Feature Article: Backstage Magic Tour - Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney World - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
Feature Article: Backstage Magic Tour - Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney World
Backstage Magic Tour - Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney World by Bernie Edwards
Are you curious about how Disney makes the magic at Walt Disney World? Want to see some of what goes on backstage? If so, then I suggest taking a behind the scenes tour. My absolute favorite tour at Walt Disney World is the Backstage Magic Tour. Backstage Magic is about seven hours long, and takes you behind the scenes in several parks. On my tour last year, we visited Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom. However, I understand tours today now include Disney’s Animal Kingdom as well. I’ve had the privilege of visiting Walt Disney World over 100 times in my life and I still learned a lot of new things on the tour! After meeting outside of Epcot early in the morning and getting our name tags, we were led to an air conditioned Disney Cruise Line bus and told that would be our transportation for the day. On board we were given bottles of cold water and told that we could get as much as we wanted throughout the day. We were immediately taken around the perimeter of Epcot to the back of the American Adventure pavilion.
At the American Adventure pavilion, we were led inside and shown the “scene changer,” also known by some Disney fans as the “war wagon.” It is an amazing piece of machinery that changes the detailed sets and audio-animatronics that appear on stage. Outside the pavilion, our guide told us the pavilion uses forced perspective, but instead of trying to make the building appear larger than it really is, such as how forced perspective is used with Cinderella Castle, it is used here to make the building appear smaller than it really is. Also be sure to look at the flag on top of the pavilion and count the number of stars and stripes!
Our next stop on the tour was the Epcot Cast building. We were shown a learning center, a break area, costuming, and a character make up area where we happened to see Princess Belle getting ready for her day! At the Costuming area we saw how Cast Members got new costumes and dropped off used costumes for cleaning; we were also shown some of the various costumes Mickey Mouse has available at Epcot. We were also shown a large area of personal lockers and asked if we could figure out why the floor was made up of little sections of different types of flooring, including tile and pieces of carpets. The answer is a lot of Cast Members walk through the area daily and it is a clever way for Disney to test various materials! After that we were off to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. At the Studios, we went backstage at the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. There we got to look real close at a ride vehicle and learned how it could go forward and backward as well as up and down. As an engineer and fan of the attraction, I had to get on the floor and look up underneath the ride vehicle; our tour guide didn’t mind and I loved seeing the "guts" of the vehicle! We also visited the Creative Costuming Department and learned how they've outfitted some performers for various parades and shows over the years. I especially enjoyed seeing how costumes were designed on computers and how computers controlled the various machines to cut the different pieces of cloth for the costumes. After that we headed to lunch, which is included in the cost of the tour.
On my tour we ate lunch at the Whispering Canyon Café inside Disney’s Wilderness Lodge. Lunch was served family-style and the atmosphere was more subdued than at dinner when the restaurant is wild and crazy (one of my favorite places to dine with my family)! It was a great break in the day and everybody on my tour left full and refreshed. It also gave us an opportunity to learn a little bit about each other. After lunch we headed to the Magic Kingdom backstage area.
Our first stop was where laundry is done for the resort. We saw bags and bags of sheets, pillow cases, towels, etc. being carried overhead by an automatic conveyor system. It reminded me of the scene in the film Monsters Inc. where all of the doors are carried overhead. Our next stop was Central Shops. This is where some ride vehicles are built or refurbished. We saw work being done on various Jungle Cruise animals and on the ride vehicles for Journey into Imagination. We were even allowed to touch some of the animals to learn more about how they work. After that we were shown some audio-animatronic models that were being worked on, and even Bonnie Appetite from the extinct Kitchen Kabaret attraction. We also got to see various Walt Disney World signs that are made in Central Shops as well. In the paint shop, we saw a large mural of what the park looked like when it first opened in 1971. We then boarded our bus and were taken to the parking lot between Tomorrowland and Main Street for our final behind the scenes visit.
On my tour, they saved the best behind the scenes tour for last – a visit to the world famous Utildoors “under” the Magic Kingdom. While they are commonly referred to as tunnels, the truth is the Utildoors are the first floor of the Magic Kingdom. After they were built, dirt was dug out to make the Seven Seas Lagoon and used to “bury” the Utilidoors. When guests visit the park, they are really on the second floor! The Utildoors allow Cast Members to get from one end of the Magic Kingdom to the other end without being seen by guests when necessary; for example, you won’t see a Cast Member dressed for Frontierland in Tomorrowland! We also saw a break room, the PhotoPass center, and where Cast Members go to get new pins to trade with guests.
Our tour ended with us watching the afternoon Magic Kingdom parade from Town Square. However, I understand tours today end at the Animal Kingdom with guests learning how Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade comes together.
Backstage Magic is my favorite behind the scenes tour at Walt Disney World. It currently costs $224 per guest, but theme park admission is not required. Guests must be at least 16 years old and tours are limited to 20 guests. While expensive, I think it is worth every penny. As I said in the beginning, I personally learned a lot on my tour and enjoyed every minute! However, if you’re not sure a behind the scenes tour is right for you and your family, then I suggest trying the Keys to the Kingdom tour in the Magic Kingdom first. That tour is much shorter and only costs $70 per guest, not including the admission to the Magic Kingdom. I suggest making a reservation for all tours as far in advance as you can; reservations can be made at (407) WDW-TOUR. When you call, be sure to ask about discounts. Generally, there are discounts available for Annual Passholders, Disney Vacation Club members, American Automobile Association members, and Disney Visa Cardholders.
What do you think? Please add your own comments, experiences, or news related to this article in this thread! Reader feedback is welcomed and encouraged.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I took this tour in February 2010 and in addition to all of the places Bernie mentioned, we also got to go to the "tree farm" which is where they create all of the topiaries and other shaped plants. We got to see various figures in different stages of completion. Having gone to the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival in the past, it was cool to see how some of the characters were created. We also got to see the parade floats for the Animal Kingdom parade. While on the tour, each of the guests wears a walkie-talkie type headphone so that it's easy to hear the cast member tour guides. There is ample opportunity to ask questions all through the day. We also got to know the Disney history of our tour guides. While each tour is limited to 20 people, there were two groups on the bus. Each group of 20 had a different tour guide and our headphones were programmed to different channels when we separated. They had us go to a single channel when on the bus so that we could hear both of them. The tour guides were exceptionally knowledgeable. It was a great day (and ended with a surprise for everyone!)
Great article on the BackStage Magic Tour! I'm considering doing the Keys to the Kingdom tour because it's not as expensive but you sure gave me some insight into what I'd see if I someday take this tour!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
They have added animal kingdom to the tour because everyone was curiuos about there too, This went into effect in March. Everything else was as stated but they added AK.
The tour I took in February was the very first one to see the AK parade vehicles. Did they add any more of AK to the tour? You said that they added in March. What was added?
Free Porn Pictures and Best HD Sex Photos http://johannesburglcgsporn.hotnatalia.com/?jaylynn
mother and young son porn cheap plot based porn movies phat girl porn stocking porn gallery ladi mahogany porn
Young Heaven - Naked Teens & Young Porn Pictures http://squirting.porn-saturated-soul...m/?post-kayley
my asian porn pics sniff poppers porn black porn with butterfly tattoo ass ninja nonsense porn one night in paris porn movie
New hot project galleries, daily updates http://great-masterbation.tiktok-por.../?post-melinda
japanese porn stars with big naturals asian amatuer porn boyfriendtv porn porn squat and sneeze slow motion insertion porn
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Backstage Magic Tour
Backstage Magic Tour
Linear Mode
