Disney World Backstage Magic Tour

This is an excellent tour for adults who have already visited Disney several times. We had the best tour guide. He was animated and funny. He really helped move the day along. My favorite stops were the costume shop and the engineering areas. I also enjoyed the backstage view of The American Adventure Show.

This was pretty kool but I’m not a fan of this I mean I think of Disney I imagine all the characters walking on the streets and talking pics! But now they make you get a fast pass or wait online for 40mins so stupid a.
Anyways it’s a kool thing they give you personal attention take many pictures and take their time so that’s petty kool

Avoid at all costs!!! I’m a big Walt DisneyWorld fan. I go down every year and I’m always looking for something to do and the backstage tour seemed right up me and my family’s ally. too this tour 10÷25÷14… what a bore and rip off of $ 249 PP. I will never get back 7hrs of my vacation thanks to this tour…
The Good… both tour guides were great. Very informative, loads of Disney knowledge.
Lunch at Whispering Canyons was a pleasant surprise. (Disney food is a crap shoot). Family style food of Ribs, Chicken, corn, mash potatoes. etc and as much of it as you can eat… lol
Tour of the tunnels a Magic Kingdom was interesting for the first 15 – 20 mins…
Tour of the back area where the construct, fix, create things for the MK… It was interesting to me…
Just going to give the short of it…
The Bad… Everything else.
Most of your day is on a bus going from park to park…
Epcot… I’m a big fan of the American Heritage attraction. So part of the BSMT was a tour of AH. They start the tour here and give you info of the attraction which any real MK fan knows already. Now we head to the meat and potatoes of this attraction, behind the scenes. The animatronics themselves… Yes… They take us to the back and show you very little because its so dark back there. The guide has to shine a flashlight for you to really see anything thing… What a disappointment. Thats when I knew this tour was going be a let down…
Disney Gardens…
Not bad, but again, nothing to go and write home about… So far I wish I was at typhoon lagoon.
Animal Kingdom…
What a complete waste of time… They take us in the back way. You see no animals, only there pen areas… wow!!!
We get into the park and meet up with one of the zoo handles. He proceeds to tell us about his career and what a great place it is to work there… THATS IT!!!
and we leave… We get to see non of the animals or attractions.
Now I’m thinking I should have spent $ 139 pp and went to Universal Studios and saw all the Harry Potter Attractions!!!
Hollywood Studios…
Again, they take you in the back via bus and give you a load of Disney info…
First stop… Costumes dept… Somewhat interesting for the first 10 min. You get off the bus and go inside the dept… You see nothing with the wow factor…
Get back on the bus and goto Tower of Terror… I finally thought, yes… Something interesting!!! Nope, I was wrong. They took you in the back and showed us one of the elevator cars that was under repair… Thats was it… They added some Disney info, but that was it!!!
No offers of riding it, nothing !!!
Now off to lunch… Like I said in the good part… Excellent food…
Off to the Magic Kingdom were all dreams come true… boring!!!
We get in there and take us up towards main street and make a left towards First Aid, thats how we enter the back. Some what interesting. Now comes the moment we’re all waiting for, the Utilidors!!! We head on down, so excited. This is what I read about and saw youtube clips about. YES… Noooooooooooooo…
As fast as the excitement came, is how fast it went. Don’t get me wrong, very interesting until our guide starts pointing to pictures and giving us a history lesson on those pics… You walk along some more and stop and look at more pics and another history lesson…
At this point I’m looking to get the hell out and hit space mountain… However, I’m going to tough the rest of the tour out… We get out of the Utilidors and head down main street. To my surprise we are going to see the 3pm Parade… WTF!!! A parade I’ve seen 3 times already…
I just want to shoot myself… What a waste of time and money.
Again, me and the family was going to disappear but I wanted the pin at the end. We head back to Epcot get off the bus and get out pin…
Again, I beg you to save your money on this tour… Go to the Dolphins in depth or even the keys to the magic kingdom… Stay away from this tours!!!

For someone who has done Disney numerous times and wants a new experience, this is it. The tour is especially good for the inquisitive person. Our tour was given by cast members (employees) of the Disney Institute. Shout out to Monica and Stu! These are the people who act as ambassadors for the «Disney Way» of doing things for corporate team building visits. They are enthusiastic (either that or darn good actors) about Disney and are very knowledgeable about pretty much all things pertaining to the house that the mouse built. Ever wondered about the supposed tunnels under the Magic Kingdom? You will find out on this tour. Ever wanted to see how Disney maintains all the attractions? This tour is for you. From costumes, landscaping, trash collection, trading pins, parades, transportation, maintenance, entertainment, if you can think of it, this tour will do everything short of giving out proprietary information to answer your questions. The tour is pretty much all day with lunch provided. If you are a picture buff, this tour is not for you. As Stu put it, you are only allowed to take pictures if you see babies in strollers. Every thing is referred to being onstage or backstage. Taking pictures backstage was strictly prohibited except for the Disney tree farm and nursery. Seeing the Animal Kingdom parade in its storage house was really neat. The tour is pricey. This experience is for the person who has done pretty much all that Disney has to offer as a guest (if that is possible). You have to be sixteen to attend so it’s a nice adult only day on the properties.
Now here is some very minor downsides to the tour. One. Disney World resort is so expansive that Disney could easily make this an 8 hour 5 day tour. They have tried their best to give a broad overview that is entertaining but does not wear you out. For someone like me that wants to know all the nuts and bolts of very specific aspects of how Disney works, you will walk away at times wanting more. Two. As I said earlier, the tour is pricey even with lunch thrown in. When it ends around three in the afternoon, I wanted to go straight into Epcot or Magic Kingdom and look for some of the things I learned about. It would be nice if they gave you a complimentary admission into one of the parks that would not burn a day off of the tickets you probably already own for the time you are going to be on the properties. Three. I really wanted to spend more time in the mothership park Magic Kingdom, but each of the four parks is given fairly even time. Four. The meal was at the Wilderness Lodge. It was a good meal, but serving heavy setting wet ribs is not a very good choice for a tour that involved a lot of walking and standing. It was fairly cool in October, but eating a meal of ribs in the summer would have been miserable. Finally, you really don’t know the agenda for the day until you get there. From what Monica told me, Disney tries to change up the tour from time to time, but since it is pretty pricey, I don’t know if I would roll the dice and risk taking the same tour again. There is so much to see I would want a new experience. Again, these are minor downsides and are only ways Disney could enhance the experience. Don’t let this list of five insignificant quirks change your mind. The tour is worth it.
This is a really good time and a break from the normal Disney experience. Give it a try.