Many travelers are familiar with Disney Cruises, but Disney’s land tours often escape notice, even though Adventures by Disney has sold escorted tours for more than a decade and now offers itineraries on six continents.

Disney’s tour through central Europe offers summer departures for families with children as young as 4 years old and September departures exclusively for adults. My nine-day tour began in Prague, continued through the Czech Republic, skirted the edge of Bavaria and made a swing through Austria before ending in Vienna. Along the way we took in the usual highlights: a castle in the Alps, The Sound of Music sites in Salzburg and a walk through Český Krumlov.

But the atypical sets Disney apart. The Disney name gains insider access to behind-the-scenes experiences only available on Adventures by Disney tours.

In Prague, we made marionettes at a workshop in the basement of the National Marionette Theatre. The marionette theme continued in Vienna with a backstage tour of the marionette theater at Schönbrunn Palace. A commercial bakery in Bavaria stayed open after closing time for a hands-on lesson in pretzel making. In Vienna, we enjoyed an after-hours tour of The Vienna Zoo. The Spanish Riding School at Hofburg Palace appears on the itineraries of most escorted tours, but Disney added a private tour of the Lipizzan stables, where we got a close look at the horses and chatted up one of their riders. We took a waltzing lesson in a dance school run by one of the judges in Austria’s version of Dancing with the Stars.

Disney’s Adventure Guides took us to some offbeat attractions, too, including a working salt mine and an ice cave. The guides supervised the kids during one separate meal, and at Schönbrunn they took them to the children’s museum while the adults toured the palace.