A Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour?????

[redsox721]

We were thinking of doing this tour on our upcoming trip. Has anyone done this before? Is it worth the money? What is the included lunch consists of? Any other thoughts would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[ballarinamom]

DH and mother in law did the tour in November. They loved it! They went into the lobby of Club 33. They toured the Tiki Room and got to get up close to one of the original birds. It was very educational. The meal was a sandwhich, chips and drink. Nothing fabulous but ok. You make your choice at check in and it is there when you get back

 

[S. S. Columbia]

Where do they serve the lunch?

TIA

 

[ballarinamom]

In the little courtyard area where you check in for the guided tours

 

[LV Disney Fan(atic)]

I think I read that they have 2 of these tours a day. Can anybody tell me what the starting times are? Thanks!

 

[KCmike]

Subscribing to hear more about this. My wife and I have a chance to let her sister watch the kids so we could do this together.

 

[ACDSNY]

We signed up for this tour one Sunday as the crowds were driving us crazy. We had a wonderful guide and enjoyed the tour. We also enjoyed having a peaceful place to eat lunch in the courtyard.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We went on the tour during our ladies trip, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Guests are given earpieces so that the tour guide can easily be heard without having to shout over the crowds.

This tour is basically given from Walt's perspective, and what made it more special were the music effects and hearing his voice describe certain parts of the park. So to hear WALT talk about the attractions or different aspects of the park makes this tour very unique - only in Disneyland can this happen.

We went in the Tiki Room, saw the show, and got to see one of the original flowers (Ophelia), although we could not touch her because of her delicate nature. We also went on the Jungle Cruise and the train. I don't remember if we went on three or four attractions. One of the nice things is that our guide went with us on all of them.

In addition to the attractions, we visited different areas of the park. I think the only area we didn't visit was Tomorrowland. Still, we covered a lot of territory, saw a lot, and heard a lot. We even saw a hidden Walt, which I won't share here since it's a part of the tour.

Afterwards, we went to the tour garden (when you enter Disneyland the tour garden is located to the left of the left tunnel behind the tour kiosk) where round tables had been set up with our lunches. As we relaxed, ate, and talked about the tour, we were presented with a special pin for taking the tour.

I thought it was worth it... and I'm saying this with having been on it before in 2000.

Discounts offered are AP, Disney Visa, & I think AAA.

Some pics of our tour

Here our guide, Mark, is talking to us at the beginning of the tour

This shows the type of headphones we wore.

More talk about the park

Inside the lobby of Club 33

Our lunch

I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was having too much fun & forgot.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I took the tour in August 2007. Lunch was served in the courtyard and consisted of a nice sandwich, fruit, a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie, and a can of soda. We enjoyed lunch with our tour guide and he told us some interesting things. There is a discount for either Disneyland AP holder or a Disney Visa. Discount is the same no matter what.

Now, for the tour itself. To date it's the only tour I've taken at any Disney parks. I personally found the tour to be very enjoyable and informative. As a lifelong Walt Disney and Disneyland fan, I already knew much of what was shared. However, I still recommend the tour to Disneyland veterans because I learned some new things and I really enjoyed getting to experience some of the park's history up close and personal, especially the elements of Walt Disney himself and Disneyland.

For WDW veterans making their first (or perhaps an early) visit to Disneyland, this tour is an absolute must. For a WDW veteran who wants to truly understand what makes Disneyland special and why some of us are almost dismissive of the MK, take this tour. Disneyland has Walt's personal touch. His spirit permeates this park. Once a guest understands that, they will begin to understand why Disneyland fans are so passionate.

I will relate one story I heard on the tour to illustrate. Many people, upon comparing Sleeping Beauty Castle to Cinderella Castle are underwhelmed by the much smaller size of Sleeping Beauty Castle. But there's an interesting story behind the size. When Walt was building Disneyland, he purposefully built designed the castle to be smaller and more intimate. On the topmost spire of SBC is a secondary spire attached to the back of it. In original designs, this spire was to face toward the park entrance, but when the designers were playing with the model, they accidentally put the spire on the castle backwards. When Walt saw it, he commented that it looked better that way because it made the castle less intimidating. In medevial times, castles were used to intimidate the poor classes and Walt Disney wanted none of that in his park.

Now people may still look at the two castles and prefer Cinderella Castle. I understand that. There is an emotional connection to Disney parks for many and they may more fondly remember the first one. But that story is just one example of Walt's touch at Disneyland.

 

[fairykin]

My mom and i went on this tour with Maryjo! We had a Great time!!!
I Love this tour and will go on it again on next year's girls only trip.

The pin that we were given is so pretty.

This is a lovely tour.

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

We just did this tour 2 days ago! We did enjoy it, but...the electronic listening things weren't all working properly so we went without. It was a little hard to hear the guide at times and I think she may have been a little frazzled without having the normal little audio bits for us to listen to. It does sound like listening to Walt's voice would have added a lot to the tour.

Our tour started at 9:30 (I believe the other tour of the day started at something like 1:30 or 2:00) and the tour lasted about 3.5 hours, including lunch time. We rode the Jungle Cruise (with probably the best driver ever!) and rode a short distance on the train. The Tiki Room was the last thing before heading back to the tour garden for lunch.

We didn't get the pins becasue they were out, but they did take our names and addresses to mail them to us once they get more pins in.

 

[Queenbillabong]

Our tour started at 9:30 (I believe the other tour of the day started at something like 1:30 or 2:00) and the tour lasted about 3.5 hours, including lunch time. We rode the Jungle Cruise (with probably the best driver ever!) and rode a short distance on the train.

Who was your skipper? We had Julie Rei and she was the BEST Jungle Cruise skipper ever - very funny

 

[CanadianPaco]

What a wonderful tour description! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[Dsnylndlvrs]

Who was your skipper? We had Julie Rei and she was the BEST Jungle Cruise skipper ever - very funny

I don't know what his name was - but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Julie! We've ridden Jungle Cruise so many times and are so used to most of the jokes but htis guy had many, many that we've never heard and he had lots of movements and interactions with people on the boat that we'd never seen. It seemed almost like a whole new ride.

 

[mmlover74]

Eventually, I would like to take this tour, so I am glad to hear good things about it.

 

[Belle Ella]

I love to hear people's experience on the tour. I need to make sure I save up the money to do this on my birthday trip in September!

 

[peppermint]

It sounds like we need to do this tour again. It's quite a bit different than when we went on it several years ago. We didn't get to see the Tiki Room, or have the headphones with Walt talking. It sounds great.

 

[redsox721]

Thanks for all the information about this tour. We will be definitely be doing it. Love the pictures.

Another question, should we make advanced reservations or can we do it the day we are there?

 

[redsox721]

bump

 

[DizNee Luver]

I'd suggest reserving your spot ahead of time, unless you are going at a very slow time (but even then I'd reserve....they probably have to have so many people doing it, to do the tour)

If you're interested in seeing more pics, click on my TR link above the little pics below in my signature:
Page 13, post #182 & 184
Page 20, post #287 & 288

Definately worth it to go on this tour!! We loved it!