VIP tour: need your input, please

[GADisneyDad14]

That kind of thing tends to move around from time to time, but I ‘think’ the current spot is in the Plaza Garden West, which is the garden on the left side, if looking at the castle (the right side garden is the dessert party).

 

[quandrea]

Is there tax added on to the hourly rate or do the published rates include taxes?

 

[WIll C]

One question my wife said she got different answers on...do you skip the lines or just get into the, now, Lighting Lane lines? Are you pushed up to the front of the queue to get right on?

 

[mars315]

Thanks. Is it an area specially designated for VIP tours, or are they just getting you into the dessert party area (without the benefit of desserts, of course)?

There is an area specifically for VIP tour guests. If you think about the paved street that goes around the hub area, we were on the side of Casey’s and Crystal Palace, in the first grassy area. So the street in front of us was completely clear because they don’t allow guests to stand there. The area is quite large, and our guide dropped us off there. We all sat while waiting and then we stood during the show. We could see down Main Street a bit to see that there were projections there, but we couldn’t really see them. I was able to take beautiful photos of the castle with hardly any other people in the shot. The CM’s in the area will take awesome photos of you before and after using these awesome lights!

 

[mars315]

Starting just after lunch is a good idea. If we did it, I was thinking park opening, just because we are morning people, but ending at 7:30 or so is not bad. I’m just cringing at the thought of the hourly rate, but maybe for a milestone birthday with my friends coming from all over the world, it’s worth it once?

Yes, we hadn’t been anywhere with our children since forever, so we decided to splurge. I probably wouldn’t do it again, but it was a lot of fun.

 

[mars315]

Is there tax added on to the hourly rate or do the published rates include taxes?

No, tax is included (or not applicable).

 

[mars315]

One question my wife said she got different answers on...do you skip the lines or just get into the, now, Lighting Lane lines? Are you pushed up to the front of the queue to get right on?

No, you just go through LL, for the most part. There is a place on one ride after a pre show where they can get you on more quickly if it is backed up. But as we experienced on Rise, if the LL is backed up, you will be waiting in that line. No way to jump to the front. There are a lot of VIP tours, and a lot of rules they need to follow.

 

[quandrea]

No, tax is included (or not applicable).

That’s excellent news! I’m thinking I’m going to try and book this. Probably something I’ll do once and I can’t imagine a better time for it than than October. Thanks for your reply.

 

[JZCubed]

Starting just after lunch is a good idea. If we did it, I was thinking park opening, just because we are morning people, but ending at 7:30 or so is not bad. I’m just cringing at the thought of the hourly rate, but maybe for a milestone birthday with my friends coming from all over the world, it’s worth it once?

With current day-ticket pricing along with the ability to purchase so-called add-ons like hard-ticketed events and parties that get folks shorter-lines too, the cost of what you receive is not out-of-line.

Also, completing a VIP tour means fewer nights at Disney. For instance, we stayed at least 8-nights to get to every Park twice. We’d get as much done in 5-days (or less) using a tour.

Sure, there are budgetary tradeoffs in my math, but I can get the math to ‘work’ for my small family. VIP math works better for larger groups.

Edited to include - I cannot get math to ‘work’ for the Star Wars hotel. Maybe, MAYBE, I get there if light sabers & droids are included (and I wanted a bunch). And I’m just hoping that lunch at the Cantina means a private dining area, not standing on the same line as folks outside the immersive experience. VIP tour gives my family better ‘value’.

 

[quandrea]

With current day-ticket pricing along with the ability to purchase so-called add-ons like hard-ticketed events and parties, the cost of what you receive is not out-of-line.

Also, completing a VIP tour means fewer nights at Disney. For instance, we stayed at least 8-nights to get to every Park twice. We’d get as much done in 5-days (or less) using a tour.

Sure, there are budgetary tradeoffs in my math, but I can get the math to ‘work’ for my small family. VIP math works better for larger groups.

We will be a group of ten. I wish we could book earlier than 60 days out. It would help inform what length/type of ticket my guests would need. Vip tour would equate to a ticket with fewer days. If I couldn’t secure the desired date, we’d have to purchase our tickets accordingly. Maybe they’ll change booking procedures back to the old way? We shall see.

 

[linfromtexas]

We are doing a VIP tour as a family in November. Would love to learn about your experiences and recommendations to make our day memorable. Already know not to take a 75+ minute lunch break

From what I've read the VIP tour was a highlight for everyone. Not so much for us. We made the mistake of taking it Thanksgiving Day 2019. I suspect the CM had other plans. Not once were we offered water. We had to push to get any snack. One of our party was diabetic. She did get us on the rides we requested but that was it. No no background stories, nothing. A real let down. I plan to do another one but at an off time. FYI: A previous Thanksgiving Day tour --Destinations was great. An International from Canada was wonderful for WS tour. They celebrate TG a different day. My advice. Watch the holidays.

 

[javaj]

All - Did you tip your VIP tour guide? If so, how much (if you don’t mind sharing the information)?

thanks!

 

[catnik]

We won’t do the tour until the end of the week but plan to tip ~10% of total tour cost based on how things go. Most of our party has worked in the service industry at one time or the other so we tend to overtip when given the opportunity

 

[SkyGuy]

I always plan to tip a minimum the value of the hourly rate and go up from there based on experience. We’ve had great guides, so it’s always been a bit higher.

 

[linfromtexas]

All - Did you tip your VIP tour guide? If so, how much (if you don’t mind sharing the information)?

thanks!

I understand it's customary. We did tip but I've since found out our tip was low. I've heard 20% but that's out of my range.

 

[GoofyKidd]

Do you need to know the hours you want the tour to be at the time of booking? Or can you book the date(s) and then add or modify exact times later?

 

[MiketheGrate]

Do you need to know the hours you want the tour to be at the time of booking? Or can you book the date(s) and then add or modify exact times later?

For ours, we had to set a placeholder time when we booked, but we can change the starting time and starting location until 3:00pm Eastern the day before our tour.

 

[CeCe0906]

For anyone who has gotten the VIP tour, I have a question. When I booked my upcoming tour, the person on the phone said that there really wasn't anything we could do for a better seat for fireworks at MK because of the VIP tour. However, from some of the tips above, it looks like people were able to get a VIP seating for fireworks because of their guide. Has anyone used this recently and gotten a preferred spot for the MK fireworks? If we want to do that, we'll need to start our VIP day later, since we're currently scheduled to start at 10am.

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Here is a picture I took in the VIP area just before show. If you look behind my granddaughter,, you'll see a barricade with a sea of people in front of it. That's what you avoid, also saved precious park time getting a good spot. We had plenty of room to spread out, and were able to sit on ground to watch. There is no chair seating. Our guide dropped us off about 10 min before show. And then led us out a nearby side door to car to whisk us back to our hotel. This was in August when Delta Variant was really spiking in FL, so I considered it money well spent to avoid the crush in transport after the fireworks. We met our guide at noon in park (HS then hopped briefly to Epcot, then MK.) Great last day of trip.