Disney's The Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour - Any info?

[wdwhoneymooner]

Anyone out there who has experienced the Train tour @ MK? Our son loves trains and anything related to trains and I was wondering if anyone can offer their opinions on their experiences for this tour. Thanks much.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

On this site you have the following:
http://reviews.wdwmagic.com//censur...f8b6590184f261fae1e&cmd=browse&category_id=37

From allearsnet:
http://www.allearsnet.com/btp/tours.htm#rr

Here are some other links with folks you can follow up with:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=75507&highlight=Trains+tour
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showpost.php?p=1567013&postcount=11

Hopefully some of the folks will weigh in, if not, you have some names you can PM for specific info.

I haven't taken this tour (yet) but all of the others have been great, so I expect this to be no different, particularly for a train enthusiast.

 

[brkgnews]

I had a great time on the tour, even though I'm not that into trains. We had Jack as the tour guide (I believe he said he only does it on Thursdays) -- he was one of the "founders" of the tour and really puts on an awesome show. The man's a pure genious when it comes to the intertwined history of WDW and Trains.

 

[darthjohnny]

Does anyone know if you also see the monorail trains on the tour. If you don't do you go into the same barn that holds both the steam trains and the monorails?

 

[Mr. Toad]

My dad and I went on this tour last year and we both loved it. I would definately recommend it particularly if you like trains.

We did not see the monorails (the tour is about the steam trains) but we did get to go see the roundhouse where the trains are kept and get inside the cab of one of the trains.

It was also interesting to be inside the Magic Kingdom that early. They were still getting the park ready for the day so there were a lot of employees making Main Street "perfect" before the guests arrived. We even saw a pickup truck driving around on Main Street which looked very odd.

 

[wdwhoneymooner]

Thanks very much for the feedback, y'all. We are seriously thinking of doing this on our next trip down in Nov/Dec.

 

[mikeymouse]

*SPOILER ALERT*

this site has pics of the entire tour, but don't want to ruin it for ya.

http://www.burnsland.com/sdra/wdw_tour.html

 

[pinkrose]

We're doing this tour on our Nov/Dec trip. My son loves trains and since this is his b'day trip, I thought it would be a cool thing to do.

 

[darthjohnny]

It sounds cool. I think this will be the next tour I will go on. I have been on the Keys to the Kingdom and the UnDISCOVERed Future World Tours before.

 

[jdlilfan]

Why dont they have a tour for the Monorails? I could see that being a very popular tour like the steam train tour.

 

[brkgnews]

We're doing this tour on our Nov/Dec trip. My son loves trains and since this is his b'day trip, I thought it would be a cool thing to do.

Check on age restrictions for the tour; since it goes "backstage," there's probably a "must be 16" limit on it.

As for why no monorail tour, I'm not sure. The only thing I can think of is that the monorails don't have nearly as rich of a history when it comes to Walt. Walt grew up fascinated by trains; he was a news butcher on the steam trains; Mickey was "born" on a train; etc.

As a matter of fact, his instructions for the original concept sketch of Disneyland were something to the effect of "I just want it to be like nothing else in the world; and it should be encircled by a train."

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Luckily, this is one of the tours that can include younger folks:

Guests must be at least 10 years old to attend.

I think the other two are "Behind the Seeds" and "Living Seas AquaTour". You do go backstage...but in a different way than with something like "Keys to the Kingdom".

 

[ThumpersThought]

Why dont they have a tour for the Monorails? I could see that being a very popular tour like the steam train tour.

It's a bit harder with the Monorails. The shop where the trains are kept, well, you're walking next to potentially live 600 volt beams (what's 13 feet above your head at the TTC is elbow height in shop). Beyond that, you have to climb ladders to get into the trains while in shop. And, finally, for liability and safety reasons, we don't travel with guests across switches.

All that said, it would be great to have a "behind the workings" type tour of the monorails -- but due to the enclosed nature of a monorail train, it would be a lot harder to have [more than four] guests experience the kinds of things you do on the steam tour. Ask for the front of the monorail when entering any platform -- your own free mini-tour!


Oh, and I heartily endorse the steam tour. It was my tour guide (whose name I've long since forgotten) that convinced me to move to Florida and work for Disney. His quote: "One quarter the pay, four times the fun."

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Also, I think while the monorails have a close historical relationship with Disney, they don't have the depth of history as the steam trains have with Walt.

 

[pinkrose]

Check on age restrictions for the tour; since it goes "backstage," there's probably a "must be 16" limit on it.

As for why no monorail tour, I'm not sure. The only thing I can think of is that the monorails don't have nearly as rich of a history when it comes to Walt. Walt grew up fascinated by trains; he was a news butcher on the steam trains; Mickey was "born" on a train; etc.

As a matter of fact, his instructions for the original concept sketch of Disneyland were something to the effect of "I just want it to be like nothing else in the world; and it should be encircled by a train."

The age limit is 10yrs old (this is why my 9 yr old daughter won't be doing it). My son will be turning 12. I checked before booking it a couple of months ago. Thanks! :wave:

 

[jdlilfan]

Makes plenty of sense. I just didn't know. I am awaiting my monorail history dvd from extinct attractions. Maybe I can learn something neato. As for riding up front, I am definately going to wait for a turn up front hopefully on one of the new touch screen display equiped mono's. I think I am going back for a day or two at WDW in Feb. I think the train tour would be fascinating also. Anything that has wheels, wings, or rotors and im there!

 

[C&D]

We went to the Behind the Scenes Train tour last year and had a blast. The CM's are very passionate about their trains and the tour guide we had was terrific. I highly recommend this tour, especially if you appreciate trains and or mechanical systems. The roundhouse part of the tour is very well done and the history of the train system is also fascinating. Have fun if you decide to do the tour.

 

[tigger1968]

My wife surprised me with the tour on a birthday trip. I'm a monorail fanatic, so I wasn't really into trains at the time, but merely viewed it as a way to get backstage near the monorail barn. :lookaroun However, the tour is fascinating, and well worth the time. You get to be in the park ahead of opening, and for me, a personal highlight was seeing monorails pulling out of the barn and being switched to the main beams for the day. Total geekfest for me! And since it was my birthday, I got to be the guest conductor for the test run around the park that day. They give a great deal of history about Walt and his love of trains, and a great deal of detail on the trains they have at WDW.

We asked about a monorail tour, and we told basically the same thing, that the liabilities involved were too high right now. Also, apparently one thing preventing it, so we were told, is that the entire upper level of the roundhouse, the monorail barn, would have to be brought into ADA compliance in order to allow guests up there. Not sure of the validity of that, but seems reasonable. Our guide, who's name has escaped me, wrote the script for the tour, so he lives and breathes this stuff...

All in all, I can't say enough good things about this tour....

 

[brkgnews]

Liability is also the reason that, to actually go into the roundhouse itself, you have to remain seated on the train car itself. Guests cannot walk around in the there due to large puddles of oil and large gaping holes in the floor.