When are tours available to book?

[FSU Girl]

Do tours become available to book when the ADR window opens at 6 months? I'm thinking of doing some tours for my trip in March.

Also not sure what tour to book. We'll be up at Disney for four days, one of which will be spent at a wedding. It might be our last trip of our annual pass before it expires so I figure this would be a good time for tours, since I wouldn't want to book one if I'm buying a day ticket it would feel like a waste. I'm thinking maybe two tours? We've already done Keys to the Kingdom and loved it.

Was thinking maybe Caring for Giants or Behind the Seeds tour, they are only an hour so we'd still have most of the day to do something. For the other tour thinking something longer either Wild Africa Trek or Backstage Magic. Anyone done these tours? Which would you choose?

 

[gap2368]

I have done behind the seed tour lots of fun you can sign up for day of with this tour.

 

[FSU Girl]

I have done behind the seed tour lots of fun you can sign up for day of with this tour.

So it's something that typically doesn't get full? That would help if we happen to be near it and want to do the tour last minute

 

[AngiTN]

So it's something that typically doesn't get full? That would help if we happen to be near it and want to do the tour last minute

While they may not get full for the whole days tours it's not certain that you can walk up and get in the next tour either. I know when we went by on the morning and booked Seeds we could only select the last time of the day. We could pick any time the next day though.

Giants seems to be more open

 

[PanamaMike]

So it's something that typically doesn't get full? That would help if we happen to be near it and want to do the tour last minute

They offer it multiple times throughout the day

 

[Lesley Wake]

I did Wild Africa Trek in March. Loved it so much I signed up again in December! The guides are just awesome and treat everyone like friends. They remembered everyone’s name immediately, so even though I was solo, it really made it special. They knew so much about the animals and I learned a lot. The overlook was also so cool, with pretty delicious food, and a great view of the savannah.

They also have a sunset tour, which doesn’t have the walk over the bridges, but does have wine and beer. I think it’s slightly cheaper than the WAT.

 

[WishICouldSpeakWhale]

We did Wild Africa Trek and loved it. I did book around 180-150 days out - I don't remember any more. We did an 8am tour in July 2016 and there were 7 of us total. I don't remember full capacity, but I know it wasn't fully booked. So someone could have booked it the day before.

 

[gratefulfred]

Keys to the kingdom does fill up so if your looking for something like that one I would book at 6 months ( I think that’s what I did) it was a great tour!

 

[FSU Girl]

I did Wild Africa Trek in March. Loved it so much I signed up again in December! The guides are just awesome and treat everyone like friends. They remembered everyone’s name immediately, so even though I was solo, it really made it special. They knew so much about the animals and I learned a lot. The overlook was also so cool, with pretty delicious food, and a great view of the savannah.

They also have a sunset tour, which doesn’t have the walk over the bridges, but does have wine and beer. I think it’s slightly cheaper than the WAT.

This tour looks really cool and unique, was it something that fills up really quickly? I notice in the description about having your own camera, but it has to be attached to the vest. Does that mean you can't bring your phone to take pictures? It says there are camera people there taking pictures for you, did these come out good? I do have an actual camera with the little string thing to go around a wrist, should I bring that instead?

We did Wild Africa Trek and loved it. I did book around 180-150 days out - I don't remember any more. We did an 8am tour in July 2016 and there were 7 of us total. I don't remember full capacity, but I know it wasn't fully booked. So someone could have booked it the day before.

That's good to hear!

Keys to the kingdom does fill up so if your looking for something like that one I would book at 6 months ( I think that’s what I did) it was a great tour!

This is the only tour we have done and definitely loved it! But we want to try something new this time. Maybe one day we will do this tour again.

 

[Lesley Wake]

This tour looks really cool and unique, was it something that fills up really quickly? I notice in the description about having your own camera, but it has to be attached to the vest. Does that mean you can't bring your phone to take pictures? It says there are camera people there taking pictures for you, did these come out good? I do have an actual camera with the little string thing to go around a wrist, should I bring that instead?

I think I booked it about a month in advance. I don’t know if the tour was full or not, but there were about a dozen of us; I think the max is 15 but I could be wrong. They do have to be strict about the max number of people though, because there are only a certain number of harness attachments for the animal overlooks and bridges.

They have lots of tools to attach things to your vest. For sunglasses, they have the strings that go around your neck. For DSLRs they have larger neck straps. I brought my phone and they looked something thru the case (using one of the charging or headphones openings). If you had a phone without a case that couldn’t connect to anything then they probably would make you leave it behind (there are secure lockers that you set a code for).

The pictures they took were great. Lots of ones of animals we saw as well as individual shots (or of you party) on the animal overlooks, bridges, and the Savannah overlook. They also said if you ever see something you want a photo of, to let them know and they’ll take some. I think there is also an internal competition between the guides for who can take the best animal photos!

 

[FSU Girl]

I think I booked it about a month in advance. I don’t know if the tour was full or not, but there were about a dozen of us; I think the max is 15 but I could be wrong. They do have to be strict about the max number of people though, because there are only a certain number of harness attachments for the animal overlooks and bridges.

They have lots of tools to attach things to your vest. For sunglasses, they have the strings that go around your neck. For DSLRs they have larger neck straps. I brought my phone and they looked something thru the case (using one of the charging or headphones openings). If you had a phone without a case that couldn’t connect to anything then they probably would make you leave it behind (there are secure lockers that you set a code for).

The pictures they took were great. Lots of ones of animals we saw as well as individual shots (or of you party) on the animal overlooks, bridges, and the Savannah overlook. They also said if you ever see something you want a photo of, to let them know and they’ll take some. I think there is also an internal competition between the guides for who can take the best animal photos!

That sounds awesome! Their pictures would probably be better than anything my iphone could take anyway. Were there different times for this tour? Would early morning be best since it's not as hot out yet?

 

[Lesley Wake]

That sounds awesome! Their pictures would probably be better than anything my iphone could take anyway. Were there different times for this tour? Would early morning be best since it's not as hot out yet?

They have tours all day long. You'd have to check your date to see what specific times.

I think the morning ones are slightly more expensive than the afternoon ones. You also get more breakfast foods and in the afternoon you get more savory stuff; I loved the food in the afternoon. The one I did was around 12:00ish, and it worked out fine. It wasn't too hot and the animals were active - Stella was running along the water showing off her trunk abilities! Overall that day was definitely on the cooler side - I was very happy I wore jeans and brought a sweater as I would have been very cold after dark. So I think it will just depend on the temperature that day, especially in March with its hot/cold temperature swings. I would book for whatever time works out best in your schedule.