I did the tour too so can throw in my two cents, though it's a bit late.
I thought it was a mixed bag. It was a big waste of time at the beginning, our email said to show up at 6, but when we did show up the TM said we were perfectly fine to come back in 45 minutes and we wouldn't miss anything, which we did.
And we didn't miss anything, the big wait is to sign in and get your wristband and your tour guide/group then to wait around until about 7, which is when we were seated for the show.
Our tour guide was amazing, but our group kind of sucked. We had one woman who was desperate to meet up with a member of her party who was in IOA and hadn't been able to book the tour. I think she needed to give him a room key? But then it felt like she was angling to get him in the tour for free, which our guide was not having. It was an awkward situation.
Anyway, we had good seats for the show, then we waited around outside the theater with our group for about 15 minutes afterwards.
Then we finally headed to IOA. Our first stop was the food and Grinch/Max meet and greet.
Honestly, I thought the food sucked. Two types of Christmas cookies which were pretty gross (in my opinion). Chicken and waffles, the waffle was very dry and there was no syrup in sight. The chicken was ok. Tater tots with pizza type toppings was prob the best option.
The Grinch was great, though they could improve the lighting in his spot. Max was late coming out but was also fantastic to meet. We had plenty of time to hang out in this area, then we all headed back to US.
We got a bit of a tour of the soundstages and lingered there for a while.
Then we got our Jimmy Fallon ride and some facts about the queue area and exhibits. Got to meet an excellent Santa.
Then we hung around some more and looked at the tree.
FINALLY we headed over to Hogsmeade. The area was very crowded (all VIP tour groups). The Hog's Head was the only food/drink area open and had a huge line. No open shops, no butterbeer cart. So we went and got spots for the castle show. It ended up being delayed half an hour, we heard everything from groups being backed up at the Grinch/Max meet and greet and that they were holding the show to clear out the butterbeer line. Not sure what was true, but both were said by different tour guides. We did see some guests leaving ahead of the castle show, as it was past 11 and very late for little kids.
I wish the candy shop or at least the butterbeer cart would have been staffed, would have made the wait a bit better.
Honestly, with how long we waited for the castle show I would have rather just seen it on my own. To me, the good perks were the reserved seating for the Grinchmas show and the Max/Grinch/Santa meets.
I most likely wouldn't do the tour again in it's current form.
