Recently I was very blessed with an opportunity to join a number of friends on a Disney Private VIP Tour. These tours are known for giving you a much more accessible experience in the parks, one that could save you hours of time–and even money–if you play it right. I’ll share what this day was like and the highlights of being able to enjoy this kind of tour. I’ll also share some of my insights as to how to maximize the experience for your benefit–if this is something you want to do and can afford to do. Disney provides many tours, but I’ll emphasize what really makes this tour a VIP tour–what that means and its implications for anyone trying to provide a VIP experience towards others. Join us as we review our Disney Private VIP Tour.

This podcast is produced by myself and Performance Journeys, which offers training, development and consultant support to organizations big and small and entrepreneurs new and established. With a wide variety of resources and long-time in-the-trench experience, we offer workshops, online learning, coaching and more to organizations that want to build their teams, raise organizational excellence, improve leadership and create customer loyalty. Check us out at PerformanceJourneys.com. 

As with our podcast, be sure to check out this web site, Disney Insights where we offer key points, photos, videos, links and more. In today’s discussion, we will refer to several charts found on Disney Insights. Note that YouTube carries now carries our podcasts. So please subscribe to our Disney Insights YouTube page as it will be more a part of our social media strategy moving forward. We appreciate any positive ratings, reviews or referrals you make to others.

The following is a summary of what we discuss on the podcast. Imagery and additional links will help you to better get a sense of what this land has come to represent.

You can find the podcast here.

And you can find the same podcast on You Tube.

The following is an outline of our private VIP tour experience:

Context

• My Own Experience in Touring
• I Did Not Purchase–Nor Knew the One Who Did

Planning

• Which Time of Year
• Which Time of Day–Earlier Better
• Beginning & End–Parking Plan
• Which Parks & Activities–How Many Parks?

Included

• Umbrellas and Ponchos as Needed
• Ice Cream Snacks
• Bottled Water
• Soda Snacks–Bottled & Cup
• Salty Snacks–Churros, Popcorn, Waffle
• Car Snacks
• Volunteer photographer
• Complimentary photos
• Complimentary Exclusive VIP Pins
• Access to Other VIP Tour Merchandise

Tour Logistics

• Eat a Big Meal Before
• Meeting Place
• Herding Cats
• Where Vans Park
• When You Back Door and When You Won’t
• VIP Merchandise
• Number of Tour Guides–140
• Number of Tours–Varies on Day & Time of Year
• VIP Experience
• Host Must Check You In–May Not Stay
• Host May Hold Your Belongings While You Ride
• Van May Hold Your Belongings If You Return to the Van
• May Repeat Some Attractions–Just Ask–Space vs. Tron

Our Experience

• Lovely Hostess–Four Years Experience
• Started in Magic Kingdom on Halloween Party Night
• Couple of People Late
• Very Hot–Not Most Direct Route
• Hosts/Hostesses Want to Create Value–She Did It By Anticipating Our Individual Needs
• Plan B in the Rain
• Plan B For Those Who Don’t Want to Go
• Great Group–Fun To Talk
• Magic Kingdom 1:30
  • Tiana’s Bayou Adventure (back door)–20 min
  • Big Thunder Mountain (LL)–25 min
  • Haunted Mansion (side door)–25 min
  • Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (LL) x 2–50 min
  • Space Mountain x 2–5 min
  • Tron Lightcycle Run (side door)–30 min
• Studios 4:00
  • Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (LL)–50 min
  • Slinky Dog Dash (LL)–60 min
  • Tower of Terror (side door)–45 min
  • Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (back door/usually LL)–95 min
• Epcot 7:00
  • Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (LL)–85 min
  • Spaceship Earth–10 min
  • Test Track–(back door)–95 min
  • Soarin’ Across America (LL)–20 min
• 13 Attractions–Walk Through Each
• Illuminations in Germany/MK Parade at 3:00
• Photos Taken by Guide
• Disney Rash

Total time if we had waited in a standby queue would have been nearly 11 hours. As it stood, we spent about 2 hours total in lightning lane, side doors and back doors. So we saved 9 hours of time. Plus travel if you are park hopping.

Would I pay for it? No. But I’ve done this as a guide for much of my life. Would I recommend others do it? Probably not. It was only 5 minutes on Space on a more discounted day where I wouldn’t even recommend Lightning Lanes.

Our group hosts had done Disneyland a few weeks before, and there isn’t an attraction they couldn’t get you back ended or in a reduced line for. It isn’t just for Lightning Lanes.

Hostess had done a group prior of 2 parents and a child, and they just spent a few hours doing things with their child and then left having paid for the total time. Difficult for the Cast Member who wants to create value in such a situation but it shows flexibility for the program.

If money is no object but time is incredibly limited, this is for you. What the tour guide does to make that not only efficient, but enjoyable, is the essence of the VIP tour.

Guided and VIP Tours

Tours by hosts in plaid vests have been around for nearly 70 years starting in Disneyland in 1958.

The first tours were complimentary, guided by men and women–neither of them wearing plaid vests.

In time the tour guides became only women, with the plaid style look, to include black equestrian style hats, and a riding crop. Distinctive were their pins, which were hand-made and were part of the costume–not for keeping and certainly not for trading.

For many years, the global Disney ambassadors were chosen from the Guest Relations/Tour Guide staff.

The guided tours over time and for many years was marketed for “first time guests, who were given a tour of the park and told about its creation. By the 1970s it was a 2.5 hour tour which included general admission plus seven of the most popular attractions. That cost $7.50 for adults and juniors and $4.50 for children under 12.

These were know as Guided Tours, not VIP tours. VIP tours were a separate experience. They began in and around the 1990s and jumped in price significantly in the Bob Chapek era, emphasizing a major price differential depending on the time of year.

But what makes a Private VIP Tour truly a VIP tour? It isn’t just easier access onto rides. After all, Lightning Lanes can do that.

Judi Daley, who for decades hosted all “Very Important People” around Walt Disney World, would always say that VIP is not “Very Important” but rather a “Very Individual Person”. To that end, I felt our guide did a phenomenal job of treating of anticipating and treating our individual needs.

Souvenirs for You and Your Organization

• How do you provide a VIP experience–Very Individual Person?
• How do you provide an anticipatory experience?
• How do you shape your resources to support that VIP & anticipatory experience?

Want to Visit Disney?

Hopefully this podcast has made you realize you need help and support in planning your next trip to Disney. David and Leah with Zanolla Travel know Disney in ways few do and they can make your next trip on land or sea an exciting one–or at least less stressful! Be sure to contact them as you explore your next vacation, whether it is a Disney theme park vacation, a cruise, or an Adventure by Disney. There is no charge to utilize their services, but it will save you enormous time getting all the details right, and with their insight you can be assured you’re going to experience the best trip possible. Contact them today!

Disneyland Insights: Inspiration, Ideas & Magic for You and Your Organization

For over a year I’ve been capturing and sharing stories of Disneyland, while creating a new online tool for you to explore all of them in one place. It’s called Disneyland Insights: Inspiration, Ideas & Magic for You and Your Organization and it’s an interactive, multimedia experience. This is truly designed for those who are seeking to find new ideas that will guide you to 

1. Provide Individual & Organizational Leadership Excellence
2. Create Employee Engagement & a Team Culture
3. Offer a Superior Customer Experience

Not only does the content through examples, stories and models play to these themes, but each section provides “Souvenirs for You and Your Organization”. They are reflective questions that may be used to better the work or operation you may be lead or be part of. And in that instance, it is more of a business focus. In fact, many may utilize funding set aside in their organization for training and development to purchase this volume.

Click here to order Disneyland Insights: Inspiration, Ideas & Magic for You and Your Organization. It’s also available on the show notes page of our podcast. Whether you’re on a comfy sofa at home or on Main Street, U.S.A. this experience allows you to navigate through all nine lands to explore some 100 locations where you can find Disney insights that will be inspire and guide you and your organization. 

Books From Your Host at Disney Insights

Also, if you’re looking to grab something today, go to Amazon where you will find four of my books available for purchase. Three explore Disney at length, and one explores world class businesses to include Disney. Check them out!

My newest book, A Century of Powerful Disney Insights, Volume I 1923-1973, The Walt & Roy Disney Years is available! 

Also, check out my two of my other books, The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney and Disney, Leadership and You. 

Also, for those examining other business benchmarks beyond Disney, check out Lead with Your Customer: Transform Culture and Brand Into World-Class Excellence.

Thanks for joining us for this podcast. Know that as in the title of my organization, Performance Journeys, it’s as much about the journey as it is about performance. Find the second star to the right, and keep going straight on till you reach it. Follow the compass of your heart, and know that with a smile and a song, a little faith, effort and pixie dust, your dreams can come true. After all, if we can dream it, we can do it. Until next time, bright suns, we’ll see you real soon!