Caring for Giants/Behind the Seeds Tours

Elephantay

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
We are interested in these tours and I'm looking for feedback~
Worth it? Fun?
Two adults and two teen boys- one of which who loves all animals and the LwtL boat ride.
I love elephants and will do it regardless but I'm thinking about all of us doing together.
Thanks
 
Did Caring for Giants in December and really enjoyed it. You don't get super close to the elephants but it was lovely to have some quiet time to stand and watch them and ask questions of the Guides.

It been many years since doing Behind the Seeds but have positive memories of it. Anyone who loves LwtL will enjoy it it, but there's a lot of standing around and listening so others maybe not so much.
 
I've taken both and enjoyed both, but loved Caring for Giants more. I got a lot more concrete information during Giants. All the elephants were close by, and baby Stella spent the entire time playing in the water with a log, which was adorable to see up close. However there is no guarantee that you will see the elephants during Giants, as they could decide to stand elsewhere.
 
I've done Caring for Giants twice now--once with DH, once with my sister--and it was wonderful both times. I highly recommend it. The guides are excellent and the elephants are fun to see so close.

I've also done Behind the Seeds, although many years ago, at least 15, maybe more. At the time I did it, the first part of the tour was focused on insects, including at least some video footage and perhaps even an actual insect or two. I don't know because I didn't look. So the entire first maybe 5 minutes of the tour was lost on me. The guide wasn't amused by my insect phobia, but if I'd only been warned ahead of time I never would've taken the tour. The rest was interesting, though. Just a heads-up in case anyone in your party doesn't want to look at insects for even a minute or two.
 


My husband and I did Caring for Giants last June and we both thought it was a great tour. Worth the cost for sure. I LOVE elephants so it was so cool to see them playing. Baby Stella was running around. As someone else said, you don't get up close to them, but you do get to go behind the scenes and see them from a different perspective. You get to talk to several very well versed and knowledgeable guides and we got some great information.
 
I've done both tours twice. My first Behind the Seeds was in the late 80s. However, I did it again Nov 2017 and then Caring for Giants Nov 2017 and again this past week. Both are good and very reasonably priced. If you have the opportunity, do both! There is an AP and DVC discount. There was no insect discussion on my recent tour.
 
I've done Caring for Giants twice now--once with DH, once with my sister--and it was wonderful both times. I highly recommend it. The guides are excellent and the elephants are fun to see so close.

I've also done Behind the Seeds, although many years ago, at least 15, maybe more. At the time I did it, the first part of the tour was focused on insects, including at least some video footage and perhaps even an actual insect or two. I don't know because I didn't look. So the entire first maybe 5 minutes of the tour was lost on me. The guide wasn't amused by my insect phobia, but if I'd only been warned ahead of time I never would've taken the tour. The rest was interesting, though. Just a heads-up in case anyone in your party doesn't want to look at insects for even a minute or two.
Me!
Thanks for the heads up!
 


Caring for Giants is definitely worth it! Here is a pointer to our experience:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/caring-for-giants-tour.3664524/

With a couple of pictures in the next post.

DW and I did Behind the Seeds many years ago and liked it. But then we are gardeners and my wife had a greenhouse so we enjoyed finding out more about "behind the seeds". I don't know if the tour has changed over the years.
 
We’ve done both in the past year, and we enjoyed both, but we preferred Behind the Seeds. Caring for Giants was fine, but we didn’t get a very good view of the elephants at all during our tour. The CM who spoke during our tour was very polite and fairly knowledgeable, we just weren’t wowed overall. OTOH, our entire group loved BTS. We had an amazing tour guide, which certainly helped. It was just really cool to see and learn about all the plants up close, and to see the backstage areas.

You can’t go wrong with either, though!
 
Caring for giants is an awesome experience. Highly recommend and would do it again. Behind the seeds is on my list.
 
Both tours are great and they are pretty cheap- you also get a 20% discount if you have an AP.
 
If they are still offering the Up Close With Rhinos, tour, you probably should read some reviews and consider that one.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/animal-kingdom/up-close-with-rhinos/

I liked the Behind the Seeds Tour -- but I am an adult who likes to garden. If your teens are not into gardening, I think they would be bored.

I liked the Caring for Giants Tour -- but I like to take pictures of the animals in the park. If your teens are not into taking pictures of animals, I think they would be bored. For most of this "tour" you just stand in one spot and look at the elephants. Also, I did this a year ago, when Baby Stella was that much smaller so the pictures would show more of a contrast between her and Mom. Also, please keep in mind that when I booked the tour I was warned that you might not see any elephants! The elephants are free to wander into the area near where you are taken for the tour. They also are free to not wander into that area. You do not get a refund if you don't see any elephants because they add in an educational factor where a cast member talks to you. But I found the talk part dull. I also found that cast members in other parts of the park were repeating what the cast member told us, so it wasn't like it was info you could only get on the tour.

If you are guaranteed to see a rhino on the rhino tour, I would consider that one.
 
If they are still offering the Up Close With Rhinos, tour, you probably should read some reviews and consider that one.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/animal-kingdom/up-close-with-rhinos/

I liked the Behind the Seeds Tour -- but I am an adult who likes to garden. If your teens are not into gardening, I think they would be bored.

I liked the Caring for Giants Tour -- but I like to take pictures of the animals in the park. If your teens are not into taking pictures of animals, I think they would be bored. For most of this "tour" you just stand in one spot and look at the elephants. Also, I did this a year ago, when Baby Stella was that much smaller so the pictures would show more of a contrast between her and Mom. Also, please keep in mind that when I booked the tour I was warned that you might not see any elephants! The elephants are free to wander into the area near where you are taken for the tour. They also are free to not wander into that area. You do not get a refund if you don't see any elephants because they add in an educational factor where a cast member talks to you. But I found the talk part dull. I also found that cast members in other parts of the park were repeating what the cast member told us, so it wasn't like it was info you could only get on the tour.

If you are guaranteed to see a rhino on the rhino tour, I would consider that one.
Only issue with the Rhino tour (which is amazing) is its offered once a day and is booked up a month in advance usually.
 
Have done both in past two years and loved both. It’s kinda cool to learn more about the greenhouse and plants and be standing there when the boats go by in LwtL.

I adore elephants and we had fun guides who were very personable. You get a chance to take as many pictures as you want too.

Some of the best value tours Disney offers!!
 
We've done the Behind the Seeds tour and really enjoyed it. If you enjoy the ride and things related to gardening, I would highly recommend this tour. Don't for get to check for AP/DVC discounts, if they apply to you. I also thought it was a very reasonably priced tour.
 
Hello! I'm a little late here, but I'm planning to do both of these tours on my next trip (Which is July 4th week) My question is would it be okay if I waited to purchase/book the day of? I have a pretty good guess on the time I want, but just in case weather causes an issue I'd thought it would be best to wait. Should I be worried that they'd sell out of my preferred time (both afternoon/later times) since this is a really busy week? (There are only 2 of us, so not a big group.) Am I risking it?
 
Hello! I'm a little late here, but I'm planning to do both of these tours on my next trip (Which is July 4th week) My question is would it be okay if I waited to purchase/book the day of? I have a pretty good guess on the time I want, but just in case weather causes an issue I'd thought it would be best to wait. Should I be worried that they'd sell out of my preferred time (both afternoon/later times) since this is a really busy week? (There are only 2 of us, so not a big group.) Am I risking it?

I honestly think you'll be okay if you're able to be flexible that week. They have multiple tours each day of both tours. However, if you're locked into a certain time, then it might be worth it to go ahead. Don't forgot both offer AP and DVC discounts.
 
We did both tours last year. Behind the seeds was fine, but I lost interest along the way for some reason? The price is great but I think your teenage boys might get bored with it. We love the LWTL boat ride, though.
I hate to sound like debbiedowner, but...…………..We looked forward to the Caring for Giants tour as we both love elephants. They are my favorite animal. The tour guides were very entertaining and knowledgable. WE were a little disappointed that the viewing area of the elephants did not give us a close up view of them, at least not what I expected. I thought we would learn about the daily care and maintenance of the elephants at WDW, the feeding, meds,washing, medical checks, etc, that goes on every day behind the scenes. This did not happen. But we saw the elephants but they were too far away for any good pictures. We did enjoy the lady from Africa who gave a talk on the elephants in her area. I guess I am trying to say that it was a good experience but we were a little disappointed, as I stated above. We felt it was worth the money. Maybe our expectations were not realistic, I don't know.
Would we do them again , No.
 
We did both tours last year. Behind the seeds was fine, but I lost interest along the way for some reason? The price is great but I think your teenage boys might get bored with it. We love the LWTL boat ride, though.
I hate to sound like debbiedowner, but...…………..We looked forward to the Caring for Giants tour as we both love elephants. They are my favorite animal. The tour guides were very entertaining and knowledgable. WE were a little disappointed that the viewing area of the elephants did not give us a close up view of them, at least not what I expected. I thought we would learn about the daily care and maintenance of the elephants at WDW, the feeding, meds,washing, medical checks, etc, that goes on every day behind the scenes. This did not happen. But we saw the elephants but they were too far away for any good pictures. We did enjoy the lady from Africa who gave a talk on the elephants in her area. I guess I am trying to say that it was a good experience but we were a little disappointed, as I stated above. We felt it was worth the money. Maybe our expectations were not realistic, I don't know.
Would we do them again , No.
This is what I have been wondering, if the elephants would be far away. I know at our zoo we got pretty close as a trainer had the elephant do some tricks.
 
This is what I have been wondering, if the elephants would be far away. I know at our zoo we got pretty close as a trainer had the elephant do some tricks.

Not only are the elephants far away, but that's the best case scenario. Sometimes the elephants don't even wander over to that area. You could do this tour and not see a single elephant. No refund because of the little talks they have people do during the tour.
 

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