DL 50th Tour vs Walk in Walt's

[SharonS]

I am thinking of taking the new 50th tour, but would like to hear from some folks who have taken it. I know that you go on some attractions, and receive special seating to the fireworks if you take the last tour of the day. Questions: Where is the special seating? Is there a lot of information given, or is the tour basically walk around and get on the attractions?

I did the Walk in Walt's tour a few years ago, and am also considering doing it again. Opinions on the 2 tours are welcome.

 

[FanOfStitch]

The seating for the fireworks is on the platform in front of the train station. Our tour guide was new, although the tour was good, I think with an experienced tour guide you might get more info that we did.

 

[luvalldisney]

We just returned from DL and did both of those tours on different days. There were 4 of us (dm 78 in wheel chair; dd 81 in wheel chair; myself 50+ pushing one chair; ddaughter 26 pushing other chair) I booked the tours because I felt it was one way to see the parks with my parents and allowing us to go on some rides without them feeling bad about waiting. Both of the tours were great!!!!! We did the 50th tour as the last one of the day and saw the fireworks from the top of the train station. Parents had to walk up the steps but the chairs were picked up and placed up top for them, When it was over the chairs were carried down for them! The fireworks were made to be viewed from the top of the train station and we were impressed! (which is hard to do since we are all wdw-aholics and go at least once a month just to go to dinner or fireworks especially at epcot). (a snack is also included in the 50th tour which we did not know about, it was served when we got to the top of the train station) The walk in walt's tour and the 50th tour were very different, we chose a late tour for walk in walt's so we had our lunch at 6pm. (it was a lovely dinner!!!) I also paid for the vip seating with desert for fantasmic for another night.
First of all we were there when it was very crowded. With 2 in wheelchairs it is hard to get around in crowds. By doing the tours we saw so much and it therefore paid for itself. We still had plenty of time to see things on our own, but it forced my parents to see things and not say "oh, leave me here and come back for me its too crowded". Since we are from FL and it was my parents first trip to DL since opening year in 1955, I wanted them to experience DL and enjoy it. They raved about each of the tours. Only one story was repeated between the 2 different tours. Since it was so crowded I believe we would not have seen as much of DL without the tours. 50th tour included a picture of the group and headphones to hear everything that was said by the tour guide. Unfortunately, walk in walt's did not include the headphones and we could have used them because of the crowds and noise. We would not have been able to see fantasmic without the desert vip seating as the night we planned for it we were barely able to push the chairs through anywhere 2 hours ahead of time as people staked out their places to see fanstasmic. I am so glad I booked the tours as it made a difference for a wonderful trip. We also stayed in Paradise Pier Hotel with a CA view for the 3 nights and that was a great experience in itself!!! If you can afford the tours and vip for fantasmic do it, for us it was worth every penny.

 

[dcfromva]

(a snack is also included in the 50th tour which we did not know about, it was served when we got to the top of the train station)

I was wondering what did they serve for the snack? Was it a dessert type snack?

-DC

 

[FanOfStitch]

For the tour we had, it was an apple with grumpy and dopey on it, a large cookie, a bag of potato chips and a small bottle of water.

 

[dcfromva]

Thanks for the info.

-DC

 

[luvalldisney]

The snack for the 50th tour was an apple with dopey and grumpy printed on it; a giant cc cookie; bag of chips and a bottle of water. The lunch for the walk in walt's tour was a crossiant sandwich with fruit, drink and cheese cake for desert. Also after we returned we recieved a nice letter and a pin for taking the 50th tour, that was an unexpected surprise!

 

[Califgirl]

We took the 50th tour and really enjoyed it. Our guide was great and we got a lot of Disney history and trivia, along with going on the different attractions.
The attractions are:
Pirates of C
Splash Mtn
Thunder Mtn
Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters
(Story book Canal if time, light, parades, don't interfere)

Some of the tours only get to 3 of the attractions, to make time for the parade or fireworks. It might depend on your guide to see if you can get more in.

We really enjoyed this tour and I can see where it would be a godsend to be able to take it on a busy summer day when all the attractions are crowded!

Enjoy life and great vacations!
Chris

 

[FanOfStitch]

The snack for the 50th tour was an apple with dopey and grumpy printed on it; a giant cc cookie; bag of chips and a bottle of water. The lunch for the walk in walt's tour was a crossiant sandwich with fruit, drink and cheese cake for desert. Also after we returned we recieved a nice letter and a pin for taking the 50th tour, that was an unexpected surprise!

When did you take your tour? I completly forgot that they were supposed to mail us the extra items. It's been almost a month and we still haven't received them. TIA!!

 

[Califgirl]

It took about 6 weeks for us to get our packet of goodies from the 50th tour. Don't despair, it will eventually get to you!

Enjoy life and great vacations!
Chris

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

My Mom and I visited Disneyland for the very first time May 28 - June 1 (we had just come off the 14 Day Disney Magic Repositioning cruise) and we took both tours. We did the Walt In Walt's Footsteps Tour on May 29th and we loved it. I am a Disney nut and we had Dave as our tour guide. He was fantastic and was full of information and if someone asked a question that he didn't know the answer...he had the answer by the end of our tour. We had about 18 people on the Walt's tour (which I believe is more than the norm) but it was okay. Our 50th Anniversary tour was very different. We booked the 10 am tour on May 31 and our tour consisted of my Mom, myself and Golda, our tour guide, yes, we had our very own VIP tour. I loved this tour...because we had such a limited time at Disneyland we wanted to see and learn as much as we could. We were able to go on the attractions with little or no wait. What I did like, was that Golda (our tour guide) was able to gear the tour to our likes and dislikes...when she found out I was a Disney nut she would ask me trivia questions as we walked to the different attractions and when she found out that we didn't really like Splash Mountain, she was able to change it to the Haunted Mansion. The attractions we rode were Storybook Land Canal boats (in our our boat), Pirates of the Caribbean (front seat), Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. At our refreshment break (after Pirates) our apples had Snow White on them. It was really fun to have our very own VIP tour...we felt like celebrities and could hear people saying "who are they?" as they saw us walk by with Golda.

I would highly recommend both of these tours, if you are able to schedule them both. We had booked the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour in advance but were able to book the 50th Tour when we went to take the Walt's Tour.

 

[Whiskers]

Is the 50th tour described on the Disney website? I can't seem to find it when I look under the tours section. They had four listed:
Discover the Magic
VIP Tour Services
Welcome to DL
Walk in Walts Footsteps
Is it one of these? Does it have an "official" name that I could search for? It sounds so great from all of your descriptions!

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

Whiskers....

I found out about the tour while we were on the May Repositioning Disney Cruise...some of the people we met onboard the ship were from the Disneyland area and they told me to take the 50th Anniversary Tour if we were able. I know I asked for a brochure or something on the tour and I was told there wasn't one but they told me the summary of the tour was a look at each of the 5 decades of Disneyland. I think it was $55/pp.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Here is info on the 50th anniversary tour:

Disneyland's Imagination to Celebration 50th Anniversary Tour

 

[Whiskers]

Thanks so much for the help!