Happy February everyone! Can’t believe how quickly time flies. As I write this post, my son, now two months old!!!, is sitting at my side playing in his new swing. I thought he would never sit still in that thing after two months of utter disinterest and then one day last week he suddenly loves it. Yay! (Those things are not cheap) Last I checked in, I was about to give birth…now here we are two months later and my husband and I are discussing what we want to do for Valentine’s Day. Hope everyone is having a fun-filled day surrounded by loved ones. It gets a little difficult to write when you have a new little one to care for but I am slowly getting back into the swing of things and as I play catch up, I wanted to announce some upcoming posts.
TOKYO – We visited Japan in Autumn 2016 and it was the most incredible overseas trip we have taken in a long time. I plan to do a post on the traditional Japanese ryokan (inn) we stayed in as well as our family time at the onsen (hot springs-powered spa bath), as well as our first impressions of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. Stay tuned!!
GERMANY & COPENHAGEN– A few years ago, I was browsing our local mall when I stumbled upon a free event open to the public commemorating Air New Zealand’s 75th anniversary. You literally stood in a long line and when you reached the front, received a ticket that determined whether you would progress to the next step or not. If you didn’t everyone walked away with a voucher to save 10% off your next Air New Zealand booking. The process was instantaneous and when I received my entry, I learned I had proceeded to the next line where everyone was guaranteed to win a prize – you would either receive $100 or a free flight to either London, Australia or New Zealand. Only 75 total winners from that secondary line would be chosen. Well…I won a flight to London!! We decided to make a family outing out of it and used London as our gateway in and out of Europe. SO there will also be a future post on what it was like traveling to Europe with our toddler daughter and the stops we made in England, Germany and Copenhagen!!!
MY FAVORITE DISNEY SUBSCRIPTION BOXES– As many of you may be aware, I recently learned that there were subscription services you could sign up for which allow Disney lovers like me to receive items sent from the Disney Parks directly to your home on a monthly basis. Since October I have tried many different companies to see which box services really give you the best value in exchange for what you are paying — the best companies I have found tend to have boxes that range between $25 and $180. I did a video not too long ago in which I went through the basics of the then 13 different companies that were unaffiliated with Disney that offer this service (since that time, two more companies have entered the market). However, in this post I will show what I received from each and that will help determine who really does curate the best Disney box!
SPECIAL GIVEAWAY TO BLOG FOLLOWERS/CHANNEL SUBSCRIBERS – For anyone new to my blog or who was previously unaware, I launched a YouTube channel back in October, sort of as the complement to this blog with more of a focus on pregnancy-related freebies and the aforementioned Disney subscription boxes, and the page has already exceeded 100 subscribers!!! My first YouTube milestone! I vowed to myself if I ever achieved that milestone that I wanted to do my first-ever giveaway which will consist of items I have received from various Disney mystery boxes as well as items I specifically purchased just to give back to everyone who has supported me in my passion for all things Disney.
SO… for anyone who is interested in finding out how to enter read on for more details:
STEPS TO ENTER THE YOUTUBE GIVEAWAY (open to US residents only):
Subscribe to my YouTube channel which is “Play Dates and Travels” (while you’re there, feel free to hit the bell icon which will alert you every time I upload a new video)
Give the video a like by hitting the thumbs up.
Leave a comment in the video answering the following two questions: a) What is your favorite Disney Parks ride (can be from any Disney Park in the world) and why? Would love to know the story behind what made that your favorite ride. AND b) What was it specifically about Disney that made you hooked the first time you ever visited?
As a bonus entry to the giveaway, be subscribed to this blog. If you are already a subscriber, great, I should have your information! Indicate that in the comments on YouTube and you will receive a second entry to qualify. If you are new to this blog and want a bonus entry, sign up to subscribe via this website (the tab should pop up – where it says last name just put your YouTube channel name so I can give you the double entry credit) or on the far right column of this page you should see a place to enter your email. Do that (and check your email to confirm you want to be subscribed) and then let me know in your YouTube comment which email you signed up so I can give you a double entry.
Here is the video to see what items are being included and to leave a comment to enter. Don’t forget to follow all the above steps to qualify. Entries will be valid until February 28, 2018.
That’s all for this post but let me know in the comments below if you’re a fan of giveaways and would like to see something else featured on this blog or the YouTube channel in the future. Thanks all!
In honor of today’s special holiday I wanted to share two fun family traveling experiences we took to commemorate this time of year. My daughter has proven to be a real fan of Halloween and as she is thoroughly thrilled by looking at pumpkins, witches, ghosts and skeletons and all the other crazy fun thrills of the season, we decided to take her to the local pumpkin patch as well as Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland where she could experience trick or treating and pumpkin picking in style. We even threw a fun Halloween party that doubled as a baby sprinkle last weekend, but I will save those images for a future post. Without further ado, here are photos from these two special occasions!!
Pumpkin Patch Fun for Halloween
This past weekend, we took our daughter to a new pumpkin patch. They are in the middle of a Harvest Festival so there was plenty of Fall activities to do for the kids including live music, pig races, corn mazes, animal shows, tractor wagon rides for the whole family, tomato and live produce picking, pumpkin picking, food such as corn on the cob, tri-tip sandwiches and kettle corn (as well as shaved ice with two refills, burgers, hot dogs, chicken strips and the like) and a kids’ play area that included a slide, swings, pumpkin structures and more. There were even plenty of live animals including sheep, goats, cows, mini horses, pony rides etc. that you could feed if you wanted as well as mini tractors to ride or tip, depending on your preference. 🙂 Some special add-ons were ticketed such as the pony rides and mini tractor rides, while food was primarily cash only, but a majority of the attractions listed here were included with general admission.Â
This was our first-ever trip to this pumpkin patch as we had gone to a different one the past two years, and we all absolutely loved it! My daughter loved running through the corn maze, climbing atop the large stack of hay, entering and exiting the tall pumpkin houses and picking out her own pumpkin at the end of the long afternoon.
Riding like a cowgirl near the entranceAt the exit to the mini corn maze
Pumpkin house entrance
Enjoying the pumpkin house
Atop the haystackPumpkin play structure in kids’ area
Halloween Time at Disneyland
Because our daughter is such a big fan of Disney and Halloween, and as she is at the age where trick or treating is starting to become relevant and fun to do with her friends, this year we decided to plan a family trip to Disneyland in California so she could experience the fun that is Mickey’s Halloween Party, a special ticketed event held at the park each year. Not only does the party allow all guests to come dressed in costume, something that Disney typically does not allow unless you are a child wearing one of their princess dresses, but it also gives each ticket holder admission for up to three hours in advance (giving you a full eight hours to enjoy the park at a lower price than what you would pay for a regular full day’s park admission).
Everyone must pay the extra ticketed price for this closed party event – including annual passholders – and this year was more expensive than previous years as it was the first-time ever Disneyland decided to expand the party to include admission into both California parks (including a huge Halloween overlay in California Adventure from the Oogie Boogie spookified entrance to bats circling overhead in the main street to a festive Halloween theme over Cars Land) as well as unlimited Photopass photos during the event, meaning if you took a ton of photos from Disneyland’s staffed photographers you would be able to download EVERY single one of those photos for free without paying extra.
This also meant that, in addition to the regular fun of Halloween Time you can generally experience at Disneyland which includes some Halloween-ified rides such as a Nightmare Before Christmas version of the classic Haunted Mansion ride or a Ghost Galaxy spin on the ever-popular Space Mountain, ticketed guests for Mickey’s Halloween Party could also experience special features ONLY available during the party such as unlimited trick or treating at designated stations throughout the park, photos with Disney villains that are typically only seen year-round at this special event (think Cruella de Vil, the Evil Queen etc.), spooky barber shop-style singing from the grim Cadaver Dans, a ghoulish fireworks show and Frightfully Fun Parade led by Jack Skellington of Nightmare Before Christmas fame and now also featuring a ride by the Headless Horseman of the legendary Sleepy Hollow tale who jaunts along on a black stallion to sinister music just before the start of the parade. This year’s festivities also included a spooky Headless Horseman statue in the center of California Adventure as well as a Halloween ride overlay on two Cars Land rides plus their new Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: BREAKOUT ride and plenty of spookily fun food from mummified Mickey rice krispie treats to bat wing cookies and sundaes, mummy macarons, poison skull cake pops and candy apples and even pumpkin spice churros.
I recently uploaded a video to my accompanying YouTube channel showing all the Halloween merchandise I picked up during Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland as well as some video footage of the beginning of the parade. Check that out below if you want to watch:
In addition to the fun merchandise we took home, including cute Mickey pumpkin lights (which we doubled as a festive light-up stroller finding tool at nighttime) and some appropriate Disney Halloween-themed mugs that I ordered online (including a poison apple mug and Haunted Mansion mug, both featured in the above video), here are a few snaps we took during the event itself.
Halloween Decor at Disneyland
Outside Disneyland Park just before the party
Outside California Adventure just before the party
Sleeping Beauty Castle between two Mickey pumpkin stanchions
Sleeping Beauty Castle with Halloween decor at night
Halloween Treats at California Adventure
Special treats offered during Halloween Time only at California Adventure’s Clarabelle’s
The Spider Silk ice cream sundae (we thought the ice cream was kinda bitter) – cherry spun ice cream, popping candies and raspberry sauce within the charcoal tart macaron sandwich
Our bat wing raspberry sundae with chocolate bat wing cookie – much more to our liking
Poison apple cake pops
Mummy and Mickey pumpkin rice krispie treats
Candy apples with Halloween decor
Halloween Dinner at Cafe Orleans in Disneyland
For our dinner in the park, we chose to eat for the first time at Cafe Orleans, a New Orleans-inspired eatery, and were so excited to have snagged the last dinner reservation available for the evening! Pirate Dad was a good sport but HATED their signature dish, the Monte Cristo sandwich, as he felt after two bites he was simply just done. Topped with powdered sugar, this is a deep-fried Croque Monsieur sandwich with turkey, ham and swiss cheese all battered in the fried dough while served with a berry puree. I liked it (thought it was similar to a donut) but admittedly wasn’t prepared to eat a whole plate of it, and my husband found that once you got past the overly everything-is-super-fried aspect, his sandwich simply had too much ham in it for his liking.
Pirate Dad says “Arghhh….”The Monte Cristo at Cafe Orleans
We were, however, crazy about the pommes frites (garlicky parmesan fries) served with their signature Cajun spice remoulade sauce — so finger-licking good! We did not leave a single fry in the basket. As part of the season, the menu also included shrimp and grits (which my daughter [ahem mom and dad] enjoyed as her meal) as well as their bourbon street chicken. Both my dishes were enjoyable and tasty. I later had one more evening snack in the form of tacos – see photos below.
The delicious pommes frites at Cafe Orleans in Disneyland with spicy remouladeÂ
Shrimp and grits kid’s menu portion
Bourbon street chicken at Cafe Orleans
One more dish we tried – the Dragon Breath Tacos available at Studio Catering Co. in California Adventure as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy special menu introduced this past summer (the dish was a combination of pork belly tacos with Korean BBQ sauce, kimchi and a sriracha aioli)
More Halloween Fun at both Disneyland and California Adventure
Outside the Headless Horseman statueCute Mickey Mouse Halloween signÂ
We had such a blast taking our daughter around each park for Halloween Time, even if we did not focus much on the rides this time around. Have you ever been to the special Disney Halloween party held at either Disneyland or Disney World or had a chance to visit your local pumpkin patch this year? Let me know in the comments.
Epcot’s Voices of Liberty show in the American Pavilion, taken when I was approximately five years old
My sister and I (I’m the younger one) pose together with Pluto in what looks to be Epcot’s Mexico pavilion – I am around 3 yrs old
My sister and I (at age 4) pose with Minnie Mouse at WDW
My sister and I (age 5 and 7) in Epcot park
Here’s a well known secret – I am a HUGE Disney fan and have been my entire life (since age 3 or so when my parents first took me to Walt Disney World in Florida – not counting the time they took my sister and me when I was in the womb, ha). As an adult, that fact has not changed but perhaps only intensified because now I can go when I choose! Friend trips, family trips, solo trips – I really don’t need much of an excuse for someone to convince me as I count Disney World among my favorite places to visit across the globe. As a Disney-lifer, I pride myself on making new discoveries and continuing to explore the parks inside and out as there is so much to see and do, and something seemingly new offered every year. I recently was able to cross off two of my top bucket list items in Florida – the first was visiting the parks around New Year’s Eve so I could experience the mayhem and thrilling fireworks that they typically show on TV firsthand (woohoo!) and the second was fulfilling a lifelong Disney dream to attend a private VIP tour!! How was I able to accomplish this? By discovering the group VIP tours now offered to the masses and attending an Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP tour!
Our tour guide riding behind us on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
If you’ve ever been to the parks, you’ve probably noticed official looking guides walking by with a small group in tow, wearing crisp blue pants, a red and blue plaid vest and/or suspenders over white shirt, a shiny gold pin and cast member name tag. These are Disney’s official VIP tour guides and they have the ability to lead their small group to the front of the line and get on rides in what seems to be an instant – and then of course the natural reaction is to quickly glance-over who they are accompanying to see if one of them is a celebrity. Sometimes that may be the case, but more often when I’ve checked them out, these people appear to be ordinary everyday folk, leaving you wondering if they either are in fact related to a celebrity, know someone very high up at Disney or just have a ton of money to spend.
Disney VIP Tour pass
For anyone unfamiliar, a private Disney VIP tour (what they call their Premium Tours) doesn’t come cheap. You and up to 10 guests of your choosing can pay a flat rate of $400 to $600 per hour for your group (the higher rate applies in what Disney designates as their peak seasons or around holidays), which wouldn’t be too bad if, say, you wanted to give this perk a spin for just an hour or two. However, to book a private VIP tour you have to be willing to pay that $400-$600 hourly rate for a minimum of 7 consecutive hours and that 10 person count includes every person in your party, even infants. That means those parties who you see on these tours have spent at least between $2,800 to $4,200, depending on the time of year you are visiting – not including the actual cost of their individual ticket as admission is added on top of any tour you take at either Walt Disney World or Disneyland. Anyone paying for this privilege has the option to extend the tour well past the 7 hour minimum mark, but then that is extra money you’re paying every hour, not including tip (as the guides are one of the only entities in the parks that are ALLOWED to accept tips given their job is to personally customize your plans and make sure your day is fully maximized to your liking).
Remember when I said earlier that I was able to take a VIP tour myself? Well, I can certainly tell you that spending upwards of $2,800 for a single day in the parks just wasn’t a part of my budget. But, in recent years, I began noticing that Disney has started to offer “magical extras” in the form of various incentives that you can buy to make your trip even more special, and one of the offerings that appealed to me just happens to be a less expensive version of their coveted VIP tours.
Overview of the Ultimate Tours at Walt Disney World
If you check out Disney World’s tour services webpage, listed just under the private VIP tours are three other VIP tour options in what Disney refers to on their phone line as the “Ultimate” series. This includes a 7 hour tour of their top thrill rides and which includes a lunch called The Ultimate Day of Thrills, a 4 hour tour of up to 10 classic Magic Kingdom rides called The Ultimate Disney Classics VIP tour (with each attraction chosen having no height requirements, making it appropriate for all ages to enjoy – even your under 3-year-old who is thankfully able to participate in these tours for free), or a 4 hour tour of Animal Kingdom park at night that they just began offering as of July 2017 called The Ultimate Nights of Adventure (this one includes snacks, a specialty beverage and access to 5 expedited rides and their new evening show, Rivers of Light). All of these Ultimate tours are group guided tours, which unlike the fully customizable private VIP experience where you choose what you want to do in what order, includes a pre-established itinerary that you can opt to do with the same knowledgeable VIP tour guides for a much lower cost. Both the Ultimate Day of Thrills and Disney Classics tours are held only on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, while the Animal Kingdom tour is held on Thursdays and Saturday-Sunday. The Ultimate Day of Thrills tour is currently the only offering within their VIP tour packages that requires a park hopper ticket as it visits three out of the four main parks (excluding water parks and other Disney extras).
Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP Tour Description from May 2016 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Source:Â http://bit.ly/2xqEjBK
When I first began planning my December Disney trip ahead of the 180 day mark, which is generally the earliest that guests can book advanced dining reservations and/or popular tours at Disney that are subject to sell out, I knew that our New Year’s trip would be one of the busiest times of the year and that line waits would most likely be excruciatingly long (think 2-3 hours). I had all but resigned myself to the fact that this trip would simply be about walking around, taking in the park decor and enjoying the atmosphere while eating good food…and then I learned about the Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP tour. Seeing as the price would be discounted for Disney Visa credit card holders by 15% (and I had just decided to apply for this card), paying $254 (or $270.67 post-tax) sounded very attractive for a guarantee of going on all my favorite rides with minimal wait times at one of the most crowded times of the year. Hey! It was already a super expensive time of year so I didn’t feel as badly about splurging a little extra to ensure this vacation would exceed our expectations. As an additional bonus, my daughter, who was under 3 years old, would be allowed to join us on the tour for free as the parks only begin charging for children ages 3 and up (same as with regular park admission), so it would just be an additional cost for my husband and I.
Given my excitement and knowing this would likely be a one-time splurge, my family was all set for taking this tour and I immediately got to planning the rest of our trip around it. This means at exactly the 180 days ahead mark, I not only booked this trip before it sold out for my date (which it eventually did) but also pre-booked a few dining reservations including requesting an outdoor patio seat at one of the Epcot restaurants which would allow us to have upfront seats for the fireworks display. Come the 60 day ahead mark, which is the earliest Disney hotel guests can book their Fastpass+ reservations in advance, I made sure to choose our attractions on each day based around our dining plans and also chose to book my 3 allotted Fastpass+ for the day of our tour at Animal Kingdom to ensure we would get on the rides we would not get to on the tour, given that our day was scheduled to end in that park around 3:30pm. Phew! As you can see, a trip to Disney World these days requires a lot of pre-planning which I understand isn’t for everyone, but if you navigate it far enough in advance you can usually manage to squeeze in most of what you want to do by just giving it some extra thought. The most relaxing vacation you’ve ever taken this may not be, but one that is sure to be packed with excitement and keep Disneyphiles like me completely satisfied. (The alternative again would be completing splurging for a VIP tour and then you don’t have to worry about planning anything as they do it all for you and act as unlimited human Fastpass+ – but then, given it was New Year’s, I’d be spending closer to $4,000 – no thank you.)
Changes to the Itinerary
Imagine my surprise when closer to my trip, around early December, I randomly re-visited the Disney World VIP tours page and saw that they had made a couple of changes to the itinerary! Those changes have remained in effect until today and include the following:
The 12 rides once listed had been reduced down to 10 rides as part of the tour itinerary (meaning two less rides would be on the tour though the cost remained the same)
The tour no longer visits Animal Kingdom at all, and instead visits Epcot mid-day before ending the day in Hollywood Studios (meaning all my Fastpass+ selections in Animal Kingdom for after the tour would be affected as we would now end the tour in another park entirely)
The table service lunch at the Hollywood Brown Derby, one of their few signature restaurants on property, has been changed to a quick service lunch at Epcot’s Sunshine Seasons (I had really been looking forward to the Derby as I had never been there before)
This meant that all my hard work of planning my day around my dining plans the days before and then specifically picking rides at Animal Kingdom for the day of were now for nought. With my trip in just a few short weeks I was concerned that all the best Fastpass+ times had already been snagged and I’d be left with slim pickings should I change my plans this last minute. Well, Disney came to the rescue and then some! When I realized the tour had significantly changed from what I paid for back in July some six months prior, I reached out to VIP tour services who put me in touch with an agent in charge. He explained that they had actually been spending the latter half of the past month contacting everyone who had booked the tour months in advance before the recent changes took effect, and offering everyone two anytime Fastpass+ credits that could be used toward any rides on the day of your choosing; they simply hadn’t gotten around to calling me yet. That solved the lack of 2 extra rides now included on the tour but I mentioned that the table service restaurant – specifically eating at the Hollywood Brown Derby — was something we had been looking forward to for this special trip, and in what I love about DIsney World, he endeavored to make it right. I was personally introduced by phone to the woman who would be one of our tour guides that day and promised that during the tour she would “magically” whisk our party away from the rest of the group to enjoy the lunch we had been promised. With this in mind, we looked forward to the tour with renewed confidence.
What Happened the Day of the VIP Tour
FIRST STOP – MAGIC KINGDOMÂ
The morning of our tour we arrived 15 minutes ahead of the official check-in time at Tomorrowland Terrace, the start point in Magic Kingdom for the Ultimate Day of Thrills tour. Â As we were early, there was only a small handful of families gathered about the room (by calling ahead we had learned over 40 people were booked that day for our tour so our large group would be split in half), but the staff encouraged us to grab a snack and check in. A table had been set with various snacks and beverages including granola bars, water bottles, juice, coffee and tea. When we went up to the VIP tour guides with clipboards in hand and mentioned our name, our assigned tour guide greeted us (the one I had spoken to previously on the phone) and took us over to the side, handing out our VIP tour lanyards and offering us the opportunity to visit the bathroom or get started on our tour. We mentioned we were all set and so at approximately 8:17am (ahead of the 8:30 official start time) our tour began!
The tour involved brisk walking, which was fine by my husband and me as we are fast walkers and had come prepared in comfortable shoes, and walking expediently was a great way to get across the park more quickly. Luckily for us, my parents, who live in Florida, had offered to drive up for the day and spend time with their granddaughter so we did not have to worry about lugging along her stroller and switching off rides that she could not yet go on – which meant my husband and I got to relax and enjoy the tour as the ride-loving thrillseekers that we are. By 8:25am, still ahead of the official tour start time, we climbed aboard our first ride – Pirates of the Caribbean. Given the early hour of the day, our boat was entirely empty save for our tour guide, my husband and I. By 8:40am, we made it to our second ride – Splash Mountain. Our tour guide conveniently stepped aside and allowed us to ride by ourselves so she wouldn’t get her uniform wet – but not before suggesting where in the boat we should sit if we wanted to avoid the downpour of water (not front row and left is best)! Just after 9am, we were just getting off our third ride of the morning – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – when it dawned on me that the rest of our group wasn’t joining us and I turned to my husband and said, “Are we going to do this entire tour on our own?!”
Outside of Haunted Mansion with no lines in sight and where, according to our tour guide, the top of the roof is lined with chess pieces as Disney legend has it the Imagineers who built the building were fond of playing chessBlack carriage hearse led by an invisible ghost horse
We were then escorted to Haunted Mansion where our guide gave us excellent trivia on the ride’s exterior and explained that the best spot to be the first onto the ride when you enter the stretching room is actually just under the girl with the parasol as that is where the door opens (I had never figured that out so really appreciated this tip).
While we paid for the group VIP tour, we ended up getting a pseudo-private VIP tour for the same reduced cost.
Enjoying our ride on the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
After the ride we were given a bathroom break by “it’s a small world,” before heading to the Fastpass+ line for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, one of the park’s newer roller coasters, where our tour guide gave us another very useful tip we never knew about – if you rock from side to side during the ride in unison and everyone in your car participates, you can actually make the roller coaster car swing from side to side throughout the ride – that was SO COOL. Also cool was the fact that this was the first ride we saw the VIP treatment in action. By this point of the morning lines had started to form and the standby line was in full swing. When we approached the cast member toward the part of the line where the Fastpass merges with standby, our guide leaned over and told the cast member to please allow our party to get on the next train as we were on a tight schedule, and the cast member swiftly obliged. This was the first ride of the day where we had to wait at all and only a few minutes at that, as our tour guide made sure we moved from ride to ride with precision. As ride lovers, my husband and I nearly melted with glee.
Following Seven Dwarfs, we next rode Space Mountain with very minimal wait (probably closer to a 10 minute wait on this one as there is just no getting around their long cues).
My husband and I about to get on Space Mountain
Our last ride in this park was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which our tour guide told us was included due to us making great time (despite this one appearing on the original itinerary so my guess is it’s only included on more expedient mornings).
Image taken from my Disney photo book of us on the ride during our tourOur tour guide was nice enough to take this shot for us in front of Cinderella’s Castle before we left the park
At this point, she informed us that our time at Magic Kingdom had come to an end and we were taken into a backstage area not normally allowed to the public (and thus sadly, no photos were allowed) before she had us climb into a private vehicle. In the car, we were given ice cold water bottles which was incredibly refreshing after a morning walking from place to place, as was the van’s refreshing air conditioning, and she took us straight over to Epcot.
SECOND STOP – EPCOTÂ
As we drove in a cast member entrance, we saw the back of the iconic World Showcase buildings I had grown up enjoying. It was like looking at a soundstage, which I guess for all intents and purposes is what theme parks are – you just never know it! She whisked past Test Track (sadly not part of this tour as she indicated the lines are too long given there is a whole interactive design aspect to the ride), taking us directly near a side entrance to Soarin’ where she once again offered us the opportunity to take a bathroom break. Our entrance took us right to the start of the line cue and it was there that she pointed out Sunshine Seasons, the regularly scheduled lunch stop for this tour.
After Soarin’, that was it for the scheduled attractions in Epcot – yup, just one ride and lunch are included there – so we climbed back in the vehicle one last time and she made sure we retrieved our bags and water bottles as we would not be returning to the car. Just before we entered Hollywood Studios another cast member came out and scanned our MagicBands (which serve as park tickets at Disney World) so this is exactly why a park hopper ticket is required for this tour as they do check.
LAST TOUR STOP – HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS Â Â
We entered the park again from a side cast member entrance, this one near Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which she mentioned would normally occur at this point of the tour, but given the Fastpass+ line was a little long and looked like it would exceed a half hour wait, we would circle back and do that later. Instead, she took us straight to Tower of Terror which had a much shorter wait.
Getting our money shot in front of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride, one of our favorite rides in the park!
After this ride, we walked over to the Hollywood Brown Derby for lunch. We were given the regular menu and told that we were allowed to order a beverage (lemonade, coffee, tea, water or soft drink), appetizer and entree apiece – I chose the oyster brie soup and lamb duo while my husband selected the jumbo lump crab cakes and charred filet of beef. While a little heavy, the portions weren’t too big so we were able to manage it. But supposedly this was another reason Disney decided to scratch this part of the tour as some families had complained a full meal after all the rides was a bit heavy – for us, we enjoy a sit down meal so this was an extra bonus and great to finally see the interiors of this iconic restaurant. The food, however, we thought was a bit meh.
Hollywood Brown Derby menu
Oyster brie soup at the Hollywood Brown Derby during our tour
Lamb duo at the Hollywood Brown Derby during our tour
The charred filet of beef with mashed potatoes and veggies
To give our stomachs some time to rest, we next visited Toy Story Mania – below is our blurry selfie we took just before the ride.
Blurry Toy Story Mania photo from my phone
After that, we went on Star Tours, followed by our final ride on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, where the line had indeed gone down giving us a minimal wait. My husband and I recited the pre-show lines to each other under our breaths as we’ve ridden this ride so many times (my other park ride favorite) and waited a few extra minutes to ride in the front row, accompanied by our tour guide (this really must be the best job in the parks)! It was at this point we were given a choice of taking the vehicle back to Magic Kingdom if we wanted (or even to Animal Kingdom since that is where we had initially planned to end our day), but we had made pre-arrangements for a Fastpass+ to the now defunct Great Movie Ride in Hollywood Studios so opted to part ways. We then partook in extra snacks instead by way of my first Mickey pretzel (I prefer the German pretzel in Epcot) and pizza at the newly launched PizzeRizzo to see if the pizza was just as good as the old Toy Story Pizza Planet (it was exactly the same).
Grabbing the obligatory Mickey pretzel post-tour
Followed by an individual pizza at the new PizzeRizzo, replacement to the former Toy Story Pizza Planet
Ultimate Day of Thrills Tour Takeaways
Our takeaway was this: the tour was amazing! I would do this again on a future trip if I only had one or two days to enjoy the entirety of the parks as you can save on the cost of a ticket for an extra day and/or hotel lodging while really treating yourself, or I might consider doing their new Animal Kingdom offering to get in all the top attractions at Pandora! Again, note that Animal Kingdom is not included at all on the Ultimate Day of Thrills tour. You really do get your money’s worth in terms of personalized attention and access to tips and secrets about the parks, plus the private chauffeured vehicle transportation from park to park. As you can see, we did accomplish 12 Fastpass rides on this tour plus had time for up to three additional Fastpass+ afterwards! While we realize the unanticipated private tour was a bonus given we booked before the tour changes took place, we would happily do the same experience with a larger group – some day. On less popular days I’ve read reports that some families end up taking this tour nearly by themselves anyway. When we mentioned to our tour guide that we were into Disney trivia, she kept it coming for the remainder of the tour so it was great to talk to someone who was just as passionate about Disney and could give us some insider tips. You also get to keep the VIP lanyard, which I wore for the rest of the day as it shows cast members I just came off a private VIP tour! One important note: since we were so fast we never saw the regular tour group until the end of our tour when they were just getting to the park (I believe around 2:30 or so). Our tour ended around 2:48pm, ahead of the 3:30 end time we anticipated, but since we had already achieved all that was scheduled we did part ways early – so just note you can’t squeeze in extra attractions that are not part of this official tour, even if you do end early.
Tour Pricing
The thrill rides tour is $299 per person, plus tax, and requires the addition of a park hopper pass as you will be visiting three out of the four parks plus partaking in a lunch – again, the regular lunch now scheduled is at Epcot’s Sunshine Seasons, a quick service food court. For anyone interested in the other Ultimate Tours, the Animal Kingdom group guided tour is $249 per person plus tax and the Magic Kingdom group guided tour is now $199 per person, modified from what they used to call the “Ultimate Day for Young Families” which formerly went to all the same Magic Kingdom attractions listed on their website for the Classics tour, plus kid-friendly attractions in 2 other parks and included a lunch for $299 per person – here is a link to their old brochure for more info on those changes. Â (I believe a number of people must have complained that 7 hours and a lunch with young kids attending and minimal bathroom breaks was too much, so Disney took note and made it occur in just the one park for a shorter period of time – nixing the lunch but adding a quick park snack). These VIP tours are only offered at Walt Disney World, not Disneyland, but again you do get a slight 15% discount if you are either a Disney Vacation Club member, Annual Passholder at Disney World (annual passholders at Disneyland do not count), or Disney Visa credit card holder.
In comparison to a regular VIP tour, I can almost see why someone might be willing to splurge for the $2,800 minimum cost. It might make sense if you have money to burn or if this is your only Disney trip you are ever going to take and you want the primo experience, or if you are traveling to Disney with a large party consisting of several families together or large group of friends (or can find another random family or two willing to split costs with you). If you split the costs, that $400 to $600 hourly rate doesn’t seem half as bad since you’ll be receiving the ultimate royal treatment in exchange, which includes a private Disney vehicle picking you up at the time of your choosing from your Orlando hotel (even if it is off Disney property – goodbye overcrowded but free Disney shuttles! – note: this is one part that is different from the group Ultimate tours), being whisked through an expedited entrance line (no more long bag check lines), receiving an unlimited use of Fastpass+ without the hassle of having to pre-plan your entire itinerary like I did and ride whatever you want in whatever order you want on the day of, having the ability to go on your favorite rides repeatedly with minimal wait (15 minutes or less generally), watch your favorite shows, firework spectaculars or parades from special reserved VIP viewing areas roped off just for you, and have the opportunity to take your designated tour guide with you from park to park, thus fully maximizing your time at Disney World while everyone around you enviously stares. NOTE: many years ago I believe the VIP tour guides were able to take their private parties to special side entrances or straight to the back of the line to get right on the rides – and maybe this is still the case with some celebrities – but for the majority of those paying for the private VIP tours, this is no longer. They are only able to take each party directly into the Fastpass+ line at character greetings, shows and rides, BUT the good news is that nearly 90% of the available entertainment, including character meet and greets if that is your priority as well as all the biggest thrill rides, at Disney World is all Fastpass+ so you would still be maximizing your time with them either way. If I ever did this, I would just save the non-Fastpass+ attractions for when our pre-paid 7 hour expedited window is up as those lines tend to be shorter in general anyway.
I actually called VIP services to gauge pricing and if one were to book the private VIP tours in October, with the exception of Columbus Day weekend when many schools are out and thus the parks are crowded, the price would come to $425/hour for the fall. Not too shabby.
A few tips when traveling during the holiday season:
Cast members know the parks will be crowded so if you simply visit Guest Services (either at the front of each park or within your own Disney hotel), you can check to see if they can add any additional Fastpasses for you. Maybe it was because we were staying at a moderate hotel vs. the value hotels we typically stay in (in this case, the moderate was only slightly higher than the value for this time of year so we upgraded), but the employees were exceptionally kind and helpful, noting that we had a toddler with us and trying to help us squeeze in extra character meet and greets and toddler-friendly attractions like Dumbo at Magic Kingdom to ensure that our little girl would have plenty of fun. So I definitely would pay Guest Services a visit and see what they can do despite the busy season.
New Year’s is a great time to visit for the simple fact that besides the special New Year’s celebrations held in every park (I am assuming Animal Kingdom will do something this year as they now have added nighttime hours that didn’t exist in years past), you also still can view the Christmas holiday decorations on display throughout the parks and at each resort. We spent one half day alone traveling by monorail to all the deluxe hotels as well as walking by the ones near Epcot to take it all in!
Our hotel gave us Disney buttons in advance – things that say I’m Celebrating, or Happy Anniversary!, Happy Birthday! and the like, without us having to wait until we got to the parks. This is convenient if you want to let their employees know how you’re celebrating a special occasion as they will often wish you congratulations and sometimes even give you a complimentary treat on the house! (This is not just a holiday season tip but a tip in general fyi)
Due to the extra Fastpasses and services catered to our little one, we felt like VIPs for the entire length of the trip, not just on the day we took the tour, making this a pretty special trip and giving us fond memories that will last us all a really long time!!! Would you take this VIP tour? Feel free to leave a comment below on your own personal experience or Disney bucket list items.
My daughter gives the main mouse a kiss toward the end of our trip
I love taking photos. Luckily for me, my husband is fairly organized and pretty computer savvy. When we first started dating, he educated me on the convenience of archiving images into organized folders. Our main home computer is now filled with hundreds of photo folders all sorted by date. Here is a screenshot from an older photo folder for example.
I love the fact that each major event in our lives is sorted in the order that it happened and includes a brief description of the folder’s contents. I was browsing through my photo folders the other day and realized just how many fun trips we have taken our daughter on so far. She recently turned three years old but in that time she has been to more places than either my husband or I had ever been to at her age.  So far, she counts trips to three continents (North America, Asia, and Europe), and a total of 7 different theme parks (in this order, Knott’s Berry Farm, Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios FL, Universal Studios CA, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea).  U.S. trips include from the time she was seven months old, a three-hour flight to Austin, TX to a five hour solo trip with mom to Miami, FL, and various other trips in between and thereafter, including New York City, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Atlanta, Detroit, Toledo, OH, Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Boston, New Haven, San Francisco, San Diego, Solvang, CA and her first trip to the Caribbean when we took a Bahamian cruise. Phew! Listing all these places makes me itch to take another vacation 🙂
 Getting about with a baby isn’t necessarily the easiest thing in the world but it doesn’t have to be super difficult either. It just requires a bit of planning and forethought. For example, I learned when our infant daughter came with us to Europe that 15 months was perhaps a bit young for our family to fly overseas and now I know that I probably would never do that again. Why? Two words: time difference. It was simply too much for a young baby to handle, and our daughter remained on the wrong time zone THE ENTIRE TWO WEEK TRIP. Given she couldn’t fully talk yet and understand when Mommy and Daddy said it was time to go to sleep, us adults had to sleep in shifts. Erm…not pleasant. We got plenty of great photos but a majority of the daytime she was happily snoozing in her stroller while we went sightseeing, and by 1 am, she was wide awake and wanted to play.
But I got a bit off track…going back to the subject of this post, my advice to new parents is if you don’t already have a categorical organized system backed up on your home computer, in addition to wherever else you may store your images whether that be Dropbox, the Cloud or Google Photos, start to archive all those phone pictures and videos you take on your computer NOW. It will make it so much easier for you later on to find all those great images you took of your recent vacation or trip to the park or important milestone (i.e. baby’s first steps). Here is a simple step by step guide to how you can categorize your photos:
Access your main pictures folder on your computer.
Create a new folder by right clicking on your mouse and scrolling down to where it says “New” and then double click on the “Folder” option.
If it doesn’t immediately prompt you, scroll to the New Folder you created and right click to select “Rename.”
Enter the date the images were taken, beginning with the current year. We like to use dashes so everything lines up nicely i.e. 2017-08-25. Then enter a brief description. For example, your folder from yesterday’s outing could easily say “2017-08-25 Park Fun.” (Note: if you don’t organize the folder names by date, beginning with the year, you could always sort them in the order taken later on but that adds on an unnecessary step and the point of this guide is to create at-a-glance convenience.)
Keeping the newly created photos folder open, go to the main folder on your computer where your phone images are automatically stored. Select all the relevant images that relate to the date and activity of the special activity folder you just created and copy and paste all images into the folder you created in step 4.
That’s it! Â You can repeat this for as many different activities as you’d like and it is a simple and convenient way of finding photos that correlate to major events and travels you have taken.
Leave a comment to let me know if this worked for you or if you have an alternative system of organizing images. Either way, I highly recommend regularly creating categorized image folders on your computer as it is a great way to keep your images organized, especially if you are combining photos from multiple camera sources. With this method in place, no matter whether your children or significant other are calling your attention away and you don’t have time to give this more than a few minutes thought, you will be able to keep your photos all in one place and maintain a bit of sanity.
 Getting about with a baby isn’t necessarily the easiest thing in the world but it doesn’t have to be super difficult either. It just requires a bit of planning and forethought. For example, I learned when our infant daughter came with us to Europe that 15 months was perhaps a bit young for our family to fly overseas and now I know that I probably would never do that again. Why? Two words: time difference. It was simply too much for a young baby to handle, and our daughter remained on the wrong time zone THE ENTIRE TWO WEEK TRIP. Given she couldn’t fully talk yet and understand when Mommy and Daddy said it was time to go to sleep, us adults had to sleep in shifts. Erm…not pleasant. We got plenty of great photos but a majority of the daytime she was happily snoozing in her stroller while we went sightseeing, and by 1 am, she was wide awake and wanted to play.
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