The Backstage Magic Tour at WDW

On August 29, 1997 my parents, Jason and I went on the Backstage Magic Tour. This is our report I wrote and Jason posted to rec.arts.disney.parks (RADP).

Many of you have read other's reports about the Backstage Magic Tour or have taken the tour yourself, so I won't try to bore you with the details, but briefly mention the order of events, and then elaborate on the crazy things that our tour created.

The tour starts approx. at 8:45 in front of Guest Relations at Epcot. There were 15 of us on the tour, and we were all there about 10 min.before our tour guide showed up, so as soon as he got there we boarded one of those mini-bus things and we were on our way.

Besides our family of four, there was another family of four with two teenage girls (I think they were 16 and 18), a local, Laura, who came on the tour with her brother from out-of-town and she was not prepared for what would happen, two men who were visiting from Scotland, and three solo men. Roddy was our driver, this was his first time doing the tour. Doug, was our guide. Doug had worked at WDW for five years, he started out at River Country as a lifeguard, worked every attraction in Future World and then had been working in guest relations for about 2 years.

Once on the bus, Doug asked if anyone knew what to expect on this tour, and I said I did, he asked how, I said the internet, he said that I shouldn't believe everything I read over the internet, I smiled and said you learn what you can trust. Then Doug asked a trivia question, one of the guys answered it, Doug was surprised, and the guy who answered the question said, "I guess the internet is right sometimes," then everyone laughed. Doug then told us that he could answer any question that we might have about WDW, no one spoke up, so I asked, "When will Test Track open?" Everyone laughed again, especially Doug.

His answer: The current date for a soft opening is Nov. 4th but that all references to an opening date have been pulled from all press releases. He never really talked about why it wasn't open yet, but that there were "problems". Then he talked about how he just toured Animal Kingdom, and they were ahead of schedule and that it was opening to the public in May, but the entire month of April the park would be open to CM's for everyone to get there bearings for the new park.

The first stop was the American Adventure, one of the maintence men was there and answered several questions, then on to the Living Seas. Doug told us to keep an eye out for the contrast between the unthemed backstage and "on stage". We were shown the manatees, and the kitchen, and shown the hydrolators, Doug talked about how the one person tried to sue Disney over the ear thing. That started everyone talking about the recent lawsuit and how it got thrown out of court. After the living seas, we went over to Body Wars. Probe 4 wasn't being used at that time, so we didn't get to see it in action, but Doug told us how the ride could be stopped if anything is left on the exit walkway, and told us a story about how one time when he worked there, the ride was stopped because someone had relieved themself on the walkway. At this point we were starting to get concerned that the tour, although interesting, would not be worth the $160... boy were we worried about nothing.

After Body Wars, we left Epcot and went over to MGM for the Animation class. No one was particularly looking forward to this part of the tour, because we can't draw, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. This also provided the first time for someone on our tour to make a Disney employee speechless.

We were all seated around the table, and Tom, the animator, came in and explained that we were going to learn to draw Goofy, and that regardless of what we might think, we could draw if properly instructed. He ended his little spiel, by saying, "it's not like drawing is rocket science." Now Jason, and I had graduated in June with a degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering which is basically just rocket science, so I told him, "Good, cause I already did that." Tom just stared, and was like "Huh". And my mom pointed to Jason and I and said, "Yep, they're rocket scientists." Tom continued to stare and asked if we were joking and we smiled and said, nope. Then Tom said that in all the times he used the joke, he never had any rocket scientists in the group, and that he couldn't wait until lunch to warn the others about that rocket scientist joke. Anyway, we drew Goofy and when we were done, Tom gave his Goofy to Jason, the Rocket Scientist. Then we drew Pumba. I was surprised how well my drawings came out, and how much I enjoyed it. Before we left, Tom drew Mickey (sort of) in 2.5 sec.

Next we went to Central Costuming, and were each given a swatch from either Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine or one of the guys, it was either Prince Eric or Aladdin. On the ride we passed a couple of characters backstage. Doug explained that unlike the other parks, characters are considered "onstage" anywhere on MGM, because you don't know what someone might see while on the tram tour. We also say some people working on the "From Earth to the Moon" sets, and they had a fabulous lunch spread out on tables for the crew. 11:30 came and on to lunch at Mama Melrose's. I had of course read about the food, and that we would be joined by one of the streetmosphere people, but nothing could prepare us for Helen and nothing could prepare Helen for us. Lunch itself was worth the $160, but I have decided that the mileage you get out of the tour is dependent on who is your guide, who is at lunch, and most importantly who are the people in your group.

I would like to stay lunch started normal enough and I guess the first 5 minutes were. We were brought in through the back, were introduced to Helen, Doug invited her to lunch and we went to the two table that were set up for us. Helen sat at our table, along with Laura and her brother, the two men from Scotland and Doug started out at our table. Helen and Doug chit-chated for a couple minutes, I suppose it was to warm us up, (we didn't need warming). Basically our group struck Helen out and she lost it; we all lost it.

Then Helen started asking everyone their name, when she got to me she said. "Hope is such a pretty name" and my mother said thank you. Helen was a little confused, so my mom explained that she had given it to me. My mother and I are often taken for being sisters, because she looks so young. Helen asked my mom how old she was and didn't believe her when she said she was 44, and said she had ways of telling how old someone is. She got up and started playing with my mom's hair and face looking for wrinkles and grey hairs. Helen said she did not look 44 but eventually believed she was my mother. --Strike 1

Helen went back to her seat, finished getting everyone's name and then started asking what everyone did. The first person she asked was Steve, one of the people from Scotland. He said he worked in the computer industry, and Helen went off saying how she couldn't understand them and he must be really smart. Then Laura said wait until you find out what these two do (pointing to Jason and me), they're rocket scientists. Helen stared for a moment like she didn't know what to do, then she found out that we were engaged and made us stand up and kiss. --Strike 2

Now for most of the tour, videotaping is prohibited, but during lunch it isn't so Steve and his friend pulled out their video camera. I would like to explain what their presence did at lunch, but it might turn out to be one of those "you had to be there" moments. I don't think I could do it justice, but Steve and his friend had the camera everywhere, Helen couldn't understand what they were saying through the Scottish accent and the laughing. She kept having to ask for them to repeat what they were saying and they would very slowly repeat what they were saying. Needless to say, there were moments during lunch when she had to put her napkin over her head, to compose herself, and at one point she crawled under the table to breath, and Steve's friend crawled down on the floor with the camera following her.

Anyway, lunch included drinks, caeser salad, wonderful, marvelous bread (which Helen stole), lasagna, vegi pizza, cheese pizza, bowtie pasta, pasta w/ marinara. I think I had more stuff up my nose than I actually ate, but the lasagna was absolutely fabulous. We also had a desert platter.

At the end of lunch, Jason pulled out his sorceror Mickey hat, and Helen said that was it and he would have to take his hat off otherwise she would die. Helen joined us on the bus, and at this point she was supposed to break character, and explain who she was and talk about her job. She couldn't do it. Everytime she tried to compose herself, she would look at all of us and start giggling. She kept telling Doug that she couldn't do it. Everytime she tried to compose herself, she would look at all of us and start giggling. She kept telling Doug that she couldn't do it. We arrived back at the Animation Studio, and this was where she was supposed to leave us, but she still hadn't broken character. Finally she was able to tell us that her name was Donna, and that she was a streetmosphere performer, and most of the rest of the time she was thanking us profusely for playing along at lunch, and how she had the most wonderful time she had ever had, and she would never forget us. She told us how she also played Rosie the Cleaning Lady at Indiana Jones, and my family decided we would make sure we saw Rosie at Indy(more on that later). The people at the studio were getting anxious, so Donna gave anyone a big hug and kiss and we were went inside.

I kind of felt sorry for Heather, the lady who was supposed to show us how to draw cels. We were all still recovering from lunch, Doug tried to explain what happened at lunch, but I think she felt a little left out. Anyway we got to choose from Dalmatian puppies, or Cruella De Ville. We also saw a short video explaining the cel creation process from Beauty and the Beast. At this point, we changed from the mini-bus to a full size bus, because the mini-bus was "needed" elsewhere. Doug also brought everyone a copy of the "Eyes and Ears" that had the color pictures of Coronado Springs.

Next we went over to the Magic Kindgom, where we saw the parade warehouses, and the central shops, and met the lady whose job it is to take care of the horses from Cinderella's carousel. Then we went into parade control and saw the computers for that. Then finally we were taken to Main Street where we were able to watch the parade. I'll talk more about the parade later, but I am glad we got to see it this way (no wait) because although I liked it, it was really short and I am not sure I would have felt the same way about it, if I had waited an hour to see it.

After the parade, we all boarded the bus back to Epcot. Half of our tour took off right away, but the other half of us milled around and talked for about a half hour. Steve took everyone's email addresses and snail-mail addresses so he could send us a copy of the video from lunch. Roddy (the bus driver) had picked up an extra copy of the most recent "Eyes and Ears" and said my Dad could take it if he wanted to, so he did.

All in all, it was a wonderful time, but we had a very active and entertaining group of people on the tour, and Helen was absolutely marvelous, and we got a lot of stuff.

The List of Stuff

• Really cool nametag
• Backstage Magic Folder
• Goofy drawing
• Pumba drawing
• Goofy drawn by Animater
• Disney cel and paints
• 2 copies of "Eyes and Ears"
• Pop and water
• A fabulous lunch
• The most wonderful memories, and new friends.

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Page Last updated January 13, 1999