Keys to the Kingdom

[kristielee]

DH and I are heading down alone for a long weekend in OCT. I would like to consieder doing the Keys tour. Anyone have any feedback? Hubby lacks my Disney enthusiasm, but for 4 hours he'll put up with it.

 

[jordgubben]

Keys to the Kingdom is a great tour. We did it on our honeymoon and it started out obsession as we are now going 4 more tours on our next trip.

Even if your hubby is not a Disney fanatic he's bound to be impressed when he starts learning about all the little details that are often missed and if that doesn't get him he'll probably get a kick of out going behind the scenes to see with how they deal with garbage.

I highly recommend the tour. The four hours goes quick (and he does get to eat in that time frame too) so he's "suffering" should be at a minimum.

 

[stink]

I am going on Keys of the Kingdom in December. I have several questions. Do you ride any of the rides as part of the tour ? My understanding is that it is walking, walking and more walking with little respite. Was that your experience ? How and where was the lunch ? It is always great to hear from those who have gone before you !

 

[Eeyore1954]

Originally posted by stink
I am going on Keys of the Kingdom in December. I have several questions. Do you ride any of the rides as part of the tour ? My understanding is that it is walking, walking and more walking with little respite. Was that your experience ? How and where was the lunch ? It is always great to hear from those who have gone before you !

KTTK tour is great, especially if you get a terrific CM/tour guide. It is absolutely amazing how much you learn about the intricate details that create the magic all around you.

We rode several rides, including Haunted Mansion & POTC. You get in line with everyone else, but the tour guide tells you a lot of background and a few "secrets" to look for in the ride.

There is a LOT of walking, so be prepared. You get a break for lunch and there are breaks for the rides. It's not much worse than a normal day at MK, but our tour guide was a fairly fast walker. I'm not and she soon realized I was having some trouble keeping up. She eventually slowed down a little.

What was terrific is she found out I was a Hidden Mickey nut, so as we toured she helped me find an amazing number of them -- some I would have never, ever seen without her coaching.

We did lunch at Pecos Bills, but I think you can do it anywhere. We were just right at PB's when we "broke" for lunch. We just beat the "rush", so my DW and I had a few extra minutes to sit and rest our feet.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this tour. Seeing the Utilidoors and the "underground" of MK was the most amazing thing. Second on the amazing list was going backstage to see how the parades are set up and the floats managed. I could do this tour over and over and over and never get tired of it.

 

[stink]

Great info !! I'm so exited. I can't wait for December to arrive.

 

[jordgubben]

There must be different variations on the tour. We rode Jungle Cruise and Hunted Mansion. We got to by pass the line for both for the most part (at Haunted Mansion we merged into a stretching room, at Jungle Cruise we just had to wait for the next boat). For HM she told us what to look for before hand and then we met back up afterwards. For Jungle Cruise, the tour guide captained the boat and told us all the behind the scenes stuff.

We had lunch as the Columbia Harbor House (which was actually quite good - You chose what you want to eat from a menu before you start the tour) as a group. Our tour guide answered questions while we ate. This is also when we received our pins.

There was a fair amount of walking, no questioning that. Our tour guide did stop in certain places though when she wanted to tell us things. Generally we stopped in places we could sit or lean.

For more tour reviews I would go to www.wdwig.com/tours. Reading the reviews there was what got me interested in the first place.

 

[Margie J]

I took this tour a couple years ago after a friend recommended it. It was wonderful.

We started out at City Hall and then walked down Main Street. The CM pointed out details and trivia regarding the area. We also saw the "underground" of the MK, which is the command center of the entire Park. The CM took us to see the parade staging area and on a couple rides via special entrances.

Another tour I took was one of Epcot World Showcase. We started off at 9am, before the area was open to the Public. The CM stopped at each Country and pointed out details regarding each one. We also went "backstage" behind Canada, France and Norway. After that tour I have a new appreciation of the detail that went into that Park.

 

[barbeml]

Thanks everyone for the info! DH and I are doing Keys for the first time in November and we can't wait!

 

[kc03]

Thanks for all the great comments. My DH and I were thinking of doing this tour and now my mind is made up about doing it. We go down in Dec. What do you think is the best time of day to do the tour?

 

[barbeml]

kc03--I think they are all morning tours. Our Dreams Unlimited Agent booked for us and our choices were all AM start times. Unless it was an availability thing. You also need photo ID.

 

[kc03]

Barbem - thanks for the info. I'll have to call and book it. We're going down in Dec. and just can't wait. I've been told that this tour is so fantastic - it's one not to miss. Have a wonderful Disney time!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I was actually surprised that I wasn't tired after the Keys tour- I thought four hours of walking around would wear me out, but it wasnt bad at all! We stopped a LOT for the guide to talk about things- usually somewhere nice and shady. Throw in a lunch break, two bathroom breaks, and two rides, and it cuts out the time you're walking around a lot!

Hopefully learning a little bit more about what makes WDW tick will help your DH enjoy Disney more! I think it would be hard to take this tour and NOT come out impressed!

 

[PieInYourEye]

Loved the tour. I went solo and met people from all over the world. Loved being in the park BEFORE it opened.

I collect pins, so I hated that our group didn't get a pin.

 

[merrywether]

DH and I were able to think of tons of questions to ask the tour guide BEFORE we arrived in WDW. Once we got there, we completely forgot all we wanted to ask!!! So my advice would be to write down some questions if your memory is as bad as mine! There's not much they won't answer!

 

[Scoobmuzic]

DB and I have done this tour twice, a few years apart and it was great both times. I think the rides you go on are different because as the CM told us, they get to pick and it's usualy the CM's favorite or the one they know the most about.
I recomend this tour to anyone who wants to know that little extra something about WDW.

For all you EPCOT fans, the Undiscovered Future World tour is AWSOME!! Just as great as Keys!

I totaly agree with merrywether about writing down anything you might want to ask, the same thing happened to me. They are giving you so much interesting info that you tend to forget what you wanted to know or if you are like me, I seem to be having more and more BLONDE moments lately, Don't know why.
What was I saying??? oh right, Keys to the Kingdom, We got a pin on the last tour we did in 2001 and a pin from the EPCOT tour last year. We will probably do that one again next year.

 

[bobbiwoz]

My family, ages 24 to 81, did the Keys to the Kingdom tour in Nov. 2001. Regina was our CM and she was wonderful. We ate at the Columbia Harbour House, upstairs, and our group had the place to ourselves. Regina gave us interesting insights into being a Disney employee. The Haunted Mansion was the featured ride, and for me the most interesting aspect of the tour was going to where the floats were kept and seeing them up close, and learning how they worked. Second most interesting was the dressing room for CM. Our tour was in the afternoon, we ate around 4:30, and it was dark when we finished.

Some felt the tour was too long, but we didn't all agree on what should be left out. I enjoyed it and will go on another behind the scene tour in the future.

It's something to look forward to!

 

[travelbug]

Thanks, everyone, for the reviews. I booked the Keys tour for Dec. 27, and it sounds like I'll really enjoy it.

 

[jenelope]

Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency! I don't know what it is, but every time I think of the Keys to the Kingdom tour, I feel the need to shout that.

I went as a solo in May this year, and my visit was the same as jordgubben's- Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Columbia Harbour House for lunch. Since I was by myself, they seated me with a nice couple from Chicago. There was coffee available before the tour, and we all received a bottle of water before we set off.

I didn't feel nearly as tired as I thought that I would after all of the walking, but it's really not that much more walking than I'd be doing at WDW, anyway. The only tricky part for me was the stairs that we took a few times. I have bad knees that like to give out at the worst possible times, so going down stairs is always a leap of faith for me. It was worth it just to see all of the sights backstage- the insides of floats, cast member payday, the big, roaring dumpster. I'd go on, but it would be a breach of the honorary cast member oath.

There was an e-night that night, so I rode on HM about five times to get a better look at what we discussed on the tour. The entry that the tour took on the HM is also used as the disabled access. I think I was the only person on the tour who'd seen it before.

 

[DMRick]

You get in line with everyone else, but the tour guide tells you a lot of background and a few "secrets" to look for in the ride.

We had Regina as our tour guide and we skipped the lines. We rode the Hunted Castle, Pirates and the Jungle Cruise, and as others said, learned lots of secrets. It was the highlight of our trip in April. The time flew. They gave me a couple of waters to drink and hubby had his fill of coffee while waiting to start.

 

[MELSMICE]

Do you need to book these tours in advance? DH & I will be there in 4 days without kids & he's always wanted to do one of these. I didn't even think about it until I read this thread. We always said we would wait until the kids were older & could do it together.

Who do I call to book it if I was able to at this late date?