Who's done the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour?

[Anal Annie]

So my DH is interested in doing either lunch with an imagineer or some special tours sometime and I see members can get a 15% discount on the tours. (BTW the chat feature on the website is worthless for getting info. on this). The lunches are already booked up for our trip this summer but there are some tour times still available for this tour. After our member discount the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour would cost about $71.50 pp. Wondering if anybody else around here has done it & if you think it's worthwhile / interesting etc. We're pretty frugal and don't typically splurge on these types of things….

The idea just occured to me that I could book it and surprise DH with it (I was thinking of telling him on Father's Day as part of his Father's Day) and now that I've just spent like 20 hours planning (and changing) ADR's and FP+s I would now need to re-arrange things yet again to do it (it's turning into a game of how many times can I book an ADR at Tony's and then cancel and change it). I'm not sure I want to mess with it becuz I'm getting pretty tired of all of this over-planning stuff that we now have to do. I had just about decided that we were all set and done - but these tours would all interfere with current ADR's (like a hard to get lunch at BOG) or our chosen parks of the day etc.

Would really appreciate some feedback from anybody who's done the tour before so I can decide if I really want to mess with it for this trip or maybe just save it for another trip when I wouldn't have to do so much re-arranging (we're going again in January so I could present it to him as part of his Christmas gift too). Thoughts??

 

[Denise W]

So my DH is interested in doing either lunch with an imagineer or some special tours sometime and I see members can get a 15% discount on the tours. (BTW the chat feature on the website is worthless for getting info. on this). The lunches are already booked up for our trip this summer but there are some tour times still available for this tour. After our member discount the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour would cost about $71.50 pp. Wondering if anybody else around here has done it & if you think it's worthwhile / interesting etc. We're pretty frugal and don't typically splurge on these types of things….

The idea just occured to me that I could book it and surprise DH with it (I was thinking of telling him on Father's Day as part of his Father's Day) and now that I've just spent like 20 hours planning (and changing) ADR's and FP+s I would now need to re-arrange things yet again to do it (it's turning into a game of how many times can I book an ADR at Tony's and then cancel and change it). I'm not sure I want to mess with it becuz I'm getting pretty tired of all of this over-planning stuff that we now have to do. I had just about decided that we were all set and done - but these tours would all interfere with current ADR's (like a hard to get lunch at BOG) or our chosen parks of the day etc.

Would really appreciate some feedback from anybody who's done the tour before so I can decide if I really want to mess with it for this trip or maybe just save it for another trip when I wouldn't have to do so much re-arranging (we're going again in January so I could present it to him as part of his Christmas gift too). Thoughts??

Do a search on the theme parks forum, that question is asked about once a month and many people have provided information and their opinions of the tour.
Denise

 

[southerngirl528]

We have done this tour though it's been years. We all loved it! Found it super interesting. It was a fair amount of walking, but then you will be doing that at WDW anyway. Sounds like this trip you have a lot already planned though, and that you would have to reschedule some stuff, so maybe next trip would be better for you?

I have honestly never heard anyone complain about any of Disney's backstage tours. I've done a few and loved them all.

 

[ErinC]

We loved the keys to the kingdom tour. Did it several years ago and would love to do it again sometime. Probably the best "overall tour" in my opinion.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I also did it years ago and loved it. Lots of interesting information on details thru out the park. I've been thinking that DH and I might have to do it sometime so I feel it's worth it.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We did it and loved it...well, most of us did. One son was totally turned off by just how "into Disney" our wonderful guide was. This son felt she was brainwashed. So, 10 out of 11 loved the tour, one never wants to go to WDW again!

 

[jekjones1558]

Great tour. My one complaint was that it was a very hot June day when I did it and the CM leading the tour was not good about making sure we were in the shade while he was doing sometimes lengthy explanations. Hopefully my experience is not the norm.

 

[Anal Annie]

Thanks, everyone. I went ahead & booked it for this summer since this trip is 10 days and the one in January is only 6 days and now just hope that it's worth the splurge & that DH likes it and is surprised. Gotta say that I am getting Disney'd out tho with all of the planning now between FP+ and ADR's. I chose the day that I thought would require the least canceling and re-arranging. But in the process of adding it & changing things around now have added this plus moved 1 more scheduled ADR to a day that was mostly free. DH HATES it when I plan out every single day from start to finish and I had been trying to leave half of our mornings completely open for last minute "hey let's wing it" stuff. Now out of 10 days I'm down to only 2 mornings and our last day with much flexibility (well, I have lunch booked at BOG on that last day but didn't book any FP's anywhere yet so we can still decide if we want to go there in the morning or in the afternoon). I spent half my day figuring this out & who knows how long on hold to book it. I hope I can escape the "why did you plan so much" routine once we're there.

Can I ask what everyone's experience was with lunch? The CM I spoke to first this morning told me lunch was under the castle at like an employee cafeteria but on the theme park boards it looked like it's usually at Columbia Harbor House. Where did ya'll go?

 

[clayfolks]

We had lunch at Columbia Harbor House, last year. We ordered our food when we checked in for the tour and it was waiting for us in a reserved area upstairs at CHH.

 

[Meriweather]

I've been on it twice......good tour. A lot depends on the guide. But I would do it again

 

[Pigletpal40]

I did it a few years back with my BIL and FIL. Being three of us, Matt, our tour guide had lunch at our table. That was great to get first hand accounts from a cast member. He is a great guide! If you've seen Disney Behind the Scenes on TV, he is the tour guide in that show!

 

[catherines_mama]

Ive done this twice. Once with a girlfriend on a bday trip and once with DH over a spring break adult only trip. Both times loved it. Each time it was a different feel which was great - didn't feel like it was a complete "repeat". Glad you booked it - ENJOY!

 

[vek239]

We did it a few years ago and are looking forward to a repeat in September. We also enjoyed the Undiscovered Future World tour at EPCOT.

 

[WolfpackFan]

We've done it once. Great behind the scenes tour. Loved the float area and the utilidors.

 

[dwight16]

It's so worth it!!! We have done the wild animal trek also worth it and next time doing the seeds tour in Epcot.

 

[Anal Annie]

I sure hope we get a good guide and not a dud so that it's fun!!

 

[florep1]

We did this in May. Five and a half hours of fun for me. My husband thought it was just ok. My favorite parts were the backstage areas where the floats are kept and the utilidors. We only got to ride Jungle Cruise on our tour since Haunted Mansion was not working at the time which gave us a lot more time to explore "down under". Our tour guide was good about keeping us in the shade and bathroom breaks. Lunch was at CHH which you preorder at the start of the tour. You go upstairs and your food is ready when you get there. You get a nice memento to remember the tour. I recommend it but is doubt I'll do it again. We learned a lot of interesting trivia about MK that I didn't know. To me, it was worth it.

 

[goofy4prez]

We are doing the tour for the first time next Sunday on Fathers day. I'm looking to it and then later that evening dinner at Victoria & Albert's QVR

 

[ErinC]

We ate at CHH too.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

We loved the keys to the kingdom tour. Did it several years ago and would love to do it again sometime. Probably the best "overall tour" in my opinion.

This. Exactly this.