Disney Keys To The Kingdom Tour
Disney Travel || Tags: Disney ||As of August 2021 The Keys To The Kingdom Tour is still unavailable
Tours at Disney are a fantastic way to experience the parks in a whole different way. The Keys to the Kingdom tour was so fun for this Disney nerd to learn more about Magic Kingdom, Disney and Walt himself. If you’re a Disney history lover who wants to go behind the scenes then The Keys To The Kingdom tour is for you!
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Keys To The Kingdom Cost & Details
The Keys to the Kingdom tour takes place in the Magic Kingdom, and you need a theme park ticket in order to do the tour.
The cost of the tour is $99USD. There are usually 5 start times: 8, 8:30, 9, 9:30, and 10am, although sometimes it is only offered at 8 and 8:30. You must call Disney Reservations to book the tour, it is not available for booking online.
The Keys to the Kingdom tour is adults only, because you will get to go backstage, or behind the scenes. You must be 16 years old to go on the tour.
The tour will last approximately 5 hours and lunch is included – more on that part later!
For more information, check out the Disney Website!
Related: Planning An Adults Only Trip To Disney World!
Why It’s Called Keys To The Kingdom
You might be wondering why it’s even called the Keys To The Kingdom, and it’s not because they give you a key! Disney believes there are 4 keys to a great guest experience; Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency. This tour aims to show you how all 4 of these keys work together so that you have the best guest experience possible.
Safety is so important to Disney that it is the first key, however you might not ever see it with your own eyes.
Courtesy makes sure the Cast Members treat you with respect and always help out where needed.
Show is the most obvious to us the guest, because it is what we see while we are in the park: the sights, sounds and smells that immerse us in whatever land we are in.
Efficiency is obvious when you visit the utilidors to see how cast members (and food, and merchandise, etc.) move throughout the park.
Keys To The Kingdom Tour Review
My first tip is to book the first tour possible. Booking at 8am tour means you will likely get into the park a little earlier than most people (depending on the schedule for Extra Magic Hours or Early Morning Magic that day). You may be able to get some photos in front of the castle will less people in your way!
Check in for the tour will be at The Town Square Theatre and you must check in 15 minutes prior to your tour start time. You will be given a name tag, a headset so you can hear your guide, and you will be able to choose what you would like for lunch. We had about 20-25 people on our tour, so the group size wasn’t too big! Once you’re all ready you head out on the tour!
The rides and behind the scenes stops may be different for every tour depending on the day, crowd levels and the tour guide. I’ll share some of the places we stopped along the way:
We started our tour by heading down Main Street USA. Most people run down this street to get to the castle and all the exciting lands and rides that lay beyond. We spent a good amount of time talking about Walt’s dream and how important Main Street USA was to him. The use of perspective to make the castle appear larger, and the “drawing back of the curtain” by not being able to see the castle upon immediately entering the park.
One of the things that draws me to Disney is all the hidden details that you can miss by simply hurrying to your next FastPass. Details are everywhere, and our guide did a great job of pointing out Magic Kingdom’s secrets while we took the tour. For example the windows on the second floor of the buildings of Main Street USA may just look made up, but the names mean something in Disney history. We especially liked M.T. Lott – which is the fake name Disney used when buying property in Florida to avoid giving away his true purpose for the land. My husband liked the pun so much we made a T-shirt with the saying on it!
Walt’s window faces the castle so he can always see his dream come to life.
Keys To The Kingdom Rides
You will get the chance to experience some rides at Magic Kingdom in a whole new way. The rides may change but they seem to stick to the same ones most times.
The Enchanted Tiki Room
Not technically a ride but a show, I’m a big fan of the Tiki Room. It opened in 1963 and was the first attraction to use Audio-animatronics. Fun Fact: Walt wanted the Tiki Room to be a dinner theatre, can you imagine hearing The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room multiple times while eating? Me either.
The Jungle Cruise
The next ride we checked out was The Jungle Cruise. Except this time our skipper was our tour guide, and it was a lot less punny. She explained to us the history of the ride (Walt wanted real animals!) and it was fun to see the ride from a different perspective.
Haunted Mansion
I was so excited to go on Haunted Mansion as part of this tour. It is one of my favorite rides and I already knew a lot about the history of the Haunted Mansion because of a book I read, but there’s always something new to learn. One of the most exciting parts was we got to get on the ride through the “servants quarters” aka the cast member area. You’ll have to go on the tour and see it for yourself!
Keys To The Kingdom Tour Lunch
For lunch we stopped at Tomorrowland Terrace, although the location seems to change and it is sometimes Columbia Harbour House or Pecos Bills. When you check in at the Town Square Theatre they will have a menu and you will select what you would like for lunch. At some point during your tour you will stop to eat, and the restaurant will have tables reserved for you. Your name will be with your meal as well as a little gift for doing the tour, we got pins! You won’t have too much time to eat, since what you really want to get back to is the tour.
Related: Eating At Disney World With Food Allergies
Magic Kingdom Behind The Scenes
Here is the reason most people book the tour: you get to go backstage and “underground” in the Magic Kingdom! Of course we aren’t allowed to take any photos backstage, so you’ll have to use your imagination or see it for yourself. The first stop we made backstage was the parade float area, where we got to see some of the parade floats, including ones from special parades like the Christmas one. To my delight we also got to see some parade dancers practicing, I would have loved to join them!
Check out the Christmas Parade!
The second backstage area is the famous utilidors – that’s utility corridors – and they are the “underground” part of the Magic Kingdom. Fun fact: they aren’t actually underground, the castle is technically on level 2! When the park was built they couldn’t dig out because of water, so they built up instead. You might notice a slight incline when you walk up Main St USA , and this is why. The Utilidors, while they aren’t pretty are such an urban legend now they definitely are interesting. We saw a costume room, and got to see how cast members get from one area of the park to another without breaking the illusion. You can’t have a Tomorrowland cast member walking through Fantasyland! The utilidors have everything from waste removal to costuming to cast member cafeteria to warehouses. There are also many photos of Walt and other historical photos from Disney, including one of that horrible cake overlay during the 25th anniversary of Magic Kingdom! For someone who loves Disney history it was a dream come true.
Final Thoughts
I love taking any Disney tours, they are always informative and you get to experience the park in a new way. Have you ever taken a tour at Disney? Let us know how it was!
Read our review of the Caring For Giants Tour at Animal Kingdom!
7 responses to “Disney Keys To The Kingdom Tour”
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I REALLY want to do this. I did something similar at Disneyland, and it was amazing.
We loved doing KTTK last year. It was such a fun add-on to our adults only trip!
This is a bucket list experience for my family. Great review! Now I want to do it more then ever. 🙂
I’m dying to try this tour! I did Disneyland’s equivalent: Walk in Walt’s Footsteps. I absolutely loved it.
This tour is one that I would like to do. Being they will not allow folks under sixteen to participate, though, it might be a fe years before we consider it. It is too bad that they do not let parents decide if their child is old enough.
This is on my Disney bucket list!
so much fun!!