Our short but sweet VIP trip - May 19-21, 2017

[Mushu's Twin]

This will be my first trip report on the boards here, so I don't really know exactly what to do, but here goes something. Here's a little intro of the trip:

When? May 19-21st, 2017

Who? There were 8 of us in total, 6 adults (age range 22-56) and 2 kids (8 & 10). The party consisted of my step father, mother, step-sister, her son, step-brother, his daughter, my sister, and myself.

Where? We stayed 2 nights at Disney's Grand Floridian Hotel, we had 4 Outer Building rooms (Big Pine Key Building, 1st floor) with Theme Park Views. No dining plan.

Tickets? 2-Day Park-Hoppers

Why? We try to make a trip to the parks about once a year. My step father wanted to take a short trip to Disney before all the kids were out of school and the parks got really crowded for the summer. He thought with a VIP tour guide, we could get most of everything done in just 2 days of being in the parks.

To be continued...

 

[imBryan]

Hope you had a good time. What is the VIP tour? I'll be interested to hear about it.

 

[Mushu's Twin]

Day 1: May 19th - Arrival Day

We landed in Florida around 4:00PM, and got to the Grand Floridian Resort around 5:30PM. We were a little bit delayed due to storms coming out of OKC, but it didn't affect any of our plans. When checking in online I set our expected arrival at 4PM so our rooms would definitely be ready. However, by the time we got to the resort, I only received 3 of the 4 text messages saying the rooms were ready. I checked the MDE app and it still didn't give us a room number. We set our bags down in our parents' room and used their phone to call the front desk. They informed me that the room was in fact ready and gave me the number which was nice. We actually ended up getting the best room out of all 4, so the wait was worth it. Our room number was 9147, which is located on the corner of the building. The differences between our room and the other 3 are that we had an extended entry, a small 2 person table, and 2 balconies.

Our first scheduled dining was at 8:25 PM for dinner at 'Ohana. Since we had a little bit of time before dinner, the family except my sister and I, decided to go swimming at the hotel for a little bit and they would just meet us at the Polynesian. My sister and I decided to do a small monorail bar crawl before dinner. We left the GF around 6:30 and headed over to the Contemporary and up to the California Grill Lounge. When we got there, there was a table of 2 who just got up by the window so we managed to snag that spot. I had a mai thi and she had this boozy blackberry lemonade. Our first real interaction with a cast member during the trip was with our waiter here and he was not what I was expecting. His tone obviously said "I really don't want to be here right now." After he brought us our drinks, he set them down and immediately started to walk off, not asking if we needed anything else. Before he was gone I said excuse me and asked for the check. Once we finished our drinks, we headed to the Polynesian to head to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto. We took a seat at two open spots at the bar. As soon as we sat down it was 7:45 PM and they made an announcement to the bar that they wanted to honor their guests of ages under 21 because they were so outstanding, and that they needed them... outstanding in the lobby at 8. When the bartender was done with his announcement, he came over and asked if we have been there before to which we both responded no. He said that he was going to turn a spotlight on us and we had to tell a joke to the whole bar, my sister rapidly responded no, while I was ready, but he said he was just kidding. I got the Spikey Pineapple (dole whip with rum plus an extra shot of 151 for $2 more). My sister got the Polynesian Pearl. She then had to wake up Shelly to get her pearl. However, she was too shy to yell "WAKE UP SHELLY" to the whole bar, so the bartender got back on the bullhorn and proceeded to tell the whole bar she was too shy to and said she needed help. About half way though my drink I realized my chin was about 3 inches above the bar top and my chair magically shrunk. This is one of the best bar experiences I've ever had and shout out to Benjamin at Trader Sams for a great experience.

We checked in at 'Ohana at about 8:10PM knowing we were early since our reservation wasn't till 8:25PM, but we didn't mind waiting. We knew that 'Ohana was notorious for running behind, but that was not the case this night. Our buzzer lit up about 2 minutes after we checked in. I booked 'Ohana on the basis of going for the food, but having the possibility of seeing the fireworks. I didn't expect to be seated by a window since we were such a large party. Again, I was wrong, our waitress even said we had such a great table. It was in the corner of the restaurant so our view was of both the Polynesian and Bay Lake. No view obstruction from the mountain slide at the pool at all. Along with the fantastic dinner, my sister and I split a Lapu Lapu which was also delicious. At 9:00PM, right as we were served dessert, Happily Ever After played. Of course we couldn't see the castle projections at all, but the music, fireworks, and lights were more than enough to make it special.

After dinner we all decided to take a bus from the Polynesian to Disney Springs. The family went and headed to the Lego Store and World of Disney, while my sister and I headed to Dockside Margaritas. After getting some drinks we walked around some stores, but weren't really looking for anything. So we decided to go back to the hotel and go to bed. We were in bed by 11:30PM which was nice because our alarms went off the next day at 7:30AM.

Next Day: Epcot and Magic Kingdom
To be continued...

 

[Mushu's Twin]

Day 2: May 20th - Epcot and Magic Kingdom

Today our alarms went off at 7:30AM and we were up and quickly getting ready so that my sister and I could make rope drop at Epcot. The rest of the family stayed behind to do 1900 Park Fare's Supercalifragilistic Breakfast and would meet us in the park later. We finally arrived at Epcot via monorail at around 8:30AM. After rope drop we walked straight to Test Track for the single rider line. We ended up being the first two riders of the day. Even though we were the only 2 people in line, they still put us in separate cars, but it was pretty cool having an entire car to yourself. After we got off, we got straight back in the single rider line. We ended up both getting put in the same car this time and only had to wait like a minute. After our second ride on Test Track we headed to ride Nemo, Living with the Land, and Figment. The longest wait we had was for figment which wasn't even 5 minutes. Once we got off Figment it was about 10:00AM so we headed to Les Halles in France for a late breakfast. After breakfast we just walked around the park looking at the different flower and garden plantings. The rest of our family arrived around 11:30, so we met them and began to walk and eat our way around the World Showcase starting at Mexico. I personally had: a spicy chicken lettuce wrap (China), Meatballs Parmigiana (Italy), and Frushi (Japan). I ended the trip around the WS with a Grand Marnier slush in France. At 12:45PM we met our VIP Tour Guide right inside the entrance of the Land Pavilion. This was my family's 4th time using the VIP Tour Service and 3rd time having this specific guide because we always request her (I'll explain the tour service in a post right after this one). With our guide beginning at 12:45 we managed to ride Soarin' Around The World, Frozen Ever After, and Test Track each once before we headed over to Magic Kingdom to see the 3:00 parade.

We got to Magic Kingdom at about 2:40PM so our guide told us we would have time to ride Buzz Lightyear once before we would have to go to our viewing location. On Saturday May 20th at 2:51PM EST I finally obtained the rank of Galactic Hero. I'm pretty sure when it happened the entire ride could hear me shout in excitement. After receiving my Galactic Hero sticker, we got some Mickey Bars and headed over to the Main Street Train Station because that's where our reserved viewing location was. The view was great. It's directly in the middle of the upper level of the station so you get a direct view of the parade coming down Main Street then get to view the floats up close when they pass by. Once the parade ended, we made our way back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain. Now the guides have pretty cool access to allowing re-rides at Space Mountain. Once we went through the normal FastPass line, we rode the ride as normal, and instead of going down the long conveyor belt exit, she simply guided us up a rear tunnel which lead directly back to the ride loading platform where we got back on immediately. We repeated this twice more for a total of 4 back-to-back rides on Space Mountain this afternoon. We then headed to Fantasyland to ride Journey of the Little Mermaid, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Peter Pan's Flight each once. We wanted to ride Mine Train a second time, but it ended up getting a very long FastPass line during our first ride, so our guide recommended we try and come back later. We then headed to the Haunted Mansion where we got another VIP access. Instead of going in the normal FastPass line, we went up the exit and got on as people were unloading (I believe this might be how handicapped people are loaded onto the ride as well). After, we headed to ride Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jungle Cruise. Some of the party then rode the Carpets of Aladdin while others went to Aloha Isle for some Dole Whip. It was now about 7:15PM and we had our guide until 7:45PM due to the 7 hour minimum. 7:45 was also the time that we had to check in for the Happily Ever After Dessert Party. Our guide took some of the party to go meet Mickey at the Town Hall, while the others ordered hot dogs from Casey's for everyone upon their return. We ended up checking in for the party at about 8:00PM which wasn't a big deal at all. We got our wristbands and were told that we could eat and then head down to the reserved West Garden Plaza when we were finished. We ended up going down to the Garden Plaza at about 8:30 then waited for the completely AMAZING Happily Ever After. It was more magical than I could ever dream. The only problem was that Tinkerbell must have been low on pixie dust because even though she did make her flight, she wasn't completely lit up. After the fireworks, we had 3 FastPass reservations for Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. The rest of the family decided to go back to the hotel and swim, but my sister and I wanted to see Jungle Cruise at night, but we skipped the 2 mountain reservations and went back to the hotel via water launch.

 

[RADOPT]

How was the service at 'Ohana?

 

[Mushu's Twin]

How was the service at 'Ohana?

As being our first time to dine at 'Ohana, the service was I'd assume pretty normal, maybe a little fast. We never had to ask for our drinks to be refilled. We had the bread when seated. The salad came out about 10 minutes after being seated; then the noodles, veggies, and potstickers about 10 minutes after that. The first skewers of meat came about 5 minutes after being served the appetizers. Dessert was served right as the fireworks were starting (9:00PM). We paid and left as soon as they were over. So from seating to leaving it was just a little over an hour to dine there, which from what I've read is pretty fast. The only thing that got kind of annoying was the whole cousin thing. I get the whole 'Ohana means family and we're all cousins. But our server seemed like he was trying to begin and end every sentence with "cuz". I don't know if they're normally like this or if he was going over the top?

 

[Mushu's Twin]

Disney's VIP Private Premium Tour Service Information

Here's some information about Disney's VIP Tour Service if you are not familiar with it. A majority of this I had already posted in my blog, but I have also expanded upon it. Also, I would like to say that any opinions and beliefs are my own, you may have your own; no one is wrong. Disney is all about what you make of it. A little overview of what I’m going to cover: What is the service and what are its perks? Where can they take you? How much does it cost? and is it worth it? Here’s the actual description of the service form the Walt Disney World website:

After being picked up from your Central Florida accommodations in a private vehicle, experience unparalleled hospitality at one or more Theme Parks, ride your favorite attractions and watch magnificent parades, live shows and select nighttime spectaculars from special reserved viewing areas.

Some of the personalized services include:

• A flexible start time, picked by you
• Visits to multiple theme parks in one or more days, if desired
• The ability to enjoy some of your favorite attractions efficiently, even repeatedly
• VIP seating for parades, select stage shows and nighttime spectaculars
• Shared insight from your highly knowledgeable VIP Tour Guide throughout your tour
• A completely customized experience based on your preferences

So let’s talk about each of these personalized services. First, a flexible start time picked by you. Starting out you have two options on meeting your guide: they can pick you up or you can meet them at the park, the choice is yours. They have white vans and will whisk you away to any of the parks you choose. There is a minimum time requirement of 7 consecutive hours. We normally head to the parks in the morning do some rides eat lunch at about 11/11:30 and have our guide meet us at the restaurant at 12:30. Then we use the guide for the minimum 7 hours, trust me that’s all you’ll need, and then say goodbye at 7:30/8 just in time for dinner. The reason we do this plan is because if you have your guide come pick you up in the morning, your tour will run over lunch and if you choose to have a table-service lunch, you’ll be paying for your guide while you’re eating and they’re not doing anything for you. Also, if you do choose to have your guide eat with you, you do not have to pay for them. Disney pays for their meals and any snacks they buy during the day. If you ask to buy their meals, they'll just respond "It's ok, Mickeys pays for my meals."

Visits to multiple theme parks in one or more days. In my opinion, park hoppers are a must if you’re going to splurge on a VIP guide. You can cover so much ground in just one day. You can easily cover 2 or 3 parks in one day with a guide, depending on which parks you choose. On this trip, our guide said that one day of a guide allows you to do 2-3 times the amount of stuff you'd normally get done in a day at Disney. She also said that a successful day in Disney is usually considered when you do 8 things, one of which is a table service meal and viewing a parade or nighttime spectacular. Travel time between parks is also cut down since you have your own van. The guides are able to use special backstage parking lots and roads located around the different parks. When you arrive backstage cast members will scan your magic bands right there so you don’t have to go to the main entrance. If you're arriving at Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom they will have snacks and bottled water available that you can take into the parks. Also if you’re on one side of the park and want to ride a ride on the other side of the park, they’ll drive you to the other side if it would be quicker than walking. They also have the ability to guide you through backstage areas when cutting across parks to cut down walking times.

The ability to enjoy some of your favorite attractions efficiently, even repeatedly. This is where the VIP Guide’s value really comes out. Your guide serves essentially as an unlimited Fastpass. If you want to go on the Tower of Terror 6 times in a row, he or she can make that happen. All you do is show up to the Fastpass line, the guide shows their badge, and you go straight in the line as if you had a fastpass. Once you get to the load zone ride, your guide may or may not ride with you, it’s their choice. If they choose not to, they will be waiting for you at the unloading zone once you arrive. The only ride the guides are not allowed to ride is Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom. It’s important to note, there is no straight to the front of the line access with the guide. They only get you access to the Fastpass line. There are some exceptions like Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion which I mentioned above. She told me that they are trying to expand this special, quicker access to some more rides. The ones they are currently working on are Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, and Test Track. If you are going to use a VIP Guide realize that they only help you with rides that have a Fastpass line. If you want to ride Prince Charming’s Carousel and there’s a 40 minute wait time, you’re just gonna have to stick it out.

VIP seating for parades, select stage shows and nighttime spectaculars. This one is pretty self explanatory. The locations for parades are nice because they normally don’t have anyone on the other side of you, so all the characters and performers direct their attention towards you. We haven’t used the guide for fireworks since we stop our guide services right before dinner. For the Magic Kingdom, the 3:00 parade viewing area is the Main Street Train Station. When we have used it for the Main Street Electrical Parade, the location was right by the firehouse where the parade started, but depending on the night, it could be on the bridge between the HUB and Liberty Square. It’s also important to note that other people with VIP guides will be in these viewing spots too.

Shared insight from your highly knowledgeable VIP Tour Guide throughout your tour. These guides know their stuff. Most of them are park relations cast members before they become VIP Tour Guides. They know everything from random fun facts, the location of hidden Mickeys, which line to go in if there are options, to where all the high scoring targets are in Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Toy Story Mania.

A completely customized experience based on your preferences. The guides main job is to do what you want them to do. If you want to ride Rock n Roller Coaster ten times in a row, they’ll let you do that. They will provide suggestions based off what they think you’ll like next, but the choice is ultimately yours.

The Cost: Surprise, this experience isn’t cheap. The price per hour can be anywhere from $350-$600 an hour for a consecutive, 7 hour minimum. As for the rate, 3 out of the 4 times we’ve used the guide the price has been $400/hour (including this one). The first time we used the guide it was $385/ hour which was on President’s Day weekend 2013. That was also when people staying in Disney Resorts had a reduced rate (about $20/hour); however, this is no longer in effect. Everyone pays the same price no matter if you’re staying on property or not.

 

[Mushu's Twin]

Day 3: May 20th - Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Departure

Today we woke up at 8:00AM because our guide was meeting us in the hotel lobby at 9:00AM. While my sister was getting ready, I ran to Gasparilla Grill to grab us some breakfast. I got the sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast wrap. While she had me get her some oatmeal. We also had to pack our stuff, but we didn't have much since we only stayed 2 nights. We headed to the lobby around 8:45 so that we could bell check our bags. Once the whole family met up and got with the guide we headed out to Animal Kingdom. Our first attraction was Kilimanjaro Safaris because the animals are usually more active in the mornings before it gets too hot. This absolutely was the case, we saw so so so many animals. We even had to stop 3 times due to animals in the roadway. After the Safaris, we headed to Expedition Everest. Our guide suggested we ride it in the very front, middle, and very back to see which we liked the best. I personally liked the front and middle the best, but there's really not a bad spot on that ride. After EE, we headed back to the van and on to Hollywood Studios.

Our first stop was Rockin Roller Coaster, but the FastPass line was extreemly long for some reason, so our guide suggested we come back later. We then went to my favorite ride, Tower of Terror and rode it twice. After ToT, RRC was still a little long, so we headed over to Toy Story Mania. After being briefed on how to open all the bonus rounds we went four our first ride where I rode with my sister, I came out with around 155,000 points the first time. The second time our guide said she would ride with me and serve as my wing-man. If you've ever wondered how the high score of the month is usually 450,000+ points, it's usually because someone has a wing-man. This is someone who helps the person going for the high score. They help "open" the bonus rounds but then don't shoot any of the high point targets in those bonus rounds so that the main shooter can get them all. With my wing-man guide, I came out with 225,400 which ended up being the high score of the hour! Our guide said her high score being in a cart by herself was 305,000. After TSM, we got some lunch from ODV carts. We then headed to RRC since the FastPass line finally went down. We only got to ride it once because once we came out, the FastPass line was pretty long again. We then decided to head back to Magic Kingdom.

Once at MK we headed for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to ride it once more. The FastPass line was a little longer than normal, but only about a 10 minute wait. Once we got off, our guide told us that one of the ride operators wanted to give us a Magical Moment. We went through this side door and back onto the loading platform for an immediate re-ride. We then had about an hour and a half left in our tour for the day. We knew it would take about 15-20 minutes for us to get back to the van and drive back to the Grand Floridian. So with our remaining hour, we decided to see how many times we could ride Space Mountain in 1 hour. However, only half of our party wanted to ride Space Mountain, so I had some paper FastPasses that came along with the Kindermoon package we booked with our resort. We had 3 fastpasses each good for up to 5 people, valid for: Dumbo, Monster's Inc Laugh Floor, Mickey's Philharmagic, or Journey of the Little Mermaid. So half the group used those while the other 4 of us headed to Space Mountain. We managed to ride Space Mountain 8 time in 1 hour using the expedited re-ride via our guide. We met back up with the rest of our family and headed back to the resort. Once we said our till we meet agains to our guide, we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport.

We were literally in Disney for less than 48 hours but had the most amazing time!

 

[*tinker*bell*]

sounds like an amazing whirlwind trip!

 

[Boatsanbeaches]

Wow! Sounds like an awesome time! I could see doing something like this when my kids get older and can last all day. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mushu's Twin]

sounds like an amazing whirlwind trip!

It was!

Wow! Sounds like an awesome time! I could see doing something like this when my kids get older and can last all day. Thanks for sharing.

Yes! But also make sure you can last all day too. I was pretty tired by the end of it.

Side Note: the first day we walked 15.19 miles according to my Apple Watch