Talsonic
Account Suspended
Well, the bad news is that we cut our trip short. However, the good news is that WDW was so low on visitors, we were able to do everything we wanted to do in half the time! Every attraction and every restaurant in every park was a walk-on! The Disney transportation system was (almost) flawless and Hurricane Isadore caused the weather to cool down with just a little bit of rain. It short, it was one of our best trips ever! Let me start at the start.
We arrived at the All-Star Movies resort about 4:05 PM on 9/20/2002. I had previously sent a fax with our room preferences on 9/16/2002 (Toy Story 9 or 10, non-smoking, second floor room near the ice machine). Upon check-in we got just the room we wanted and they didn't even charge us the extra amount for a preferred building. We also set up our room cards so that we could charge all our expenses. The CM at the desk told us that our limit on the room card would be $500.00 and that we would have to sign off on that amount before we could be extended another $500.00 worth of credit. I asked for a supervisor and requested that my credit limit be extended to $2,500.00. No problem, she extended the credit limit on the spot. We carried up our bags to the room and then headed to Epcot for dinner. As soon as we walked out to the bus stop, an Epcot bus pulled up and we all (wife, daughter and me) got seats on the bus. The bus driver was good and got us there in record time. We thanked the bus driver as we disembarked and headed for Guest Services to turn in out vouchers for AP's. No line was at the Guest Services window, so we got a CM to help us right away. At an adjacent window a group of guests had lost their tickets and we're attempting to get replacements. As the CM began to explain the steps that had to be taken to replace lost tickets, the guests in this group all became very rude and argumentative with the CM. About this time we had just finished up getting our AP's and I took out a pen and wrote down the number of each AP on a separate piece of paper. One of the leaders of the irate group attempted to enlist my help by stating to me, "I don't believe these stupid Disney people. They charge you a small fortune for a ticket and then they can't replace it when it gets lost!". I turned to him and replied, "Are you related to Forest Gump?". We then made our way to the entrance gate. Entrance was easy and quick. Security checks are not a problem at any of the parks, however, guests with a "hard luck" story abound. Over and over again I would hear such excuses as, "I didn't know about the hand stamp..." or "I washed it off...." or "We lost our tickets but...." or "I just need to find my mother..." or "I have to go to the bathroom...", etc. I had to tell more than one guest to please step aside and stop blocking the entrance. At our very first entrance to Epcot a young mother with a stroller was just in front of us as we went through the gate. Just on the other side of the gate, she stopped, turned her stroller sideways and began to rummage through a knapsack effectively blocking entrance to all others behind her. I gently nudged her and the stroller about three feet to the left.
My family and I walked back to the China Pavilion and had our dinner at the Nine Dragons Restaurant. It was wonderful as usual. One disappointment was that they no longer serve the Corn Egg Drop soup. They now have something called Sweet and Sour Hot Soup. It maybe good, but I didn't try it to find out. The rest of the meal was excellent! Also, we avoided the ToD parade with good timing.
Since we were very tired after our long trip we decided to head back to the room and get an early start the next day. To put us in the mood for sleep we rode "El Rio del Tiempo". We also rode SE and noticed the new safety message. After our experience with the young lady and her stroller blocking the entrance to Epcot, it was very evident to all of us why that safety message had to be installed on SE. We left SE and headed for the bus stop. At Epcot, all 3 of the All-Star Resorts board the buses at the same area (stop 10). When we got to the bus stop, there was a large line (about 60 people) in front of us. One of the new buses pulled up. You know, the kind that has the large doors in the front and the bus "kneels over" and extends a ramp out the back door for handicapped folks. Anyway, there was a very overweight lady on one of those electric scooters. The bus driver tilted the bus over, extended the ramp and the lady backed the scooter up the ramp onto the bus. She got off the scooter and sat down and her family (6 others persons) joined her on the bus. The driver then strapped the scooter in place. Then the driver attempted to retract the ramp, but it was stuck! I remember Tyler talking about this but this was the first time I had seen the problem. Without going into all the details, the bus driver and another CM spent the next 10 minutes trying to get the ramp to retract. Meanwhile the line was growing (240 in line by now) and it started to rain. The folks at the back of the line were not under the roof and were getting soaked! Within the next minute another bus shows up and we all figure that at least the first 40 or 50 people in line will be picked up. No! The bus stops and another CM gets off the bus and then the bus speeds away. The CM is a young lady with a burgundy shirt and a radio. Obviously a supervisor or manager of some sort. She calls some instructions on her radio and then attempts to correct the ramp problem. She pushes, pulls, jumps up and down on the ramp and plays with all the controls but the ramp still defies all mortal efforts. The crowd continues to grow and is up to 300 people by now. As buses go by for the other resorts (Coronado Springs, etc.) the All-Star crowd starts to yell for help. Within a few minutes the crowd has grown to 400 and I hear a few cuss words. Just then a new All-Star bus pulls up and folks "crush" to load up. Frankly, I didn't want to load up on that bus because it was "sardine city". Just before it became our turn to load up, another bus pulls up and we were directed to the new bus! We got seats! As we pulled out, I noticed at least 6 more buses in line to pick up the other All-Star passengers.
In short, we were delayed about 15 or 20 minutes tops! We got back to our nice room at the All-Star Movies resort and relaxed with beer, wine and cocktails. We also had some other friends and family members staying at other WDW resorts, so we called them and made arrangements to meet during the next few days. At this point we were still a little unsure of the visitation so we decided to visit the AK the next day. I put 3 dollars in my "For the Mousekeepers" envelope and put it on top of the TV and then went to bed. The AK will be the next installment.
We arrived at the All-Star Movies resort about 4:05 PM on 9/20/2002. I had previously sent a fax with our room preferences on 9/16/2002 (Toy Story 9 or 10, non-smoking, second floor room near the ice machine). Upon check-in we got just the room we wanted and they didn't even charge us the extra amount for a preferred building. We also set up our room cards so that we could charge all our expenses. The CM at the desk told us that our limit on the room card would be $500.00 and that we would have to sign off on that amount before we could be extended another $500.00 worth of credit. I asked for a supervisor and requested that my credit limit be extended to $2,500.00. No problem, she extended the credit limit on the spot. We carried up our bags to the room and then headed to Epcot for dinner. As soon as we walked out to the bus stop, an Epcot bus pulled up and we all (wife, daughter and me) got seats on the bus. The bus driver was good and got us there in record time. We thanked the bus driver as we disembarked and headed for Guest Services to turn in out vouchers for AP's. No line was at the Guest Services window, so we got a CM to help us right away. At an adjacent window a group of guests had lost their tickets and we're attempting to get replacements. As the CM began to explain the steps that had to be taken to replace lost tickets, the guests in this group all became very rude and argumentative with the CM. About this time we had just finished up getting our AP's and I took out a pen and wrote down the number of each AP on a separate piece of paper. One of the leaders of the irate group attempted to enlist my help by stating to me, "I don't believe these stupid Disney people. They charge you a small fortune for a ticket and then they can't replace it when it gets lost!". I turned to him and replied, "Are you related to Forest Gump?". We then made our way to the entrance gate. Entrance was easy and quick. Security checks are not a problem at any of the parks, however, guests with a "hard luck" story abound. Over and over again I would hear such excuses as, "I didn't know about the hand stamp..." or "I washed it off...." or "We lost our tickets but...." or "I just need to find my mother..." or "I have to go to the bathroom...", etc. I had to tell more than one guest to please step aside and stop blocking the entrance. At our very first entrance to Epcot a young mother with a stroller was just in front of us as we went through the gate. Just on the other side of the gate, she stopped, turned her stroller sideways and began to rummage through a knapsack effectively blocking entrance to all others behind her. I gently nudged her and the stroller about three feet to the left.
My family and I walked back to the China Pavilion and had our dinner at the Nine Dragons Restaurant. It was wonderful as usual. One disappointment was that they no longer serve the Corn Egg Drop soup. They now have something called Sweet and Sour Hot Soup. It maybe good, but I didn't try it to find out. The rest of the meal was excellent! Also, we avoided the ToD parade with good timing.
Since we were very tired after our long trip we decided to head back to the room and get an early start the next day. To put us in the mood for sleep we rode "El Rio del Tiempo". We also rode SE and noticed the new safety message. After our experience with the young lady and her stroller blocking the entrance to Epcot, it was very evident to all of us why that safety message had to be installed on SE. We left SE and headed for the bus stop. At Epcot, all 3 of the All-Star Resorts board the buses at the same area (stop 10). When we got to the bus stop, there was a large line (about 60 people) in front of us. One of the new buses pulled up. You know, the kind that has the large doors in the front and the bus "kneels over" and extends a ramp out the back door for handicapped folks. Anyway, there was a very overweight lady on one of those electric scooters. The bus driver tilted the bus over, extended the ramp and the lady backed the scooter up the ramp onto the bus. She got off the scooter and sat down and her family (6 others persons) joined her on the bus. The driver then strapped the scooter in place. Then the driver attempted to retract the ramp, but it was stuck! I remember Tyler talking about this but this was the first time I had seen the problem. Without going into all the details, the bus driver and another CM spent the next 10 minutes trying to get the ramp to retract. Meanwhile the line was growing (240 in line by now) and it started to rain. The folks at the back of the line were not under the roof and were getting soaked! Within the next minute another bus shows up and we all figure that at least the first 40 or 50 people in line will be picked up. No! The bus stops and another CM gets off the bus and then the bus speeds away. The CM is a young lady with a burgundy shirt and a radio. Obviously a supervisor or manager of some sort. She calls some instructions on her radio and then attempts to correct the ramp problem. She pushes, pulls, jumps up and down on the ramp and plays with all the controls but the ramp still defies all mortal efforts. The crowd continues to grow and is up to 300 people by now. As buses go by for the other resorts (Coronado Springs, etc.) the All-Star crowd starts to yell for help. Within a few minutes the crowd has grown to 400 and I hear a few cuss words. Just then a new All-Star bus pulls up and folks "crush" to load up. Frankly, I didn't want to load up on that bus because it was "sardine city". Just before it became our turn to load up, another bus pulls up and we were directed to the new bus! We got seats! As we pulled out, I noticed at least 6 more buses in line to pick up the other All-Star passengers.
In short, we were delayed about 15 or 20 minutes tops! We got back to our nice room at the All-Star Movies resort and relaxed with beer, wine and cocktails. We also had some other friends and family members staying at other WDW resorts, so we called them and made arrangements to meet during the next few days. At this point we were still a little unsure of the visitation so we decided to visit the AK the next day. I put 3 dollars in my "For the Mousekeepers" envelope and put it on top of the TV and then went to bed. The AK will be the next installment.
