how did the DL Backstage tour go today??

[miss missy]

anyone??? I know Pete was teasing us on FB, still not sure what that was about.

But how did it go?? Do tell

 

[rtobe]

From what I saw on FB and heard from someone who went, it was nice. But I have no details.

 

[WebmasterJohn]

I talked to Pete several times today. There was a mix-up with the start time of the tour but from what I understand the Disney Institute more than made up for it (I'll let those on the tour explain further).

Pete said the tour was fantastic and the info/tour guide were terrific.

I also understand Pete got an extra special "treat" - again, I'll leave that to him to share.

Afterwards Pete and Dreams Unlimited treated everyone to Lunch at Naples Restaurant in Downtown Disney. From what I hear the food was good and they had a great time.

Keep in mind this is just hear-say....but I think a fun day was had by all.

John

 

[miss missy]

I talked to Pete several times today. There was a mix-up with the start time of the tour but from what I understand the Disney Institute more than made up for it (I'll let those on the tour explain further).

Pete said the tour was fantastic and the info/tour guide were terrific.

I also understand Pete got an extra special "treat" - again, I'll leave that to him to share.

Afterwards Pete and Dreams Unlimited treated everyone to Lunch at Naples Restaurant in Downtown Disney. From what I hear the food was good and they had a great time.

Keep in mind this is just hear-say....but I think a fun day was had by all.

John

Thanks for the update John! I can't wait to hear what the treat was. I am so happy for Pete's treat (HA!) and for all that went on the tour!!

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

anyone??? I know Pete was teasing us on FB, still not sure what that was about.

But how did it go?? Do tell

As John alluded to, there was a little mix-up. All of our paperwork from the Disney Institute said "9:00am sharp". We were all there waiting at 9:00am...and there were no tour guides. Pete made a few calls to the Disney Institute (left messages, I think)....finally at 9:30 our guides showed up, thinking they were early for a 10:00am tour.

They hurriedly signed us in and issued our wristbands.

There were 2 tour guides. Ryan was with the "A" group and Bruce was with the "B" group. At times, when space allowed, the groups were combined.

Our first stop was costuming. We went in the Cast Member entrance just to the right of the kennel and into the costuming building. Lots and lots of blue pants!!

We then came back out the same way, then went into the Park itself. We paused briefly in town square, then continued the long walk to the Cast Member entrance to the right of Small World. There we visited the train/monorial roundhouse and were able to looking inside the engine of one of the trains. We didn't actually get to go in the roundhouse.

We proceeding behind Toon Town and took a quick break with waters provided by Disney, near the area where the fireworks are shot off from.

At this point, Pete made an annoucement. He had received an email from the Disney Institute, and due to the confusion at the beginning of the tour, they had agreed to refund the cost of our tours. To me, this was above and beyond, I would've settled for a churro or a Mickey Ice Cream Bar [foreshadowing].

From there we went through a tunnel under the berm and came out near the path from Fantasyland to Frontierland. We went through Frontierland to Critter Country, took a bathroom break at the Hungry Bear Restaurant area. Then proceed out the CM entrance in the far corner of Critter Country.

There we were shown around the ODV building and received some free samples (sodas, waters, sorbets, MICKEY ICE CREAM BARS!!!!!!!). I think some people even had TWO. We won't mention any names (shhh....it was Walter, though he tried to blame it on Max).

From there we walked behind Frontierland & Adventureland and came back into the park near the Fire Station, then right back out the front of the park where the tour ended.

I glossed over lots of details that I'm sure everyone else will help fill in with their reports.

[Disclaimer: the following is only my opinion and mine alone and was written at midnight after a long day touring backstage of DL and then driving 4.5 hours home]
The positives for me were:
The experts--I thought it was nice that in each area (costumes, trains, vending) they had someone from that department take over the tour. I thought our rep for the costume department did a good job, and Kim the manager from ODV was great.
The Disney Geek factor--we got to go backstage!!!!
The Mickey Ice Cream Bar--yum!
The DISers!!

The negatives for me were:
The walking--there was a awful lot of dead time. The walking itself wasn't the problem, just the time wasted walking from one place to another, when no information was being presented.
The content--while being backstage is cool, that wears off after awhile. There are only so many "no see green" buildings that you can see the back of before you want to go inside one. Also, I thought the presentation at the train was kind of a weak point. The CM representing that department had only been there a week, and was reading from a script. Also, it took WAY too long as we all wanted a chance to get up into the engine of the train, and there was only room for 2 or 3 at a time.
The Mickey Ice Cream Bar--gonna have to go to the gym an extra time this week

I enjoyed the tour...and I may be overly critical...but I was left wanting more. That said...there's no way I would have missed this. I got to meet some great DISers, both on the tour and the night before at The Lost Bar. Now I have faces to go with the names (and screen names).

Thanks again to Pete for putting this together.

 

[teskak]

Take a look at Pete's facebook. He had describes a special part of the day as a religious pilgramage - maybe he even saw G-d?

 

[Mouse Skywalker]

Thanks so much for posting details of this. It was great to be able to follow along with you.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

There were definitely some shining moments to the day and yes, Pete had a religious experience that I got to share in - the story is his to definitely tell. Keep an eye on the blog....

The DISers on the trip were absolutely spectacular folks! We met several that lurk and some that don't even read the boards. Shout out to them, in case they started this week!!!!

There were a couple things I woould have loved for them to add.

One was that they stopped us for a break right in front of the open doors to the parade (float) barn and didn't let us have a look inside. It just happens to be next to the fireworks bunkers.

Another was that they walked us past the barns for the Circle D Ranch, and pointed out the original farm house that is nested in the middle of it, but didn't let us anywhere near it. That would have been nice - it even had a historical signboard out front of it. (This is one of the actual farm homes from when they bought the orange groves....)

I've been on many tours of this kind from the old Disneyana convention days and it was comparable to all of those. They do have a bit of deadtime when travelling to the discussion locations, only because folks straggle and can't hear (solvable somewhat by the headsets like those used in Walk in Walt's Footsteps, but expensive to set up). I will say the "sweeper/herder" cast members on the tour were fabulous. When Carol was behind one of the visual areas at the costume shop due to her ECV, Shannon brought her an example of the costuming reminder cards being discussed, so she could see. She didn't have to do that, but she did.

Well, we're off to do rides here at DL. I'll let others post more info!

 

[ADP]

Thanks for the report. It's really cool seeing familiar faces in the photos you posted. Awesome!

 

[miss missy]

great job with the quick reviews Thanks!!

 

[Kayla's Mom]

I just wanted to chime in and say that the tour was great fun! I agree with what ImTooExcitedToSleep (not sure I got to meet you?) posted about the dead time. I really would have liked to have a peek inside some of those buildings too!

I had to chuckle a little because I was in Bruce's group and he told us we were the "A" group too.

All in all, it was a fabulous time. One of my highlights was at the end of the tour, seeing Chip (or maybe it was Dale) without her head on! She got it on real quick though when she saw us all coming! We also were given a neat pin at the end of the tour (still mad about the guy that pushed his way in and got one that wasn't even a part of our tour!)

It was so great to get to meet everyone! I just need to go take a nap - we hit some traffic on the 91 coming back to Phoenix and didn't get home until after 10:00.

Thanks again to Pete for the lunch and everything else!

 

[Disneyluvr81]

My husband and I both had a wonderful time too!! It was so nice to meet everyone! We were in group "A" with Ryan and thought he did a really good job!!

I also agree about the dead time, I think that is the biggest thing I would recommend they change. We did the Backstage Magic Tour at Disney World last September on our honeymoon and everyone is given their own personal listening device. There is a lot of dead time on that tour because not only do you travel between 3 of the 4 parks - there is a A LOT of travel within each of the parks. But, because we each had our own devices, the tour guide was constantly interacting with us and even when we were walking from location to location would still offer us tips, facts, etc. I think the tour we went on yesterday would definitely benefit from this!

Oh my gosh, seeing Chip with her head almost off was the highlight of the trip!! Did you notice Goofy kinda help push her head back down? So funny! It was awesome to see the cast members still in character even when they were off stage.

I was so, so bummed we couldn't join everyone for lunch! We had planned on being there but ultimately had to make the hard decision to miss it because we had a graduation party to get to and with the tour starting late, could just not swing lunch too!

Thank you so much again to Pete and everyone who helped organize this! It was such an incredible experience and both myself and my husband truly appreciate it!

Krista & Brian

 

[Disney Anna]

1) I agree - headless Chip was a highlight - disturbing-but a highlight nonetheless.

2) Let it go about the pin guy (You know who you are, Mr. Man with the orange and white Texas hat!). Just teasking: I'm still thinking about it too and it's irritating. I should have stopped him/tracked him down.

 

[Kayla's Mom]

1) I agree - headless Chip was a highlight - disturbing-but a highlight nonetheless.

2) Let it go about the pin guy (You know who you are, Mr. Man with the orange and white Texas hat!). Just teasking: I'm still thinking about it too and it's irritating. I should have stopped him/tracked him down.

1) I think my hubby was a little traumatized!

2) I have officially let it go....(were we the only ones that saw that happen? - oops, guess I didn't let it go yet...)

 

[msteddom]

No, I saw it happen too! I was going to say something, but I thought that he might have been in the other group, so I missed the chance. It was still a wonderful day though!!!

Melissa

 

[TSWJan78]

Oh my gosh, seeing Chip with her head almost off was the highlight of the trip!! Did you notice Goofy kinda help push her head back down?

You saw a chipmunk with its head off but Goofy put it back on... how does Chip walk around with no head... you guys are silly..

 

[mommyceratops]

Thanks so much! I can't wait to hear more!!

 

[DSNY4ever]

LOVE LOVE LOVE the reports guys! Sounds like everyone had fun, but that Disney still has some kinks to work out before they start running this regularly. I am so sad I couldn't get down there for this fun opportunity! I am amazed that they paid for the tour- and it is so nice that the DIS crew got you guys lunch- how special

Totally jealous!!!

 

[Kayla's Mom]

I posted a trip report on the tour here:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2210637

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

I just thought of a great idea.

Clothing made with "no-see green" in strategic places.

Gut too big, no-see green shirt will take care of the problem. Behind too far behind, no-see green pants will do the trick.


I'm heading to the patent office right now!