Zawadi
12-09-2013, 05:43 AM
Sat 07 Dec 2013 - Outward bound
A cool British winter's morning as we woke up at the Hilton, London Gatwick airport. We were bout to leave for breakfast when a news flash came on the TV that air traffic control (ATC) had suffered a technical failure, caused no contact with flights above 18000ft. British Airways started to announce flight cancellations. All cancellations were short haul to Europe. Tough for those affected but okay for us.
We checked in, BA Club World, and after DW purchased some bug spray in order to prevent her from being an early Christmas present for the Florida bugs, we headed to the BA lounge.
The entire departure board was in "Gate info at ##:##" mode, except our flight, which just said "Please Wait".
Several drinks later, we finally got the gate call, with only an hour delay. On board, the captain said that a new flight plan had been submitted in order to avoid a 4 hour delay and he was awaiting clearance from ATC.
The flight time had increased to 09:40 so plenty of time for food, drink, films and a nap. We landed at 17:35 Florida time (GMT-5). As we taxied to the gate, I noticed a Lufthansa Boeing 747 following us. We were first off the aircraft to find an empty immigration hall. We had beaten the other flight :) This was the fastest immigration/custom clearance into the US that we'd ever had. In fact it was so fast that our Quicksilver driver hadn't arrived yet!
We had arranged at shopping stop at Publix, on Universal Blvd. Then finally passed under the WDW arch, read "welcome home", on Osceloa Parkway.
At the AKL check in, we got our customised pink and blue named MagicBands, before finding the room, on the 5th floor of the ostrich trail. We dropped off the bags and headed to collect our "Rapid Fill" mugs from the Mara. Rapid Fill hey? No! Got a drink then had to wait until I was allowed a refill!
By 20:05 we were waiting for a bus to the Magic Kingdom to see the new Fantasyland and try out FP+. Main Street was packed, mainly due to people waiting for the Electrical Parade. We needed to get to the new Under the Sea ride, even though we knew it was an omnimover like the Nemo ride we still used a FP+ on it. The only route was via Tomorrowland. This is where things started to go wrong! After being told that I was a girl called Shylah who should be at Space Mountain, a subsequent scan came back with no Fastpass. I was told to produce evidence of the FP+ reservation, inferring that I was trying to pull a fast one and since I didn't have my UK phone with me, that I'd have to find a FP+ kiosk and take a photo of the screen! This was not taken well by me, a tired jet lagged guest. We eventually found the terminals and a CM gave the "system under test" corporate spiel, which we were to hear all too often. Returning to the ride, another unfortunate run in with the CM ensued. A colleague turned up to help resolve the issue. I don't recall the onus being on the guest to prove that they're in the right! I'm here to relax and get away from things. I don't want to carry my phone around as a wifi terminal to prove FP+ doesn't work. The second CM met us as we exited the ride and told us that we should have the old style cards with which we could still get the old style paper Fastpass.
We were told that the FP+ issue was probably a reader error. However, when if also failed at Buzz and BTMRR it's not a single reader terminal error. At least now we had a photo to prove our innocence, but still had to step out of line whilst retrieving the photo on the camera.
After the FP+ fiasco, going on TTA, HM, watching both Wishes and the 11pm parade we returned to the AKL via Guest Services. I can't see how Disney tracks these sort of errors. If they don't/can't then they have the false perception of a working system.
Back in the room, after a nice short 24 hour day (I know all days are that long but you know what I mean:)) we were both suffering from somnambulism (sleep walking) and just about managed to find our PJs before our heads hit the pillows
A cool British winter's morning as we woke up at the Hilton, London Gatwick airport. We were bout to leave for breakfast when a news flash came on the TV that air traffic control (ATC) had suffered a technical failure, caused no contact with flights above 18000ft. British Airways started to announce flight cancellations. All cancellations were short haul to Europe. Tough for those affected but okay for us.
We checked in, BA Club World, and after DW purchased some bug spray in order to prevent her from being an early Christmas present for the Florida bugs, we headed to the BA lounge.
The entire departure board was in "Gate info at ##:##" mode, except our flight, which just said "Please Wait".
Several drinks later, we finally got the gate call, with only an hour delay. On board, the captain said that a new flight plan had been submitted in order to avoid a 4 hour delay and he was awaiting clearance from ATC.
The flight time had increased to 09:40 so plenty of time for food, drink, films and a nap. We landed at 17:35 Florida time (GMT-5). As we taxied to the gate, I noticed a Lufthansa Boeing 747 following us. We were first off the aircraft to find an empty immigration hall. We had beaten the other flight :) This was the fastest immigration/custom clearance into the US that we'd ever had. In fact it was so fast that our Quicksilver driver hadn't arrived yet!
We had arranged at shopping stop at Publix, on Universal Blvd. Then finally passed under the WDW arch, read "welcome home", on Osceloa Parkway.
At the AKL check in, we got our customised pink and blue named MagicBands, before finding the room, on the 5th floor of the ostrich trail. We dropped off the bags and headed to collect our "Rapid Fill" mugs from the Mara. Rapid Fill hey? No! Got a drink then had to wait until I was allowed a refill!
By 20:05 we were waiting for a bus to the Magic Kingdom to see the new Fantasyland and try out FP+. Main Street was packed, mainly due to people waiting for the Electrical Parade. We needed to get to the new Under the Sea ride, even though we knew it was an omnimover like the Nemo ride we still used a FP+ on it. The only route was via Tomorrowland. This is where things started to go wrong! After being told that I was a girl called Shylah who should be at Space Mountain, a subsequent scan came back with no Fastpass. I was told to produce evidence of the FP+ reservation, inferring that I was trying to pull a fast one and since I didn't have my UK phone with me, that I'd have to find a FP+ kiosk and take a photo of the screen! This was not taken well by me, a tired jet lagged guest. We eventually found the terminals and a CM gave the "system under test" corporate spiel, which we were to hear all too often. Returning to the ride, another unfortunate run in with the CM ensued. A colleague turned up to help resolve the issue. I don't recall the onus being on the guest to prove that they're in the right! I'm here to relax and get away from things. I don't want to carry my phone around as a wifi terminal to prove FP+ doesn't work. The second CM met us as we exited the ride and told us that we should have the old style cards with which we could still get the old style paper Fastpass.
We were told that the FP+ issue was probably a reader error. However, when if also failed at Buzz and BTMRR it's not a single reader terminal error. At least now we had a photo to prove our innocence, but still had to step out of line whilst retrieving the photo on the camera.
After the FP+ fiasco, going on TTA, HM, watching both Wishes and the 11pm parade we returned to the AKL via Guest Services. I can't see how Disney tracks these sort of errors. If they don't/can't then they have the false perception of a working system.
Back in the room, after a nice short 24 hour day (I know all days are that long but you know what I mean:)) we were both suffering from somnambulism (sleep walking) and just about managed to find our PJs before our heads hit the pillows