Disney VIP Tours | Our Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP Tour at Walt Disney World

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For over a year (okay, nobody fact check me, but it’s been pretty close), Meghan, Lindsey and I have been planning a girls trip / work / conference trip. It finally came! And it.was.AMAZING! (Please use your best FROZEN character voice here) because we spent it at Walt Disney World. The ultimate Walt Disney World experience was a taking one of the Disney VIP Tours. Meghan won an Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP Tour at Walt Disney World and included Lindsey and me.

Before we get to the fun, a couple notes…while Meghan did win the Walt Disney World Tour (VIP, of course), we were all responsible for our own park hopper passes (as was anybody else on the tour) and we purchased a Disney World Memory Maker so we were able to download all of our photos from our entire trip.

We started our tour meeting in Disney’s Tomorrow Land at 8:30 where we were greeted by several cast members and tour guides to check in and receive our group assignments.

Once we were all checked in, we were able to grab water, coffee, juice and/or a snack bar to start our morning.

We were introduced to our Disney VIP guide, Angela, who quickly gave us the details of our day (approximately 7.5 hours, ending around 3:30) and we were off.

{Angela with the three of us.}

Our group consisted of the three of us, a honeymooning couple, a couple celebrating their 20th anniversary and a family of 4 (with two kids approximately 8-10). Keep in mind, children under a minimum age must have a parent or another adult riding with them on all rides (7 and under must have somebody over 14 riding with them). Even then, you must have parent or guardian permission to ride and/or accompany a minor.

The Thrills tour is fast-paced walking tour with quick van rides between parks and backstage access to facilitate those easy transfers. When they say fast-paced, they mean it. You get bathroom breaks, food breaks and snack breaks, but they are on a very tight schedule. We had no problems keeping up and everybody in the group had a great time. It was like we were all hand-selected to be together.

The Disney VIP tour guide is basically a human Fast Pass granting us quick and easy access onto the rides (meaning  there was no wait in line for us). It’s a very well-oiled machine where the guide/hosts are in constant communication making sure everything is happening as smoothly as possible.

A couple of rides were down for refurbishment, but they are very accommodating and plan to make sure everybody gets all of their thrills and then some.

Magic Kingdom

We started our day in Magic Kingdom with Pirates of the Caribbean.  And, after that first ride, my memory is shot and I have no idea of the order of the next rides. There was also a snack break and several potty breaks planned into our day (details I would want to know!) Not to worry, if you need a potty break that isn’t planned, just let your guide know and he or she will let you know when and where you can take one.

But, we did ride the following other rides.

Splash Mountain

Apparently we were very unimpressed with Splash Mountain. Or, we were having way too much fun! We didn’t get wet other than what was already on the seats.

Space Mountain

I think this was some sort of space pose. I don’t know what we were doing. This ride is basically pitch black with a little bit of lights to simulation stars far out in the galaxy.

Haunted Mansion

Angela was not impressed that we picked up a hitchhiker after our ride on the Haunted Mansion. Something about numbers being important or something. This is an easy clam-shell ride with a bit of a story to go along with it.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

This is the smoothest most fun ride there, I think. My girls loved it last year and I can’t wait for us to fill up a barrel with Serious girls. We rode with our hands up the entire ride. There is almost always a wait for this ride, and it is completely worth it. Another day, we went through the ride in record time and experienced all of the queue fun (spin the barrels, people…trust me!)

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

This ride always brings out the smiles. Who doesn’t like shooting space aliens with a LASER? It’s fun when your Disney World tour guide can hop on the ride with you. There is some fun competition and you get a score at the end, too.

Our time at The Magic Kingdom had to come to an end. But, instead of walking out the front entrance, we were able to go in the Cast Member’s Only area (aka Behind the Scenes where no cameras are allowed) to hop on a van where Angela drove us over to a Cast Member Only entrance to Epcot.

There it was lunch time at Sunshine Seasons. Lunch was included in our Walt Disney World VIP Tour. We were able to select an entree, a dessert and a nonalcoholic drink. I ate my super salad and drink and saved my popcorn for later. It came in handy when we wanted to have a snack. I shared, too and everybody was very grateful for it.

Epcot

Soarin’ 

This was our first ride post-lunch. I should say “their” ride. I am not good with large screens and moving/flying seats. I hear it’s amazing and you’ll love it except I get motion sickness and feel icky. So, I sat this one out. It has been completely revamped, too and the view is fabulous.

Test Track

In fact, I ran across the part to our next ride, Test Track and (secret insider tip), hoped into the single rider line and got a ride in there while waiting for everybody else on Soarin’. Once they were done, they rode the van over to Test Track and we all designed our cars. It turns out, even when trying to build the least-efficient and slowest car, you will still win at least one of the categories.

But, that didn’t matter. It was all about the speed right out the door! We got up over 65mph. (I cheated here and used a picture from another day…we all volunteered to split up so that nobody none of the kids had to ride alone).

This is a ride you will want to wait in the line because you design a car with your specifications. After the ride, you will get to see how well your car did on the test track.

From there, it was another quick van ride to Hollywood Studios and another Cast Member Only entrance. Remember how I mentioned you need a Park Hopper pass? They scanned our passes behind the scenes so we were officially checked into the parks so we had no Magic Band issues.

Hollywood Studios

We finished our VIP Disney World tour at Hollywood Studios and were done by 3:30.

Tower of Terror

I remember this one from high school. And I remember why I didn’t want to ride it again. I have to say it’s not my favorite and kind of left me feeling vertigo-y. It’s basically a giant elevator that drops randomly and you can’t see outside for most of it. (The guy behind Meghan, with his face in his hand, he was celebrating his anniversary on the tour. He was a hoot and clearly unimpressed!)

Star Tours – The Adventures Continue

This is another one I opted out of. You sit in seats to mimic pods and there is a screen and you move with it. This is one that I heard was fun, but Angela had no trouble keeping me entertained and answering my eleventy-billion questions about Walt Disney World parks and the Walt Disney World VIP tours (if you have them, ask because I probably asked them, too!) She seemed more than excited to let me help her flex her Disney World knowledge. I was so thankful to have such a wealth of information at my fingertips.

Toy Story Mania!

I can’t believe there isn’t a photo opportunity at Toy Story Mania! You basically try to knock down as many of various things as you can as you go through a weaving ride. And, if I recall, the ride itself has a lot more spinning than the ride at Disneyland. But, it is 3D.

This was also our last ride as a part of the VIP tour Disney offered us. Angela said her goodbyes as we boarded the ride and by the time it ended, she was *poof* gone. It was like the clock struck midnight and the magical spell was broken. It felt a little like leaving summer camp on the last day, too. We didn’t want to part ways with her.

The rest of our day

Since we were in Hollywood Studios, we took advantage of our time there, enjoyed a nice dinner at the Sci-Fi Drive in (where we were able to scoop up a reservation the same day), saw a couple shows and waited for the Star Wars Fireworks show (which was AMAZING). It also happened to be a night the park had Magic Hours, so we got one more ride in. We had to end the night (very tired looking on my part) with some final pixie dust magic from Tink and we said goodnight.

Animal Kingdom

Our Disney VIP tour didn’t include a trip to Animal Kingdom this time as scheduling didn’t permit going to that park. You could always use the rest of your day once to tour gets out to get on a bus and head over to Animal Kingdom.

In addition to the Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP tour, you can also do a Disney World private premium VIP tour where you can plan out your entire day including dining reservations at places like Be Our Guest restaurant (check out Sue’s tips for getting in there without a VIP tour), parades and character visits as well as VIP Disney tours geared at younger kids.

The Disney VIP Tours cost $299 per person plus tax (including guests under 18 years of age) for the Ultimate Day of Thrills (and don’t forget your Park Hopper ticket that isn’t included with your Disney VIP pass) which seems pricey. But, if you want to get all of your thrills in in just on day, it really can be cost effective. The Disney site outlines all of the details as sometimes they can change.

A morning snack and lunch are included and you won’t be buying 2-3 more park tickets for other days to fit all of the parks in and the meals, food and drink during those days. Additionally, you would save on the cost of more nights in a hotel or lodging. So, while it seems like a lot, I can definitely see the value in doing a tour and making sure you are able to ride all of the rides you want to ride in just one day.

International Theme Parks

My knowledge on international theme parks is limited for Disney VIP tours, but I’ve found that you can do a VIP tour at Disneyland Paris as well as Honk Kong Disneyland Park Spectacular Tours, with its own Hong Kong International Theme carried throughout.  Check out the Disneyland Hong Kong website, Tokyo, Shanghai and Disneyland Paris for more information!

InHave you ever considered or taken a VIP your at Walt Disney World?