I've taken Backstage Magic. That "is" worth $200. You start at Epcot, see backstage at American Adventure. You then move onto the casting building where you see cast members getting ready for their day. More importantly, you see how much the cast appreciates where they work. You then move onto facilities on WDW property that are going to change based on time of year. I saw the floral operations. You then move on to wardrobe at DHS. The same wardrobe you see while on the backstage tram tour. This time, you're up close an personal with the people who make the various costumes for all resort operations. Lunch usually follows, and is usually served family style. The restaurant will probably be a sit down table service, but it is included in your ticket price. That alone is probably worth $30 or greater. Then you board a bus headed over to the shops behind the Magic Kingdom. You tour the holiday shop where they keep all of those decorations, its an entire warehouse. You also visit another warehouse where they keep a ton of props we've all probably never seen. They even have a scale model of the castle they can assemble in a ballroom if desired. Whatever the client wants, they get. Moving onto the engineering and manufacturing areas, you see how they create just about everything WDW needs right on site. Engineering is great, as you can see animatronics being repaired if you're lucky. Anything may be going on backstage, and your tour guide will determine if it is safe to enter some of these workplaces, as some would require hard hats and other protective gear. Finally, the tour ends with you entering the Magic Kingdom from backstage, exploring the utilidoors extensively, and a very detailed `tour of mainstreet.
When you come out of the utilidoors, the tour guide has likely timed the exit with the start of the 3:00 PM parade. The one thing that I remember being asked was if seeing everything I saw ruined the magic. BUt as the parade passed, I only had a greater appreciation of the hard work and massive scale in which WDW operates on a daily basis. This tour has a personal touch, as your group will be very small. You will get personal time with your tour guide for sure. He or she is also going to be a bit more willing to show you requested items. We wanted to see where the utilidoor dips under the river, and they took us there. We learned how quickly you really can walk from Tomorrowland to Mainstreet USA. So worth it. This tour is not for kids, and also doesn't require park tickets. You get a very nice surprise at the end of the tour. I'll leave that one up to you to discover.
