Disney Tours

[smkohn]

I keep going back and forth on which sub forum to post this under, but I think this one works well enough. I'm going on a Disney vacation this June with my wonderful boyfriend, best friend, and her boyfriend. Last time my BF and I were in Disney he was enamored by the landscaping in the parks. I thought it would be the perfect anniversary gift to book the Gardens of the World tour for just the two of us. However, it looks like we're going to miss the last of those tours by about two weeks, as it only runs during Flower and Garden
Does anybody have any experience with any of the other tours? Are there any that you really enjoyed that you would suggest going on? I've always wanted to do one of the tours, and I think my BF would really enjoy going on one. I had my heart set on the Gardens of the World, however he thinks any kind of backstage type stuff is cool. When he came to visit me on my college program he loved all the behind the scenes stuff I was able to tell him. So really any kind of information on different tours you've done would be appreciated

 

[Best Aunt]

Don't feel bad. I've done a bunch of the tours, and that was my least favorite. The entire tour was, "name that tree." As in, "That's a pretty tree. What's it's name? Will it grow where I live?"

But since people on the tour will be from different parts of the country, you don't really care if the tree will grow someplace that has a climate completely different from yours.

First you have to decide:
1) Do you want to go in the water?
2) Do you want to be on a Segway?
3) Do you want to go behind the scenes?

At Animal Kingdom, "Backstage Safari" goes behind the scenes but "Wild by Design" doesn't. If you're not a big animal lover, then you probably don't want to do either of those.

A lot of people really want to go in the tunnels under the Magic Kingdom. You need "Keys to the Kingdom" or "Backstage Magic" to do that. Backstage Magic is a longer tour and I believe it goes to all 4 parks now.

"Undiscovered Future World" was my favorite, but the best part has been eliminated. (We hid in a doorway in the dark below Ellen's Energy Adventure in the dinosaur area. We had to hide until the trains full of people went by, so they wouldn't see us. The dinosaurs were roaring the whole time. It was very cool.)

Animal Kingdom has a new tour which people have posted about on the theme park board. Magic Kingdom also has a new tour focusing on Walt Disney. There's also a Magic Kingdom tour for train lovers.

 

[catinthehat35]

My family went on the Behind the seeds tour at EPCOT. This was a relatively inexpensive tour and not two long. We had children and adults on the tour and we all had a great time! It was all behinds the scenes on the Land ride.

My older nephew and I went on the Mickey Milestone tour a few years ago. We went behind the scenes on a ride or two but not exactly sure.... I am not sure if this tour is even avaliable.

I've also been on the keys to the kingdom tour at the Magic Kingdom and the long backstage magic (my favorite of all!!) Both were wonderful!

 

[dzneelvr]

I can't say enough about 2 for sure: the Keys to the Kingdom Tour in MK and the Segway Tour through EPCOT's world showcase. Both are must do's IMO for those who want to experience a deeper level of understanding how complex the planning, design, and implemention of WDW is You won't go wrong with either one and they are available year round.

 

[disneychic2]

DH and I loved the Keys to the Kingdom tour. It lasted 5 hours and our guide was great! We rode Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion and ate lunch at Columbia Harbor House, which was delish! We learned a lot and it was a hoot with our guide. She was awesome! We went on the 8:30 tour, so we got to take pictures of the castle with almost no one there, which was cool.

 

[smkohn]

Thanks for all the input so far! I'm slowly but surely narrowing down my choices. I think I'm down to four I'm deciding between (which I'd consider good considering it started with narrowing between...all of them )
The main ones I'm looking at now are Keys to the Kingdom, Nature-Inspired Design, Around the World at Epcot, and UnDISCOVERed Future World. Being a former full time cast member and current season cm, I've gotten to see a lot of the backstage areas, so stuff like seeing the utilidoors isn't a huge thing for me, but my boyfriend hasn't seen any of the backstage areas, so I know any kind of backstage area would be cool to him. Keys to the Kingdom seems awesome for any Disney fan, but I know he liked Epcot much better than Magic Kingdom, and I'm worried that 5 hours might be too much of a time commitment for him (he only stays in go mode for so long before he wants to move on to something else). I like that Nature-Inspired Design goes behind the scenes of the land and the seas, plus incorporates the segway use. However, and I know this sounds silly considering the name, but I don't want to hear three hours worth of "Isn't nature just wonderful?!" I want to hear about how designs came to be and show off some cool backstage areas to my boyfriend. I guess I'll need to read some more descriptions of that one to see what others thought. Around the World at Epcot seems like fun because I love segways (something about finaling getting to ride them around after seeing my managers with them) but I've heard its best to do the first one, and I'm not sure we want to wake up quite that early. UnDISCOVERed Future World sounds like it takes you into some cool backstage areas, like the old ImageWorks and some of the V.I.P. lounges, but I think my boyfriend was more impressed with World Showcase than Future World. I think now I just have to weigh out the pros and cons and pick one. I've got some time left to pick, but I don't want this to be a last minute decision.
Whatever I pick, I'm super excited about surprising him. I don't plan on telling him until we're on the plane ride down. I'm not normally one who can keep surprises secret, so hopefully I can hold out on telling him

 

[nocomment711]

What a great surprise.

I have to say that I went on the Around the World Tour and had very very high expectations and Disney managed to surpass those. This time around I'm planning the Keys to the Kingdom tour and extremely excited!

The first tour for Around the World is worth waking up early for.

Trust me.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

I have done the around the world tour at EPCOt three trips in a row now and it never disappoints. My boyfriend had such a good time last September that he says he wants a Segway (now all I need is to win the lottery to get it for him). I say if you have seen backstage stuff, why not do somehting that will be new for both of you and then for the next trip save up for the Backstage tour, it is ALL day long but well worth it, trust me. My Dad hates stuff like that, he complained the whole time up until the tour, but He had such an awesome time that when we went a few year later he made my mom book it again