Please help! VIP for 2 & what to expect for wait times & a bum knee

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I’d get an electric scooter. I’ve heard VIP can be brutal, especially since you may be getting more done than the average person.

Accessibility shouldn’t be a huge issue. You go in the exits in fantasyland. You can park it in the land and just use it when you’re walking a longer distance as well. Having VIP to lead you with the chair seems ideal to me. It sounds like you’ll need it for sure on your next trip and this way you’ll learn the ropes.

That’s exactly what I was thinking. Save your legs for the walks between lands, park it once you arrive in a land. The electric scooters move pretty quickly compared to wheelchairs.

With the return of exciting nighttime entertainment 4/22, I think your date will be extremely crowded. The VIP tour sounds amazing! Enjoy yourselves!

 

[Jax5280]

It sounds like you already don’t think the money it costs is worth it. If you have to talk yourself into it, I would go with my gut. Save that money and uses it for other special touches you might not otherwise do.

It's worth it if I can do what's on the list and if VIP is like what people have reviewed in previous years. It isn't worth if it's 30 minutes wait for each ride. Others have reported bad experiences since they've made changes to the tour and I am trying to get a sense of what LLs are right now.

We are here now. LLs are definitely pretty short, with a few exceptions some of which are very unexpected. Soarin’ has been at least a 20 minute wait in the LL, sometimes 30. Buzz has been a 10-15 minute wait, much of which is spent winding through the roped area to just scan your LL pass. I find this silly on a continuously loading ride… Space has been about 10 minutes, not bad. ROTR is usually extremely quick, you generally walk right into the first pre-show room immediately. Web Slingers, basically immediately into the preshow. RSR is usually less than 10 minutes. HM is 5 minutes or less to stretching room.

THANK YOU! This was really helpful. I figure the 27th will have about the same crowds, maybe a little more. I've been checking the Disneyland app to see what regular wait times are and how many LLs sell out. I am hopeful my experience is similar to yours!

I am hopeful that Indiana Jones doesn't break down a lot. And thankfully, we've never been that into Soarin' - I didn't care for it as a kid and still don't find the revamp that impressive.

Rise of the Resistance is only allowed once with your VIP - kind of annoying. I will have to pay for Genie+ and then LLs if I want to try it more than once. :/

We have NEVER had less than a 40 minute wait for RS - the two times we've been to DL since it opened, we had long waits, even with a FP. I am hoping we have better luck this year! It really is a fun (though really short) ride!

You can also re-ride SM using the LL 10 times in a row.

This is our hope. Or 3-4 times that day. I just did the math if the wait times were 30 min for LL and that was a little unnerving. We've managed to game-i-f-y Disney enough in the past with MagicBands or FP+ (I've always preferred DL) and now it feels like those days are just gone. When my son was 8 or so, we did about 16 rides + snack + shopping (it was January) and then collapsed with exhaustion on a bench by 7pm. WDW was more difficult and frustrating, but we took 4 days and that helped. Our last DL trip was OK; we did almost everything we wanted until my knee and foot/ankle started acting up. By day 2, though, I was miserable.

 

[Jax5280]

With the return of exciting nighttime entertainment 4/22, I think your date will be extremely crowded. The VIP tour sounds amazing! Enjoy yourselves!

I found out that fireworks are only on weekends, but the electrical parade comes back. I am glad for that, actually, so fewer people will be on rides!! ;-) I love fireworks from a rollercoaster, but alas, not in the cards for us this year.

 

[zemmer]

Rise of the Resistance is only allowed once with your VIP - kind of annoying. I will have to pay for Genie+ and then LLs if I want to try it more than once. :/

You don’t have to buy Genie+. You can just buy the ILL for RotR.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

Unlike FL you can’t pick your ILL return time, so there’s no need to do it up front even for Rise. May as well keep an eye on it on occasion but just see how the day develops.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

You don’t have to buy Genie+. You can just buy the ILL for RotR.

And if you want to do it, buy it early in the day because it sells out quick.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I found out that fireworks are only on weekends, but the electrical parade comes back. I am glad for that, actually, so fewer people will be on rides!! ;-) I love fireworks from a rollercoaster, but alas, not in the cards for us this year.

World of Color will also be running at DCA.

 

[Steven G]

I've posted about my most recent VIP experience in December before, and how it went wrong, so I won't talk about it again in length. Summary: I've vowed not to do a VIP tour in disneyland again (and told that to Disney), until they bring back the shortcuts that in the past the VIP tour guides were able to use in the past when the Fastpass/LL lines were too long, and now they are not allowed to.

On every VIP tour we've been on, we have been EXHAUSTED by the end of it. It's just a never-ending running around from ride to ride, especially if you do both parks. I would not get Genie+ on a day of a VIP tour, just do 2-3 rides before your tour starts, and a couple after, and then take advantage of either fireworks, fantasmic or WOC seating as applicable in the evening. If you rope drop, you shouldn't need Genie+.

My basic plan is this:

1) Rope drop, and do 2-3 rides
2) Get a good meal in before the tour starts
3) VIP tour (expect to do around 15-20 rides, depending on the ones you choose).
4) Dinner
5) Get a couple rides in
6) Evening entertainment

Remember, the VIP tour can also get you through the queue of most (but not all) non-LL rides. Typically, a VIP tour is the only time I will go on Peter Pan in Disneyland because we can skip 95% of the line).

 

[Chickinvic]

Can VIP tours be booked for the last 7 hours of the park time as opposed to earlier (I've never done one, nor do I ever expect to, so I have zero clue)? You can knock out a lot of rides early on without a VIP if you rope drop and then do the VIP later when it is more crowded/longer waits for rides.

 

[Steven G]

Can VIP tours be booked for the last 7 hours of the park time as opposed to earlier (I've never done one, nor do I ever expect to, so I have zero clue)? You can knock out a lot of rides early on without a VIP if you rope drop and then do the VIP later when it is more crowded/longer waits for rides.

My understanding is yes you can do anytime you want, but I have always gone with the 11am-6pm or 12pm to 7pm route.

Why?
You can eat a meal before and just after, and avoid having to have a meal during the tour, and just bring some snacks as needed, or do something quick if necessary.

 

[Sea of Progress]

Having only done a VIP tour at WDW the rule there is that you can not get the perks of nighttime entertainment (VIP viewing areas of fireworks for example) unless your VIP tour time is at a time the entertainment starts. We usually do tours in the morning so have never been able to take advantage of that perk. Is this different at DL? How are you let into the VIP area if you don't have your guide?

 

[Steven G]

Having only done a VIP tour at WDW the rule there is that you can not get the perks of nighttime entertainment (VIP viewing areas of fireworks for example) unless your VIP tour time is at a time the entertainment starts. We usually do tours in the morning so have never been able to take advantage of that perk. Is this different at DL? How are you let into the VIP area if you don't have your guide?

Yes, you can take advantage of the fireworks (or Fantasmic, or World Of Color) VIP seating without a VIP guide present with you.

They put your name down in the system, and when you go to the VIP seating area, you give your name, and they check you in.

You have to generally request it when you first setup the tour or at least 2-3 weeks in advance because it can fill up.

 

[Jax5280]

If you rope drop, you shouldn't need Genie+.

My basic plan is this:

1) Rope drop, and do 2-3 rides
2) Get a good meal in before the tour starts
3) VIP tour (expect to do around 15-20 rides, depending on the ones you choose).
4) Dinner
5) Get a couple rides in
6) Evening entertainment

That sounds positively exhausting. One of the reasons why I chose VIP tour was because I want to function on a full night's sleep and I don't want to be anywhere at 7am. It defeats the purpose of a vacation. And the ONLY WAY to do ROTR more than once is to be there at 7am and pay extra????

I think I might just cancel my VIP. Doesn't seem worth it. Spoke with them again today and was told that yes, there will probably be wait times of 30 mins for rides like Space Mountain. I have a 17-year-old, not a 7-year-old, and we don't care as much about Frontierland (besides Tea Cups and Dumbo, for old time's sake.)

 

[twodogs]

That sounds positively exhausting. One of the reasons why I chose VIP tour was because I want to function on a full night's sleep and I don't want to be anywhere at 7am. It defeats the purpose of a vacation. And the ONLY WAY to do ROTR more than once is to be there at 7am and pay extra????

I think I might just cancel my VIP. Doesn't seem worth it. Spoke with them again today and was told that yes, there will probably be wait times of 30 mins for rides like Space Mountain. I have a 17-year-old, not a 7-year-old, and we don't care as much about Frontierland (besides Tea Cups and Dumbo, for old time's sake.)

Yes, you do have to have scanned into the park to book the ILL$ for ROTR. However, the parks don’t even open at 7am right now. Earliest park opening is at 8am, so that is the earliest anyone can book ROTR ILL$ for that day (it is different at WDW, where you can start booking ILL$ at 7am if you are staying onsite). And, you don’t have to book ROTR right at 0800 to get it. Usually there are times available to book at least for the first few hours of the park opening, depending on how crowded the parks are at the time time you are going. We got distracted one morning over our recent Easter trip, and I check ROTR ILL$ at around 11am. Sold out. But I refreshed for just a few minutes and got an ILL$ for 6:35pm. So you can do this and do the VIP and still ride it twice in one day without getting up to be at the parks at 0700.

 

[theMoreDisneytheBetter]

If the parks are so crowded that LL are 30 min plus I can’t imagine how bad the experience would be without VIP. When we were there on an 8 day we were 15 min or less in all rides.

Honestly the only time I think VIP might not be worth it is when the parks are empty.

 

[Steven G]

That sounds positively exhausting. One of the reasons why I chose VIP tour was because I want to function on a full night's sleep and I don't want to be anywhere at 7am. It defeats the purpose of a vacation. And the ONLY WAY to do ROTR more than once is to be there at 7am and pay extra????

I think I might just cancel my VIP. Doesn't seem worth it. Spoke with them again today and was told that yes, there will probably be wait times of 30 mins for rides like Space Mountain. I have a 17-year-old, not a 7-year-old, and we don't care as much about Frontierland (besides Tea Cups and Dumbo, for old time's sake.)

sorry, there is nothing requiring you to do the plan I do.

here is a more laid back vip tour day.

1). Get up at 10:30. Make your way to the park for a starting time of noon. Perhaps eat at the hotel before you leave.
2) Vip tour. This can go as slow or fast as you wish.
3) dinner
4) enjoy park and nighttime entertainment,

yes, it’s true that on really busy days, you can wait a long time in the LL line. The worst offenders for me have been Indiana jones and GOTG, both because there is a long part of the queu that you can’t skip. But on an average day, I’d be surprised if you had to wait 30minutes.

for rotr, if you want to ride it more than once and you want to get a LL, than yes, you’d have to get to the park earlier, but Not quite as bad as disneyworld.

space mountain would have to be really bad for a 30 minute wait. It should typically be half that or more.

 

[danceintherain]

Where are you staying?
I would rent an ECV just to minimize the walking as much as possible. Even if you just ride it into the park and between lands, it could make a huge difference.

 

[Jax5280]

Where are you staying?
I would rent an ECV just to minimize the walking as much as possible. Even if you just ride it into the park and between lands, it could make a huge difference.

The Westin. Was going to Uber. They still do drop-offs close up, right?

 

[danceintherain]

The Westin. Was going to Uber. They still do drop-offs close up, right?

Both guest drop off locations are still a bit of a walk. If I had any mobility issues, I would prioritize a hotel on Harbor Blvd and rent an ECV to take me back and forth.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Both guest drop off locations are still a bit of a walk. If I had any mobility issues, I would prioritize a hotel on Harbor Blvd and rent an ECV to take me back and forth.

She could use an ECV from the new Westin.