First Time VIP tour. Any tips?

[anonymousegirl]

I'm booked for a VIP tour at DLR for early June. There are 8 adults, booked for 8 hours, finishing at 7pm. We've asked to seen the parade, fireworks and Fantasmic.

Does anyone have any tips? I'd love a guide recommendation--I'd like a outgoing, wacky guide. Also, gratuity recommendations.

My biggest quandary is Grizzly River Rapids. I love this ride, but I always get totally soaked. We are staying at VGC, but I don't want to waste valuable time going back to the room to change. I was thinking of waiting in line first thing, before the tour starts--it won't be as pleasant as riding it later in the day when it's hot, though.

Also, I cannot find dinner reservations for my group. Everything is booked out or not open (I'm looking at you, Blue Bayou).

Any tips from some DLR VIP tourers? Many thanks!

 

[mikkle]

I've never gone on a VIP tour so I can't provide much perspective there, but Grizzly River Run is one of my family's favorite rides at DLR. We've ridden it as many as five or six times in a row on days when the park had low attendance. Anyway, I find that the plastic poncho jackets sold at Rushin' River Outfitters (little store right next to the ride) are quite effective at keeping us dry -- just remember to keep your feet off of the floor

 

[SFMommy]

For a dinner reservation, try booking Catal in DTD through Open Table.

 

[Whistlebee]

Definitely bring ponchos for GRR, Even the cheapy Amazon and Dollar Store ones always last us through a whole trip. For dry feet, throw some flip flops in your backpack, or just try and keep your feet up off the floor.

 

[Steven G]

About 13-17 attractions should be a good amount to be able to ride during the tour(more if you do a lot of the dark rides). You can also do some rides before the vip tour starts, and after it ends, but please note that most people will be exhausted by the end of the tour.

Note that the VIP tour guide can take you on both Lightning Lane rides (in which you would go in the LL line), and MOST other rides- (in which you cut most of the line, or enter through the exit,). If you are going to utilize Genie+ on your non VIP days, you may want to focus at least a little during the VIP tour on rides that don't have LL that still have long lines. i.e. if someone really wants to ride Peter Pan, you should do it during the VIP tour.



I am not sure how they manage you wanting to see both fantasmic and fireworks, since they would follow each other pretty closely. Make sure you let them know what you want before the tour via the email, and they would let you know what they can do.

The VIP tour email team can try to get you reservations, but only for the day that you have your vip tour. Blue Bayou may be difficult for 8. The earlier you request, the better chance they can assist you. As an example, I had a party of 8 as well, and I could only get a 4 person Blue Bayou reservation. The VIP email team was able to adjust that to 8 people. This was at nearly 2 months before though.

Tipping is purely up to you. Some people tip $300, some more, some less.

I can't give you a guide recommendation, sorry, I just don't keep track of that.

I am not sure if they do this, but the VIP tour guide may be able to supply you with ponchos. Can't remember if DLR offers that, since I generally avoid water rides. I'm pretty sure that in WDW they can offer you ponchos, for example, same at Universal Studios.

 

[Malcon10t]

Tour guides I would recommend - Jeff Ong, Estaban, Joseph, NEVER MIND, you said outgoing and wacky? DJ. DJ is your guide. Love him.

 

[Ladyslug]

The VIP tour email team can try to get you reservations, but only for the day that you have your vip tour. Blue Bayou may be difficult for 8. The earlier you request, the better chance they can assist you.

Definitely reach out to your VIP coordinator ASAP for dining reservation requests, and they will do the best they can to accommodate you (but the VIP group and the Dining group are separate so they can't always make it work). They were able to get me a Blue Bayou reservation at my requested time, but only able to get Oga's at 4pm (instead of the 7pm I wanted).

Ask your guide about anything you need or want to know while on your tour (where's the nearest place to order coffee, what time will characters be showing up, where's the best place to sit to get the best ride experience, historical info about Main Street, etc.). If your group wants to split up on occasion (we had a kid in our group who didn't always want to do the big rides), our guide was very good about knowing what was close and would take about the same amount of time so both groups could be riding something instead of just waiting around (she would have also waited with my son if that was something he would have been okay with). She also helped with timing our mobile orders and picking up food while we were on rides, and helped arrange character encounters/shows and photo ops as well.

 

[anonymousegirl]

Thanks everyone. We have a res for Oga at 2pm (None of us have ever been). Blue Bayou seems to be closed on my day due to the POTC construction. My guide thought we could do the parade and the fireworks, then hurry over to Fantasmic. We'll see if this plan works. Parade and fireworks are my priorities (of course I hope the wind will not cancel them!)
Now, with no dinner res, I think we'll just nosh our way through snack carts and organize a mobile order. I do wish Oga's had more food options, but whatever. I'm there for the atmosphere.

 

[Malcon10t]

Now, with no dinner res, I think we'll just nosh our way through snack carts and organize a mobile order. I do wish Oga's had more food options, but whatever. I'm there for the atmosphere.

You can use Mobile order. In many cases, you can place your order, and if there isn't a time available right away, your guide can get your order pushed thru.

 

[CeCe0906]

How did your tour go? We have one upcoming in August. Any tips welcome!

I'm booked for a VIP tour at DLR for early June. There are 8 adults, booked for 8 hours, finishing at 7pm. We've asked to seen the parade, fireworks and Fantasmic.

Does anyone have any tips? I'd love a guide recommendation--I'd like a outgoing, wacky guide. Also, gratuity recommendations.

My biggest quandary is Grizzly River Rapids. I love this ride, but I always get totally soaked. We are staying at VGC, but I don't want to waste valuable time going back to the room to change. I was thinking of waiting in line first thing, before the tour starts--it won't be as pleasant as riding it later in the day when it's hot, though.

Also, I cannot find dinner reservations for my group. Everything is booked out or not open (I'm looking at you, Blue Bayou).

Any tips from some DLR VIP tourers? Many thanks!

 

[anonymousegirl]

How did your tour go? We have one upcoming in August. Any tips welcome!

Overall, very well. I did under estimate how much we could get done. We had booked for 8 hours and then extended an additional hour, and still didn't hit a few of my favorites. We did get unlucky with a couple of rides breaking down, included Peter Pan with most of my group on the ride, and one person stranded at the front of the queue. We started at 11 and had a break at 2pm for Oga's Canteen (which was new to all of us). Did not realize our party of 7 would be sharing a table with another family. They were surprised too. A little cramped, but overall, fun. We did a mobile order there in Galaxy's Edge and our guide was great with tips to minimize waiting.

A little glitch--I was told by my tour coordinator that they would handle getting our park reservations--but we did not have any when we arrived at the turnstiles. Our guide, Pascal, took care of it, but overall we lost 30 minutes getting it sorted out.

What we rode:
Grizzly River Rapids, Web Slingers, GOTG: Mission Breakout, Incredicoaster, Soarin, Radiator Springs Racers, Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, ROTR, and MFSM at Galaxy's Edge, Jungle Cruise, and Star Tours. We ate a snack lunch at Oga's and a snack dinner during the parade.

We opted to do the Main Street Electrical Parade, the fireworks and Fantasmic. The tour coordinator recommended staying at our seats near Small World (where we viewed the MSEP) to watch the fireworks, but I changed that as I really wanted a full front view of the castle. Unfortunately, the winds caused the cancelation of the fireworks, but the rest of the show was fun. I was bummed as for the first time ever, I has a front row seat with no one sticking their kid on their shoulders blocking my view.
I am glad we did it, and in fact, I have booked a VIP tour of WDW for September. But the reality is, you are paying for Genie+ without having to mess with it, but with a $4000 price tag. Also, be careful if you extend your tour. Since we already had 8 hours, the last, extra hour was charged at time and a half.

 

[cinder-ellah]

Sounds fun mixed in with some frustration. I'd love to do this at least once with my family. Thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Aurora0427]

I don’t know if I could handle a vip tour…. For $4000 I would expect perfection, and I realize that’s not realistic. But I’m glad you had a great time…. I’ve always wanted to do a VIP tour. Maybe someday!

 

[CeCe0906]

Overall, very well. I did under estimate how much we could get done. We had booked for 8 hours and then extended an additional hour, and still didn't hit a few of my favorites. We did get unlucky with a couple of rides breaking down, included Peter Pan with most of my group on the ride, and one person stranded at the front of the queue. We started at 11 and had a break at 2pm for Oga's Canteen (which was new to all of us). Did not realize our party of 7 would be sharing a table with another family. They were surprised too. A little cramped, but overall, fun. We did a mobile order there in Galaxy's Edge and our guide was great with tips to minimize waiting.

A little glitch--I was told by my tour coordinator that they would handle getting our park reservations--but we did not have any when we arrived at the turnstiles. Our guide, Pascal, took care of it, but overall we lost 30 minutes getting it sorted out.

What we rode:
Grizzly River Rapids, Web Slingers, GOTG: Mission Breakout, Incredicoaster, Soarin, Radiator Springs Racers, Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, ROTR, and MFSM at Galaxy's Edge, Jungle Cruise, and Star Tours. We ate a snack lunch at Oga's and a snack dinner during the parade.

We opted to do the Main Street Electrical Parade, the fireworks and Fantasmic. The tour coordinator recommended staying at our seats near Small World (where we viewed the MSEP) to watch the fireworks, but I changed that as I really wanted a full front view of the castle. Unfortunately, the winds caused the cancelation of the fireworks, but the rest of the show was fun. I was bummed as for the first time ever, I has a front row seat with no one sticking their kid on their shoulders blocking my view.
I am glad we did it, and in fact, I have booked a VIP tour of WDW for September. But the reality is, you are paying for Genie+ without having to mess with it, but with a $4000 price tag. Also, be careful if you extend your tour. Since we already had 8 hours, the last, extra hour was charged at time and a half.

Thanks for the update! We go next week, hopefully everyone stays healthy until then.
We did a VIP tour with my then 8 year old granddaughter at WDW last summer. We did ours on our last day, and did 10 hrs. We started at Hollywood Studios, and did the new Minnie/Mickey railway, Star Tours and the Frozen show before our tour. We then did all the Galaxy's Edge stuff. Toy Story (Slinky Dog twice), Minnie RR again and got some lunch. Then we parkhopped to Epcot to do Test Track as it was down when we tried to ride it, and then parkhopped over to Magic Kingdom for the rest of the day, riding the Snow White ride, reriding a bunch of favorites, and picking up some we missed, mobile ordered a quick meal Finished up with the VIP area for fireworks, getting in about 5 min before start of the fireworks. No chairs there, though, you sit on the ground. But great view. Then the guide drove us back to hotel (Dolphin).
One great thing about the VIP tour was the ability of the guide to park a car in backstage areas of the park and get in and out quickly. We parked right behind test track, and leaving after fireworks, right out a side door. No crushed in crowd trying to exit or crowded bus or waiting for bus. We we probably back at hotel before some people made it on transpo.
We could have done more at HS, but my grandkid wasn't into TT or RocknrRoller coaster. I'm a slow walker, and my granddaughter needed a couple of breaks so we probably did more of that than some people. It was quick moving between parks, I believe that they can park backstage over by France at Epcot and Pandora in AK if necessary. When we did Rise, we came in a side door directly to Rey hologram, and Midway Mania entered through exit.
I liked doing it on our last day, as we could pick up things that were down or really enjoyed earlier in our stay while on the tour. Our guide got us waters and checked us in for dining while on ride, and generally made us for efficient getting from place to place. She was great with my granddaughter; her name was Stephanie.

 

[Gypsybear]

Another option for GRR, pack a light change of clothes into a backpack. IF you're uber wet, duck into the nearest bathroom and change. I've done it, and it worked like a charm. Then, when we were close to the lockers, I just dropped my backpack off there.

 

[Nonsuch]

...be careful if you extend your tour. Since we already had 8 hours, the last, extra hour was charged at time and a half.

Even for Disney, that is an outrageous cash grab