Not so great EE at Epcot last week, anyone else there?

[WeLoveEeyore]

Just curious if anyone else was at Epcot Early Entry last Wednesday? We've never had any trouble with early entries, they have always been a success, but this one was not. We arrived prior to 8, once they let us in, we went right to Test Track. We were in line about as far back almost to the bathrooms that are right there (but they hadn't let anyone "in" Test Track yet, so we really weren't too far back). Anyway, they didn't let anyone in Test Track until about 8:35 because they didn't have the ride up and running until 8:30. UUGGHH. People were trying to go up and get a Fast Pass instead, but the Fast Pass machines were broken. So, by 9:05, we finally got on Test Track and when we got out they had the Fast Pass machines finally running. So, we pop over to Mission Space, everyone except me was going on (DH, DS (11), DS (8), Brother, SIL, Nephew (11) and Neice (9)). The stand-by time said 30 minutes, so they thought OK, cool. So they get in line and it was about 9:30. I went to browse in MouseGears for the wait, nothing like a little shopping !! So, I head back over there around 10:05 and my brother calls from his cell phone to let me know they still haven't gotten on the ride. OK, so I decide to walk around a little more.... 10:30 rolls around, he calls again and says he doesn't know what is going on, but they are STILL in line hhmm?? FINALLY, at 11:15 they come rolling out of the ride Well, we were kind of mad. I mean, here it is almost 11:30 on an early entry day, and we managed 2 rides by 11:30? So, my brother and I went over to Customer Relations to ask what the deal was with all of this? The manager comes out and says that the power went out at Test Track, and as a result they couldn't get the ride running until 7:45 and it takes 45 minutes to get the ride going, and that at Mission Space they have 4 bays of rides and 1 bay had a person who threw up and as a result the whole bay had to come down to be cleaned, not just that one ride. So, she offered us 2 priority passes to any two rides in any park we wanted for all 8 of us, to make up for it. We said sure! We picked MGM and used them that afternoon for TOT and RNRC. It was frustrating, but nice to see how they wanted to make it better. And, we walked right on those rides which was cool.

 

[WeLoveEeyore]

Bump

 

[EsmeraldaX]

I wasn't there but we tend to skip EE at Epcot and use this strategy...it works pretty well (when the rides are working properly anyway...so not sure if this would help in your situation)

Get there when it opens. Grab FP for TT. Do UoE while waiting. Before hitting TT get our FP for M:S. Then do TT and by the time we're done with the TT ride and after stuff, it's almost time for M:S (or if it's not we do Innoventions for a while).

After M:S we go to the WS for a while for lunch and hit the Maelstrom on the way out. Take our time wandering back through WS and do the rest of FW now that FW is starting to have less crowds as WS is opened.

We did this several days in a row at Epcot between 2/21 & 2/26.
It worked everytime.

Sorry you had a bad morning. We had a bad morning one day on our trip at MK due to many rides malfunctioning. We actually had to be escorted by foot out of Pooh. It was kind of neat though.

 

[WeLoveEeyore]

Yeah, it's bound to happen, but it does frustrate you when you think of the time, money, and all you want to see while you're there. But, Disney came through and made up for it, for sure.

 

[lentesta]

We were in Epcot doing data collection last Wednesday. Rob (from the data collection team) said something was wrong with TT and M:S all morning, so we called off the data collection around noon. That entire day ended up being a wash, costing us literally hundreds of dollars in wasted effort. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

But overall, it was a great trip! I like the Pop Century Resort better than AS Music. And I had a really good meal at Biergarten.

Len

 

[Soupermom]

Les....Just wondering what you liked better about Pop Century. We are scheduled for ASMo in June, and I know we could switch if we wanted to. Thanks for your input!

 

[Jillpie]

Hi Julie! I hate when this happens, so sorry it happened to you guys. Its SO frustrating waiting for people to get through their ride, never mind the ride not working. I had to laugh, I did the exact same thing as you did on our trip, waiting in MouseGears while the boys went on Mission Space, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole either, no way. They loved it, even Don, but he wouldn't go on it again that trip. Isn't that store awesome!! It reminded me of World of Disney at DD, almost the same stuff. Anyway, I'm lovin your posts, brings me right back!
Oh, so how did you love Mickey's Philharmagic? I hope I steered you right on that one.

 

[jaysue]

The message here to me is that Disney needs to be more open in its communcation process. For example tell people or have a sign or something that says TT will not be up until 0830, advise people in the line at MS that the ride needs a clean up (or whatever) and it will be down for appx. XX minutes

If they were clearer it would avoid a lot of frustration

thanks
jaysue

 

[WeLoveEeyore]

Hi Jill!!
Yes, LOVED Philharmagic. Definitely a good one. I managed to drop $100 at MouseGears

Steve & Colleen are still at BWV right now. They came on Tuesday and are there until this Wednesday. It was nice to spend 5 days together there. The kids loved that.

Jaysue:
Yes, you are right, a little better communication probably could have avoided a lot of frustration on everyone's part.

 

[vicb]

We did't do EMH at Epcot but did park opening one morning (in FEb) and saw a scary/funny sight. We entered thru the IG, they let us in at 8:55, not many people there (less than 100) we walked briskly thru UK and Canada into FW. Headed toward MS and TT when we saw a herd of people running toward those rides, they were being somewhat contained by CMs on Segways! We actually feared for the CMs! We had DD zip to MS and get fast passes for her and DH, while I got two FP to TT for DS and I. Then we all rode TT together with no wait. Our FPs were for 9:30 so DS and I got right back on and they went to MS. We were all done with both rides and the interactive area by 10am!

But we had a similar bad experience as the OP at MGM on EMH day. That morning both Muppet Vision and Star Tours were down (the two rides my son wanted to do). We poked around with nothing to do until 9:30 when Muppets got up and running. Star Tours opened by 9:45. People milling around were angry, especially folks with little kids becasue nothing else besides Muppets is offered for little kids.

Sorry this turned out so long!