Keys to the Kingdom

Friday we FINALLY fulfilled my mom's birthday gift and she, Taylor and I went on Disney's Keys to the Kingdom tour and it was AMAZING. It is offered to those over 16 only because they do not want to "ruin the magic." If you are a Disney freak like me you would love it. All sorts of history! Like did you know that Disney World was Walt's dream but did not come to be until after his death...Roy came out of retirement at the age of 72 to fulfill Walt's lifelong dream of an entire magical resort. Only 2 months after Walt Disney World Resort, complete with two hotels on property was completed, Roy also died. The infamous bench statue at the turnaround of Main Street is actually Roy sitting with Minnie...and Walt stands with Mickey in front of the castle. We got to go behind the scenes to the garages wear parade floats are stored, new items for attractions and decorations are being created/painted, and into the "underground" (FL water tables actually mean this was built at ground level and the entire park was built up over that, landscaping and all) corridors where employees move about the park.

Now if I were 5 and watching Mickey walk around without his giant head on that would make me not believe in the magic. But as an adult this tour made me believe in the Disney magic even more. There are few people who truly strive towards perfecting everything, few companies that go above and beyond, and sometimes I feel as though we have to work harder in a world filled with depressing news to find happiness. But the Disney brothers and the empire they left behind do strive for perfection in their ideas, do go above and beyond for guests and create this world of happiness for kids of every age. Do they make a ton of money doing it? Of course.

Tour was great, guide was great, lunch was included and as good as theme park food can be. They had ear pieces that miked in the tour guide despite that there were only ten of us - at some points as you walk through the crowd it would have been impossible to hear the guide without the ear piece. Smart. Very smart. As our guide said a couple of times - they're good, very good.