Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

Behind The Scenes Tours

So, probably 4 years ago, I went on the coaster tour at BGW. The highlight was getting to riding the elevator to the top of Griffon.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is beautiful, and the design of Loch Ness is just really cool.

6BGW_zpsdd5feed1.jpg


Main control panel for Loch Ness:

7BGW_zpsf360d576.jpg


The maintenance bay for Loch Ness was just right beneath the load area. This way (as you can see in the pic) they can do maintenance on the trains while sitting in the station.

13BGW_zps190c42db.jpg


Chain Dog. I never realized how massive these things are.

14BGW_zps7014e9f3.jpg


Coaster wheel.

15BGW_zpsba28ee37.jpg


More maintenance bay:

16BGW_zps01b1c244.jpg


The highlight of the tour was being able to ride the elevator to the top of Griffon and seeing the incredible views. Here's a shot of the first half of the group going up to the top.

3BGW_zps7f466ce5.jpg


Up at the top!

2BGW_zps9d2838f4.jpg


10BGW_zps31939cf1.jpg


11BGW_zpsd231b2e4.jpg


12BGW_zps8e320a48.jpg


Alright, so there we were at the top enjoying the incredible views and the 5 minutes we were supposed to be there, slowly turned into 10 min and then 20 min and finally, we see several people walking up the lifts' stairs to us. Turns out, the elevator broke and they couldn't get it to function. They decided to build the floor for the train that was sitting out on top and have us right the train down.

Here they are finished building the floor and were awaiting the go to ride down.

9BGW_zpsdcabc18f.jpg


After all that excitement we were offered to go on the tour the next day if we wanted to because of the inconvenience.

Underneath Griffon:

5BGW_zpsf79380ce.jpg


4BGW_zps1d772962.jpg


Apollo's Chariot maintenance bay:

1BGW_zps97ed9937.jpg


Awesome tour. I would strongly suggest anybody who's interested take the tour. Some really cool stuff!
 
Great idea for a thread, roodlesnouter!

So far I have done two "exclusive park experiences" at SeaWorld: the Behind-the-Scenes tour and the Marine Mammal Keeper Experience.

I loved both of them. Both were worth the money, and annual passholders do get a discount. The Behind-the-Scenes tour was 90 minutes long and a lot of info about the park was packed into the tour - great overview. I think it was a great experience to do once.

I reserve the word "amazing" for things that truly are, and amazing is a great word to describe MMKE. Basically, you get to shadow an animal care specialist for ~8 hours and observe how they care for marine mammals. It's a really wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience, but I would SO do it again if I were financially able. You get up close to the marine mammals at the park (with the exception of the orcas), and it's an experience that you probably won't get anywhere else. I don't want to give it all away for people who want to do it someday and be surprised, but please feel free to ask questions or PM me. I especially highly recommend the MMKE if you are exploring the possibility of an animal care-related career.
 
Just from my knowledge of Disney tours:

Keys to the Kingdom is the most popular tour on property, plus they provide lunch. From what I hear from my fellow co-workers, even for them it's a wonderful experience even with it not necessarily being "cheap."

Cheapest tour on property ($19) is the Behind the Seeds tour over at The Land in Epcot. I've done that one twice, and even though I'm not really into greenhouses, it was still pretty cool and only lasts about an hour and a half. Also, all tours accept certain discounts, so be sure to ask if you're booking!
 
Id like do some of the Segway tours Disney has to offer. One of these days I may actually do go thru with it lol

Did Segways over at Clearwater last year, great time. Really want to do the World Showcase tour though, Never had the chance before as daughter not old enough, she managed fine in Clearwater though(they took from 12yrs Disney is 16yrs) picking it up straight away. Might do it on my up coming trip. Would any one recommend?
 
Has anyone been on the vip tour at uo/ioa i'm heading out to orlando for the first time in july and our travel agent recommended it but didn't have a lot to say about it, does anyone have any info in it other that whats on the orlando website.
 
I've done Behind the Seeds in the Land, and it was AWESOME. Only about an hour long, it was a great, quick, and cheap way to get a look into some of the real science they do inside the Land.

I'd recommend it to anyone. It was great.
 
Has anyone been along to the behind the scenes at Hollywood Studios or at Universal? Thinking of doing at least one, if possible in my trip in May this year.
Any suggestions guys/gals?
 
Top