To Tour or Not To Tour??

[disdoomedgroom]

Just wondering if anyone has taken any of the tours while at WDW? which one is the best?

Has anyone gone on the MK tour? I was wondering if it was really worth the money...seems kinda expensive. Sounds interesting though.

Thanks

 

[kaytieeldr]

Well, probably the BEST is the Backstage Magic Tour - the one that takes you to three parks, costs a lot but doesn't require park admission. It's the only way to go behind the scenes at all at the Studios.

But actually what's best depends entirely on YOUR interests, as well as whether/how much you've visited WDW before. For your first few trips, of course, you want to keep the illusion of the magic alive.

I've done Keys to the Kingdom in Magic Kingdom, and Undiscovered Future World in Epcot. I liked the first one better, only because the Guide was more sure of herself. I think our UFW Guide was just out of training. But both tours provided interesting information and actual behind-the-scenes looks. Naturally, no cameras backstage

The tours are relatively expensive, but there are a variety of discounts available - ask when you book.

 

[NC State]

I took the Magic Keys tour, it was great, it was 4 1/2 hours with lunch. The guide (Heather) was great and learned so much about the Kingdom! When I go back we're planning to do the Backstage Tour.

 

[bgdiznee]

My family and I did both the Segway Around the World at Epcot and the Back Stage Safari at AK. We enjoyed them very much! Segway tour last about two hours and you do get to do a lot of riding around WS ( we really enjoyed waving at all the guest just entering WS as we were headed back) The Back Stage Safari last about three hours and you really get an in-depth behind the scenes tour. It is just amazing to see all the thought and detail that went into AK plus its really fun to experience just the daily "routine" of the keepers, feeders ect. One thing you might want to keep in mind is that most of these tours have a "minimum" age requirement.

 

[lonegungirl]

I've done the Segway around the world tour twice, and I would do it again. It's great fun, whizzing around the World Showcase before everyone else gets to go in.

I did Backstage Magic last trip, and to be honest, I was a little disappointed. The amount of time that we spent looking at the attractions "backstage" was a fairly small portion of the tour--in fact, I think the initial look at the American Adventure was the only one. The rest of the time was spent at places ranging from the costuming department (interesting) to the human resources department (not so much.)

Then again, we had some self-proclaimed "Disney geeks" on our tour that were not the usual, joyful delightful ones you read here on DIS, but rather the bitter, know-it-all ones that you see mocked in the media...so that may have colored the experience for me, a little.

 

[aubriee]

Last May I made a solo trip to WDW and did three tours: KTTK, Backstage Safari, and Around the World on a Segway. I enjoyed them all.

KTTK was the most interesting. I went on the first tour of the day,which usually has the fewest people in it (we had only seven people). There was one girl (just turned 16 that day) who was a self professed Disney geek, but was very fun. Her and the tour guide (Cory) kept trying to stump each other with Disney trivia (very informative). The tour gives you a better appreciation of details in MK.

Backstage Safari was interesting, but I probably wouldn't do it again. We did get to pet a rhino (Harley) and a spiny lizard.

The Segway tour was ALOT of fun. They are surprisingly easy to ride. Only one lady in our group had problems (she dove off the Segway while going under a tree branch in China and also had a problem with endurance--we had to take an extra break in Canada for her). Although the guide did give us a few interesting facts about the World Showcase the Segway tour is mainly abot riding the Segway. When I went back in Sept, everytime I saw a Segway I wanted to ride one again.

By the way, if you have an AP you can get a discount on the tours.

 

[Uncleromulus]

I highly recommend the Backstage Magic and the Backstage Safari tours. We'll be taking both again in May--

 

[Pooh67_68]

We did the Backstage Magic Tour and highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking of taking a tour.

 

[wvjovifan]

In October we did Keys To The Kingdom tour and we loved it! It was 5 hours and included a great lunch at Columbia Harbour House. Our tour guide was Matthew and he was awesome! He was a perfect example of what a Disney Castmember should be...he so obviously loved his job and loved the Disney company, and he made the tour fun and interesting....we did 3 rides--HM, POT and JC and learned so many little secrets and backstage goodies! I highly recommend this tour!!!!

 

[FigmentGuy]

....we had some self-proclaimed "Disney geeks" on our tour that were not the usual, joyful delightful ones you read here on DIS, but rather the bitter, know-it-all ones that you see mocked in the media...so that may have colored the experience for me, a little.

AHHHHHHHH! We had a couple of those too! We are currently at WDW and just did "Undiscovered Future World" in Epcot this past monday. Our tour guide was Anthony and he was great! He has been with the company for 15 years, and in guest relations for 10 of them. He was full of knowledge, and best of all he was "Real". We had a couple of people I just wanted to ask to leave our tour!!!! One of them kept on insisting on her facts. To me they are poor rumours or just stuff I think she assumed? Why would anybody pay for a tour, and then try and back talk a guide? Blah. Everything Anthony told us I pretty much new and "then some". So I guess I am a Disney Nut too. hahaha, but I don't brandish it. We also had someone in our group who was sooo snooty . He wanted all his questions answered in private. He wanted the explantion of the "engineering" involved in each ride. He acted like he was somebody, but in my personal opinion he was a complete annoyance. (being polite as possible ) For lack of other words I think he was a few Brady's short of a bunch. hahaha Whenever he opened his mouth just about everyone in the group rolled their eyes. Anthony kept his composure real well though.hahaha

He did get us backstage to a couple most everything in Future world. We were taken into alot of VIP lounges also. We even got to go into The Living Seas (which is currently under rehab), so that was cool also! We then got to see a test track vehicle that was under repair. (amazing how many lil wheels are under the track). We had seen so much cool things on the tour.
After visiting future world the tour group was still up for more so Anthony then took us to World Showcase and we had a private "one on one" with Steven ,a guest relations employee who is from Germany. He told us about the international program, his story and "mickey Visa's" haha. He was great also. Then we went back to the Cast Members wardrobe storage. He explained how the system works for the employees of the worldshowcase/future worlds get their outfits daily. After that Anthony took us back to see all the barges used in IllumiNations, and told us some 'uncommonly known facts' about the show. Pretty cool.

Then we concluded our tour, Anthony thanked us and gave us our exclusive pins. Really spiffy pins indeed. (I am not a pin collector/trader). We felt that Anthony was great and fun. So we asked for a group photo with him. He was happy to do so and then parted.


I really enjoyed our tour. We are looking forward to "keys to the kingdom" tour this friday.