if possible so you're not paying $400 an hour to get driven to the park lol

Let me know if theres anything else!
 
We did a VIP tour last August; it was expensive even with the DVC discounted rate of $300 per hour. We had the VIP for the minimum 7 hours and were able to accomplish a lot in 3 parks. We started in Epcot, drove to HS and ended in MK with the afternoon parade.
 


We are kicking around this idea for our next trip. I was thinking of starting in MK in the AM without them. Be there rope drop to hit jungle cruise, Pirates then HM, then use our FPs, eat lunch. Then them pick us up for either SM or SDMT then move on to HS then AK. I thought CM said no discounts. Is there one for DVC members?

We told DH we would give up 2 days, one night US to have this instead.
 
I have a friend who did this... for all 6 days of their trip :-o I am sure my jar hit the floor and my eyes popped out when she came back and told me. Another family member booked it all for their whole big party. I was talking about FP+ and what did you do when and then she told me she didn't know what I was talking about, they had an escort the whole time. :eek:
 
We had a VIP tour last week; our second time doing one. This time, they had no DVC discount, but we shared it with my brother's family.
 
We are kicking around this idea for our next trip. I was thinking of starting in MK in the AM without them. Be there rope drop to hit jungle cruise, Pirates then HM, then use our FPs, eat lunch. Then them pick us up for either SM or SDMT then move on to HS then AK. I thought CM said no discounts. Is there one for DVC members?

We told DH we would give up 2 days, one night US to have this instead.

This time with our VIP tour, we decided on an early start time because it was during a very crowded Spring Break week. Even though I had wanted to do a late start, it was a better choice for us to start early to avoid longer FP lines. I made the decision to have our guide meet us at our resort- AKL Kidani and drive us to AK. After AK, we went to MK and Epcot. We initially were going to end with the 3:30 parade at MK, but we went with the 12:30 parade since it was offered during the time we were there.
 

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