Keys to the kingdom tour?

[Maleficent Dragon]

It is a wonderful and very fun tour!! We did it in 2009 and I am taking my daughter to do it in November now that she is 16. It is worth every penny.....especially of you get Jarrad.

 

[Maleficent Dragon]

I am taking the 8:30am tour in July. I'm staying at CSR. What time should I arrive at the MK? Will there be buses running early enough to arrive in time for the tour?
Thanks

A bus will be running to take you there. You really need to be getting off the bus about 25 - 30 minutes before your tour time. This will allow you not to run and check-in 15 - 20 minutes before your time slot.

 

[mike the canuck]

A bus will be running to take you there. You really need to be getting off the bus about 25 - 30 minutes before your tour time. This will allow you not to run and check-in 15 - 20 minutes before your time slot.

Awesome! Thanks.

 

[W.E.D.]

Hi Guys! I'm thinking about doing the keys to the kingdom tour during my trip,, should I do it? Has anybody done it before? Any tips/ advice about it? Thanks!!!

It's a great tour! You get to ride 1 - 2 attractions (usually Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion--some have said they got to ride PotC as well--my group did not), go backstage to see the area where they stage the parades, and most importantly for me, spend some time in the utilidors. Lunch is also included.

Wear good shoes. You will be on your feet for most of the 5 hour tour.

Make sure you show up early. You will be allowed to wander Main Street USA with no one there but the CMs. It's a perfect time to get some great photos of the park.

 

[RenaissanceBabe]

My fiance and I are planning on doing this on our Honeymoon next summer. How far in advance do we need to book this? I want to make sure we get one of the early tours, but not sure how far is necessary. Probably this time is waaaay too far in advance, but I'm a crazy planner.

 

[eyehartdisney]

I did not enjoy this tour. I've done almost every tour Disney has to offer, but this is the one I did not like. The format of the tour guide asking questions and the guests answer was not entertaining and a little condescending (if you get something right you get a sticker! YAY!) To me it seemed like she was making us do her job, and more, if no one knew the answer you were standing around waiting until someone guessed right.

There was a lot of pre-explaining for the rides. She spent 10+ minutes going over what to look for on a ride. Call me crazy, I could have looked that up in a book. To me, the point of the tour is supposed to be getting the information as it happens.

Be prepared to be called "Sugar" or "Sweetums" (and, I kid you not: Maple lump) repeatedly, despite having name tags on, throughout the tour if you get Maureen. Admittedly, that was probably the most entertaining part of the tour, seeing how many unique pet names she could come up with for a 6'6" inch man. By the end of the tour I could see a vein throbbing in his forehead.

If you've done any amount of research on Disney, and know any history, most of this is going to be rehashed, and some of it is blatantly not true, or obviously spun to be more than it is.

Quite a few people enjoy this experience, and I can see why, but if you're expecting a guided museum tour or even a tour guide tour, that's not at all what you are getting. I suspect most of my disappointment came from this. I definitely was not expecting a quiz bowl type tour, added to that the grating personality of the tour guide, and the complete lack of timing, and the entire thing was a wash in my book. That being said, I got to see them practicing the Christmas parade and the utilidoors tour is priceless. But only if you can stomach the rest of the tour. I wish they would do another tour of the backstage area that you didn't have to go through all the other crap, heck I'd pay the same price for a quarter of the length of time.

 

[DVC Jen]

We have this booked for June 8th - can't wait!

 

[Dan Murphy]

My fiance and I are planning on doing this on our Honeymoon next summer. How far in advance do we need to book this? I want to make sure we get one of the early tours, but not sure how far is necessary. Probably this time is waaaay too far in advance, but I'm a crazy planner.

180 days. I would book when you can, tours do fill up, especially this tour.

 

[SHISHI]

Can you go on this tour with a scooter? There is no way I could stand and walk for 4 hours. If I could park it to go up/down stairs, that I could handle.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Yes, I've done several tours, including Keys, with a scooter. For the utilidors, you can, if you want to, use an elevator.

 

[richmo]

Can you go on this tour with a scooter? There is no way I could stand and walk for 4 hours. If I could park it to go up/down stairs, that I could handle.

I suggest you look at the fine print for the tour.

There's a few things to keep in mind:
- One is you ride Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. I assume you have enough mobility to climb into and out of the boat and navigate your way into and out of the Mansion.
- Lunch at Columbia Harbour House is upstairs. I don't remember seeing an elevator there, but since you said scooter and not wheelchair, I'll assume you can do that.
- The tour does use stairs to go down into the utilidors and up. However, I remember seeing an elevator near the entrance.

I think its theoretically possible to do this tour with a scooter. But, I'm not sure if they allow it. Again, look a the fine print and call them if you still have a question.

 

[RenaissanceBabe]

180 days. I would book when you can, tours do fill up, especially this tour.

Thanks! I wasn't sure if this was something that opened up at the 60 day mark instead.

 

[SHISHI]

I suggest you look at the fine print for the tour.

There's a few things to keep in mind:
- One is you ride Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. I assume you have enough mobility to climb into and out of the boat and navigate your way into and out of the Mansion.
- Lunch at Columbia Harbour House is upstairs. I don't remember seeing an elevator there, but since you said scooter and not wheelchair, I'll assume you can do that.
- The tour does use stairs to go down into the utilidors and up. However, I remember seeing an elevator near the entrance.

I think its theoretically possible to do this tour with a scooter. But, I'm not sure if they allow it. Again, look a the fine print and call them if you still have a question.

Thank you! I would definitely call before I booked.

 

[Aristocath]

I am taking the 8:30am tour in July. I'm staying at CSR. What time should I arrive at the MK? Will there be buses running early enough to arrive in time for the tour?
Thanks

We are taking the 9:30 tour on July 1. The earlier tours were booked that week. So looking forward to this!

 

[mike the canuck]

We are taking the 9:30 tour on July 1. The earlier tours were booked that week. So looking forward to this!

Cool! We are booked for July 14th

 

[Dan Murphy]

I suggest you look at the fine print for the tour.

There's a few things to keep in mind:
- One is you ride Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. I assume you have enough mobility to climb into and out of the boat and navigate your way into and out of the Mansion.
- Lunch at Columbia Harbour House is upstairs. I don't remember seeing an elevator there, but since you said scooter and not wheelchair, I'll assume you can do that.
- The tour does use stairs to go down into the utilidors and up. However, I remember seeing an elevator near the entrance.

I think its theoretically possible to do this tour with a scooter. But, I'm not sure if they allow it. Again, look a the fine print and call them if you still have a question.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=51494223&postcount=50

 

[KeroKero]

Just booked my tour for Nov 3! Very much looking forward to it

 

[SnapesGirl]

We did the tour 2 weeks ago and loved it! our tour guide was very knowledgeable (can't remember his name, but I have it in my notes at home) and very engaging. Our group asked a lot of questions which definitely helped the tour flow.

It was incredibly hot that day and he was very conscious about keeping the group in the shade. We really loved the backstage areas and of course, going underground. The only thing I would suggest changing on this tour is the dining location. It would have been much cooler to dine in Be our Guest rather than Columbia, but honestly, its a minor detail!

 

[W.E.D.]

Can you go on this tour with a scooter? There is no way I could stand and walk for 4 hours. If I could park it to go up/down stairs, that I could handle.

My tour had a gentleman on a scooter. He was able to do everything with the rest of us and seemed to have no problems. Our guide even joked with him as they got on the utilitdors elevator that it was the unofficial Tower of Terror elevator and laughed like a maniac as the doors shut.

 

[Vito]

It's a great tour! You get to ride 1 - 2 attractions (usually Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion--some have said they got to ride PotC as well--my group did not), go backstage to see the area where they stage the parades, and most importantly for me, spend some time in the utilidors. Lunch is also included.

Wear good shoes. You will be on your feet for most of the 5 hour tour.

Make sure you show up early. You will be allowed to wander Main Street USA with no one there but the CMs. It's a perfect time to get some great photos of the park.

Aye....I just did the tour in April and we did not get to go on PoTC. I enjoyed the tour but would probably not do it again. It would have been far more interesting if I had taken it years ago and didn't know as much as I did. Many of the things I already knew and it was a lot of me shaking my head yes like " I know this, tell me something else ...." (to myself silently of course).

I didn't really know a lot of the names on main street however at the beginning of the tour. I knew they all had meaning, but didn't know the reasons why some were where they are. Knew a lot of the jungle cruise stuff, but was fun to ride it in a different perspective with our tour guide taking over the skippers job, and their banter was cute. Being a huge mansion fan I learned nothing new there...but I never got to enter through the "chicken exit" hallway before (the one with the bells on the wall)...so that was awesome as we were just in that hall for a while as we waited to get in....

Honestly my favorite was being behind pirates and splash and seeing the show buildings in the raw form. I realize they are just plain buildings, but that was my biggest highlight (and the utilidoors).

Lunch is provided as well, albeit not my choice of restaurants at all but it was there waiting as we went upstairs immediately!

I recommend doing it for sure...at least once. Just wear good shoes, have sunscreen on as most of the day was in the sun, even though our tour guide tried to keep us in as much shade as possible!

Have fun with it!!