Fun Fan get together for EPCOT's 25th on Oct 1st

[jasondiff]

I am pretty sure the first one of the day at EPCOT is at 9am. I only know this as someone who wants to register is in a deliemma and booked the "Undiscovered" Tour Oct 1st at 9am before learning of out Event. Now he wants to come, but is trying to decide wether or not if he still wants to do the tour that day and risk missing the Re-Dedication, or try to re-book for later in the week.

So if most of the Resort buses leave around 7:30ish or so, we can expect the major influx of people to arrive at the EPCOT gates around 8. That will give us one hour to pass out wristbands to Celebration 25 Attendees before the Park opens.

Can we do it?

I am thinking we should probably consider a meet up time for Sunday too...to give those already On Property the chance to pick up their wristbands.

Any thoughts ? I know earlier we were talking about a Sunday get-together anyway...what was the end result, if any so far?

Depending on the timing of the rededication (right before the park opens puts it at 8:45ish) means we'll really only have until about 8:35 to finish up sign-ins before we have to head into the park.

I don't know if the first breakfast seating is 8 or 8:30. If the first breakfast seating is 8, then in order to be at Norway at 7:55, you'd have to be dropped off by the bus at Epcot at around 7:30 to have enough time to make it all the way back to Norway. So I think the first Epcot bus would have to leave the resort at 7. That still only gives us an hour from 7:30-8:30 to sign in people.

I am all for a Sunday night meet for people to pick up wristbands. We could do it at Epcot (Sunshine Seasons, Electric Umbrella, Fountainview) or even at the Food Court at the All-Stars or Pop.

Or an even better idea, let me know what you think:

The five of us (Jason, Jenn, Adam, Lou, John) on Sunday night can do a "resort tour" - I rented an SUV so I'll drive us around, we can do 7:00-7:30 at All Star Music Food Court (I picked the middle one), 8:00-8:30 at Pop Food Court, and 9:00-10:00 at Downtown Disney, or something like that. We'll post the schedule in advance and then hopefully we can get at least half or more of the 500+ people signed in the night before.

And as I rented a car, I'm definitely able to get to Epcot as early as necessary the morning of the 1st. I was figuring on 6am anyway. But 1am works too! :lol:

 

[Master Yoda]

And as I rented a car, I'm definitely able to get to Epcot as early as necessary the morning of the 1st. I was figuring on 6am anyway. But 1am works too! :lol:

Do you think security would mind a camp fire for making smores?:lookaroun

 

[jasondiff]

Way back in post #1177

I am also thinking one line, assembly-line style. You can come right to me after signing in for the main event, if you need to pick up dessert party wristbands.

But I was also thinking, depending on the timing and setup, if we have enough people manning the sign-in table, we might want to split the main event sign-in to several lines, divided into groups by first letter of the last name, or something like that, to make the lines go quicker. We'll figure it all out soon!

Note -

How many pass-outers you got for the wristbands? I highly recommend dividing peeps by last name to streamline the process.

Like, one person with the list for A-H, on person for I-S, and one for T-Z, ya know? Just do a quickie excel spreadsheet and divide the folks up and then just have boes to initial saying they got their wristbands for whichever event they signed up for.

Merf that is a great idea, where'd you come up with it? :lol: :wave:

 

[wannabeBelle]

Hey Jason, Do we have a latest & greatest headcount for the Dessert party??? Belle

 

[jasondiff]

I will do that when I talk to our person dealing with our event. I am working to get us an extended sign in period on Sunday morning (last at least an hour after the park opens) too.

I will likely not be able to help staff a sign-in table Sunday morning - I'll be at the MK's Little Ones Magic Hours with my daughter followed by breakfast at the Crystal Palace. But I'm very willing to do the "resort tour" I mentioned or anything else on Sunday after dinner. I can also probably do some Sunday afternoon stuff too.

But if the only Sunday sign-in is going to be in the morning at the table, then I may be able to plead with the wife to rearrange the schedule a little to be there. Keep me posted with schedule details.

 

[jasondiff]

Hey Jason, Do we have a latest & greatest headcount for the Dessert party??? Belle

We have hit triple digits for the Dessert Party - 100 registrations to date (not including Adam's party, or me and my family (4), but including Jenn).

I just sent out another round of Dessert Party email confirmations for anyone who registered in the last 5 days. If you didn't get one but signed up, please PM me.

REMEMBER 5 DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR THE DESSERT PARTY!

Master Yoda- I have them grouped by "party leader" - whoever sent the payment for the family/group can pick up the wristbands for their whole party. But I'm not worried about the Dessert Party, that's only 100 people compared to the 500+ for the whole event!

Adam- If you want me to handle sending the registration confirmations for the general event, PM me. I did the Dessert Party confirmations as an mail merge from Microsoft Word with an Excel spreadsheet as the database. I can do it for you (using your email address as the return address) or help you get it set up.

 

[wannabeBelle]

To all the coordinators of this AMAZING event, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! You ROCK!!!!!!!!!! Belle

 

[jasondiff]

Not even evening EMH?

Hehe, park open until midnight.. *drool* and bazillions of people?

We'll be there till 11pm anyway, watching the inferno barge burnoff. The difference will be there will be no one else there!

Anyone gonna camp out at Epcot?

Sleeping bags in the Epcot parking lot - beats MCO plus a cab ride for those still trying to figure out where to sleep!

Heh - only 5-10mins until you get to the "near park capacity" lines to get through the autoplaza because this will be the be-all end-all Epcot event of the millenium

They will have to clean out the Wonder lot, we're going to fill up the place!

 

[jedimaster1227]

We have hit triple digits for the Dessert Party - 100 registrations to date (not including Adam's party, or me and my family (4), but including Jenn).

I just sent out another round of Dessert Party email confirmations for anyone who registered in the last 5 days. If you didn't get one but signed up, please PM me.

REMEMBER 5 DAYS LEFT TO REGISTER FOR THE DESSERT PARTY!

Master Yoda- I have them grouped by "party leader" - whoever sent the payment for the family/group can pick up the wristbands for their whole party. But I'm not worried about the Dessert Party, that's only 100 people compared to the 500+ for the whole event!

Adam- If you want me to handle sending the registration confirmations for the general event, PM me. I did the Dessert Party confirmations as an mail merge from Microsoft Word with an Excel spreadsheet as the database. I can do it for you (using your email address as the return address) or help you get it set up.

I may take you up on that offer, but what I would like to do is collaborate with you in "combining" our two rosters. I'd like to have the ability to tell if someone is attending the dessert party by looking at the master roster. So, after registration closes, you and I can work on looking at the final master sheets and getting all of that together. Next week should be pretty exciting!

Just one question Jason, how many people did we need to waive the bartender fee?

 

[Figments Friend]

Heh - only 5-10mins until you get to the "near park capacity" lines to get through the autoplaza because this will be the be-all end-all Epcot event of the millenium

Wow! Hearing YOU say that Merf is....well, awe-inspiring!

:wave:

 

[jasondiff]

I may take you up on that offer, but what I would like to do is collaborate with you in "combining" our two rosters. I'd like to have the ability to tell if someone is attending the dessert party by looking at the master roster. So, after registration closes, you and I can work on looking at the final master sheets and getting all of that together. Next week should be pretty exciting!

Just one question Jason, how many people did we need to waive the bartender fee?

Combining rosters, that's a good idea- is your registration data in Excel or something else? (Please please please don't say 500 email messages! )

But some people were saying a confirmation email before registration closes would be nice just to make sure they are on the list. That's actually what I was thinking about.

For the bartender fee, we need $500 in bar sales, regardless of the # of people. Remember thought that coffee, tea, and fruit punch are included for free with the desserts.

 

[Figments Friend]

I may take you up on that offer, but what I would like to do is collaborate with you in "combining" our two rosters. I'd like to have the ability to tell if someone is attending the dessert party by looking at the master roster. So, after registration closes, you and I can work on looking at the final master sheets and getting all of that together. Next week should be pretty exciting!

Indeed! I expect to see a BIG last minute jump in numbers. Can we hit 600? Yeah, i REALLY think we can!

I really like the idea of combining the lists. This would be great as then you could put all the wristbands and other items of need in a group envelope for each party leader. This would make handing out the wristbands much easier and would also only require the party leader who registered/paid to find us and get the goods.

Regarding the "Resort Tour"...the only wrench i see that could be tossed in the works would be the gated security you have to pass through at each Resort. I suppose we can "lie" and say we are meeting up with friends....lol......but i know in the past when people have dropped me off the guards at the gate to the AS Resorts actually checked to see that i was actually listed to check in that night.

I think going to the Park, or even better Downtown Disney ( no parking fees!) would be better. Just my thoughts....

 

[Fievel]

Hopefully we can get a table set up the night before to help alleviate a bit of stress on the people that have worked so hard to set this up for us. I've been listening to Adam on MouseTimes Podcast every week, and this is getting really exciting - moreso every day.

Is there a way to communicate to Disney the influx of people that are going to be headed toward Epcot that day in an effort to get buses to run earlier or maybe more buses right away? That could be craziness otherwise. I know resorts like Pop and All Stars will have a long line early for that first bus.

 

[jasondiff]

Indeed! I expect to see a BIG last minute jump in numbers. Can we hit 600? Yeah, i REALLY think we can!

I really like the idea of combining the lists. This would be great as then you could put all the wristbands and other items of need in a group envelope for each party leader. This would make handing out the wristbands much easier and would also only require the party leader who registered/paid to find us and get the goods.

Regarding the "Resort Tour"...the only wrench i see that could be tossed in the works would be the gated security you have to pass through at each Resort. I suppose we can "lie" and say we are meeting up with friends....lol......but i know in the past when people have dropped me off the guards at the gate to the AS Resorts actually checked to see that i was actually listed to check in that night.

I think going to the Park, or even better Downtown Disney ( no parking fees!) would be better. Just my thoughts....

I've never had a problem with the security at the resorts, for any reason - shopping, eating, looking around, even swimming (yes I'm DVC so I can pool hop). Maybe it's because I always have a WDW Resort parking pass in my windshield, but that will be the case Sunday night too. Downtown Disney will work too, I just figured a stop at the All-Stars and Pop would benefit some people that couldn't make it to DTD that night, and since they are the two biggest resorts it was logical to pick them. In the long run it would be better for us the more people we get signed in the night before, so however we can do it, I'm in.

As far as handing out the Dessert Party wristbands, I need to be a little more careful since it is a paid event, so I'm requiring photo ID for the person who picks up the wristbands. But I certainly can put the rest of their registration materials in the same envelope to make things easier.

 

[jasondiff]

Hopefully we can get a table set up the night before to help alleviate a bit of stress on the people that have worked so hard to set this up for us. I've been listening to Adam on MouseTimes Podcast every week, and this is getting really exciting - moreso every day.

Is there a way to communicate to Disney the influx of people that are going to be headed toward Epcot that day in an effort to get buses to run earlier or maybe more buses right away? That could be craziness otherwise. I know resorts like Pop and All Stars will have a long line early for that first bus.

I think it's going to be crazy anyway! But hopefully if the first Epcot bus is packed like sardines with more people waiting they will send another bus!

I really hope more people will have cars than it seems. But I think starting a rideshare thread is a good idea and will help some people, especially those that want to get there really early.

 

[mousermerf]

Sadly, the merfmobile, though having a 3rd door, has absolutely no space for people in the back.

It's more like a slightly convienent spot to put a single bag of groceries.

 

[jasondiff]

I just started a ridesharing thread here: RIDESHARING FOR CELEBRATION 25.
If you can offer a ride, please post there. Please try to keep the thread clean and only post if you are offering. If you need a ride please contact the posters by PM.
I hope this helps some people meet up for rides, especially those staying at the Epcot resorts who don't have bus service to Epcot! (If you are staying at Boardwalk, Yacht Club, Beach Club, Swan, or Dolphin - this means you! Please don't wait in front of your hotel for a bus to Epcot! There are none!)

 

[jedimaster1227]

Combining rosters, that's a good idea- is your registration data in Excel or something else? (Please please please don't say 500 email messages! )

But some people were saying a confirmation email before registration closes would be nice just to make sure they are on the list. That's actually what I was thinking about.

For the bartender fee, we need $500 in bar sales, regardless of the # of people. Remember thought that coffee, tea, and fruit punch are included for free with the desserts.

I set up the registration form so it could be exported in Excel, allowing me to quickly total up our attendees and modify any information I need to. Minus removing some duplicates, it works quite well. Getting the names for everyone may be a little more difficult. If you can send me your email address, I will send you a copy of the most up to date roster so that you can send out early confirmation emails, though we will be sending out a whole update email after registration closes too.

Indeed! I expect to see a BIG last minute jump in numbers. Can we hit 600? Yeah, i REALLY think we can!

I really like the idea of combining the lists. This would be great as then you could put all the wristbands and other items of need in a group envelope for each party leader. This would make handing out the wristbands much easier and would also only require the party leader who registered/paid to find us and get the goods.

Regarding the "Resort Tour"...the only wrench i see that could be tossed in the works would be the gated security you have to pass through at each Resort. I suppose we can "lie" and say we are meeting up with friends....lol......but i know in the past when people have dropped me off the guards at the gate to the AS Resorts actually checked to see that i was actually listed to check in that night.

I think going to the Park, or even better Downtown Disney ( no parking fees!) would be better. Just my thoughts....

I hate to say this but I'm trying desperately to do all of our bigger events with Epcot's permission. They have been very gracious with the sign in table setup for Monday and I am awaiting confirmation for the setup for Sunday morning. If we have some individual cases that need to pick up their stuff during the day that is fine, but the two sign in times that we choose to be official will have to be it for the group as a whole. We can do individual cases on an individual basis, but Disney has asked that we consolidate as much as possible in this area.

Hopefully we can get a table set up the night before to help alleviate a bit of stress on the people that have worked so hard to set this up for us. I've been listening to Adam on MouseTimes Podcast every week, and this is getting really exciting - moreso every day.

Is there a way to communicate to Disney the influx of people that are going to be headed toward Epcot that day in an effort to get buses to run earlier or maybe more buses right away? That could be craziness otherwise. I know resorts like Pop and All Stars will have a long line early for that first bus.

Glad you've liked the podcast updates! I finished recording another interview on the All About the Mouse podcast yesterday so that should be up soon, but the Mousetimes updates are a weekly occurance up until the event actually happens (what happens next is up to John, though we are going to be working together on a dual-website sponsored event at MouseFest this year). John's really funny and after meeting him in person last week, I know he'll bring some extra humor to our "Community Corner" (formerly Podcaster's Corner).

As for Disney knowing about our size, I have kept them up to date. I am giving them our final numbers after registration closes next week.

I think it's going to be crazy anyway! But hopefully if the first Epcot bus is packed like sardines with more people waiting they will send another bus!

I really hope more people will have cars than it seems. But I think starting a rideshare thread is a good idea and will help some people, especially those that want to get there really early.

The rideshare idea sounds good. My entire family is going, so our vehicles will be packed, but I'm sure others would be willing to share rides.

Oh, and we have 540 people attending now.

Edit: Missed a duplicate entry. Back at 540, but we have another celebrity joining us!

 

[imamouse]

I honestly think we should do it. Sure it will take a good hour but it would be well worth it to be able to do some Disney attractions with a 100% Disneyphile riders. Imagine AA with no snoring, UoE with no flash photos, JII with a wait time and Oh Canada where the CM will not have to say please do not sit on the lean rails.:lol:

If we could use both theaters at the same time, we could all ride Soarin' "together."

 

[jasondiff]

I hate to say this but I'm trying desperately to do all of our bigger events with Epcot's permission. They have been very gracious with the sign in table setup for Monday and I am awaiting confirmation for the setup for Sunday morning. If we have some individual cases that need to pick up their stuff during the day that is fine, but the two sign in times that we choose to be official will have to be it for the group as a whole. We can do individual cases on an individual basis, but Disney has asked that we consolidate as much as possible in this area.

Shucks, I was actually looking forward to the "Resort Tour", it sounded like such a fun idea. Once we hammer out the schedule (like exactly when is the rededication ceremony and how early we can set up out front) we can try to figure out if a huge crush of people at 8:15 is going to just be too crazy.

Maybe once the management at Epcot realizes this is going to be BIG they might consider doing the rededication at 10am or something like that. Merf, are those Epcot 25th Task Force meetings still going on?

I'm still up for some sort of meet Sunday night for people who are arriving Sunday but don't want to deal with the possible madness Monday morning. With 500+ people maybe you can ask for two tables and 4 chairs? And maybe a table Sunday morning for an hour or two and again in the evening for an hour? Just tossing out ideas that will make our lives easier; I realize the negotiations that have to go on behind the scenes.