I took my family, including 11-year-old Allan and 7-year-old Michael on the Disney Family Magic Tour in mid-October 2007. The cost for the tour was $27 for adults and children (including tax), which did not include Magic Kingdom Park Admission, of course.
We were told to meet at the “Tour Garden” to the left of City Hall at 9:45 a.m. on the day of the tour. Because of traffic, we were a little late but arrived well ahead of the actual 10:00 a.m. tour start time. We noticed that everyone else in the “Tour Garden” already had their name tags, so we wondered when a cast member might come out to check on us… when one of my boys noticed that our name tags were sitting on the counter in the old Disney Gallery building (now package pick-up). We entered the building and identified ourselves, and were handed our name tags. We were also offered some slightly cool bottled water. It was a nice gesture.
The tour group was made up of about five different families. Our boys were, by far, the oldest of the bunch. Most of the children were in the 3- to 5-year age range. The parents and one set of grandparents made up the balance of the group. Altogether, without having actually counted, I would say our group included about 10 children and 10 or 12 adults.
At about 10:15, our tour guide arrived. Melissa (from St. Louis, Missouri) told us that some odd things had been happening in the park. In fact, Captain Hook had threatened to completely take over the park because Peter Pan had stolen his best hook.
Our tour guide then placed a bundle of white dishrags on the ground and told each of the kids to take one. Eventually after all of them had been taken, it was clear that a small leather bag with a skull and crossbones symbol on it had been at the center of the bundle. One of the moms in the group held onto the small leather bag until the tour guide came back. She told the lady to open the bag. She did so, and then finding that the bag was filled with “Mickey Dust” (Mickey-shaped confetti) she proceeded to toss the whole bagful into the air leaving most of the bag’s contents scattered around on the ground. The tour guide quickly took the bag back and handed out as much of the “Mickey Dust” that remained to other tour members. She explained that it was the “Mickey Dust” that would empower us to find the hook that Pan stole and return it to Hook so the Magic Kingdom could be saved.
Next, we were told we had to find the scroll with the missing clues. After just a few moments of walking about, Barbara, my wife, found a canvas scroll about three feet by five feet, which was covered with hand-written clues that would take us from the garden to several other destinations and ultimately on to the location where Pan hid the hook.