Hey there Melissa and welcome back to planDisney!
I absolutely love tours and as a former tour guide myself in my university years, there's really nothing like being able to receive fun facts as you venture to a new Disney Destination and perhaps take a peek behind the curtain at how the magic is made every day. Now from the sounds of it, you might not be referring to
one of the tours found at Walt Disney World Resort nor the
Disney Private VIP Tours as neither of them require guests to be D23 Members to book them.
Instead you may have seen various displays currently around the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks that entice folks to make a trip out to Burbank, California for
The Official Walt Disney Studios Tour—Presented by D23! I just recently did this tour with my husband as a great way to learn about some of the history and current happenings around the Walt Disney Studios campus, so I'm happy to provide you with some more details as well as our experience:
- Throughout the past year they've been releasing bookable slots in chunks of 2-3 months; the current October, November and December series is fully booked but I highly recommend keeping an eye on the D23 Events page for upcoming months as they are released. In my experience, they're not necessarily very far in advance and slots may book up early as it doesn't occur every day of the week - so once you see February dates released, definitely jump on the opportunity as soon as you can as it requires a bit of flexibility on when you'll be able to fly into California.
- A valid D23 Membership is required to book this tour, but members are each allowed to bring one guest along with them. (It's also important to note that at the current time, members may only do this once per calendar year.) As a D23 Gold Member one of the added perks beyond the special membership gift was an additional discount on the price of the tour, but D23 General Members could also book these tours as it wasn't one of the Gold-exclusive event offerings.
- Both times that I've experienced this tour I was led by our exceptional guide Julia who informed us that the locations visited on the tour were subject to availability and each itinerary could change depending on the size of your group and how quickly (or not) they progress through the studio lot. In all, the tour itself is between two to three hours in length, which typically includes a little shopping stop for merchandise or memorabilia at the very end. Both of my recent experiences included a special opportunity to walk through the hallowed halls of the Animation Building and reach Walt Disney's restored 3H Office Suite, a visit to the Walt Disney Archives and Legends Plaza.
While you're on the tour, keep your eyes peeled for folks like Bob Iger and Josh D'Amaro who the planDisney team had a chance to meet during our training at Walt Disney Studios last December! Note that pricing tends to be higher on the weekends, as there may be an additional moments added on to your tour itinerary that are available on those days. I hope that this helps, Melissa - come back again to planDisney if you have any more questions.
Here's to celebrating 100 Years at a place where it all began!
Prince