Couples Trip...Doing some Tours/MVMCP...Opinions

[raelee34]

Hello all-
My hubby and I are taking a couples trip to WDW in December (8-15). Our boys, 24 and 21, are SUPER jealous, but someone had to stay home and watch the cats!

The last time we went to WDW, they still used paper fast passes- GASP- so I have been doing a lot of research.

We are planning on doing a couple of tours and the MVMCP this trip and would appreciate some opinions.

We were interested in World Showcase DestiNations Discovered, but this tour, still offered at same price of $109, changes on March 31, 2019, and will no longer include lunch at Rose and Crown. Now, only receive a snack. BOO!

We are interested in the Savor the Savannah Tour. Reviews are good and we love Animal Kingdom. Was going to hopefully book it on arrival day.

We have never been to the Halloween or Christmas party. Most people I have spoken with have enjoyed the Halloween Party more, but since we will be there in December...figure we should do it once.

The Keys to the Kingdom Tour looks quite interesting. And reasonable at this date anyway.

Any other tours or experiences I might consider?

Thanks in advance for help and advice!
Steph

 

[SinCityMMAFan]

I can't speak on the World Showcase and Savannah tour but I can speak on the Keys to the Kingdom tour. It's a very good tour with lots of information as well as going behind the scenes a bit and seeing the utilidor (underground tunnels beneath the MK). If the price is a little bit too much you could always do the Marceline to Magic tour. We are doing this tour in May and are excited about it as you get to go behind the scenes in the Haunted Mansion to see how they create the ballroom scene. That tour is 3 hours long and half the price of the Keys to the Kingdom tour.

As for the parties both are fun and both offer you unique experiences. I do like the Halloween party more than the Christmas party but you will have fun at the Christmas party.

 

[Justplainchy]

I just have to speak on the tour we did recently: aqua tours at Epcot is amazing. You get to snorkel for about 40 minutes in the giant aquarium at the Seas with the sharks and rays and sea turtles and fish. It was spectacular.

Also, we did the MVMCP last year - it was amazing! We've never done the Halloween Party, so I can't compare, but since we'd never done Halloween, the Christmas party was just magical. Seeing Santa come down mainstreet in the snow--I still get goosebumps. Hope you guys enjoy your trip!

 

[kiford]

We did the KTTK tour in February and thought it was just great. Can't believe we waited so many years to finally book it. We also did Wild Africa Trek a few years ago. Not inexpensive but totally worth the price and it includes photos that the CMs take as you do the tour. We are considering doing that one again.

We're finally going to do the Halloween party this September but we've done MVMCP several times and have always enjoyed it. Our friends who live in Florida have done both parties several times and prefer the Halloween one so they've told us we should have a good time at it.

You're going to WDW at pretty much our favourite time of year although we've been going a few times this year at different times of year to try it out. So far we've been over Christmas (really had a good time but wow it's packed. Can't believe I got up at 4 am to get to MK on Christmas Day early enough to enjoy it) and in February. We're booked for May (F&G) and September (MNSSHP & F&W) but are still planning to do an early December trip. I suspect it will remain our favourite time of year. Not too hot, not too cold, not too terribly busy (compared to some other times), everything set up and decorated for the holidays without the price associated with flights and hotels over the holidays and we're still home in time to spend Christmas with family.

 

[littledebbie335]

We really enjoyed the Behind the Seeds tour at Epcot. At $25, you can't beat the price! Although this is definitely an educational tour, we enjoyed being able to walk through Living with the Land and appreciated that it was fairly short because it didn't cut into our Epcot day too much.

 

[OhThePain]

My wife and I have done a few tours and quite honestly we found KttK the least impressive. Our guide was phenomenal, but as far as what was shown, we look back and are kind of "meh" about it. We are glad we did it and would recommend it but we just think there are better options. We felt the Backstage Safari (which is no longer offered, unfortunately) and the UnDISCOVERed Future World showed a lot more behind the scenes than KttK. We really liked the DestiNations Discovered. We have also enjoyed the Wanyama Safari at AKL a couple of times.

My one bit of advice would be to NOT book anything on your arrival day that is expensive and prepaid, like the Savor the Savannah, if you are flying in. There are too many variables that can affect your arrival time that it just adds a lot of unnecessary stress for 180 days (I made this mistake once when booking the Wanyama on our arrival day. I didn't sleep for 6 months).

 

[disneyworldsk]

spa. disney springs. shop. my dh and i did the mk tour (not the very long one). it was ok, frankly, i was a little bored.

 

[JKMastalski]

If you are looking for a tour on the inexpensive side - we did the Marceline to Magic Kingdom tour and it was fantastic. Lots of info and we got to go behind the scenes of the Haunted Mansion, that was worth every penny!

 

[amw]

FYI I have the Epcot DestiNations tour booked. Yes it no longer has the lunch — but they are also reducing the price to $79. The website hasn’t updated yet. Will probably only do so March 31.

 

[Imamom2]

DH and I did Keys to the Kingdom and Savor the Savannah and both were excellent. Keys is really interesting and we did the 8:00am tour so it was a nice way to start the day. Our lunch was just ok but I think it's Pecos now with better choices. Savor was really cool and the guides were so nice. We saw so many interesting parts of the safari and spoke with several of the animal experts. The guides who served dinner shared lots of interesting facts with us, the food was really good, and we ate out on a deck in the middle of the savannah with the giraffes walking around us. Book with your Disney visa and you will save 15%. Enjoy!

 

[eeudj]

Forget the tours and go see Star Wars land : 0 )

 

[heidijanesmith]

Savor the Savannah tour was wonderful. DH and I have done it x3 and enjoyed ourselves every time. Lots of time spent at the Boma for drinks and food. The CM's are very knowledgeable and we really appreciated the small size of the tour.

I did the BackStage Magic tour. It was worth every penny!! It'a long day, lots of walking but worth it. Truly backstage access and behind the scenes.

DH and I did the Star Tours one and thought it was just meh. He is a huge Star Wars fan, so we were excited to participate. This was back when it included the dessert party.

 

[Wild4Walt]

My husband and I did KTTK last September and really enjoyed it. I liked that everyone gets a headset so you can hear the host clearly, not matter where you are in the group. I also liked that we got 2 front of the line attractions ( Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean ) as a group and we got to see the Utilidoor and a few other behind the scene areas. It is a lot of walking and lunch at Pecos Bills was only so-so. But in the end, we felt it was worth the time and money.

I've also been to MVMCP and enjoyed that as well. I enjoyed it because there wasn't a ton of people in the park and the parade was cute. The thing that is hardest with these extra cost events is if there are characters the lines for photos get ridiculous pretty quickly. We did the MNSSHP in September, on an off peak day, and the lines for characters photos were 30 minutes or more - especially for rare characters. We had hoped to get a few in at least ( like the Grinning Ghosts ) but it started to rain and all the characters that were out in the elements went backstage.

 

[starry_solo]

Have you considered dining with an Imagineer at the Hollywood brown derby?

 

[mamaofsix]

Have you been to wdw at Christmas before? If not, definitely do some resort hopping to see the lobbies decorated - GF, AKL and Wilderness Lodge are just spectacular. And you can't beat free

For experiences, I highly recommend doing a Candlelight Processional dining package at Epcot. We did this last year - Biergarten dinner at 5:00p.m., which had a phenomenal Christmas atmosphere and live show, followed by the Candlelight Processional at the American Gardens Theatre. Doing the dining package meant guaranteed seating, so we were 'under the cover' closer to the front - got there 45 minutes before show time for these seats. This really came in handy when it started to downpour and we were left bone dry to enjoy the show!

 

[holden]

I would skip the MVMCP. We did it a few years ago. It was extremely crowded and chaotic - not my idea of fun. That’s just my opinion though.

 

[DisneyaHolic23]

We have done several experiences and tours at Disney World. Our goal is to always try something new, which is getting challenging, since we go a couple of times a year. Here are my thoughts:
1. We enjoyed Keys to the Kingdom - while we know a lot about Disney (we have written a few Disney World guide books), and we knew much of the information, there is just such great energy from the castmembers while they share information. And, they will answer any questions you have as you go. I like walking near the tour guide, just because questions pop into my head as we go.
2. We have done both Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I love them both. Hubby prefers the Halloween party because of the costumes. I like the Christmas party just a little better because I love Christmas.
3. Another really fun tour is the Wilderness Back Trail Adventure, which is done on Segways. We have done several Segway tours at Disney, and even bought mini Segways for home because we enjoy them so much.
4. Another unofficial "tour" we enjoy is eating and drinking around the World Showcase at Epcot. We buy these inexpensive personalized passports online (they have one for Showcase Snacking and one for Drink Around the World Showcase, and even one for Monorail Drink-a-Thon - you can google the experiences and should find the company or PM me) and they make visiting each country or resort a game.
5. We also loved Backstage Magic, but it has been 20 years since we did it (we did it on our honeymoon!), so we need to try it again.
6. One other really fun experience that we love is Savor, Sip, and Sparkle: Celebration at the Top, which is at California Grill on Sundays (and some Saturdays). You get unlimited appetizers, beer, wine, some bar drinks, and desserts for a fairly reasonable price.
7. It is also fun to rent the water mice, if the weather is nice. You can have a little unofficial water tour.
8. Finally, for a special event, we really like the fireworks boat cruise. You can have up to 10 people for the same price. It includes a little tour before the fireworks.

I know there are a lot more we have done, but those are the ones that stand out to me.

Have so much fun!!

 

[soniam]

We liked the UnDIScovered Future World Tour. I guess the steam train tour will still be down. It sounds fun. I like the parties, but we have only done them without our son.

I think the shows at the Halloween party are better. The fireworks and parades are good for both. I like the treats at the xmas party better. The snow is really cool too.

 

[rajak73]

2014, Dec, DW and I did the KTTK tour, we really liked it, it was after the movie Cinderella had come out and when we got to the float staging area, it even surprised our tour guide to see it, the guide didn't even know the carriage was there. Also we did the MVMCP and loved it, had a great time, we didn't care about seeing characters so that wasn't a big deal, parade was awesome, food not that bad, it was just a really good time and we enjoyed it.

 

[kiford]

2014, Dec, DW and I did the KTTK tour, we really liked it, it was after the movie Cinderella had come out and when we got to the float staging area, it even surprised our tour guide to see it, the guide didn't even know the carriage was there.

You never know what you'll see. We did our KTTK tour this last Feb and when we went to the float area one of the other people on the tour made some joke about whether we'd see Maleficent there given her previous fiery appearance. It turned out not to be a joke since it was actually there and they were testing the wings and head movements. Then we saw a group of performers practicing their parade routine. The guide told us that it was a Peter Pan segment and the dancers were the lost boys.