Keys to the Kingdom

DCP – Day 30 – September 12, 2012

I did something today that I’ve never done at Disney today.  This morning, my roommates and I did the Keys to the Kingdom tour at Magic Kingdom and it was amazing.  I had heard about the tour before but never knew anyone that did it until I met my suitemate, Erika.  She had nothing but great things to say about the tour so I knew I had to take the tour.  And I was definitely not disappointed.

The morning started at City Hall for check in and to get headphones to hear our tour guide over the crowds along with special pins with our names on them.  Then we gathered outside to start the tour.  Our tour guide, Claire, started the tour by talking about the Four Keys Basics, so it felt a lot like my Traditions class from earlier in the Disney College Program.  But it was still cool.

After that, we walked up Main Street and learned about all the names on the windows on the various shops and their significance.  It was so cool to see the small details that are there that everyone just rushes past.  When we walked up to the castle, Claire talked about the Partners statue and how the sculpture made it.  The same guy that did that also did all the sculpting for Pirates and Hall of Presidents, as well as many other projects around Disney World.

Next we made our way to Adventureland and got to ride The Jungle Cruise.  Claire was our skipper and told us a ton of awesome facts about the ride.  This is one of my favorite rides and I loved seeing and hearing all the small details in the ride.  Like in the scene when the natives attack the boat and call out random war chants, one of them says, ‘I love Disney,’ but it’s talking so fast you have to listen really close to hear it.

After Adventurland we went over to Frontierland and got to go backstage to see the parade floats and the Splash Mountain reservoir.  So awesome.  The parade floats are all kept together, according to which parade they are in.  We got to see the Celebrate Today floats up close and go inside when the Spectromagic parade float is stored.  We also got a glimpse of the Halloween party float before heading a few yards over to the reservoir.  It was huge and filled with eleven feet of water that cycles its way through the ride.  At night they drain the ride and the reservoir is filled full and reaches about 22 feet high.

Then it was time for lunch. We walked back onstage and made out way to Columbia Harbor House in Liberty Square.  We preordered our lunch when we checked in so everything was waiting on us when we got there.  I had chicken nuggets, fries, and a sweet tea.  Also waiting at our table was our Key to the Kingdom.  So cool.

After lunch, we walked across the way to the Haunted Mansion.  Claire gave us a ton o facts about the ride before we got to enter the ride through a special door.  We learned that – Disney Magic Spoiler alert – the room actually stretches up instead of us going down.  The original attraction at Disneyland does indeed go down because the railroad track is in the way.  But that wasn't a problem at Walt Disney World but the Imagineers wanted to keep that part of the attraction the same.

After the Haunted Mansion, we went back to Cinderella’s Castle before making our way to Crystal Palace.  If you look at the restaurant, you can see that on the left side toward Main Street looks very Victorian while the right side toward Adventurland looks more adventurous.  Just more subtle Disney theming.

Next we got to go into the Utilidors.  I hadn’t really been in the Utilidoors much so it was kinda cool to get to go down there.  It’s nothing too spectacular to look at but when you think about how innovative that was when it was built in the 1960s, it’s crazy to think about. 

In the Utilodors, Claire stopped at old picture from Walt Disney World’s history and told us the stories behind each of them.  Not gonna lie, I cried when I saw a trio of pictures.  One was a picture of Walt Disney World before anything was really built, another was opening day, and the last was also from opening day when Roy has his arm around Mickey.  The story behind the last one was while Roy was giving his speech, he got too chocked up about it and asked someone to bring Mickey up with him because he felt that was the closest to Walt he could get on that day.  The story of Walt is so inspirational and gets me every time.  I’m so blessed to get to carry on his legacy.

Our tour ended back at City Hall where we returned out hearing devices and said our goodbyes to our amazing tour guide Claire.  If you have never done the Keys of the Kingdom tour, I would highly recommend it.  It is amazing and you will love it and you will come away truly inspired by the legacy of Walt Disney.  If it wasn’t for him and his dreams, we wouldn’t be here right now.

My roommates and I after the tour.