Keys To The Kingdom Tour - Tell me about it.

[Marker]

Who's been on the Keys To The Kingdom tour and what did you think? Is it worth it? When is it? Is it hard to get in? Etc.

Thanks?

[goudaman40]

I just answered the same question over in "Vacation Planning", so I will include what I said over there. Also, if you go back about 2 months in Theme Parks you should be able to find the thread that I started on the same topic. :D


graemlins/party.gif It's funny that you should mention this tour . . . about two months ago I asked the same question. I just made reservations for 04/25/02 for the 9:30 tour with my Disney Club discount it was $49 a person (w/o Disney Club its $58).

Well, I was told that it is a 4 1/2 - 5 hour walking tour and the minimum age for the group is 16. You will visit the different lands in the Magic Kingdom and learn alot of trivia and history that went into the park and a few of the rides. You will also get the chance to take the behind the scenes look at some of the rides and get to enter through the back door area.

In addition to the lands that you will learn about they will take you through the tunnel system that is below the MK and also to the parade set up area and costuming. During this tour lunch is included with your price for the tour (you must have park admission to go on the tour). Also, it was explained that due to the events of 09/11 there is tighter security for the tour. No large bags/booksacks are allowed on the tour along with no video or still photography.

I was told that the maximum amount of people for each tour is 20 and that each individual will have his/her own nametag that will be waiting on them. I can't wait to take this tour!! The tour is my birthday present to my husband! Hope this helps!

[imported_PolyGirl40]

I haven't done the tour yet. My children are not old enough. We want them to go as well.

I suggest going over to the Trip Reports forum and use the search feature - with *Keys to the Kingdom* as your search words.

There have been some very detailed reports/opinions of this tour. smile.gif

[tunascuba]

My parents just took the tour the weekend befor last. I am going to call them tomorrow afternoon (my car is getting worked on and they like to know whats going on) and find out the scoop. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

[TScoles]

My sis and BIL took the tour in 2000 and loved it.
It was a very long tour, and you do have to make reservations. They got these cute little keys and they hung them on their Christmas tree as ornaments. If you would like more detailed info from her, send me an enail and I will get her to email you w/the info! graemlins/mickey.gif

[Jusjuice]

Are there any backstage tours at WDW that you don't have to be 16 to do?

[Rutgersfan]

Wow, here is my change to give back to the Intercot community. I feel bad that I have read so much great info, but haven't had the change to give back. Well, here is my chance.

I can tell you about the Key to the Kingdom Tour. I wrote a complete report of the tour which I took in November of 2000.

!!!!!!!WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!

The following contains detailed accounts of the Key to the Kingdom Tour.

Keys to the Kingdom Tour Report November 16, 2000

I had heard only good things about the Keys to the Kingdom tour that is offered at the Magic Kingdom. I had always wanted to take the tour but never really found the time on my previous trips. When my friend came back from a convention in Disneyworld having taken the tour I knew it was high time that I book the tour. My next trip was going to be in November and I went to Disney knowing that I wanted to take this tour. I was with a group of 13 people and I wanted to take the tour when it wouldn't conflict with anyone's schedule. As fate would have it I figured out the correct date the night before the tour. I actually called WDW-TOURS from my cell phone after Fantasmic. I was surprised that there was an opening for the 8:30am tour and I quickly booked it.

I was told to arrive at the magic kingdom by 8:15am. I woke up early, bought a sweatshirt (it was like 50 degrees that morning) at my resort and boarded a bus to the Magic Kingdom. I arrived at 8:00am and was just walked around outside the gate. It was a great time to get some photos of the train station and the monorails coming into the magic kingdom. Around 8:15am people started to bunch up around the turnstiles. In true Disney fashion Disney cast members started to quiz the groups on various Disney trivia. When the park finally opened I headed to the meeting point which is the same place you pick up your E-ticket wristbands (right to the left after you walk into the park). There was coffee and orange juice on a small table along with 'Keys to the Kingdom' nametags with our names on them. There was also a picture menu from the Columbia Harbour House. I was asked to pick out what I wanted for lunch which I did. I was then told to arrive back at the location at 8:30am. I took my nametag and fixed it to my chest and walked down Main St for a while. When I arrived back at 8:30am the group was ready to go.

There was about 14 of us which was a fairly large group from what I understand. Our guide Lauren was dressed on an equestrian like outfit with riders whip and all. She used the riders whip to point out things to us. The first thing we did was gather by the flagpole at the head of Main St. It was still early and there was almost no one on the park. We stood around the flagpole and Lauren asked us to tell everyone our name, where we were from, and our favorite Disney character. We all got a laugh when one of our group said Daffy Duck. He quickly corrected himself.

We next moved down main street and took the first right down that little alley. We went all the way to the end and stood around. She asked us all to stand very quite and we all heard tap dancing. She then pointed to one of the windows above us which was for a tap dancing school. She said that this was just one example of the little details that make the cast members proud. We where then asked to look at the ground and notice the color of the pavement. She told us that the difference in color from the gray of the street to the red of the sidewalks was intentional and was meant as a visual queue to the guests that there was a step coming. She also talked about all the doors to the various shops along main street where always open as a way of inviting the guests into the store. She also remarked that you could 'flow' from one store to the other without going out onto main street. This was done intentionally because the designers knew that Main St would be crowded.

Next we moved back onto Main Street and she pointed out various windows to us. She pointed to one window with the name of M. T. LOTT. She went on to explain that M.T. LOTT was the signee of most of the contracts for the land in Florida. As we moved down Main Street and got near the castle she had us look back at Main St. There up on the second floor of the building to the left was a window with Walt Disney's name on it. She explained that this was the only window that pointed towards the castle.

We were off to Tomorrow land. Before we got to the entrance we stopped and looked over the fence at a topiary of a sea monster. She explained that this is the last surviving original topiary from the opening of the park. It used to reside outside the gates, but the grounds people eventually found out that all the activity and fumes where killing the plants off. That is why the sea monster was moved inside the park and behind a fence. All and all a cool place for it near the water.

As we moved into Tomorrowland our guide noted the change in music and talked a little about the 'future as seen from the past' themeing of Tomorrowland. We all stopped near the COP and our guide described the people mover and talked about it being the 'original rock and roller coster' - a reference to it using the same linear induction technology. We then moved over to a sign for one of the attractions and she pointed out a very obvious hidden mickey This started a small conversation on the use of hidden mickeys around the park. The topic of hidden mickey's would become very important as she continued to point them out on all the rides that we went on.

We then all piled on the people mover. This was a nice stop since it gave us a chance to rest. We hadn't traveled far, but up until this point we were standing everywhere we went. Going through Space Mountain on the people mover she pointed out the model of the future city that can be seen there. She pointed out that this model was actually 1/4 of one of the original models of EPCOT. It was found on main street on a floor above the camera shop. Apparently work crews were knocking down some walls to make room for more storage and 'discovered' a room that had been walled up years ago. In it was the original model of EPCOT on a table. They also found Styrofoam cups half filled with coffee and ashtrays with cigarette butts in them. The 1/4 of the model was put in space mountain and the rest was sent to the Disney archives.

After getting off the people mover we headed towards fantasy land. On our way there she made us make note of the benches in Tommorrowland that were in front of the speedway. There are the long benches that are part of the islands in the middle of the walkway. The seats wrap around the entire island. Each island had its own height. Our guide asked us why we through the seats were of different sizes. We all said that the small seats were for children and the larger ones for adults. We were all wrong. Our guide said that when Disneyworld was being completed they had a choice of either leveling off the area and delaying the opening or leaving the level as it was and making the opening. They decided to make the opening.

Our next stop was behind the castle near the Cinderella fountain. We looked up at a set of windows on the castle and were told that that was where walts apartment was to be if he had lived. It is now used for storage. We then looked at the Cinderella fountain. For those of you who don't know the fountain, it is a fountain with a sculpture of Cinderella in the middle and several water fountains around it. All these water fountains are very low to the ground. Again, we were asked why these fountains were low to the ground and again we all answered that it was because these water fountains were designed for children. Again we were wrong. The designer of the fountain wanted each person who used the fountain to bow to Cinderella when taking a drink - hence the low fountains that you have to bow to use.

We then entered a store near the fountain and our guide made us stop in front of a door behind the cash register. We were about to go down into the ultilidoors and she made us take a pledge not to take any picture of anything we were about to see. We all agreed. We went through the doors and stooped on the stairwell. Our guide stopped us to say that we were now 'off-stage' and that this would be the time to ask any 'off-stage' type questions. Some of us asked about rumors of lost kids and other things. We then headed down into the utilidoors. It was interesting being down there and just seeing the activity. People going back and forth and things being delivered. We stopped in front of a map of the utilidors and she described how they were layed out. I couldn't help but notice the music that was playing. Top 40 music that was very non-Disney. I asked about it and was told that they have there own internal radio station. I think it was called Disney Park Radio and it played announcements as well as the latest pop music.

Our next stop was hair and makeup. It was a smallish room that had hundreds of Styrofoam heads with various wigs on them. And you could make out the wigs - one was for belle, the other for mulan, etc. There where 3 hair dressers in duty working on various wigs. They answered any questions we threw at them and were very nice about answering them.

We then moved on to costuming. We gathered outside the room which had huge windows where people would come up and pick up their costume for today. Our guide explained that there were usually 3 of each costume available. One to wear, one for backup, and one being mended. And this was in all sizes. Our guide explained that she had driven to work in her pajamas, walked to costuming, picked up her costume, changed, and then went to work. She said that a lot of Disney employees do this since they just have to change once they get to work anything. We then went inside the costuming area and got a change to stroll down the rows and rows of hanging costumes. It was really a site to see.

We then climbed back up the stairs and exited back into the magic kingdom right near Cinderella's fountain. The door we came out of was well hidden, yet was in plain site. I was surprised that I had never noticed it before. But it blended in with the store that was around it.

Next we moved on to lunch at the Columbia Harbour House. Our guide walked us upstairs and there layed out was our food with nametags next to our meals. We all sat down at our nametags. Along with our food was a very nice 'Keys to the Kingdom' pin. Out guide later told us that this pin had a lot of trading value, especially outside the magic kingdom park (epcot, studios, etc) where it was hard to find.

After lunch we gathered outside the harbor house. Our guide said that she wanted to talk about Disney's attention to detail. We looked at the shutters on the colonial style houses around us. She had us notice that the shutters weren't perfectly level, then leaned to one side. She explained that this was because in colonial times metal was rare (because of the war) and leather was used to affix the shutters to the house. The use of the leather would cause the shutters to lean. Next we looked at the ground and noticed that the pavement was a different color in the middle of the road. It formed sort of a river like appearance with the light colored pavement winding down the roadway. This was done to simulate the river of waste that used to exist in colonial times from people throwing waste into the street. Our guide said that the cast members in the area would walk around this 'river' if they were from a high class whereas 'lower' class people would walk through the river.

We then walked up to the haunted mansion. The tour got very interesting here as we learned a entire new story about the haunted mansion. We were first told about the designer of the building whose name escapes me right now. He had a love for chess. Our guide pointed out that on top of the mansion were chess pieces. They fit right in with the design of the building and you don't notice them unless they are pointed out to you. We were then told the cast member story to the haunted mansion.

Apparently (according to the cast member story) the designer of the building was the owner of the haunted mansion. He fell in love with Penelope who is the young girl we see in the first room with all the family portraits. As the story goes the evil fortune teller (the one we see in the crystal ball) was jealous of Penelope. On the day of her wedding (we see her in the wedding dress in the ride) the fortune teller tells Penelope that there is a wedding gift in the attic of the mansion. Penelope goes to the attic looking for the present only to be locked away in the attic forever. While in the attic Penelope throws her ring down and it gets embedded into the ground below. As we walked up the exit to enter the ride we were told to look down and we saw the ring embedded into the pavement.

We entered the mansion through the chicken exit which let us out right before the opening to the portrait room. We went on the ride and were shown a hidden Donald (in the chair that stands at the beginning of the hallway) and a hidden Mickey (in the crypt near the end of the ride, a blue ghost is making the mickey sign with his fingers).

We then headed down past splash mountain. In the area the street where the parade floats comes out. The road is blocked off my wooden gate. We walked around the gate and started to walk down the path. You could hear the roar of the crowds disappear as we walked past the road. We then crossed the railroad tracks from the walt Disney word railroad. across from the tracks was a gate that lead to the parade area. As we stood on the other side of the tracks the warning gates came down and the we heard the train coming. As the train went past us we all waved at the guests on the train. They didn't know us from a hall in the wall, but they must have though that we were important cause they all waved back.

Once the train passed we walked behind the large red wooden gates and like magic we were behind the scenes. It was a short walk down the hill to the parade float area. The contrast between being on stage and off was amazing. The gate which looked like real wood from the onstage area was shown to be just metal on the back with 'show' wood attached for the effect. Behind the scenes we saw some parking spaces and various cast members walking to and from their jobs. As we got closer to the parade floats we noticed that we were back at the utlidoors that we had been in earlier. The entrance we had looked out upon earlier was directly left of the parade floats.

Our guide then let us walk around all the parade floats. We got to get up close and touch them. All the floats were there. She even opened a couple of them to show where the driver sat when they drove. All in all it was amazing to see. We then went inside (the previous floats were outside under a large ceiling but no walls) and got to see what they were working on and some older floats that were in storage. One of the neat things that I noticed was that all along the walls were signs from the different Disney events. Signs from the 25th anniversary and signs from the 10th anniversary were all over the place. These seems to be signs used on the floats.

We then headed back out the same road we came in on. We got some looks as we all walked around the gate from being back stage. Our last stop was the Pirates of the Caribbean. This ride was a favorite of our guide and a 'must stop' for her. The line was almost non-existent so we just walked right on the ride. No real inside information here. This was more of a walk down memory lane for everyone on the ride.

After the ride we all gathered outside the ride. She thanked us for being a great tour group and invited us to walk with her back to main street. Almost all of us did. As we walked back through advertureland she stop by one of the large huts with the thatched roofs. She asked us what we though the roof was made out of? We all though it was made of some sort of plant or thatch material. She climbed up on a nearby bench and hit the roof with her whip. The roof made a great metallic sound. Turns out the roof was made out of aluminum.

We continued to walk back and the group broke up near the castle. Everyone got a hug from our tour guide and she thanked us again.

All in all, this tour was well worth the expense and time. For group the time was a little over 5 hours, but it was well spend. If you really love the magic kingdom and want to know how it work, definitely take this tour.

[ March 04, 2002, 07:51 PM: Message edited by: Rutgersfan ]

[Bmwdsny]

I went on the tour in February 2001 when I was with a convention group. It was very interesting. We took a bus tour through the WDW resort and the underground tour at the Magic Kingdom. I think it cost about $100 and lasted about 4 hours. It was terrific. I visited the nursery where they grow the topiaries and other plants, the laundry facitities for the entire WDW. The garbage dump and recycle center, water reclamation center, etc. The the "nuts and Bolts" was really interesting. At the Magic Kingdom they showed the entire underground system from what a cast member does, to wardrobe, parade, the computer center on controlling the events, etc. It was really neat. The took us behind the B. Thunder M. Railroad to the parking lot and showed us all the floats, etc. I would definitely go. If you have kids, you might want to wait until they are old enough to pay attention and can enjoy it. Although, I am not sure if I will ever bring my kids because I always want them to feel that MK is a magical, special place and the 'behind the scences' might ruin the magical part of Disney for them. But, I loved it. Would do you think????

[ March 05, 2002, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: Bmwdsny ]

[ghp918]

We took the KTTK tour on valentine's Day 2002 and we were told that due to heightened security after 9/11 we were not able to see costumeing or the wig room. We were brought to an office behind one of the mainstreet facades where we saw a display of pictures and costume items. We did see some of the tunnels, but not much except tigger and pooh without their heads on. We did see where the parade floats were kept and that was cool. We had lunch at Columbia Harbour House and did not recieve any trading key pins. Just name tags.

[MKPlutoGuy]

Originally posted by Jusjuice:
Are there any backstage tours at WDW that you don't have to be 16 to do?Yes, well, as of 1998 there were. Over at the Disney Institute, they have more tours that are available. I took the Backstage Magic Tour. It was an all day thing, and we went into the utilidors, and to the parade staging area. We also did some other stuff like costuming and such, and we got to go into the pit where the pupeteers performed the Lion King Show. If you aren't 16, take this tour! (If its still offered :confused: )

[LottaLubes]

Also, you have to be 10 for the Steam Engine Tour. My oldest qualified to go on it last November with his Dad and they loved it. We were able to listen to fascinating facts about the trains (my oldest is a train buff) for the rest of our trip. ;)

[Jusjuice]

Thanks! Ill call the Disney Institute to see if they still have that tour!

[JenniBarra]

I took this tour on my trip last month. (I write a little bit about it in the second part of my trip report that can be found at the Trip Reports board.) We had a terrific time and it definitely inspired us to want to do other "backstage" tours in the future.

[Goofy Pluto]

Hi all.

I haven't posted much or even come to the site for the past few months since we got back from our trip last November. I've just been too busy. But I stopped by today and saw this topic and had to post.

Someone gave a pretty detailed review of the tour above, so I won't waste time describing the whole thing, but I just wanted to say that my wife and I took this tour back during our trip and it was one of the best things I've done down there. It was FANTASTIC! I loved it so much. Learning all of the little intricacies about the park and why things are the way they are was so fascinating. Plus our tour guide was very informative and a pleasure to spend the time with. You could tell he loved his job.

If you can afford it (it's not cheap) I would say DEFINITELY do this. It was worth every penny.

But just be aware that it could give away several secrets of the park that you might not want to know. ;)