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THpoohbear
11-17-2007, 09:29 AM
DH and I took the tour for the first time on the first day they offered it, Friday, November 16 at 4pm.

After waiting in the tour garden for a while, they started to hand out headsets. We took a tour in WDW last year and they used the same thing, and it worked beautifully. Not so much yesterday at Disneyland. Our tour guide, Albert, said it was his first time using the headsets and they were still trying work out the details. That really wasn't what I wanted to hear at the start of the tour.

We all tried them on and there was immediately a lot of interference and static. We got the point where everyone's worked and everyone could hear background music, and off we went.

I believe the tour followed the same general pattern as described in Shana's Holiday Time Tour article from 2003. Except from Main Street we went through Fantasyland, made a stop at the turkey by BTR, and then walked to Frontierland. As we walked, Albert played holiday music for us, controlled by what looked like an iPod. When we made stops he described holiday traditions. The quick entrance to the two rides was very nice, but I felt like most of the tour was walking in silence from place to place, while listening to holiday tunes.

At the end we got our treats and chairs for the parade. Hands down, the best part of this tour, imho, is the chair and treat for the parade. The rest of the time was so so. I firmly believe that a tour guide makes or breaks a great tour. Albert was nice, but not very articulate when describing traditions to us. He really fumbled at times, and it made it difficult to absorb what he was saying. We really didn't learn anything new about the park or holiday traditions, either.

DH’s headset was a consistent problem through the entire tour. He told the tour guide, and the guide switched a spare out with him. After a while, Tate (DH) decided to switch back because the second one was worse. When we entered HM, he explained the problem again to Albert. So they switched the headphones off of one to the unit of the other, but after that point Albert gave up on the headphones and told everyone to take them off. During what was left of the tour, he didn't use them at all and asked the tour if listening to him w/o the headphones was better. There was a loud shout of YES! I guess DH wasn't the only one having issues.

After the great reviews and comments I read, I really wanted to love this tour and have the best time ever on it. DH and I thought the tour was okay. Between the cutting out on the headsets and Albert’s mumblings, the first hour or so wasn't very enjoyable. I give it a B (only because the great spot for the parade knocks it up A LOT), and DH gives it a B-/C+.

Not to discourage those who haven't taken it. Maybe you'll get a better tour guide, & working headsets! If I had paid $20-$30 for it, I think I would feel a lot better about it. But at the discount AP price of $47.20, I think it's a little steep for the information we did get and the trouble we had with the headsets.

I'm disappointed in it, but I really hope all those to take the tour after me have great tour guides and the headsets work better! If you have good experiences, please post reviews! I want my faith to be restored in the tour and tours in general at DL. We still have A Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour to take, and now I'm a little apprehensive.

Mermaid
11-17-2007, 10:44 AM
Thanks for the review. I had a similar experience with the 50th tour when I took it, bad headsets, walking from place to place and so-so guide. I took the Holiday Tour 3 years ago and I loved it and I had an awesome guide, so I hope that is the experience I get. I think it really depends largely on the guide.

emmah
11-17-2007, 10:50 AM
i totally agree that the tour guide makes a tour. i did the christmas tour in 2005 and it was brilliant; we had a tall blond amazon cheerleader type, who did a fantastic job at keeping us interested and together (and the tour seating was great). then last year I did WiWF and was pretty bored as the leader was not very interesting and was much less perky. i also did the 50th tour in 2005 and we gave up on the headphones after 5 minutes - the tour leader had another CM come and take them away because we hated all the interference and half of them were not working. i would suggest that we make a list of great tour leaders but i am pretty sure that its totally subjective - one woman's perky is another woman's OTT.

carolinakid
11-17-2007, 01:45 PM
and now you've got me SCARED!!! The thing is I've taken many backstage/guided tours at WDW (as recently as 12/06) and we NEVER used headsets...so I'm kind of surprised they seem to be standard practice at DL. Well, I'll just hope for the best...

THpoohbear
11-17-2007, 05:03 PM
That's funny. We used headsets at WDW in 12/06 for the train tour. Maybe they are used only on selected tours?

I hope you, carolinakid and Mermaid get great guides. Sorry for scaring you, not my intent. Maybe my hopes for the tour were a little too high. If your expectations are lowered maybe you'll think the tour is fantastic!

I'm sending pixie dust your way for excellent tour guides!

carolinakid
11-18-2007, 10:14 AM
Yeah, pooh bear, I took the Backstage Magic, Yuletide Fantasy & World Showcase tours just 11 months ago & no headsets were used...maybe the Steam Train tour is the exception...I 'll still hope for the best!!

lofosho
11-18-2007, 11:06 AM
Thanks for sharing this review!

Malcon10t
11-18-2007, 11:48 AM
I'm sorry you had a bad tour. We have done the Holiday tour a few times, the majority were really great, and had one bad guide. The guide really does make the difference. If the first time I had ever done a tour, I'd had the bad guide, I'd probably never do a tour again. But, I've had numerous tours, and only 1 bad guide, 2 fantastic guides, and the rest have been good to great, but not over the top guides.

dawnid
11-19-2007, 10:48 AM
I was wondering on past Holiday Tours you received a pin, does this years tour include a pin? We are scheduled for a tour on the 8th, it will be the first for my DD but I've taken them every year for the past 5 years with either my son, BF, or BF's DD. She has always had to work the weekend or had school conflicts. I've enjoyed the tours based on the knowledge of the guide and how much they get into the caroling.

Toocherie
11-20-2007, 10:19 AM
I took the Holiday Time Tour yesterday, and have to echo the above comments. I think in the end what you are really paying for is the reserved seating at the parade. You also get a couple of pieces of fudge from the candy palace, a pin and a souvenir plastic mug (that they put your hot chocolate in) and a cookie.

Otherwise, most of the tour was a history of holidays (i.e., Hannuakah--how it derived and the dredial game, the history of the Christmas tree, who developed the character "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer, etc.) and not really about holidays at Disneyland. The lines for HMH and IASWH were not so bad that we needed the priority entry. We didn't even go into the Reindeer Roundup while on the tour--just looked at the turkey from outside and saw a glimpse of the reindeer through the fence (we had already spent about an hour and a half there anyway). So, probably not something I would do again--I have to say, our guide, Ryan, tried, but for whatever reason our group just didn't seem that effusive and consequently it seemed pretty low-key.

Niwel
11-20-2007, 12:16 PM
We always end up going on the tour on a Saturday night -- so the line entry is one of the best parts. :)

I do agree that a large part of what makes the tour good is the guide -- but the other part is the people on the tour. IMHO: If you are with a bunch of really peppy and spirited people, you'll have a better tour.

Mermaid
11-20-2007, 12:22 PM
Hmmmmm..... when i did it before it was 80% history of Disneyland and playing with the other tours (there were 3 out at the same time). This is what i was hoping for. Hopefully they are working out the kinks still!

emmah
11-20-2007, 12:35 PM
reading these posts just demonstrates the extent to which the tour is flexible - on my holiday tour we didn't get any carol singing (we were a very perky bunch but it was not suggested), nor any fudge, and we didn't get to use the back door entrance for IASW because there had been a breakdown and the disabled line was already really long and the guide said in the circumstances it would be rude to try and go in that way. we didn't go into reindeer round up either. but on the other hand, we had a great time without these things, and the seating for the parade was really fantastic - we had lots of interaction with the characters as they went by.:)

SuzanneSLO
11-20-2007, 01:55 PM
Where is the Holiday tour parade seating located? -- Suzanne

THpoohbear
11-20-2007, 04:53 PM
Thanks for sharing this review!

You're welcome!


I'm sorry you had a bad tour.

Thanks. I'm tempted to try to the tour again someday, but it's quite hard to justify spending the chunk of money since we had just a so-so experience the first time. It will be even harder convincing my DH, but we'll see. I'm still waiting to hear what others think about the tour this year to see if it was just my take on things or if others feel the same.


I was wondering on past Holiday Tours you received a pin, does this years tour include a pin? Yes, as Toocherie reported, you do get a pin. A very cute pin, I might add.


I do agree that a large part of what makes the tour good is the guide -- but the other part is the people on the tour. IMHO: If you are with a bunch of really peppy and spirited people, you'll have a better tour.

My tour seemed to be split down the middle. Half seemed peppy, half not so much. There was this one lady that was over the top and had obviously taken the tour before. She was actually telling the tour guide "you should tell them about this, Albert!". She was a little bossy, imo. It detracted from the tour.


Hmmmmm..... when i did it before it was 80% history of Disneyland and playing with the other tours (there were 3 out at the same time). This is what i was hoping for. Hopefully they are working out the kinks still! Yeah, not so much history of Disneyland this year. In fact, very little.


Where is the Holiday tour parade seating located? -- Suzanne

By Small World. If you're facing IASW, the seatin is on the right. I loved being so close to the parade. :)

dawnid
11-21-2007, 09:45 AM
What does this year's pin look like? I've got a Santa Mickey and Tinker Bell on an ornament already so I was hoping for a different one.

Thanks!!

Toocherie
11-21-2007, 10:43 AM
I don't have it with me but I believe it has Jiminy Cricket on it!

dawnid
11-21-2007, 12:34 PM
Oh good, something different.

Thanks!!

seigyoku
11-28-2007, 02:19 PM
I'm taking the 4 PM tour on Friday and I know the tour concludes with the 6:30 parade. Can anyone tell me how much time the parade will take? I currently have a PS for Cafe Orleans at 7:00 and am realizing I think that's cutting it pretty close!

Thanks!

VickiC
11-28-2007, 02:28 PM
I would call and see if you can change that to 7:30. It's not just the time of the parade but the crowds dispersing afterwards make it very slow to move out of the area afterwards.

Toocherie
11-28-2007, 02:43 PM
Agreed--the parade is at least 20 minutes and getting over to NOS in 10 minutes might be difficult.

dawnid
11-28-2007, 03:43 PM
Since you'll be at the train station why don't you just hop on the train to NOS? You'll skip the crowds totally.

Niwel
11-28-2007, 03:51 PM
Since you'll be at the train station why don't you just hop on the train to NOS? You'll skip the crowds totally.

:confusion face:
Reserved seating in the past has been across from IASW. The closest train is Toontown and since NOS is the stop right before it, I think it would take longer via train than going down small world way to big thunder trail.....

Mermaid
11-28-2007, 05:53 PM
Plus, pretty much no-one ever seems to get off at Toontown so it takes forever to catch the train from there! I agree, I would walk.

PanFan
11-28-2007, 08:34 PM
The line for the train at the Toontown station is usually much longer than other stations and you'll probably have to wait for a good 15-20 minutes before even getting on one. I'd definitely walk as well.

And I'd see if you can change your reservations. The parade is 20 minutes long without any technical difficulties. The afternoon parade this Sunday started about 10 minutes late and didn't get out until 4:00, so that's always a possibility. Also, the evening parade starts from Main Street and doesn't even get to the IASW area until around 6:45.