Hey There Mouseketeers! Erika here. Susanne and I are going to get back to podcasting soon, but in the meantime, I’m making the most of our little slice of the internet.
For the next few weeks I will be releasing a blog series that I’m calling D-Luxe Life, shedding light on the fabulous world of deluxe Disney experiences. Let’s get right to it.
Rolling into the First Weekend of the 50th like a Rockstar
We are well into Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary celebration that kicked off on October 1, 2021, and I was fortunate enough to start the festivities with an invitation to check off one of my Disney bucket list items; experiencing a Private VIP Tour. If you want to get to the good stuff, jump down to the Too Long Didn’t Read (TLDR) for the review.
First, let me just be clear; I don’t know what I did in this life to be so lucky, but I am still in awe of the kindness I was shown in October.
Some context: a few years ago, I made some pretty incredible friends in a Disney Bride group; one of whom (Ivy) became a creative mentor to me. She owns her own Disney-inspired business. You can peep her amazing creations at Ears 2 You Inc.
Fast forward to the end of September; Ivy posted an opportunity on social media asking if anyone would be interested in joining her and her best friend Lisa on a private VIP Tour. I jumped at the opportunity and messaged her for details. My heart sank when she told me the cost of the tour for 1 day (spoilers – it was A LOT per person due to the 50th anniversary). I told her and I quote “Oh Jesus, I will take my peasant ass back to Hollywood Studios and park hop after 2 to MK”. We made plans to meet up and see one another, then I didn’t give the tour any more thought because…
About a week later, Ivy messaged me. She asked me to try and switch my park reservation to MK because there were 2 slots available on the tour and Lisa wanted my husband James and I to have them… AT NO CHARGE. I almost fell out of my chair at work. I was speechless, started crying in my cubicle, and then I broke the news to Ivy that James wasn’t on the trip with me, but my friend Diandra was. I asked if it would be okay to bring Diandra with me. Ivy being hilarious said “Oh nevermind then”… but quickly let me know she was kidding and that it would be fine.
I collected myself, went into planning mode, and called Diandra to share the news. She was shocked too but soon the shock shifted to excitement. In the days before the tour, I made everyone a new tour t-shirt and bought some gifts to give our very gracious hosts when we saw them. I still could not believe that I was going to be able to do this, and on the first weekend of the 50th anniversary celebration no less.
Perfectly Plaid – the 4 Park Challenge
On the day of the tour, we all met up at Beach Club and I took to Lisa quite quickly. She brings such genuine and fun energy to every space she is in. I quickly learned she’s a badass boss lady who enjoys the finer things in life, and she knows all the Disney secrets to elevate your park experience. Now, that’s my kind of friend. Combined with Ivy’s amazing personality we were all ready to have a good vibes only kind of day.
I also learned that it was the tour’s intention to hit up all 4 parks in 1 day. I’m so glad I wore the right attire and shoes, more on this later.
First stop, Magic Kingdom. We were running late for the start of the tour, so Lisa gave the green light for our group to get started without us (see what I mean about being a badass boss lady?). Upon arrival at the park, we met up with everyone in our tour group outside of Pirates of the Caribbean.
As part of the Covid-19 protocols, we had to sign waivers to embark on the tour. After Diandra and I signed, we formally met our guide Monica and immediately bonded over growing up in Miami. Monica had been the group’s guide the day prior (this was day 2 of the private VIP Tour). The rest of the group completed their ride and we moved on to the next location, Splash Mountain.
The benefit of being on a VIP Tour – ZERO LINES. You are escorted to the front of a ride queue line and with magnificent efficiency. I personally did not ride Splash Mountain, and neither did 90% of the women on the tour – something about being soaked and smelly didn’t do it for us. However, the gentlemen on tour took to their flumes and rejoined us shortly thereafter.
Magic Kingdom on a VIP Tour just hits differently. There is something about walking around with a guide donning the signature plaid that says “Hey look Ma, I made it”; and I could not believe my luck, nor could I stop thanking our hosts. I think my favorite part of the MK portion of the tour was walking through a servant’s corridor of the Haunted Mansion that I had never seen before. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I could have stayed in that little passageway forever, but we had to keep moving if we were going to accomplish 4 parks on 1 tour day.
We left the Magic Kingdom and our next stop was the hottest park ever; Animal Kingdom. A note for travelers looking to visit in early October – Temperatures in Florida can be moody! I vividly remember one year having to wear a sweater on October 1st, and in recent years sweating so much I was dehydrated within the hour of park arrival. This day was a sweat-your-face-off situation – see the raw and unfiltered sweaty mess below. Luckily when you are going between parks your VIP Tour Guide moves you in an air conditioned van. You get this private transportation as a perk of the tour. It is important to note that because of Covid-19, you are still required to wear a mask while traveling in the vehicle, and you can only remove it if you are eating or drinking.
If your tour group has a lot of guests, it can still be hot in the car, but I did my best to beat the heat with a lovely little invention: a wearable fan. You can find one on Amazon by searching for ‘wearable fan’. This particular one is currently unavailable, but it makes for an excellent accessory on a hot park day, and a great gift to thank your Tour hosts.
Now, being on a VIP Tour also grants you access to the park through “secret” entries. Which is essentially the nice “backstage” areas of the lot. There is absolutely no photography permitted of this area in order to maintain the integrity of the magic. I can tell you on these treks of the backstage lots, I saw some of the most interesting inner workings of park magic, but I won’t spoil it for anyone.
For our Animal Kingdom entry, our guide Monica parked us at the “secret door” conveniently next to a restroom, within the sightline of a bar, and right smack in front of Pandora… the land of James Cameron, Avatar, and the architectural marvel of floating dirt (can you tell I’m not a fan). Because of the insane lines in Pandora, whenever I visited Animal Kingdom I never rode Flight of Passage, and this inevitably left a terrible taste in my mouth about the whole area to begin with. This VIP tour changed that.
On the tour, I was finally able to ride Flight of Passage, and even though I did not get to walk through a normal queue line, I didn’t feel like anything was less “magical” about the experience. I guess the magic for me is the efficiency and ease in which I can accomplish what I came to do and get out of the park and crowds. This is really what you get when you take a VIP Tour, and it’s even better when your guide gets to know the group and is able to hone in on what the group wants to do like our guide did. I can’t say enough good things about Monica H. from Miami.
Animal Kingdom was good to us in terms of getting some strong drinks in Pandora, riding Expedition Everest (twice), getting to see Kite Tails failing epically (seriously, the memes are to die for); and then getting the heck up out of the park and on to the third stop, Hollywood Studios.
By this time we are approaching lunch and making excellent time. We had choices, we could mobile order from Woody’s Toy Box, or stop for a Ronto Wrap in Batuu so we pressed on and started with all the thrill rides. We then make our way to Batuu, and I was in desperate need of a snack, so instead of riding Rise of the Resistance (ROTR), I opted to take a walk with our guide and Diandra to grab food. I really enjoyed being able to chat with our guide while the rest of our group rode ROTR; again – if you want to tour, ask for Monica H, she has great stories, is incredibly knowledgeable, and is sincerely in tune with the needs of her guests.
The rest of our time at Hollywood Studios gave us the opportunity to scarf down some tot-chos, ride Slinky Dog Dash, and admire all of the 50th anniversary gold statues that had been popping up around the parks. I felt like this park gave us the most bang for our time because we got to do so much and really stroll through everything. Here’s a fun shot of our tour group and our awesome guide Monica.
Post all the thrill rides and porg-petting in Batuu we headed to the last stop of the tour, Epcot. We had enough time left in our tour to accomplish one of the hottest ticketed items for the first weekend of the 50th anniversary…. can you guess what it was?
Yes Mouseketeers, I was fortunate enough to be one of the first tours groups to be able to ride the new Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure in EPCOT. Being that the ride was brand new and the virtual queues were filling up within seconds of their timed releases, it was awesome to get to walk on to this ride. Unfortunately, it meant that our VIP tour was over, but Monica was amazing, she gave us all our VIP Tour pins (another perk of the tour), and she escorted us on to the ride before bidding us Adieu.
The TLDR Version
Here are some important things to know if you are going to take a VIP Tour at Disney:
- It is 100% worth it to experience a VIP Tour at least ONCE in your life.
- All VIP Tours require valid theme park admission, which is not included in the price of the tour.
- Disney Park Pass reservation is also required for park entry.
- All Private VIP Tours must be booked for a minimum duration of 7 continuous hours, and your party may include up to 10 Guests (including infants).
- In the time of Covid-19 you will need to sign waivers for the tour, and you will be asked to mask up in accordance to the current park and CDC guidelines.
- VIP Tours used to offer snacks, but now they only offer water and it’s not “on-demand”. Your VIP Guide has certain locations where they can procure water for you at no cost. Anything outside those areas, you are looking to pay for hydration on your own.
- Have a plan. Talk to your tour guide in advance to make sure you are getting everything you want out of the tour and that your expectations are realistic.
- If your focus is thrill rides, stick to the parks with the thrill rides, if you want a low key food motivated day, experience Epcot. You can do 1 park a day or all 4 parks.
- Backstage photography is not permitted. Take it all in with your peepers and not your snapchat or instragram story.
- You will walk… yes, you are VIP touring it, and you feel like a rockstar, but it’s a trek all over the parks to maximize everything you want to do. The day of the tour I walked 10.1 miles, stood for 19 hours, climbed 3 flights of stairs, and took over 23,000 steps… I gave my apple watch a workout. So make sure you are in comfortable attire.
- Most importantly: TIP YOUR GUIDE.
The next blog in the series will introduce you to private Disney catered events, and a League of Extraordinary Princesses.
