VIP Tours & Character Meet & greets?

[Sbunit81]

Hi everyone

My family and I just booked our VIP tours for two days. The plan is to do Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom in one day and then Hollywood Studios and Epcot the other day. My question is, can the guides bring you to the front of the line for character meet and greets? Or do we have to wait on the regular lines to meet characters? I know most of you are thinking it would be insanity to waste previous tour time on character meet and greets and shows, but I am figuring with two days worth of tours we should have some time to spare to do such things and hit up all the rides we want. We are also doing a few days of non-VIP park days to casually stroll and repeat some rides via Genie. Was wondering if there are any perks we can utilize with Characters and/or stage shows (I.e. Indiana Jones and Beauty and the Beast etc) during our VIP tour time. Thanks!

 

[jimmymc]

I don't know the official policy, but I have seen trip reports where the VIP guides escorted guests to the character, and they did not have to wait in line. This was pre-Covid so I would maybe call and ask for the policy now.

 

[Mle8308]

I believe if there are LL's for the character meet and greets (most character M&G have LL's), you would use those, as you do for the attractions on the tours. Not sure in the case of no LL's.

 

[Marthasor]

I haven't done a character meet with a VIP guide for many years, so I can't comment on that. When we did it, rule of thumb was you got VIP access through the FastPass lanes (now LL) and if there wasn't FP, you had to wait in the regular line. It doesn't hurt to ask your guide, however.

As for shows - most shows have "preferred" seating for VIP guests. Just tell your guide which shows you would like to see. The only show we encountered that didn't have preferred viewing was Flight of Wonder, but you don't really need it (that's also a show you might consider doing without your guide.) You can also get preferred viewing areas for the MK parade, MK fireworks and EP fireworks, however, it has been my experience that you need to be with your guide to access those areas - for example, if your tour ends at 5 pm, you will not get access to preferred viewing for a 9:00 pm show.

 

[DarthEsquire]

I was on a tour a couple weeks ago and our group wanted to get at least one group picture with a character. We were told the best option was a character with lightning lane otherwise we would have to wait in the regular line. We chose Mickey and Minnie at the Town Square Theater since that was the one the guide recommended.

 

[rlk]

We did two VIP tours, both pre-Covid. We were asked to let VIP service know if there is a character you wanted to meet. This way they were able to pre-arrange a time. They did tell me that even though they try, sometimes they are just not able to make this happen.

 

[Tri-Delta4Life]

I've done 2 post-covid tours (#3 coming up in a month) and have only been offered to meet characters who have LL access. On our last tour we met, Olaf at HS, then Princesses & Mickey in MK.