VIP Tour for the week after Christmas

[pellep]

Hi everyone-

My family of four (kids ages 3 and 8) will be going to WDW the day after Christmas 2015 until New years day.

None of us have ever been to WDW before. This may be our only trip, and it has been in the planning/saving stages for a while.

We are staying at the Polynesian.

I understand that the crowds this week will be very high, but I don't have a feel for how limiting this will be. (ie will be be able to ride all the popular attractions)

I was considering the VIP tour for the first day. This might allow us to hit all the high demand attractions so that the rest of the vacation will be pretty low stress.

Understanding this is extremely expensive, I could compromise elsewhere to make it cost neutral (roughly)

I could shorten the trip by a day, skip the deluxe meal plan, skip V&A meal (for the adults).

So what would the board feel is a better strategy?

1. 7 day trip and deal with crowds?

2. 6 day trip with VIP tour (minus deluxe meal plan, V&A)

Thanks,
Paul

 

[baler31]

I would call for pricing. This year our VIP tour over Christmas was more expensive than previous years. We were told they had implemented a new price for holidays.

I would still vote for less days with the VIP tour provided it is in your budget. It is a very effective way to tour the parks in a minimum amount of time.

We usually do four parks with the guide and start later to be able to experience the night time entertainment. They will pick you up and return you to your resort. If you have small children just keep in mind they will see some of the backstage areas that are not exactly "magical." Let the guide know what you want to do and they will plan ahead. As you mentioned choose the things that you will get the most time benefit from, we also like the reserved areas for parades and fireworks but would personally skip the regular show as they take a lot of time with little benefit.

For our family and my DH's time constraints we have always felt like the tour was the best option. HTH.

 

[Hopefully]

I have never done a VIP Tour so I certainly do not have first hand information about that.
But the week between Christmas and New Years is the single busiest week of the year. Waits at the Headline attractions can top 2 - 3 hours each. The MK and maybe other parks often close due to reaching capacity. It is literally difficult to walk. It is a virtual certainty that you will not be able to ride all the rides you would like in a given day.
I would never go that week as my first visit with an 8 yo and a 3 yo.
Especially since you have planned and saved for so long. I think a first visit that week is a waste of money. I have been to WDW scores of time and although the decorations and theming are wonderful at Christmas, the crowds are not.
All my worries expressed, if you must go then I would agree that a VIP Tour may be a good idea.
I hope others with first hand tour experience will chime in
Good Luck

 

[pellep]

Thanks for the thoughts so far.

Because of work/school schedules, this is really one of the only weeks we are able to do this. So I hope we can deal with the crowds.

If anyone has general feedback for surviving the Christmas-New Years week, I'd love your input also...

Paul

 

[jtowntoflorida]

For that time of year, I'd pick the VIP tour any day. Disney dining really isn't anything to write home about, IMHO.

I think the only issue with doing the VIP tour the first day is that it might spoil you and/or the kids, and when you're looking at SB waits of over an hour for pretty much anything the rest of the week...well, that might not be so awesome. Maybe end the trip on a high note and do the VIP tour the last day instead? That way, you'll have some experience with the rides and will know what you want and don't want to waste your valuable VIP tour time on. There are a lot of rides that are favorites of many people that we don't like, so I'd never waste VIP touring time on them.

 

[rwdavis2]

Personally I would cut out the Deluxe dining plan. It is a TON of food and unless you are eating a lot of character meals/buffets it won't save you money. Dining plans are not designed to save money.

You can get a lot done at any park if you get plan on being there when it opens. You may not be able to ride all the top attractions in a single day but if you have multiple days for some parks and make good use of FP+ then you may be able to.

As others have said, if there is anyway to avoid the week between Christmas and New Year's even if you only shift a few days either way, then do it.

 

[supersnoop]

I'd say, either do the dining or the VIP tour. We were there the week after Christmas this year, and I booked three meals a day in the park for the busiest days just so we'd have some down time to rest and relax. On the busiest days, you can't really take a mid-day break.

I'm under the impression that the VIP tour would cost a minimum of $2,000. Also, be sure you do the math on the deluxe dining cost. That time of year, it will be close, but you'll probably come out just a little ahead.

 

[Micca]

Welcome to the Dis Paul! There is a LOT of discussion about surviving the busiest times at WDW. Please take a look around at some threads and you'll get a general idea of what you're up against. In the process you'll also get a feel
for other details of trip planning

 

[Raenstoirm]

I would not do the VIP tour in the beginning of the trip since you have no idea what you are looking at. I would plan it for sometime later, day 4 or 5 maybe. I would at least spend a day at MK and Epcot before your tour so you know what rides you liked (via FP+ that you want to do again) and which rides you could get on with little wait. If you manage to score a FP+ for Anna and Elsa for example you won't have to "waste" VIP time meeting them. FP+ are going to "sell out" fast that week so if you loved a headliner and wish to ride it again, moving a FP+ a day or two before might be difficult if not impossible depending on what you wish to ride again. (Lets say you ride mine train on tuesday with a FP+ an love it and wish to get a FP+ for your next day at mk, say thursday. Mine train has long since "sold out" for thursday so you are out of luck. With the VIP, you can ride it again.)

 

[pellep]

I was wondering about the dining plan being too much food.

None of my family members consistently eats breakfast. Plus we will have access to the club lounge at the Poly.

I'd imagine we would have breakfast snacks in the lounge, quick service lunch and signature restaurant dinner.

Would we better off paying out of pocket?

Thanks for the info so far,

Paul

 

[Raenstoirm]

Would we better off paying out of pocket?

Yes, no question. We did the math for the dining plan for a few years and it always cost us more than just paying cash. For example you get dessert with your meal, but only get 2 snacks. We tend to eat a meal and then get "dessert" (ice cream, popcorn, etc) a few hours later. With the heat and all that walking, we can't eat that much at one sitting and don't want to carry the dessert around with us after dinner so thats a waste. We also tend to buy multiple snacks throughout the day and eat smaller meals for the same reason. A drink is a "snack," so if you get a lemonade and a bottle of water you have used up your snack credits right there. We always grab a cookie or popcorn or ice cream or something plus drinks so it just doesn't work out.

 

[baler31]

I was wondering about the dining plan being too much food.

None of my family members consistently eats breakfast. Plus we will have access to the club lounge at the Poly.

I'd imagine we would have breakfast snacks in the lounge, quick service lunch and signature restaurant dinner.

Would we better off paying out of pocket?

Thanks for the info so far,

Paul

We always do OOP, but we do have Tables in Wonderland. CL is a lot of food if you are there at the times they serve. Also, for us the DP does not work. We order lots of appetizers, sometimes share an entree and rarely order desserts. I will say people who do lots of character dining may find the DP better.

 

[Marthasor]

I was wondering about the dining plan being too much food.

None of my family members consistently eats breakfast. Plus we will have access to the club lounge at the Poly.

I'd imagine we would have breakfast snacks in the lounge, quick service lunch and signature restaurant dinner.

Would we better off paying out of pocket?

Thanks for the info so far,

Paul

Yes, pay out of pocket for dining and, yes, hire a VIP tour guide stat! That is the ONLY way I would do the parks that week. I would book the guide for day 2. Use day 1 to explore on your own and then day 2 get some serious park touring done. You will be amazed how much you can get done with the VIP guide in one day. They walk you in to all of the FP+ lines and, when you are done with one park, they will whisk you away in a private vehicle to the next one (make sure you have hoppers!). Heck yes, drop dining, drop V&A, hire the tour guide.