Back Stage tidbits: Food & Wine and Music/rides

[Gorjus]

I had to be at Epcot quite early this morning. I was walking through the gates at 6 AM. My meeting was in the land. See the photo below for a visual reference. Thank you to MattJS for taking such a wonderful photo:

If you look above where it says Garden Grill Restaurant, you will see darkened windows, a whole floor of them. Up there are some offices and conference rooms. From up there you can look out windows and see into The Land ride, specifically the rain forest, prarie, and farm house scenes.

Now I've always wondered if they keep the music on in the parks all night. I've been at the parks pretty early and have always heard the music (with the exception of water parks). Well since I was at Epcot at 6 AM I made a few discoveries: they do indeed shut the music off and some of the lights are not on either. However, the weird thing...all the sound effects and audio animatronics in the Land boat ride, do stay on. I was cracking up watching the prarie dogs go up and down and the lightning work and the buffaloes move.

And now for a Food and Wine development. The booths have been moved from their home near the Wonder Parking lot to behind World Showcase. They are spread out between a number of countries.

 

[the-reason14]

I had to be at Epcot quite early this morning. I was walking through the gates at 6 AM. My meeting was in the land. See the photo below for a visual reference. Thank you to MattJS for taking such a wonderful photo:

If you look above where it says Garden Grill Restaurant, you will see darkened windows, a whole floor of them. Up there are some offices and conference rooms. From up there you can look out windows and see into The Land ride, specifically the rain forest, prarie, and farm house scenes.

Now I've always wondered if they keep the music on in the parks all night. I've been at the parks pretty early and have always heard the music (with the exception of water parks). Well since I was at Epcot at 6 AM I made a few discoveries: they do indeed shut the music off and some of the lights are not on either. However, the weird thing...all the sound effects and audio animatronics in the Land boat ride, do stay on. I was cracking up watching the prarie dogs go up and down and the lightning work and the buffaloes move.

And now for a Food and Wine development. The booths have been moved from their home near the Wonder Parking lot to behind World Showcase. They are spread out between a number of countries.

So all the AA on every ride at WDW stay on or just them? Why cant they just turn em off?

 

[LeeSeeBabe]

talk about not being energy efficient!

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

So all the AA on every ride at WDW stay on or just them? Why cant they just turn em off?

This would creep me out if the Carnotaur and Yeti are moving at 4:35am...and no one is there....:lookaroun

 

[Jerm]

So all the AA on every ride at WDW stay on or just them? Why cant they just turn em off?

All attractions are shut down each night. If the AA's and everything was moving on Listen to the Land attraction at 6am that just means they had it up and running really early.

 

[MattBoom]

I have my early morning meeting next Tuesday. I hope it also takes place in the land. Sounds cool to see.
At least something should be worth my getting up that early.

 

[ldsprincess]

i don't mean to pry or anything, so you don't have to answer...but...what kind of meetings do they have up there? is it a cm thing or a company thing...? sorry, i hope that's not too much to ask, but i'm just curious. lol

 

[Tom Morrow]

This would creep me out if the Carnotaur and Yeti are moving at 4:35am...and no one is there....:lookaroun

The Carnotaur and Yeti are different. They don't move until they are activated by the time rover/train.

Animatronics that do one continuous movement like most of Splash Mountain stay on. The main reason is to keep them "warmed up".

 

[primetime52]

The Carnotaur and Yeti are different. They don't move until they are activated by the time rover/train.

Animatronics that do one continuous movement like most of Splash Mountain stay on. The main reason is to keep them "warmed up".

So the party inside Splash Mountain never stops!:sohappy:

 

[CThaddeus]

I know when I worked Star Tours at Disneyland the AAs never stopped. All we did when we left for the night was turn off the sound. It was also kind of strange watching C-3PO and R2-D2 silently doing their thing. I think part of the reason they were left on was so maintenance could easily see if anything wasn't working.

 

[marni1971]

The lounge you had your meeting in was the original Kraft VIP lounge. Its fascinating where some of the corporate lounges are and what views they offer (multiple threads about this for anyone who is interested!)

 

[Gorjus]

I don't have enough evidence to know whether they stay on all night (the AA). I just know they were on at 6 AM. I also have first hand knowlege that at some point in the evening, the water gets shut off for the big drop in Splash Mountain. I've been there, again at 6 AM when no water is coming down the drop.

MattBoom,
So you finally became a CM! Where are you assigned? What days do you work? Depending on what class you are going to and what park you have been assigned to and what day your class is determines where it will be. Although I can't see why someone who just went through Traditions would need to go to a Basics' class.

ldsprincess,
There are conference rooms all over WDW in weird places. If something appears to be 2 stories high or more, chances are someone has an office there and there is probably a conference room near by as well. Any department that has had new hires needs a conference room for training newbees. Managers always need a conference room for meetings with their managers. And currently every front line person has been or is scheduled to attend "The Basics" class. It is where we learn how to better serve our guests.

 

[MattBoom]

MattBoom,
So you finally became a CM! Where are you assigned? What days do you work? Depending on what class you are going to and what park you have been assigned to and what day your class is determines where it will be. Although I can't see why someone who just went through Traditions would need to go to a Basics' class.

Yes, I finally did it. Right now I'm working part-time, any two weekdays at the water parks. So far I've just been to TL. I don't know if I've seen you or not since I don't know your real name or what you look like...
I'm the tall blonde Matt with the Earning My Ears badge. ;-)
I think I'm Matt number 3 or 4 at TL.

It's not the Basics class I'm scheduled for, it's the PASS class. (At least I think that's the name.)

I love the job so far. The water parks are fun, but I'd also like to try the regular parks sometime.

 

[Gorjus]

Matt,

I was at Typhoon yesterday. I'll be back at Typhoon Sun & Mon. I didn't see you yesterday. I'll look for you. Trust me, in the heat of the summer, water parks are the way to go, although being stuck at Crush is not MY idea of fun, though others love it.

I'm surprised you are going to the PASS class since you haven't even been character trained yet. But for Water Parks, the PASS class is held at the Studios in the Fred and Ginger room near the Feature Animation building. I don't have more specific directions since I took my PASS class elsewhere.

Looking forward to meeting you Matt.

 

[Craig & Lisa]

All attractions are shut down each night. If the AA's and everything was moving on Listen to the Land attraction at 6am that just means they had it up and running really early.

Actually, before the Disney Magazine was ended, there was an article about the AA's in WDW. At night they are still moving but at a very slow pace. This is so they don't freeze up and prevent the attraction from starting up in the morning.

 

[ImaYoyo]

i don't mean to pry or anything, so you don't have to answer...but...what kind of meetings do they have up there? is it a cm thing or a company thing...? sorry, i hope that's not too much to ask, but i'm just curious. lol

These websites should give you a good idea:

http://www.disneymeetings.com/
http://www.disneyleisuregroups.com/

A very large percentage of WDWs operating revenue comes from convention guests. Some estimates show as high as 15 percent.