Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour

[FBandA]

Thinking about doing this, wondering if it will be worth the time and money. My DH loves trains is there time to see the park in the morning empty. Thanks for any info.

 

[WillAustin]

It's great, worth the time and money, but no, the park was open when our tour ended.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

My wife did this with me on our honeymoon. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am sure your husband will too. I don't remember the exact length but the only time we were in the park "empty" was walking to the tour before it started. The park was starting to open up when we finished. I can't remember if it was early EMH or actual park time. My wife and I actually got to stand at the rear of the train with the conductor at the end of the tour and he allowed me to say over the intercom "all aboard".

 

[Pappa Bear]

My adult son and I took it yesterday morning and I enjoyed it, immensely.

Seeing Main Street with almost no traffic is really a sight to see, especially when you stop there for water towards the end of the tour and wonder how that many people got there so quickly. The tour itself I found interesting due to my interest in steam trains. My son is not as interested so it probably wasn't as interesting to him. The CM who led the tour was Joe, a long time WDW RR employee, and he was REALLY good. I imagine that which CM you get would make a difference in the quality of the tour.

The tour itself takes you to the roundhouse, which is actually rectangular at WDW, but not inside it due to insurance regulations. Still, you can see the scale of operations it takes to keep the trains running, much less on any sort of a schedule. Each member of the group gets to go into the cab of an off-duty locomotive and see how complex it can be to operate an engine. (Joe called it a "railroad ballet.) "The "special" completes the circuit with another stop to explain and explore how and why the water is "deoxygenified" for use in the engine's boiler and how and where fuel is added.

The tour is about 50% about Disney and that may not be as interesting to your husband. I enjoyed most of it, especially the story of how they came to find the locomotives that are used, but was not as interested in some of the other information. It was all good but some parts were more interesting to me than others.

If your husband is a hard core steam RR buff, he will most likely find this informative. If he is generally interested, he will find it enjoyable. If he is merely interested, as my son was, it will be a 50-50 kind of activity. I'm glad that we did it as I put some of the information to good use later in the day as we rode it. I think my so would have rather slept in but went any way. You also need to note that the train is going to shut down around October for some heavy duty maintenance and upgrades. The shut down will last about 8 weeks.

To summarize, I really enjoyed it, my moderately interested adult son not as much but loves his dad and went any way.

Hope that this is of some help to you.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Sorry no time to wander the park..........but we did get a photo of Main Street empty from the RR station.

AKK

 

[Colleen27]

As others have said, the park is opening by the time the tour wraps up so you don't really get any empty park photo ops. However the tour itself was fabulous. We did it for my son's 10th birthday, many years ago, and he and I both really enjoyed it. It is a good mix of Disney history/trivia for the Disney nuts (me) and facts about the trains themselves for the train nuts (DS). And seeing the backstage areas where the trains are kept was quite remarkable.

 

[cincystamper]

Have to agree - this tour was awesome. And that's coming from someone only mildly interested in trains. (My dad's the train fan so we did this one for him.) Jimmy was our CM and we still talk about what a great job he did. You don't get to wander the park with no crowds, but the tour starts so early that you get to see the outside empty. I never knew there was a fabulous etching of the Magic Kingdom logo in the ground past the security check, just outside the train station. It's usually covered with people! And we were extremely paranoid about being late and ended up severely overestimating the time needed to get to the park....so we got to sit on a bench and watch the park wake up. Literally....they had to open a bag check line to get us in and then find a towel to wipe down a bench. We heard the sound check that morning and watched the parking area construction crew seemingly vanish before 'regular' guests (not early morning paranoid ones like us) could even know they were there. It was pretty amazing. And then the tour itself.....man, I hadn't seen my dad smile like that in a really long time. Highly highly highly recommend this tour!

 

[Tomh]

DS, DW and I took the tour last August, our first ever Disney Tour, and it was amazing. Lots of cool info, some about Disney World, some about Walt Disney, and some about the trains themselves. The tour starts at 7:30, and runs about 3 hours, ending at roughly 10:30, well after park opening. You do get a glimpse of Main Street with an empty park, but you don't get to linger, or wander about. The vast majority of the tour is in the Main Street station, the Roundhouse area, and on the train. If you take the tour, you will be giving up the early morning ride time. I would suggest scheduling your first FP+ that day for maybe 10 to 11, or 10:15 to 11:15. Leave yourself a bit of time to use the restrooms, and maybe get a drink at the end of the tour.

 

[bookgirl]

I am only minimally interested in trains, as in "cool a train". I enjoyed the tour a lot. I actually got to see a modern car on main street which is unheard of as they don't like the public to see vehicles that are not period/set appropriate, they were laughing asking us not to post those pictures to social media. (this is one of the few tours where you are allowed to take pictures).

I love behind the scenes stuff and trivia and this tour was great about that. Plus it was really nice to ride the train and see how they are prepared for the day and to sit in the engineer's chair. It was great to get right up close and look at the detail and to find out the history of the actual trains.

I'd do it again if I could ever get my train loving father to come out to Disney with me.

I'll have to post from my phone and put some pictures up.

 

[bookgirl]

They let you sit in the engine, it was very cold that morning so we're all bundled up but if you have a train enthusiast then its a heck of a picture.


Big time photo op. The front of the train is only centered under the sign for this tour and publicity shots, so have your camera out and ready when the train comes.



I hate this picture but it was the best one I had to show you how close you can get and that work yard where you hang out.

I actually have a video of them fireing up a train in the morning and starting the fire from tinder and it's really cool, but I can't get it to load. I'll have to look at some options.

 

[FBandA]

Thank you everyone, I am booking this DH works maintenance on trains. He will love this, me not so much, but I will enjoy watching him talk with our tour guide. I am going to surprise him. He goes to Disney for me, he would much rather be sitting on a beach relaxing, but he runs around with me putting lots of steps on my pedometer.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

View attachment 99520
They let you sit in the engine, it was very cold that morning so we're all bundled up but if you have a train enthusiast then its a heck of a picture.

View attachment 99521
Big time photo op. The front of the train is only centered under the sign for this tour and publicity shots, so have your camera out and ready when the train comes.

View attachment 99522

I hate this picture but it was the best one I had to show you how close you can get and that work yard where you hang out.

I actually have a video of them fireing up a train in the morning and starting the fire from tinder and it's really cool, but I can't get it to load. I'll have to look at some options.

I am surprised you were able to take pictures back there. We were told no pictures once we were back by the round house.

 

[jeepnjudy]

I will need to book this for my son who is a serious train fanatic... Can this be booked in advance and if so, how far in advance?

 

[IndyRnRfan]

I will need to book this for my son who is a serious train fanatic... Can this be booked in advance and if so, how far in advance?

Yes, it can. I'm not sure how far in advance but I can tell you it doesn't fill up very fast. We only had 15 people in our tour and we booked ours 3 months out I believe.

 

[cybrkitn]

Thank you everyone, I am booking this DH works maintenance on trains. He will love this, me not so much, but I will enjoy watching him talk with our tour guide. I am going to surprise him. He goes to Disney for me, he would much rather be sitting on a beach relaxing, but he runs around with me putting lots of steps on my pedometer.

He'll love it. We did it back in 2012 with my 41yo brother who loves trains and in memory of our father who worked for the Long Island Railroad as an engineer. It's definitely worth it.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We did this as part of the annual Carolwood Society (Carolwood Society) outing.
2) The tour and explanations were informative and fun.
3) With The Society, we actually got INTO the Roundhouse and were allowed to take photos.
. . . tours usually do not go into the Roundhouse
. . . no photos are not allowed inside the repair facility, except for special events such as this

 

[TJHutch]

I have a tour booked for my dh, we are staying onsite. Did the bus transportation run that early in the morning? Thanks!

 

[cincystamper]

I am surprised you were able to take pictures back there. We were told no pictures once we were back by the round house.

We weren't allowed to take pictures on the way back to the round house - or on the way back to the park FROM the round house - but once we were there, we were actually encouraged to take pictures. In fact, we were taking so many as the engineer held up the fireball to light the engine that he made a joke about setting his arm on fire. Definitely take your cameras! They'll tell you when you can and can't take shots. I was doing some video as well and they were also very clear about when I could and could not record.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

I have a tour booked for my dh, we are staying onsite. Did the bus transportation run that early in the morning? Thanks!

We had a car on that trip but I am sure the buss will be running.

 

[cincystamper]

I have a tour booked for my dh, we are staying onsite. Did the bus transportation run that early in the morning? Thanks!

We were paranoid about that so we took a cab. Of course, we were also there about almost 2 hours early (d'oh). But it was SUPER cool to watch the park wake up for the day. I'd check with the CMs at your resort to get their advice on the best way to get there. That's one reason we took a cab...and got a voucher for it, too. (Don't know if that was pixie dust or normal practice, but we certainly appreciate it!)