question about VIP tours

[Joseph19672]

Have an upcoming trip to WDW... sorry if this question sounds too extravagant.
Have booked a trip to disney for the family and am wondering about VIP tours.
Is there any point to trying to book two VIP tours, for separate days? Eg, if we do a VIP tour one day and try to hit all the top rides/attractions with the help of the fastpass+ access with the VIP tour on one day, maybe the next day could be devoted to rides/attractions that do not tend to have long lines?
I was thinking of parkhopper passes if advisable to get more out of the tour(s).
I kind of want to go all-out and make this a trip to remember... is it a total waste to try to schedule two VIP tours, ie it would be plenty to schedule 1 and try to hit the top attractions during that one, and go to stuff without lines for the second, or does it make sense (if I'm willing to pay for it) to book two of these for each of two days?
BTW due to scheduling issues we can only go during very busy park times. Unfortunately not an option to try to go when the parks are less crowded..
Thanks for any advice
John

 

[wdwmagic]

Welcome to WDWMAGIC!

Do you, or anyone on the trip, have much WDW park experience?

 

[thomas998]

Have an upcoming trip to WDW... apologies if this question sounds too extravagant.
This is a special occasion, with a grandmother (my mother) going to see her grandkids for the first time in 5 years (living overseas)... wanted to make it very special.
Have booked a trip to disney for the family and am wondering about VIP tours.
Is there any point to trying to book two VIP tours, for separate days? Eg, if we do a VIP tour one day and try to hit all the top rides/attractions with the help of the fastpass+ access with the VIP tour on one day, maybe the next day could be devoted to rides/attractions that do not tend to have long lines?
I was thinking of parkhopper passes if advisable to get more out of the tour(s).
I kind of want to go all-out and make this a trip to remember... again apologies if this is too extravagant a question, but basically I'm wondering, is it a total waste to try to schedule two VIP tours, ie it would be plenty to schedule 1 and try to hit the top attractions during that one, and go to stuff without lines for the second, or does it make sense (if I'm willing to pay for it) to book two of these for each of two days?
Any advice appreciated...trying to decide if this is a great way to make this occasion special for everyone, or just a waste of money. I want to do everything I can for my mom & the kids (grandkids) to make this special but don't want to just burn a pile of money if there is little incremental benefit over 1 tour.
BTW due to scheduling issues (vacation/work) we can only go during very busy park times. Unfortunately not an option to try to go when the parks are less crowded..
Thanks for any advice
John

You need to check into the VIP tours with Disney to get the real details... but if it is like the VIP tours they do at DL you won't really need a fastpass during the tour you pretty much go directly to the front of the line on most all rides/attractions.... but if they are like the ones in DL you are limited to 10 people in your group... Honestly you could probably justify doing it one day at MK, but I don't see it as being worth it at the other parks because decent planning would get you on the rides you wanted and be much cheaper. The tours at least at DL are more or less just very expensive front of the line passes, I assume that is really what they are at WDW too.

 

[BrerJon]

My advice would be assume most of the family doesn't really care about going on *all* the rides, most people will be happy with a few big ones, as it's the family time together that counts. Generally the only person who worries about seeing everything is the organiser/one paying for the trip - with groups there will always be conflict over what to do when, and at what pace, so the safest bet is to make a rough plan to hit a few headliners and parades, but don't run too strict a plan to try to squeeze everything in.

The natural instinct is to not want anyone to miss out things they might enjoy, but in my experience if the family doesn't see each other often, then half an hour having a relaxing drink or ice cream is going to be far more memorable in years to come than the fact they did something like Mickey's Philharmagic or Winnie-the-Pooh, so don't be afraid to sacrifice attractions for family time - if they seem not that bothered about missing stuff, you shouldn't be too.

If you are in the market for a VIP tour guide, as others have said Magic Kingdom would be good for that, as it's unpleasantly crowded almost all the time, but with decent planning there's no need at the other parks - a rough touring plan and using Fastpass should cover you fine.

 

[Flippin'Flounder]

Are you saying that the second day you would get a VIP tour and use it on unpopular rides? If so, don't the unpopularity of them makes waits so short it becomes a walk on. Also, how long will you be in the World?

 

[Joseph19672]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone! We have been planning to go to the magic kingdom at the end of July.
The children have never been to Disney, me & mom went once when I was a kid... about 40 yrs ago!
I remember there were tickets with letters on them! And I remember going on it's a small world. That's about it. Am very curious to go back again and relive a childhood memory a little, and make some for my kids.
Have been reading about disney and there are so many sites about "prepping", tips/hacks/etc... making me a bit nervous. And unfortunately we have to go during a peak season when everyone says the MK is "very crowded", 9/10 crowd levels. I have looked at some charts of wait times for rides... at the end of July it seems like almost everything involves a long wait.
I also unfortunately am very heat intolerant. So I am hoping to go from air conditioned place to air conditioned place relatively quickly without having time to suffer a heat stroke.
We're planning on just taking the kids (5 and 8) around, trying to delight them... going mainly on rides they would enjoy which means no super thrill roller coaster type stuff for them, though they could go on a childrens'/lite coaster. I would like to try out space mountain myself. They would probably like Tiki birds, etc. We will just be there for 2 days so I was thinking at least 1 day, would be nice to be able to do fastpass+ line for everything with a VIP tour.
As far as enjoying time just sitting together eating ice cream and enjoying each others' company... we do that all the time, but Disney is too expensive and special an opportunity for us to use the Disney time enjoying an afternoon eating ice cream with each other, would like the children to be ooing and aahing at various nifty children's rides, shows, experiences, that one can only have at Disney.

 

[andy773]

This has all the information on the types of tours:

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/vip-tour-services/

If you want a completely customizable tour with front-of-line access to whatever you want, whenever you want, you will need the Premium VIP Tour. That runs $400 to $600 an hour, depending on season. Since it's July, it will probably be $600 an hour. If you want it for 8 hours, that's $4,800. But it also gives you the most flexibility and choice about what you want to do.

If you are ok with just a "highlights" VIP Tour, then the Ultimate Day for Young Families VIP Tour may be what you want. The web site lists what all you get to do on that one. You don't get to pick which rides you want to go on, but you do get front-of-line access. The cost for this one is $299 per person, or $1,196 for your group. It lasts 7 hours but is only offered certain days.

With any of these tours, you won't need FastPass+. You will have a Disney guide with you who will get you to the front of the line.

If you can afford it, obviously the best choice is the Premium VIP Tour. That's a lot of money though. I've done VIP Tours at Cedar Point and they are great. You get to go to the front of the line at whatever ride you want. It's around $400 for 8 hours. I can swing that. $4,800? Not so much.

Whatever you end up doing, have a great trip!

 

[NonnaT]

I have also looked at the VIP tours for our entire family during Christmas break one year... We ended up not going that year, but here's what I thought would work for us... We planned 2 VIP tours, 4 hours each on 2 consecutive days. We found the tour guides park hop and customize everything to front of line. We didn't want to pay for meals on the tour. That's why we chose 4 hours. You chose your experiences. Toy story mania was crazy busy back then, so obviously that was one we wanted to check out. It would have worked splendidly for us, logistics prevented some family members from going. Talk to one of the CMs who organize them. They are very informative. But I believe you can do 4 hours, say in am, then in pm. Or, 2 different days. Have fun whatever you do!

 

[angiebelle]

I have also looked at the VIP tours for our entire family during Christmas break one year... We ended up not going that year, but here's what I thought would work for us... We planned 2 VIP tours, 4 hours each on 2 consecutive days. We found the tour guides park hop and customize everything to front of line. We didn't want to pay for meals on the tour. That's why we chose 4 hours. You chose your experiences. Toy story mania was crazy busy back then, so obviously that was one we wanted to check out. It would have worked splendidly for us, logistics prevented some family members from going. Talk to one of the CMs who organize them. They are very informative. But I believe you can do 4 hours, say in am, then in pm. Or, 2 different days. Have fun whatever you do!

Hi Nonna, the only problem is Disney says you have to book 6 hours. They will let you book more hours but not fewer.

 

[Gaston's gal]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone! We have been planning to go to the magic kingdom at the end of July.
The children have never been to Disney, me & mom went once when I was a kid... about 40 yrs ago!
I remember there were tickets with letters on them! And I remember going on it's a small world. That's about it. Am very curious to go back again and relive a childhood memory a little, and make some for my kids.
Have been reading about disney and there are so many sites about "prepping", tips/hacks/etc... making me a bit nervous. And unfortunately we have to go during a peak season when everyone says the MK is "very crowded", 9/10 crowd levels. I have looked at some charts of wait times for rides... at the end of July it seems like almost everything involves a long wait.
I also unfortunately am very heat intolerant. So I am hoping to go from air conditioned place to air conditioned place relatively quickly without having time to suffer a heat stroke.
We're planning on just taking the kids (5 and 8) around, trying to delight them... going mainly on rides they would enjoy which means no super thrill roller coaster type stuff for them, though they could go on a childrens'/lite coaster. I would like to try out space mountain myself. They would probably like Tiki birds, etc. We will just be there for 2 days so I was thinking at least 1 day, would be nice to be able to do fastpass+ line for everything with a VIP tour.
As far as enjoying time just sitting together eating ice cream and enjoying each others' company... we do that all the time, but Disney is too expensive and special an opportunity for us to use the Disney time enjoying an afternoon eating ice cream with each other, would like the children to be ooing and aahing at various nifty children's rides, shows, experiences, that one can only have at Disney.

It is a crazy idea to build in some "ice cream, talking" time, but I'm with BrerJon that those moments may be more memorable than the riding rides. If you do only a half day tour, then have your downtime afterwards and discuss all of the fun things you did on the tour. Part of the fun is discussing it afterwards. I'm sure you will have an amazing trip that will definitely bring back some of those childhood memories for you!

 

[NonnaT]

My very bad, I believe in the past you could book for 4 hours. This was back in '08 we were going to do it. But it still seemed worth it. We were doing it because of the high crowd times... Whatever you do, your children will love your undecided attention at WDW and that's priceless.