I am a hypocrite. I bought Fastlane.

Jeff:

This already exists as the VIP tour program. I've done it once in Magic Kingdom, and it was worth it, if only once. It's variable, but I think a year ago we paid with another family a total of $4,275 for up to ten people (we had nine).

Is that before the customary $500-$600 tip that is given to the cast member who took you around the park for the day?

There is no customary tip. Ours specifically said not to do it. As she put it, "I've got Mickey's credit card, I'm good." I know some people do, and that's fine. They make $25/hr to start, which is far from a server wage. If they were getting $500 a day, five days a week, 48 weeks a year, they would bank $120k on tips alone, plus $50k in wages.

Oh, ok I see.
Now where do I sign up for this tour guide gig?

I walked into it pretty blind. Friend saved up, said she wanted to go big because who knows when she'll get back, asked us to come along to dilute the cost. So that day I asked the guide while waiting for the group for some reason, and that's when she said don't. I took her at her word, and I would have felt uncomfortable if she didn't share what they were banking hourly. (Sidebar: it's interesting how much more young people are willing to openly talk about salary, but I imagine that's also why they seem to be making back some ground for labor power.)

It’s possible they are not supposed to accept tips. I tried to tip the guide for our Savor the Savannah tour, and she said she couldn’t take it.

Jeff:

This already exists as the VIP tour program. I've done it once in Magic Kingdom, and it was worth it, if only once. It's variable, but I think a year ago we paid with another family a total of $4,275 for up to ten people (we had nine).

Out of curiosity, what all does the VIP tour include?

Not admission, oddly enough. Basically for the hours that you're there, you can ride/see whatever you want, as much as you want. They won't buy you a meal, but they'll buy you as many snacks and drinks as you want. Then for the nighttime spectacular, they'll put you in a VIP area and give you ice cream. It's the only time I've ever enjoyed the show at Magic Kingdom, because you weren't packed into the hub. We did 17 attractions in 7 hours, including multiple laps on Seven Dwarfs, the difficult one to get.

Jeff:

It's variable, but I think a year ago we paid with another family a total of $4,275

For that kind of money I'd rather buy 43.181818181818.... Cedar Point Gold Passes

Jeff:

Not admission, oddly enough. Basically for the hours that you're there, you can ride/see whatever you want, as much as you want. They won't buy you a meal, but they'll buy you as many snacks and drinks as you want. Then for the nighttime spectacular, they'll put you in a VIP area and give you ice cream. It's the only time I've ever enjoyed the show at Magic Kingdom, because you weren't packed into the hub. We did 17 attractions in 7 hours, including multiple laps on Seven Dwarfs, the difficult one to get.

interesting. So I assume for that kind of coin you get front of the line access? Not just lightening lane right?

They walk you pretty much into the ride, sometimes via exits, but it depends on the ride. I recall Buzz Lightyear we went in through a side entrance and boarded on the exit side, but Splash Mountain was more conventional up the LL queue.

Jeff:

They walk you pretty much into the ride, sometimes via exits, but it depends on the ride. I recall Buzz Lightyear we went in through a side entrance and boarded on the exit side, but Splash Mountain was more conventional up the LL queue.

Thanks. Might have to do this someday. But not this trip coming up. 😆

I hired them because I was with my parents who hadn’t been in 10+ years and we only had 2 days. Day 1 (without VIP) we did Rise VQ and spent the rest of the day at Epcot (Rise was not able to be done with VIP at the time.). The following day we met our guide at MK and did Splash, BTMRR, Pirates, HM, Pan, SDMT and hopped in a suburban in the parking lot between MSUSA and TL went to AK. Entered via the parking lot by Avatarland, did Pandora, hopper back in the Suburban and went to DHS. Did Mickey, TSMM, Slinky, RnRC, ToT, and MF. Then hopper back in and got dropped off at the Poly for our Ohana Reservation. Had snacks and waters throughout the day. It was pretty great, I gave and my guide accepted my $500 tip.

Another high cost Disney thing I would recommend is Advenures by Disneys Backstage Magic vacation in LA. 6 days 5 nights, start in Hollywood (at the Lowes) and tour Jim Henson Studios, Disney Studios, Imagineering then head to Anaheim for 3 nights at GCA. Get backstage tours of Indy, Walt’s Apt, Soarin, RSR and expedited access onto most other rides as well as reserved spots for the nighttime spectaculars, and at least 2 meals a day. It was fantastic.

My understanding is the current VIP tour can only get you on Rise once. I assume (but haven't) verified Tron is in the same boat (or took over that boat).

Cedar Fair looks to be busting out/testing out their own Lightning-La...er....Single-use-Fastlane.

I hope that is not a sign of things to come. It dilutes the value of the single use FL+ for Prestige passholders.

We were at KI on Monday. Orion never had more than a 30 minute wait. Flight of Fear is Meh to us, so we don't ride it. Nothing else, with the exception of Mystic Timbers, was more than 30 minutes.

I was at SFMM last week, and they also will let you do a single use FlashPass. Pricing depends on the ride, $5-$15.

For context, these are selling for $20.00 each at Kings Island.

I thought the SFMM was a very low price point. The regular Flashpass was around $90 and the middle one that I was looking at was around $110. That's a lot of rides at $5/pop to justify that. However, the park wasn't too crowded so it may be dynamic.

FWIW, the only ride I saw at $15 was X2, and that was carrying a 45 minute wait time.

^^ I did note that when we last redeemed our FL+ for our Prestige Pass at Cedar Point the register showed a price of $20.00. Have never noticed that before. I wonder if they are setting for up the sale of these.

I stand corrected. What I saw was someone posting that kind of receipt (exactly what Bozman described above).