VIP tour question

[slurpieman]

Hi guys, thank you in advance for any input. Planning on 1 tour - splitting between Epcot and DHS. Would love for my 5 yo daughter to experience all the rides, as she is definitely excited for that. I have 3 yo too. But also want to take in the park itself, definitely all the Star Wars stuff, stop at the Cantina, have a drink with the kids, look at droids, ect…but I have a feeling the VIP tour is more of a hustle bustle type tour. Of course you want to get your moneys worth.

For those who have done VIP, did you go back to the same park another day for some “sightseeing?” Any insight would be great!

Additionally - before even thinking of VIP, was planning on getting Plaza viewing tickets for Enchantment. Now since we are doing VIP, do we get guaranteed good viewing spots for fireworks shows? Will it be at the Plaza?

Thanks again!

 

[PalmettoPath]

Generally you want to make the most of the hourly rate of the VIP Tour, so stopping and shopping, or browsing in lands is not typically ideal. The time is yours to do as you wish, but we tend to focus on the rides and anything else that the tour guide can do for us that we cannot otherwise do. Then, we spend the other days of our vacation at a more leisurely pace exploring as you noted.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

That’s exactly right. It’s your time…do with it what you want.

When my family goes we mostly do rides with long lines and to spend time with our guide. When my daughter was younger we also did characters because VIP got you extra time with the princesses. When my sister and her daughter went they started in the castle looking at the mural, followed by carousel 3x in a row. My niece managed about 2 more rides (crying the whole time) and then was done, but then the guide and my sister did rides while my mom spent time with my niece. My brother’s family did rides while my nephew got “extra time with the guide.”

My kids think that VIP day and Christmas are the 2 best days of the year. They consider the guide to be a favorite uncle that they only get to see once a year. He’s definitely part of the family!

 

[holden]

We've done a VIP tour on two separate trips. We chose to focus on the attractions and did not stop in any stores or to eat. I couldn't justify paying $500 (or whatever our rate was - don't remember) just to sit in a restaurant and eat. Of course how you tour is up to you.

We did our tour in the beginning of the trip, so we did revisit all of the parks later in the trip. I liked doing it that way because it takes the pressure off of trying to hit all of the attractions on your list. If you get to do them a second time, great! If not, no biggie because you already did them.

Enjoy the tour! The guides are fabulous!

 

[diskate10]

Agree with the above that the VIP tours are yours to do with as you want. However, if you are there for a few days I’d recommend skipping things you can do easily on other days and using the VIP tours for things that take a long time or can’t easily be done at the parks.

I have kiddos 1-2 years older than yours. We have been doing 3-4 park days a trip, recently with 1 VIP thrown in there. The VIP tour has been used to crank out rides or things we cannot easily do and use other days for wandering the parks, eating, and doing rides at a more leisurely pace.

Not sure when your trip is yet, but if you are not at the 60 day mark yet for dining reservations, I had my pick of Oga’s Cantina reservations for our fall trip. They have gotten much, much easier to get. I’d recommend a non-VIP tour day to visit the star wars area, wander, shop, go to Oga’s, take in the droids, etc. Build some of the plastic lightsabers with the kids (I think that’s at Tatooine Traders, the pricey ones that require reservations are at Savi’s).

For your fireworks questions - we ended our most recent tour at magic kingdom for enchantment. There is a separate VIP tours only viewing area that is on the green in front of the plaza closest to Main Street (so more center than the other plaza viewing greens). And when we did it, not crowded with room to lay out and be no where near anyoneeeee. It was amazing and I’d do it again.

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

I would recommend exploring the Star Wars area on your own and not using VIP time for it. We didn’t even ride Rise on our tour. We had already experienced it on an earlier day, and since it takes such a long time, our guide suggested we skip it (which we absolutely agreed with).

Our awesome guide helped to coordinate Chewie mode on MSFR. I wouldn’t recommend it for your first time on that ride (we had done the normal experience already on our own), but definitely fun. It was a trip highlight for DH.

Regarding fireworks - you do get a great seat, but you have to either end your tour like 30 minutes before they start and they leave you in the area or still be on your tour. We chose to use our guide to take us back to our resort at the end of the night.

Have fun!!

 

[titaniumfemme]

We had a VIP tour last September -- I agree with what others have said about using it to do things you can't easily do on your own time. In our case, we went to 3 parks -- Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom -- with the specific intent of riding things with long wait times. For example, we rode Slinky Dog Dash (twice in a row!), Rise of the Resistance and Flight of the Avatar. Our guide offered to also rush us over to Epcot and get us on Ratatouille (it was in soft opening) but we were exhausted and said no thanks. (I regret it to this day!) We went back to Hollywood Studios another day to spend time in Batuu.

 

[slurpieman]

I would recommend exploring the Star Wars area on your own and not using VIP time for it. We didn’t even ride Rise on our tour. We had already experienced it on an earlier day, and since it takes such a long time, our guide suggested we skip it (which we absolutely agreed with).

Our awesome guide helped to coordinate Chewie mode on MSFR. I wouldn’t recommend it for your first time on that ride (we had done the normal experience already on our own), but definitely fun. It was a trip highlight for DH.

Regarding fireworks - you do get a great seat, but you have to either end your tour like 30 minutes before they start and they leave you in the area or still be on your tour. We chose to use our guide to take us back to our resort at the end of the night.

Have fun!!

Meaning...if I wanted to do the minimum 7 hr tour - and Enchantment starts at 9p, I should start at the tour at 2p or so, and end up at MK at 8:30p? Wondering if I have to end up at MK on day of tour or if I could do a 9am start time for a 7 hr tour (bc my toddlers melt in the afternoon), and then just be placed in the good viewing area that evening?

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

Meaning...if I wanted to do the minimum 7 hr tour - and Enchantment starts at 9p, I should start at the tour at 2p or so, and end up at MK at 8:30p? Wondering if I have to end up at MK on day of tour or if I could do a 9am start time for a 7 hr tour (bc my toddlers melt in the afternoon), and then just be placed in the good viewing area that evening?

I’m sure someone will weigh in if I’m incorrect, but it is my understanding that if you want to be in that viewing area then these must happen-

- the area is roped off (you couldn’t just sit there and wait 4pm on)
- your guide admits you

Whether your guide stays or not is your decision, but it would be starting into your 7th + hour.

You couldn’t do HS all day with the guide and then hours later show up to MK and ask to use that area. In the same way you couldn’t walk up to Space and ask to use the LL since you did a tour. (Trying to use a crazy example to make the comparison)

I hope that makes sense and that someone corrects me if I didn’t understand it correctly!

 

[jeffers102]

Wondering if I have to end up at MK on day of tour or if I could do a 9am start time for a 7 hr tour (bc my toddlers melt in the afternoon), and then just be placed in the good viewing area that evening?

I recently booked a VIP, but haven't gone yet. I was specifically told that VIP viewing of fireworks was only if my tour was active at the time fireworks were scheduled, so you'd need to end at 9pm when fireworks begin.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Disneyland has dedicated VIP viewing even if your tour ended earlier. Florida does not. Maybe that’s driving some confusion as well?

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

Great advice from all experienced with VIP Tours. Any advice on booking strategies? I’m hoping to secure a tour Thanksgiving week although aware it’ll be incredibly tough. Also, any recommended guides?

 

[jeffers102]

Great advice from all experienced with VIP Tours. Any advice on booking strategies? I’m hoping to secure a tour Thanksgiving week although aware it’ll be incredibly tough. Also, any recommended guides?

The CM I spoke to when booking mine suggested I book a two day tour where the second day was the day I really wanted to book. Then, cancel the first day later, effectively being able to book 61 days out. However, I'll admit that the hourly rate for September was the lowest they offer, so not nearly the hot ticket that Thanksgiving will be, but hopefully this extra day hack is helpful. Good luck!

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

The CM I spoke to when booking mine suggested I book a two day tour where the second day was the day I really wanted to book. Then, cancel the first day later, effectively being able to book 61 days out. However, I'll admit that the hourly rate for September was the lowest they offer, so not nearly the hot ticket that Thanksgiving will be, but hopefully this extra day hack is helpful. Good luck!

Awesome tip, thank you for sharing!

 

[Mischievous Daisy]

For those of you who have taken the tour, how do you tip? Is it like a restaurant where you do 20% or do you do a dollar amount based on hours of tour or just a random amount?
TIA

 

[GoingSince1990]

For those of you who have taken the tour, how do you tip? Is it like a restaurant where you do 20% or do you do a dollar amount based on hours of tour or just a random amount?
TIA

Tips are genuinely not expected or required and Disney actually makes it quite hard to tip; there is no receipt to sign with a tip line and no option to add a tip to your credit card payment. For those who do wish to tip, a percentage basis just does not make sense. For a seven hour tour at $700 per hour, a 20% tip would be $980, which would equate to the guide making well over $200,000 per year in tip income alone, on top of their Disney salary. I typically bring an envelope with $300 in cash to tip the guide at the end of the tour.

 

[Mischievous Daisy]

Tips are genuinely not expected or required and Disney actually makes it quite hard to tip; there is no receipt to sign with a tip line and no option to add a tip to your credit card payment. For those who do wish to tip, a percentage basis just does not make sense. For a seven hour tour at $700 per hour, a 20% tip would be $980, which would equate to the guide making well over $200,000 per year in tip income alone, on top of their Disney salary. I typically bring an envelope with $300 in cash to tip the guide at the end of the tour.

I absolutely cannot even imagine not tipping! Thank you for your guidence!

 

[SkyGuy]

For those of you who have taken the tour, how do you tip? Is it like a restaurant where you do 20% or do you do a dollar amount based on hours of tour or just a random amount?
TIA

I always tip the equivalent of whatever our hourly rate was and bring it in cash. I have never received any type of pushback from our VIP guides nor had to offer the tip more than once (thinking about the “offer three times they have to take it” deal).

 

[anonymousegirl]

I tip $300-$500 depending on how many extra hours. I bring cash and a handmade thank you card. Once I've met our guide, at some point during the tour, I hand write a personalized message inside the card.

 

[Mischievous Daisy]

I tip $300-$500 depending on how many extra hours. I bring cash and a handmade thank you card. Once I've met our guide, at some point during the tour, I hand write a personalized message inside the card.

Great idea!!!