I did the cheapest tour at Disney World. At just $39 a person, it was worth every penny.
This one-hour tour takes guests on a tour of Epcot's greenhouses with a knowledgeable guide.
We learned about innovative food-growing techniques at Disney and got to sample fresh produce.
If you go to Disney World a lot, it's easy to feel like you've seen and done it all. However, you can see a whole different side of the parks by taking one of its special tours.
On a recent trip, my husband and I booked Disney World's cheapest tour, the Behind the Seeds Tour, for a chance to explore Epcot's greenhouses with an expert guide.
The Behind the Seeds Tour is fairly affordable.
The Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot's Land Pavilion costs $39 to $45 per person (depending on the day), plus tax.
That makes it the cheapest tour at Disney World, tied with Caring for Giants (which lets you see elephants at Animal Kingdom up close-ish).
That price point is a steal at Disney. Other tours cost considerably more:
The Segway tour of Fort Wilderness costs $90 to $99 per person.
Keys to the Kingdom, which takes you backstage at Magic Kingdom, starts at $149 a person.
The SCUBA diving tour of Epcot's Seas Pavilion costs $229 or more.
And don't get me started on VIP Disney Tours, which cost between $450 and $900 per hour, with a minimum of seven hours required.
For those without a calculator, that's over $3,000 for seven hours — and that doesn't include park tickets or guide tip. (And yes, the 20% tipping rule is fairly standard for tours.)
It's cool to see so many plants and the growing process up close.
Living With the Land is one of Disney World's most underrated attractions. The slow-moving boat ride takes you through a tour of Epcot's innovative greenhouses, which use unique growing methods as a test case for how we can more efficiently grow food to feed the world.
The Behind the Seeds Tour builds on that experience: You actually get to walk through those greenhouses with an expert tour guide, who lets you look at the plants, fruit, vegetables, and fish up close.
There's a lot to see in the greenhouses.
We got to peek into the aquaponic tanks, come face-to-face with massive gourds, and walk through the Living With the Land ride's famous "salad spinners" and conveyor belt-esque hydroponics system that grows plants without any soil.
The guide can share so much more information than what you learn on the ride.
Our guide was full of fun facts and able to answer all our wildest questions about why they grow tomatoes vertically or how they use parasitoid wasps to manage pests like leaf miners.
They shared some incredible facts with us, like how saffron is harvested (and why it's so dang expensive) and how we can reduce water usage when growing produce with specific techniques.
But by far the most impactful thing I learned is that it can take 1 pound of feed to yield 1 pound of fish, while it takes up to 8 pounds of feed to yield 1 pound of beef.
That can make fish significantly more environmentally friendly to farm than cattle. Although we still eat beef, my husband and I have specifically made sure we eat fish at least twice a week now, when we'd otherwise eat red meat.
Meeting Stanley the plant and sampling a fresh cucumber were among the highlights.
The Behind the Seeds Tour wasn't all facts and figures. We also got to sample produce harvested that morning — and it was the freshest, tastiest cucumber I've ever had.
Though we weren't allowed to physically touch any of the plants and trees growing in the greenhouses (for their safety), our guide made one exception: Stanley, the most sensitive plant at Epcot.
Stanley is a Mimosa pudica, a plant that can close its leaves when you touch it, as a defense mechanism.
Each member in the group got to "pet" Stanley and watch his leaves close up quickly in response — it was a cool experience that made me feel more connected to the living world around me.
The tour isn't a huge time commitment, but it may be the highlight of your day.
The Behind the Seeds Tour only lasts an hour, which means there's plenty of time to enjoy Epcot for the rest of your day, whether you want to ride the Guardians of the Galaxy coaster or down a couple of margaritas in the Mexico pavilion.
But in my experience, it will be the best hour you spend in the park. It may even be the highlight of your whole trip. And at $39, I also found it to be well worth the cost.
Although I may not be ready (or able) to fork over thousands for a VIP Tour, this positive experience motivated me to try others, like the Wild Africa Trek, during my next trip.
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