"When I went it was all lights, and music, and Mickey doin' his magic." — Aug. '18 Disneyversary TR — Completed (Finally!!) August 20, 2021

We did the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour and really enjoyed it. Going backstage at Haunted Mansion was so cool. I thought the Keys to the Kingdom tour sounded fun too but was concerned about the 5 hours. It sounds like it went by really quickly though. It may be something to consider someday. Im glad you enjoyed it.

Yes, I was a bit worried about being stuck there for five hours and it feeling long, but I found it didn't drag and went by pretty quickly. Hopefully it works in your plans someday and you can check it out.

She's adorable :love:

We're pretty fond of her. :) She's so smart and silly :lovestruc

How fun! I've never been either. One of these days, I'll have to give up a couple days in WDW and see what else Orlando has to offer ::yes::

It's so hard to leave the Disney bubble when there's so much there to do!

She's not wrong.

In fact, if you hadn't said they were in their 30s, I would have thought you were describing Mike and I! :rotfl:

Haha yeah, I'm with her on the snow part for sure! I have to deal with snow at home, so I definitely don't want it on vacation.

Two months after I had my son, I was shopping with him in his seat in the stroller and the cashier commented, "Oh, your baby is so cute…but are you already having another one?"

Ummmmm…no. I'm still just fat from him! Even if I was having another one, I wouldn't have been showing by then :sad2:

Oh my goodness!!! How in the world did she ever think that was okay to say!? That's just common sense! And I don't know many mothers who immediately lose all their baby weight as soon as the baby is born.

In any case, you shouldn't have to defend yourself to anyone, let alone a Cast Member. She is definitely in need of some sensitivity training.

I thought so, too. I'd like to think that all the CMs would get some training on this, but maybe some just need a little more than others.

:love::worship::love::worship::love::worship:

Early mornings in WDW are perfection.

I agree! I don't love getting up early in the morning, but Disney makes it very worth it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I loved that part and seeing all the photos down there :love:

Me too! It was such a great way to close off the tour. Walt and Roy's history and relationship I find very interesting and special. And it was neat to see all the photos.
 
I always figured as much since they just spin it around and around.

Glad you were feeling better-ish.

Yeah, I'd suspected that too. Makes sense! And thanks :)

The tour sounds great. I would love to do one. Given the cost, it will have to be one day when the whole family is not there.
I'm just curious what you think is a good one to do as your first tour?

Hopefully it'll work out for you to fit one of these tours in sometime. It's a really neat experience for someone who likes the history and behind-the-scenes stuff. I'm not sure which is a better one to do as a first tour. If you want Magic Kingdom, I don't think you could go wrong with either Keys to the Kingdom, or Marceline to the Magic Kingdom, really. Both are interesting, and both give you a backstage pass at MK. I slightly preferred Marceline, and it's also shorter and less expensive, so less of an investment both financially and time out of your day. But Keys gives you more time with your guide, and it's the tour I always heard people raving about online. Both deal with how WDW/MK came to exist. Marceline is skewed more to Walt's own history, and how his childhood and early adulthood influenced the park. It focused more on imagineers, I found, and the people who made the park and attractions a reality. And it gives a more in-depth look at Haunted Mansion (and also had some really neat tidbits I enjoyed about It's a Small World and Carousel of Progress.) I didn't find it actually felt all that much shorter than Keys either, because there's no meal included in Marceline so that doesn't eat into your tour time. Keys had a bit more of a focus on the Magic Kingdom as it operates today and was a bit more generalized. And it has unique aspects like getting down into the utilidors and seeing the parade floats. Both were great! But I probably wouldn't do Keys again, whereas I probably would repeat Marceline.
 


OOOH! The Keys to the Kingdom Tour looked like so much fun!!! How cool to be able to go "backstage" like that!!!!
 
OOOH! The Keys to the Kingdom Tour looked like so much fun!!! How cool to be able to go "backstage" like that!!!!

It was so neat! I loved those special extra experiences you don't normally get as a guest, like getting backstage! And our tour guide seemed like she was having fun. I feel like being a Disney tour guide would be the coolest job ever! Other than wearing all those heavy plaid layers in the summer.
 


I showered all the congestion right out of my sick face, and found that once I was up and around I was actually feeling pretty human!

YAY!!!

^That's Lindsey. She's the one in the cool hat.

She MIGHT have been the one that did the VIP EPIC Tour? Maybe? If so, very sweet and thorough. :)

For example, as we headed toward Adventureland, Lindsey drew our attention to the fact that when you enter Adventureland your view of the castle is fully obscured by trees so you're immersed in the...well...adventure-y-land-ness?

I love how Disney does this! So immersive! I totally notice that US did NOT do that and it was indeed very distracting. Potterlands were better, but everywhere else, no.

(For instance, if you haven't before, see if you notice the faces of Mickey/Donald/Goofy in the canoes on the shore!)

Oh cool! I'll look for that.

There's somebody in the bottom of that red barn driving it, and they have pretty limited visibility down there!

EEK! I'm glad they do it in stages.

After going through all these rules, she told us that she trusted us to all follow them because she was responsible for us, and we were all friends now, and "friends don't get friends fired."

LOL!! Perfect!

We also were lucky enough to encounter royalty during our visit! Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were just on their way up to the castle stage as we were passing through.

What a cool tour in general. Full of fun little and not-so-little surprises.

As we ended the tour, Lindsey talked to us about Roy Disney, and how he ensured that Walt Disney World was completed after Walt died. She told us that he had said that he needed to make Walt's vision a reality so he wouldn't have to explain to Walt why he didn't complete it when he was reunited with him again. The group collectively got a bit misty at this point.

Awwww, think I would have too.
 
I love how Disney does this! So immersive! I totally notice that US did NOT do that and it was indeed very distracting. Potterlands were better, but everywhere else, no.

I hadn't really thought about it much before, but this is so true. Harry Potter stuff is super immersive (especially Diagon Alley where the buildings are so tall. And having to go through a brick wall into a hidden magical area lends itself well to this anyway.) But the other areas of the park at US really aren't so great for this.

What a cool tour in general. Full of fun little and not-so-little surprises.

Very cool! I'm glad we got the chance to experience it.
 
I hadn't really thought about it much before, but this is so true. Harry Potter stuff is super immersive (especially Diagon Alley where the buildings are so tall. And having to go through a brick wall into a hidden magical area lends itself well to this anyway.) But the other areas of the park at US really aren't so great for this.

I think that US could do a LOT better and should aim to. It'd really enhance their park experiences.
Very cool! I'm glad we got the chance to experience it.
I'm not sure when I'll make it on another tour again, but this one sure sounds greaat!
 
I was just reading some updates from one of my old trip reports the other day, and thinking about how much fun I used to have writing them, and how much more interesting a person I was in general in them, back in the early days before/at the beginning of my masters degree! As much as life has been busier and less free-spirited as of late, reading some of my old trip reports has inspired me to try to get back in the game! I'm working away on a couple of updates here and there for our most recent trip, and I'll get that going soon. But I'm hopeful that this inspiration will be just what I need to get this sucker finished up first! On that note, here is...

"'Scuze me, do you work here?"
Aug. 23—Part 2

This afternoon/evening ended up bring pretty photo-heavy, so I'm going to split it up into 3 updates so I don't have to narrow down my photos too much. I'll try to keep the actual written context to a reasonable amount so you have adequate brain space to enjoy the pictures!


After our wonderful tour at the Magic Kingdom, we took a quick break, then we were off to Animal Kingdom for the afternoon/evening. We snagged some photopass photos, and quickly found some frozen lemonade and some popcorn to munch on.


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Side note: the pink dye in my hair had mostly faded by this point, but not to worry! I was about to re-saturate it the next day in anticipation of the Halloween Party!

Our next stop was the Finding Nemo show. If you've been following my reports for some time now, you'll probably already know that I've had a long love affair with the Finding Nemo show, and I tend to express my feelings about it to you all at great length. For some time, I'd been hearing poor reviews of the show, and I'd even seen a cast the year before that had been disappointing. This time around, I noticed much improvement. The actor playing Crush, in particular, was amazeballs! We both really enjoyed ourselves watching the show. I'll let my many photos speak for themselves.


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After the show, we headed over to Pandora...

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...since we'd decided to go to Satu'li Canteen for some quick service dinner. We wanted something to eat since our mediocre-to-poor lunch from our tour felt far away at this point, but we didn't want to fill up on a super large meal because we'd be snacking again in a couple of hours. We love the meals here. I got my favourite, the bowl with beef. N got the cheeseburger pods. I've heard that these aren't on the adult menu anymore, which is a bit disappointing, but there's always the kids' option if you have a cheeseburger pod craving.

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When we left the restaurant, a dude in a big mec suit was doing his cool little Pandora talk with the guests in the area.

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We were on our way toward Africa when I stopped in my tracks and realized that I wasn't wearing my backpack, and neither was N. My heart started racing. I must have left it in the restaurant! N told me to stay where I was—which was on the corner past Tiffins where you can either take the path toward Pandora or toward Africa—and he would go back to the restaurant and check for it. Fortunately, he found the bag right away with all its contents still inside and brought it back to me speedy quick! Crisis averted!

While he was doing this, however, a cute little boy, probably 8 or 9 years old came up to me and asked, "'Scuze me, do you work here?" I replied, "No sorry...do you need help?" He nodded and gestured back to some other folks who appeared to be his family. "Yeah," he said, "we're looking for Avatar!" I smiled and pointed him in the right direction, not bothering to delve into a lesson about the name of the Avatar movie vs. the name of the Pandora theme park area.

Backpack in our possession once again, we started off toward Africa. We enjoyed some tunes by Burudika as we passed through. (I was so sad to hear recently that Disney was ending this offering! They're such wonderful entertainment!)


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We were on our way to the tour desk, about to check in for...
 
Aug. 23—Part 2
continued...


...Savour the Savanna! This is an evening safari experience on the Animal Kingdom Savanna. Like with the Wild Africa Tour—which we did during our wedding trip the year before—you are taken on a private safari truck through the savanna to see the animals in a more relaxed way, with lots of first-hand knowledge from your tour guides. Unlike Wild Africa Trek, however, there are no swinging rope bridges, there's no hiking through the woods, and you're offered a more leisurely dining experience which includes snacks and alcoholic beverages from a beautiful lookout structure on the savanna called the "boma," while watching the sun set. Our guides told us that part of the reason Savour the Savanna was developed was that guests who went on Wild Africa Trek were giving feedback that they wanted more time at the boma to relax and enjoy the views, and that they might enjoy a more adult dining experience. It sounded like just the kind of fun we'd be interested in on our anniversary trip, so we booked it. We weren't disappointed.

The tour started with the safari truck portion, and I had the opportunity to take all kinds of pictures, especially of my favourite friends, the giraffes!


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:rotfl:

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A cast member, Morgan, was also out on the savanna doing feedings, and she talked to us about the hoofstock.

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One of the funniest things she told us was about this one eland on the savanna who thinks he's real hot stuff and likes to show off by making himself a nice grass hat and parading it around the savanna.

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We did a little more touring and talking with one of our guides, Nick...

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...and then wound up at the boma for some munchies and some drinks.

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I was given a crash course on what I could eat, and I swooped in to try to grab a few things before others could get in there and cross-contaminate them. I was also given my own little tiffin (metal food container) with some allergy-friendly offerings.

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N enjoyed the dessert they offered, which was inspired by a s'more. It looked like this on the outside...

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...and this on the inside.

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Relaxing at the boma was a lovely way to spend an evening as the sun started to set, and the views were lovely.

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Eventually we were led back to the truck, and driven by the lion habitat.

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On our way out of the savanna, the sky turned the most delightful shades of orange.

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When we finished the tour, we were able to place a stone in this box to indicate where we wanted our donation from our tour price to go. From the cost of each tour, a certain percentage is donated to the Disney Conservation Fund, and it can be allocated to a particular category of animal based on the person's preference. I think I probably chose the hoofstock option (represented by the giraffe.)

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After our tour, we were headed back toward...
 
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Aug. 23—Part 2
continued...


...Asia!

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I believe that we had FPs, so we were going to watch Rivers of Light. I really enjoy the light/water effects of this show, I love the soundtrack, and I'm absolutely blown away by the costumes that the shaman characters used to wear. (Side note: I should also mention that I was very disappointed to see that the shamans were cut in the newest iteration of Rivers of Light! And on that note, I was hoping that I'd also find the new version more able to maintain my attention throughout the show, but I felt it was just kind of disjointed and still had the same problems as the older version. I hope a nighttime show at Animal Kingdom finally finds its feet before too long...) While I do find—in both the old version and the new—that Rivers of Light starts to lose me a bit about halfway through, I do still love photographing it...

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After the show, we were on our way back toward Pandora. Back when we were there at Satu'li Canteen earlier in the night, I also had a FP booked for Navi River Journey. Unfortunately, the ride was "101," a code that we learned from our Keys to the Kingdom tour means that it was broken down. We had been given an anytime FP on our accounts to replace it, but then Navi was up and running again by the time we finished with Savour the Savanna, and we decided to go back and ride.

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I had one more priority this evening before leaving the park. I wanted to watch some of the Awakenings on the Tree of Life. I think these little shows are beautiful, and a much-appreciated addition to the nighttime offerings at AK.

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After we had watched several of the shows, it was time to head out. I picked up a couple of new pins at one of the merch stores, and then we headed home to our swanky digs at the GF for the night.
 
As much as life has been busier and less free-spirited as of late, reading some of my old trip reports has inspired me to try to get back in the game!
I should do that too. I feel I've been falling into a rut, myself.
I'll try to keep the actual written context to a reasonable amount so you have adequate brain space to enjoy the pictures!
Excuse me? Question? What if I don't have any brain space?
:scared1:
Side note: the pink dye in my hair had mostly faded by this point, but not to worry! I was about to re-saturate it the next day in anticipation of the Halloween Party!
Well, thank goodness. I was just about to stop reading in protest.
This time around, I noticed much improvement. The actor playing Crush, in particular, was amazeballs!
I'm glad that they seem to have upped their game!
Great shot!
Greater shot!
You got too many great shots in this update to comment on all of them!!!
N got the cheeseburger pods. I've heard that these aren't on the adult menu anymore,
I'm okay with that. It's never appealed to me.
Non sequitur... Now I'm wondering if those are his real legs or if they're inside the mechanical legs... I'm leaning towards the latter.
We were on our way toward Africa when I stopped in my tracks and realized that I wasn't wearing my backpack, and neither was N.
Oh, man! Heart attack time!!
Fortunately, he found the bag right away with all its contents still inside and brought it back to me speedy quick!
Phew!!!
I smiled and pointed him in the right direction, not bothering to delve into a lesson about the name of the Avatar movie vs. the name of the Pandora theme park area.
Good of you. On both counts. ;)
We enjoyed some tunes by Burudika as we passed through. (I was so sad to hear recently that Disney was ending this offering! They're such wonderful entertainment!)
I'd hear that too. I can only hope that means they're bringing something else, as equally as entertaining, to replace them.
Savour the Savanna!
Oh! Nice!
Our guides told us that part of the reason Savour the Savanna was developed was that guests who went on Wild Africa Trek were giving feedback that they wanted more time at the boma to relax and enjoy the views, and that they might enjoy a more adult dining experience.
Ohhh... Makes sense.
We weren't disappointed.
Good to hear! :)
I had the opportunity to take all kinds of pictures, especially of my favourite friends, the giraffes!

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That is not a giraffe.
"Folks, meet Gerry. The derpiest giraffe in the park."
One of the funniest things she told us was about this one eland on the savanna who thinks he's real hot stuff and likes to show off by making himself a nice grass hat and parading it around the savanna.

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:laughing:
peek-a-boo!
Bit hot out?
I was also given my own little tiffin (metal food container) with some allergy-friendly offerings.
:)
Would've been even better if you could've kept it. ;)
N enjoyed the dessert they offered, which was inspired by a s'more.
Whoa, that looks yummy!
Relaxing at the boma was a lovely way to spend an evening as the sun started to set, and the views were lovely.
Sounds really nice. Might have to look into this.
Eventually we were led back to the truck, and driven by the lion habitat.
Got some good shots there. They're hidden more often than not.
On our way out of the savanna, the sky turned the most delightful shades of orange.
Pretty. I wonder what caused that.
Rivers of Light. I really enjoy the light/water effects of this show
I think you're in the minority.
While I agree with you that the costumes and floats are colourful and all... the show itself is such a snooze-fest.
(Side note: I should also mention that I was very disappointed to see that the shamans were cut in the newest iteration of Rivers of Light!
Didn't know that.
I felt it was just kind of disjointed and still had the same problems as the older version.
Rest my case.
I do still love photographing it...
And you got some great ones. Again!
I think this one is my fave, though.
Like this one!
Pretty good shot of her!
Or, as someone else pointed out... the only thing on the ride you can photograph. :laughing:
I wanted to watch some of the Awakenings on the Tree of Life. I think these little shows are beautiful, and a much-appreciated addition to the nighttime offerings at AK.
I love Awakenings. Much better than RoL.
 
For some time, I'd been hearing poor reviews of the show, and I'd even seen a cast the year before that had been disappointing. This time around, I noticed much improvement.
I'm glad that you saw some improvement this time around! Still have never managed to see this one yet.
I got my favourite, the bowl with beef. N got the cheeseburger pods. I've heard that these aren't on the adult menu anymore, which is a bit disappointing, but there's always the kids' option if you have a cheeseburger pod craving.
I loved the cheeseburger pods a couple of years ago! I hope they bring it back to the adult menu. Just one from the kids' size portion isn't going to cut it!
We were on our way toward Africa when I stopped in my tracks and realized that I wasn't wearing my backpack, and neither was N. My heart started racing. I must have left it in the restaurant! N told me to stay where I was—which was on the corner past Tiffins where you can either take the path toward Pandora or toward Africa—and he would go back to the restaurant and check for it. Fortunately, he found the bag right away with all its contents still inside and brought it back to me speedy quick! Crisis averted!
Man, that causes some anxiety! I'm glad it turned out ok!
While he was doing this, however, a cute little boy, probably 8 or 9 years old came up to me and asked, "'Scuze me, do you work here?" I replied, "No sorry...do you need help?" He nodded and gestured back to some other folks who appeared to be his family. "Yeah," he said, "we're looking for Avatar!" I smiled and pointed him in the right direction, not bothering to delve into a lesson about the name of the Avatar movie vs. the name of the Pandora theme park area.
You just look like a Disney expert.
One of the funniest things she told us was about this one eland on the savanna who thinks he's real hot stuff and likes to show off by making himself a nice grass hat and parading it around the savanna.
That's awesome. I mean Animal Kingdom is hotter than the surface of the sun so gotta give credit for being smart enough to make some personal sun protection.
I hope a nighttime show at Animal Kingdom finally finds its feet before too long.
::yes::
We had been given an anytime FP on our accounts to replace it, but then Navi was up and running again by the time we finished with Savour the Savanna, and we decided to go back and ride.
Great! Nice that it ended up working out so that you could ride.
I had one more priority this evening before leaving the park. I wanted to watch some of the Awakenings on the Tree of Life. I think these little shows are beautiful, and a much-appreciated addition to the nighttime offerings at AK.
I really like that. I prefer it to Rivers of Light, honestly.
 
Omg I would have had a heart attacked too about the backpack! Glad N was able to run back and retrieve it!

So cute about the boy asking if you worked there!

So many beautiful pics from your tour! Looks like a wonderful time!
 
First off, I would have died if I misplaced/lost my bag. That's the worst feeling.
Second, what wonderful pics from your safari!!! The giraffes are so gorgeous!!!
 

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