Best AK Tour

[disneydom]

Hey guys , were going to the wine fest in Nov and would like to take a tour of the AK what's the best Backstage Safari or wild by Design need some help .
Nov 4-13 were there so we have plenty of time thanx for the help

 

[Lancer]

Did both tours , Backstage Safari in 04 and wild by design in 05. It probably wont help, but, they are both excellent and you should do both. If I had to choose one, it probably be wild by design because I love all the little bits of trivia you learn and you can share that with other people while you walk the park. Each are offered only on certain days so that needs to be considered in your overall planning. Both are 3-4 hours of walking. Like all tours, its very informal and there is a lot of interaction and oportunities to ask questions.
During the safari tour, you go back to where they keep the large animals when they are off stage (you see it during the train ride to conservation station).Saw girraff and elephants up close. You get a look at how they feed the animals and where and how they store all the food. went through the medical facilities and talked with the vets. Got to meet alot of the handlers and see how they take care of them. went into the office building and talked to some park castmembers.

Wild by design is fairly new. something unique to this tour was that everyone wore small headsets with mics so that eveyone could hear the tour guide no matter what. At first I thought I wouldnt like it, but ended up really liking it especially around crowded areas. It is the animal kingdoms version of MK keys to the kingom tour where you walk around most of the park and learn why things were design like the were and how things were done. Not only the general layout of the park, but the buildings, que line areas etc. I was amazed at how much I really never noticed over the last few years of going to the park until I took this tour. We met a couple of different animal caretakers and got to ask a lot of questions. This tour is all about trivia and all those little details that go into something that you may not have noticed. Part way through we stopped at one of the resaurants and had a morning snack of fruit and danishes provided by the tour.

I have taken almost every tour offered by Disney, some multiple times, and one thing I have noticed is that alot of the tours success depends on the guide itself. I took the Keys tour three times and one guide was really good and gave us all sorts of info and trivia and the next didnt go over half of what the first one did. But still, they were all good non the less. I wouldnt hesitate to take these tours again for that reason. You may learn something new each time and besides I probably forgot half the things I've learned already.

Hope this little bit helps

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I've done both, and I like them both equally. I guess the decision comes down to if you want to focus on the animals or the park itself. Backstage Safari is neat to get to see where the animals are kept, what they eat, etc, while Wild By Design gives you some great backstory on the design of the park, and makes you appreciate all of the little details there a lot more!

 

[webmomom]

We have also taken both tours and both are great. As the other posters said it is really up to you what you are interested in. If you want to see and learn more about the animals upkeep the the backstage tour, but if you like trivia then Wild by Design.

I also really like the headsets that you get to wear. It makes it so much easier to hear. Any time theri is a questionier about a tour I keep telling them they should have the headsets for all of the tours.

 

[disneydom]

Thahx for all the info looks like wild by design wins

 

[Simba's Mom]

I just called about the 2 tours in AK a couple weeks ago, and yes, Wild by Design is only offered 2 days-unfortunately for us Thursday and Friday. I think Backstage Safari was offered 4 of the 5 weekdays. And the CM said both tours book up very fast, so don't wait too long to choose. Personally, Wild by Design sounded more interesting, but the fact that it's only offered those 2 days is a problem for us.