The Keys to the Kingdom Tour

[slo]

For anyone that has done this tour - how fast does it sell out?
Do you book it 60 or 90 days out?
My DH is wanting to do this tour for his birthday this time next year (his bday is 12/28)
Also....approx how many people are in each time group?

 

[PollyannaMom]

I haven't done this but am interested as well!

 

[Sweettears]

I think that. 16 is capacity. How quickly it sells out Is probably a func of time of year. I this pretty much everything is with the 60 day window

 

[pbb&j]

I did it a couple weeks ago (loved it!), and I booked a couple days out but I really had to check frequently for a spot to open up. I believe you could book it at 60 days. I did the 9:30 tour which was great because we got to see them preparing for the noon parade. We had 18 or 19 in our group, including the guide.

 

[Cindylieu]

The window opens up at 60 days, at midnight Eastern time. If you're staying on site, you can start booking all of your experiences for your entire stay at 60 days from your arrival date.
We are going in January at a slow time of year and I did not have any difficulty getting a reservation on my 60 day mark. I recently looked, and now that entire time is completely sold out, even though it is a slower time of year. I looked ahead into February and only the last 4 days of the open calendar have any available slots now. I think if you are going at the most busy week of the year, you need to be online at the first possible moment; 60 days from your arrival date, at midnight eastern time.

 

[Becky_W18]

We have done it before, it is 60 days out for booking. We were lucky and only had about 12 on our tour but I have heard them go up to 20 before.

 

[kathy884]

For anyone that has done this tour - how fast does it sell out?

I did the tour last February. It sells out very quickly. I would suggest booking the first day you can even during slow times of the year.

Do you book it 60 or 90 days out?
60 days out

My DH is wanting to do this tour for his birthday this time next year (his bday is 12/28)
Also....approx how many people are in each time group?
About 20 guests per time slot.

It was a perfectly nice experience. All said and done, I thought it was overpriced for what it was, but I think that of most of the special Disney experiences I have done. I'm a big Disney fan though, and this was something that I had always wanted to try.

 

[slo]

It’s good to know I can book it at midnight (which is 11:00pm for me). Thanks for the info

 

[RD-SOX]

Our group of 6 did it in July this year. We booked it about two weeks before, we were very flexible with our tour dates choices so it worked in our favor. There was about 15 in our group with 2 tour guides. Some of us love it, and some just thought it was just OK.

If you are into Disney magic then it is a must do!! It is pricey but hey you get lunch.

 

[DDuckSouthBend]

This may be a dumb question, but both my wife and I have trouble hearing in crowds or groups. Do the tour guides use a microphone?

Thanks

 

[john7994]

I believe the tour comes with individual microphones and headsets for audio - book as early as you can - because you never know - and why would you wait to book it once you have decided to go. It was a fun experience and reasonably priced for what it is …

 

[Sweettears]

Yes. There are headphones.

 

[DISNEY FIX]

Where did ya do lunch? Ty

 

[FastPasser.]

It was a fun experience and reasonably priced for what it is …

I’m very familiar with backstage MK, what part or parts of the tour stood out for you?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Where did ya do lunch? Ty

Currently the tour has lunch at Pecos Bills.

 

[TikiRob]

Since you are planning for the week after Christmas, one thing to keep in mind is that sometimes they do not run these tours during busy times. We tried to do this over Thanksgiving last year and it was not available.

 

[john7994]

Honestly,

I’m very familiar with backstage MK, what part or parts of the tour stood out for you?

It was the CM, her dad was an imagineer and she interacted with Walt himself - so she had a lot of anecdotal stories to share - including her cat was cast and molded for one of those found at the Haunted Mansion.

Outside of that, there are a lot of lore/tidbits shared that while bloggers like to talk about - it may not be common knowledge for many. Also, depending on your tour time, we got to see the setup and preparation backstage for one of the parades and then watched it live - so we got to see the CMs and what they had to do to get ready (the actual people) which breaks the magic a bit and why they age restrict the tour participants.

The tour is well put together - but if you are a Disney know it all (as clearly some DISers are) it may not be for you or you might not find the value of it. There’s a lot of walking - so be prepared - and accommodation are made for those with mobility issues with frequent stops along the way.

 

[FastPasser.]

For those who have done the tour, the utilidor is written about a lot, was it what you thought it would be?

 

[OhThePain]

For those who have done the tour, the utilidor is written about a lot, was it what you thought it would be?

You don't really see much of it. We did this tour a while back so maybe it has changed, but they basically take you down stairs, show you a video, I think we may have walked a short hallway and then out. There's no color down there, its all very grey and concrete. We didn't see characters or anything else down there. Overall it was very meh. Don't go on the tour just to see the utilidor.

We feel we saw more behind the scenes things on other tours in other parks. Unfortunately, all of them have been discontinued (namely UnDIScovered Future World in EPCOT and Backstage Safari at AK).

 

[Micca]

For those who have done the tour, the utilidor is written about a lot, was it what you thought it would be?

It's really cool in that the concept of moving around the park underground was a really good idea.

The reality is that it's the same as the inner workings of any big building. It's corridors of non-descript pathways for moving people and products. You'll see an occasional sign related to Disney.

Good to see? Sure, it's part of the mystique of WDW. Need to stay long? Nah, a few minutes will suffice.

KTTK is awesome though. If they still have "From Marceline To Main Street" that's another great choice if you can't get "Keys" and it's much shorter.