Ticket planning help?

[manicmonkey]

We are hoping to do a week there in Oct. We've done Disney many times, one short trip at Universal Hollywood a few years back and USO for one day in 2008. When we did USH, we did the one day VIP tour and enjoyed it, so we're considering the 2park VIP tour here. We are not early birds, so early entry tends to get wasted. I could see us going in mid-morning, staying until mid-afternoon, heading to the hotel for a late afternoon rest and then perhaps hitting another park in the evening. Also thinking of one day at Seaworld to break it up.

If we choose to stay at a hotel that gives us Express Pass Unlimited, I understand we'd still need 1 day of Epic EP, but is doing the tour on top of that overkill? Or should we get a lower priced hotel, buy EP one ride a days and still do the VIP tour?

 

[contemporarymom]

We are hoping to do a week there in Oct. We've done Disney many times, one short trip at Universal Hollywood a few years back and USO for one day in 2008. When we did USH, we did the one day VIP tour and enjoyed it, so we're considering the 2park VIP tour here. We are not early birds, so early entry tends to get wasted. I could see us going in mid-morning, staying until mid-afternoon, heading to the hotel for a late afternoon rest and then perhaps hitting another park in the evening. Also thinking of one day at Seaworld to break it up.

If we choose to stay at a hotel that gives us Express Pass Unlimited, I understand we'd still need 1 day of Epic EP, but is doing the tour on top of that overkill? Or should we get a lower priced hotel, buy EP one ride a days and still do the VIP tour?

We're going in late September and taking our two grown children and ther spouses for 6 nights/7 days. We love the PBH, so that was a no brainer for us. When it came to Epic, we decided to do an 8 hour private VIP tour.

This is how we decided. Both my husband and I are passholders. We needed to buy tickets and the passholder discount is only around $20 (2x 133.50), the "kids" would have 7 day, 3 park passes so they were good. The day we were planning on going to Epic express passes were $230 and they were only good for one-time per ride. For two meals (staying club so we didn't figure in breakfast) we figured on $200 for lunch and at least $500 for dinner at The Atlantic plus tip.

With the 8 hour VIP tour, three meals are included, choice of any restaurant, 18% tip included (we'd probably round up to at least 22%). We do what we want, when we want, however many times we want. After the tour, we get express pass if we want to go on any rides again, we also get photopass and valet parking. When we added up everything, we just decided that with the way we like to do the parks, it would be a better value to do the private VIP tour.

 

[Minnie1222]

When it came to Epic, we decided to do an 8 hour private VIP tour.

The day we were planning on going to Epic express passes were $230 and they were only good for one-time per ride. For two meals (staying club so we didn't figure in breakfast) we figured on $200 for lunch and at least $500 for dinner at The Atlantic plus tip.

The Epic's Private VIP tour was about $10000 per day last May. Has it dropped in price that much to be comparable to the above option? Is there any chance you were looking at the Group VIP?

 

[contemporarymom]

The Epic's Private VIP tour was about $10000 per day last May. Has it dropped in price that much to be comparable to the above option? Is there any chance you were looking at the Group VIP?

No, we booked the Private VIP tour for September. It was $4527 for the 8 hour tour, plus $267 for my husband and my 1 day tickets. As I said, the "kids" had 3 park tickets so we only had to purchase our's. I thought for us it was a great deal. As passholders we do get a % off, but I'm not sure how much.

Total Amount Charged: $4,527.96

Order Includes:


[1.00] X VIP Private Experience: 1-Day Epic (1-5)
[1.00] X VIP Private Experience: 1-Day Epic Addon

 

[Minnie1222]

No, we booked the Private VIP tour for September. It was $4527 for the 8 hour tour, plus $267 for my husband and my 1 day tickets. As I said, the "kids" had 3 park tickets so we only had to purchase our's. I thought for us it was a great deal. As passholders we do get a % off, but I'm not sure how much.

Total Amount Charged: $4,527.96

Order Includes:


[1.00] X VIP Private Experience: 1-Day Epic (1-5)
[1.00] X VIP Private Experience: 1-Day Epic Addon

That is an amazing price drop! When the group VIP tours were introduced in the first few months, they were around $600/person and sold out immediately. I tried calling for the private VIP, but gave up after being on hold for over an hour. Another person got through and was quoted $9000+ before gratuities. Even at that price the tours were sold out very quickly.

Have a wonderful time!

 

[contemporarymom]

That is an amazing price drop! When the group VIP tours were introduced in the first few months, they were around $600/person and sold out immediately. I tried calling for the private VIP, but gave up after being on hold for over an hour. Another person got through and was quoted $9000+ before gratuities. Even at that price the tours were sold out very quickly.

Have a wonderful time!

I was on hold forever also but stuck it out because we were also booking a RIP Tour for HHH. I think the issue is once HHH is announced, the phone lines were crazy. It was worth it and we were honestly shocked when they quoted the price for the Private Tour.