Disney Tours

[ForeverDisneyFan]

I was wondering if you guys could suggest any good Disney Tours. I've been to Disney many times, and want to try something new. The Backstage Magic looks interesting, but am afraid 7 hours might be a little much. I do not want anything tailored too much towards children, as I am traveling with adults.

[faline]

Welcome to Intercot! :mickey:

The Keys to the Kingdom tour is a really nice one. If you want something a little more active, I can also recommend the Segway Tour in Epcot.

Many of Disney's tours are not open to those under the age of 16.

[goofygirl64]

My husband and I did the Segway Tour at Epcot last year and LOVED it. It was so much fun, and trust me, if I can ride a Segway, anyone can. It was great too because our tour was early morning, before park opening, so there were very few people there. It was like having the place to ourselves!

[Humphrey]

We did the Backstage Magic tour last August. I was terrific. Learned a lot, had a really good time. No problem recommending that tour.

[Strmchsr]

:welcome: to Intercot!

If you're a certified diver, DiveQuest is awesome. If not, the Aquaseas Tour is still excellent and let's you get into the Living Seas. Behind the Seeds at the Land is also pretty interesting and inexpensive.

[Mogie]

I've read on a lot of forums warnings about the Magic Kingdom back stage tours. They warn you that it can kind of ruin the magic for you to see the guts of the park and to learn how they pull off so many things that make the park run so smoothly and efficiently.
I'd like to do it sometime though...im interested to see how the big machine works.

[boobalk]

We have only done the Keys tour, and let me tell you, it certainly DID NOT ruin the magic for me! On the contrary, I, like you, have always been interested in "how the big machine works", and now, I honestly look @ WDW in a whole new light. Walt WAS a true visionary and his quest for a place where all families can be totally immersed in the "Magic", is evident in the meticulous details behind the scenes.

[snowflakegirl]

I did the Backstage Safari tour and the Behind the Seeds tour during my last trip in August. I was a little worried about seeing some of the Backstage stuff for fear of ruining the magic, but I have to say that's far from what happened. If anything, getting to know some of the backstage "secrets" brought the Magic alive in a whole new way for me. Keep in mind that on the Backstage Safari tour, you're really only learning about the backstage creation of the animal habitats and feeding/care/etc, so it wasn't quite the same as seeing the utilidors etc in the Magic Kingdom. If you like animals, I definitely recommend the Backstage Safari tour, my boyfriend and I loved it, and my parents who went in May also loved it.

If you're into greenhouses, plants, or new innovative ways to grow things, the Behind the Seeds tour is about an hour to an hour and a half long, very inexpensive, and very informative. It was great. And kind of fun to be "on-stage" as part of the Living with the Land ride for a good portion of the tour.

[WDWPrincess]

The Segway tour at EPCOT was wonderful.

When will you ever get a chance to ride one of those anyway - plus you feel like you have EPCOT all to yourself- it's very beautiful in the morning when there is no one else there.

[BriarRose0708]

I did the Keys to the Kingdom tour and it did not ruin any of the magic for me at all. Yes, you do see backstage for about half an hour and maybe the occasional character with out part of their costume on but all in all the tid bits, history, and science behind the development of the Magic Kingdom and the Disney corporation made me respect and love WDW all the more. Our guide was an endless encyclopedia of knowledge! I don't think there was a question about the MK he didn't know the answer to. Honestly there's more history and trivia in the tour than magic-ruining behind the scenes stuff. We spent much more time walking around the actual park than we did back stage.

[Tick-Tock]

We've enjoyed most of the tours mentioned here: Keys to the Kingdom, Around the World on a Segway, Backstage Safari, DiveQuest. One that really stood out, though, was Wild by Design at AK. I loved learning about how they put Africa and Asia together, the "Disney" story and the real story about each attraction, and how the different attractions in Asia relate to each other.

[jeffbdw]

I did the Backstage Magic tour in September of this year.It was awesome. They are very careful to show you a lot of cool stuff without giving away so much that it ruins the "magic". The tour is on a bus for all of the long distance travels. We started at Epcot and went around the back of all of the world showcase pavillions. We stopped at The American showcase and went into the back door and saw how they worked the staging and animatronics for the show. We went to central shops outside of Magic Kingdom and saw all kids of things, including ride vehicles being made. We went to Magic Kingdom and went into the utilidores under main street area. We went to Hollywood Studios and went into the "basement" of the tower of Terror and learned about the ride mechanics. We went into the Jammin Jungle Parade staging area outside of Animal kingdom
and got to see them getting ready for the parade and get on and touch all of the parade vehicles. My favorite thing was going into the costuming shop at Hollywood studios. This is where ALL of the costumes are made for ALL Disney Parks and Cruise line. You are totally hands on in here. I was leaning on a table and touching the dress as a lady was hand beading a $50,000 Beauty dress for the New Beauty and the Beast lead actress. Beautiful work.
The tour is all day, but never boring at all. They include a nice lunch at varying restaurants and unlimited refreshments while on the bus.
One other thing, while you are going from one major destination to another, they are driving you through areas not normally seen by guests. We drove through the amazing tree farm and green houses area on the way to Animal Kingdom. There are many other surprises throughout the tour that I did not spoil in this post. When booking, use a Disney Rewards Visa and you get a very nice discount.

[wdw dude]

I've done Keys to the Kingdom and the Segway tour at both Epcot and Ft. Wilderness and would highly recommend any of them for adults. The Segway tours were especially fun and are probably my favorites.

:mickey:

[Captain_Nemo]

Keys to the Kingdom is very nice, Lunch is included at Harbor House and it will leave you the rest of the day to play. mine started at 9 and was over at 1:30 I believe maybe 3:15 I forget it was great though :mickey: a lot of time standing is required though.