Good morning from the Yacht Club - live trip report

[Lisash]

I'm wide awake so thought I'd post my initial thoughts. Arrived last night. Flight was fine. Two and half hour immigration queue not so. Small kids crying and throwing up. Had to help catch teenage girl in front of me who fainted. Don't know why they don't have decent air con in there. Yacht Club on other hand is amazing. Loved guy on gatehouse saying welcome home as we arrived. Check in very slick and we got free upgrade to garden view. Mostly trees and bit of grass but better than roof tops in standard. Will try upload pic later. Magic bands were waiting for us on arrival am quite impressed with them so far. Like fact you also need to input pin number to use them. Was bit worried about how secure they were. Excited to see if my FP+ have worked ok in Epcot today.

 

[Tony Bush]

Glad you got there ok - the queuing at immigration sounds painful - were you at MCO or Sanford ?
I shall follow your reports closely as I'm intrigued to know how you get on with the Magicbands.

Tony

 

[Lisash]

We we at MCO. We were on BA and two Virgin flights arrived at same time absolute bedlam. I know it's bad, but never like that. Will keep you posted on bands. Saw lots of people wearing them last night but there again probably only because we didn't roam far from hotel. It must have cost a fortune for disney to install all the scanners and chip and pin machines

 

[Claire Bear]

Ooh we'll see you there later! And we've made FP reservations for Epcot today too! Glad you've had a good first impression of TC, I can't wait

 

[thestevied]

32 days till we'll be at the yacht club! So jealous of you... Hope you have a great time.

 

[Claire Bear]

Our magicbands weren't waiting so we've got grey ones but at least we've got bands

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

What a nightmare at immigration, did any officials help the young girl who fainted or try to get things moving? For all the airport fees we pay I think it is ridiculous

Glad you are settled in with a good view, the resort is so beautiful and it must be great just to walk to Epcot

 

[tinkerpea]

Our magicbands weren't waiting so we've got grey ones but at least we've got bands

Did they give you a reason why the bands wasn't ready and there?

 

[Claire Bear]

Did they give you a reason why the bands wasn't ready and there?

Hello. The CM said she could see that we'd made all our FP's etc but when she checked they hadn't arrived, she wasn't too interested really and just said we'd be fine with the grey. All our FP's are on the grey ones and so far they have worked well. I'm going to ask about our bands again tomorrow to see if someone else can check as she did say if they were found we could use them.

 

[scoobydooby]

Sorry about your immigration experience. Sounds horrible. We got through in minutes 10 days ago but I did speak to another passenger on the same flight but who was at the back downstairs and she said they waited over an hour. I guess we just got lucky getting off nearly first. Apparently another flight was right behind us.

The YC will make up for it though

 

[Lisash]

Hello. The CM said she could see that we'd made all our FP's etc but when she checked they hadn't arrived, she wasn't too interested really and just said we'd be fine with the grey. All our FP's are on the grey ones and so far they have worked well. I'm going to ask about our bands again tomorrow to see if someone else can check as she did say if they were found we could use them.

I would. We had exactly same thing happen except mine and DH's grey bands didn't work. When we went back to desk to get them fixed they looked again and found our coloured ones. They even let us keep inactive grey ones as souvenirs

 

[Lisash]

What a nightmare at immigration, did any officials help the young girl who fainted or try to get things moving? For all the airport fees we pay I think it is ridiculous

Glad you are settled in with a good view, the resort is so beautiful and it must be great just to walk to Epcot

They called fire and rescue to girl who fainted who checked her over then took her through US citizen lanes. They wouldn't let her extended family do that though so they were still waiting as long as us, just the other side if immigration instead

 

[Claire Bear]

I would. We had exactly same thing happen except mine and DH's grey bands didn't work. When we went back to desk to get them fixed they looked again and found our coloured ones. They even let us keep inactive grey ones as souvenirs

Thank you. We'll try tomorrow then

 

[Lisash]

Couple of pictures
Our room at Yacht Club. You can just about see box for magic bands on bedside table.


Mousekeeping left us this today



DH and me at Epcot this afternoon.



The Oompah band at Biergarten tonight. DS absolutely hated it.

 

[Claire Bear]

Looks just like our room

 

[Lisash]

Here's write up do go with pics. Day 1 Epcot - started bright and early with nice stroll in Via Gateway. Very strange seeing World Showcase so quiet but lovely to get into park with no queue whatsoever. Headed straight to Sunshine Seasons for quick pastry breakfast then grabbed quick ride on The Land and Nemo before first FP+ of day for Soarin. Magic Bands worked fine and we got front row. Really loving magic bands and My Disney Experience app. Get daily email reminder of ADR's which is useful. Only drawback I see is that with 3 FP's lined up for day you have to keep checking what time and order they are in on app. Will be writing them down on slip of paper today. DS (17) made full use of free wifi to keep in touch with friends so much happier than would usually be. Took one for the team and rode Mission Space then on to refurbed Test Track. Is it me or is it much faster now?

Headed over to Japan for late Teryaki Chicken lunch. Just leaving when 20 minute monsoon started so sheltered the for duration. Then took leisurely stroll round rest of showcase. Had ADR for Biergarten at 7pm. Very busy and disorganised when we arrived, had half hour wait. As only 3 of us we had to share table with very nice family from Vermont. Food was not bad at all, good selection of meats and salads although DS not keen (more of that later) DH thought the hot meal and veggies and salad thing a bit random but said it worked better than he thought. At 8pm Oompah band came on. DS hated this with a passion. When the guy did Sound of Music medley on cowbells I nearly died laughing at his reaction. Safe to say he paid me back later.

We decided to leave fireworks for another evening and headed back to Yacht Club. DS went off to use hotel gym and DH and I grabbed some drinks refills and headed back to room to relax. DS came back announcing he felt unwell and proceeded to be very very sick. Don't know if it was food, heat, workout or combination of all three. DH and I are fine so hoping it was a one off. He's snoring away happily now so fingers crossed.

So today we are off to my favourite Magic Kingdom with dinner at Liberty Tree. Time to get the boys up I think.

 

[Tony Bush]

Sounds like a great day... Love the room at YC.. if ours at POFQ next year are half as good I'll be happy Good to see the bands are working well. Have you used them for dining plan meals yet ?

 

[Lisash]

Hi Tony yes we have for meals and snacks. Basically you just either scan it over machine at till point or servers have PDA which scans band you input PIN number and away you go. I will try to get pic of machine today and download for you later. Have to say i am impressed so far

 

[Tony Bush]

Have you loaded a credit card onto your bands ? If so, when you get a QS meal are you asked if you want to take it from your dining plan or charge it to your card when you scan the band ?

Tony

 

[Claire Bear]

Morning Lisa, we're following you again today, we're going to MK (If Tom ever wakes up! That's the good thing about FP+ though, we don't have to rush to the parks).
Tony, we just said to to cashier we were on the dining plan and could we pay be credits. It's so easy to use the magicbands