Walk in Walt's Footsteps - worth the money?

[JessL]

For myself and my two boys, once we convert it to Australian dollars, it will cost around $475. That's a lot of money! We're trying to do this trip on a budget, but this is something we'd assumed we would do this time.

Pros and cons - We're all very interested in the stories behind the park - have read a lot, including a biography we bought last time we were there. How much new information are we likely to hear? We're there for a week, and have a 10 day pass and plan to be in the parks every day, so the queue-jumping on the included rides probably isn't worth a huge amount. I'd love to see the Dream Suite though. You'd think that with all that time in the parks there would be plenty of time to spare, but I'm still nervous about taking up almost half a day with this tour.

This may be our last Disneyland trip for many years because there's a lot of other places in the world we still haven't seen and we love to travel. So if we don't do it this time, we may never do it. But then I think about how far that money would go in other areas.

So, what do you think? Worth almost $500 for three people or not?

 

[allsaintsatx]

We have never done the tour, we have only just recently done our first tour this past October although it was the Happiest Haunts tour. I read up a bunch on the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour though, prior to picking the HH Tour. It seemed it would be worth it for the Dream Suite alone, but $475 is a lot of money and if trying to stay on a budget is a big concern you may opt not to do it.

Another concern is "kid boredom". Our DS12 is a huge Disney fan and is always spouting off Disney trivia and "fun facts" while we are in the parks and about an hour into the tour I could see him yawning and kinda trailing off and looking at other stuff around him. It was very interesting, but also very factual. He said he loved it, and I'm sure he did, but he probably would have been just as happy at the hotel in the pool! But everyone is different! Whatever you choose, you've got 10 days at Disneyland so you are winning no matter what!!

 

[grannyminnie]

I've booked this for the first week of November and sure hope I get my money's worth! To me, even as a confirmed Disney NUT, this is alot of money on top of the price of a park ticket! The CM I spoke with kind of swayed me into this one vs the Holiday Tour. I'm ok with my choice, but as the OP mentioned, I'm hoping for some new tidbits of information on DL or Walt.

 

[Aknative2]

For myself and my two boys, once we convert it to Australian dollars, it will cost around $475. That's a lot of money! We're trying to do this trip on a budget, but this is something we'd assumed we would do this time.

Pros and cons - We're all very interested in the stories behind the park - have read a lot, including a biography we bought last time we were there. How much new information are we likely to hear? We're there for a week, and have a 10 day pass and plan to be in the parks every day, so the queue-jumping on the included rides probably isn't worth a huge amount. I'd love to see the Dream Suite though. You'd think that with all that time in the parks there would be plenty of time to spare, but I'm still nervous about taking up almost half a day with this tour.

This may be our last Disneyland trip for many years because there's a lot of other places in the world we still haven't seen and we love to travel. So if we don't do it this time, we may never do it. But then I think about how far that money would go in other areas.

So, what do you think? Worth almost $500 for three people or not?

Going this morning for the first time. Will let you know how it is

 

[ludari]

I've done this tour before the change and I enjoyed it. I am considering doing it again but they are other tours I want to do first.

 

[eeyorefanuk]

I have booked for our first ever Cali visit

 

[lffam]

We did it is 2010 and we found it really great. One of the best things was being inside the park before Rope Drop and watching it from the inside and seeing all the people stream in. I am not certain that this is part of every tour, but it was when we did it. The history they told was really interesting so if that is the type of thing you enjoy then I think you will get a lot from it.

 

[kristabelle13]

I did it in September (on Labour Day). It was fine. The Dream Suite is cool but was not totally unexpected. We hopped the queue at two rides. One was a ride I hadn't been able to get on yet that trip, so that was a bonus.

I wouldn't do it again, I don't think. However, the Holiday Tour I'd do over and over. It was awesome. (and I had the same tour guide for both)

You could do a lot of fun things with $475, IMO

 

[Aknative2]

Going this morning for the first time. Will let you know how it is

Just came back from the tour. Dh,dd age 15 and myself. If you are into Walt Disney life and history you will enjoy it. If your kids r young they may get bored. It started with with a two hour walk thru the park and stopping at different points to hear Walt's voice. The guide at his/her discretion chooses a couple rides. We went on small world and great moments with president Lincoln. The last hour was Lunch at jolly holiday, then the highlight is the dream suites tour. To see some of the items that Walt and his wife lily picked out for the suite was pretty neat. For us it was worth it, will we do it again? No, it was a one time only for us

 

[Nonsuch]

...Worth almost $500 for three people or not?

I'm a little confused by the currency conversion, seems a little like comparing apples and oranges. Have Australian and US dollars typically been equal?
Looking at Disney "value", how much did you pay for a 10-day park-hopper?

I have not been on the WIWF tour, since I toured the Dream Suite as part of another event -- and the Dream Suite is a featured element of the tour. The Dream Suite is very interesting and beautifully done, but adults will appreciate it more than kids.

 

[avalon451]

DH and I did WiWF tour for the first time on September 16th. People rave about it, but personally I was underwhelmed. I also have read so much about the parks and Walt's biographical information, and I really didn't learn much that was new, except a few random facts about some of the rides and their difficulty getting off the ground with design, etc. Our tour guide was nice, but not very ... polished? Her timing was off, she wasn't really great with the anecdotes... I don't know. They put us on Alice which was great, but I was mad they put us on IASW. That's a walk on practically any time of day, so not worth it to skip the line; and anyway so many people don't care for it (me included). The dream suite was pretty cool, though.

It was ok, but I won't do it again. For more details see my trip report in my signature below, day 4.