Florida Guide > Disney General
Backstage Magic
This is a great backstage tour for Disney fans. It lasts for seven hours and I believe every tour is slightly different. On ours we traveled to Epcot, Hollywood Studios costume shop, general costume shop, floral department, baskets department, MK parade garage, lunch at the Wilderness Lodge and ended up watching the parade at magic Kingdom.
If you are a Disney Visa cardholder you will get a 20% discount off the price of the tour.
It was highly informative and a good choice for frequent park visitors who are interested in how the magic is created from an operational point of view. Be prepared for lots of walking. However I don’t think it would be so suitable for first time visitors who have yet to experience the vastness of the Disney enterprises.
We had a great tour guide who had been obviously working at Disney for many years. We started at Epcot and the bus took us back stage to the American Experience area. We went in at the back of the theatre and found ourselves standing next to Mark Twain and his shot glass from the show. Here you see all the workings in place and just how huge it really is. You stop and see other Epcot areas and are told lots of facts and tidbits.
At Hollywood Studios (it was then known as MGM Studios) we went to the costuming areas both for Design and actual Sewing and Assembly areas. We even met one of the Head Designers who took over explaining the process from start to finish which we found very interesting. We saw the actual software renderings for some new character chef hats, how many pieces there are and how they get sent on the seamstresses.
We had lunch here at Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge. We really enjoyed it as we had had an early start. It was an all you can eat meal of ribs, chicken, sausage, potatoes, corn bread, coleslaw and soft drinks.
You get to visit the floral area and we walked the refrigerator and saw the assembly area. One of the staff was putting together numerous pillows with tiara’ s and crystal slippers for those popping the question to that lucky other person.
Eventually you tour the workshops and were quite surprised at the things in for rehab as well as lot of things being created in the costuming and workshop areas. In here they also make unique retirement pieces for staff members.
We were amazed at the amount of work going on in the Holiday shop area and apparently this goes on all year round.
Our day ended with our tour guide taking us to a prime parade viewing location near the main entrance of the MK. This had not been reserved for us but is a place that people do not usually stand. I will not give the location away in case it gets too crowded!
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