VIP tour or Complicated Scheduling

[Golden Rose]

We are going to DL in July as a party of 6. Two adults (me and my BFF) and 4 children. The kids are my DS, who is 13 and autistic, but moderately high functioning, and my DD 7, who will ride anything she is tall enough for, and my BFF's two children, ages 12 and 8, one of whom adores thrill rides and one of whom will do milder thrill rides. We will probably have DAS for my son (we always do at WDW), but he won't ride any thrill rides. He doesn't actually like to ride new rides he hasn't done before, so he mostly wants to do his favorites from WDW (Jungle Cruise, TSMM, It's a Small World, Soarin'). He doesn't handle crowds particularly well, so we've figured out with help from this board that we need a reserved area any shows we want to see, preferably with seating.

We only have two days in parks because we are visiting my BFF's family one day, and planning a pool and Downtown Disney half day. This is a first DL trip for my BFF's kids, and a second DL trip for mine, although my daughter was too little to remember this first one.

We are debating between doing Max Passes for everyone, plus Frozen dining package, plus Paint the Night dining package, plus WOC dessert party, plus using DS's DAS when we can, or just going ahead and booking a VIP tour for a day. We have had a VIP guide in WDW, and it is really not necessary for DS, who has such a short list of rides he likes and his DAS. It was great for the rest of the party.

I guess what I'm asking is it is worth the extra money at DL to have the VIP guide on a busy day. I thought I could get away with letting each kid pick one ride a day they had to do, and considering anything else a bonus, but that's not working. They are so excited and have so many things they want to do that I'm getting worried. I'm used to FP+ plus a DAS at WDW, and how to have a great experience at WDW. Plus, if we miss something there, my kids know they will be back.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I wouldn’t do vip. My kiddos that need das need their breaks when we need them. On an expensive tour I’d feel like I was wasting my money if we stopped.

 

[twodogs]

I think you can do really well with MP. I don’t know how DAS works, so can’t comment on that. We’ve done VIP as well, and now with having used MP the last two trips, I feel I can do almost as well as VIP guides with very good use of MP. What you can’t do with MP which you can do with VIP is ride a headliner over and over back to back. Maybe you will get lucky with MP on a back to back ride, but with VIP, if you want to ride GoTG three times in a row, you can do that. With MP it will be more spread out. VIP can also get you VIP access to night time shows but only on the day of the tour, so you can’t do them all in one day due to timing issues. Also realize that if you have the guide during the daytime parade, you are paying a lot per hour for the guide to sit and watch a parade with you.

Another difference to consider is VIP can get you access to some fantasyland rides that don’t have FP and thus can’t be accessed via MP. My family really doesn’t like many rides at all in FL (horror to hard core Disney fans, I know). So MP works great for us. I think you can have lots of nice experiences and use MP or have VIP one day and the other day either get MP if that’s in budget or just go standby and use the DAS. We love MP!

 

[Golden Rose]

The FL rides are actually my biggest concern. DS really wants to ride many of them, and of course, they don't have FP. And I assume you can't use the DAS on them since they don't have FP.

For most of his life up to now, DS hasn't been able to do more than about 4 hours in a park, including a seated, air conditioned lunch, before sensory overload kicks in and he really needs to get away from the crowds and go back to the resort for a rest. Just in the last year, he has been willing to push it to make sure he gets to ride his favorites. We did do a VIP tour last year in WDW and it was hard for him to spend that long in a park, but he chose to stay even when my mom offered to take him back to the room. We did have to take breaks. We probably spent more than an hour of our day taking breaks, which made for some pretty expensive breaks! Still, it was a wonderful overall experience, which is why I'm considering it for DL.

 

[SeiterClan]

The FL rides are actually my biggest concern. DS really wants to ride many of them, and of course, they don't have FP. And I assume you can't use the DAS on them since they don't have FP.

For most of his life up to now, DS hasn't been able to do more than about 4 hours in a park, including a seated, air conditioned lunch, before sensory overload kicks in and he really needs to get away from the crowds and go back to the resort for a rest. Just in the last year, he has been willing to push it to make sure he gets to ride his favorites. We did do a VIP tour last year in WDW and it was hard for him to spend that long in a park, but he chose to stay even when my mom offered to take him back to the room. We did have to take breaks. We probably spent more than an hour of our day taking breaks, which made for some pretty expensive breaks! Still, it was a wonderful overall experience, which is why I'm considering it for DL.

I have no personal experience on DAS but I have read on here many Disers experiences that you can use DAS for any ride including the Fantasyland rides & you can also use DAS in conjunction with FP's too! Hopefully someone will chime in with personal experience.

 

[DLRExpert]

The FL rides are actually my biggest concern. DS really wants to ride many of them, and of course, they don't have FP. And I assume you can't use the DAS on them since they don't have FP.

For most of his life up to now, DS hasn't been able to do more than about 4 hours in a park, including a seated, air conditioned lunch, before sensory overload kicks in and he really needs to get away from the crowds and go back to the resort for a rest. Just in the last year, he has been willing to push it to make sure he gets to ride his favorites. We did do a VIP tour last year in WDW and it was hard for him to spend that long in a park, but he chose to stay even when my mom offered to take him back to the room. We did have to take breaks. We probably spent more than an hour of our day taking breaks, which made for some pretty expensive breaks! Still, it was a wonderful overall experience, which is why I'm considering it for DL.

Save some money and skip the VIP

Just get to the park 30 minutes before park opening.
Once inside on day one at least, go to City Hall and get your DAS pass

Then head to Fantasyland as the park opens.
Use DAS on Peter Pan first and then use DAS on the other attractions if the lines in this area are too long for you to wait. Honestly, you should barely need to use it.
My Fantasyland order is... Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, Mr. Toad, Casey Jr., Pinocchio, and Snow White.

At an 8 am opening you can finish all of the attractions in the Fantasyland area by 930am. Especially with a DAS pass.
At a 9 am opening you finish most by 10 am.
Then head to Adventureland by 930 am or 10 am and start doing the attractions in this area.
Adventureland, New Orleans Square, Critter Country, and Frontierland are usually not that busy until 1130 am
Order here with Max Pass is, grab FP for Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Pirates, grab FP for Splash Mountain, use FP for Indy, Pooh, grab FP for Mansion, use FP for Splash, use FP for Mansion, grab FP for Thunder, use FP for Thunder.

FP order after that should be Space Mountain, Star Tours, Matterhorn, Small World, Roger Rabbit, and Buzz

So from 8 am - 12 pm, you would have finished more than half of the park.
If you decide to go with VIP just book it for after lunch as that is when the park will be its busiest.

ME

 

[theluckyrabbit]

The FL rides are actually my biggest concern. DS really wants to ride many of them, and of course, they don't have FP. And I assume you can't use the DAS on them since they don't have FP...

You can use DAS with the FL rides. You will book a return time at an Information Kiosk (locations on map/app, CMs wearing plaid), then check in at the ride exit. There is an Information Kiosk in FL (between the Dumbo ride and Monstro the whale, catercorner from the carousel) -- so convenient! We do this regularly without any problem. As soon as you exit a ride, go to the Kiosk to book another return time. Your son will be able to ride in FL over and over. For TSMM and Soarin', you can use the DAS and FP together, since the systems are separate. That way, your son can have back to back rides if the return times work.

ETA: Your son will still have to wait in between FL rides with the DAS. I think the wait is equal to the standby time plus 5 minutes, or something like that. The DAS return times will show up on your DLR app. So look over the map of FL and have some ideas of quieter places to go where he can decompress and rest between rides.

 

[tanyaewa]

I think you know your family dynamics best and also have experience with what the vip offers.
In my opinion, since it was so good for you in the past, if the price works for you... go for the vip

 

[ParkHopper1]

FYI, VIP Tours are not immediate access to ALL of Fantasyland...copies from another post, here is what it includes:

The Follow Attractions offer FASTPASS Access:

Disneyland® Park:

• Splash Mountain
• Space Mountain
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Star Tours- The Adventure Continues
• Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin
• Haunted Mansion
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Matterhorn Bobsleds

Disney California Adventure® Park

• Soarin’ Over the World
• California Screamin’
• Grizzly River Run
• Radiator Springs Racers
• Goofy’s Sky School
• Toy Story Midway Mania
• Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT!

The Following Character Meet-N-Greets are offered:

• Disney Princesses at the Fantasy Faire
• Meet Mickey at Mickey’s House
• Anna & Elsa’s Royal Welcome

The following selected Non-Fastpass attractions would also be offered for preferred access:

Disneyland® Park:

• “it’s a small world”
• Dumbo the Flying Elephant
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Mad Tea Party
• Snow White’s Scary Adventure
• Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
• Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
• Jungle Cruise
• Autopia
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Disney California Adventure® Park:

• Monsters Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue
• Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree
• Jumpin Jellyfish
• The Little Mermaid- Ariel’s Undersea Adventure
• Flik’s Flyers
• Francis’ Ladybug Boogie
• Tuck & Roll’s Drive ‘Em Buggies
• Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train
• King Triton’s Carousel

 

[calilou]

I think you will be best served by utilizing MP and DAS, starting at the park early before rope drop, reserving dining packages for the experiences/shows on your list (we’re big fans of these and feel they’re worth the cost), and taking a midday break at your hotel. It sounds like you’re staying onsite? In addition to the dining packages you mentioned, you may want to book the Fantasmic! premium package at River Belle Terrace as well. This would get you what we thought was a nice meal, fantastic reserved seats (not on the ground squished with a lot of other people) for F! plus you could stay there for the fireworks. The one thing a VIP tour would get you that you can’t get elsewhere is reserved castle-front seats for fireworks, but I think the premium F! package is a great second choice. My thinking is the VIP tour would be awesome except that you’d have to cram it all in one day. Since you have two days in the park, I would rather pay for the premium packages and MP and spread everything out with some breaks.

 

[Golden Rose]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is all great advice.

Anything that is remotely a thrill ride (Indy, all Mountains, etc) DS will not ride, so those will definitely have to be FPs. I didn't realize there was a way to use DAS on most of FL, so that is great news.

We are staying on-site, so we can get into the parks an hour early.

I think what we'll do is pack as much as fast into the early morning, and then try to have a very late breakfast or early lunch, and then maybe do a little more if DS can handle it. Then I'll take DS back to the resort to decompress and leave my BFF with the other three kids to ride the things those three want to do. (The few things that only my BFF and her preteen DS want to do will be tricky, since those two will have to peel off at some point, leaving me with DS and the two little girls.) We will all meet back up in the evening to have dinner and see a night time show.

This should be workable!