Disney theme parks have two sets of rules. Regular folks visit the Happiest Place on Earth, and Disney tries to persuade them to empty their bank accounts before leaving. The corporate philosophy is that these guests should have just enough money to tip the maid and the cabbie on the way out, and that’s it.
Simultaneously, Disney caters to the whales. These are the bigwigs with virtually unlimited bank accounts. They’re so rich that they live off the interest of their money, never touching the principal. They’re also among the most famous celebrities in all the land. While you might expect that Disney wants them to show up each day at the park, drawing crowds wherever they go, the truth is somewhat different.
Celebrities and billionaires are just like the rest of the human race. They grew up hearing wonderful things about Disney theme parks, and they loved Disney movies and television shows. Heading to Disneyland or Walt Disney World is like the mothership calling Disney fans home. The cultural elite are just as susceptible to its siren song.
Running a public business that caters to millions of annual guests comes with a catch. A few of the park visitors are rich or famous or both. Disney has to find that delicate balance that assures the best possible day at the Happiest Place on Earth for celebrities, gawkers, and oblivious observers. They also have to sell a product to guests with limited financial means and those with almost unlimited assets. This complication is one of the hidden intricacies of managing Disney theme parks. Disney wants to sell to everyone, but they earn their highest profit margins from the richest guests.
Enter the VIP program.
Image: Disney
In this article, I’ll discuss the intricacies of a VIP Tour, explaining how the system works from the Disney perspective as well as that of a theme park tourist. Then, I’ll detail the origins of the program plus a few variations including a secret VIP program you may not even realize exists. So, without further ado, let’s see how the other half lives…
Explaining the VIP program
Image: Disney
Let’s cover the basics first. The Disney VIP program is a way for wealthier individuals and families to maximize their day at a theme park. For a minimum of $400 per hour, a Disney cast member will function as a tour guide. Their sole job duty that day is to ensure that the person on the tour has a wonderful time. They’re incentivized to do this since the VIP guest is paying at least $2,800. That’s because Disney won’t offer the service for less than seven hours. Even a participant who cannot spend that long at the park gets billed for the full seven hours.
How much is $2,800? Think about it in these terms. The average American household earns $53,657 annually. That’s about $4,472 per month. A regular family would have to spend 63 percent of their monthly income to enjoy a single VIP Tour. Factoring in food, housing, and incidentals, an ordinary person would have to save for a long time to purchase a single VIP day at Disney. Clearly, this option isn’t for everybody.
What does the buyer receive for their money? The answer is equal parts “a lot” and “not as much as you’d expect.” Someone who schedules a VIP Tour can bring along up to nine friends (but note that children, even if they’re only a month old, count toward this total). They can actually do much more than that, but Disney charges for each additional group of 10. If you have 50 people in your VIP party – and I swear that this does happen – Disney will charge you for five different VIP Tours. That’s $2,000 per hour with a minimum overall payment of $12,000.
In exchange for a generous donation to the Uncle Walt Fund, the purchaser gets to walk around a Disney theme park like they own the place. They receive pick-up at their resort (and it doesn’t have to be a Disney one) and an escort to the park of their choice. VIPs do have to pass through the front gate to verify they have admission to the theme park in question, though. Amazingly, it’s not included in the $2,800 VIP Tour charge.
The challenges of guiding a tour
Image: Disney
Once inside, the Tour Guide takes the VIP on all the rides they want. If the family has an explicit itinerary for the day, the cast member will follow it as closely as possible. When the family is up in the air about their plans, the word “guide” becomes more literal.
The Disney employee asks questions intended to learn more about the family. If this isn’t the first VIP Tour the party has taken, the guide isn’t flying blind. Disney collates data about past appearances, annotating details about places and things that the family enjoy enjoys. For the first VIP Tour, the cast member is in a lot of trouble if their group is ambivalent about plans. They have to push choices, which are a chore, even with kindly clients.
Your favorite ride might be one that your partner/best friend hates and vice versa. The Tour Guide has to earn a majority vote quickly to proceed. They understand that the buyer is on the clock. While money may (or may not) be an object to the purchaser, they still need to exit the park feeling as if they received great value on their expensive VIP Tour. Otherwise, they won’t do it again, and they won’t refer their other wealthy friends. The opportunity cost of a single bad tour is tremendous for the company. A client who wants a week’s worth of VIP Tours will pay a minimum of $19,600. Meanwhile, a seven-day park admission costs less than $500.
Money matters
Image: Disney
To push the majority vote in Disney’s favor, they offer a “free” table service meal to the participants, hoping that nobody realizes they’re sitting idly for 90 minutes, which is at least $600 of VIP time. Even with 10 guests, they’re actually paying more for that meal than if they were just visiting the park on their own. It’s these little tricks that make the VIP Tour a wonderful deal for Disney.
For the customer, the value is in the sheer volume of rides they can enjoy during seven hours. As I’ve previously discussed, Disney research suggests that the average customer is satisfied when they enjoy at least nine attractions in a day. A VIP Tourist will blow past that total with a bit of planning. There’s a catch, though.
The myth is that VIPs get to skip to the front of the line at all Disney attractions. That’s largely untrue, at least today. The corporation has a rule in place that requires VIPs to wait in line rather than skip ahead of regular guests. The thought process is that no matter how much extra the VIP is paying, Disney would ruin the perception of the Happiest Place on Earth if spots in line went to the highest bidder.
Instead, Disney slips VIPs into the FastPass queue. Whenever you see a cast member in a white shirt covered by a plaid vest taking a group of people to the FastPass area, that’s what they’re doing. VIPs can’t skip the line, but they function as if they have unlimited FastPasses. They confer with the cast members running the FastPass queue, swipe card, and voila! The person gains entry to the fast line.
Still, the process isn’t ideal to many VIPs. The most frequent complaint, especially among the entitled, is that they do not walk straight to the front of the line. Having to wait in the FastPass line can take as much as 20 minutes, depending on the season, the time of day, and the attraction in question. For the amount of money VIPs are paying (it’s at least 24 times the cost of a regular admission ticket), they have a point, but it’s the right call by Disney.
The worst hurdle Tour Guides can face with their charges is if the celebrities have been coming to Disney theme parks for many years. Historically, for reasons explained below, most facilities had VIP doors that guests could access to skip the entire line. Guests could sneak in through these backdoors and board attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean almost instantly.
Today, Disney discourages this practice for “regular” VIPs, which is to say wealthy individuals whose presence in the park won’t cause a major disruption. Management does still make exceptions in some cases, as you’ll see in just a moment. But the rule is that if you’re wealthy but not famous/powerful, you can’t jump straight onto a ride vehicle. Some VIPs remember those days and vent about changes in the program. Such discussions are awkward for the helpless Tour Guide, who has to play by the current rules.
Even without walking to the front of the line, the VIP Tour is still a sweet deal for all involved. My favorite part is that it’s not park-specific. If you want to park hop during your visit, Disney warmly encourages this. From their perspective, the time you’re traveling between parks is found money to the corporation. All they’re paying is a cast member’s salary, the five miles of gas for the vehicle, and the depreciation and maintenance on the vehicle itself. That’s a few dollars per trip. Meanwhile, if the VIP’s transport from one park to the other takes 15 minutes, they’ve paid $100. Disney’s just come out waaaaaay ahead. And they’ve done so without bogging down any FastPass lines since their highest-paying customers aren’t even in a park for that time period.
ALL the rides
As a VIP Tourist, you’ve gained something for your money, though. You don’t have to wait on Disney’s mercurial transportation system nor do you have to wait in full line queues. Because of these benefits, you can easily ride many of the E-Ticket attractions at the various theme parks. At Walt Disney World, it’s feasible to start the day at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, head over to Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, walk back to Peter Pan’s Flight, rest your feet on It’s a Small World and The Haunted Mansion, and finish by 11:00.
At that point, you are chauffeured over to Epcot for Soarin’, Frozen Ever After, and whatever else you want. Then, you can enjoy a Table Service meal at the restaurant of your choice at World Showcase. Afterward, your chaperone will transport you to Hollywood Studios for Toy Story: Midway Mania!, Star Tours, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Finally, you can end your VIP Tour at Animal Kingdom, enjoying Expedition: Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris.
Now, I wouldn’t recommend this exact plan (Splash Mountain first thing in the morning is SUCH a bad idea), but you get the point. The beauty of infinite FastPasses and express transportation is that anything you want to do at the parks is possible. Plus, you can start whenever you want during the day (it doesn’t have to be rope drop), you can repeat any rides you like as many times as you want (practice enough and you’ll become a rock star at Toy Story: Midway Mania!), you get priority seating for all the parades, shows, and fireworks displays, and you have a Disney cast member paid to cater to your every need. All it costs is a mortgage payment or two.
What’s the incentive for Disney to provide VIP Tours? That one’s obvious. Offering VIP services is a way to deliver a superlative park visit to those travelers who can pay more. As you can see from the above, the profit margin is off the charts for the company, too. They don’t even throw in free merchandise. A VIP has to pay for their mouse ears just the same as anybody else. All they receive is special treatment within the framework of a Disney theme park visit.
VIP Tours are also a way to hide opulence in plain sight. You might not even realize when a person near you in line is using the service. That’s by (clever) design. Having money isn’t the only factor, though.
How celebrities are F.I.N.E. at Disney
People will notice if Steven Tyler is about to ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. I’ve witnessed the surge of adrenaline in the crowd as a bedraggled, poorly aging rock star heads toward the attraction. It’s the Disney equivalent of the parting of the Red Sea. Park planners have a special design for this, too. Steven Tyler is too rock ‘n’ roll to follow those rules, though.
The disruption caused by Tyler’s gleeful and endearing enjoyment of his Walt Disney World roller coaster is something Disney has worked to prevent. Celebrities plan visits to Disney theme parks just like regular folks do. The primary difference is that their schedules are more chaotic. When their handlers contact Disney, park officials steer them toward a special VIP program.
Uncle Walt wanted it this way
Image: Disney
This celebrity “problem” has existed since the beginning. It was even baked into the park design. On opening day at Disneyland, the park creator flipped through his massive rolodex of celebrity candidates. He took a look at who was available and how well they would perform as human magnets.
Eventually, Walt Disney selected popular television host Art Linkletter to introduce a national viewing audience of 90 million to the new theme park. Future President Ronald Reagan and actor Bob Cummings, star of The Devil and Miss Jones, were also part of the festivities.
Several up and coming actors and actresses also appeared on opening day. Their sole purpose was to handle photo ops that created a perception. Uncle Walt wanted the massive viewing audience to believe that Disneyland was where all the beautiful people and Hollywood elite hung out.
The connection of Hollywood to Disneyland felt natural to the park founder. He’d worked in the movie industry since the 1920s. Many of the most famous people in the industry called Walt Disney a friend, and he also had a hand in boosting the reputations of the not-quite famous such as Reagan and Buddy Ebsen. The former man, still a decade away from any political ambitions, suffered through a career lull when he received the call to co-host Disneyland’s opening day. Uncle Walt leveraged Ebsen’s work in Davy Crockett to revitalize the tap dancer’s career while using the proceeds of the show’s merchandise to finance Disneyland’s post-opening attractions.
Walt Disney was a Hollywood celebrity who interacted with other celebrities. He knew all the advantages of tethering a marketing campaign to the red carpet effect of regular folks meeting their idols. Conversely, he understood the challenges of enjoying a simple day out with the family when the whole world wanted to watch. With Disneyland, the company founder tried to attract his famous friends to the park while also protecting their privacy, an almost impossible task.
The system he put in place still has the same underlying infrastructure today. Disney and his team added backdoors to the various attractions, ones near the front of the line. They had safety and employee benefits since cast members could quickly reach the ride loading areas in case of emergency. That was the primary purpose. The ancillary one was that famous Hollywood icons could visit the Happiest Place on Earth without having to rub elbows with the commoners. They could simply enter through the backdoor to board a ride quickly. As mentioned above, that mechanic is still in play today, although the rules of it have changed over the years.
The secret pass
Image: Disney
You’ll hear different terminology to describe the celebrity pass. Some call it the PEP Pass, which stands for Priority Entrance Pass. Others simply refer to it as the deluxe VIP Pass. There are other names as well, but the concept is always the same. Disney wants to avoid the chaos of a superstar marching down Main Street, pulling traffic toward them as if they were people magnets. So, they added the PEP Pass to add that backdoor entrance. Yes, famous people receive theme park benefits that even the richest non-famous people can’t buy.
The recipients of these passes aren’t necessarily guests you’d expect, either. The Walt Disney Company is a global corporation, and their theme parks are famous in every country. For this reason, guests flock to Disney from across all continents. Celebrities from their countries could cause swarms just the same as North American celebs. Do you know who Shah Rukh Khan is? How about Fan Bingbing? Lionel Messi? Sebastian Masuda or Ayumi Hamasaki?
Image: Disney
I’ve just listed three of the most famous actors in India, China, and Japan, respectively. I also included arguably the most famous soccer player in the world. And I threw in Masuda as an inside joke, as he’s the artist responsible for the Kawaii exhibit at the Japan Pavilion in the World Showcase. If any of these celebrities waited in line at a Disney theme park, they’d cause a stir if not a mob scene…and I’d be the one causing all the problems if it were Masuda, who is an artistic genius.
We live in an age of few true superstars, the Tom Cruises and Madonnas, but we have literally thousands of recognizable celebrities. Disney has to employ guidelines to give them VIP treatment in the park that don’t get in the way of the other park guests. That’s why they invented the PEP passes. These hide famous visitors just beyond the sight of their adoring fans. They can sneak on rides from largely ignored areas since few guests pay attention to the doors near Disney attractions. They’re too busy appreciating the other artistry.
*cue the Entourage theme song*
Image: Disney
When guests press Disney to explain why celebrities receive such special treatment, they do have a viable defense. Few famous visitors to the Happiest Place on Earth travel alone. They have entourages on most occasions. As if the chaos of Katy Perry visiting Disneyland isn’t enough – and social media suggests she goes a lot – she also has a team of assistants and bodyguards who follow her wherever she goes. A group that large with security demands counter to those of park officials is a risk to other guests. Giving them unique access to the front of the line at Disney attractions makes some sense.
In an extreme example, consider the case of a visiting Arabian prince (not Aladdin) who visited Disney with his team of bodyguards and family members (not Jasmine, Iago, Abu, or the Sultan). Approximately 40 of them moving from line to line at Walt Disney World is an exercise in chaos. This is a real situation that comes up several times a year and not just with Arabians. Remember that the royal family of Morocco paid for and had a hand in designing their Epcot Pavilion. They enjoy visiting it from time to time.
Disney has several concerns with such wealthy, powerful, and globally significant entourages. The royal family’s sworn protectors don’t get to bring weapons into the theme park, of course, but they do get to glare at any strangers who stare too long at the entourage. Disney very much wants to satisfy their royal guests just as they don’t want to upset the onlookers wondering if those garments are made of silk and gold (they are). So, they must maintain a balance between the safety and the happiness of all park guests, the ones who are paying admission prices for a single day as well as those who are paying for multiple VIP tours at $2,800 each. Backdoors to the front of the line solve part of the logistics issue. But I want to add that the Tour Guide in charge of finding available table service for 50 VIPs on short notice must be the most stressed person at Disney.
Modern problems aka Tweet this!
Image: Disney
As you can see, the backdoor pass addresses this problem of mob rules, at least somewhat. The catch is that celebs still have to walk around the park to reach the rides. In the days before social media could spread the word instantly about a star’s presence, this wasn’t a huge deal for all but the biggest stars. Today, all you need to do is follow @DisneyParkCeleb to learn about famous park guests visiting that day. At Disneyland, rarely a day goes by without an update from such newsfeeds.
Disney faces an additional challenge with some celebs. These famous people want to act like they’re normal when they’re at Disney. So, they eschew special passes in favor of enjoying the parks the same way that the rest of us do. They simply walk about the place as if they’re normal ol’ Gwen and Blake rather than two world-famous musicians with multiple #1 singles and a hit television series. That path leads to madness for park officials. Even so, it’s not the most aggravating one.
While they’d never admit it publicly, Disney can’t stand the celebs like Steven Tyler who make a day at Hollywood Studios all about them. Tyler notoriously caters to the crowd, relishing in the excitement from the public witnessing the Aerosmith star jumping on the Aerosmith ride. It’s an exercise in anarchy that’s needless, feeding only the ego of Tyler.
Image: Disney
Then again, if you’re not a cast member but merely an observer, this turn of events is also a lot of fun. Having seen it firsthand, I love that Tyler still gets jazzed about the Aerosmith roller coaster more than 17 years after its debut. He’s nearly 70 and still causing a frenzy when he sprints (yes, *sprints*) to his ride. It’s exactly what Disney doesn’t want yet guests can’t help but get caught up in the wake when Tyler makes his presence known.
Sure, the lead singer of Aerosmith could use the back entrance to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. What fun would that be, though? Some celebrities like Tyler want everyone to know that they’ve made an entrance. This is the meta problem Disney faces with VIPs. People who are camera-shy and avoid unwanted attention rarely become famous. It’s the ones who desperately seek out the limelight who are most likely to find it.
No matter what they try, Disney cannot overcome this difficulty with celebrities. And that’s disappointing since Walt Disney explicitly desired the presence of the Hollywood elite at his theme park. After more than 60 years, the company still hasn’t come up with anything better than backdoors. Those aren’t anywhere near enough to overcome the instantaneous dissemination of news on social media. Artists with millions of followers are Tweeting and Snapping about their park visits, causing a massive deviation in traffic patterns from what Disney had projected for these days.
The public relations nightmare pass
Image: Disney
The worst self-inflicted wound park planners have caused through VIP offers involves politicians and other power players in society. Starting soon after the opening of Disneyland, Uncle Walt and his staff tried to leverage the power of his park. The Disney crew did this by providing special passes to elected officials from California and the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.
Congressmen, legislators, and even a few future/past Presidents of the United States took advantage of the offer Disney made. And it led to unpleasantness. Starting in 1965, Disney offered an official political perk called a Silver Pass. They did this without request from local and federal representatives. Instead, it was a goodwill measure from Disney to grease the wheels of bureaucracy. To wit, local city councilmen from the greater Los Angeles area received them, which was cause enough for some residents to run for local office.
In 1990, Disney suddenly announced that they’d no longer offer the Silver Pass. Their stated explanation was that government officials operated under strict laws with regards to benefits. A pass to get treated like a VIP at Disney theme parks was undeniably a gift. Government officials claimed that they had no idea how to grade the value of the gift, though. Disney’s proclamation was that they wanted to reduce the risk of unlawful behavior by public officials.
The truth was a bit different. An Orlando Sentinel article earlier that year embarrassed park officials and politicians alike. It highlighted the shady relationship between the gifts Disney offered and the kind deeds that the recipients had performed for the company in Congress.
Image: Disney
Politicians faced allegations of legislative malfeasance, as casual observers presumed they’d done favors for Disney in exchange for feeling like a big shot at the Happiest Place on Earth. The fact that many of these politicians, unaware of the policy change, had their offices call Disney to ask for discontinued tickets didn’t help with the optics.
The “fix” that Disney offered didn’t impress anyone familiar with the shenanigans, either. Orange County Commissioner Bill Donegan stated, “Disney is trying to sweep this under the rug and make it look good when it’s not.” Donegan was one of the few elected officials who turned down Disney’s offer of free tickets. The remaining politicians accused of legislative misdeeds in exchange for free Silver Passes didn’t even bother to return the reporter’s call. They realized that they had no defense against allegations of impropriety because let’s be real for a second. Of course they were catering to Disney in exchange for preferential treatment at the parks. Who wouldn’t?
Disney defiant
Image: Disney
Humorously, the Silver Pass died only a brief death. First, they never officially stopped giving away free tickets. They simply altered the methodology, requiring politicians to request them through official channels. Disney quietly reinstated them a brief time later after the media frenzy had died down. This news cycle repeats itself more often than the characters in Groundhog Day, too. In 2008, a different writer for the Orlando Sentinel wrote the following:
“Walt Disney World is offering politicians and other VIPs special passes that let them cut in line at popular rides such as Soarin’ in Epcot and Expedition Everest in Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
The unrestricted, all-day “FastPasses” are for elected officials or other “high-profile guests” who don’t want to worry about logistical or security problems they might face while waiting in long lines, but who don’t want a tour guide.
Spokeswoman Kim Prunty acknowledged that the passes were created for officials who are high-ranking enough in state, federal or even international affairs to travel with entourages — officials for whom a long line could be more than an inconvenience. She said the passes are available to such officials and those traveling with them, but on a very limited basis determined case-by-case by Disney’s government-affairs office. That is the same department that runs Disney World’s lobbying efforts.
Disney maintains that the passes have no monetary value and so are not restricted by government ethics laws and do not have to be reported either as gifts to public officials or as a lobbying expense.”
Yes, the front of the line services that VIPs have to pay $400 an hour to receive also have “no monetary value” according to Disney officials. How’s that for a kick in the teeth?
Image: Disney
I would add that the second reporter, Scott Powers, deserves kudos for getting a Disney spokesperson to reply on the record about an uncomfortable, arguably illegal subject. To a larger point, Disney decided to take a much more aggressive stance in the 18 years that passed between the elimination of the Silver Pass and the next time its existence garnered negative PR.
In 1990, their position was basically, “You’re right. Our bad. We shouldn’t do that and will stop immediately.” By 2008, they were puffing out their chests going, “Oh, yeah. We give these things out. You’re right to be jealous that you don’t get one. And we ain’t gonna stop. If you don’t like it, run for office and maybe we’ll give you a Silver Pass after your election.”
Image: Disney
And again, this was all a part of Walt Disney’s original strategy. He believed that cozying up to elected officials was the best way to get sweetheart deals for his company. Not coincidentally, Disney enjoys unprecedented governmental control in both Anaheim and Orlando. The Walt Disney World campus includes an entire city comprised of Disney-chosen voters/legislators.
Meanwhile, the Mouse House’s relationship with southern California government officials is so tight that they once had a nickname of the Anaheim Ichthyo-logical, Sour Mash & 5-Card Draw Society. It was based on an annual San Diego fishing trip hosted by Disney by California legislators. So, if you can’t afford the VIP treatment on your own, run for office in either of those two states, and Disney will just give it to you.
Getting past the velvet rope
Image: Disney
Since you’re not a celebrity (I presume) and you’re too decent to run for public office, your only choice to live like a bigwig is to purchase a VIP Tour. I know what you’re thinking. You don’t want to spend $2,800 for a day at Disney. That’s like a week’s worth of dinners at Victoria & Albert’s!
Well, there is a way for you to sample the merchandise without going all-in. If you don’t mind a few strangers sharing the day, you could split the fare, so to speak. Disney has no idea whether a group of ten people has any personal connection or not. They also couldn’t care less. $2,800 is $2,800. It’s a tautology. If you want to join nine other internet strangers in purchasing a super-expensive day at the park, Disney cast members certainly won’t stop you. To the contrary, they’ll welcome you with open arms and a luxury SUV ride to the park.
Just keep in mind that a few hiccups are possible. For starters, you should all choose the same meeting place. Otherwise, you’ll waste a lot of time rounding up the various participants. Also, be careful with the payment process. All joking about strangers aside, you should try to persuade eight or nine friends, co-workers, or other acquaintances to participate. The tour is better that way, as you’ll have a group experience you can recollect in future years.
Image: Disney
Next, you’ll want to come up with a group itinerary ahead of time. This isn’t as hard as you might expect. A group of 10 Disney fans will settle on the same attractions for the most part. The only question is the order. Some might sit out a ride or two, but that’s about the extent of the attraction-based disagreements.
For a seven-hour day, your primary consideration should be the timing, and the Tour Guide will alert you if you’re overly ambitious about anything. Make certain that everyone is on the same page about how many parks they want to visit so that you cut down on travel time. Finally, the hardest decision is probably lunch. You should come up with a consensus choice prior to the moment of truth. Otherwise, the situation could become contentious. Hangry people aren’t great at compromise.
By splitting a VIP Tour with nine other friends/strangers, you bring the cost down to $40 per hour, and a guaranteed $280 overall. That’s still a lot of money, but Disney’s tours like the Ultimate Day of Thrills cost $299. You don’t even get to pick the attractions with them. A VIP Tour makes you fill like a rock star, and Disney even throws in lunch. Nothing makes you feel powerful like a comped meal and your own Tour Guide taking you past all the little people who have to wait in line like the peasants they are. VIP Tours are the best way to see how the other half lives, if only for a day.
