Walt Disney World, January 2017, Part 3

By Nick

Monday 1/23/17 

I woke up very early and couldn't get back to sleep because I was excited for our 8 am Keys to the Kingdom Tour!

Because we were told to be early, I had us at the bus stop by 6:45am. Not only was a bus there waiting, but we had it all to ourselves. And, unlike every other time we'd caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom from the Boardwalk, it did not stop at the Swan and Dolphin, so we arrived at about 5 after 7, where we were told the gates wouldn't open until 7:30!

We took a walk to the Contemporary and back, just to kill time, and returned to the front gates just as the security guards started checking bags. After about 15 minutes of waiting underneath the train station, we were walking into a relatively empty Magic Kingdom.

We checked in at the Town Square Theater, got name badges, were given headsets, and made our lunch selections.

At 8am we were brought outside where we met our guide, Dana. We were told no photos were allowed as we would be going backstage at several points.

If you plan on taking this tour and want to be surprised, read no further. In other words:

Spoilers ahead!

The tour lasted about 5 hours. After taking a tour up Main Street, learning about some of the names on the windows, we entered Adventureland and rode the Jungle Cruise and learned some interesting facts about this Disneyland original, rode the Haunted Mansion, got to see the floats backstage, and spent time walking through the utilidors beneath the Magic Kingdom, our favorite part. But, if you are a Disneyphile, most of the information you'll hear throughout the tour is probably already known to you.
Lunch was included. I was at first disappointed it wasn't at Columbia Harbour House, but really enjoyed my meal at Tomorrowland Terrace.
I feel it was worth it for the cost. Without a discount, it is $99. We saved 15% with our Annual Pass.

We returned to the Boardwalk Resort, and found a very nice surprise in our room! Cookies!
A nice card was included. Barbie said, "I wonder..." went to the fridge, and, yep, milk!

We have no proof, because the card simply reads "Welcome to the Boardwalk Villas, we hope your stay is magical." and isn't signed, but believe this was the Cast Member Barbie had given a button to the day before (see part 2) repaying her kindness.

After splitting a cookie, we went to Epcot to meet with our friend Marilyn. I made a stop at the Rose and Crown on the way, and got a Black and Tan.

Barbie and I also stopped at the Masterpiece Kitchen food booth, part of Epcot's International Festival of the Arts (see part 1) and had the Smoked Salmon Tartare and Wild Mushroom Risotto. Both were ok. Perhaps my palate isn't refined enough, but I found many of the Salmon dishes flavors overpowered each other, and couldn't find a taste combination that I found truly satisfactory. Plus, and I am not usually one to nitpick about prices, these 2 relatively small portions were $12 (salmon) and $9!

After meeting Marilyn, the 3 of us walked over to the Odyssey, where we all got the Trio of Savory Croissant Doughnuts, and I had the Neapolitan Beer Flight, consisting of a chocolate stout, vanilla porter, and a strawberry ale. Delicious!

We finished our snacks and made our way to the front of the park to say hello to our friend Kathy, a Cast Member at Epcot's main entry.

Kathy, me, Barbie and Marilyn

Marylin planned on seeing the Broadway Concert Series at the America Gardens Theater, so the 3 of us started walking back to World Showcase, when I spotted 2 more friends walking in the same direction! 

 Kelly and Karen

We said our goodbyes to Marylin and talked a little while with Karen and Kelly before Barbie and I started back towards the Boardwalk. 

On the way out of International Gateway we heard our names being called! Readers of the blog and listeners of The Disney Exchange Podcast had spotted us and wanted to say hello!

 Sheila and Warren

As we were speaking with Sheila and Warren, another friend, Kory and his friend Andrea walked by, so we spoke with them for awhile also! Kory, I can't believe I didn't get a picture of us!

We got back to the room early and called it a night.

Episode 87 of The Disney Exchange- Backstage Tours at Walt Disney World

Podcast: Play in new window | Download 

The Disney Exchange is Lisa, Dave and me Nick. 

This week we welcome special guest Curt Stone, co-host of the Geekin' on WDW Podcast, to discuss backstage tours offered at Walt Disney World! This topic was suggested by Bill Ford.

Photos from my Wild Africa Trek experience

We discuss each of the Tours offered, sharing experiences for the ones we have taken, as well as tours we would like to take.

Full disclosure, Lisa, Dave and I have not taken many tours, so that's why we called in a ringer! Thanks Curt!

The Wheel of Distiny topic this week was suggested by Tony McDaniel.  
Who was/is our favorite Spaceship Earth narrator? 

You can find Curt on the Podcast, Geekin' on WDW, which he co-hosts with his daughter Lindsay,  as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

If you have a show suggestion or Wheel of Distiny topic, please let us know on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedisneyexchange, Twitter: https://twitter.com/disneyexchange  or email us at: info@thedisneyexchange  

We are having a giveaway on Episode 100, all you need to be entered is to ask for a listener number if you don't already have one!

Thanks for listening to The Disney Exchange Podcast!

Disney Cast Members: Tell Them "Thank You"

by Gaylin

I have met many a wonderful Cast Member (CM) in my travels to Walt Disney World, as well as Disneyland and one Disney cruise. While I have always thanked them in person, if I have received extra help or extraordinary service from a cast member, I like to send a thank you to them, through Disney itself.

I found out on the Backstage Tour a few years ago that if a CM gets a reprimand on their employment record, it is removed after 6 months with no further reprimands acquired. If a thank you or commendation is received, that stays on their record permanently! If you go to the Walt Disney World main webpage and scroll to the bottom, there is a contact us link. On that link it tells you how to contact them by phone, there is another link where you can go to an email page to contact them.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/help/email/

This is where I go when I want to send a thank you to a CM. The first time I did this, I received a phone call from a representative from Disney personnel, letting me know how much they appreciated my email and that they had contacted each of the CMs I had wanted to thank and commended them in person! I do keep a trip journal where I write their names down as well as take a photo where the interaction happened so I don't forget.

On my recent trip, I had more than a few nice transactions with CMs and wanted to send my appreciation out to 3 of them. When I got home, I sent the following email:

"This is not a question, this is a thank-you to Cast Members.

I was at WDW in May 2014 and on Sunday, May 11, I went to the Animal Kingdom. My mother had

passed away 5 weeks previously and I had forgotten entirely that it was Mother's Day. When I walked into AK and was given a carnation and told Happy Mother's Day, I was startled and sad. It was nice to think of my mom but it was a difficult, emotional day as well.

I stopped for lunch at Tamu Tamu, I was hot and tired and forgot to tell the CM that I had food allergies and could I please have potato chips instead of pita bread so I put the pita bread to the side. A custodial CM, Deborah (college program with UCLA), stopped to chat for a moment, she asked if I was a mother and when I told her about my mom, I nearly started crying. She spent some time with me, talked about mom's, Disney and life in general. It was the human contact I so badly needed that day. She noticed that I had put the pita bread aside and went out of her way to get some of the fresh made potato chips for me. Well, that nearly had me crying again. The time she spent with me changed the whole tone of the day for me, I know that CMs deal with and talk to a lot of people in a day and they need to know that their time and care is wonderful. Thanks so much to Deborah, wherever she is now. Also - thanks for the pin!

At the Magic Kingdom on May 7th, I had a lovely wee interaction with a CM named Sherley, I bought a Mickey Premium from her at the Popping Machine, near Gaston's Tavern. She was bright and cheerful, I sat at a table near the kiosk and watched her interact with guests, impressive. Again, since my mom's name was Shirley - meeting this lovely young lady who was so happy and vivacious, made my day. I asked for a photo and we had a good laugh taking a selfie together.

One last kudo - in the morning of May 7th, I went on the Jungle Cruise with Captain Lisa, she was so fun, it was one of the best cruises I have been on. At the end of the cruise I asked if I could take a selfie with her, it was the first time a guest had asked her to be in a photo and she was happy to do it.

Thanks to all the CMs that do their best to help guests have a magical vacation and if anyone asks if you can have fun at WDW while on a solo trip - the answer is a resounding yes!

Gaylin"

You can't send photos in your email to Disney but I can post them here! Here is the photo of Captain Lisa and me.

And later the same day, the lovely Sherley!

About a week after I sent my email to the help centre, I received this email reply:

"Dear Gaylin,

Thank you for writing to us about your visit to the Walt Disney World® Resort.

I am very glad you had such an enjoyable experience and truly appreciate the time you took to share your compliments for Deborah, Sherley and Lisa. Your email reinforces how our Cast Members can make a tremendous difference with each Guest. It is heartwarming to know that Cast Members such as Deborah, Sherley and Lisa exemplified Walt Disney's dream to create happy and memorable experiences for all of our Guests. Please be assured your comments will be shared with the appropriate leadership so they can be commended for the great service they provided you.

Thank you again for writing to us. We look forward to future opportunities to entertain you.

Best Regards,

Janet F.

Guest Experience Services

Walt Disney World Resort"

If you have a wonderful CM experience, remember you can share your thank-you's when you get home, send some magic back to Disney!

Walt Disney's Apartment and the Light That Always Shines

By: Nick

On display at The Walt Disney Family Museum at the Presidio of San Francisco, are actual pieces of furniture from his private apartment on the second floor of the Main Street Firehouse in Disneyland's Town Square. 

From these cozy quarters, Walt could share private time with his family, while still enjoying the park he created.

In the picture below from National Geographic Magazine, towards the center of the photo, is a lamp on a table in front of the window which looks out on Town Square.

 This light is always on as a representation of Walt's spirit, which is always present in Disneyland.

You can actually view the apartment on the Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps Tour, which we have not yet had the pleasure of doing.

Going on an Adventure!

Guest Writer Wednesday

 
Going on an adventure!
By: Gaylin


One of the best tours I have gone on at Disney World is the Wilderness Back Trail Adventure Segway Tour. This tour is held at the Fort Wilderness Campground and is well worth the $95.85 cost to go on it.

The tour is held twice a day, 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. I picked the 11:30 time so I could sleep in a bit that day. It is easy to get to the Campground Resort, you take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and get on a boat (the docks in front of the main gate at MK) and it takes you the dock at the campground. At that time of the day, you may be the only one on the boat - I know I was! It was a lovely quiet trip, there was a captain and one other cast member but they did their jobs and I enjoyed the view!

Once you get to the dock, you walk past the store, etc and look for the signs to Mickey's Backyard BBQ. I got there early so I could go in the store, buy a few small things, have a snack, check out the area and then find Meadows Bike Barn where the tour starts from.

Once you see all the Segway's lined up, you know you are in the right place. There are two guides, no more than 8 people on a tour and you have to sign a waiver, get safety instructions and a helmet and then learn to ride a Segway. If you have taken a Segway tour before (and I had) they let you play around a bit, as long as you stay out of the way of the beginners.

See, I look like a total expert Segway driver, don't I! If you look in the background, you can see the top of Space Mountain, the Contemporary Resort and because this in 2008, you can see the construction of Bay Lake Tower. This photo was taken once we were underway.
The leader of our fearless troop was Ron and he had a mic on and a small speaker hanging off the back of his belt. He was telling us all kinds of information about the indigenous plant life, Disney land management processes and the campground. Fort Wilderness has 770 campsites and while we toured around a couple of the areas, I couldn't take photos and drive the Segway at the same time.

Then we had a break at the Tri-Circle D Ranch. This is where the horses used at the Magic Kingdom are stabled. Other animals are kept and take care of here as well.

This is Ron, telling us all about the ranch. He was a very nice man, a wonderful tour guide, hopefully he is still guiding these tours.

This is me and my buddy Charlie, he wouldn't fit in my carry-on luggage so I did have to leave him behind!

And finally, a couple of hidden Mickey's at the ranch.

The tour from here followed the exercise trail from Fort Wilderness Campground to the Wilderness Lodge Resort. It was a lovely and quiet trip. It was great to get to use the Segway with no one else around (having taken the tour at Epcot, dealing with crowds on a Segway is not fun). On the way to the Wilderness Lodge, Ron told us more about Disney land preservation as this trail is on land that is set aside to never be used by Disney and it will stay green and wild. When we turned around to head back to the campground, we were told that Ron would now stop talking and we could go 'wild'. Okay, you can't go very wild because the Segway's are speed limited but I did hang back with the other guide and we let the rest of the group get ahead of us and then we careened all over the place going the full speed of 3 miles an hour and generally being goofs.

As I said, this tour was a lot of fun. We had 7 people in our group, I was there solo and that didn't hold me back from having a great time.

If you can fit it in your schedule and budget, I highly recommend this tour. As Mickey would say:

Animal Kingdom's Wild Africa Trek

Back in 2011, Barbie, our friends Kandi and John, and I did a tour at Disney's Animal Kingdom that had made it's debut just 2 days previously called Wild Africa Trek. Even though some things have changed, I thought I'd share our experience. This was originally posted on the Tips From the Disney Diva Blog, where I'm a contributing writer. -Nick

Please note, there will be SPOILERS, as I'm going to go over the whole awesome experience that is The Wild Africa Trek. So if you want to be surprised, read no further! Also, as this is a review of the experience in it's early stages, things are likely to have been modified, added or "plussed".

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011:

The morning started off cool and overcast. We were picked up at the Wilderness Lodge by our friends Kandi and John. We had the 10AM Trek scheduled. They recommended we arrive about 15 minutes early and that you use a rest room before the trek begins, as it will be 2 hours before your next break. Check in for the Wild Africa Trek was behind the Dawa Bar, next to Tusker House. Lockers are provided for personnel items.

We waited for about 5 minutes, and were escorted "backstage". We met our guides, Meghan and Lani. Lani would be giving most of the information, and leading the group, Meghan taking up the rear, acting as photographer.

Then it's time to be weighed and outfitted (You must weigh between 45-310 lbs).

My wife and I in our trek gear.

We were also given tin water bottles, which attached to our vests, and a headset, so we could hear our guide, even if we were in the back of the line. After getting geared up, we were brought over to a practice rope bridge, shown how to use our lanyard, and took a practice walk.

We were provided with "Jungle Juice" afterwards, but it was suggested we not drink much, again, because it would be 2 hours before a break. I wanted to drink more, it was so good!

We were then brought back "onstage", and given some info and instruction on our upcoming adventure. We then walked through Harambe Village, our guide Lani telling us info about the village. It was very funny to see all the guests looking at our group in puzzlement. My wife commented that she may have preferred to do an even earlier tour, to have the park to ourselves, but I thought it was more authentic, almost. We were in a busy African village, after all!

We were brought by the gorillas, and meerkats, Lani talking about them, and answering any questions. The whole time, Meghan was taking photos of the group and animals.
Then, we went backstage.

We followed a trail, and it was actually very narrow at times, very authentic, stepping over and through trees, moving branches, etc. I'm assuming that a different trail would be used if it was raining, as it would probably be pretty muddy otherwise.

We would come across skulls every now and again, and Lani would talk about the animal it came from.

Then, we came upon the hippo pool. We clipped our lanyards onto a railing, and walked out, overlooking the pool, and watched as a cast-member fed a hungry hungry hippo (sorry, I couldn't resist.

We then moved on, and were told the "good" bridge had been flooded out by the rains, (wink), (actually, this was made more realistic by the fact the previous day had seen some torrential rains) and we would be taking the more dangerous route.

More walking, and we came to the bridge. We were attached to a guy-wire over the rope bridge, and sent across 3 at a time. This took us directly above the hippo pool. The hippos were actually pretty active, as it was cool, and the sun had come out.

You then go across to another bridge, taking you over the crocodiles.

On the other side, after coming down from the bridge, you once again latch in, and go directly over the crocs. This was awesome. We even got to see one croc come out of the pool and wedge himself onto the shore between his fellow reptiles.

After this, it was time to hit the savanna. We boarded a truck and more or less followed the Kilimanjaro Safari route, pulling off for Lani to tell us about the animals, and to take pics.

Then, it was time for our snack. We pulled up to a beautifully constructed structure, overlooking the savanna. There were much needed rest rooms. Binoculars were provided to view animals. The tables were all under cover, but we were told we were free to move them wherever we wanted.

It was an absolutely beautiful day, so we pulled our table out into the sun. The food was beautifully presented, in round, stackable lunch boxes. There was yogurt with dried fruit, brie cheese, an edible orchid, and fruit in a mint syrup, prosciutto, round breads, a smoked salmon pinwheel with dill cream cheese, and fig cake. And all the jungle juice we could drink!!

Everything was amazing. Delicious.

We re-boarded the truck, and drove, once again, along the safari road. Unfortunately the big cats were all sleeping.

Then, sadly, our Trek was over. When we returned to "base", we were told that the water bottles were ours to keep, and that a portion of the cost of our Trek would be going to an animal fund, and we had the opportunity to vote as to which animal we would like to fund.

We were also given a photopass card and password, to go online and get a CD of all the photos taken on the tour.

Would I do it again? Absolutely! Every trek is bound to have some variations, and, at that time, they are already planning to add a rope bridge overlooking the big cats which may be in place.

Is it worth the price? I would actually say yes, if you are up for a totally unique experience, are an animal lover, or are an adventurous soul, Wild Africa Trek is for you.