I can’t imagine getting my money’s worth on a VIP tour given the age of my youngest and my eldest’s timidity re thrill rides. Almost like I’d need a second Vest for those two… Vest Swapping!
Of course, with no other mechanism currently available, laying out the cash for the Disney Classics Tour might be the only way to ride attractions instead of queues.
OK so for clarity the 7-hour VIP tour price quoted by Disney is per hour for the entire party.
It does not get multiplied per person.
Correct?
Correct.
That’s why sometimes, multiple families go in and split the cost, because it’s per hour, up to 10 people. Not per person like the individual tours for the thrill rides or the classic tour.
And anything over the 7 hours will be by per hour as well. Depending on the availability of the guide.
So you could plan a 7 hour tour, and then go an additional 2 hours if extra time is needed.
Doing this as a mental note when I go to book. I think I’m going to literally ask the question “How do I best utilize your services”, instead of going in with a pre-conceived idea in my head.
The are very good at what they do. It’s a program Walt himself dreamed up from the beginning. I’d be silly not to hear what they have to say first.
yep, we tried to find a share for our most recent trip. we called and there were a couple of dates with open tours, but with the 2 year old, and the fact that we had 5 full days and had just been a year ago, we couldn’t justify the cost. it was min $4800 for the 7 hours, though sometimes it’s cheaper per hour.
My sis and bro in law are like, the anti disney family. their 5 and 2 year olds go to more swanky bars than kids clubs, and when they had kids they didn’t stop eating at nice restaurants, going on adult vacations, staying at posh hotels… whereas when i had kids i’m like, ok where can i go where they can scream and get chicken nuggets.
anyway, they’ve said in the past that they know the kids need to go to disney, but it’s just not their thing. i think a vip tour might be the way to get them there (i would HATE for my nephews to miss the magic of disney). and split between two families the cost is better.
that’s also the only way i would go to disney with them. my sis in law is the type of person to have everyone in the entire family waiting on her to make plans on whether she is coming from TX for thanksgiving, and then wait until the saturday before to decide… and not from any maliciousness, but just because it doesn’t occur to her that anyone would need to plan any further ahead than that. she would be the type of person that i’m sure is showing up to disney this week, trying to buy tickets at the gate and hearing of park reservations for the first time.
i want to see my sweet nephews’ faces light up when they see mickey, and i know my son would have a blast with his cousins. but they would be very against any sort of touring plan, and i have a hard enough time with my “on board but slow-ish” crew.
i’m gonna float this idea.
I HOPE you guys do 4 tours. or some combination of behind the magic, wild africa trek, private tours, the star wars hotel thing, dine with an imagineer, etc.
we did our big dream disney trip last year, stayed at the poly, paid for dessert parties, brought a nanny, paid for dining packages, did both UO and WDW, stayed enough days to get all the FPs we wanted, flew direct, hired a driver, etc. It was total perfection. If you have the means and want to splurge after a long haul of crap (for us, that was 12 years of medical training), go for it.
YES! This is exactly what we want! And exactly after a long haul of crap. That describes it perfectly!
We do both sides of the coin. We love fancy steaks and the like, but want to eat them in cargo shorts and yoga pants. My DH also hasn’t met an order of chili cheese fries he hasn’t inhaled. And if anything has BBQ sauce on it, whosever’s holding it might lose a finger. We will absolutely pass over V&A for bowling alley sushi and mile high deviled eggs at DS.
I really think your sis and brother in law and the kids will have the best time if you can talk everyone into it.
If you might only theme park once, that’s the way to do it! None of the waiting, best viewing for shows, secrets on how to maximize scores on TSM or recommendations on the best food. And once your DH does it, maybe he will begrudgingly start to like this way of doing Disney. Once I got my DH on the first tour at DLR, ever since he’s the one that keeps bringing it up at WDW. Especially when I mention crowds and long lines. You guys work your butt’s off! Enjoy it!!
I plan on enabling you just as much as I do @stlouie for her wanting to do a month in Orlando. I lived 20 years of “One day” instead of just doing it and now I’m scrambling to make up for lost time! But the decisions I did actually make, I don’t regret. DVC. Wedding. VIP Tour. I don’t regret a single decision and those are some of my favorite memories ever! DO EEET!
(PS, knowing you pushed your DH out of a plane, I feel a kindred connection here! I know you don’t pass on things lightly and you’re just waiting on them to ok it, but I really hope they do!!)
I welcome the enabling. And can’t wait to hear more of what yall plan!
How many park days in total? Because I still think you need to plan chilled-out, smell the roses, just appreciate being there days. With just the family.
We have done the VIP Ultimate Thrills tour many times, and the Wild Africa Trek a number of times. Both are great.
I gulped and booked a VIP private tour in December 2019. I had invited my sister, sister-in-law, 2 adorable little guy nephews, and my thenDS29 for a week in a 2 bedroom AKL Jambo DVC. My DSiL had had a tough year, including financially, and was dreaming but could not make it happen for the little guys to go to Disney. So I decided to make it happen.
So I had the Perfect plan, that of course I’d worked for months. ADRs, FP+s booked at 60+ days out – absolutely perfect. And my days in December booked at the beginning of the month to beat the build up of crowds closer to Dec 25.
And then Disney announced the opening of Rise of the Resistance 2 days before our trip.
AAAARGH!! Crowds! Chaos! No way to enjoy HS!!!
So I swallowed and booked a VIP tour , 7 hours at $425 per hour. I think the lowest price is no longer that.
I had the other parks managed with my planning, so just picked the day at HS, and chose to meet our guide there to not waste any of the 7 hours on being picked up and transported, etc. And no TS ADR for the same reason.
It was great. At the time, RotR was not included, but I got a BG (Day 3, its was crazy chaotic!). We rode all the headliners and some twice, including MFSR. Our guide sprinkled some pixie dust and one of my nephews was the Rebel Spy on Star Tours. I did have an Oga’s ADR for the end of th tour time, and she got us a booth (thank goodness).
SO, to answer your original question, if you have 3 7 hour days, I would do one MK, one HS, and one split AK and Epcot, or frankly just AK but if your family is less keen on AK and loves the rides at Epcot, that makes sense. Also by December Ratatouille should be open and maybe Guardians of the Galaxy? So hopefully the VIP tour could get you on them.
I’ve not read every post in this thread so sorry if I’ve missed others already giving you good advice.
I would do a VIP tour again under the right circumstances (and after I started putting pennies in my piggy bank to pay for it)
I hope this links to that trip report!
WDW has to bring back AP first! 1-2 months in FL somewhere in January - March 
.
Yes!
We will be there a total of two weeks. All previous trips, we do every day in a park, usually park hopping, be it WDW, UOR or both.
If it starts to feel like it’s too much we’ll rest at the resort or DS until six or seven pm, then go in for night time antics. We stroll around and enjoy the moment. And I honestly think the Plaid will help take the pressure off of not being able to maximize a proper TP giving us the luxury to have more “smell the roses” time.
My crankiest time is when I feel pressure to stick to a plan to try to get as much done, and keep every one happy. I schedule around DH’s naps/work schedule and DS’s multi turn OCD compulsion.
So say we are in the parks by 1 pm, we go in and eat.
Then at 2 or 3, DH goes back to the room and naps/works. Then DS and I flounder around doing what he wants, but nothing dad might want to do (that upsets DS if he thinks DH is being left out). This often means Splash 6 times in a row and meaningless filler rides until DH meets back up with us at 5 or 6.
We sit for dinner. until 7ish-, then we jst try to kill time until fireworks when the crowds would be on MS then, they empty out. That’s our prime GoGoGo-do all the things time because waits (FP’s are long handed out) are under 15 minutes.
The time in-between when DH meets back up and fireworks is usually when I lose me s*&t. My FP’s I may have had on books are either used or ignored and all new FP’s are already dispensed for the day. I’m trying to maximize everyone’s fun factor at the risk of my own sanity, trying to cram in as much as I can because I’m completely overwhelmed by both crowds and how much everything has changed since our last visit. Knowing that my DH won’t wait in anything longer than 15 minutes. If this just takes the stress away from me so I’m not cranky pants, then that does make the rest of the time more slow and enjoyable.
Vacation is not supposed to be that stressful!
Oh! I can’t wait to read it! Thanks for sharing!
I appreciate your honest thoughts on it! It sounds like we both feel the same way about crowds!
And I LOVE hearing about the pixie dust, it’s stuff like that that my DS would love, and that I would want him to have for being forced to isolate with us for a year. His friend was still giving him a hard time about it yesterday when he called. It broke my heart. If I can spoil him, I’m going to because 2020 stunk.
you know, its only money. and spending it for joyful times with the kids— now that mine are adult children, every special moment, experience, gift, “Yes, you can!” — why would you not? Did I ever say No when I could have said Yes? I hope not. The Yeses — when it was right — made the times together we all love and laugh about together. You can’t always say Yes - we all have to live within our means. But within that, I’m so glad we made happen for us what we could
I love how much knowledge and experience we collectively have. (The forums as a whole, I mean.) Is there anything we haven’t done or don’t know about?!
I’m working so hard at this right now! My default was always no first, followed by an immediate yes. Drives my DH batty! I am actively trying to think before speaking, and start with “yes” unless cost or danger prohibits. It’s a process, but one I think I can rewrite successfully!
Yes! It’s amazing and wonderful. I see you doing planning for your trip and I won’t lie, I’m getting way more excited than I have any right to.
So when I worked at the Four Seasons, we actually weren’t allowed to say, “no.” They had big signs in the back rooms with “no” written on them and the word crossed out. If a guest asked for something we couldn’t do, we literally could not say “no” - we might say, “while I am unable to do that, I can…”
I’m honestly going to try to remember that and put it in my toolbox!