VIP Tour Guide Recommendations

[AndyR]

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/private-vip-tours/

 

[holden]

Ah, I figured. Thanks again.

Dumb question, is there a master website or info page showcasing options and booking info?

In a nutshell:

Minimum of 7 hours
Price determined by date and does not include tip
10 ppl max for one guide; more than 10 requires and additional guide(s)
Private Transportation (van) between parks; enter through back entrances
Must purchase park ticket with hopper or annual pass
Guide will take you through the FP+ line or back entrance for attractions so you have no/minimal wait
You can do as many attractions as you can fit into your time
You can do all 4 parks if you choose
You can take time to eat a meal during your tour or not (we don't stop to eat; just snack along the way)
Guide can get you preferred seating/spot for fireworks, etc. when they are operating
Guide can pick you up at your resort to begin your tour/drop you off after if you want
Guide can meet you in your first park if you want instead of driving you to the park
You must have a park reservation booked for your first park

 

[holden]

In a nutshell:

Minimum of 7 hours
Price determined by date and does not include tip
10 ppl max for one guide; more than 10 requires and additional guide(s)
Private Transportation (van) between parks; enter through back entrances
Must purchase park ticket with hopper or annual pass
Guide will take you through the FP+ line or back entrance for attractions so you have no/minimal wait
You can do as many attractions as you can fit into your time
You can do all 4 parks if you choose
You can take time to eat a meal during your tour or not (we don't stop to eat; just snack along the way)
Guide can get you preferred seating/spot for fireworks, etc. when they are operating
Guide can pick you up at your resort to begin your tour/drop you off after if you want
Guide can meet you in your first park if you want instead of driving you to the park
You must have a park reservation booked for your first park

I knew I forgot something!!!

Guide cannot get you on Rise of the Resistance

 

[sophy1996]

In a nutshell:

Minimum of 7 hours
Price determined by date and does not include tip
10 ppl max for one guide; more than 10 requires and additional guide(s)
Private Transportation (van) between parks; enter through back entrances
Must purchase park ticket with hopper or annual pass
Guide will take you through the FP+ line or back entrance for attractions so you have no/minimal wait
You can do as many attractions as you can fit into your time
You can do all 4 parks if you choose
You can take time to eat a meal during your tour or not (we don't stop to eat; just snack along the way)
Guide can get you preferred seating/spot for fireworks, etc. when they are operating
Guide can pick you up at your resort to begin your tour/drop you off after if you want
Guide can meet you in your first park if you want instead of driving you to the park
You must have a park reservation booked for your first park

And if your 7 hours is up but you haven't done everything you wanted, they will keep going.

Disney charges the minimum 7 hours the day before to the credit card you provide at booking, and if you add additional time, they charge for that additional time after.

 

[10CJ]

Ah, I figured. Thanks again.

Dumb question, is there a master website or info page showcasing options and booking info?

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/vip-tour-services/

 

[CeCe0906]

You have to call to try to arrange. I decided warly in June to take my 8 yar old granddaughter on her first trip to Disney in August, to splurge one day. But no tours were available; they put me on a wait list.

 

[rockinrollercoasters]

You have to call to try to arrange. I decided warly in June to take my 8 yar old granddaughter on her first trip to Disney in August, to splurge one day. But no tours were available; they put me on a wait list.

Did you call 60 days out and there was no availability or was it less than that? I may be interested in booking this for my trip but I don't want to get excited about it if it is impossible to book.

 

[JWelch62]

Did you call 60 days out and there was no availability or was it less than that? I may be interested in booking this for my trip but I don't want to get excited about it if it is impossible to book.

I called at 60 days for the date we wanted, but it was sold out very quickly. Fortunately we had other days available to us, and we were able to get a tour. Definitely call at 60 days out, first thing in the morning. But if you are flexible on the specific date you want you may have more options. There are just fewer tours being offered right now, so it's just that much more "competitive".

 

[JWelch62]

We have not done a VIP tour before. Will Disney reach out to me a few days prior to our tour to make any special arrangements?

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Wow shocking they can’t get you on rise…seems like a win win for everyone

 

[holden]

Wow shocking they can’t get you on rise…seems like a win win for everyone

We did our VIP tour a few weeks ago. Our guide couldn't get us on ROTR, but he did get us a park reservation for DHS that day. Because of this we were able to get a BG at 1:00pm. It was awesome!

Basically, we had a park reservation for AK, which is where we began our tour. The guide was able to also get us a park reservation for DHS, so we basically had 2 park reservations for the same day. After he secured the DHS reservation, we could try for the BG at 1:00pm. We did, and we got it.

 

[JWelch62]

We did our VIP tour a few weeks ago. Our guide couldn't get us on ROTR, but he did get us a park reservation for DHS that day. Because of this we were able to get a BG at 1:00pm. It was awesome!

Basically, we had a park reservation for AK, which is where we began our tour. The guide was able to also get us a park reservation for DHS, so we basically had 2 park reservations for the same day. After he secured the DHS reservation, we could try for the BG at 1:00pm. We did, and we got it.

Thanks for the tip. Trying to get a BG for our upcoming trip, but our reservation is for MK.

I assume you got the additional reservation after you badged into AK?

 

[trivan]

We have not done a VIP tour before. Will Disney reach out to me a few days prior to our tour to make any special arrangements?

Not in my experience. This is what I do:

• At time of booking, request a past guide or let them know the type of person we want to lead our tour. Start time of the tour and just have meeting point at the hotel. If any shows, parades or fireworks are in the plan or not.
• A month out, determine and confirm meet up point. Sometime we meet in the park other time hotel pick up
• A couple days out, any last minute changes
• Day of tour, we have a print out of what attractions we would like to do. Be reasonable and flexible with the plans. We let them know priorities. eg. Must do FoP, can give up Splash Mountain if timing is tight. The past tour, we did 9 hours and got everything we wanted. 18 rides, w/a QS at AK and a number of breaks. It was so tiring.

I can't stress this enough, let the Plaid do what they do best to determine the timing of the day and order. Let it GO.... hahah, ok corny. Our last tour, while doing a pitstop and waiting, another tour was doing the same. The Dad (my guess) was basically given detailed instructions on the order and what was to be done. It was a bit condescending too, I felt bad for the Plaid. While the cost is high, guest shouldn't treat the Plaid as a hired hand, treat them with the respect they deserve and they will do everything to make the day great!!

 

[holden]

Thanks for the tip. Trying to get a BG for our upcoming trip, but our reservation is for MK.

I assume you got the additional reservation after you badged into AK?

Yes. We had already scanned in to AK.

 

[JWelch62]

Not in my experience. This is what I do:

• At time of booking, request a past guide or let them know the type of person we want to lead our tour. Start time of the tour and just have meeting point at the hotel. If any shows, parades or fireworks are in the plan or not.
• A month out, determine and confirm meet up point. Sometime we meet in the park other time hotel pick up
• A couple days out, any last minute changes
• Day of tour, we have a print out of what attractions we would like to do. Be reasonable and flexible with the plans. We let them know priorities. eg. Must do FoP, can give up Splash Mountain if timing is tight. The past tour, we did 9 hours and got everything we wanted. 18 rides, w/a QS at AK and a number of breaks. It was so tiring.

I can't stress this enough, let the Plaid do what they do best to determine the timing of the day and order. Let it GO.... hahah, ok corny. Our last tour, while doing a pitstop and waiting, another tour was doing the same. The Dad (my guess) was basically given detailed instructions on the order and what was to be done. It was a bit condescending too, I felt bad for the Plaid. While the cost is high, guest shouldn't treat the Plaid as a hired hand, treat them with the respect they deserve and they will do everything to make the day great!!

Thanks for your reply. It's very helpful

I will verify our meet-up point again (currently in MK)
We have been making a plan for our day, and will share that with the guide. I consider our plan a list of attractions that we would like to do, but not any particular order. I definitely will defer to our guide!

Our tour is in three weeks, and we are all getting very excited.

 

[SDKMom]

Yes. We had already scanned in to AK.

You had scanned into AK but not HS, correct? Just clarifying because we have a tour planned next week!

 

[trivan]

You had scanned into AK but not HS, correct? Just clarifying because we have a tour planned next week!

Based upon our request to do RotR, the VIP office made HS park reservations for our group.

Tour day, we got up early and score a BG of 23!! We were all pumped. lol. We met our guide 9am and let him know our BG number. Based upon that we started the day at HS. Got to the park did RR and ToT. RotR down no groups.... Then when to Slinky Dog and Toy Story, RotR still down... Mickey Run away Train.... RotR still down... So we discussed our options (not many) with our guide and we believed that as long as we're not really past our BG time they would honor our BG # when we return. So we went to AK did that park and RotR was running!! Hooray! So by the time our group was called it was about 1:30, we drove back to HS and did RotR and then left to MK. While we did waste transportation time, it was a must do for us as 5 in our group came for the day and didn't have a second chance to ride. First world problems and so spoiled with being able to do everything we want in 1 day. The rest of our 5 day trip was so relaxing b/c we only did rides with short waits and snacked away....

 

[CeCe0906]

Did you call 60 days out and there was no availability or was it less than that? I may be interested in booking this for my trip but I don't want to get excited about it if it is impossible to book.

I called June 7th and our trip is Aug 3rd, 4th ,5th.. I called back to verify that I didn't have to do anything else, like check in daily, and was told no, and they gave me the number that would be calling me so I could make sure to answer it. Tried to get a feel if it was going to be possible, but they won't tell you where you are on wait list. But she did say that do cut them off at some point, and I was only able to be put on wait list for two of our days. Not going to do vip on both days, but just maximizing chances of one being available.
I guess it depends on if they are able to hire more tour guides, or if people are on the wait list for multiple days like me, if they decline one day you may get called.
I was hoping to do it on our last day, my HS res day, and park hop over to MK with guide after lunch and do things we didn't get to do or do again some she really liked. And get reserved seats for fireworks without waiting forever.

 

[SDKMom]

The rest of our 5 day trip was so relaxing b/c we only did rides with short waits and snacked away....

This is EXACTLY our plan!

 

[holden]

You had scanned into AK but not HS, correct? Just clarifying because we have a tour planned next week!

Good question. We had a park reservation for AK(started tour there), went to DHS and then MK. We were in MK at 1:00 when we got the BG. We didn't enter through the main gate at any park, but our bands were scanned at some point with an IPad type of device. I don't remember where. I don't think it was AK. Maybe it was DHS after he had secured our park reservation there? That actually would make sense.

Early in the tour we were saying how we were going to try for ROTR later in the week. The guide asked for our email addresses (two families, so two email addresses) and then said he was going to "try something." I had no idea what he was doing.

Later he told us he got us all park reservations at DHS. I'm assuming that was what he needed the addresses for.