Be a VIP in Orlando and Kissimmee, Florida!

This article discusses the different VIP tours offered around Orlando and Kissimmee Florida and is divided into park provided tours from Disney, Universal Studios and SeaWorld and private tours that are not affiliated with any particular theme park.

There is so much to see and do in the Orlando and Kissimmee areas of Florida that planning a trip may be exciting for some, but overwhelming for others. Whether you like to put together detailed spreadsheets of your plans or prefer to leave the details to someone else, there might be some benefit to considering a VIP tour.

VIP tours have become more popular recently and many amusement parks now offer a variety of tours from private all-inclusive VIP tours to various behind-the-scene tours. VIP tours vary from park to park, but typically include a fully customized itinerary for one or more days, a personal guide, priority front-of-line access to rides and shows, reserved seating for shows and dining and a photo package.

There are two main categories of VIP tour packages in the Orlando and Kissimmee areas: Park Provided VIP Tours at Disney, Universal Studios and Seaworld and Private VIP Tours that can include multiple parks as well as other area attractions.

Park Provided VIP Tours

Walt Disney World VIP Tour Services

Walt Disney World currently consists of four different theme parks: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. In addition, there are two water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, and too many restaurants and accommodations to list here. Given the sheer size of Walt Disney World it should be no surprise that no less than five VIP Tours are currently on offer. Make sure you check dates and times as some of the tours are only offered on certain days of the week and some have blackout dates as well.

The Private VIP Tour offers a fully customizable tour, door-to-door service and an array of personalized perks, to include access to all FastPass+ lines, for your private group of up to ten guests. As this option is fully customizable the cost also varies depending your desires. However, the cost of admission to each park is not included and must be purchased separately. If you want to visit multiple parks on your tour you will have to purchase a park hopper pass for the day of the tour. This VIP tour might be a great option if you want to enjoy Pandora - The World of Avatar located in Disney's Animal Kingdom Park, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge located in Disney's Hollywood Studios or both as these attractions are fairly new and some of their most popular rides can have very long wait times.

Star Wars Parade at Hollywood Studios

The most difficult ride to get on currently is Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  In fact, the only way to get on this ride, even if you are on a Private VIP Tour, is to enter the park, access your Disney World Mobile App, find Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance than select Join Boarding Group. The Disney World Mobile App knows whether you are in the park or not and will only allow you to join a boarding group if you are actually in the park. If successful, you will receive a boarding group number.  The Disney World Mobile App will notify you two hours prior to your boarding group time. Boarding group slots typically run out within the first hour or two of the park opening and people stand in line one to two hours prior to the park opening just to be able to get a boarding group number which may not be until the evening. If you want to try to get a head start on Star Wars: Rise of Resistance without getting up at the crack of dawn, a Disney representative told me the Private VIP Tour will take your group to the park 30 minutes before opening then you would still need to wait and access the Disney App to get your boarding slot at official park opening time. You will however get 30 minutes to explore Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge before rope drop!

The Ultimate Day of Thrills VIP Tour offers a pre-packaged, fixed price tour that takes you on some of the most thrilling rides starting in The Magic Kingdom, then Epcot and finishing in Disney's Hollywood Studios allowing you to enjoy the experience while avoiding any wait times. A VIP tour guide and transportation between parks are provided making this day long tour effortless. As with the previous tour, the cost of admission to each park is not included and must be purchased separately so you will need to purchase a park hopper pass for the day of the tour. This tour might be great if you only have one day to visit Walt Disney World Orlando and enjoy thrill rides as it will give you a taste of three parks, but will probably leave you wanting to come back and spend a day in each park next time.

Cinderella's Castle at The Magic Kingdom

The Ultimate Disney Classics VIP Tour offers a pre-packaged, fixed price tour that takes you on some of the classic attractions in The Magic Kingdom allowing you to enjoy the experience while avoiding any wait times. A VIP tour guide is provided and since this four hour tour only visits one park, you can purchase a single park ticket instead of a park hopper ticket. This could be a nice option if you have very young children and don't want to wait in lines.

The Ultimate Nights of Adventure VIP Tour offers a pre-packaged, fixed price tour that takes you on some of the most popular rides in Disney's Animal Kingdom Park at night allowing you to enjoy the experience while avoiding any wait times. A VIP tour guide is provided and since this four hour tour only visits one park you can purchase a single park ticket instead of a park hopper ticket.

The Taste of Magic Kingdom Park VIP Tour offers a pre-packaged, fixed price tour that takes you behind-the-scenes to hear how this park creates and feeds all of the guests each day. In addition to visiting some of the backstage kitchens and working areas you will be able to taste some of the most beloved menu items at this park. A VIP tour guide is provided and since this three hour tour only visits one park you can purchase a single park ticket instead of a park hopper ticket. Walt Disney World has many excellent restaurants and this gives any foodie an opportunity to see behind the scenes in the large kitchens, sample some of their classic items in addition to some of the newer creations they are developing.  This is also one of the least expensive VIP tours Disney has on offer. Disney does, however, need to reconsider their 16 year minimum age requirement for this tour as I would have loved to have taken my budding chef tween on this tour.

In addition to these VIP tours there are many Special Events and Tours on offer, too many to list here, so click on the Special Events and Tours link and explore for yourself. Whether you choose one of the VIP tours or just want to book one or two behind-the-scenes tours be sure to check out the details on Disney's website first as there are often various types of restrictions.

Universal Orlando VIP Experience

Universal Orlando currently consists of two different parks: Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure as well as a water park called Volcano Bay™. There are two levels of the Universal Orlando VIP Experience: the VIP experience and the private VIP experience. The only difference is that the regular VIP experience may include multiple parties in the same group while the private VIP experience is exclusive to just your party. This may not seem like a big difference, but since the private VIP experience consists of only your party you can completely customize it to do exactly what you want when you want, which I think is the best part of the experience.

Hogsmeade at Universal's Islands of Adventure

All VIP experiences include actual front-of-the-line access to all rides, not just Universal Express Passes, behind-the-scenes experiences, complimentary valet parking, reserved seating at shows, complimentary continental breakfast and lunch,  Universal CityWalk Party Pass™ and discounts at select Universal Orlando owned and operated merchandise locations.

My approach would be to go for a two day park hopper pass since it takes a day to explore each park and the park hopper option allows you to go between parks, which is really the only way to ride the Hogwarts Express as it goes between them. I would then opt for the private VIP experience for the first day focusing on the most popular attractions (i.e. longest wait times) like the Harry Potter rides and use the second day to explore on your own.

SeaWorld Private VIP Tour

SeaWorld currently has three parks in Orlando:  SeaWorld, Discovery Cove and Aquatica.  SeaWorld and Discovery Cove are also certified autism centers, which means that they have partnered with The International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES to provide certified staff, an IBCCES Sensory Guide™, a Ride Accessibility Program (RAP), quiet rooms, a low sensory area and companion/family assist restrooms as well as manual flush toilets for those with sensory needs.

SeaWorld is an amusement park that has rides, shows, dining and animal encounters. This park currently offers three levels of VIP tours for groups of two to twelve as well as several shorter tours. All VIP tours include a personal guide, preferred parking, express park entry, fast passes, reserved show seating, photo package, and one or more animal encounter experience. However, the entrance fee is not included in the price of any tours.

Swimming with Sharks at Discovery Cove.

Discovery Cove is a water park without all of the slides; it has more of a relaxed beach resort feel to it. This is also helped by the fact that they limit numbers to the park so whether you are there during Spring Break or 'off peak' season, the park never feels overcrowded.  It has three large pool areas: one is a very long lazy river which even winds through an open air bird atrium, one is the dolphin encounter pool, which costs extra and one is a snorkeling area containing live fish and rays with which you can swim. There are no VIP tours on offer here, but they do offer a number of extra experiences such as swimming with dolphins, swimming with sharks, dolphin trainer for a day and an underwater walking tour of a reef. Otherwise, unlimited food, drinks, sun screen, wet suits and swimming are provided. You can also book a cabana for an extra fee if you want some extra privacy.

Aquatica is a typical water park with various water slides, two wave pools, a kids play area, lazy river and a not-so-lazy river.  Fast food style dining is available. Cabanas and premium seating loungers are also available to rent for the day and fast passes can be purchased if you wish to avoid lines at the more popular water slides. However, no VIP tours are on offer here.

My approach would be to book a day at Discovery Cove (Day Resort Admission + 2 Parks option). As they only allow a limited number of guests in each day, you must book ahead to ensure you actually get a day. With this particular admission ticket, you get unlimited access to SeaWorld and Aquatica within 14 consecutive days. At the time of writing this article, this 2 Park option is only $21 more than just buying the regular entrance ticket for Discovery Cove so it really represents good value. There is also a Day Resort Admission + 3 Parks option that include Busch Gardens, which is located near Tampa, a 1 hour and 45 minute drive from Orlando.  You can add a dolphin swim, shark swim or other encounters as well, but I highly recommend booking a daybed or cabana. Cabanas come in a variety of styles and price points.  All cabanas contain lockers, stocked mini refrigerators and have towel service. They comfortably accommodate six but up to 10 people can share one. I would skip the VIP tours at SeaWorld and just book any specific mini-tours of interest spending a day or two here then spend one day at Aquatica reserving a cabana here too. Cabanas are nice as they provide a "home base" to have a breather and relax in the shade (or sun) while you enjoy the parks and give you a place to stow all your clothing, valuables, towels and snacks.

Private or Concierge VIP Tours of Orlando and Kissimmee Florida

Rocket Garden at the Kennedy Space Center

There are a lot of private concierge VIP tour operators specializing in the Orlando and Kissimmee Florida area and if you find planning a trip to this area overwhelming this type of service might be for you. Many of these companies offer complete packages for visiting the various theme parks listed above and can arrange transportation and dining reservations both within theme parks as well as in and around Orlando and Kissimmee.  They can also incorporate other attractions in and around the area to include tickets to sporting events, alligator encounters, air boat rides, hot air ballon rides, helicopter rides, LegoLandⓇ, and The Kennedy Space Center.

Private VIP tour operators are usually significantly less expensive than the theme park provided tours. However, there can be some drawbacks. Yes, a private VIP tour guide can get you around the park quickly and efficiently without requiring you to use the park's app or memorize maps which might be valuable to you. However, only the theme park provided tours can take you through back entrances and employee only areas to avoid the crowds. Another drawback particular to Disney is ride access. A Disney VIP tour allows you to use the FastPass+ lines as many times as you want while the private VIP tour guides can only manage your party's FastPasses, which can be very limiting. I have read some reviews of private VIP tours where they somehow are able to use more FastPasses then normal and there are many happy customers out there who have posted very positive reviews on-line so I would definitely just do your due diligence before selecting a private VIP tour operator.

Whether you are a first-time visitor to this area or have been coming here for years a VIP tour may be of interest. I know I will definitely consider some of these options in the future. Have you already tried one of the VIP tours? We would love to hear about your experiences. Please share them with us in the comments below.