Backstage Magic Tour

[alliecat523]

Has anyone done this tour? Is it worthwhile? I've done KTTK and loved it. My daughter is only 13 so couldn't do the Keys tour (she was heartbroken). I thought this might be a great alternative but was looking for some feedback since it's pricey.

 

[PanamaMike]

I did it last month.

Yes, it's pricey but I enjoyed it very much.

 

[alliecat523]

Thanks!

 

[AngiTN]

DH and I did it a couple months ago. We loved it. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it

 

[mar7967]

I share the opinion of the other posters. I did it in January and would recommend it in a heartbeat!

 

[Meriweather]

Done it twice.....years apart. Different things seen. Love it and will do it again.

 

[AngiTN]

I don't know about all the others who've done it but I loved the time at the Costuming dept. I'd be all over a tour that was nothing but Costuming. I could have spent hours in there.
Everything else was interesting but that was my favorite part by far

 

[HydroGuy]

I did it five years ago and thought it was just awesome.

For those who have done it recently, what are the tour stops now?

When I went it was:

MK (Utilidor tunnels)
Epcot (American Adventure show)
DHS (ToT and inside the costume design)
AK (jungle parade - no longer showing)
Horticulture area (seasonal flowers, topiaries, etc.)
Tech building (can't remember what they called it - WED? - old ride vehicles and audio animatronic figures)
Lunch at Whispering Canyon

 

[DreamIsaWish]

What's the minimum age for this one? I think I see 16, which still wouldn't help OP (or me, with a tween as well). But I wonder if I'm seeing outdated info.

What are the best options for tweens?

 

[FastPasser]

I think I see 16, which still wouldn't help OP. But I wonder if I'm seeing outdated info.

Must be, it's 12. At close to $300, it is pricey.

 

[FastPasser]

I loved the time at the Costuming dept.

Which costuming location did they take you to?

 

[Accident]

If your mostly interested in overall and magic kingdom, KTTK is a better deal and great tour (with marceline to magic kingdom being a great companion tour for another trip or another day).. both together are less than backstage.

If you are interested in more things like where they fix things, the greenhouses and a wider variety of information on how things work then backstage magic is the tour for you. (it's more than that) but the KTTK magic kingdom part is different than KTTK but having done both I found KTTK to be a enjoyable but mostly repetitive. there is still things in both tours you won't see in the other though. Marceline is different so don't think this is mixing marceline and kttk.. it's more kttk condensed + more outside of MK.

the last time I did behind the magic costuming was still in hollywood so I'm not sure how it has changed int he last year since that was moved but they lightly update this time to time..

 

[AngiTN]

I did it five years ago and thought it was just awesome.

For those who have done it recently, what are the tour stops now?

When I went it was:

MK (Utilidor tunnels)
Epcot (American Adventure show)
DHS (ToT and inside the costume design)
AK (jungle parade - no longer showing)
Horticulture area (seasonal flowers, topiaries, etc.)
Tech building (can't remember what they called it - WED? - old ride vehicles and audio animatronic figures)
Lunch at Whispering Canyon

Epcot AA show
Tech building where rides are rehabed, also saw the sign shop
Laundry facility
Whispering Canyon lunch
Free standing Costume shop, no idea where it was exactly
Park decorating facility
MK Utilidor

What's the minimum age for this one? I think I see 16, which still wouldn't help OP (or me, with a tween as well). But I wonder if I'm seeing outdated info.

What are the best options for tweens?

It's 12 or 13, I forget which. There was a 13 yo on our tour

Which costuming location did they take you to?

I do not know where it is, it's not at HS (that is now closed anyway).
It's the building where they are sewing, designing an repairing costumes. Maybe Central Costuming (if there is a central one)

 

[lntx]

I did it at the end of February and it was fantastic! I would highly recommend it! And if you're lucky....Harry will be your tour guide! He was such a wealth of knowledge and really made the tour extra special.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

What's the minimum age for this one? I think I see 16, which still wouldn't help OP (or me, with a tween as well). But I wonder if I'm seeing outdated info.

What are the best options for tweens?

t
Keys to the Kingdom is a minimum age of 16. Backstage Magic is a minimum age of 12. They're two different tours.

 

[alliecat523]

Backstage Magic lists 12 as the minimum age.

 

[mikepizzo]

Has anyone done this tour? Is it worthwhile? I've done KTTK and loved it. My daughter is only 13 so couldn't do the Keys tour (she was heartbroken). I thought this might be a great alternative but was looking for some feedback since it's pricey.

Not sure if this is an option for you, but I would wait until the construction in Hollywood Studios is done. Currently there are no stops at Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. Fiancee and I did it a couple of years ago, and it was totally worth it then. Based on what's on the site, it doesn't look like they added anything. They've just taken away the Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Price has remained the same of course. Actually, I think it's gone up 25 bucks since we did it.

 

[AngiTN]

Not sure if this is an option for you, but I would wait until the construction in Hollywood Studios is done. Currently there are no stops at Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom. Fiancee and I did it a couple of years ago, and it was totally worth it then. Based on what's on the site, it doesn't look like they added anything. They've just taken away the Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Price has remained the same of course. Actually, I think it's gone up 25 bucks since we did it.

They didn't reduce things.
The costume stop at HS was moved to an out of park costume shop, so a wash really
The horticulture stop at AK was replaced with a stop at a laundry facility.
Before you scoff at laundry tour it is fascinating and an important part of the backstage work needed to keep Disney operating day in and day out. Though I admit the plants stop would have been more interesting to me the laundry was not as awful as it sounds

 

[mikepizzo]

They didn't reduce things.
The costume stop at HS was moved to an out of park costume shop, so a wash really
The horticulture stop at AK was replaced with a stop at a laundry facility.
Before you scoff at laundry tour it is fascinating and an important part of the backstage work needed to keep Disney operating day in and day out. Though I admit the plants stop would have been more interesting to me the laundry was not as awful as it sounds

For our tour we stopped at AK and spoke to one of the animal handlers that worked at the Conservation Station (I believe). She was super knowledgeable about the Safari and the animals themselves. We also went to the horticulture area, which was semi-lame for the sole reason that Flower and Garden just started, so the area was kind of bare. We also went to costuming and we stopped at the laundry.

Honestly, to me, anything Disney does from a backstage standpoint is fascinating, due to the volume alone. The laundry stop was super interesting.

We also went to Central Shops (which is what I remember them calling the area where they work on animatronics, ride vehicles, etc. I think that was the building that also had the area where they made all the signs and stuff.

Maybe my tour was different from your tour, but I'm certain that there are fewer locations listed on the Backstage Magic Tour page than the locations I went on my tour.

v0v

 

[AngiTN]

For our tour we stopped at AK and spoke to one of the animal handlers that worked at the Conservation Station (I believe). She was super knowledgeable about the Safari and the animals themselves. We also went to the horticulture area, which was semi-lame for the sole reason that Flower and Garden just started, so the area was kind of bare. We also went to costuming and we stopped at the laundry.

Honestly, to me, anything Disney does from a backstage standpoint is fascinating, due to the volume alone. The laundry stop was super interesting.

We also went to Central Shops (which is what I remember them calling the area where they work on animatronics, ride vehicles, etc. I think that was the building that also had the area where they made all the signs and stuff.

Maybe my tour was different from your tour, but I'm certain that there are fewer locations listed on the Backstage Magic Tour page than the locations I went on my tour.

v0v

Sounds like they took us to the decoration storage area, which is different stop than Central Shops, instead of AK.
But otherwise, the stops are the same.