If a trip to Disney World is part of your vacation plans this year, it might be the perfect time to consider splurging on a Disney VIP guide. After all, who wouldn't want to zip through their favorite parks without waiting in line?
But without a VIP guide, it's going to be nearly impossible: FastPass+ has not returned since the pandemic temporarily shut down the parks, and because of capacity limits, park reservations often sell out.
So what exactly do you get when you hire a Disney VIP guide? First and foremost, front-of-the-line access to nearly every attraction across Magic Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom Park — for up to 10 people.
Your guide will pick you up at your hotel and drive you directly to the parks, where you'll park "backstage" and head directly inside — no schlepping required!
Finally, you'll have access to your guide's wealth of knowledge that will wow even the biggest Disney expert in your group.
Think you're ready to take the VIP plunge? Whether you're deciding between which parks make the most sense for hiring a guide, when to book, the cost of hiring, to knowing that even a VIP guide won't be able to skip you to the front of the line for one major attraction, here are four things you need to know before you book.
Not Every Park Needs a VIP Guide
While it would be the ultimate Disney luxury to hire a VIP guide to whisk you through each of the parks, it's probably not necessary.
Some parks consistently reach capacity faster and more often than others. Translation: Those are the parks likely to have the longest lines. After a deep dive into the Disney World reservation site plus my own pandemic visit, the parks that fill up fastest are Hollywood Studios (home to the incredibly popular Star Wars and Toy Story lands) and Magic Kingdom.
If you're going to splurge on a VIP guide, these are the parks where it would be the most useful to have a guide in order to maximize your time.
Count the Cost, but Divide It by 10
Hiring a Disney VIP guide is not inexpensive. Here's the cost breakdown:
All VIP Tours require valid theme park admission, which is not included in the price of the tour.
All Private VIP Tours must be booked for a minimum duration of seven continuous hours.
Each hour is priced from $425 to $750, depending on the season.
You may visit multiple parks on the same day.
The tour is priced for up to 10 people and those people can be swapped out depending on the attraction. For example, if there are 11 people in your party but only 10 care to ride Slinky Dog Dash, one can sit out. Then if the person who sat out Slinky Dog Dash wants to join the group for Star Wars: Millennium Falcon — Smugglers Run, they can – as long as someone else sits out.
Don't Wait to Book Your Guide
According to my own VIP guide on a January 2021 trip, services are booking up faster than ever. A combination of factors — including guides being furloughed during the pandemic to the disappearance of FastPass+ to pent-up demand for a Disney vacation — are to blame.
If you're interested in booking a VIP guide, you can do so up to 60 days in advance. You must have valid theme park admission and theme park reservations.
Call (407) 560-4033 to book; reservations are not taken online.
Even a Disney VIP Guide Can't Skip the Line for One Attraction
There's one attraction even a VIP guide can't skip the line for. It's currently the hottest ride in all of Walt Disney World: Rise of the Resistance.
But not all is lost — and you still don't have to spend hours waiting in line. You do, however, need to get in the "virtual queue." Here's how it works:
Download the My Disney Experience app and access it at 7 a.m. from anywhere or 1 p.m. from inside Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Find the section named “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance — Request Access with Virtual Queue” and click "Join."
You'll be assigned a boarding group with instructions on what time to arrive at the attraction. Plan to wait about 30 minutes from the time you arrive to getting on the ride.
