Which tour should I sign up for? Ask The Disney Experts Discuss Which tour should I sign up for? in the Ask The Experts forums; About to book my second solo trip! I'd like to take one of the tours. Leaning toward Keys to the Kingdom. I'd like to know more about the Backstage Magic ...

[chriscut]

About to book my second solo trip! I'd like to take one of the tours. Leaning toward Keys to the Kingdom. I'd like to know more about the Backstage Magic Tour. Anyone been on this one?

[SnwhtNdwrfs]

I did Keys to the Kingdom and I really enjoyed it. I don't know anything about the Backstage Magic Tour. I like these things! They were pretty fun!

[Lmerch44]

We took the BackStage magic tour. Some parts were interesting..how we get fooled by the imagination of the builders..but then we found out more about the laundry service than I ever needed to know. Only saw a few things in Magic Kingdom (the tunnels and what's behind the park buildings) and The American Experience show workings in Epcot. Nothing of Animal Kingdom or Studios at all. Lunch at Whispering canyons was wonderful though. We sat with a former cast member and that was very telling. That wasn't part of the program though..just a coincidence.

[chriscut]

That's my fear with the backstage magic tour. They might focus too much on operational stuff like laundry service, food management, etc. versus really showing us cool stuff like backstage at the Haunted Mansion or something like that. I'd rather it be more of an entertaining experience rather than a class field trip.

[Lmerch44]

It was pretty neat to go down into the tunnels that are under MK. But the rest of it was a field trip. There is no way Disney is going to let out their secrets.

[ftg09]

You didn't mention the Backstage Safari (at Animal Kingdom) as one of your options, but my family and I did the tour and we absolutely loved it! We went in the elephant barn and stood like three feet away from a rhino at the rhino barn. We saw where they make the food for the animals and how that process works, and we also saw the animal hospital. It was really neat! We learned a lot of information that we never knew before about the animals, animal care, and the Animal Kingdom park in general. At the end, we were also given a "private" safari tour on Kilimanjaro Safari. Our tour guide pointed out little details (like how they encourage the animals to stay out in viewing areas) on the way. I haven't done any of the other tours, but I highly recommend this one. :0)

[disneycrazy1956]

I've done the keys to the kingdom tour and we really enjoyed it. I also went on the magic behind our steam trains tour and that was really fantastic. Early entry into the park, private ride on one of the trains, lots of back story and plenty of time backstage at the train barn. If you like trains or want to learn more about Walt's love of trains this is a great tour for you.

[CarinaBelle]

I agree. The Magic Behind the Train tour was cool. Those guys knew so much! You definitely have to be a train fan or do some research beforehand. Some of it was over my head, but my husband was thrilled. I got a lot of joy in learning about Walt's train collection. We lived in Scranton, PA at the time and everyone on the tour was so impressed when we mentioned we only lived 3 miles from Steamtown National Historic Site.

[disneycrazy1956]

I always wanted to go to Scranton to see that, but have just haven't gotten around to it. I too was alittle overwelmed with the technical part of the tour which makes want to do it again to pay closer attention to that part of the tour. I knew alot about the history of the trains from Michael Broggie's book and biographies of Walt, now I want to know more about the steam trains themselves.

[Veritas]

We've done both backstage magic and Keys tot eh Kingdom. of the two i prefer Keys to the Kingdom. it's MK centric, a bit ssorter and you spend more time at things. Back Stage Magic is good but you shuttle between MK and the florist , christmas warehouse, costuming department, backsatge at American Adventure and MGM and it is a bit tiring (and of course a few hours longer). Both get you into the utildors but with Keys you get into MK attarctions and the walking tour is very nice. I found Backstage to be a bit too long, but it does hit three parks.