Disney vacation & planning. It’s something that can be both fun & stressful – all at the same time. This year, our kids seemed to be at the perfect age to visit Disney, so that was their Christmas gift.
They opened their gift on Christmas morning and the planning began. After going back and forth on if we should stay on Disney property or not, we found the best little Airbnb townhouse about 15 minutes from Disney which was half the price a Disney hotel was, had 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, a great floor plan, and a private pool. You can view some photos and videos of the townhome over on Instagram under the “Disney” highlight.
My husband hates to stand in lines, so when we decided we were making the trip to Disney, we were checking into Disney Private VIP Tours. Have you heard of this option? It’s a door-to-door, personalized day at Disney – which sounds amazing doesn’t it? But the price, umm not so amazing. (it’s between $425 and $750 per hour). Our budget for this trip wasn’t going to have that in it, so we started to do a little research.
We found out about Stone Vacations Services through Google. They specialize in personalized days and tours to Disney World, Disney Land, Universal, and Sea World. We instantly went to look at their prices and loved what we saw — $150-$200 an hour is more like it.
So you may still be wondering what is all the hype with Stone Vacation Services. What do they offer?
- A relaxed trip to Disney. No more looking at park maps and trying to figure out which experience/ride you should do next because of wait times. They’ll do that part for you.
- Their private guides know exactly when and where to be to minimize your wait on attractions and to avoid those infamous long lines. Their strategy includes an early start to get ahead of the game completing several attractions before lunch and utilizing Disney’s FASTPASS system to its full potential. Wait times typically range from 0-10 minutes per attraction.
So, how does it work?
- When you’re ready to book your personalized VIP tour with Stone Vacations, you start your reservation by using their online booking form. Within a day or two, someone will contact you by phone or email to introduce themselves and what you should expect.
- Then, you’ll receive a form via email of all the attractions and rides at the park you choose to have your VIP experience at. You’ll be able to choose which of those attractions are most important to you for your big day and then you’ll send it back to Stone Vacation Services.
- They’ll then call you set up your big day with you and go over what your day will look like. They’ll ask about food allergies, types of places you’d like to have meals at, etc. From the very start, your personalized tour begins — long before you even set foot in the park.
We chose Magic Kingdom for our VIP day with Stone Vacation Services. Our tour guide met us at the ticket area at Magic Kingdom an hour before the park opened. Our guide was Dinah who we HIGHLY RECOMMEND. We all instantly felt like we had known her for years and the kids took such a liking to her. She is a former cast member so she knows the layout of the park incredibly well. She knows the flow of the crowds which was so wonderful to have her navigate for us. Also, she knew when the best times to be at certain parts of the park would be. She basically worked off our list and figured out what the very best game plan was for us to have a great day. Everything we wanted to do (and more) was done by 3:00 and no one was arguing about which ride was next or complaining about how long the lines were (because we didn’t have much of a line, thanks to Dinah — 10-20 minutes were our longest waits).
We met lots of princesses and characters…
We rode lots of rides…
We saw lots of parades…
We ate lots of Dole Whip and other Disney treats…
We walked and walked and walked, but everyone loved it…
When the day came to a close, we were all so sad to see Dinah leave. She definitely felt like a family member and we still keep in touch with her even after returning home. Our Disney vacation was off the best start – all because of Stone Vacations.
My husband grew up in Central FL so going to Disney wasn’t something that is so magical for the rest of us — he was used to it. He wasn’t all that excited about going back to Disney this trip, but once he experienced Disney with Stone Vacation Services, he said he’s “Sold” and will definitely use them again and is looking forward to going back.
We think our only regret with using Stone Vacation Services VIP Tours was that we didn’t make arrangements to have Dinah with us all three days that we were at Disney. The Stone VIP Tours is definitely something we will arrange for our next trip to Disney.
*You can view photos and videos from our entire Disney trip + Stone VIP Tour Q&A over on Instagram. Also, follow @StoneVacations on Instagram.
Oh, and if you use Stone Vacation Services VIP Tours – make sure you ask for Dinah.
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