I've never done the Wild Africa Trek, but I have done both the Backstage safari and the Wild by Design tours. The basic difference is that the first is indeed "Backstage", while the second is "On stage". And in the past, each Backstage Safari tour seemed to vary slightly depending on the different interests of participants. For instance, on one tour, someone was interested in vet medicine, so they went to meet a vet out at Rafiki's area. On our tour, someone mentioned being a birder and having a real interest in birds, so we went to the bakstage quarantine aviary (I think it was called). And of course, all Backstage Safari tours visit where the food for the animals is prossessed, does its own safari ride, and has a sit down "meet and greet" with a small animal (we had a lizard). Wild by Design, like I said, is onstae, where lots of things in the architecture, history, backstory, and some hidden mickeys, are pointed out. Since I love AK, and have read so much about it, only about half of the Wild by Design Tour was new information to me, but there were some new, pretty neat facts. However, given a choice again, I'd rather do Backstage safari. Oh-on that we also went to the animal backstage houses and visited a couple animals, including a rhino.
