Disney VIP Tour – Is It Worth It?
Have you considered booking a VIP tour but wondered if it was worth the steep price? I just completed my second VIP tour since December, and I’ve put together a deep dive list of pros and cons.
For VIP tours, Disney charges $425 per hour, for a minimum of seven continuous hours, with a maximum of 10 guests. All guests must have valid park admission and infants are included in the guest count. As with any Disney pricing, this amount is seasonal and subject to change at any time.
Additionally, while we are aware of outside companies that provide private tours inside Walt Disney World parks, we will only be discussing official VIP tours booked through Disney.
Let’s start with the good stuff!
Pros
SPEEDY ACCESS TO EVERY ATTRACTION
With a VIP tour, you get FastPass or backstage access to any attraction – multiple times!
When arranging your tour, you submit a requested itinerary so that your guide can best plan the day. Standard height and medical restrictions for rides still apply during your tour and all other Disney rules and guidelines are still in effect.
For most attractions, your guide will act as a magical FastPass for your party. They will go to the front of the FastPass entrance and tell the cast member on duty how many people are in your party. Whether or not your guide goes on the attraction is totally up to them. In the event they don’t ride with you, they will meet you at the exit. There is no need to worry about trying to locate them; they do this all the time. Your guide will find you.
For rides that have the option, your guide may load you on to a ride through a backstage entrance. During my last tour, we went through the exit to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and got in our Space Cruiser as other guests were exiting. Other than the cool van transport (see below), this might have been the most VIP-like part of the tour.
A significant bonus of the VIP tour is being able to go on favorite rides as many times as your stomach can handle. If your team wants to ride Slinky Dog Dash four times and wind down on the Alien Swirling Saucers, may the force be with you! If Pandora is on your list, you can spend the entire day circling through Flight of Passage. You can get into the character greetings that always seem to have lengthy lines, shows that you can’t find a FastPass for, or just enjoy having an experienced hand direct you through the Epcot Food & Wine Festival.
PRIVATE TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN PARKS
Private van transportation between parks (aka air-conditioned transport) is included. Because you’re guaranteed seven consecutive hours with your guide, you will more than likely be able to visit multiple parks. You’ll be saving even more time by not having to bus/boat/monorail to your destination.
When it’s time to change locations, your guide will lead your party backstage to a waiting van. Car seats or boosters will be in the van if you request them.
SNACKS AND WATER
On both tours that I have taken in the last few months, there were cast members waiting at the van with cold water and a basket of snacks that included chips, cookies, applesauce pouches, and candy. On my most recent tour there were snacks at both the departing and arriving destinations. These are included in the price of your tour and you are encouraged to take more than one water and/or snack. All other food and beverage (like meals and in-park snacks) will be your responsibility during the duration of the tour. You do not need to worry about providing meals and snacks for your guide; Disney covers their expenses.
INSIDER TIPS ON POPULAR RIDES
Once we realized that our first tour guide was willing to share tips for Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story Mania, we fought over who was going to sit next to her on the 2nd and 3rd passes. The same applies for hidden Mickeys, interesting park trivia, and fun (but respectful) stories about celebrities. You have a subject matter expert with you for at least seven hours, so save up those trivia questions.
THE STRESS OF DISNEY TRIP PLANNING MELTS AWAY
With a VIP tour, much of the the usual stress and anxiety of planning a Disney trip is gone. It’s a very odd feeling to just stroll along in the parks without constantly being aware of that the lines for the rides are increasing with every passing moment (or am I the only one?!). If you decide to use some of your tour time to enjoy a sit-down dining experience, make your reservations in advance as usual. Your guide can assist you with same day reservations if they’re available, but they can’t create space where there isn’t any. In other words, they can’t bump existing reservations to get you into Be Our Guest because you’re paying for a VIP tour.
Cons
COST
You’re paying more than $3,000 for the tour and then an appropriate amount for gratuity. That’s A LOT of money!
Gratuities are not required, but they are accepted. We’ve had good experiences, so we decided to tip our guides.
THE GUIDE QUALITY VARIES
This probably doesn’t come as a shock, but every experience can be changed just by the personalities of the people around you. I’ve had two different guides and the experiences were vastly different. One guide was high energy and became a part of our group immediately. She was in on our coordinated ride photos and we ended the day with hugs and shared Instagram follows. My other guide had a professional and pleasant personality but was nothing like the first cast member. She reviewed our plans, asked if there were any changes, and marched us from ride to ride without ever looking back to see if we were following. We quickly learned to loudly alert her if some of our trio of little people needed a restroom or snack break. Both guides were knowledgeable, professional, and provided a wonderful experience, but they were very different.
You may make requests for specific guides, but since tours can be booked 180 days in advance, you aren’t guaranteed to receive your requested cast member. Disney promises the tours will be “fun-filled and efficient” and that is accurate based on my experience.
EVERYONE IN YOUR GROUP NEEDS TO BE ON BOARD WITH YOUR PLAN
Plan your itinerary with the entire group in mind. Your whole group really needs to agree on the entire itinerary or things get a little off kilter. Your guide can only be in one location at a time and several attractions have a double check-in process for FastPasses, which means your guide needs to stay with you until you’re almost ready to ride. Take this into account when booking for people with varying height, or medical restrictions, or certain ride aversions. Nobody wants to force a bunch of teenagers to ride Dumbo all day and the whole team will be unhappy if little ones are forced to hang around while the taller folks ride Everest.
IT’S EXHAUSTING
A VIP tour makes for a very busy day. You aren’t spending any time waiting in line so you’re either on a ride or walking to the next attraction. In our experience, it’s very easy to log eight miles of walking during a seven-hour tour that includes several snacks and a sit-down lunch. Both groups I toured with needed a recovery day after our VIP experiences, so my advice is to skip the cute sandals and grab the comfortable, orthopedic tennis shoes and moisture wicking socks.
Is a VIP tour on your bucket list? Would you do this for a milestone birthday? Have you already done a VIP tour and have thoughts you want to share? Let us know in the comments.
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We have VIP tour booked for Feb 2022. I understand there are waivers that need to be signed before the tour begins. Where can we download the waivers/form to fill out beforehand, ready to hand to the VIP guide?
The guide has the waivers for you to sign. It takes no time at all. You can always ask when you set up the tour if you can download anything to sign in advance. I remember the guide having the childrens’ names and ages all filled out and my son just signing.
How many rides would you say a group could go through using the VIP tour in a single park? If you had 4 hrs in Magic Kingdom and 4 hrs in Hollywood Studio, would you get through everything or mostly everything in both parks?
You could definitely do all the rides you wanted to do in both parks! We did all 4 parks and did all the headliners at least once, some twice and more rides. I am pretty sure we did 19 rides that day. We also stopped and had a QS lunch. We did it with my son and his family. My grandchildren are 11,9 and 7.
How much in advance can you schedule vip tour
I think it’s 60 days in advance now.
Hi there, can you please delete my previous post from this thread?
Do you think the guide would be open to standing with the baby in a stroller while the rest of the family and Mom went on rides? Asking for a friend, haha.
Hi, Alyssa. I’m not an expert, but I’ve researched the same question because I wondered about the same thing. It seems like there’s no official rule one way or the other. From what I’ve read it appears to be the guides decision. Which sounds like they would if your child is cool, but not so much if they’re screaming their head off.
I did a private VIP tour with my two daughters; 7 and 9, and my parents. We only did The Magic Kingdom. It was SO worth the money. We got to go on everything (some rides more than once) I just told the guide to take us to the best rides. We did everything and were done by 4pm four. Literally, everything. Also, if I had my elderly parents and if I had to navigated our way through that mess of people, it would have been a nightmare. We had immediate access to everything. They picked us up at the hotel and brought us straight to Space Mountain. I would never go to to any Disney park without the VIP.
Nobody wants to sit on a line in the heat for 45 minutes. No one wants to run around with map in hand trying to figure out where you are going. It was perfect. She knew exactly where to go and when. She even told us to take a cab home so that her scheduled hours with us would be completely at the park. My Kida loves her and she dealt with my mom and dad perfectly!!!
My family has a trip booked for Christmas week 2021. I’m seriously considering a VIP tour, but want to make sure it’ll be worth it knowing that it’s going to be even more of a premium that week. I’m planning on surprising my family (wife, two sons {4 &1.5 years old at the time of the trip}, mother, MIL, brother & SIL) as a Christmas present and doing the tour on Christmas Day. I’m thinking it would be a memorable experience for my family and an easier way to get through the parks that day. Logistically, I have a plan to get the rides they all want to do without ruining the surprise. Anything I should consider when deciding whether or not to do the tour, besides the crazy price? Thanks in advance for you input! 🙂
If we have 10 in our group can a couple of them leave after a few hours and be replaced by a new couple?
Yes, substitution is allowed.
We are going March 25-29 with my son and his family for a short trip. When my son called to book a VIP guide he was told they were booked until April 10th. Thanks to a very good friend of mine and my son’s ability to pay, we now have a VIP guide for March 26th! I am beyond excited and my grandchildren will be thrilled. I have been reading everything I can about the tours. My husband and I don’t do many rides, but now with the kids being able to knock out so many of their favorites Nana will be able to have her pool day!
I will definitely report back when we come home.
Hi Ben! It sounds like you have a pretty fantastic trip planned! VIP tours are a bit different with the current restrictions. Your Guide may ask to meet you at a specific resort, like The Boardwalk, so that everyone can have temperature checks and sign new waivers. They will communicate all of this information when you schedule the guide.
Make sure you clearly communicate car seat or booster needs to the representative you speak with since you’ll be moving from park to park in a private van driven by your Guide.
While I know some of the Guides well enough to know I’d trust them with my kiddo, I don’t know that it’s even an option in this environment. I believe that the Guides are discouraged from pushing personal strollers, although that may not be an official rule. I do believe that they would require someone from your party to stay with the little wee one while napping.
Your Guide will take breaks whenever your group decides to break! You can spend the entire day as rushed and fast-paced or as slow as you want! Since you’re spending a good bit on this, I think your approach sounds perfect. Decide on the attractions that you must ride and utilize your Guide for those. Being driven from park to park and escorted on rides that otherwise would require long waits is a treat for sure. Have your party make a list of their must-do attractions and there is your plan. Your Guide will offer suggestions to make the day flow as smoothly as possible. They even come prepared with ponchos for everyone in your party so make your list and have a great time! Please let us know how it goes!
We are planning a VIP tour in July 2021. trying to decide how to plan it out. We are actually at disney for 11 days, 9 in parks. so we dont need to get everything done with the guides. Watching through youtube videos i love one of the guides but found out shes currently furloughed, im hoping that changes over the next few months. but whats your recommendations. i figured we would get a big breakfast and meet our guide at AK, doing everest, dinosaur and pandora, heading to DHS for the big ones i guess and heading to MK and getting through as much as we can. We are going with 4 adults and 6 kids, ranging from 2-12. any suggestions would be great. don’t know where to squeeze lunch in, or if we may just snack through the day after a big breakfast and get a big dinner. I also have to look at times as it may be better to change our order. I’m sure the 2 year old will nap at some points. would the guides be trustworthy enough to watch a napping child in a stroller. sorry lots here.
What was the name of your first guide?
I like your comment about having them drop you in the VIP area for nighttime show. How did that work? They got you into the VIP area and then “officially” ended your tour, so the time stopped and you got to stay in the VIP area? Sounds like the perfect plan. I assume you had to eat at some point during the day. Did you just grab super fast QS dining to eat and keep running?
Arlene
4 parks would be tough, but doable. Just a lot of running. We started at ak, then hs, finished at mk and ended with vip seating of fireworks. Remember at this time you can not use the tour for rise of resistance. You can for smugglers run, with an hour between times on smugglers run. The best part of the vip tour is the rides they have backstage access to. This is the most time saving. Other rides you wait in the fp line. Have a great tour. We have had one great tour guide, and 1 pretty crappy one. The guide does make the experience.
You would need to make ADRs for everything you listed. They can make reservations for you, but only if they are available. I wouldn’t recommend doing any of the above during your tour because time is money. We have always eaten a large meal before the tour and just had snacks during the tour on the fly. They can get you vip seating for parades, shows, and fireworks.
I have a questions specifically about dining while on the private VIP Tour… do you need to make ADR’s when you have a tour guide, or can they just walk in and get you a seat? Likewise, how about experiences like making light sabers or the BB Boutique? If they can’t get you instant reservations, are they able to find ADR’s for you in advance if there are none publicly available?
We did ours in September as noted above, and it was an awesome experience. We had a group of 10 and did Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom and had plenty of time to do all we wanted and then some. The one thing I would definitely suggest is make sure your tour ends with them dropping you off at the VIP viewing area for a nighttime show. We did ours in front of the castle for Happily Ever After and it was tremendous because it was like getting an extra 30 minutes for free. Our tour guide was amazing, and genuinely wanted to make sure we had a great day. She put up with my 11 year old chatting her up endlessly about Disney history and trivia, which was really cute to watch.
It’s a ridiculous amount of money. No two ways about it. BUT, if you can swing it, especially with a group of ten, it is a great experience. It honestly took all the pressure off the rest of our trip (and subsequent trips) to feel like we had to get everything in.
Just make sure you tip well. They only let A-Team cast members be VIP tour guides, so they are definitely worth the extra compensation.
We have our first personal VIP tour booked in June 2020. We are two families making up a group of 10. We are hoping to hit all 4 park’s main attractions and end with Happily Ever After fireworks. We are adding another hour to make it 8 hours to hopefully get it all in. Do you think four parks with main thrill rides is doable with all the new rides that have been added over the past couple of year? I would love to see how you planned your itinerary. Thanks for giving us all a look into your VIP day.
I have a tour planned for my wife and I for February 2020. During the initial phone call to reserve the date and tour, the CM just asked what our plans were regarding the tour. As this is a Xmas gift for my wife I just said hit all the parks and rides. Do you ever actually fill out an itinerary or is it just communicated during the initial phone call. Thanks.
Randy
The hourly price is per “tour,” and you can have between 1-10 guests per tour. Also note that pricing starts at $425/hour for a tour, so it may cost more on your dates.
Hi there, great article!
Is that price ($425 per hour) per person or spread out over the 7-10 people?
I am going to Disney world in May with my whole family (19 people…8 adults and 10 kids ranging from 3-12). We have booked 2 VIP guides and are now trying to come up with an itinerary. We were thinking to do most of magic kingdom and then Hollywood studios for the toy story and Star Wars lands. Do you think this is doable? Should we have them pick us up at our resort or meet them there? Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Merging groups SEEMS like a good idea – economically. But then the personalized experience goes out the window since you will need to agree on a touring plan with more people….
I thought bout this for our family of 4, but compromising the plan made it seem untenable.
You make a very good point, Paul. Still, if by some chance you find a group with similar interests/priorities…
I imagine every group, no matter how small, has some difficulty agreeing on everything (or always feeling as though the past 10 minutes were worth $100!).
If we’re just a couple (husband and wife), can we join a tour with other people to make up a larger party, to bring the cost per person down?
You can certainly book a tour with a group, but you’d have to arrange the group yourself. There’s no “matchingmaking” service where Disney combines small parties to make a full tour.
What are your WDW dates? We are looking to share our VIP Tour with one to four adults in July 2020.
We have just booked our first vip tour for December and we are very excited. We are a group of 10. Can you give me a list of character experiences we can do with the vip guide. Is it only the fast pass ones? Our plan is to start in ak, hs, and finish in mk. Trying for a mix of rides, and characters. I dont think we will do shows. But thought maybe of enchanted tales with belle
Thank you
The character experiences with FastPass access can be accessed by the VIP guides quickly. You’re welcome to do any other character greets you’d like while on your tour, but the guides can’t help you bypass the line for the non-FP characters.
Sept ’19 is like a free VIP tour everyday! And most resort guests have Free Food too.
Thanks for the info! I watched the YouTube video and was a little disappointed there wasn’t any of this type of logistical info or much about what was different with a VIP tour guide.
We are doing this with a group of 10 adults and kids (the youngest three are eleven years old) when we go in a couple weeks. We are planning to ropes drop AK with the EEMH to do Flight of Passage and then have morning fast passes there. The thought is to then meet our guide at DHS at 1p so we can hit all the (now tier 1) attractions there, then go over to MK to knock out all those D/E-ticket attractions before wrapping up at the castle for Happily Ever After. As I understand it they can get you into a VIP area for that in front of the castle. The plan is to have a good lunch before the tour starts and just snack but not do any QS or sit down meal during the tour.
Given your experiences, and taking into account we have a big group, does that sound feasible to accomplish in the time provided? We had not planned to try to do EPCOT and the E-tickets there because we didn’t think time would allow, but I’m curious if you have any other suggestions or things we should keep in mind.
Hi Matt! Sounds like you have a packed day planned! The amount you’ll be able to accomplish totally depends on the energy levels of everyone on the team because your guide will move at any pace you set. Smart idea to eat prior to the tour too! I understand that the VIP tour guides have designated viewing areas for the parades and fireworks but I have never used my time tour time that way – I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the value of the experience.
Things to keep in mind: 1) you’re doing more walking and less standing than normal so make sure everyone is dressed appropriately, has tons of water, and a stroller for the little one is probably already (wisely) on your list. You aren’t waiting in line so you’re either on an attraction, or you’re marching to the next one. You can easily get 8 miles logged in one tour so plan for that. 2) Don’t forget those character meets. Most people zip straight to the popular attractions and forget the character photo ops. You’re probably pretty fond of the group you’re traveling with, so take the time to get some good pictures with your favorite characters. Cast Members working at the character meets are very accommodating when the VIP tours come through and it certainly felt like the characters spent a bit more time with us than usual. They will do individual and group shots worthy of any holiday card. 3
Hope this helps a bit! Please let us know what you thought of your experience.
Hi there! Thank you thank you for all your info! In the baby stages of planning a Disney trip likely in January with my family of 5. I have heard wonderful things about VIP tours from friends but wonder if my small group at a supposedly “low crowd” time of year would still require/benefit? I imagine that aside from moving quickly through the park, there are many special experiences on the VIP?
Also, my husband is not a super Disney/smiley/happy/amiable kind of guy, and he’s a little “weirded out” by a stranger spending the day with us, what are your thoughts??? I can’t wait and am so excited, but being that it’s my first trip to DisneyWorld I am nervous, excited, anxious, and want it to go over well!
Oh, wow! This is the best question! In my opinion you’re going to be much better just using the right Touring Plan for each day. This is especially true if your husband is uncomfortable with the idea of a stranger hanging with you all day. They seriously never leave your side unless you’re on a ride or running to the restroom alone. I never thought about this aspect so I’m very grateful for your comment. If the crowds aren’t terrible and you have a Touring Plan, you’re going to have a great time. You won’t get the backstage transportation and immediate access to all of the attractions, but you also don’t have to feel like your entertaining company the entire day.
Please drop a note to let us know if you have questions or need help. We’d also love to know what plans you used and how everything works out. Thanks again for the question!
Thank you so much again for your detailed post, and reply to my question! Helps to know we will likely have a great experience without the company 😉
Do you have a “go to” touring plan for VIP Day??
Trying to decide what to do is so hard!!!
I would recommend the UG Dumbo-or-Die-in-a-Day Touring Plan for the Magic Kingdom if you’ve got little ones with you. If you’re all teens and adults, hitting all 4 parks and riding the major attractions at each is grueling but can be done. You’ll get in around 10 miles during your 7 hours but it will be one heck of a memory! Drop a note when you’ve done your tour – I’d love to know what you ended up doing!
Mom this is Braden I want to go to Disney for my birthday
Sounds like I want to win the lotto.
I would only do this if i knew I was dying…
What kind of tip do you give?
Tipping is appreciated but never expected or required. Some people do $20 per person and others a flat 15% or 20% but it’s absolutely your call.
The VIP is still on my bucket list. I agree the guide can make or break a tour. I did EPCOT last year with an amazing guide. It could have easily become tedious with a less-enthused guide.
Thanks for your info. Still on my list.
I need to know more!! Did you travel between parks, how long was the process, were you transferred backstage? Does the guide eat sit down with you?
The first tour we did was all adults and we decided to to do all of the major rides in each park in the 7 hours. We hustled from ride to ride and ate a very quick lunch. The second tour included 3 children under the age of six and was much slower and only involved two parks. We did get to see a good deal of backstage in all of the parks but were asked not to take photos or video. Yes, the guide on the second tour had lunch with us at Be Our Guest.
Thanks so much for all of the questions!