Day of Thrills vs After Hours?

[czechplz]

My party is considering booking an extra experience. We have settles between Ultimate Day of Thrills vs the Villain After Hours event. We aren't very interested in the Villains part, or even the extra entertainment and food options, this just so happens to fall on the night that we would book an After Hours event on. We would much prefer an After Hours event at Hollywood Studios over both options, but any announcements for an HS After Hours events during our trip have yet to be made. I am afraid that the Villains night may sell out sooner than later so I would like to make this decision soon. What would you all do? Cough up a lot of extra money for Ultimate Day of Thrills, save some money and book the Villains After Hours Event, or book nothing and hold out hopes that there will be an After Hours Event at HS?

 

[holden]

We did the Day of Thrills...3 parks, 11 attractions (all headliners in the FP+ line), lunch at Sunshine Seasons, private van transportation between parks...well worth it!

 

[ama123]

Day of Thrills for all of the reasons listed above. Especially if you aren't super excited about the Villains After Hours event. My daughter and I are doing the Day of Thrills in the end of June, cannot wait!!

 

[Quellman]

Day of thrills sounds like a neat guided experience. It also doesn't require me staying up too late!

 

[GillianP1301]

I have done the After Hours at MK and it's amazing. Not the villains version, but assumption is it will be pretty much the same thing, but with a little villain overlay. I don't think not being too much into villains should change the overall experience of the After Hours, it's just a bit of a bonus for those who do like villains.

I have not done the Ultimate Day of Thrills tour, but I did do the multi park Family VIP tour a few years ago and it was a really great experience. I loved it so much that I'm doing the Thrills version on our upcoming trip.

Picking only one is a really tough decision. I am also waiting on the next block of DAH for DS to be released, so I know how hard it is to finalize plans when you don't have all the data available to you. You could always book either MK DAH or the VIP Tour and then cancel and book the DAH DS if/when it is released, that would eliminate the need to worry about a sell out. But back to the decision. If I were only going to do one of those 3, I would go with MK DAH. We did 14 attractions and covered a ton of ground when we did that after hours and it was a highlight. I may change my decision if you had very few other park days, in which case that VIP Thrills tour is great because you get a good chunk of the headliners taken care of in one partial park day. So if it's a shorter trip, I'd go with the VIP tour.

 

[czechplz]

I have done the After Hours at MK and it's amazing. Not the villains version, but assumption is it will be pretty much the same thing, but with a little villain overlay. I don't think not being too much into villains should change the overall experience of the After Hours, it's just a bit of a bonus for those who do like villains.

I have not done the Ultimate Day of Thrills tour, but I did do the multi park Family VIP tour a few years ago and it was a really great experience. I loved it so much that I'm doing the Thrills version on our upcoming trip.

Picking only one is a really tough decision. I am also waiting on the next block of DAH for DS to be released, so I know how hard it is to finalize plans when you don't have all the data available to you. You could always book either MK DAH or the VIP Tour and then cancel and book the DAH DS if/when it is released, that would eliminate the need to worry about a sell out. But back to the decision. If I were only going to do one of those 3, I would go with MK DAH. We did 14 attractions and covered a ton of ground when we did that after hours and it was a highlight. I may change my decision if you had very few other park days, in which case that VIP Thrills tour is great because you get a good chunk of the headliners taken care of in one partial park day. So if it's a shorter trip, I'd go with the VIP tour.

Can you cancel tours/events though? I assumed they were nonrefundable.

 

[GillianP1301]

Can you cancel tours/events though? I assumed they were nonrefundable.

You can, they will let you know the cancellation policy when you book. Usually 2 or 5 days beforehand. The disadvantage of course is you have to pay at time of booking, so you do have funds tied up with whatever you do book. That may be an issue for some people. It's certainly not something you would want to do all the time, but in the case where you are concerned about the sellout of one event while you're waiting for another event to be announced, I think that is the type of time to do it.

 

[wareagle57]

Do you only get to ride each attraction once? No Flight of Passage/Everest makes this deal seem pretty weak to me. 7 hours to get on THOSE 11 rides? They don't even do TT at Epcot? They should skip Epcot and go to AK instead.

I'll do that for you for $20 and my lunch. I think the Villians event is a much better value, even if you don't care about it. I'd go just to see the Malefesant float roaming the park.

I'm not sure if the booking time is accurate but it says 8:30 AM so you aren't even avoiding getting up early for RD. For $400, I need way more than 1.5 rides an hour.

 

[JeninTexas]

DAH Villains tickets are non-refundable. I booked ours last week and the email confirmation states that.
If I were you, I would book the Villians event at MK and then hope for DAH at HS to be released, and if so book that too. That is what we are doing. Guided tours just are not our thing, so we wouldn't want do to the Day of Thrills.

 

[emilyhuff]

Has anyone on here recently done the Ultimate Thrills VIP tour? It sounds like it keeps changing - just wanted to know what the itinerary currently is. Thanks!

 

[Chickinvic]

Do you only get to ride each attraction once? No Flight of Passage/Everest makes this deal seem pretty weak to me. 7 hours to get on THOSE 11 rides? They don't even do TT at Epcot? They should skip Epcot and go to AK instead.

I'll do that for you for $20 and my lunch. I think the Villians event is a much better value, even if you don't care about it. I'd go just to see the Malefesant float roaming the park.

I'm not sure if the booking time is accurate but it says 8:30 AM so you aren't even avoiding getting up early for RD. For $400, I need way more than 1.5 rides an hour.

I agree with you. I'd do the after hours party before spending so much cash for this tour. I especially don't like their choice at Epcot. I can't stand the distorted Soarin over the World. If it were still Soarin Over California I would love it, but the new film is so bent and distorted I can't even enjoy that ride anymore.

 

[Chickinvic]

Sorry, double posted

 

[elemusing]

We did the Ultimate Thrills in Fall of 2017. We have it booked again for our trip in 2 weeks. I also booked the AK After Hours tour this time too. That will get me all the major headliners without having to deal with the stupid fast passes. You won't get AK on the Ultimate Thrills tour although I believe wdwinfo says you do. They changed that. Here is a link from Disney that lists the correct info: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/ultimate-day-of-thrills-vip-tour/ . I LOVE THE TOURS!!!

 

[Suejacken]

We booked this tour yesterday. The charge shows in the balance on my credit card but not as a transaction. The tickets aren’t showing up in our Disney experience app yet either but we have a confirmation number. Did this happen to anyone else. We were going to wait a day or so then contact Disney

 

[saving our pennies]

What are the chances of getting this over the week after Christmas?? I looked for the 27th and 28th so far and it shows "nothing available". am I crazy to hope we might get it?? We'll be there 12/27-1/4. We need it for 8 adults.

 

[3threebabies]

What are the chances of getting this over the week after Christmas?? I looked for the 27th and 28th so far and it shows "nothing available". am I crazy to hope we might get it?? We'll be there 12/27-1/4. We need it for 8 adults.

I talked to Disney signature services last week, and the last Ultimate Day of Thrills for 2019 is 12/24. She said there was some availability still. The evening Animal Kingdom vip tour ends 12/26 for the year and had good availibility for the week before Christmas.

With 8 adults the week after Christmas you may want to consider a private vip tour if your budget allows. It will will be more expensive, but you would have your own Plaid for a minimum 7 hours. You can customize the tour however you wish. Holidays are a very busy time for private tours which is why they cancel group tours, so they can better cater to vip private customers.

For a rough cost comparison, vip ultimate day group tour is 349/person before any discounts and taxes (Disney Visa, AP, DVC). I believe peak holiday pricing for private tours to be 625 or so an hour with a 7 hour minimum for up to 10 guests.

 

[saving our pennies]

I talked to Disney signature services last week, and the last Ultimate Day of Thrills for 2019 is 12/24. She said there was some availability still. The evening Animal Kingdom vip tour ends 12/26 for the year and had good availibility for the week before Christmas.

With 8 adults the week after Christmas you may want to consider a private vip tour if your budget allows. It will will be more expensive, but you would have your own Plaid for a minimum 7 hours. You can customize the tour however you wish. Holidays are a very busy time for private tours which is why they cancel group tours, so they can better cater to vip private customers.

For a rough cost comparison, vip ultimate day group tour is 349/person before any discounts and taxes (Disney Visa, AP, DVC). I believe peak holiday pricing for private tours to be 625 or so an hour with a 7 hour minimum for up to 10 guests.

I just called and the price for a private VIP plaid tour for our time frame is $750 per hour . However, seeing as how the Ultimate Day tour isn't even available.....this may be our best option. $5250 for 7 hours (plus tip!) There are a lot of people in our whole group, so it's possible more than 8 would go. One perk is that we could start the tour at 5, and be "released" to a priority seating spot for NYE fireworks.

 

[3threebabies]

I just called and the price for a private VIP plaid tour for our time frame is $750 per hour . However, seeing as how the Ultimate Day tour isn't even available.....this may be our best option. $5250 for 7 hours (plus tip!) There are a lot of people in our whole group, so it's possible more than 8 would go. One perk is that we could start the tour at 5, and be "released" to a priority seating spot for NYE fireworks.

VIP seating for NYE fireworks does add value and amazing cool factor. Not that a vip tour isn’t already pretty cool. There had been discussion regarding plaids for SWGE, and those in Disneyland were told the new price structure had not been set yet as of early May. Obviously there is a new price rubric, and it increased in an increment consistent with tickets and passes. Sorry it is so steep, but getting 10 people would help reduce per person cost. From what I have read, you are able to pack a lot into 1 day.