VIP Tour strategies...help

DanceswithDisney · Jul 2, 2015

My family of three including my 12 year old are doing WDW in September (staying at Beach Club resort). We have five nights with four days for parks with a park hopper. I have read some of the blogs and tour reviews and have questions.

Monday is Animal Kingdom
Tue is Disney Hollyood Studios
Wednesday is Epcot

On Thursday we are doing the VIP Private $400 an hour tour with pick up at Grand Floridian Cafe after an 8:05 breakfast at 9AM and going to the Magic Kingdom.

We have no interest in shows, character meets and really just rides. We have dinner at California Grill at 9:15 that night for the fireworks. We plan to do quick service for dining that day.

We have requested VIP seating for the Magic Kingdom Parade at 3 where we should say goodbye to our guide. So my question is, would you stay only in the Magic Kingdom or would you also try to go back to other parks to maybe hit rides you missed? My child just wants to do rides and not really interested in the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We were thinking when we can do FastPass+ we would schedule our times from 5PM on that day.

What are your thoughts as I know we will be burning time going from park to park. I could ride Test Track and Soarin' only and be happy.

OhMari · Jul 2, 2015

I would definitely go to EPCOT and do some rides there. Your VIP can make up the time getting you on the rides. they shuttle you, so I would do it.

mustlovecats · Jul 2, 2015

When my husband and I did it we did 3 parks in 6 hours with 2 rides on Everest, 2 rides on ToT, 3 rides on TSMM and probably 8 rides plus a A&E M&G in MK..

Since they drive you from backstage entrance to backstage entrance the time between parks was minimal. I think I would suggest HS, AK, and then MK so you end there for the parade. I didn't like Epcot so we didn't spend any time there with our guide.

Hope this helps!

Edit - I just saw you want to go to Epcot. Since both Test Track and Soarin take a long time even using the fp+ line you may have to cut of either or both HS and AK. If you really want to ride those two rides though then I definitely say go for it!

kmb584 · Jul 2, 2015

It depends on what you want to accomplish in MK. All of the attractions or just some? We did two VIP tours last month and spent 7.5 hours in MK alone. That included several M&G but we were done with each of them within 10-15 minutes. We also spent a day at DHS and Epcot, and it took us about 60 minutes to accomplish Soarin', TT, and Mission Space. After all was said and done I wish we would have either stayed at DHS and done our favorites for a 3rd or 4th time, or hopped to AK for EE, Dinosaur, and KS instead.

lizard1 · Jul 2, 2015

I'd say it depends on what your daughter is interested in. I know my kids skipped Dumbo, WTP, and weren't interested in many of the other rides. They would have looped Space, Splash, BTMRR, and 7DMT all day. I would start in another park, maybe AK and do EE and Kali. Then I would do DHS and do TOT, RNR, and TSMM. IF I went to EPCOT, I would just do Soarin or TT a couple of times and save the other for RD and FP on your EPCOT day because like another poster said, TT and Soarin take a long time.

DanceswithDisney · Jul 2, 2015

Sorry, I don't know what TT or RD is. What is RNR or TSMM or RNR or TOT? KALI? EE? I know we do not want to meet any characters or see any shows.

kmb584 · Jul 2, 2015

DanceswithDisney said:
Sorry, I don't know what TT or RD is. What is RNR or TSMM or RNR or TOT? KALI? EE? I know we do not want to meet any characters or see any shows.

TT is Test Track; RD is Rope Drop; TSMM is Toy Story Midway Mania; RnR is Rock 'n' Roller Coaster; TOT is Tower of Terror; Kali is Kali River Rapids; EE is Expedition Everest.

DanceswithDisney · Jul 2, 2015

Thank you. We don't do tower of terror. Need to figure this out. We did our dining based on doing Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot and Magic Kingdom so that is why we figured we would use VIP for the Magic Kingdom.

drnp · Jul 2, 2015

If you want to stay in MK after the parade, I would definitely schedule your 3 FP+'s after that. You still get that allotment, even if you have a VIP tour scheduled. Would you want to do Enchanted Tales with Belle? That one is not eligible for FP entrance on a VIP tour (at least it wasn't in March), so after your tour was over would be a great time to use one.
I would suggest since you have a park hopper ticket, you may want to stop by another park first and then go to MK. Perhaps tell your guide to pick you up and then go to Epcot and ride Test track or Soarin since you like those (whichever you couldn't get a FP for on your Wednesday trip), then go to MK and you would still be able to get plenty of rides in before the 3 pm parade, plus still have 3 FP+s left over to use (and possibly 4th) in MK when parade is over.

mydisneykids · Jul 2, 2015

We had planned our VIP tour for the Studios since that was the one park we couldn't make morning EMH for during Easter week a few years ago.
We did every ride in Studios and did the Indy Show for my son, went to Epcot for Test Track and Sorin' and Magic Kingdom just for Buzz. This was with a counter service lunch since we had a TS for dinner.Every time we went into a park it was a back way right next to the ride we wanted to go on. I think you are fine jumping parks if there are things you didn't get to in the other parks or want to ride again. We finished by about 3 as well.

DanceswithDisney · Jul 3, 2015

I will be in Amsterdam touring and may not be able to get my Fast Passes for the times I want, so I think everyone is right to start in other parks and work our way back to the Magic Kingdom. The Co-ordinator did suggest to have a counter service lunch to maximize our time. I have sort of planned our dining based on the resorts we will hit. Now they have this new culinary dining experience at Contemporary but nothing is available yet for our date in September. We are so excited but this will be our last trip for awhile. We really are not into character pictures or shows, just the rides, but I can see us ending at 3 with a 9 pick up at our reserved parade viewing area.

People say we are crazy to spend this much on a VIP tour but this is our dream to do it. We don't have the time to set up our own touring plan or read every message here. It just makes sense for us.

itchin2go · Jul 3, 2015

I have never done VIP, but I would think that if you're just doing Magic Kingdom that day, and it's in September, it would not be worth it to pay VIP money. If you're trying to cover multiple parks in a day, that would be a different story.

jcjen519 · Jul 3, 2015

We love using the VIP services. With the magic kingdom we stick to one park but if you'd really like to run over to epcot you should have the time to do so.

lroger01 · Jul 3, 2015

Keep in mind that September is still hot. Also you plan to hit MK last and will likely be getting warn out by then. It's possible you might need a break after the parade to make it through dinner. With that in mind, I'd plan the things you most want to do early in the day. Possibly too, consider cutting your Epcot day short so you can rest up for your fun VIP day. Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure you'll have a blast.

White Rose · Jul 5, 2015

DanceswithDisney said:
My family of three including my 12 year old are doing WDW in September (staying at Beach Club resort). We have five nights with four days for parks with a park hopper. I have read some of the blogs and tour reviews and have questions.

Monday is Animal Kingdom
Tue is Disney Hollyood Studios
Wednesday is Epcot

On Thursday we are doing the VIP Private $400 an hour tour with pick up at Grand Floridian Cafe after an 8:05 breakfast at 9AM and going to the Magic Kingdom.

We have no interest in shows, character meets and really just rides. We have dinner at California Grill at 9:15 that night for the fireworks. We plan to do quick service for dining that day.

We have requested VIP seating for the Magic Kingdom Parade at 3 where we should say goodbye to our guide. So my question is, would you stay only in the Magic Kingdom or would you also try to go back to other parks to maybe hit rides you missed? My child just wants to do rides and not really interested in the Seven Dwarves Mine Train. We were thinking when we can do FastPass+ we would schedule our times from 5PM on that day.

What are your thoughts as I know we will be burning time going from park to park. I could ride Test Track and Soarin' only and be happy.

We are doing a similar trip, but only THREE days for the parks!! We are also staying at the beach club! (Sept 3-7) We are a party of 10, and my dad is taking everyone to Disney World for his 80th Birthday. We have 2 days with a tour guide, one being at Magic Kingdom and the other being a combo between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. (We are doing Day 1: Magic Kingdom, Day 2: Animal Kingdom, then Day 3: Epcot/Hollywood Studios)

As others have stated, the tour guide will bring you right to the attraction, and there will be little travel time needed, but once you are on your own, you might want to consider the amount of time it will take to get from each park to park. (sometimes over an hour!) If there are still rides and things you want to do at other parks besides MK on your VIP tour day, let the guide know and that might be the best way to make the most of your time that day. I'd suggest staying at one park (Magic Kingdom) after you are done with the tour guide, since they are ending with you at the parade.

There are a lot of rides in Magic Kingdom, and it would not hurt to take about 30-60 minutes to become familiar with about 10 priorities! Then, let the guide know what rides you missed at the other parks and also what the priorities are at MK...they will make up a schedule on the fly to best suit your needs. They are the masters at logistics...just tell them your wishes and like a genie! poof! magic! you'll be there.

There are 5 kids (9, 11, 13, 15, and 17) going on our trip, and we gave them a list of ALL rides and asked them to select their top 5 in each park. We encouraged them to do research on each ride and find out what it is, and what it does. It is a good experience for the younger ones to become better at researching...

Then we will take that list and work out the details beforehand and give the guide our top priorities for the trip.

Have fun!!

DanceswithDisney · Aug 3, 2015

We took everyone's advice and made our FastPass reservations for later in the afternoon. We plan to take off during the heat every day and hit the pool at Beach Club. We do not need to from Dawn until Dusk.

lugnut33 · Aug 3, 2015

You should see if they can get you into Captain E.O.

LOL, just kidding. Have fun.

ArwenMarie · Aug 3, 2015

I would just spend the six hours in MK if I had already spent a day in each of the other parks.

ArwenMarie · Aug 3, 2015

DanceswithDisney said:
We took everyone's advice and made our FastPass reservations for later in the afternoon. We plan to take off during the heat every day and hit the pool at Beach Club. We do not need to from Dawn until Dusk.

Remember it rains/storms almost every day in September. It can make swimming tough to fit in sometimes because they close the pools if there is lightning within a certain radius. But if you are flexible with timing it all works out. Have a great trip.

VIP Tour strategies...help

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