Cultivating the Magic Guided Tour - My Experience

[BriannaRuth]

Just did this last week and was underwhelmed.

The tour meets near City Hall, so I headed over after doing the Tiki Room. One of the things that they talked about in the advertisement for the tour was how the plants in Tomorrowland are designed to be edible, etc., and we would look at those, but we really just stopped and looked at a planter there, where they had us smell one of the herbs. They did talk a lot about how they changed out the flowers for the seasons and matched them to the lands, and gave us the opportunity to take some photos of the flowers on Main Street.

The thing I was most looking forward to was the Jungle Cruise -- they're supposed to take you on the JC (I assumed on a private boat) and talk about the flora along the way. Well, we got there and they said something about, "Oh, they don't have any boats right now that we wouldn't get wet in." But not to worry, we're going to do the Tiki Room instead!! I literally JUST WENT to the Tiki Room and there are ZERO real plants in the Tiki Room. Seriously? They switched out a LL attraction that normally has at least a 30 minute wait with the Tiki Room with no plants?? I've heard that when you do the Railroad tour and can't go on the Lilly Belle, you get an MEP, but we got nothing.

After the Tiki Room, they did bring a guy to show us how the mechanics worked in one of the Tiki Room flowers, but that wasn't really something I was all that interested in and it didn't really go along with what was supposed to be on the tour.

Would not recommend.

 

[DizMe]

Just did this last week and was underwhelmed.

The tour meets near City Hall, so I headed over after doing the Tiki Room. One of the things that they talked about in the advertisement for the tour was how the plants in Tomorrowland are designed to be edible, etc., and we would look at those, but we really just stopped and looked at a planter there, where they had us smell one of the herbs. They did talk a lot about how they changed out the flowers for the seasons and matched them to the lands, and gave us the opportunity to take some photos of the flowers on Main Street.

The thing I was most looking forward to was the Jungle Cruise -- they're supposed to take you on the JC (I assumed on a private boat) and talk about the flora along the way. Well, we got there and they said something about, "Oh, they don't have any boats right now that we wouldn't get wet in." But not to worry, we're going to do the Tiki Room instead!! I literally JUST WENT to the Tiki Room and there are ZERO real plants in the Tiki Room. Seriously? They switched out a LL attraction that normally has at least a 30 minute wait with the Tiki Room with no plants?? I've heard that when you do the Railroad tour and can't go on the Lilly Belle, you get an MEP, but we got nothing.

After the Tiki Room, they did bring a guy to show us how the mechanics worked in one of the Tiki Room flowers, but that wasn't really something I was all that interested in and it didn't really go along with what was supposed to be on the tour.

Would not recommend.

Oh, WOW!! That IS disappointing. They shouldn't even charge for such a poor tour. I was looking forward to it because I'd heard the old one was really interesting.

Well, I'm sorry you had to waste your park time (and money!) on something that lame, but thanks for the heads up.

 

[irlandaise]

The thing I was most looking forward to was the Jungle Cruise -- they're supposed to take you on the JC (I assumed on a private boat) and talk about the flora along the way. Well, we got there and they said something about, "Oh, they don't have any boats right now that we wouldn't get wet in."

Huh? How are some JC boats different from others? AFAIK, all of them are such that you might get a little spray but you aren't going to get soggy.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Just did this last week and was underwhelmed.

The tour meets near City Hall, so I headed over after doing the Tiki Room. One of the things that they talked about in the advertisement for the tour was how the plants in Tomorrowland are designed to be edible, etc., and we would look at those, but we really just stopped and looked at a planter there, where they had us smell one of the herbs. They did talk a lot about how they changed out the flowers for the seasons and matched them to the lands, and gave us the opportunity to take some photos of the flowers on Main Street.

The thing I was most looking forward to was the Jungle Cruise -- they're supposed to take you on the JC (I assumed on a private boat) and talk about the flora along the way. Well, we got there and they said something about, "Oh, they don't have any boats right now that we wouldn't get wet in." But not to worry, we're going to do the Tiki Room instead!! I literally JUST WENT to the Tiki Room and there are ZERO real plants in the Tiki Room. Seriously? They switched out a LL attraction that normally has at least a 30 minute wait with the Tiki Room with no plants?? I've heard that when you do the Railroad tour and can't go on the Lilly Belle, you get an MEP, but we got nothing.

After the Tiki Room, they did bring a guy to show us how the mechanics worked in one of the Tiki Room flowers, but that wasn't really something I was all that interested in and it didn't really go along with what was supposed to be on the tour.

Would not recommend.

So sorry that your tour was disappointing. We did this tour and had a great time Our guide was very involved with us and welcomed all questions. He texted to get answers and updated us as the tour progressed. We did get to do JC in a private boat -- no skipper spiel so that our guide could tell us about the plants. It was really fun and I would recommend it.

 

[StormyCA]

Get wet? Seriously? Did they think they had a bunch of 1st timers on the tour or something?

I'm so disappointed! The reviews of the old horticultural tours said it was wonderful and detailed, I'd always wanted to do it. This 'new' one I'll give a pass.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Huh? How are some JC boats different from others? AFAIK, all of them are such that you might get a little spray but you aren't going to get soggy.

Yeah, I wasn't sure what they meant by that. It may have been that the JC was down, but I could see boats with people in them and even if it was temporarily down, the tour was only half done at that point and we could have come back, or at the very least, gotten an MEP instead of wasting time in the Tiki Room.

It may be that we just had a bad tour. I'd seen good reviews on it, and the parts where they were talking about how they change out the flowers depending on what's going on was interesting. But taking us to the Tiki Room for a horticultural tour was really inexcusable IMO. It was like, "well, we have 15 minutes to kill so let's take them to the Tiki Room in spite of the fact that we know that's the easiest attraction at DL to get into and hey, there are fake flowers!"

 

[irlandaise]

Yeah, I wasn't sure what they meant by that. It may have been that the JC was down, but I could see boats with people in them and even if it was temporarily down, the tour was only half done at that point and we could have come back, or at the very least, gotten an MEP instead of wasting time in the Tiki Room.

It may be that we just had a bad tour. I'd seen good reviews on it, and the parts where they were talking about how they change out the flowers depending on what's going on was interesting. But taking us to the Tiki Room for a horticultural tour was really inexcusable IMO. It was like, "well, we have 15 minutes to kill so let's take them to the Tiki Room in spite of the fact that we know that's the easiest attraction at DL to get into and hey, there are fake flowers!"

I hope you'll write to Disney about this. You were owed at least a truthful explanation and I think some sort of compensation (e.g. a MEP) as well. That was a major miss to not get the story of the JC's extravagant horticulture.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I was underwhelmed, as well. I wrote about it in a recent trip report. I did get to go on the jungle cruise, but it wasn't as interesting as it could have been.

 

[sophy1996]

I was underwhelmed, as well. I wrote about it in a recent trip report. I did get to go on the jungle cruise, but it wasn't as interesting as it could have been.

That’s how we felt also. There was some interesting information, but not enough to justify a 2-hour tour. We spent quite a bit of time standing and waiting to board the JC too. It seems like they could have planned better to avoid wasted time.