Disney World - The Online Guide

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2003
(UK customers)

Robert's Keys to the Kingdom Tour Report (5/02)

The tour garden is located to the left of town hall right at the entrance of the MK. I was greeted by two cast members from guest relations that checked my reservation, gave me my name badge, took my lunch order (chicken fingers and fries) and offered me coffee or water. Our tour guide Jessica gathered all 7 of us at the flag- pole at the top of Main Street. We each shared our names, where we were from and favorite Disney character. Apparently there are over 1000 animated characters to choose from.

Jessica told us about the TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves Magic) and the 4 keys to the kingdom: Show, Courtesy, Safety and Efficiency. There are over 50,000 cast members working in and around the WDW resort. She talked about forced perspective of the buildings on Main Street and the names over all of the Main Street shops. For example over the bakery is the name "MT Lott", that was one of the names Walt used to buy land in Florida to hide his name from money hungry landowners. Walt's name appears at the end of the street over the Plaza Restaurant. He is the only one who gets a patio and a great view of the park. She spoke briefly about the partner statue and how it was designed so Walt could wave hello as we enter and wave goodbye as we exit the MK.

Jessica then herded us over to the entrance of Adventureland. She stopped off to the side and told us the story of Walt's vision of Disneyland and finally his vision of the WDW Resort. This was about a fifteen-minute history lesson, but very interesting. She then took us into Adventureland and we side entered the Jungle Cruise and rode it with out the Skippers corny jokes. Jessica told us about Walt's wish to have real animals on the ride and how the water is dyed brown to hide the machinery. Did you know that on the Jungle Cruise when the natives greet you one of them says, "I love disco"! We continued past the Tiki room (the roof is aluminum) and took a 5-minute break.

Jessica took us over to the front of Pirates Of the Caribbean and she talked more about forced perspective. I even got to walk up a set of cordoned off stairs and it showed how little the doors and windows are. I looked like a giant.

Next on the tour we went backstage right next to Splash Mountain to check out the parade floats. Having people watch you go backstage is very cool. We all felt important. In order to go backstage, Jessica had us raise our right hands and swear not to take any pictures or videos so help us Walt. We then got to poke around all the parade floats from Share a Dream Come True and the Electric Light Parade. An aircraft company that makes cockpits makes each float "snow globe". There is no A/C in the floats only fans. The costumes are actually placed inside the floats and the cast members get dressed inside the bubble. There were quite a few cast members touching up and cleaning the floats. This is something that happens everyday. There is a hidden Walt on every float.

We then were taken inside another warehouse to look at the Electric floats. Very interesting to see inside each float and see how they work and where people sit. We than went around back and looked at the Lagoon floats on the water.

After almost forty-five minutes backstage we went back on stage and Jessica pointed out the changes from land to land. How the sidewalk changes and the music changes. We stopped at Liberty Square and were told about the duplicate copy of the Liberty Bell that was cast from the original. The 13 flags of the original colonies hang there (Go Connecticut!) and there are 13 lanterns in the tree as well. She spoke briefly about the hall of Presidents and the new George Bush, who is wearing his own suit picked out by his wife. Apparently George W has yet to so his own animatronics self.

Next stop was lunch at Columbia Harbor House. We walked up a special staircase to a roped off area where our lunch was waiting for us. Another cast member named Brick was with us and he told us about his 12 years at WDW as a cast member. He started off at attractions in EPCOT and then worked for five years in entertainment as a character. He has been in guest relations for four years now. He also told us about the VIP tours that they get to do with celebrities. Our own tour guide Jessica apparently had the holy grail of VIP's last fall with Mary Poppins herself - Julie Andrews. She said she was very nice and she spent 4 days with her and even ate with her and her family at the finest WDW restaurants.

We then received a special edition pin that looks like a key. We were advised not to trade the pin and asked not to put it up on ebay.

Now that lunch was over we went across the way to the Haunted Mansion. Jessica pointed out the pet cemetery that I had never noticed before and told us about the designer of the attraction. I never knew the Mansion has many chess pieces placed on top of the roof. If you look carefully you can see almost all of them. She told us about the design, the man who does the voice over (Tony the Tiger), Madame Leota the costume designer and the official and unofficial hidden Mickey's. There has been enough dust placed within the mansion to cover it over three times. We entered a side entrance and took a ride.

Upon leaving the mansion we headed towards the castle and Jessica spoke about its construction (there are no bricks in the Castle) and a little about the Reedy Creek organization. WDW has its own emergency dept., fire dept., water, power, garbage and city council. They don't however have their own police dept. We then headed up main street and stopped where the old arcade and barber shop used to be. We went into the new building and went through two doors (after taking another oath) and again we were back stage.

We were in a parking area where some cast members were enjoying a break. Across the parking lot was the Jungle Cruise Dry Dock. Who knew that the Jungle Cruise and Main Street were so close? They butt right up against each other. We saw some of the boats being refurbished and some hippos and crocodiles being touched up. We then went up some exterior stairs into some office space over Main Street. There was a display case showing the "Disney Look" with proper dress codes and grooming along with some construction photos of the MK.

We then went down 3 flights to the Utilidoors! The mysterious tunnel system was very cool. We walked around a bit and Jessica showed us how people find their way around and she showed us the employee cafeteria and costuming. Everything is bar coded so they know where everything is at all times. She spoke at length about the WDW laundry and how everything is so high tech. We walked under Main Street and back up stairs to behind the bakery. This is where they launch the outside food vendors. We also got to see the back of the Tomorowland buildings. It's incredible that all of these attractions and restaurants are really just large square buildings that we only see the front of.

From here were asked for any last backstage questions, because onstage Jessica said she would not disclose any backstage "magic". We had no questions so we continued onstage back to the flagpole. This is where we said goodbye to Jessica and completed our tour.

What a great time we had. I highly recommend it. But bring your walking shoes! You do have to pay regular park admission but I think it is well worth it. If you are a frequent visitor to WDW this will add so much to your future trips.

Rob Kennedy

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