My family and I have been planning to do a tour at Walt Disney World for a couple years now and finally booked the Keys to the Kingdom Tour in Magic Kingdom. This tour takes you through some of the classic attractions with a group guide sharing the history and fun facts about them. The tour takes you on 2 rides; Jungle Cruise and The Haunted Mansion. On the Jungle Cruise instead of having the normal skipper telling you corny jokes your tour guide tells you more about the history of the ride. In addition to the rides you walk backstage to the parade line up and storage areas, eat an included lunch at the Columbia Harbour House, and even go under the park to the Utilidors. Backstage and underground are no photography areas, no matter how much we would all love to take some pictures! The neatest thing about being backstage is the chance of seeing cast members working on exclusive material, on my tour we managed to catch a glimpse of a dance practice for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party Parade!
This tour is named not for the facts of the park but for the four "Keys" that all of Disney is run by; Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency, in order of importance. Safety is always most important and everything from the color of the sidewalk to crowd control are covered. Courtesy is the guests comfort and everyone visiting the park is treated with a great amount of respect. Show was Walt's understanding that people come to his parks to get away from the real world and this live stage is kept up to the best possibilities of all the cast members. Efficiency is last, which is something I'm grateful for in Florida as one of the most inefficient things done is blasting AC with doors open! While some things seem impractical to most it is usually done to keep to the other 3 Keys. That being said, Disney is also very proactive in being environmentally friendly, they have their own power plant, recycling facility, and if you've ever seen the holiday lights covering the castle they are run with the same power it would take to run only 1 standard refrigerator!
Overall this tour was fabulous for either a Disney know-it-all or a beginner wanting to know more about the magic behind it all. I highly recommend going on the tour if you get the chance!
Some neat trivia from my tour:
~Oswald the lucky rabbit, Walt Disney's first animated creation was taken from him by Universal. Nearly 80 years later Disney traded rights with Universal, Al Michaels for Oswald. Yes that is right, a real person for an animated character!
~Steamboat Willie is not Mickey Mouse's first appearance in film. There were 2 other shorts made before it, but were not released on a national scale until later.
~On Main Street U.S.A. there is only 1 American flag, located at the central flag pole in Town Square, the rest only have 49 stars.
~The only building on Main Street that is truly 3 stories tall is the Kodak Theater. The rest are built with a "forced perspective" where every level is made smaller so that by the 3rd floor everything is half sized.
~Main Street is modeled after Walt's hometown
~Cinderella Castle is made out of fiberglass and there is no actual bricks in it
~The river around the center of the park is also connected to the Jungle Cruise ride and used to have a swan boat ride
~The drop in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride is because the Railroad is right above it
~The bridge leading to Tomorrowland is larger than the one leading to Adventureland as the majority of visitors are right handed and have a natural tendency to go right
~You can tell which land you are in depending on the music you hear and the buildings or landscaping of the area.
~Backstage buildings are painted in "Go Away Green" so that any wandering eyes would not be able to discern its presence
~Magic Kingdom is the only park with the underground tunnels for cast members
Have a Magical Day!
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