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Post by BWV Dreamin on Feb 17, 2023 16:29:46 GMT -5
You guys still have a manual trans car? I'm jealous. Last stick I drove was last summer when I drove my 93 Nissan Pathfinder to the junkyard  I've got a 91 Honda that I dream of putting a stick in, but good luck to me finding one (at a cost I'm okay with) Yes we do. We've always had 1 manual in our house since I graduated college. For the longest time we actually had 2. I went from a Civic EX 5spd to a Civic Si. When we got the CRV we kept the Si until it was run into the ground. Replaced it with another manual Civic. I did sell my Mini Cooper S 6spd to get my Mini EV, but one pedal driving is a lot of fun still. So we want to give our kid an easier car to learn on. I think we have one we'll buy from a friend. We'll teach him stick eventually. OT, but my father said I HAD to learn to drive a stick or I wasn’t driving. Said that in case of an emergency I could drive any type of vehicle. Needless to say my first car was a Dodge Coronet ( army pea green) with a stick on the column. It was NO FUN to drive that car, but alas, to this day I can drive a stick if I have to. |
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Post by helenabear on Feb 17, 2023 21:25:17 GMT -5
Yes we do. We've always had 1 manual in our house since I graduated college. For the longest time we actually had 2. I went from a Civic EX 5spd to a Civic Si. When we got the CRV we kept the Si until it was run into the ground. Replaced it with another manual Civic. I did sell my Mini Cooper S 6spd to get my Mini EV, but one pedal driving is a lot of fun still. So we want to give our kid an easier car to learn on. I think we have one we'll buy from a friend. We'll teach him stick eventually. OT, but my father said I HAD to learn to drive a stick or I wasn’t driving. Said that in case of an emergency I could drive any type of vehicle. Needless to say my first car was a Dodge Coronet ( army pea green) with a stick on the column. It was NO FUN to drive that car, but alas, to this day I can drive a stick if I have to. My dad only had automatics. I learned on friend's cars. My senior year my boyfriend's parents had 2 of 3 cars as manuals so I drove them a ton (they loved me and trusted my driving more than their son who hadn't been driving as long - moved from NY where they didn't get a license until summer before senior year). Made me get my own after college. Husband took after me. We're going to make my son learn to drive but he's nervous as it is and not as confident as I am. So I want him to learn on an automatic at first, just not my Mini  |
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Post by helenabear on Apr 1, 2023 8:33:26 GMT -5
Wanted to update pricing. From June 2nd on it is $700/hr. May 31-June 1 was $650. June 5th last year was $575 and year before that was $550. So big jump.
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Post by broganmc on Apr 1, 2023 13:18:58 GMT -5
FYI Columbus Day is October 9th this year. Have a lot of experience with crowds this month. Once Columbus Day weekend hits, the food and wine crowd swarms Disney. Wait times go up another 20 minutes across the board. It can be quite challenging to get through a day. In fact it often feels like a spring break week. A lot of schools still take off fall break around this time. And everyone enjoys the festivities in Disney.
VIP tours look interesting but they are way too expensive for me. And honestly I don't think you cover nearly as much ground as you do with a good plan. I've been going to Disney every year for 20 years and taking a large family with me. I just don't see where a VIP guide would give me any other advantage I already have.
Have fun with your family! Don't expect to do everything together. Give yourselves permission to split up into small groups or you will drive yourselves insane. I trust you 10 people cannot be insync all day in a Disney park. Somebody's going to be tired, hungry or have to go to the bathroom and make everybody else miserable.
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Post by rescueranger on Apr 1, 2023 14:40:03 GMT -5
Where does one make a club33 friend..
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Post by Joeli on Apr 1, 2023 14:49:10 GMT -5
Where does one make a club33 friend.. Why the Club of course…wait a minute….you have to be a member to get in…that doesn’t work.  |
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Post by helenabear on Apr 1, 2023 15:13:58 GMT -5
FYI Columbus Day is October 9th this year. Have a lot of experience with crowds this month. Once Columbus Day weekend hits, the food and wine crowd swarms Disney. Wait times go up another 20 minutes across the board. It can be quite challenging to get through a day. In fact it often feels like a spring break week. A lot of schools still take off fall break around this time. And everyone enjoys the festivities in Disney. VIP tours look interesting but they are way too expensive for me. And honestly I don't think you cover nearly as much ground as you do with a good plan. I've been going to Disney every year for 20 years and taking a large family with me. I just don't see where a VIP guide would give me any other advantage I already have. Have fun with your family! Don't expect to do everything together. Give yourselves permission to split up into small groups or you will drive yourselves insane. I trust you 10 people cannot be insync all day in a Disney park. Somebody's going to be tired, hungry or have to go to the bathroom and make everybody else miserable. This part I disagree with especially now. Even with DAS there is no way we can do all we do in one day. Especially now with park hopping restrictions and VQs. Doing a tour allows me to do one day of 7 hrs and then I can crap out. My body cannot take more than one day of this easily. I did 8-4 at DHS and it really hurt me. Then again I do DAS for a reason. They are pricey. I was a bit disappointed at the price jump. But at the same time they were getting hard to book so maybe this will get a few to do less. Where does one make a club33 friend.. I actually know more than one in Club 33. There are a few former and current MOs who are too. |
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Post by helenabear on Apr 1, 2023 15:25:01 GMT -5
Oh and forgot to add. Tron is a single ride only. No re-rides as of this morning per the one my spouse booked with, but we'll ask also later on. Admittedly I was exhausted doing dining for friends and then fireworks cruise and then that.... part of why my spouse was calling VIP. We were tag teaming for extras.
Also no cruises out of WL at this time. Bummer.
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Post by mcd on May 17, 2023 10:38:40 GMT -5
I did the VIP Tour last October. My family loved it. I honestly was a little disappointed that we usually had to wait in the LL lines and that the premium rides were one ride only. For the money I was spending, I was hoping to bypass lines completely much of the time and to be able to ride Rise or Guardians multiple times. After noticing how many VIP tours are going on all the time, I realize now that the logistics behind that would be problematic. I guess I didn’t research enough. Being brought in through special entrances and seeing some behind the scenes stuff was cool, though. My favorite part was the VIP area for the fireworks at Magic Kingdom.
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Post by tomandrobin on May 17, 2023 12:26:16 GMT -5
I did the VIP Tour last October. My family loved it. I honestly was a little disappointed that we usually had to wait in the LL lines and that the premium rides were one ride only. For the money I was spending, I was hoping to bypass lines completely much of the time and to be able to ride Rise or Guardians multiple times. After noticing how many VIP tours are going on all the time, I realize now that the logistics behind that would be problematic. I guess I didn’t research enough. Being brought in through special entrances and seeing some behind the scenes stuff was cool, though. My favorite part was the VIP area for the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. VIP tour ride access varies from ride-to-ride and who is your VIP Tour Guide. We have done around 18 VIP tours the past five years. Most of the guides are really good, but once we had a huge clunker, and there have been like four guides that were beyond stellar. One particular guide takes us literally to the front of the RnR coaster line, bypassing everything. One time he was able to have my oldest grandson and I ride in the front seat of Everest five times in a row. The "senior" guides know everyone and have the best access. New "E" ticket rides are limited to one, but you don't have to worry about virtual queues and being online at 7am.
In 7-8 hours, you can easily hit 3 parks, ride all the good stuff and still have private fireworks viewing at Epcot or Magic Kingdom. I know people that squeeze in the 4th park, but that is just too much.
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Post by mcd on May 17, 2023 21:19:09 GMT -5
I did the VIP Tour last October. My family loved it. I honestly was a little disappointed that we usually had to wait in the LL lines and that the premium rides were one ride only. For the money I was spending, I was hoping to bypass lines completely much of the time and to be able to ride Rise or Guardians multiple times. After noticing how many VIP tours are going on all the time, I realize now that the logistics behind that would be problematic. I guess I didn’t research enough. Being brought in through special entrances and seeing some behind the scenes stuff was cool, though. My favorite part was the VIP area for the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. VIP tour ride access varies from ride-to-ride and who is your VIP Tour Guide. We have done around 18 VIP tours the past five years. Most of the guides are really good, but once we had a huge clunker, and there have been like four guides that were beyond stellar. One particular guide takes us literally to the front of the RnR coaster line, bypassing everything. One time he was able to have my oldest grandson and I ride in the front seat of Everest five times in a row. The "senior" guides know everyone and have the best access. New "E" ticket rides are limited to one, but you don't have to worry about virtual queues and being online at 7am.
In 7-8 hours, you can easily hit 3 parks, ride all the good stuff and still have private fireworks viewing at Epcot or Magic Kingdom. I know people that squeeze in the 4th park, but that is just too much.
That was pretty much our schedule. Hit 3 parks and the fireworks at MK. She did get us right in to Mine Train and Big Thunder. We also had a thunderstorm come through in the middle of our tour, and she basically extended our time an extra 90 minutes at no charge. So I appreciated that. We have family of friends who don’t do Disney without a VIP tour. I don’t think they are Club 33, but they have so much money it doesn’t matter. I could probably pay for it each time, but it would take away from slightly more important things like saving for my kids college and funding my retirement.  I just didn’t see quite as much value as some. Like many on here (I am sure), I can maximize the Genie+ and LL systems to get 6-10 rides with minimal wait time each day without dropping the cash on the VIP Tour. We can do that in 5-6 hours which allows us to sleep in in the morning and hit the pools before or after the parks. I think my wife and kids liked the tour more than me. |
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Post by jawfish on May 17, 2023 23:43:02 GMT -5
We had a group of about 30 one time and hired 3 guides (2019) at Disneyland. Our group somehow ended up around 4 people when some of the not so hard core folks dropped back at some point. The guide was amazing. She took us wherever we wanted and got us on rides multiple times (4 times in a row on the Incredicoaster and 3 times on Millennial Falcon). Our tour was from 12pm to 8pm but she hung with us an extra 45 min to get on a few more thins, then accepted our offer for waffle sundaes and hung out Until we were seated for the parade. Super cool. Of course we tipped well. Smart lady!
the only thing we did not get to do was tour Walt’s office. We got primo seats for the electric light parade which made a come back that year I think. It was an amazing day and we still talk about it in our group. Each of us paid $375 so if memory serves, we did get a 3-guide discount. 😜
I will definitely do it again and want to experience it at WDW. I am also toying with D33 but timing is not right, so biding our time on that.
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Post by Hi from RI on May 18, 2023 8:21:57 GMT -5
WOW! DH would never go for this...
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I just didn’t see quite as much value as some. Like many on here (I am sure), I can maximize the Genie+ and LL systems to get 6-10 rides with minimal wait time each day without dropping the cash on the VIP Tour. We can do that in 5-6 hours which allows us to sleep in in the morning and hit the pools before or after the parks. I think my wife and kids liked the tour more than me. 
