MousePlanet readers tend to be the “early adopters”
of the Disney world; that is, they are often eager to be among the first
to try any new Disney experience. So it was no surprise that when we announced
that we were looking for readers to join us on one of the first outings
of the new 50th Anniversary guided tour, we had more respondents than
there were spots on the tour.
Shortly after noon on May 5, a dozen MousePlanet readers (some from as
far away as Arizona) and four staff members set off to experience this
new offering. Afterwards, we asked the participants for their comments,
and had them rate the tour on a number of factors. We also asked readers
who were on a different outing of the tour to provide their opinions,
so the ratings would not be based solely on one tour guide.
The tour is offered four times each day, with three different experiences
depending on when you depart. The morning tour promises “priority
entry” to five rides or attractions, while the two afternoon tours
include three rides and conclude with reserved seating for the Parade
of Dreams. The evening group also rides three attractions, and wrap up
at a reserved viewing area for the Remember…Dreams Come True fireworks
show.
The script is organized by Disney decade: 1955-1965, 1965-1975, and so
forth. If you take the first tour of the day, your tour includes a ride
on one attraction from each Disney decade. If you take one of the other
three tours, members of your group draw three decade chips from Sorcerer
Mickey’s hat, and those are the three rides your group experiences. Our
group selected chips representing the last three decades.
Selecting the decades for the tour. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.
The first stop for every tour is a trip through the new 50th Anniversary
exhibit in the Main Street Opera House, including the new film staring
Steve Martin. Depending on the wait for the film to begin, your tour guide
might fill the time by describing some of the exhibits in the lobby, including
the gorgeous scale model of opening-day Disneyland. Our tour guide managed
to attract quite a crowd during her narration with visitors who undoubtedly
thought that she was a show hostess.
As we left the film, several tour support managers met our group and
announced that they had a surprise for us. Due to the crowded conditions
in the park that day, we were going to be the first group to test the
new “tour ears” system, borrowed from Walt Disney World. The
small receivers fit neatly in our pockets, and the earpiece allowed us
to hear our tour guide clearly.
If Disneyland retains nothing else from this 50th anniversary tour, the
tour ears must stay. Cindy, who took the tour the next day, said that
her group also used the devices. “I loved the listening device because
you didn’t need to be standing right next to the tour guide to hear what
she was saying, and it also meant that if the group was walking, the tour
guide could still give out information that could be heard by the entire
group.”
Properly equipped, we headed out to Main Street, where a photographer
met our tour and took a group photo. One of the themes of the tour is
to have cast members and guests recall their memories of Disneyland, and
so our tour guide asked the photographer to relate a special Disneyland
memory. This was a neat bit of interaction, repeated a few times as we
encountered other cast members.
From there, our tour progressed up Main Street. It was during this walk
that one downside to the tour ears materialized. The dynamic of a normal
tour is such that participants are required to pay close attention to,
and stay in the immediate vicinity of, the tour guide. With the handy-dandy
headsets, our group splintered, knowing that we could catch up with the
group later. One member went to stow a bag in a Main Street locker, another
ducked into the women’s restroom.
Another problem is that the directional microphone also picked up odd
bits of conversation from passersby, and was affected by nearby cell phones
and radio signals. Unaccustomed to being on microphone, our guide would
answer a question for one member of the tour, unaware that the rest of
us could not hear the question and did not understand the context of her
reply. To be fair, our guide was completely unfamiliar with using the
system (she was as surprised as we were to learn that our tour was the
first to experiment with it), and many of these issues will surely be
resolved as the tour guides become more familiar with working with the
microphone.
We stopped near Sleeping Beauty Castle, where a photo session with Julie
Andrews was blocking the path. Whatever narration was supposed to happen
at that location was lost and we navigated around the crowd and into Fantasyland,
where we stopped beside Storybook Land. Our tour guide brought out a small
photo album that contained photos of her first trip to Disneyland, as
well as her first Disneyland job working in Fantasyland attractions—including
Storybook Land. Julie noted that she enjoyed the way the scrapbook was
incorporated into the tour, but said “I felt like there was a lot
of cool info on the Canal Boats of World to Storybook Land transformation
that we didn’t even cover.”
Our next stop was outside Big Thunder Mountain, where we entered the
Fastpass return line to board the trains. Several members of our group
had expected that we would use the ride’s exit instead, and noted that
the 20-minute wait was a large chunk of the tour time. If Disney continues
to use the “tour ears,” this would be an ideal time for the
guide to discuss the history of Frontierland, and the rides that preceded
Big thunder Mountain.
The tour guide shares personal photos from past jobs at Disneyland. Photo by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix.
After Big Thunder Mountain, the group headed to New Orleans Square, where
the discussion turned to animatronic figures. Our next selected attraction
was Splash Mountain, but a third of the group decided they did not want
to get wet and opted to stay behind. Staff member Shoshana Lewin said,
“I wish we could — as a consensus — have said which ride of the
five we wanted to do. I’m sure most people would have traded Splash for
Storybook or Pirates.”
Once the participants regrouped, we trekked over to the New Orleans Square
train station for the trip to Tomorrowland. During the wait for the train,
our guide asked us to share our favorite Disneyland memory, which was
a nice way for the group to pass the time. Other tour groups have reported
that they did this at the beginning of their tour, which served to break
the ice before the tour started.
The trip to Tomorrowland is another time when the tour ears might be
used to provide additional narration about the history of the lands and
attractions. Once we landed in Tomorrowland, we made a beeline to ride
the new Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, our third and final attraction.
Unfortunately Zurg must have won that round, because the ride stopped
just as most of our group had boarded their ride vehicles. By the time
we were evacuated there was no time to wait for the attraction to be restarted,
so the tour support staff whisked us through a secret back door and escorted
the group to our reserved seats for the Parade of Dreams.
For several members of the group, the entire $55 price tag was justified
by those chairs alone. Waiting on each was a snack box filled with bottled
water, a bag of chips, a chocolate chip cookie and a red apple printed
with a drawing of Snow White. [The apples are usually sold outside the
Fantasyland Theatre, where the Snow White musical is presented.]
While we ate and waited for the parade to begin, our tour guide passed
around a large scrapbook and asked us to sign it. In the center of the
page was a copy of our group photo, taken earlier on Main Street—each
tour participant received a copy of that photo to take home.
The reserved parade seating for this tour was along Matterhorn Way, near
the Fantasyland restrooms. This is the location of two show stops, so
our group got to see the “Dream of Enchantment” Beauty and
the Beast, and “Dream of Adventure” Lion King floats.
[Note: If you are looking for a good parade viewing spot without paying
for the tour, look for the reserved seating area, and sit next to it.
Just be sure to sit on the side the parade is traveling from, so you don’t
need to look over the chairs to see the parade come down the route.]
As the parade ended, we thanked our tour guide—and the tour support
crew who had rescued us from Zurg—and many headed back to Tomorrowland
to see if the Buzz attraction was open again. Two of the gifts that are
included with the tour—a color replica of an A – E Ticket book
and a commemorative pin—were not ready when we took our tour, and
we were promised that they would be mailed to us. We’ve heard that the
pin is a replica of the lamp that is visible in the window of Walt’s apartment
above the Main Street fire station, and that it will actually light up.
One member of the tour noted that this souvenir would be even more meaningful
if our guide had explained the history behind that lamp.
Ratings: We asked our reviewers to rate the tour on five factors, using
a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best). We averaged their scores to arrive at
these ratings:
- Tour content/script: 3.5
- Bonus value: Did you feel that you got to see or do things
that you could not see or do without taking the tour? 3 - Tour guide: 3.5
- Tour support: The “other” people around the tour:
4.5 - Tour price: Was the price too high, too low, just right for
the length and content? 4 - Overall tour experience: 4
We also asked whether the reviewers would recommend the tour. While two
respondents said that they could not recommend the tour until the guides
have had a chance to learn more of the script, most respondents said that
they would recommend the tour, especially to visitors who are not very
familiar with Disneyland or who do not visit the park very frequently.
Julie said, “I felt the tour content on the Walk in Walt’s footsteps
tour more interesting, however I found this tour more interesting than
the holiday tour.” She added that she was happy to see the new 50th
anniversary film, but added, “I felt like that could have been done
on my own. I would have liked to spend more time with exhibits and learning
information about them.”
Oleg believes that the tour will probably have more value to those who
don’t visit the park as often.
Christi said, “I would have loved more insider and little-known
facts, but for the regular guest it was great!”
Victoria said, “We feel that we as a group got way more out of the
park than probably anyone did that day seeing as how crowded as it was.”
Kathryn agreed. “With it being such a busy day, we really got to
enjoy the three rides and the parade,” she said.
For Lori Beth, “the advantage
is being able to go on rides/see the movie without much of a wait. I learned
stuff I didn’t know, but everything else I could have done myself.”
The 3 1/2 hour tour is $55, and runs four times each day. Each tour can
accommodate up to 16 guests. Depending on the time of day, the tour includes
the following elements:
- Priority Boarding for for attractions: Five for the first tour, and
three for the second, third, and fourth tours
- Tour pin
- An illustrated replica of an A–E ticket book
- Commemorative photo
- Snack
- Priority seating to the Parade of Dreams (for the second and third
tours) or Remember… Dreams Come True fireworks for the fourth
tour of the day
Call (714) 781–4400 to make your reservation.
MousePlanet thanks the readers who joined us on this outing, and those
who took the time to share their reviews.
