A review of four different backstage tours this week!

[kappyfamily]

I thought I would share my thoughts on the tours I've done over the last week. If you have any questions please ask! (These are in the order of me taking them).

Behind the Seeds Tour :
I had heard so many great things about this tour over the years I knew I had to take it. I took the last tour of the day and there was about 12 of us in it. We got an intern who was really knowledgeable about everything. The tour is supposed to go 60 minutes and ours went over 90 minutes. I think the tour would've been better but we had two people from different families that HAD to ask tons of questions. It was like it was a question competition or something.

It kind of wrecked the tour to be honest. One of them kept interrupting the tour guide constantly. The tour itself was informative but have to be honest, a little boring. I'm sure if we didn't have 74 questions asked it might have run smoother. I asked the tour guide what time this was supposed to get over and she just said "I'm so sorry!". I think it's worth it for the low cost and if you have a spare hour...or so. If you only have one day in Epcot I would say you should skip it.

Marceline To Magic :
This was a great tour! Lasted three hours. We had 18 people on the tour and had a fantastic tour guide named Roy. Learned a ton of things about Walt Disney on this your. Went on a couple rides as they were narrated by the tour guide. Hearing the details about haunted mansion as you were on the ride was amazing! This tour I think was the perfect length. Great price too. I don't want to go into too much detail because so e of it should be left as a surprise. I do recommend going on this!

Keys To The Kingdom :
So this lasted 5.5 hours. We had 20 people on the tour. It is a ton of walking. You do take a 30 min break at Columbia harbour house for lunch, there is assigned seats on who you will be next to. The tour was very different then Marceline, we did visit Haunted Mansion again and really think that they should've done different rides so as not to overlap. We had a very knowledgable tour guide. Learned a ton of things I had no idea about. There was a bunch of detail to this tour. Again you are walking the entire time, it did rain on us, yes we didn't skip a beat (no umbrellas or ponchos are given out, FYI, so come prepared!). We did see the the utili-doors and go below. I will keep the rest a secret.

I think I actually liked Marceline better! I'm surprised to actually say that because Keys gets such a good wrap on these boards. If you have a full day to kill and don't mind walking or standing for long periods the. This still is a great thing to do, I just like the length and content of Marceline I think better.

Backstage Safari :
I did this one today. I took the 1pm tour and had 12 people on it. Loved our tour guide, Candace. She was young and fun and was also very knowledgeable. Just about the entire 3 hours is behind the scenes. Probably the last 15 minutes are actually in the park. We visited holding pens, nutrition center, vet center and also got to go to the hippo pens and talk to a animal keeper/trainer. That was super informative and pretty cool to be 3 feet from a hippo, he was in his own little pool. We ended with going on the safari ride.

Have to say that I really really enjoyed this. I actually think it was my favorite out of all of them. That kind of surprises me!

Please feel free to ask me any questions!

 

[swcolleen]

Do you get to see animals on the AK backstage your? And the safari ride..is that the same as the regular ride? I have reservations but I am going back and forth spending 3 hours on tour and not seeing animals. Thanks.

 

[PinkBudgie]

We are doing the keys to the kingdom tour in June. At what point did you stop for lunch? How long was it? Did you sit in a special place? How near the cooking (kitchen) was it? Could you smell the fish cooking? I have a fish allergy and I'm a little worried about this part of the tour. I seem to be the first person with a fish allergy to want to take this tour because no one there at Disney seems to know anything. So I thought maybe you could shed some light on how the lunch in general goes normally.

 

[Ninja Mom]

Thank you for taking the time to post these tour reviews. This is the kind of information that people are looking for, at least I am! This will definitely help me decide if I dare to suggest that the family go on the "Behind the Seeds" tour. You know how it is when you come up with a suggestion and then everybody hates you for dragging them on something that they had to pay extra for and that they didn't love.

What I need is a "Behind the Disney trip planning tour" where everybody gets to see all the work that goes into trying to make a trip go smoothly for a family. It would show how the family planner comes up with a strategy that addresses the needs of people who are not on the same page with what they want out of a Disney Parks vacation.

On this tour you would see the endless hours of research, the hair pulling, the hours on the phone calling everyone and the final scene would be of a shepherd unsuccessfully herding a bunch of fighting cats. This tour would definitely have to end in a bar somewhere on Disney property.

I think we should call it the "Behind the screams" tour.

~NM

 

[MamaBear58]

Thank you for taking the time to post these tour reviews. This is the kind of information that people are looking for, at least I am! This will definitely help me decide if I dare to suggest that the family go on the "Behind the Seeds" tour. You know how it is when you come up with a suggestion and then everybody hates you for dragging them on something that they had to pay extra for and that they didn't love.

What I need is a "Behind the Disney trip planning tour" where everybody gets to see all the work that goes into trying to make a trip go smoothly for a family. It would show how the family planner comes up with a strategy that addresses the needs of people who are not on the same page with what they want out of a Disney Parks vacation.

On this tour you would see the endless hours of research, the hair pulling, the hours on the phone calling everyone and the final scene would be of a shepherd unsuccessfully herding a bunch of fighting cats. This tour would definitely have to end in a bar somewhere on Disney property.

I think we should call it the "Behind the screams" tour.

~NM

Hilarious!

 

[kappyfamily]

Do you get to see animals on the AK backstage your? And the safari ride..is that the same as the regular ride? I have reservations but I am going back and forth spending 3 hours on tour and not seeing animals. Thanks.

You are not guaranteed to see animals backstage. Although it sounds like usually you do. The only animal we saw was that hippo, but we spent a good 20 minutes talking to the trainer which was really cool. This tour is mainly about how things work behind the scenes. We also did take a walk on one of the trails with the guide and she pointed out interesting facts about the animals and their enclosures. Then we went on the regular safari ride but we got to go in the FP entrance. Honestly I really enjoyed it and thought it was super informative!

 

[wilma-bride]

OP, thanks for the reviews. I would have been peeved at all the question asking too, especially if it held up the tour since I am a stickler for time keeping. Our vacation time is precious to us so if we do something, we like to know how long to allow for it.

I have to say, I think the running over thing might not have been a one-off though as my in-laws took the tour a couple of years ago and they were well over an hour too. We were waiting for them outside Club Cool and wondered if they'd got lost as they were gone almost 2 hours.

To the poster with the fish allergy, Columbia Harbour House is a QS restaurant and the kitchen is behind the serving counter. Since you pre-order your food, I would imagine you wouldn't actually have to go near the kitchen/serving area at all. I have eaten there several times and definitely don't recall it smelling fishy (and I hate the smell of fish). There is plenty of seating upstairs and I imagine that's where you would be seated (perhaps in a reserved area).

 

[kappyfamily]

We are doing the keys to the kingdom tour in June. At what point did you stop for lunch? How long was it? Did you sit in a special place? How near the cooking (kitchen) was it? Could you smell the fish cooking? I have a fish allergy and I'm a little worried about this part of the tour. I seem to be the first person with a fish allergy to want to take this tour because no one there at Disney seems to know anything. So I thought maybe you could shed some light on how the lunch in general goes normally.

We stopped half way in, so the tour started at 9am and we stopped at noon. We walked straight upstairs to the top seating, so we were no where near the kitchen.

Disney is so good about allergies that I'm pretty sure if you ordered your food (which you do when you check in for the tour), and let them know, they can make other arrangements. I'm sure you could even sit on a bench and relax outside while you eat your lunch. Honestly I probably would've liked that even better then sitting with a bunch of strangers! I would say don't let it stop you from doing the tour, they want to make you happy!

 

[kappyfamily]

Thank you for taking the time to post these tour reviews. This is the kind of information that people are looking for, at least I am! This will definitely help me decide if I dare to suggest that the family go on the "Behind the Seeds" tour. You know how it is when you come up with a suggestion and then everybody hates you for dragging them on something that they had to pay extra for and that they didn't love.

What I need is a "Behind the Disney trip planning tour" where everybody gets to see all the work that goes into trying to make a trip go smoothly for a family. It would show how the family planner comes up with a strategy that addresses the needs of people who are not on the same page with what they want out of a Disney Parks vacation.

On this tour you would see the endless hours of research, the hair pulling, the hours on the phone calling everyone and the final scene would be of a shepherd unsuccessfully herding a bunch of fighting cats. This tour would definitely have to end in a bar somewhere on Disney property.

I think we should call it the "Behind the screams" tour.

~NM

Boy isn't that the truth!! If you have younger kids, the Behind the Seeds tour you also release ladybugs a couple times which the little ones seemed to like! You also get to taste some cucumbers that they have grown. Don't forget to use your disney visa , DVC, OR AP discount on all of these tours!

 

[kappyfamily]

OP, thanks for the reviews. I would have been peeved at all the question asking too, especially if it held up the tour since I am a stickler for time keeping. Our vacation time is precious to us so if we do something, we like to know how long to allow for it.

I have to say, I think the running over thing might not have been a one-off though as my in-laws took the tour a couple of years ago and they were well over an hour too. We were waiting for them outside Club Cool and wondered if they'd got lost as they were gone almost 2 hours.

To the poster with the fish allergy, Columbia Harbour House is a QS restaurant and the kitchen is behind the serving counter. Since you pre-order your food, I would imagine you wouldn't actually have to go near the kitchen/serving area at all. I have eaten there several times and definitely don't recall it smelling fishy (and I hate the smell of fish). There is plenty of seating upstairs and I imagine that's where you would be seated (perhaps in a reserved area).

True! I never really smelled fish at all. You do go upstairs in a roped off reserved area! I also will add that every single tour I took, you can really see how much these people LOVE disney. Both in the Marceline and Keys tour both guides even got a little choked up/teary eyed when talking about Walt. Found myself doing the same (I've always known I'm a disney dork, but this sealed the deal...).

 

[PinkBudgie]

To the poster with the fish allergy, Columbia Harbour House is a QS restaurant and the kitchen is behind the serving counter. Since you pre-order your food, I would imagine you wouldn't actually have to go near the kitchen/serving area at all. I have eaten there several times and definitely don't recall it smelling fishy (and I hate the smell of fish). There is plenty of seating upstairs and I imagine that's where you would be seated (perhaps in a reserved area).

We stopped half way in, so the tour started at 9am and we stopped at noon. We walked straight upstairs to the top seating, so we were no where near the kitchen.

Disney is so good about allergies that I'm pretty sure if you ordered your food (which you do when you check in for the tour), and let them know, they can make other arrangements. I'm sure you could even sit on a bench and relax outside while you eat your lunch. Honestly I probably would've liked that even better then sitting with a bunch of strangers! I would say don't let it stop you from doing the tour, they want to make you happy!

Thank you both. Good to hear it is upstairs. That should be ok then. I did tell them of my allergy when I made the reservation and I will tell them again that morning and I also communicated with the tour office through email. I've always wanted to take this tour and I'd sit outside if I had to. At this point I will just assume they will make some sort of accommodation for me.

 

[Meggysmum]

Thanks for that.

We have always wanted to do a tour but if we made our teens go on "Behind the Seeds" I think they would disown us!

 

[MsThumper]

Do you get to see animals on the AK backstage your? And the safari ride..is that the same as the regular ride? I have reservations but I am going back and forth spending 3 hours on tour and not seeing animals. Thanks.

We took the Backstage Safari tour at the end of January and really enjoyed it. You will take the "regular" safari ride at the end of the tour with only your guide(s) and those people on your tour. During the backstage tour, you probably won't get to see any animals up close because they should all be out on the safari. We also only saw the one hippo up close, because he was the only animal not out on the safari.

To kappyfamily, WOW you really had a full week. Thanks for the reviews on all. We have also taken the Behind the Seeds, only had 5 in our group and we really enjoyed it. DH wants to do both tours again someday.

 

[saksn4]

A question about the Keys to the Kingdom tour...when on the tour, how are you able to hear the guide? Are you given earphones/buds to use? I am asking because I have a daughter who uses hearing aids and need to know what type of adaptive equipment we need to bring for her to hear! She does use something special when using earbuds (when listening to music on an ipod), so we can bring that along. Just wondering! Thanks for the info!

 

[kappyfamily]

A question about the Keys to the Kingdom tour...when on the tour, how are you able to hear the guide? Are you given earphones/buds to use? I am asking because I have a daughter who uses hearing aids and need to know what type of adaptive equipment we need to bring for her to hear! She does use something special when using earbuds (when listening to music on an ipod), so we can bring that along. Just wondering! Thanks for the info!

You do get an over one ear headphone attached to a little radio that you can turn up or down the volume. It didn't fit over my ear real well so I pulled down my cotton headband and held it in place with that. Hope that helps?

 

[saksn4]

Thank you Kappy! That does help!

 

[Pooksie]

Wow. Thanks so much for the detailed information on the tours. Just this afternoon my boyfriend and I were discussing what tours we wanted to do on our trips in May and September. We wanted to take one tour on each trip, and your report covered two of them...

The timing of your post was perfect for me.. Thanks again.

 

[csmith041177]

Thank you for the information! My wife and I have never done a tour but plan to in September.

 

[lugnut33]

I took KTTK tour last Tuesday and it was Ok. I knew as much or more than the tour guide though.

 

[kappyfamily]

I took KTTK tour last Tuesday and it was Ok. I knew as much or more than the tour guide though.

honestly this is why I think I liked Marceline better. It was so much info about Walt himself and not only Disney. There is one part to this tour that we were asked not to talk about that is just priceless... I also really do think the three hours is the perfect amount of time.