VIP Tours and RotR Discussion

[10CJ]

There is almost certainly a very spirited dialog going on right now between VIP Tour Services and Ride Operations regarding access to RoTR, given that a great many people will be unwilling to spend thousands of dollars on a "premium" tour which does not allow them to ride the hottest attraction of all.

I understand why the VIP tours want access. I also understand why ride operations want a little time to work things out before allowing VIP tours. Definitely curious to see how long the tours are restricted from ROTR.

 

[GoingSince1990]

The difference here is that the "1000 VIP guests" can coordinate boarding times. They should only be allowed to ride a single time. Just assign a maximum of 12 VIPs to each boarding group. If the ride can reliably do 80 boardings per day, the impact would be negligible. Certainly less than people reboarding in the first day.

Also, 1000 VIPs seems high? I find it hard to believe Hollywood Studios, with attendance at roughly 30,000/day has 1 in 30 people being on a private VIP Tour at any one time.

We did a tour over Thanksgiving weekend, and the way it worked with MFSR was that we could ride it once immediately, and our guide then had to book a return time for a second ride which was a few hours later. So we ended up riding it twice.

 

[10CJ]

We did a tour over Thanksgiving weekend, and the way it worked with MFSR was that we could ride it once immediately, and our guide then had to book a return time for a second ride which was a few hours later. So we ended up riding it twice.

How much time did you spend in HS? what other parks did you do? We are debating this for an upcoming trip and trying to figure out how best to use the time. Interesting to hear we could potentially ride MFSR twice. We definitely want to hit AK and HS.

 

[trivan]

Also, 1000 VIPs seems high? I find it hard to believe Hollywood Studios, with attendance at roughly 30,000/day has 1 in 30 people being on a private VIP Tour at any one time.

I read that the limit is 100 VIP tours per day, which is 1000 people. I don't know if that is true or not. When I booked, I was told that they are figuring it out. Calling back a few weeks ago, I was informed that it would be expedited access, but subject to change. I don't think they would promise anything other then what is in the confirmation letter which is Fast Pass access. Even rides like Peter Pan is technically off-limits based upon the wording, but tours seem to find ways to gain access without causing issues when times allow.

I guess those of us who are booked in the near future will have to keep our fingers cross that the engineers are fixing the ride issues and how they are dealing with the large crowds become smoother. The fewer disruptions caused by business as usual processes, the more willing operations will allow VIP groups in. I certainly will be calling in a week's time to see what the policies are.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Even rides like Peter Pan is technically off-limits based upon the wording, but tours seem to find ways to gain access without causing issues when times allow.

Not sure I understand why you'd say PP is technically off limits?

 

[Marknj22]

I read that the limit is 100 VIP tours per day, which is 1000 people. I don't know if that is true or not. When I booked, I was told that they are figuring it out. Calling back a few weeks ago, I was informed that it would be expedited access, but subject to change. I don't think they would promise anything other then what is in the confirmation letter which is Fast Pass access. Even rides like Peter Pan is technically off-limits based upon the wording, but tours seem to find ways to gain access without causing issues when times allow.

I guess those of us who are booked in the near future will have to keep our fingers cross that the engineers are fixing the ride issues and how they are dealing with the large crowds become smoother. The fewer disruptions caused by business as usual processes, the more willing operations will allow VIP groups in. I certainly will be calling in a week's time to see what the policies are.

Okay, so that's even better. A limit of 100 VIP tours per day is <1000 because not everyone using all 10 slots. (I'll be there next week with only 6 on a VIP tour.) Let's call it 800? Now factor in that some are doing multiple day tours or visiting other parks. As cool as it is, not everyone will want to ride this. Knock off another 10% down to 720. Now consider a percentage are under 40" on the tour. Realistically, I think we're looking at a maximum of maybe 700 VIPs wanting/able to ride RotR in one day. Or about 9 people per boarding group.

 

[trivan]

Not sure I understand why you'd say PP is technically off limits?

LOL, lack of coffee in the morning and my brain was about 10years behind Sorry for the mis-information and the correction.

 

[Liljo22]

There is almost certainly a very spirited dialog going on right now between VIP Tour Services and Ride Operations regarding access to RoTR, given that a great many people will be unwilling to spend thousands of dollars on a "premium" tour which does not allow them to ride the hottest attraction of all.

The VIP tour is not new. Before RotR existed, were people not willing to spend thousands of dollars on this tour? I don't see how before December 5th people were spending the money for the tour but now its not worth it.

 

[10CJ]

The VIP tour is not new. Before RotR existed, were people not willing to spend thousands of dollars on this tour? I don't see how before December 5th people were spending the money for the tour but now its not worth it.

of course there are those who booked before the ride opened. However some were told it would be available on the tour after the ride opened. I can see how that would be a factor in deciding to book. Not sure I would throw out my entire plan based on this but I can see how someone might. If you main goal is access to ROTR then this tour might not be your best option.

 

[trivan]

The VIP tour is not new. Before RotR existed, were people not willing to spend thousands of dollars on this tour? I don't see how before December 5th people were spending the money for the tour but now its not worth it.

Depending on your timing, it can be worth it. Typically, my family can only get away for long weekends. To do all the attractions in the span of 2-3 days while could be done will vary based upon when you go and crowd levels. We tend to stay at the deluxe resorts, so if you factor how many days it would take to do all the attractions, the cost of the hotel for the extra days, food, the difference is not that much. It helps with the stress level as well.

In that recent article about workers in Disney, it was stated that the average family of 4 spends about $6000, for the sake of making this easy, let's just make it' $1000/day. To do everything we typically want, on a busy weekend it would probably take 5-7 days (that's us, I know people say they can do it shorter). So booking a tour, in 1 day we get everything done in 1 day (all 4 parks, parade and fireworks), save 4-5 days. That's $4000 to $5000. Everyone places difference value on their hard earn $'s so everyones "worth it" is going to be very different.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

The difference here is that the "1000 VIP guests" can coordinate boarding times. They should only be allowed to ride a single time. Just assign a maximum of 12 VIPs to each boarding group. If the ride can reliably do 80 boardings per day, the impact would be negligible. Certainly less than people reboarding in the first day.

Also, 1000 VIPs seems high? I find it hard to believe Hollywood Studios, with attendance at roughly 30,000/day has 1 in 30 people being on a private VIP Tour at any one time.

You seemed to have misread my response to the PP who suggested VIP guests should enter whenever they'd like. My scenario to solve the problem was similar to yours - ride once and get pre-assigned boarding times based on their tour times. So, it appears we are actually in agreement as to how they could solve this problem (though ride operations apparently doesn't think this is a "problem"!).

PP's have speculated that there can be up to 100 VIP tours per day, at 10 people max each, that's 1000. At holiday time, these tours are typically sold out. Of course, not all groups have 10 people on them (we certainly don't), but ride operations, obviously, wants tight control over this boarding process and they, as of now, don't want to give free reign to VIP guides bringing their guests onto the ride whenever they please. It's a high demand ride during the holiday time and, I would be willing to bet, almost every single one of those tour groups wants access to RoTR. Will they all be there at the exact same minute? Probably not, but, ride operations doesn't seem to want to take that bet. I would certainly love to see them implement your idea - I think it would make many VIP Tour guests very happy!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

The VIP tour is not new. Before RotR existed, were people not willing to spend thousands of dollars on this tour? I don't see how before December 5th people were spending the money for the tour but now its not worth it.

I can only speak for my own family, but we book the tours to have expedited access to the top rides over multiple parks in one day plus the private transportation. We are going over Christmas week and wanted to do SWGE, AK and some of EP in the afternoon and then have access to the VIP area for EP Forever - something we couldn't do even by booking extra club level FP+. By eliminating RoTR from this equation, it threw our plans for the day for a loop and we now have to choose between waking up super early to try to get a boarding group for RoTR (something we didn't want to do on the VIP Tour) or eliminating RoTR and keeping EP Forever. I think we have come to expect that when you book one of these tours, you don't have to make decisions like this. It's supposed to be "VIP" and it really doesn't feel that way now, IMHO.

 

[Nycraig79]

We have our tour on 12/19. VIP services made sure we knew that “at this time” they do not have access to RoTR, but that things could change. I’ll report back if anything is changed by the 19th. We still plan on getting to the Studios one morning at 5:30am just in case!

 

[Marknj22]

We have our tour on 12/19. VIP services made sure we knew that “at this time” they do not have access to RoTR, but that things could change. I’ll report back if anything is changed by the 19th. We still plan on getting to the Studios one morning at 5:30am just in case!

We'll be there on the 18th. It looks like today is going particularly well, with boarding group 115 being called now. We're scrambling to change reservations for an early day, but it would be really nice to be pleasantly surprised with a boarding number through VIP services. I'm not too optimistic they'd do it on their second full week, but one can dream.

 

[trivan]

We'll be there on the 18th. It looks like today is going particularly well, with boarding group 115 being called now. We're scrambling to change reservations for an early day, but it would be really nice to be pleasantly surprised with a boarding number through VIP services. I'm not too optimistic they'd do it on their second full week, but one can dream.

Good luck, I hope they change the policy soon.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

We had our VIP tours Monday and today, and no access to RoTR. We woke up early Monday before our tour and got a boarding group, rode the ride and still had a few hours to spare. Our guide still hasn’t even had an opportunity to ride it on his own time. Smugglers run was no issue though, got right on.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We had our VIP tours Monday and today, and no access to RoTR. We woke up early Monday before our tour and got a boarding group, rode the ride and still had a few hours to spare. Our guide still hasn’t even had an opportunity to ride it on his own time. Smugglers run was no issue though, got right on.

Thanks for the info! Would you mind going into detail a little more about how your day played out? We have a tour on Dec. 29 and I'm not sure if we should now start the tour super early and go to DHS with our guide or go to DHS on our own in the morning, join a boarding group and keep our tour as-is with a late afternoon start so we can do the VIP viewing of EP Forever. My inclination right now is to start the tour early as we will have to be up early regardless to get in a boarding group, but, dang, I wanted to see EP Forever!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Thanks for the info! Would you mind going into detail a little more about how your day played out? We have a tour on Dec. 29 and I'm not sure if we should now start the tour super early and go to DHS with our guide or go to DHS on our own in the morning, join a boarding group and keep our tour as-is with a late afternoon start so we can do the VIP viewing of EP Forever. My inclination right now is to start the tour early as we will have to be up early regardless to get in a boarding group, but, dang, I wanted to see EP Forever!

While not the same as the smaller area for VIP viewing, you can always get a FP for EP Forever viewing if you’re going for somewhere other than just anywhere around the lagoon. Much larger guest count there though, which may be what you were trying to avoid. Just a thought?

 

[trivan]

By eliminating RoTR from this equation, it threw our plans for the day for a loop and we now have to choose between waking up super early to try to get a boarding group for RoTR (something we didn't want to do on the VIP Tour) or eliminating RoTR and keeping EP Forever. I think we have come to expect that when you book one of these tours, you don't have to make decisions like this. It's supposed to be "VIP" and it really doesn't feel that way now, IMHO.

We're doing the same, but on the 28th and viewing the MK Fireworks. We're opting to wake up early and get a boarding pass on another day. While the FP viewing areas are good, to me nothing beats the VIP sections and ease of access. To me using the time to get on RoTR with the tour not as good use of time, as it's no more or less what you can do yourself, it may save you some walking if there is a backstage entrance

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We're doing the same, but on the 28th and viewing the MK Fireworks. We're opting to wake up early and get a boarding pass on another day. While the FP viewing areas are good, to me nothing beats the VIP sections and ease of access. To me using the time to get on RoTR with the tour not as good use of time, as it's no more or less what you can do yourself, it may save you some walking if there is a backstage entrance

We only have one day of park touring on this trip, so I've sort of resigned myself to the fact that we are going to switch to the early morning and do RoTR. It will be ok! I was actually able to switch our Oga's time to the morning and I'm kind of excited to see SWGE in the early am now! I was outvoted on the RoTR vs. EP Forever vote in my house, LOL! But that's ok! My DH and DS12 would much rather use a back entrance to DHS that morning to avoid that gigantic early morning line at the main entrance. I figure I can take a nap in the afternoon and maybe venture over to EP on my own in the evening to see EP Forever