I just returned (May 22nd) and did three tours--KTTK, Backstage Safari, and Around the World on a Segway. I made all three of the tours at 8:30am, so I could use the character buses and enter the parks early (except the Segway--I walked from BWV). All were great.
On the KTTK there was only seven in our group and we had Cory as a tour guide. He was great. He said the first tour of the morning usually has the fewest people in it and so he enjoys it more. He told us the tour would be 4-5 hours, depending on how many questions we asked and how long we wanted it. We had a 16y/o on it who was a big Disney buff and they (she and Cory) had a ball trying to stump each other with trivia throughout the tour. It was alot of fun and lasted 5 1/2 hours. Cory really loved his job and it showed. He showed us hidden Mickeys, a hidden Donald, and a hidden Walt. He talked to us a long time about Tinkerbell and her flight and let us spend alot of time in Utilidors. He showed us small things like how they make the transitions in archeticture between the lands, backstage and on stage protocols for the characters/CMs, how they hide speakers and cameras, even how the CMs make requests for extra shifts, their dress codes, and how they can move up in the company. He talked about how even off duty that Airel has to avoid tan lines and Cinderella and Snow White must avoid tans at all. We met quite a few characters backstage and got to interact with them. We did Pirates as well as the Haunted Mansion, with Cory telling us about each ride before we rode it. After the Haunted Mansion, he even showed us where Madam Leota threw Cece's engagement ring. He was a great admirer of Roy Disney and told us alot about him, as well as Walt. Did you know that Walt, Roy, Lillian , and even Roy's wife all died in the month of December? Another interesting little tidbit is that he said alot of CMs have been with the company since they opened WDW and the ones with the longest tenure seem to be in the laundry dept. He was constantly throwing disney trivia questions at us. Anyway Cory has been with WDW since he was in college and was an excellent tour guide for the KTTK. He told us before the tour that if we asked any questions ' on stage' that was inappropriate for kids' ears that he would give us 'a bit of fluff' for an answer then answer it with the truth when we were 'backstage'. He did just that, so we had to time our questions.
