Finally after my seemingly long hiatus, I’m finally going to talk about one of the most expensive Walt Disney World splurges out there: the Private Premium VIP Tour Guide Service. First some background, my family and I have used this service on 5 different trips to the Disney World Resort. For 3 trips we have used the guide for 1 day and for the other 2 we used the guide for 2 days. Also, these are my own personal opinions and beliefs, but you may have your own; no one is wrong. Disney is all about what you make of it. A little overview of what I’m going to cover: What is the service and what are its perks? Where can they take you? How much does it cost? and is it worth it? Here’s the actual description of the service form the Walt Disney World website:
After being picked up from your Central Florida accommodations in a private vehicle, experience unparalleled hospitality at one or more Theme Parks, ride your favorite attractions and watch magnificent parades, live shows and select nighttime spectaculars from special reserved viewing areas.
Some of the personalized services include:
- A flexible start time, picked by you
- Visits to multiple theme parks in one or more days, if desired
- The ability to enjoy some of your favorite attractions efficiently, even repeatedly
- VIP seating for parades, select stage shows and nighttime spectaculars
- Shared insight from your highly knowledgeable VIP Tour Guide throughout your tour
- A completely customized experience based on your preferences
So let’s talk about each of these personalized services. First, a flexible start time picked by you. Starting out you have two options on meeting your guide: they can pick you up or you can meet them at the park, the choice is yours. They have white vans and will whisk you away to any of the parks you choose. There is a minimum time requirement of 7 consecutive hours. We normally head to the parks in the morning do some rides eat lunch at about 11/11:30 and have our guide meet us at the restaurant at 12:30. Then we use the guide for the minimum 7 hours, trust me that’s all you’ll need, and then say goodbye at 7:30/8 just in time for dinner. The reason we do this plan is because if you have your guide come pick you up in the morning, your tour will run over lunch and if you choose to have a table-service lunch, you’ll be paying for your guide while you’re eating and they’re not doing anything for you. Also, if you do choose to have your guide eat with you, you do not have to pay for them. Disney pays for their meals and any snacks they buy during the day. If you ask to buy their meals, they’ll just respond “It’s ok, Mickeys pays for my meals.”
Visits to multiple theme parks in one or more days. In my opinion, park hoppers are a must if you’re going to splurge on a VIP guide. You can cover so much ground in just one day. You can easily cover 2 or 3 parks in one day with a guide, depending on which parks you choose. On this trip, our guide said that one day of a guide allows you to do 2-3 times the amount of stuff you’d normally get done in a day at Disney. She also said that a successful day in Disney is usually considered when you do 8 things, one of which is a table service meal and viewing a parade or nighttime spectacular. Travel time between parks is also cut down since you have your own van. The guides are able to use special backstage parking lots and roads located around the different parks. When you arrive backstage cast members will scan your magic bands right there so you don’t have to go to the main entrance. If you’re arriving at Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom they will have snacks and bottled water available that you can take into the parks. Also if you’re on one side of the park and want to ride a ride on the other side of the park, they’ll drive you to the other side if it would be quicker than walking. They also have the ability to guide you through backstage areas when cutting across parks to cut down walking times.
The ability to enjoy some of your favorite attractions efficiently, even repeatedly. This is where the VIP Guide’s value really comes out. Your guide serves essentially as an unlimited Fastpass. If you want to go on the Tower of Terror 6 times in a row, he or she can make that happen. All you do is show up to the Fastpass line, the guide shows their badge, and you go straight in the line as if you had a fastpass. Once you get to the load zone ride, your guide may or may not ride with you, it’s their choice. If they choose not to, they will be waiting for you at the unloading zone once you arrive. The only ride the guides are not allowed to ride is Kali River Rapids in Animal Kingdom. It’s important to note, there is no straight to the front of the line access with the guide. They only get you access to the Fastpass line. There are some exceptions like Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion. For Space Mountain, after you go through the fastpass line the first time and ride the ride, if you wish to ride again your guide will take you up this back passage that leads directly back to the loading zone, then you get on again and repeat as many times as you wish. For the Haunted Mansion, instead of going in the normal FastPass line, we went up the exit and got on as people were unloading. They are trying to expand this special, quicker access to some more rides. The ones they are currently working on are Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, and Test Track. If you are going to use a VIP Guide realize that they only help you with rides that have a Fastpass line. If you want to ride Prince Charming’s Carousel and there’s a 40 minute wait time, you’re just gonna have to stick it out.
VIP seating for parades, select stage shows and nighttime spectaculars. This one is pretty self explanatory. The locations for parades are nice because they normally don’t have anyone on the other side of you, so all the characters and performers direct their attention towards you. We haven’t used the guide for fireworks since we stop our guide services right before dinner. For the Magic Kingdom, the 3:00 parade viewing area is the Main Street Train Station. When we have used it for the Main Street Electrical Parade, the location was right by the firehouse where the parade started, but depending on the night, it could be on the bridge between the HUB and Liberty Square. It’s also important to note that other people with VIP guides will be in these viewing spots too.
Shared insight from your highly knowledgeable VIP Tour Guide throughout your tour. These guides know their stuff. Most of them are park relations cast members before they become VIP Tour Guides. They know everything from random fun facts, the location of hidden Mickeys, which line to go in if there are options, to where all the high scoring targets are in Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Toy Story Mania.
A completely customized experience based on your preferences. The guides main job is to do what you want them to do. If you want to ride Rock n Roller Coaster ten times in a row, they’ll let you do that. They will provide suggestions based off what they think you’ll like next, but the choice is ultimately yours.
The Cost: Surprise, this experience isn’t cheap. The price per hour can be anywhere from $360-$525 an hour for a 7 hour minimum. On very rare low peak season times there will only be a 6 hour minimum. This would be like Mid-September on a weekday, which is considered Disney’s lowest crowd time. As for the rate, 4 out of the 5 times we’ve used the guide the price has been $400/hour. The first time we used the guide it was $385/ hour which was on President’s Day weekend 2013. That was also when people staying in Disney Resorts had a reduced rate (about $20/hour); however, this is no longer in effect. Everyone pays the same price no matter if you’re staying on property or not.
Is it worth it? If you have more money than time, absolutely. If you have to work your Disney Trip into your budget, heck no. Also the more people you have in your group, the more value you get out of it. One tour guide works for up to ten guests, if you have 11-20 guests you have to get 2 guides, and you’re paying the same price for both. When my family goes to Disney, there’s anywhere from five to nine of us, so it cost efficient. We always stay at Deluxe or Villa resorts and have 3 or 4 rooms. If staying at the Grand Floridian, we can fly in Friday night, go to the parks all day Saturday with a VIP guide, as well as Sunday morning to late afternoon also with VIP guide, and then fly out late Sunday night. This is cheaper than having the same number of people and rooms, and staying for a whole week without using a VIP Guide even once. If you’re going to use a guide just for one day during a multi-day trip, I suggest having one the last day you’re in the parks. If there’s any rides you missed out on, they’ll be sure to get you on them. If you use the guide your first day, we learned this the hard way, you’re gonna have a great time and ride so many rides, but the next day it’s back to waiting, and waiting, and waiting.
I hope you enjoyed this insight on this very special tour service. If you have any additional questions please leave a comment below and ask me!
Disney: An Urge to Splurge 