Perhaps I'll round off my TR with a few highlights as I should have kept up with writing this on a day to day basis, but I was having too much fun to sit and record it all.
After taking the Undiscovered Futureworld tour last year (which I can heartily recommend if you're a fan of Epcot) I wanted to do another, so it came down to a choice of Backstage Magic (which is ridiculously expensive) or Keys to the Kingdom.
So KttK is was, and as fate turned out we had booked the same day as
@Longers, although not the same time as she had grabbed an earlier time than us. Our guide met us at the Town Hall, and took us on an informative trip down Main Street, pointing out all the detailing on the windows and the Disney Jail where all the ticket fraudsters end up, ha! We went backstage right next to Splash Mountain, yep right behind that log gate. What was there? Lots of warehouse type buildings painted in the drab 'Go away' green as its called. We held our noses as we passed the refuse processing centre, that wasn't too pleasant but across the road was a large open building with a canopy which holds all of the current parade floats. The Move it, Shake it vehicles sat under the canopy with the panels open exposing the many batteries that power them. Inside was a lot more interesting, as thats where the Main Street Electrical Parade floats were. I have to say that they are a lot less impressive in the daytime but still very interesting. I would have liked to have sat in one of the turtles or snails to see actually how much the driver can see, but alas.
Also parade related was a large red portable type building sat outside which contained the costumes for the toy soldiers in the MVMCP parade. We were told that once the parade reaches backstage, a flurry of activity commences where all the able bodied characters like the princesses jump down from their perches and help strip the poor performers out of their very restrictive costumes as they are totally unable to do it themselves. That must be a sight to see.]
From here we walked over to the back of SM to see the huge reservoir that holds the water for the ride. It can be pumped out in 45 minutes if repairs are necessary, but unfortunately it takes 2 and a half hours to get it back in again. The reservoir reaches 21 feet deep once the ride has been drained, there's that amount of water in it.
If you are behind Main Street you can actually walk from the Town Hall to the Jungle cruise in about 30 seconds, its so close. On stage will probably take you 15 minutes some days.
We got direct walk ons to Haunted Mansion and the Jingle Cruise which saved a lot of queuing. But finally we were taken down below into the depths of the Magic Kingdom, yes the famed Utilidors. Depending on where you are down there, the corridor is painted to match the area above so that allows you to orient yourself as I imagine its fairly easy to get lost. Its quite utilitarian and industrial, but still fascinating to see, including the pin trading station where CMs can ditch all the rubbish pins that they end up with after a days shift in the park, which all get recycled by the way.
I waved an enthusiastic hello to
@Longers, who seemed to be having as much of a blast as me.Of all the places we could cross paths, the Utilidors was a good'un.
I'd estimate we spent approximately an hour down there and walked in a complete loop ending up where we started.
There was a lot to see and take in on the tour, but not one to take if you want to preserve the 'Disney Magic', as it totally blows it away. But if you're interested in seeing how the park functions and what goes on behind the scene then thats the tour for you. It got a definite TB4244 thumbs up.
