Tour: Epcot Undiscovered Future World

[LYNSUE]

DH and I signed up for this tour for our upcoming trip March 2010. Any one have any comments about it? Yay or Nay! We are hoping it is worth the 4 hour time investment.

TIA for any comments.

 

[Berlioz70]

IT WAS AMAZING!!!

I did this tour in July with my parents and 16 year old brother. I think it's an undiscovered gem so we were the only four in the tour, which meant it was like our own private tour.

It focuses on Future World and you spend time in each of the buildings. We got to go into VIP lounges, we were backed door into Soarin' to show us how VIPs board the attractions, we learned a lot and our guide was absolutely wonderful. At the end we were told that we would have VIP seats for Illumintations that night - which was a great treat.

Our tour guide mentioned that each guide does the tour a little differently, so you will not be guaranteed to have the same benefits we got, but you'll probably still get something.

The next day we went on the Keys of the Kingdom tour. I thought our guide was bland, the group was so big that it felt unpersonalized, and all around I was really disappointed - but I think it's because the Epcot tour was just so incredible the MK one couldn't live up to it.

I hope you love it!

 

[bradk]

i did like the tour myself, my personal thrill was going into the former UTC lounge at the seas (now a rentable venue) and seeing the 'glass' piano.

a lot of the material is virtually straight out of the imagineering field guide to Epcot however so if you're familiar with that, you might find a lot of it redundant, but the real key element is you get to go quite a few places backstage.

speaking of which, i'm a fan of the Epcot cast member building myself. Backstage Magic also goes through there, but between the murals and costuming, it's a real highlight.

 

[Calle&Jakesmom]

You've inspired me to consider this tour for our Feb trip. I just looked at the info posted on Dis about it and it says that guests have to be 16 and older. Does anyone know more about this? I know it's a silly question, but does this mean that my kids (7 & 10) can't go on the tour?

 

[Berlioz70]

Does anyone know more about this? I know it's a silly question, but does this mean that my kids (7 & 10) can't go on the tour?

Correct. All tours that go backstage require that persons are at least 16 (ID is required).

 

[wasabi girl]

I went on this tour Sept 08 with my parents (older) and I think this might have been our tour guides first tour. She kept positioning herself to speak to the group (we were a large group) under speakers so that we could not hear her (unlike other tours, no headsets for this one). My father also requires a scooter for distances and would often give her spiel while we were going the long way round to use the handicapped access to the area so that when we arrived she would be finished with the presentation. She gave us no new information...everything was "very amazing" or "very cool"....we did go into the VIP lounge in the Living Seas BUT when we got to the land building...my parents were so frustrated at struggling to hear her and the inanane babble, that we gave the guide our regrets and left the tour at the mid point.
We've taken several other tours but this one for us was a real low point. I actually had a hard time believing that Disney would let someone like this lead a tour. She felt very giggling high school girl guiding the grown ups around.

That was our experience on this tour. I wished it had been better. We've loved Keys to the Kingdom, Backstage Safari, Wild by Design, Behind the Seeds...Undiscovered Future World has been our only dud.

 

[bradk]

Correct. All tours that go backstage require that persons are at least 16 (ID is required).

with a couple of minor exceptions. behind the seeds, the seas tours and the magic behind our steam trains all have backstage elements and have a lower age requirement. and technically so does the wildlife discovery excursion.

and wild by design actually has an age minimum but no backstage elements.

it's all about insurance. age requirements are non-negotiable.

 

[LowesChevy]

How long did the tour last? Was it between the 4 and 5 hours they state?

I debated doing it this past October, but we may have to do it this year.

 

[Calle&Jakesmom]

it's all about insurance. age requirements are non-negotiable.

We've done the Keys to the Kingdom tour and thinking about that, I guess the age requirement probably also has something to do with keeping the "magic" of Disney alive for young ones. You wouldn't want them to see some of the backstage stuff and loose some of the magic that the parks hold.

 

[brerdawg]

IT WAS AMAZING!!!

I did this tour in July with my parents and 16 year old brother. I think it's an undiscovered gem so we were the only four in the tour, which meant it was like our own private tour.

It focuses on Future World and you spend time in each of the buildings. We got to go into VIP lounges, we were backed door into Soarin' to show us how VIPs board the attractions, we learned a lot and our guide was absolutely wonderful. At the end we were told that we would have VIP seats for Illumintations that night - which was a great treat.

Our tour guide mentioned that each guide does the tour a little differently, so you will not be guaranteed to have the same benefits we got, but you'll probably still get something.

The next day we went on the Keys of the Kingdom tour. I thought our guide was bland, the group was so big that it felt unpersonalized, and all around I was really disappointed - but I think it's because the Epcot tour was just so incredible the MK one couldn't live up to it.

I hope you love it!

Thanks for the info!

 

[bradk]

We've done the Keys to the Kingdom tour and thinking about that, I guess the age requirement probably also has something to do with keeping the "magic" of Disney alive for young ones. You wouldn't want them to see some of the backstage stuff and loose some of the magic that the parks hold.

it's been argued before, but that's fine. it's mostly about insurance though. the problem with taking the position that it's 'magic' related is because it inevitably leads to 'well, my 10 year old knows the truth, so who is disney to tell me when the magic will be spoiled?'

there's no magical (or anti-magical) moment that happens at 16.

so... it's insurance.