discover the magic tour????

[abby]

Has anyone done this tour? I have a dd who is 7 and this sounds so fun. Is it worth the cost? Will it be offered in December?

 

[azlaura]

I was wondering about this tour too. Has anyone been on it since the changes were made and if so what are your opinions?
Thanks,
Laura

 

[DangerMouse]

Yep! I've done it. My kids loved it. They have changed it a bit since we did it. The theme is more of a treasure hunt instead of trying to find who a lost book belongs to. They only offer a "frozen treat" now instead of lunch like they used to.

I've heard they've added some extra rides to the tour as well.

They should be offering it on weekends during December. Have fun!

 

[flyinshirer]

I am glad that you asked this question. I was wondering the same thing.
I know that it was discussed on another thread, just don't remember where it's at. (Still a sorta a newbie) I think you can "search" for it.

I hope we can get some new info on this one.

 

[zukeeper]

Did the original - totally awsome!!! But I would like to do it again with the youngest and am worried I'll be dissappointed. Prices go up, lunch goes away?? Anyone have a review? Thanks!

 

[mariezp]

We did the Discover Magic Tour on Sept. 9th. We started our tour at 10:00am with 2 guides, Kelly & Albert. There were about 18 people on our tour. Apparently, they are still working to perfect their tour, as I had heard on the new tours they were looking for a book but on our tour we did the treasure chest hunt. We started with clues which led us to different areas and rides in the park.
We rode Pirates, Buzz and King Arthur's Carousel and visited Tarzan's Treehouse. We stopped for a frozen treat mid way through the tour. The tour ended at Mickey's house.
Mickey was the only character we met. Kelly & Albert provided a nice tour with cute constant chatter between each other. The kids got their photos taken with Mickey and were given a pin at the end of the tour. (I think it was the end... the group sorta scattered out and we left.)
My DD is 7. She did not like all the walking but she tends to be whiney. She did say she might like to try again when she is older. My DS is 16. He said it was okay. Coming from him, that would be considered a pretty good rating. My DH said he did enjoy it. And I would rate it a 7 on a scale of 1-10. I think it would be an improvement if each tour were limited to only about 12 people because with so many the group tended to get scattered out which made it hard to hear what was being said. Also, they let the kids read the clues which also made it difficult to hear. I am glad we did it once and would probably do it again.

 

[Kailua's Belle]

So there wasn't any planned character interaction? From what I read of the previous tour, it seemed like you met up with different characters along the way that gave you clues.

The previous tour sounded like so much fun, I couldn't wait to do it with my kids. But now, just based on the limited reviews I've read, seems like this new version of the tour isn't as good as it used to be. Now I'm thinking of leaving this off of our list of to-dos.

Any other details you can add would be great!!

 

[flyinshirer]

I have reservations for our upcoming trip for this tour! I can't wait. The kids are excited too. I wonder though if I'm more excited than they are!

 

[Kailua's Belle]

Looking forward to your full report when you get back!!!

Have a great time!

 

[mariezp]

Details, hmmmm. My mind is rather like Dory's but I will see what I can remember from my somewhat limited memory. My daughter & son are sitting next to me so maybe they can help me out!

After we checked in for our tour, we gathered in an area behind the building. Our guides talked with the children a few minutes before a chest was brought out, in which part of a treasure map was found. The chest also contained a puzzle piece which had a clue on the back of it which led us to the Court of Angels in New Oleans Square. There the kids searched for another chest which held the next clue as well as "pirate hats & treasure". From there we were led to Fourtune Red for our next clue, then Tarzan's Treehouse, then to Pirates. From there it was over to Tomorrowland for a ride on Buzz then to Fantasyland for a ride on the carousel. We picked up clues all along the way. From there we went to visit Mickey at his house Toontown. When we got there they returned the puzzle to him. He rewarded each child with a pin. Then everyone was given time to have a photo taken with Mickey.

Each ride helped us with our next clue. We were allowed to enter through the exits so we did not have long waits in each line. The 2 guides constantly teased each other. Albert called Kelly's name every few minutes which was really funny. They also had us scream out "Buddy" on a regular basis to make sure we were all together. That tended to catch the other park guests by surprise when we walked by them and suddenly shouted!

As I previuosly mentioned, Mickey was the only character we saw on this particular tour. Since the website description sounds considerably different, I would not be surprised if some of the tours are different from ours. I would go ahead and give it a chance simply because the kids did seem to be having a great time!

 

[MinnieMouse73]

We did the 'new' tour in August and although we hadn't done the old one to compare with, we really enjoyed it. Ours was as described above, but the advantage we had was that we were the only 3 people on the tour! (me, DH and DD5). So our daughter got 1:1 attention the whole time from her own CM (who we then bumped into a couple of times later in the week, then we had to go and visit her on our last day), she got to work out all the clues herself, find all the treasure boxes herself and at the end, she sat and showed Mickey the puzzle she'd put together to find him - I'm sure that made a big difference, 18 does sound like it would have been a very big group (even with 2 CMs).

So for us, yes it was definitely worth the money, our DD talks about it a lot. It would have been really nice to have met more characters, but since we didn't know that used to happen we didn't miss it!

 

[Kailua's Belle]

Thanks for your responses. Well, I still have plenty of time to decide, but I was really hoping for the character interactions that I read about. My kids love the characters.

Oh, btw, how far in advance did you book it?

 

[mariezp]

We did the 'new' tour in August and although we hadn't done the old one to compare with, we really enjoyed it.

Exactly, we had nothing to compare it to so didn't really know if we had missed anything. Besides, I am sure each tour is unique in it's own way and with each tour guides presentation.

Ours was as described above, but the advantage we had was that we were the only 3 people on the tour! (me, DH and DD5).

I am SOOO jealous! That would have been really cool to have had our own personal tour and cm! My daughter would have loved that! And even my teen son probably would have gotten involved in the action.

So for us, yes it was definitely worth the money, our DD talks about it a lot. It would have been really nice to have met more characters, but since we didn't know that used to happen we didn't miss it!

I would say it was worth it for us too. Now that we are home we have been randomly shouting "Buddy" or "Kelly, Kelly, Kelly, Kelly" so we have a new inside joke or two to add to our memories.

 

[twingirlsmom2]

We're scheduled for Oct 26 and I can't wait. I tried the last couple of trips to go on this tour, but it was closed or unavailable. I had hoped for more interaction but I know the twins will love it based on your description. I'll tell more when we get back.

 

[tammie33]

I did the old tour and loved, loved, loved it. A friend of mine did the new tour based on my description and let's just say it was totally different. She was disappointed and I felt bad. I was going to do the tour again for my DD birthday, but based on the lack of character interaction and more ride focus, we decided not to spend the money.