Imalismom
08-11-2012, 02:05 PM
Day 6 – EPCOT and Magic Kingdom day (warning – this one is long)
We were up very early (dear daughters friend was sleeping in as she was not joining us on the Segway tour).
Some background – daughter and I have done the 7:45am Segway tour before, but hubby had not and wanted to do the tour. Now, we did not stay at an EPCOT resort when we did tour before, so we were unsure how to get there. In the Disney STILL does not know what it is doing sometimes category, here is the information we were given:
IPO: Just walked to the back gate and they will let you in (when I checked this information with the back gate, we were told, no, the gates would not have anyone near them to let us in)
Regatta Club Concierge desk: Take the boat and the boat captain will make arrangements for you to get in. This one sounded least believable of all, and sure enough when I checked with the boat captain, they boats do not even start running this early.
EPCOT main gate: The yacht club will pay for a taxi for you to be driven to the front of EPCOT, just check with the concierge desk on the main level of the yacht club.
So, before we went to bed last night, I did indeed do this. I explained all the above and she said, oh, we will CALL you a taxi, but we will not pay for it. She was VERY adamant that we were once again given wrong information, and she would in no way be able to help. Now, I KNOW Disney prides itself in its transportation department, so what EPCOT told me sounded correct, so I asked to speak to HER manager. She got very flippant with me, and told me that talking to her manager would do absolutely no good, and I would be given the SAME response, at which point, my dear husband said, “you deal with this, I am going to go to bed”, and I looked right at the nice cast member, and said “Look, we both have had a very long day I am sure, so please just humor me, go get your manager and let him or her tell me that”. She was gone for a full 5 minutes (I was wondering if she was thinking if she was gone long enough if I would just leave LOL!), but lo and behold, she came back WITH a cab voucher in her hand for me. Never did get to talk to the manager, which I really wanted to do so that they could get their act together and know what to tell people for the next time this ever happens.
But … I digress… So, it is now 7am, and we are on our way to EPCOT, in a Yellow cab, which Disney is paying for, and I am a happy camper….
When security checked my purse, I told him as I opened it up, “I promise-- no mouse traps”, and he said “That’s okay, I’m looking for marbles today” so, we had a nice laugh about his losing his marbles.
When we got to the guest relations, we found out we will have a very private Segway tour. It was to be just the three of us and a very new cast member during her first tour all by herself. Her name was Marian from Brazil and she did FABULOUS. She had her boss (also named Mary Ann) trailing her on the Segway the whole time, but she did not even need her. You would have thought it was her 100th tour, not her first. Some key things from the tour:
We were given the “new script” tour. This is the one that will be rolled out in September (if all goes as planned). The new script is all about heritage, and I learned a lot!! It is based on Walt Disney and how he interacted with each of the countries. There was also a lot of background on the buildings themselves in each country, and what went into them as they were each created. I really like the new script they will be using. They will also be incorporating headphones in the new tours starting in September to give more information over and above the script, plus, have other languages available.
One “neat” thing as we were strolling past France, looking towards the international store (with the waterway in-between), there were about 7 executives looking over the waterway (towards the store), and all I overheard was “We are just waiting on the sign off now – we know we have it, they just have not signed yet” to get started… WAIT…. WAIT…. I need to go back!! I cannot overhear just that, you do not understand… so SOMETHING is happening, and I want to know more… I even asked if we could just go stand by them and eavesdrop, but alas, we had to move on….
One more key thing – the tour will be changing the beginning of September, along with the new script, they will be doing breakfasts over in “The Land” (Seasons), and it will not be a set breakfast, you will be able to choose what you want to eat. The tour will also be increasing to 3 hours. I asked her what the price increase will be and she said that “to start” they will not be increasing the price. So, this will become a very good deal if they keep the price at $99 (with additional discount for AP and Disney Visa card holders and DVC members).
So, we finished our tour, and then went to The Land (Seasons) for breakfast – where my dear friend (Figgie from Intercot) joined us for the day and dear daughter’s friend had joined us also. Dear hubby was not feeling well (that was his excuse, but I know he does not like WDW, so he wanted to go back to the room and just watch TV and sleep – if the truth probably was known)… so he went back to the room, and we ventured onto the Monorail and over to Magic Kingdom. We got fast passes for Splash Mountain – and then hit the dole whips!! Still as good as ever!
Next up was haunted Mansion ["Welcome! Foolish Mortals, to the haunted mansion, I am your host, your ghost host. Hmmmm. Our tour begins here, in this gallery. Here where you see paintings of some of our guests, as they appeared in their corruptible, mortal state. Kindly step all the way in please, and make room for everyone. There’s no turning back now... Your cadaverous parlor, betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this Haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hhmm?? And consider this dismaying observation; this chamber had no windows, and no doors. Which offers you this chilling challenge, to find A WAY OUT! HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!! Of course, there's always my way..."]
We decided to go see what we could in the new fantasyland, and well, by the time we got there, we were pretty over heated. IT WAS HOT!! So, when we found Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station, we did JUST that! You would have thought that “I” was the four year old LOL! I just stood under the elephant and let him soak me totally down. Mr. Elephant cooled me off very well, thank you very much. I was soaking wet, and loving it. My hair looked very scary at this point, but I did not even care :mickey:. I was now ready for Splash Mountain. We stopped by the carousel and the girls rode the horses – and by the time they got off, I was still very wet, but starting to dry off – but was still much much cooler than I was before the elephant soaking. We did Splash Mountain, and then decided to head back to the hotel for snacks and the pool.
By the time we got back to the hotel, we decided to just do snacks and NOT the pool. I took a shower, everyone else chilled. I did have to go hunt down some towels, as mousekeeping did not service the room since hubby was there (even though he told them, please, yes, do come in, I can go to the lounge). I am not overly impressed with the Yacht club so far, and at this point, probably will not return to it. But to be fair, I love the Wilderness Lodge, and only tried the Yacht club since they were offering a bigger discount – and well, this way I could now answer questions about GF, YC, BC, and WL club levels when asked on Intercot) – but in case you were wondering WL still wins hands down and I cannot wait until October when I am there again.
We took the boat over to EPCOT, as our dinner was at Teppan Edo – we were escorted back – and we met our chef “Mayo”. Oh, my gosh, I have been eating here for 10 years now, and this one young lady was the most outstanding chef. She kept us laughing so hard, her tricks were not always good, but she made up for them in personality and her love for Walt Disney. I actually talked to a manager before we left and filled out a cast member card on her. If you can request and get her – you will be glad you did. She is actually a permanent employee – not on a program (i.e. college or international) – so hopefully she will be there for a long time.
We watched illuminations again (or parts of it anyways), and walked back to the hotel room. Figgie left to drive back to Deland, Florida (she will be with me at I-COT 15),
the girls checked out another DVD, and I feel asleep watching the movie with them.
Up next… all good things must come to an end….
We were up very early (dear daughters friend was sleeping in as she was not joining us on the Segway tour).
Some background – daughter and I have done the 7:45am Segway tour before, but hubby had not and wanted to do the tour. Now, we did not stay at an EPCOT resort when we did tour before, so we were unsure how to get there. In the Disney STILL does not know what it is doing sometimes category, here is the information we were given:
IPO: Just walked to the back gate and they will let you in (when I checked this information with the back gate, we were told, no, the gates would not have anyone near them to let us in)
Regatta Club Concierge desk: Take the boat and the boat captain will make arrangements for you to get in. This one sounded least believable of all, and sure enough when I checked with the boat captain, they boats do not even start running this early.
EPCOT main gate: The yacht club will pay for a taxi for you to be driven to the front of EPCOT, just check with the concierge desk on the main level of the yacht club.
So, before we went to bed last night, I did indeed do this. I explained all the above and she said, oh, we will CALL you a taxi, but we will not pay for it. She was VERY adamant that we were once again given wrong information, and she would in no way be able to help. Now, I KNOW Disney prides itself in its transportation department, so what EPCOT told me sounded correct, so I asked to speak to HER manager. She got very flippant with me, and told me that talking to her manager would do absolutely no good, and I would be given the SAME response, at which point, my dear husband said, “you deal with this, I am going to go to bed”, and I looked right at the nice cast member, and said “Look, we both have had a very long day I am sure, so please just humor me, go get your manager and let him or her tell me that”. She was gone for a full 5 minutes (I was wondering if she was thinking if she was gone long enough if I would just leave LOL!), but lo and behold, she came back WITH a cab voucher in her hand for me. Never did get to talk to the manager, which I really wanted to do so that they could get their act together and know what to tell people for the next time this ever happens.
But … I digress… So, it is now 7am, and we are on our way to EPCOT, in a Yellow cab, which Disney is paying for, and I am a happy camper….
When security checked my purse, I told him as I opened it up, “I promise-- no mouse traps”, and he said “That’s okay, I’m looking for marbles today” so, we had a nice laugh about his losing his marbles.
When we got to the guest relations, we found out we will have a very private Segway tour. It was to be just the three of us and a very new cast member during her first tour all by herself. Her name was Marian from Brazil and she did FABULOUS. She had her boss (also named Mary Ann) trailing her on the Segway the whole time, but she did not even need her. You would have thought it was her 100th tour, not her first. Some key things from the tour:
We were given the “new script” tour. This is the one that will be rolled out in September (if all goes as planned). The new script is all about heritage, and I learned a lot!! It is based on Walt Disney and how he interacted with each of the countries. There was also a lot of background on the buildings themselves in each country, and what went into them as they were each created. I really like the new script they will be using. They will also be incorporating headphones in the new tours starting in September to give more information over and above the script, plus, have other languages available.
One “neat” thing as we were strolling past France, looking towards the international store (with the waterway in-between), there were about 7 executives looking over the waterway (towards the store), and all I overheard was “We are just waiting on the sign off now – we know we have it, they just have not signed yet” to get started… WAIT…. WAIT…. I need to go back!! I cannot overhear just that, you do not understand… so SOMETHING is happening, and I want to know more… I even asked if we could just go stand by them and eavesdrop, but alas, we had to move on….
One more key thing – the tour will be changing the beginning of September, along with the new script, they will be doing breakfasts over in “The Land” (Seasons), and it will not be a set breakfast, you will be able to choose what you want to eat. The tour will also be increasing to 3 hours. I asked her what the price increase will be and she said that “to start” they will not be increasing the price. So, this will become a very good deal if they keep the price at $99 (with additional discount for AP and Disney Visa card holders and DVC members).
So, we finished our tour, and then went to The Land (Seasons) for breakfast – where my dear friend (Figgie from Intercot) joined us for the day and dear daughter’s friend had joined us also. Dear hubby was not feeling well (that was his excuse, but I know he does not like WDW, so he wanted to go back to the room and just watch TV and sleep – if the truth probably was known)… so he went back to the room, and we ventured onto the Monorail and over to Magic Kingdom. We got fast passes for Splash Mountain – and then hit the dole whips!! Still as good as ever!
Next up was haunted Mansion ["Welcome! Foolish Mortals, to the haunted mansion, I am your host, your ghost host. Hmmmm. Our tour begins here, in this gallery. Here where you see paintings of some of our guests, as they appeared in their corruptible, mortal state. Kindly step all the way in please, and make room for everyone. There’s no turning back now... Your cadaverous parlor, betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this Haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hhmm?? And consider this dismaying observation; this chamber had no windows, and no doors. Which offers you this chilling challenge, to find A WAY OUT! HAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!! Of course, there's always my way..."]
We decided to go see what we could in the new fantasyland, and well, by the time we got there, we were pretty over heated. IT WAS HOT!! So, when we found Casey Jr. Splash ‘N’ Soak Station, we did JUST that! You would have thought that “I” was the four year old LOL! I just stood under the elephant and let him soak me totally down. Mr. Elephant cooled me off very well, thank you very much. I was soaking wet, and loving it. My hair looked very scary at this point, but I did not even care :mickey:. I was now ready for Splash Mountain. We stopped by the carousel and the girls rode the horses – and by the time they got off, I was still very wet, but starting to dry off – but was still much much cooler than I was before the elephant soaking. We did Splash Mountain, and then decided to head back to the hotel for snacks and the pool.
By the time we got back to the hotel, we decided to just do snacks and NOT the pool. I took a shower, everyone else chilled. I did have to go hunt down some towels, as mousekeeping did not service the room since hubby was there (even though he told them, please, yes, do come in, I can go to the lounge). I am not overly impressed with the Yacht club so far, and at this point, probably will not return to it. But to be fair, I love the Wilderness Lodge, and only tried the Yacht club since they were offering a bigger discount – and well, this way I could now answer questions about GF, YC, BC, and WL club levels when asked on Intercot) – but in case you were wondering WL still wins hands down and I cannot wait until October when I am there again.
We took the boat over to EPCOT, as our dinner was at Teppan Edo – we were escorted back – and we met our chef “Mayo”. Oh, my gosh, I have been eating here for 10 years now, and this one young lady was the most outstanding chef. She kept us laughing so hard, her tricks were not always good, but she made up for them in personality and her love for Walt Disney. I actually talked to a manager before we left and filled out a cast member card on her. If you can request and get her – you will be glad you did. She is actually a permanent employee – not on a program (i.e. college or international) – so hopefully she will be there for a long time.
We watched illuminations again (or parts of it anyways), and walked back to the hotel room. Figgie left to drive back to Deland, Florida (she will be with me at I-COT 15),
the girls checked out another DVD, and I feel asleep watching the movie with them.
Up next… all good things must come to an end….