Yuletide Tour or Keys to Kingdom

[janloz]

My DM has reserved the Yuletide tour during our trip in Dec but after reading several reviews she is now reconsidering. Please advise your choice Yuletide or Keys to Kingdom and reason why.

thanks

 

[Luv4Disney]

My DM has reserved the Yuletide tour during our trip in Dec but after reading several reviews she is now reconsidering. Please advise your choice Yuletide or Keys to Kingdom and reason why.

thanks

Where did you see reviews for the Yuletide tour? I would like to read these as DH and I are going in December and I was thinking of doing this.

BTW, KTTK tour is great! We loved it and want to do it again!

 

[Taja]

I haven't done the Yuletide Fantasy Tour yet, but it's next on my agenda.

The tour you select really depends on what interests you. KTTK is MK oriented and you learn about the beginning of WDW through the present. Yultide Fantasy is geared toward holiday decorating in the parks and resorts.

 

[janloz]

I read them on allears, it is was the lowest rated of all the tours.

http://allearsnet.com/reviewpost/showproduct.php?product=245&cat=66

According to the reviews, they take a lot of time discussing the traditions of each country in Epcot and not much on decorations. We are planning to visit each country with DS11 and DD7 to meet each "santa" and learn traditions plus book ADR at resorts to see decorations. The behind the scenes time wasn't that long and no information on how the decorations are done.

 

[bradk]

i've done both. keys is definitely the more captivating of the two, but yuletide can only be done during certain times of the year.

basically yuletide takes you to holiday services (as does the backstage magic tour) where you explore the warehouse a bit and learn about all the work that goes into onstage decor for the parks, resorts and DCL. you'll spend a lot of time in the world showcase, exploring native traditions of several countries. you'll spend a little time in DHS with the nativity scene and osborne lights and information about christmas in the movies. and briefly in the MK. you'll also go to a resort, probably the grand floridian, to check out the decor.

of all the tours i've done, it is probably the least impressive. not to suggest it was money wasted, it was not, but if i had to rank tours, keys and yuletide would probably be polar opposites

 

[Luv4Disney]

i've done both. keys is definitely the more captivating of the two, but yuletide can only be done during certain times of the year.

basically yuletide takes you to holiday services (as does the backstage magic tour) where you explore the warehouse a bit and learn about all the work that goes into onstage decor for the parks, resorts and DCL. you'll spend a lot of time in the world showcase, exploring native traditions of several countries. you'll spend a little time in DHS with the nativity scene and osborne lights and information about christmas in the movies. and briefly in the MK. you'll also go to a resort, probably the grand floridian, to check out the decor.

of all the tours i've done, it is probably the least impressive. not to suggest it was money wasted, it was not, but if i had to rank tours, keys and yuletide would probably be polar opposites

Thanks! We've already done KTTK and we wouldn't want to feel let down. I'll talk to DH about it. Thanks again for the input!

 

[magicmommy]

Thanks! We've already done KTTK and we wouldn't want to feel let down. I'll talk to DH about it. Thanks again for the input!

We have done and enjoyed both. While I would say KTTK was better I did not feel let down and did enjoy the Yuletide Tour.

 

[SnowWtch]

DH and I did the Yuletide Fantasy tour Dec 07. We went to EPCOT WS, MK, MGM, and GF. Got to try the gingerbread at GF. They said the warehouse part had been cut b/c there were no decorations in it so there was no point in going there. We did get a nice limited edition pin at the end of the tour. We had fun but probably wouldn't do it again. Never have done the KTTK tour. That one is longer and more expensive so we haven't done that one yet.

 

[goofy4tink]

I did both on one trip back in Dec 06. I preferred the KTTK tour...I had Jarod as our tourguide and he was just terrific. I actually learned a few things. While I loved our guides for the Yuletide Fantasy tour, I wasn't that crazy about the tour itself. There was a lot of bus time. I wasn't crazy about the WS part either. We spent a bit of time in the wharehouse but not much.
If I had to pick a tour, it would be the KTTK tour. I'm actually thinking about doing the 7 hr tour down the road.

 

[mrp4352]

I'm the dissenting voice here, I think. I loved the Yuletide Fantasy tour - it focusses in on how and why Americans celebrate Christmas the way they do more than "these are the decorations for here and those are the decorations for there". There was a lot of bus time, but our guide used it to expand on some of what we had been shown along the way.

I thought the Keys to the Kingdom tour was mostly uninteresting. All of the 'extra' information I already new from the web or guide books. (an example is the 20 minute discussion on forced perspective and how it's used on Main Street) The best part was getting to see the utilidoors and the wig shop - but I'm not sure those were worth the money for the tour. (sidenote: I took the tour 10-12 years ago, so it may have changed some since then)

 

[wdwfan1]

We have done both tours several times and enjoyed them. I would say try the Yuletide Fantasy tour. KTTK tour is offered all year round, while Yuletide Fantasy is only during the Christmas season. You could always do KTTK on another vacation, which might not be during the holidays.

 

[janloz]

Thanks so much for the imput everyone, I'll let you know what she decides.