What is it really like on a Disney World VIP Tour? Is the luxury service at Disney World worth the expense? In this post I am sharing my experience and Disney World VIP Tour review.
Disney World can be a chaotic vacation with lots of planning, but with a VIP tour guide everything is taken care of for you. This premium service comes at a steep cost and is not for everyone.
We had the opportunity to spend two full days with a VIP tour guide and it ended up being one of the coolest ways we have ever experienced Disney World.
I am a planner and like to be in control of our itinerary and park days so I was a bit apprehensive. I also didn’t know how I would feel having a stranger hang out with my family all day.
Both concerns quickly vanished when we met our guide, Kelly. She made us feel like we knew her our entire life and we had the best time.
If you are considering a VIP Disney World Tour you want to read on to learn the cost of a Disney World VIP tour, is it worth it, and my trip recap and review.
Disney World VIP Tour Review
With the Disney World VIP Tour you get what you pay for. You pay a lot but you get a personal guide that is tailored to your family’s needs.
Much like any tour with a guide, the guide will determine how good (or not good) the experience is. From my experience all of Disney Tour guides are incredible.
Most families that book a tour request the same guide for their next Disney trip. It is high quality service and a luxury way to experience Walt Disney World.
Cost of a Disney World VIP Tour
A VIP tour at Walt Disney World is expensive. The Disney Private VIP Tours range from $450.00-$700.00 an hour with a minimum of 7 hours.
What is Included in a VIP Tour at Disney World
A Disney tour guide VIP service will help you avoid long lines, make the most of each day at the parks, offer private vehicle service, and spend less time figuring out where to go.
- Cost: $450.00-$900.00 an hour with 7 hour minimum.
- Includes up to 10 guests.
- Theme park admission not included and must be purchased separately.
- Pre-arrival planning.
- Enjoy many attractions through the Lightning Lane entrances.
- Opportunity to visit all 4 theme parks in one day.
- Remember to budget at tip for your Disney World VIP tour guide. Their hard work make your trip unique and magical.
Trip Recap
As I mentioned earlier I didn’t know what to expect with the tour and was a bit apprehensive. Typically, I plan our Walt Disney World vacations and having someone set up the itinerary was a different kind of vacation for me. I also didn’t know how I would feel spending our entire vacation with a stranger.
I had so many thoughts running through my head. How would the kids react to another person on vacation with us? Would there be many moments of awkward silence?
Would my kids have a meltdown? Do we eat our meals with this person? What if we had nothing to talk about?
Disney World VIP Tour (Day 1)
We met our tour guide, Kelly, in the hotel lobby. We were greeted with a huge smile and it made us even more excited for the day.
During our Disney tour Kelly kept a running list of awesome on her phone. This was a full list of everything we did during our VIP Tours. It was amazing how much we got done with the help from Kelly and lots of pixie dust.
The Disney VIP Tours are serious about getting things done and you should be ready to walk! You really get your money’s worth of a full day of activities.
Guests can customize the tours to fit their needs, and if you want to stop and move at a slower pace, you certainly can. Most people on this tour want to maximize their time because the cost of the tours make them a once in a lifetime Disney vacation.
For our first park we were starting at Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
When you are on a Disney VIP Tour you are picked up at your resort and enter the parks from a special entrance. It was behind-the-scenes and we were not allowed to take pictures or video.
When we arrived at the back entrance, we were welcomed by cast members with snacks and water bottles and then made our way into the Magic Kingdom.
Your tour guide knows the best ways to get everywhere on property and they save you so much time. We had reservations at Be Our Guest at 12:45 so we started our day hopping from attraction to attraction.
We rode 9 attractions, met 5 princesses, and stopped for a sweet treat all before our reservations.
Lunch at Be Our Guest was amazing! It is the second time we have dined there and I always love the food. My kids liked the Mac & Cheese, Shrimp, and Chicken Fingers, and I loved the Potato Leek Soup.
Update: Be Our Guest menu has has changed, details can be found here.
Your Disney VIP tour guide will take care of everything. They made the reservations for us, and when we arrived she checked us in and got us set-up to order.
She also found us a table and helped make everything go as smoothly as possible. When you are on a Disney World VIP tour you spend the day with your guide. This includes meals.
As a parent it is always a little nerve racking to take your kids out to dinner. Add in a theme park and heat and it can cause for a meltdown. Then add a person you met a few hours ago to the mix. I was a little worried!
Kelly seamlessly joined our family. From this moment on we knew we were in for a special treat with her. Having Kelly dine with us made the moment even more special and enhanced our vacation in ways I didn’t expect.
Kelly helped the kids pick out their meals and we felt the Disney magic throughout our day. When you have a Disney VIP tour guide with you, the attention to details are amazing and unlike anything we have ever experienced.
After our unch we headed over to Mickey’s Philharmagic and finished our Magic Kingdom day with it’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Jungle Cruise. After Jungle Cruise we made our way to the car and headed over to Epcot.
Having a personal car to take you from park-to-park is a huge perk of the Disney VIP Tours. It saves so much time!
We arrived at Epcot and entered right by Test Track. From there we rode Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Finding Nemo, Living with the Land, Soarin’, and Journey Into Your Imagination.
At each attraction we entered through the Lightning Lane, this is a huge perk of the Disney VIP tours. You do not skip the lines altogether, but having unlimited Lightning Lane allows you to experience all of the rides and attractions.
With a Disney VIP tour guide you don’t have to walk to the World Showcase, you exit behind attractions to your car and drive to World Showcase.
After we drove over to World Showcase we met Anna & Elsa, experienced the Frozen attraction and the Gran Fiesta Tour, and ended our day with dinner at San Angel Inn.
At this point we were exhausted and headed back to the resort for a good night sleep. We had another full day planned tomorrow.
Itinerary of Disney World VIP Tour- Day 1
I think it is helpful to see what we did and how the day was spent. As you can see below we experienced so many attractions in one day.
- Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin
- Space Mountain
- Tomorrowland Speedway
- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Ariel’s Grotto-Meet Ariel
- Under the Sea
- Gaston’s Tavern-Coffee and Snack break!
- Princess Fairytale Hall
*Rapunzel
*Princess Tiana
*Cinderella
*Elena of Avalor - Peter Pan’s Flight
- Splash Mountain
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
- Lunch at Be Our Guest
- Mickey’s Philharmagic
- it’s a small world
- Haunted Mansion
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Jungle Cruise
- Headed over to Epcot.
- Test Track
- Spaceship Earth
- The Seas with Nemo and Friends
- Living With the Land
- Soarin’
- Journey Into Your Imagination
- Frozen Ever After
- Royal Sommerhus-Meet Anna and Elsa
- Gran Fiesta Tour
- Dinner at San Angel Inn
Disney World VIP Tour (Day 2)
Day 2 started with us meeting Kelly at the resort lobby at 8:30am. We went back to the Magic Kingdom to meet Mickey Mouse and then we headed over to Animal Kingdom.
We entered the park near DinoLand USA (Soon to be Tropical Americas) and experienced all three attractions in DinoLand very quickly.
From there we drove over to Kilimanjaro’s Safari but decided against riding it because the line was really backed up.
A common misconception with the Disney VIP tours is that you skip the lines completely. This is not entirely true. There are a few attractions that offer special entrances, but most attractions you enter through the Lightning Lane line.
Obviously this saves an enormous amount of time and your VIP tour guide has planned your itinerary based on the best times to visit attractions.
From there we headed over to Pandora to enjoy Flight of Passage and Navi’ River Journey. We also stopped for lunch at Satuli Canteen.
The food was delicious and I highly recommend visiting. It is quick service and does not require reservations.
After lunch we took a break and headed to the Beach Club to enjoy the pool. Our visit was so short and the kids wanted to try the water slide.
I do not recommend stopping for a break during your VIP tour because your tour cost does not change. The hours spent at the pool are included in your hours spent with your guide.
We took a short water slide break and were back with Kelly within 90 minutes. We also wanted to take a break to make cards for Kelly because she meant so much to us. Kelly picked us up and we headed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios to end our day.
At Hollywood Studios we entered near Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. We rode both and Kelly got a chance to ride with the kids, which they loved! From there we headed to Star Wars Launch Bay and met Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, and BB-8.
We met characters, rode Toy Story Mania(2x!), enjoyed a fun dinner at 50’s Prime Time Café, and ended the day with Disney Movie Magic(A projections show of Disney Live Action Classics) and Star Wars A Galactic Spectacular.
Itinerary of Disney World VIP Tour- Day 2
- Arrive at Magic Kingdom
- Meet Mickey Mouse in Town Square Theater
- Drive to Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Primeval Whirl
- Triceratops Spin
- Dinosaur
- Navi River Journey
- Avatar Flight of Passage(2)
- Lunch at Satuli Canteen
- *Swimming at Beach Club*
- Disney’s Hollywood Studios
- Rock’n’Rollercoaster(2)
- Tower of Terror(2)
- Meet Chewbacca
- Encounter Kylo Ren
- Meet BB-8 Astromech on Duty
- Toy Story Midway Mania(2)
- Star Tours
- Muppet Vision 3D
- Dinner at 50s Primetime Café
- Meet Olaf
- Minnie and Mickey’s Red Carpet Dreams
- Disney Movie Magic
- Star Wars A Galactic Spectacular
Is a VIP Tour at Disney World Worth It
This is not an easy question to answer because where and how a family spends their vacation budget is a personal decision.
If you have the budget to do a VIP tour I would recommend it. It was an amazing way to tour the parks.
Overall we rode 32 attractions, met 14 characters, and ate endless amounts of Mickey shaped treats on our Disney VIP tour. We created unforgettable memories too.
I would never suggest someone spends outside their means to go on vacation. You can have an amazing Disney vacation without breaking the bank.
With that being said. The Disney VIP Tours was incredible. It took all the stress out of navigating the park. If this is within your budget I highly recommend the tours.
Final Thoughts
So what makes a VIP tour so special at Disney World? It really is the people behind the tours, the guides work so hard to enhance your trip and create magic for your group.
They make your Disney World trip a once in a lifetime experience.
To us Kelly was not only our tour guide. She was not just a sweet and kind cast member. To our family Kelly became part of the vacation.
The kids negotiated who could ride with her next. They wanted her to be part of each picture and sit next to them during the shows.
As we collected pictures in our Disney Memory Maker I was happy Kelly was part of them. She showed us an entirely new way to experience Walt Disney World.
I seriously had no idea what a profound effect Kelly would have on my kids. She became part of our family for those few days we spent together.
The kids wanted to soak up every minute we had to spend with her. She added a new energy to our family vacation and we loved every minute of it.
As we waited in line she created secret handshakes, remembered that my son wants to be a park imagineer, and introduced the kids to the best waiting in line game ever: Heads UP!
When I was thinking about the tour before we arrived, I didn’t even think about how difficult it would be to say goodbye. I didn’t think we would feel so emotional or really realize the impact Kelly would have on my family.
Before we left the kids each wanted to make Kelly cards to show her how much she meant to them.
Our final goodbye was filled with tears and hugs. We really bonded with her and it will be difficult to experience Walt Disney World without her.
It was not her VIP access or knowledge of the parks that made the tour so special. It was the kindness to my family, the attention to each one of my kids, and the overall experience of spending our time with Kelly that made it so special.
The magic behind the Disney VIP Tour is not the special access or the planned itineraries. It is not the back stage entrance or the special parade viewing areas. It is the tour guides.
They work so hard to make your vacation special. They truly believe in Disney magic and they want to share that with you in whatever ways they can. The tour guides seamlessly become part of your Disney vacation in the most incredible ways.
As I write this I still can’t believe we had the privilege to meet Kelly and share our Disney memories with her. We will miss her so much and she means so much more to us than a tour guide. She will forever be part of this special family vacation.
Tip: You can request Kelly when you book a Disney VIP Tour! Tell them I sent you.
If you are considering a Disney Private VIP Tour I highly recommend them. The guides will become part of your Disney story and they will help create an amazing magical Walt Disney World vacation that your family will never forget.
Thank you to the Walt Disney World Resort for inviting us to experience the Walt Disney World VIP Tours. All opinions are honest and my own.
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Leah has been a Disney fan her entire life. From growing up with the movies to planning amazing Disney trips. She loves sharing her passion for Disney and helping others plan amazing Disney trips.
