New member here, Going with family in May 2006 and wondering if anyone would suggest going on the utilidor tours? I've read both negative and positive about them. Havent been to wdw in 15 years. But said i would take that tour if I returned. Please help
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Utilidor Tours?
- Thread starter chefmstobey
- Start date
And hello to you too!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: thanks
Good to be here!
Good to be here!
tirian
Well-Known Member
Welcome!
The Keys to the Kingdom tour will take you into some of the Utilidor, mostly the area up at the front of Main Street (the cleanest area of the tunnel!). Since you can't see all of the Utilidor, I'll describe some of it to you--well, I'll describe how they look since that won't get me into trouble.
Most of the tunnels are dark and damp, with condensation (commonly referred to as "tunnel juice") dripping off of pipes. Every so often, when trash is emptied into certain bins, a vacuum system sucks the garbage to one location, and you can hear it rattling down another system of pipes. In each hallway, the bottom half of the wall is painted to correspond to the land above. MS' tunnels are burgandy, AL's are green, Fr.L's are orange, LS' are blue, FL's are pink, and TL's are purple. Although TT doesn't have a tunnel system, some of the entertainment area is considered to be TT and has red walls. The tunnel system is essentially a big circle around the park, with one long, rust-colored hallway shooting straight from FL to MS. People walk all over the place and little Pargo carts speed through the tunnels, beeping every time they turn a corner. --whew!-- 
Although the tour only shows you a smidgen of the vast tunnels (you see the area under MS and the computers), it's the only way you'll see the Utilidors without working for Disney.
Tangent: Epcot has a small tunnel system in Future World. Unlike the MK's, it's spacious, clean, and (you guessed it) pink concrete.
The Keys to the Kingdom tour will take you into some of the Utilidor, mostly the area up at the front of Main Street (the cleanest area of the tunnel!). Since you can't see all of the Utilidor, I'll describe some of it to you--well, I'll describe how they look since that won't get me into trouble.
Most of the tunnels are dark and damp, with condensation (commonly referred to as "tunnel juice") dripping off of pipes. Every so often, when trash is emptied into certain bins, a vacuum system sucks the garbage to one location, and you can hear it rattling down another system of pipes. In each hallway, the bottom half of the wall is painted to correspond to the land above. MS' tunnels are burgandy, AL's are green, Fr.L's are orange, LS' are blue, FL's are pink, and TL's are purple. Although TT doesn't have a tunnel system, some of the entertainment area is considered to be TT and has red walls. The tunnel system is essentially a big circle around the park, with one long, rust-colored hallway shooting straight from FL to MS. People walk all over the place and little Pargo carts speed through the tunnels, beeping every time they turn a corner. --whew!-- Although the tour only shows you a smidgen of the vast tunnels (you see the area under MS and the computers), it's the only way you'll see the Utilidors without working for Disney.
Tangent: Epcot has a small tunnel system in Future World. Unlike the MK's, it's spacious, clean, and (you guessed it) pink concrete.
WDWRLD
Active Member
Te KTK tour is great, however I wouldnt recomend it to first time visitors for the simple fact that it kinda some of the magical ways things are done that you wouldnt even notice like the sludge floating on the water that is recirculated in Spash. Also the Spectro floats, you will look at the parade diffrently after you see the floats up close. But on the other hand for someone who has been a few times its very interesting to see the backstage areas, wardrobe, the dak room, the wig shop, and last but not least where all your money that you spend is taken away at by the brinks truck. The first time I went down there was when I was 13 and we on the wonders of walt disney world program and they took us places that you dont go on the KTK tour, they showed us where tink lands at night and took us to the fire station behind fantasyland where the fireworks are launched. I dont want to detour you but IMO save the tour for after you have been a few times.
Enderikari
Well-Known Member
Laura22 said:
Thanks! I went on the same tour that you did, and believe me, I had a great time. Y'all really made the tour. The Keys to the Kingdom tour was a fun time, but I didn't go into as much of the tunnels as I would have liked. It was more of a history/heritage tour that used backstage to emphasize how hard cast members worked. I liked the bits about Roy Disney, especially talking about him in the tunnel (there's some pictures down there to help visualize history).
mkepcotmgmak
Well-Known Member
chefmstobey said:
Welcome to the boards! The Keys to the Kingdom Tour is great, and when I did it before I became a CM, we toured the Utiladors through Fantasyland, Main Street, Adventureland and the backstage areas behind Splash Mountain (including the parade warehouses... (got to see the SADCT parade floats before they were ever used!) and behind iasw and haunted mansion! i def. recommend taking the tour!
Enderikari
Well-Known Member
Brian Skinner said:
We didn't go up there either, was told it was unsafe for that large of a group to be up there (it did look pretty high). but our guide described the process of Tinkerbell's Flight pretty thoroughly, and he told it through bad jokes (which he used throughout the tour).... In other words, tour fun... bad jokes... not so fun.
PintoColvig
Active Member
mkepcotmgmak said:
I took the Keys tour in July but we didn't get to go behind IASW or HM. It was still worth doing and I enjoyed it immensely. My one disappointment: I had hoped to get a behind the scenes look at some of the attractions (ie., going behind the scenes at HM and learning some of the secrets of the special effects). Nevertheless, I had a blast and hope to take other tours in the future.
DisneyFanJen
Member
I didn't do KTK but I did do the Backstage Magic Tour this time around (in fact we did several tours, the Segway tour, Behind the Seeds, this was a toury sort of trip). For those who don't know (yeah, like that's likely!) it covers three of the four parks as well as other backstage areas (Backstage Magic doesn't go to AK). It takes up most of your day but is really worth it.
I loved the tour but wouldn't recoment it to first timers who are still getting used to the magic. However being a WDW vet I found it enhanced the magic, rather than spoiling it. I appreciate what you CMs go through so much more now.
We got to go to lots of Backstage Areas like the Florists, the Holiday Dept (not the right name) where they keep the Christmas stuff, which was great in Jan as everything was out where you could see it. We even got to go to the workshops, those guys had the longest "Days without Accident" counter I've ever seen. Kudos.
Absolutely loved every minute, and from now on EPCOT will mean to me:
Every Paycheck Comes On Thursdays. (Followed by the refrain of unless you use direct payment!) :lol:
I loved the tour but wouldn't recoment it to first timers who are still getting used to the magic. However being a WDW vet I found it enhanced the magic, rather than spoiling it. I appreciate what you CMs go through so much more now.
We got to go to lots of Backstage Areas like the Florists, the Holiday Dept (not the right name) where they keep the Christmas stuff, which was great in Jan as everything was out where you could see it. We even got to go to the workshops, those guys had the longest "Days without Accident" counter I've ever seen. Kudos.
Absolutely loved every minute, and from now on EPCOT will mean to me:
Every Paycheck Comes On Thursdays. (Followed by the refrain of unless you use direct payment!) :lol:
wannabeBelle
Well-Known Member
I absolutely agree with everyone else here. Save the tour thing until you have done Disney a few times. They are usually pretty time consuming. I have done Keys to the Kingdom as well and think it is a great tour, but note that children under 16 arent permitted on this tour at all, as they want to preserve the Magic!!!! Have a great time!!! Belle
makonyy15
Member
Hello All,
Great advice on here about the Keys to the Kingdom Tour! I've been to WDW 18-20 times, and living in Upstate NY and only being 17 i see that as quite the accomplishment. :king: Well anyway, I begged to go on the tour last year, and my parents said it 'wasn't fair' since my sister was only 14 and was unable to go on the tour, so i shouldn't either. Well I have a feeling that the situation may be different this year since i'm getting ready to go to college and i tend to get a little more these days :hammer: Well anyway, we're going down to the world in 56 days, 11 hours, and 51 minutes,:sohappy: for 10 days, with 2 at universal only because we didn't have enough points for a 10 day boardwalk villa 2 br villa with a lagoon view becausing we've borrowed so many points :lol:
Well anyway, my question is, how far in advance would you book spots on this tour for 2 people? I'm sorry if this has been posted before, I just remembered it's not posted in Birnbaum's seeing we've gotten it for the past 15 years!( No it's not the only guidebook we read, that's where WDWMAGIC comes in!). Thanks for all your help!
Great advice on here about the Keys to the Kingdom Tour! I've been to WDW 18-20 times, and living in Upstate NY and only being 17 i see that as quite the accomplishment. :king: Well anyway, I begged to go on the tour last year, and my parents said it 'wasn't fair' since my sister was only 14 and was unable to go on the tour, so i shouldn't either. Well I have a feeling that the situation may be different this year since i'm getting ready to go to college and i tend to get a little more these days :hammer: Well anyway, we're going down to the world in 56 days, 11 hours, and 51 minutes,:sohappy: for 10 days, with 2 at universal only because we didn't have enough points for a 10 day boardwalk villa 2 br villa with a lagoon view becausing we've borrowed so many points :lol:
Well anyway, my question is, how far in advance would you book spots on this tour for 2 people? I'm sorry if this has been posted before, I just remembered it's not posted in Birnbaum's seeing we've gotten it for the past 15 years!( No it's not the only guidebook we read, that's where WDWMAGIC comes in!). Thanks for all your help!
worldshwcasefan
New Member
chefmstobey said:
I thought you might like these pictures
http://www.disneypix.com/MagicKingdom/Utilidor/Utilidor4.htm
