AffordableDisney-Walt Disney World Tours

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Brian writes:

"Hi John,

Brilliant website!

Can I ask a quick question as you seem to know more about Disney than people I speak to on WDW TOUR.

I’m going to stay at Disney (Coronado Springs) on Nov 28 – Dec 6 and was going to do three tours (steam trains, keys to the kingdom and epcot segway).

Is there a way of getting to the start of these tours (ie Magic Kingdom & Epcot) for the early tours for people who don’t have there own transport? I’ve heard that you can start catching the Disney buses an hour before the park opens, but this is something the person I spoke to at Disney denied. Is there a way of (safely) walking?

Look forward to your response, keep up the great work!"

Buses start one hour before the parks open and end one hour after parks close. Check with guest services at your hotel for specific times.

Glad you are enjoying your membership!

Backstage Magic Quick Facts

The Backstage Magic tour offered through Disney Institute takes guests behind the scenes to discover onstage and backstage areas of Walt Disney World Resort. Accompanied by an expert guide, guests explore attractions and backstage operations in each of the four theme parks.

When do tours take place?
Monday through Friday, beginning at 9 a.m.

How long is the tour?
7 hours

How many people can participate?
20

Are there age restrictions?
Guests must 16 and older

What’s included in the tour price?
Magic Kingdom "tunnel" system
Entertainment Production Center (show rehearsal hall, parade staging area)
Central Shops (creation and refurbishment of “the show”)
The American Adventure stage system (Epcot)
Creative costuming, the world’s largest working wardrobe

Can I take pictures?
No photography or videotaping is permitted

What does it cost?
$224 per person includes lunch

How do guests register?
Call 407/WDW-TOUR (939-8687)
(Backstage Magic is very popular; guests are encouraged to book in advance) (Source: Press Release, 03/02/10)

Backstage Magic Fun Facts

Here are some interesting aspects of Walt Disney World Resort that guests will discover during the Backstage Magic tour offered by Disney Institute:

· Walt Disney World has the largest working wardrobe in the world with more than 2.5 million individual costume pieces and almost 8 miles of costume racks. Disney Creative Costuming has an inventory of more than 3,700 costume designs and uses more than 650,000 yards of fabric each year.

· Magic Kingdom is actually built on the “second floor.” The first floor is made up of approximately 9 acres of storage area and offices as well as a “utilidor” (utility corridor) for cast members. This Utilidor System is a tunnel more than a mile long.

· Many Audio-Animatronics figures, such as those featured in Hall of Presidents, wear human-hair wigs. Live performers wear synthetic hair wigs.

· Thirty-five Audio-Animatronics figures are featured in The American Adventure show, and the rear projection screen at the show is 28 feet high by 155 feet wide.

· Cinderella’s Golden Carousel was built in 1917 as the Liberty Carousel and ran for many decades in New Jersey before being acquired by the Walt Disney Company in 1967. The original horses are still used today.

· Central Shops is capable of building everything from trash cans to monorails. At 298,000 square feet, you could fit nine football fields inside the Central Shops building.

· The Hollywood Tower Hotel structure is 199 feet tall – making The Twilight Zone™ Tower of Terror one of the tallest attractions on site. Some 1,500 tons of steel and 145,800 cubic feet of concrete were used in the construction of the attraction.

· There are approximately 100 acres of browse plants grown for animals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Walt Disney World horticulture team plants more than 2 million annuals each year.

· Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened on Earth Day, April 22, 1998. At the center of the park is the Tree of Life, which is more than 140 feet tall and 170 feet wide at the base.

· Disney’s Wilderness Lodge was inspired by National Park Lodges, such as Old Faithful Inn (Yellowstone) and Ahwahnee Lodge (Yosemite). Massive pine logs for Disney’s Wilderness Lodge were harvested from standing dead wood at an elevation of 7,000 feet in Oregon and Montana. (Source: Press Release, 03/02/10)

Beth, our travel agent, writes about making special occasions even more special at Walt Disney World:

"In case you’ve been living in a cave for the last year or so, I want to make mention of the fact that Disney is REALLY making a big deal out of celebrations these days. You’ve probably seen the 'What Will You Celebrate?" commercials on TV and in magazines, but a lot of people don’t realize how far Disney will stretch the term 'celebration'" In fact, nearly everyone can think of something to celebrate that will qualify. Last weekend, our trip was officially celebrating the great report cards my daughter and her friend got. That counts!

When staying at a Disney-owned resort, you can do online check-in starting 10 days prior to arrival. You will be asked if you’re celebrating anything. Be sure to mention whatever it is - and then point it out every chance you get.

Wearing a special button makes that easy, and they’re available to everyone, not just Disney resort guests. While some of the hotel desks have them, the buttons are most easily available at the Guest Services window at the entrance to each park (or City Hall in the Magic Kingdom). Buttons include birthday, first visit, graduation, anniversary, family reunion, wedding, honeymoon, volunteer, honorary Disneyland citizen (D’land only), and a generic celebration. The buttons are free of charge, and cast members often go out of their way to do something nice when they see the buttons.

You can also go to www.disneyphotopass.com, upload a photo, and have t-shirts for your whole group made. Or try www.zazzle.com where you can pick your favorite character(s), add text (like, Jones Family Reunion) to a huge variety of shirts and sweatshirts. Perfect for a honeymoon couple, group, or even just a birthday boy/girl.

Surprise the guest of honor - or the whole gang - with a special cake or dessert by calling the cake hotline at 407-827-2253. Your order can be delivered to any Disney restaurant for a special after-meal surprise, or they can send it to your (Disney resort) room.

Speaking of rooms, how about decking it out with balloons, flowers, gifts and more? Visit www.disneyflorist.com to see all the amazing things they can provide.

Thinking of something bigger? More 'outside the box?'" Not a problem! If you can think it up, Disney can make it happen. For a price, of course, but if your group is large enough and you divide up the cost then sometimes it’s not as bad as you might think.

You can do those cool private dessert parties at Epcot during Illuminations for as little as $30 a person (minimum group size applies, park admission required). You can do private dinners in locations you didn’t even know exist, or book a VIP tour that gets your group front-of-the line at every attraction. About the only thing you can’t do is 'buy' your way into a night at the castle. Otherwise, think as big as you dare to, and then drop me a note and let me know what you have in mind. I’ll find out how to make it work and what it will cost." (Affordable Disney members should log in for Beth's contact info.)

Beth, our travel agent, writes about BACKSTAGE TOURS at Walt Disney World:

"Regular readers know that I attended a travel agent conference at Disney World recently. One of the coolest things they did for us was give us the opportunity to see some backstage areas that are off limits to regular guests. I did two of these tours.

The first was a tour that took us to Central Shops, located in a remote part of the property beyond the Magic Kingdom. This is where new things are created and existing things are refurbished. Anything broken or chipped gets sent here to be fixed up. We saw a flying elephant from the Dumbo attraction, a log from Splash Mountain, a few carousel horses, and a strange assortment of other items that you may or may not recognize when taken from their usual surroundings. Each gets lovingly restored to 'stage ready' status by Disney’s many craftsmen and artists.

When animatronics are ready to go on stage (meaning, into the park where they’ll be seen by guests) they must first pass numerous tests. There’s actually an area where these robot-like figures get turned on and left for DAYS at a time to be sure they’ll hold up. Central Shops also does some creating for other Disney theme parks, the Disney ships, and just about anything else they’re asked to tackle - from giant Christmas trees to miles of tracks to dozens of fiberglass magic carpets. We were there late in the afternoon and it was a little disappointing to not see all that many people working, but when the place is in full swing it must be almost surreal.

The other tour took us to three different places. The first was a warehouse (near Central Shops) where all the holiday decorations are stored. In this case, most of them were gone because the parks, resorts and ships were already nearly completely decorated. There was enough left to give us the idea, though. The aisles have big signs (like a grocery store) to tell you what’s stored there. Then the shelves are labeled so you know what goes into each section. Finally, the storage containers are carefully labeled with the contents. Many also have photos on the ends of the boxes to show what the décor looks like when done (which must be a HUGE help to those hanging the stuff). HINT: The caps of ornaments are hot-glued onto the ornament, and then they’re hung with wire so that they don’t fall off the tree, wreath, or garland. Smart, huh?!

One of the most interesting things was to see the Main Street Christmas tree in pieces. That baby is HUGE! Disney fans know that the annual parade you see on Christmas Day is actually taped over several days in early December. Regis and Kelly sit on the balcony at the train station so that the camera shot over their shoulders is of the length of Main Street with the castle in the background. Years ago, they assembled the tree near the castle, then after shooting they had to remove all the garland across Main Street and relocate the tree at the foot of Main Street where it belongs. That was a big job, though, so now the tree isn’t assembled until after shooting ends. As a result, we got to see the thing in pieces. Mickey’s elves were busy making new 'popcorn' for its giant strings of the stuff. Very fun to see!

Our next stop was the most fun… The utilidor system under the Magic Kingdom. We were restricted to the area right under Main Street, but that was OK. You know when you walk past that bakery and it always smells so good that you can’t resist? Well, that’s the plan. They actually have a machine under the street that pumps out the scent of fresh baked goods. Really!! And you know how the cast members are required to trade pins with you if you ask? Well, there’s a station down below where they take all those yucky pins you give them and trade them in for the good stuff, some of which you can ONLY get from cast members!

Here’s another fun tidbit… There are cast members who replace filled garbage cans with empty plastic containers, then take the full ones to stations at convenient locations throughout the Magic Kingdom. The trash is emptied into vacuum tubes which whisk it away to a central area for sorting (they recycle!) and disposal. Occasionally, they have to dump rocks into the system to clean all the gunk out of the tubes. Anyway, the whole 'underworld' of the Magic Kingdom is really fascinating.

Finally, we stopped at one of several laundry facilities. The one we saw handles towels and sheets. It’s truly an automated wonder. Parades of laundry bags hanging from ceiling tracks move around the room, dumping laundry that magically gets sorted and cleaned and folded before being loaded back onto special carts (called metros) and sent back to the resorts. Along the way, TV remotes and stuffed animals that got wrapped into the bedding are collected and (hopefully) redirected back to the appropriate places and people. Factoid: Housekeeping folks were griping about how hard moving the metros full of linens could be when you had to go uphill, around tight corners, etc. Disney Imagineers re-designed the metros to be somewhat self-propelled to make maneuvering them easier. The design was patented and is now in use all over the world.

In summary, I would highly recommend that anyone who is truly a lover of all things Disney try some of the backstage tours that are available. They can be arranged by calling 1-407-WDW-TOUR. Be aware that some tours require park admission and some have minimum age requirements. Also, some are rather lengthy, even including meals, so you can lose a bunch of time you’d otherwise maybe be spending in the parks. For those that have visited the parks many times, though, the tours can really provide a very unique perspective."