On our recent 25th anniversary trip to Walt Disney World, Banshee and I checked off one of our biggest WDW bucket list items: the Keys to the Kingdom tour. In this article, we will give both a “spoiler free” and “spoiler-y” review of the tour itself.
TL;DR: Our overall conclusion is that this is a great tour for any seasoned WDW veteran who wants to get more insight into the Magic Kingdom.
Things to Know Before You Go
What is it? Keys to the Kingdom is a five-hour walking tour through the Magic Kingdom where you learn more about the history, lore, and operations of the park.
When is it? Daily, with tour start times ranging from 8am to 9:30am
How much is it? Between $129 and $149 per person plus tax. Exact pricing depends upon the day. Discounts are offered for Annual Passholders, DVC Members, and Disney Visa Cardmembers. Note that park admission is NOT included in the cost, so you will to purchase your ticket separately (and make a park reservation if your ticket requires them)
Is this a private tour? No, you will be in a group of up to 20 people
What is the cancellation policy? There is a one day cancellation policy
Is lunch included? Yes, quick service lunch is included, as well as a water bottle
When can I book? You can book up to 60 days in advance, starting at midnight. Disney resort guests can book starting 60 days from their check-in date if the tour falls within the duration of their trip. This is a popular experience, so you should book as early as possible.
Is it wheelchair accessible? Yes, guests may remain in their wheelchair/ECV for the duration of the tour. However, in order to experience some of the rides, you may need to be able to transfer.
Is there anything else that I should know? Cameras, cell phones, and video equipment are not allowed to be used on the tour. However, in practice, if you want to take a picture of something that isn’t in a restricted area, your guide may let you if you ask them permission.
And now… on to the review!
SPOILER FREE REVIEW
Planning
When Banshee and I were planning our anniversary, adults-only trip, this was one of the top things that we knew we wanted to do. We knew that Little Banshee likely wouldn’t enjoy it, so this might be one of our few opportunities to experience it.
We booked the earliest tour available (8am) since we wanted to be done in the early afternoon. That way, we would have time to relax before our anniversary dinner later that day. Yes, it likely meant an early wakeup call, but that’s what afternoon naps are for. We also liked the idea of getting some photos of Main Street in the early morning hours before it became a logjam of people!
Since we knew that this is a popular tour, I booked it right went our booking window opened (60 days before check-in day at midnight). Since this is an Enchanting Extra, you can book it at midnight when your window opens. This is different from dining reservations, where the booking window opens at 6am. Keep this in mind when you are planning your trip, as it often catches people by surprise.
I booked it right at midnight and had no problem securing the reservation. However, I did notice the next day that reservations were gone!
Getting to the Park
Disney recommends allowing up to 1.5 hours to travel to your destination, and that is good advice. On the day of our tour, the park opened at 7:30am for resort guests (early entry) and 8am for everyone. Therefore, we knew that we’d have to contend with the “rope drop” crowd.
Since we were staying at a monorail resort, the logistics were a little easier. However, I was concerned that the wait just to get onto the monorail might be long. Therefore, we allowed for some extra time. We decided that we wanted to be at the monorail station in the 6:30am – 6:45am time window. That, of course meant a really early wakeup call!
When we left the room, I expected the worst. I expected the line to get onto the monorail would be backed up. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we were among the first to arrive at the station. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom monorail station at around 6:50am. In fact, we were there so early that they hadn’t even started letting guests into the park (usually, the gates open around 30-45 minutes before early entry so that people could start to filter onto Main Street). There were already about a few hundred people waiting at the entry, so we got in line and waited too. At 7am they started letting people in, and by around 7:10am we were on Main Street!
We used this time to take some pictures (although Main Street wasn’t quite as empty as it had been in my dreams), get some coffee, browse the shops, use the bathroom. Then at around 7:30am or so, we headed over to the tour check-in.
Check-In
Check-in is located in the lobby of Tony’s Town Square Restaurant. The check-in starts at around 7:45am. Disney recommends checking in 15 minutes before the start of your tour, which makes sense, since the tour leaves exactly at the start time.
When you check in, they give you name tag, wireless headset, and a water bottle. They also take your lunch order. That way, when you arrive at your restaurant, your food is waiting for you! They usually vary lunch between Pecos Bill’s and Columbia Harbor House. On this day, Columbia Harbor House was our lunch destination, which honestly, we both prefer!
While you are waiting for your tour to start, there is a cool Photopass opportunity with the Keys to the Kingdom prop (literally an oversized key). Definitely take advantage of it while you are waiting!
Tour
Introduction
At the appointed time, your tour guide assembles the group and goes through the logistics, ground rules, and expectations. The first order of business is getting everyone’s headset setup. The guide has a small mic that transmits to everyone’s headset. This allows everyone to hear what the guide is saying without any issues. Given that you are in an operating theme park, it would have been impossible to hear without it!
Then, the guide gives you a quick overview of the day. The biggest question that was on people’s minds was whether there would be bathroom breaks. Minor spoiler…. bathroom breaks are built into the tour!
The other topic that came up was cell phone usage. While the rules state the cell phones aren’t allowed at all, she said that if there is something that you want to take a picture of, ask her and she will allow it if it isn’t something that is restricted. Others asked about using the phone occasionally for Genie+. Again, she said that was okay if you inform her ahead of time AND it isn’t a frequent occurrence.
The Tour Itself
Since this is the spoiler free description, I won’t go into a lot of details. However, the focus was generally on three items:
- The history of Walt Disney World with a specific focus on the Magic Kingdom
- Little known, overlooked details about the design of the park
- Behind the scenes of how the park operates
Our tour guide, Darlene, was absolutely amazing. She has been working for WDW for decades. Her father was an Imagineer, so she actually got to meet and interact with Walt himself when she was a child. Her stories and insights alone were worth the price of the tour. Because she has been working at WDW since literally the beginning of the park, there wasn’t anything that she did not know.. there wasn’t any person that she did not know. She was the perfect ambassador for the park.
Of course, there are many different tour guides, so not everyone is going to get her. I would imagine that each tour guide puts their unique spin on the content of the tour, based upon their own experiences at WDW. While we have only taken the tour this one time, it would be interesting to take it again with a different guide to get their perspectives.
Because a lot of what you learn is “behind the scenes” stuff, you would think that it might take away from the magic of the park. However, at least for us, it had the opposite effect. It actually enhanced our sense of wonder and appreciation for what Walt and Roy built!
The tour itself was well paced. There was never a point in the tour where I felt bored, which is quite an achievement for such a long tour. Our guide kept things moving, kept things interesting. It was a mix of “stop and point” type touring (“look kids, Ben Ben”), stories, and experiences, so that variety helped keep everyone engaged.
The lunch break was perfectly timed in the middle of the tour. It gave everyone a chance to get off our feet and relax. They roped off a VIP area for us to eat in. They had our food waiting for us, complete with nameplates, and (very minor spoiler), a special commemorative pin for us to keep as a memento of the tour.
Some Tips
Here is some other tips which will help you to get the most out of the experience.
Ask Questions! Some of the most interesting stories came out when people asked questions. They are recommended and encouraged!
Wear Comfortable Shoes/Clothes! You are going to be in the theme park, walking around in the elements for five hours. So you need to make sure that you are comfortable. On the day we went, it was cool in the early morning, but then got warmer as the day went on. Therefore, we made sure to dress in layers so that we could adjust to the changing conditions.
Drink Water! Even the tour guide reminded us of this. They do give you one complimentary bottle of water, but feel free to bring some additional bottles if it going to be a hot day.
Be Respectful of the Rules! The “no cell phone” rules is there for two reasons. First, you will be in some restricted areas where pictures are not allowed. Second, your focus should be on the tour and not your phone. However, the tour guide was very accommodating if you needed to pull out your phone for a legitimate reason. All they ask is that you let them know first. They have a job to do, so please make their job as easy as possible.
Spoiler Free Wrap Up
The ultimate question is whether this tour is worthwhile. I would say “yes” if you meet the following criteria:
- You are a Disney Parks fan
- You want to know about the “behind the scenes” details of the history, design, and operation of the park
- You aren’t worried that knowing these details will “ruin the magic” for you
- You are a frequent enough park-goer that you will appreciate this knowledge and that using 5 hours of park time on this tour won’t impact your vacation
I wouldn’t recommend it for a first-time visitor, but if you are fan who has seen it all and done it all, this tour might be perfect for you!
Spoiler-y Review
I decided to split up the review into “spoiler-free” and “spoiler-y”. That way, people who might want to go into the experience without any foreknowledge could still get an idea of whether this tour is worth the money. However, I did want to provide a “spoiler-y” review for those who want some more details about what you experience. I am not going to give everything away, so there still might be surprises!
Main Street USA
The tour starts on the iconic Main Street USA. This part of the tour was focused on some of the design elements that you see on Main Street. The tour guide wove together learning both about some of the design elements of Main Street with the history of the park. One of the recurring themes was Roy Disney, his relationship with Walt, and his role in the construction of the park. It was great to see the lesser known Disney brother getting some love!
While Walt was the dreamer, the visionary, Roy was the practical one who could figure out how to turn Walt’s dream into reality. Honestly, it was the perfect sort of partnership. A vision without execution is just as useless as a visionless execution. The brothers covered both sides the equation.
The other thing that started to come through was the love that Roy had for his younger brother. When Walt died, Roy came out of retirement to bring to fruition Walt’s vision for Walt Disney World. As a tribute to his brother, he named the park Walt Disney World… the only Disney theme park to bear Walt’s first name. Sadly, but possibly fittingly, Roy died a few months after the park opened. I say fittingly because perhaps a higher power saw that Roy’s mission on Earth was complete, so it was time for the brothers to be reunited again in the afterlife.
Adventureland
After getting a wonderful history lesson on Main Street, the tour transitioned to Adventureland where we learned more about the design of the park. One thing you will note about Adventureland is that the path is much more curved than in other parts of the park. This is because when you are in Adventureland, there is adventure lurking around every corner.
This section included a VIP ride on the Jungle Cruise. Obviously, we didn’t have to wait in line, so even though there was already a 40 minute wait time, we got on immediately. The cool thing about this ride is that it wasn’t your ordinary Jungle Cruise spiel. Instead, our tour guide narrated the ride. We learned about its history and many of its design details. Very cool!
Frontierland and Backstage
After Adventureland, we transitioned over to Frontierland and our first venture into a backstage area. Before entering, we were warned to stay together and not use our phones… no absolutely no photos allowed! This was serious business!!
We entered the backstage through the areas where the parade floats enter the park. They showed us the huge hangars where they keep all of the parade floats. We also saw the Electric Water Pageant floats. While they were cool to see, they are a lot less impressive in the daytime when they aren’t lit up. We also walked by the backside of the Jungle Cruise, passing the skipper break area (spoiler: it isn’t Skipper Canteen).
After getting our fill of this backstage area, we went back “onstage” and headed towards Liberty Square.
Lunch and then Liberty Square
At this point, it was almost lunch time, so we headed to our VIP lunch seating area in Columbia Harbor House. Our lunch orders were ready, including our commemorative pins and a special cupcake dessert! It was nice to take a break, chat, and refresh ourselves for the remainder of the tour.
After lunch, we learned more about some of the design elements of Liberty Square. This was one of the more fascinating parts of the tour, as there was a lot of things that I learned that I had never known before. For instance, did you know that there are no restrooms in Liberty Square itself? This is because they didn’t have indoor bathrooms during colonial times. Talk about attention to detail!!
By far the most interesting part was learning about the Liberty Tree. This is one story that I won’t spoil, as its history is too wonderful not to hear about firsthand.
Next stop was the Haunted Mansion. When we arrived at the Haunted Mansion, our guide spent a good deal of time telling us about many of the cool design features of the building, as well as some of the “tricks” used by Imagineers on the ride itself. Once again, we got VIP “front of line” access to experience this attraction. Unlike the Jungle Cruise, we got to experience it the same way as the guests.
Ultilidoors
This was probably the most anticipated part of the tour… for us at least.
Magic Kingdom fans know that below the park are a series of rooms and corridors known as the “utilidoors”. This allows Cast Members to travel between different sections of the park sight unseen. It also provides storage for merchandise, food, and other services. When a Cast Member in the shop goes to search to see if an item is available in your size, they are likely going to a storeroom in the utilidoors.
As far as I know, this tour is the only way guests are able to (legally) visit this hidden city below the park. And, as a Disney fan, it did not disappoint! I will also not go into a lot of details about this part of the tour… some things are better experienced first hand… but it was an amazing experience!
Wrap Up
At this point, it was almost 1pm… time for the tour to end. Our guide collected our wireless headsets, we said our goodbyes and thank you’s, and we were on our way!
A lot of the pure history and information can be learned from other sources, so you might ask why should I pay for the tour. Well, it’s one thing to learn it from a book or video, but it is another to learn it while experiencing the park at the same time. You can read all about the utilidoors all you want, but when you are actually in them, it takes it to a whole different level.
There is so much that is unique and exclusive to this tour that the experience far exceeds the cost. Like I said above, if you are an experience park goer and you want to take your appreciation to the next level, this is the tour for you!
Have you been on this tour? Is there some other tour that you would also recommend? If so, leave us a comment and let us know!
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