Keys to the Kingdom tour

[NickEslick]

Great Tour. I would do it again. And Lunch is at Columbia Harbor House. You will do Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. I was lucky enough to have a tour guide who also took us on Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

[eeyore45]

We just took the Marceline Tour - DD did not want to do the utlidors, but wanted more "history" of Walt - saw this advertised (it may only be offered on Saturdays) It was great! Like the KTTK tour, you get head sets to hear better, we arrived at 7:30 (eat before you get there, nothing is open at MK!) per directions, and tour starts at 8am - park opened at 9am - we got a great history of Haunted Mansion, rode HM< then looked "backstage" of the HM, I understand you used to do Pirates, but its closed, we did Pooh - but the walk to the attractions she gave lots of info - (I informed her about my lack of planning and she stopped at Cheshire for us to purchase a snack!) Then over to Carousel of Progress - again, such great trivia information with Walt and the other imagineers - was the best tour - it did not include lunch so it was "only" 3 full hours!!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Interesting to see this thread today. We did the tour in Nov 2011 and thoroughly enjoyed it. We rode JC and HM. We walked around in the utilidors and caught a glimpse of the parade floats as they were coming off stage.

However, my sister was at a conference in Orlando this week and some of the people affiliated with her husband's group took the tour and were very disappointed. They said they barely went backstage - they did not go back by Splash Mountain where we saw the MSEP floats getting charged and prepped for that night, and the Spectro floats were still there as well. They did not ride any attractions. They went into the utilidors for a brief time, just to see some of the pics on the walls, then right back up. My sister and I took the tour together and she was asking the people, "did you see" this and that and they didn't see nearly as much as we did. I hope they haven't changed the tour.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I just did this tour two weeks ago and LOVED it. As PPs have mentioned, we went on the Haunted Mansion and the Jungle Cruise and also ate lunch at CHH. We had the opportunity to sit with our tour guide at lunch, so that was fun. We spend a lot of time backstage seeing the MSEP and some holiday floats, saw the back of Splash Mountain, and went down into the utilidors. We also had the opportunity to see the MiSiDiPi parade go from backstage to onstage on Main Street, which was REALLY fun to watch.

I think how much you enjoy the tour is very dependent on your tour guide. Ours had been with Disney for about six years so he was very knowledgeable and pointed out a lot of neat things. He was also a pretty funny guy. I was excited to get a great guide!

The only downside of the tour is that we took it in the summer heat - it's a solid five hour tour and most of it is outdoors. The tour itself was awesome, but I think if I did it again I'd do it in cooler weather.

 

[bigcrit]

Thank you all for replying. I am thinking of surprising my wife and daughters with this tour. The 320.00 price has me nervous. That is a ot of money to burn with a bad tour guide. I am wondering if the money would be better spent at an awesome sit down, maybe CG? Nice problem to have, do the tour or CG.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Thank you all for replying. I am thinking of surprising my wife and daughters with this tour. The 320.00 price has me nervous. That is a ot of money to burn with a bad tour guide. I am wondering if the money would be better spent at an awesome sit down, maybe CG? Nice problem to have, do the tour or CG.

Don't forget the discounts, 15%.

 

[Karl66]

I really hated this tour. I know it gets rave reviews, but I think it depends 100% on your tour guide. Mine made us "guess" at trivia in a condescending manner (she didn't really explain anything, we just had to guess,) and handed out stickers to whomever got it right. It was boring, insulting, and just plain bad. I lied and skipped out halfway through. It was truly awful.

We had the same tour guide as you when we went in 2013. We loved her and didn't mind her asking questions as it made us think a little about Walt Disney's way of doing business. I ended up with a fist full of stickers at the end which my DD loved. I am a triva buff and loved having my knowledge tested. All my reading and research on him finally paid off! I guess everyone is different and has a different learning style. This one fit ours perfectly. It's still a great tour no matter the guide you get and you will learn something.

 

[eyehartdisney]

It's still a great tour no matter the guide you get and you will learn something.

agree to disagree

 

[Skjhjb]

Thank you all for replying. I am thinking of surprising my wife and daughters with this tour. The 320.00 price has me nervous. That is a ot of money to burn with a bad tour guide. I am wondering if the money would be better spent at an awesome sit down, maybe CG? Nice problem to have, do the tour or CG.

Ok - I looked this tour up on the Disney site yesterday - the Keys to the Kingdom tour is listed at $79 on the site - am I missing something?

My girls and I plan to go in three years (so long a wait) when my oldest graduates University and my middle dd graduates college. They will both be 21 then, so we can all have a few adult beverages while there as well. They will pay their trip portions, and I will cover flights And I thought I would spring for this tour. But not if it is $320 per person!

 

[bigcrit]

320 Would be for all of us.

 

[bigcrit]

Does anyone recall how many people were in each tour? Is there a limit?

 

[Dan Murphy]

Does anyone recall how many people were in each tour? Is there a limit?

I'm pretty sure 20 is the limit, and it usually is at that or close.

 

[ariane37]

Does anyone recall how many people were in each tour? Is there a limit?

I'm pretty sure 20 is the limit, and it usually is at that or close.

We had 20 on our tour in March. I kind of wish we had a few less but it certainly didn't take anything away from the tour and since you get the earphone things, you can hear even if you aren't one of the closest to your guide.

 

[goofy4tink]

I truly don't think there are that many 'less than stellar' guides. I've done the tour three times now, only had one less than terrific guide. If you get a guide you aren't thrilled with, then I would hang toward the back of the group, and pay little attention to any 'cutesy' stuff.
And, if you get a guide who doesn't meet your expectations, I would be sure to mention it at Guest Services at some point. They need to know that there are guides out there that are turning people off the tour!!!

To the poster who had a relative who had a less than great tour.....could that group have been given a different type tour due to being part of a convention? Maybe an abbreviated tour? That might be what happened.

 

[bigcrit]

Thank you all for your input. I booked it for our trip. Now I need to plan how to surprise them. Should I wait to the day of? Maybe have a letter sent to our room, inviting them on the tour? Any thoughts would be appreciated. A little background. It will be me, my wife and, twin 18 year old daughters. We are celebrating my wife's birthday (a couple weeks early) and our daughters HS graduation. Would appreciate your input.....

 

[Fizban]

Did you let management know of your disappointment? I'm sorry, but if I was paying that much money for a tour, I do not want to "guess" and I certainly don't want stickers. If I recall, this tour has a minimum age requirement (like 16 or 18)....certainly way too old to want stickers. I'd have asked to be allowed to reschedule it with another "non sticker" CM. Do you by chance remember the name of your CM.....have been considering doing this tour and would want to know ahead of time if I need to find management, lol.

the minimum age is 16 for this tour.

 

[CanadianPaco]

The only downside of the tour is that we took it in the summer heat - it's a solid five hour tour and most of it is outdoors. The tour itself was awesome, but I think if I did it again I'd do it in cooler weather.

Oh boy! We're doing this tour in late August! Must remember the water!!! Thanks!