New York Post Just the Start: Former VIP Tour Guide Talks Tipping Jungle Cruise Skippers, Stealing Roses and More
There are at least four tour companies like this in Orlando, according to a person we spoke with, claiming to be a former employee of one of them. This person agreed to speak with us anonymously about their experiences.
How do you feel about the New York Post story?
It sounds very accurate. Parts sound exaggerated, like the wait times. But parts of it sound very accurate on a daily basis. During the time I worked for the company, I can only recall two families that were not from Long Island or New York City. All were very rich. Most of the people (guests) we had came to us via word of mouth from their friends.
So did your company do advertising?
Very little. What advertising they did, they focused on disabled people who were coming on vacation.
Very little. What advertising they did, they focused on disabled people who were coming on vacation.
How did your job work?
When I was hired at the company, on the very first day, the owner of the company went with me to Magic Kingdom Guest Services. He instructed me to tell them I had issues with standing up for long periods of time. He told me to get the (Guest Assistance Card) pass and tell them I had five family members, but they were not with me today.
So I went up to Guest Services and told them that. They asked no questions and gave me the pass. We were encouraged to find an injury from our past and reference that, rather than make something up.
Was this a requirement?
Yes. Every single guide at the company had a pass in their name.
How did this work?
The owner would only allow tour groups to be five or less. If there were more than five in the group, they had to have two guides. That included nannies and helpers. If guests asked why there could only be five people in their group, we were instructed to say that more than five would be hard for the guide to manage.
Did the guests ever ask to see the pass?
We weren't supposed to explain what the pass was. We were only allowed to hand it to them and let them read it.
Did guests ever question this practice?
I only had one lady get upset once because we skipped a family at a meet and greet. The child that was waiting to meet Ariel got very upset because we skipped in front of them. The lady I was guiding asked me about the practice.
And what did you say?
I just handed her the pass and said, "Well, we try to make everyone as happy as they can." I also played it off like children getting tired and cranky at Disney.
What was your uniform?
We were always told to wear street clothes so we blended in.
We were always told to wear street clothes so we blended in.
Was there ever an incident between you and a theme park employee?
Only once with a ride operator who was in training and didn't recognize the pass.
And when you explained the pass to him, what happened?
I'd take the guests away and wait 45 minutes to return. Typically the shifts changed every 45 minutes.
How long did you work for this company?
A couple months.
Why did you leave so soon?
If Disney found out what we were doing, I was afraid Disney would ban me from the property.
And in that couple months, how many tour groups would guess you dealt with?
Maybe six or seven. Some of them I'd have for an entire week.
So this was a part time job?
No. Some days would be 14 hour days. And other days I'd work like five. They were only allowed to hire us for up to ten hours, but it was expected that we would stay with them as long as they were in the park.
So did you walk up to ride operators and get your guests on the ride immediately? How did this work?
You learn what rides to go to and what operators to talk to. On the Great Movie Ride, for example, there was a set of doors we would knock on. An employee would open the door and let you in and onto the ride.
On some rides, if an employee would let us skip other handicap people or give us an entire boat to ourselves (Jungle Cruise), we would slip them a tip. We only did this on certain rides like Jungle Cruise and It's a Small World.
You gave an employee a tip? How big were these tips?
Just a few dollars. And never in front of a guest. A guest never saw it.
Are you aware if Disney employees are allowed to accept tips?
I believe they are not. We never did it near employees or guests.
Did you also get them into restaurants?
Typically, they would have had travel agents make the reservations before they came. We also had the direct numbers to the Grand Floridian VIP guest line. Anytime we needed to get into a restaurant, we would call them. Most of the women there knew us. Even though the restaurant would be mostly booked up, they would typically be able to get us in.
But you only got them in because you had that secret number not available to the public?
But Disney knew we were dealing with VIP guests.
But these were not official Disney VIP guests, right?
Correct.
So you were getting non VIP guests into VIP experiences, and Disney employees knew this?
Yes. But they knew that the majority of people we dealt with were staying on property.
So what else would you like readers to know about your experience?
Our boss bought us some sort of pass that got us discounts in most restaurants. If we left the company before one year, we had to pay for it ourselves. We ate every meal with the guests. They paid for the food.
This is unrelated to the passes, but a common practice nonetheless for my company. We'd always meet the tour groups in the lobby of the Grand Floridan. We would pull roses out of the flower arrangements in the lobby, twist the stem to shorten it, and hand it to each of the ladies in the group.
If we met them in the afternoons, before they arrived, we'd go to the VIP lobby on the 3rd floor of the Grand Floridian and stock up on cold bottled water. And there was a lady there who would give us a code to the elevators. I think now it's a punch code.
The Polynesian had a similar VIP area. There was typically at least one door that was unlocked.
Would these groups tip you?
Lots. A typical tip was a quarter of what they paid the tour company which was $100/hour at the time.
Lots. A typical tip was a quarter of what they paid the tour company which was $100/hour at the time.
