Behind the Seeds

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We have a reservation for Behind the Seeds for our May trip with DS4 (almost 5 a week after the trip) and DD8. They are into some nature stuff and like to go 'hiking' and I don't think the hour of walking around will be too bad on either one of them. But after riding Living w/ the Land a few weeks ago I saw some really bored looking kids on the tour, so I am thinking of cancelling the reservations and playing it by ear. If we decide not to go and have a reservation we lose the money if we don't cancel 48 hours in advance. So my questions are:

Do the tours fill up fast and do I really need the reseravation? We will be there week of May 23-30th.

If you have taken the tour, did you enjoy it? and did your kids enjoy it (plus what ages were they)?

Thanks!

 

[DisMN]

We've taken the tour twice and both times we did it walk-up, no prior reservations. We also had the choice of making the reservation in person but for another day of the week...paid for it when we reserved and then just had to show up for the tour.

The walking is more of a saunter with lots of stops to learn about whatever area you were in.

Good luck deciding what to do!

 

[mickeystoontown]

We've done the tour twice. Our son was 9 once and 10 once. Both times, we walked up to the podium and were able to sign up for the tour. We did not book in advance. Both times were also the last week of May.

There were several smaller children with us when we toured and they were about 5 or so. The castmember gave the kids little vials of ladybugs and told the kids to hang on to them until he told them they could let them go. This kept the kids occupied for most of the tour.

When we got to the aqua something-or-other part of the tour, they gave everybody some fish food to feed the fish in the round tank which the kids really liked. And, they liked seeing the little alligators too.

The smaller kids on the tour seemed to be enjoying themselves. I know our son had a great time.

By the way, if you buy the Birnbaum's Official Guide to Walt Disney World, there's a coupon in the back for a percentage off the tour.

 

[justgeorgi]

How long is the tour and how much is it? Living With The Land is one of my favorite attractions!

 

[MHSweb79]

We also signed up the morning of our tour and there were plenty of spots throughout the day.
Our tour lasted well over an hour - I remember because we had an ADR at LeCellier that we had to run for, even though we should have had about 45 minutes to spare!
I think 4 is a bit young for the tour- it's a lot of standing while the leader talks, and parts of it are in areas with no air conditioning. We did do the ladybugs and feed the fish, though, which was fun.

ETA: Forgot to mention that we got a AAA discount, even though we didn't have our cards with us!

 

[BraveLittleToaster2]

We made reservations a few days in advance.
We took our 4 year old and 1 year old at the time.
The 1 year old stayed in my arms of the stroller most of the time and was fine.
My 4 year old enjoyed it, our guide let him release ladybugs onto some plants and gave him a certificate for helping to feed the fish that are in giant tanks towards the end of the tour.
As long as your kids normally behave well you shouldn't have a problem.
But keep in mind our kids were the only ones on the tour with a bunch of adults and if my kids had NOT behaved I would have been very embarresed.

Very nice tour, we would surely do it again.

 

[justgeorgi]

I just booked my Behind The Seeds tour for March 23rd! I'm excited because it will work right into my ADR for Coral Reef!

 

[smallfri1112]

How long is the tour and how much is it? Living With The Land is one of my favorite attractions!

I'm not really sure how long the tour is. My guess is that it's about 45 minutes...

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/guides/epcot/epfw-theland.htm

Behind the Seeds Tour

Departing every 45 minutes from 10:30am - 4:30pm
Cost (including tax, theme park admission required):
$16.00 Guests ages 10+
$12.00 Guests ages 3-9
To book in advance call 407-WDW-TOUR

This guided tour will appeal to gardeners. The tour is an up close look at four greenhouses that are part of the "Living with the Land" attraction. Behind the Seeds is led by a member of the Epcot Science Team. Highlights include:

Sensory challenge with herbs/spices
Lady bug release
Vegetable taste test
Fish feeding
Sprouting a seed in your pocket to bring home
Close look at the alligators
Latest gardening tips
Seeing how exotic crops and gigantic fruits and veggies are grown without soil

-Cameras are welcome.
-Children of all ages can participate. Strollers will be provided when needed
-Wheelchair accessible but ECV users must transfer to regular wheelchair

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Officially the tour is 1¼ hours, but a lot of the length depends on both the size of the group and the number of quesitons asked. The latest time I was on the tour was just ths Tuesday; we only had five people and almost no questions, so it was right about the 1¼ hours. Other times I have been on they had as many as 16 people (the capacity of the tour) and many questions/discussions and the tour ran 1-3/4 hours.

I have probably taken the tour over a dozen times with asorted visiting friends and relatives. I use an ECV and have never had to transfer to a wheelchair. However my ECV is not as large as the Disney ones.

The tour guides have all been science staff members, rangng from professional interns up to a biochemist who had been there almost 20 years. There are no "regular" tour guides; the staff are assigned one or two tours per week.

 

[DisneyVC]

We went this past December. We made reservations about an hour prior to start time.

My kids 6 and almost 4 had a blast. They loved every minute of it and have been asking to go back. We had a great cast member lead the way, so I'm sure that was helpful too.

 

[PatsMom]

We did the behind the seeds tour a few years ago and really enjoyed it. My daughter was 17 at the time so no young children with us. We had a 20% (I think) annual passholder or DVC Member discount so the tour wasn't terribly expensive.

 

[pmickus]

We took our kids last time (ages 7 and 9). They really enjoyed it. It was a very small group <10. The kids got a chance to release lady bugs. I used it as a teaching moment to ease my guilt of taking them out of school. I'm sure you could walk up, no need for reservations but we were there in Nov. If you have a Disney Visa you get a pretty good discount on the tour.

 

[CaptMarge]

Wow, everyone has had such good luck with thaking their children on the tour, we however had no such luck. We took the tour in 2007 with DS8 and DD2 plus my parents. We were NOT allowed to take the stroller so I was lucky that there were 3 extra sets of arms to help hold DD. My kids weren't given any type of vial with bugs inside to keep them occupied. Our tour consisted of maybe 12 to 15 very inquisitive adults and it ended up lasting over 2 hours!! EEEK, when it came time to feed the fish (the only reson my DS agreed to be good and follow along), the tour guide walked past the tanks and threw in a little food on his way, not even stopping to tell us anything. It was like once we left the garden and moved on to the animals the guide lost interest or realized he was behind schedule and rushed us on through. Not fair to DS, but what could we do! My best advice, you know you kids and whether or not they are capable of behaving even if they end up on a long drawn out (boring :-() tour like we did. Kudos to my kids though for being so good, and my husband and parents for being so helpful and patient with DD! Have a wonderful time whatever you decide.

 

[landshark]

We did it on our last trip as something different to do and both my DBF and I really enjoyed it. We booked in advance, just in case, but didn't really need to as you could still walk up and get into a tour that day.

Your kids might really like seeing the baby alligators, feeding the fish, and releasing ladybugs. There really is very little walking involved. There's only like three greenhouses so you mostly just stop at one or two areas per house and listen to the guide before moving on. I believe there were benches in one house.

Hopefully if you do the tour, your guide will be as enthusiastic about it all as ours was (I believe Moe was her name).

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I liked the tour when we went there were video game designers there.they are using things Disney does to grow plants in some video game.