behind the scenes tours

[tiggerguy]

I thought about taking some more tours when I go in September... I enjoyed the Backstage Magic tour when I did it a few years ago and thought of doing it again... althoiugh I've heard access to many areas like Central Shops have now been taken off the tour. Is that true?

May try a DAK tour this time... would like to see some backstage areas, but I'm honestly less concerned with seeing the animal sleeping and care areas, etc. than the history, architecture and (of course) secrets and trivia

Then you would want to do the on stage tour of the AK. Deb Wills has a description and a report on her web site from when she did it. The back stage tour was quite interesting when I took it, but there seemed to be a lot of back tracking from area to area.

[disneybuff100]

Can someone tell me about how the backstage of Fantasmic! looks like? I need to know!

[turtleclanscott]

I did the Keys to the Kingdom tour many years ago and really enjoyed it! Especially seeing the SpectroMagic floats in their daytime home. (This was before MSEP came back.) Ironically, I didn't see Spectro at night until its return. It was rained out that evening and when we came back, MSEP was showing.

My wife and I did the Undiscovered Future World tour when it was relatively new and had a great time. I'm sorry to hear they stopped letting you into the Energy ride area. That was a highlight of the tour! (Although we didn't get to see the Body Wars cabs operating.)

A friend and I did the Steam Train tour, and thought that was neat, too.

I would really like to take the Backstage Magic Tour sometime.

[iamdaisyduck]

If I could only have time for one tour, which should I choose? I love all the backstage stuff!

[Sam I Am]

If you have time for Backstage Magic, I'd do it. Otherwise, I'd head for Keys to the Kingdom (or the Steam Train tour if you like (or love, as I do) trains)..

[disneydame2004]

I second Sam's choices: Backstage Magic is a full (8 hour) day, but it covers 3 parks (MK, Epcot & MGM). Keys to the Kingdom is 4 1/2 hours of MK only, but it is packed with info and fun. I haven't personally done Backstage Magic yet, but it's on my 'must-do' list! I did take KttK and it was great.

A nice touch on KttK is that you get to wear earphones that let you hear the guide no matter how crowded it is around you, and when you ride an attraction in separate cars (i.e. Haunted Mansion), the guide can 'whisper secrets in your ear' as you go. The Epcot tours (I've taken Gardens of the World and UnDiscovered Future World) did not use these earphones, but most of the time Epcot isn't so crowded that we would have needed them.

[Lou Mongello]

I took Keys a couple of years ago, although they did not have the headphones. Whie lI enjoyed the tour, the Guide was not as good as ones I've had on the Backstage Magic, etc., which adversely affected my opinion of the tour as a whole.

[crashbunny]

well no more headphones on Keys to the kingdom- It was a good tour

dont try the behind the scene of Future World tour - it went to old VIP rooms and didnt really do anything behind any of the rides in future world- much different than it was described - not worth the money.

out of the 2 that we did the Keys to the Kingdom was the best- we had fun on that one - got lots done in 4 hours and we had a fun group to tour with.

the facts between the tours were not consistent - that really bothered me - several points mentioned on one tour were different on the other

the tour guide at EPCOT said that the marker that we discussed here was not the center of WDW - that was a myth- what's up with that?

anyway one was good, the other was very dissappointing

[wdw4us2]

I agree with Lou, Backstage Magic is the best. I did mine in '99 and had a great guide who really knew WDW inside and out.

I've also done KTTK, which I recommend for WDW beginners. As a family, we've done the MK Scavenger Hunt which was a lot of fun so long as you don't mind looking foolish in front of total strangers. We also did the Sunrise Safari at AK. That was great, especially if you're into the animals. I can't go on Killimanjaro Safari anymore because it's just not the same as seeing the animals first thing in the morning.

The breakfast after SS is also great!