Ever want to just leave a tour?

[Fantaluminishes]

So I'm on the Marceline to MK tour. Besides going under the HM, this has been a waste of time, with a dreadfully BORING guide, "Julie". This must be her first tour. I just wanna hand in the headset and go explore on my own. And she just said "Mickey Mice". Ugh!!

 

[shyjade]

Sorry to hear that! We considered doing this tour next month but we're not sure we want to waste an entire morning on a tour (so much to do in so little time). If it helps you feel better, you just made ME feel better for leaning towards skipping it!

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

Wow I hate to hear that, we did Marceline to MK had Joe and he was awesome. What other rides have you all done?

We were last tour to ride Snow White, I want to re do it if it's different enough now.

 

[Fantaluminishes]

Ok, so the tour just ended, and it WAS her first one. Another "guest" on the tour was a planted CM. He introduced himself at the very end of the tour and told us how it was Julie's first tour. He then presented her with her walking stick, completing her tour guide costume.

Sorry, but first tour or not, Julie needs more training on guest interaction. Or maybe I've just taken too many better tours with better guides. This is definitely not a tour for vets.

 

[CarrieR]

Yikes. We did Marceline about 18mos ago and while it was not as good as KTTK, (which was amazing!) it wasn't outright bad. My friend & I commented that our CM seemed newer, so I wonder if they give Marceline to those CMs with less experience?

 

[rwdavis2]

I've seen people leave KTTK tour. Was nor sure of the reason but it was while we were in Adventureland, I believe.

 

[CalvaryMike]

I had something similar happen to me a while back. I commented on it at Guest Services and they refunded me 50% of the tour price. YMMV.

 

[Golf4283]

That's how my family felt on our keys to the kingdom tour. Such a waste of time and our group leader "tiny" told us more about celebrities he's given private tours to than actually telling us anything Disney related.

That and he only took us on it's a small world..... whoop dee doo.

 

[DisneyFive]

I felt like leaving the Magic Behind the Steam Trains tour, but only at the end. The beginning was amazing. Being the very first guests into MK and seeing an empty main street, then getting to ride the train to where they do the prep and maintanance, etc... and the first ride of the train back into the parks. VERY COOL. ...and the special pin you get is nice too.

The boring part, for us, was the hour plus talk of Walts history while sitting around up in the train station. Most of it we already knew,and it just dragged on and on and I wanted to get going to do stuff in the park.

Our tour guide/engineer was awesome, but the talk at the end just wasn't needed. I think it was 11 -11:30 am before we got done, and we started the tour around 7:30am...

Knowing that now, I would have just left the tour after the train portion, and not stayed for the history lesson.

Dan

 

[Raya]

I felt that way during the Happy Haunts Tour in Disneyland. It takes place during their Halloween party, which is a separate hard ticket event. There's a story behind the tour, with your tour group helping Mickey and stopping calamity... First they didn't have the tour pins for us, they'd run out. Then our tour ran long, very long. It was supposed to be 2 to 2.5 hours, at 3 hours we were hot, tired, and hungry (no stopping for snacks or bathrooms!). By the end no one in the group cared about the storyline, and the Tour Guide kept saying things like 'almost there' and 'don't worry we're getting to the end!'. Yes, we got to go on several rides but for $99 a person...

 

[Dan Murphy]

I have taken 11 different tours over the years, several multiple times. Marceline to Magic Kingdom was my most recent, last December. Like all the others, I thought it was great, well worth the time and money spent. And nominally priced as well. I can see were a first time tour guide might diminish a top flight tour somewhat though.

If you do book it, remember the discounts....AP< AAA, DVC (15%), Disney Visa (20%).

 

[Sadie22]

I felt like leaving the Magic Behind the Steam Trains tour, but only at the end. The beginning was amazing. Being the very first guests into MK and seeing an empty main street, then getting to ride the train to where they do the prep and maintanance, etc... and the first ride of the train back into the parks. VERY COOL. ...and the special pin you get is nice too.

The boring part, for us, was the hour plus talk of Walts history while sitting around up in the train station. Most of it we already knew,and it just dragged on and on and I wanted to get going to do stuff in the park.

Our tour guide/engineer was awesome, but the talk at the end just wasn't needed. I think it was 11 -11:30 am before we got done, and we started the tour around 7:30am...

Knowing that now, I would have just left the tour after the train portion, and not stayed for the history lesson.

Dan

YMMV. We thought the Q and A at the end of our tour was as great as the rest of the tour. Of course we're big rail fans and we could contribute as well.

I haven't done the Marceline tour yet. I'm one to draw out the tour guides as we walk, so I would have known that it was the first tour well before the end, I think. We went on someone's first tour in EPCOT. We got the guy to talking about some things he knew a lot about, until he became more at ease, but it was clear he was nervous. A couple people on the tour had trouble managing their ECVs, which made for some slow times for which he did not have enough prepared to talk about. It's not a job I could do. I applaud any who try to be tour guides somewhere where so many of the guests think they know everything and try to stump the guides.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I've only done Behind the Seeds and that always seems to run long. Long to the point where I start getting antsy because they always seem to devolve into the other tour takers asking the same question over and over...or asking things that have no relation to the tour. One BTS had several misbehaving kids on it and I get it because they were bored but the parents weren't paying attention and the tour guide had no idea how to take control back. I think that's an important skill for a tour guide to have, sort of keep everyone focused.

 

[aubriee]

I've done KTTK, Around the World on a Segway (twice), Yuletide Fantasy, Backstage Magic, Backstage Safari, and Wild by Design. I enjoyed them all, except Wild by Design. We had an older retired man who was working part time for Disney and spoke very softly. He was BORING. You could tell he didn't want to be there. The only time he got the least bit enthused was when he got to talking about retirement with one of the other older guests on the tour and how much he liked cruising.

The tour guide can definitely make or break your tour. The first time I did Around the World on a Segway we had a man in his mid forties and a lady in her late 30's. The second time we had two twenty something guys. The first time was alot better, with more information about the World Showcase discussed.

 

[Richfield]

I've booked Backstage Magic, hopefully I get what I've paid for.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I've booked Backstage Magic, hopefully I get what I've paid for.

BSM was my first tour, about 12 years ago. It was so good, it got me on course to do a tour most every following trip. And I have taken BSM twice, both times absolutely excellent. It now even encompasses AK, which on both my tours, it did not as yet. Make sure you got the appropriate to you discounts, makes a big difference. Enjoy.

 

[lovesdumbo]

That's how my family felt on our keys to the kingdom tour. Such a waste of time and our group leader "tiny" told us more about celebrities he's given private tours to than actually telling us anything Disney related.

That and he only took us on it's a small world..... whoop dee doo.

I too did KTTK with Tiny at least 6 years ago. He was always telling us how his parents were some influential folks in San Francisco and they were always having alls these big wigs to their house for dinner. We did go on HM. I can't remember if we did any other rides. I want to do the tour again once my DS (my Walt fanatic) is old enough. DS & I did Walt tour in DL last summer before it included Walt's appartment. That was a great tour!

 

[themommamouse]

I have taken 11 different tours over the years, several multiple times. Marceline to Magic Kingdom was my most recent, last December. Like all the others, I thought it was great, well worth the time and money spent. And nominally priced as well. I can see were a first time tour guide might diminish a top flight tour somewhat though.

If you do book it, remember the discounts....AP< AAA, DVC (15%), Disney Visa (20%).

Dan Murphy: When I called Disney to book our Backstage Magic tour, I asked about AAA discounts and was told there wasn't a AAA discount for that tour.... do you know if that's true?

 

[Micca]

We're WDW vets and we loved the Marceline tour. I've recommended it several times here on the boards. OP are they still going behind the scenes at HM? That was absolutely one of the coolest things we've ever done at WDW.
We had a great guide, and a small group (about 6 people total)

 

[DisneyHardin]

Dan Murphy: When I called Disney to book our Backstage Magic tour, I asked about AAA discounts and was told there wasn't a AAA discount for that tour.... do you know if that's true?

I was told the same thing when I asked about it when I booked our KTTK tour. The person told me I had to book it through AAA to get that discount. I don't think you can actually book the tours through AAA, so I didn't press the issue.