prioty checkin/sat nav/welcome meet

[royal99]

hey...

A few questions and opinons please....firstly...

1, Staying the night before our two weeks in august in sofitel (gatwick) also have booked our seats already on thomas cook flight so we have already cut check in time, but was also wandering about this prioty check-in, at £15 quid each seems a bit steep to me!! only advantage i can see is if thomas cook do an all flights checkin in and lots flights leaving same time as mine, and you avoid big q's. Anyone know if thomas cook do an all flight check-in? anyone else planning to use this service?

2, Been a few times before and am fine with driving and getting around, but this time want to go to certain restaurants and attractions, looked at buying or renting a sat-nav but i think cheapest option is to upload florida maps to my sat-nav, its a tom tom make, anyone know where i go to do this?

3, just a quickie on all my visits never been to a welcome meeting, just wandering if anyone does and is there any advantage to going? as i think i know as much as i need to know..and also being an ex rep i know what welcome meetings are about sale sale sale!!

Thanks in advance people

 

[team harris]

Can only respond on the welcome meeting:
We only ever attended one (Virgin Hols) a few years back.
Our sole purpose of this was to purchase our Downtown Checkin vouchers for the journey home.
They were not impressed that that was all we wanted and made us wait until the very end of the meeting.
The meeting itself, we felt, was a waste of time.
We felt that we were more clued up than the reps - and that was before we found The Disboards! lovestruc)
I would advise that unless it is your first trip and you really hadn't a clue, don't bother, you'll have more fun spending the morning in a park!

 

[wayneg]

1, Sorry can't help with TC check in, never used them.
2, Have you looked at buying in US? if you know your way around OK get to Walmart and buy for about £65 incl complete maps of the US and Canada. The same maps only for UK version to download £55.
I guess you could sell on Ebay on return and get your £65 back.

3, Not been to a welcome meeting for about 10 years, last one we did in Clearwater was really bad, she was also a timeshare agent. They were basically there to sell tickets ones we have been to, useful info was very limited(unless you are a total novice with no DIS experience, then they could be useful)

 

[Shazzie B]

If you already have a TomTom; the maps for South East USA cost £35.00-£40.00 depending on which TomTom you have-That's what we've done.

We don't bother with Welcome Meetings; I agree with previous post that even on our 1st visit-when all we used was The Brit Guide we didn't learn anything.

Can't help with other question-sorry.

Have a great holiday

 

[royal99]

thanks for replys so far, agree about welcome meeting as it will be our 8th visit we wont be learning anything, was just seeing if there ever offer discounts on shows ( blue group etc~) but i think we will be given it a miss and head to parks.

Thanks for the info on sat-nav so is it a case of of attaching the tom tom and heading to there site for the download?

thanks again

 

[Twilight Terror]

Since you've found this place, you do not need to attend the welcome meetings. Everything you need to know can be found here, and a whole lot more than any rep will tell you about. You'll also find much cheaper attraction tickets on here, recommended by others, and sponsor companies, so don't waste what it the best part of a day attending the meeting - get out there and enjoy yourselves! Just spend now and when you go reading on here!

 

[wayneg]

thanks for replys so far, agree about welcome meeting as it will be our 8th visit we wont be learning anything, was just seeing if there ever offer discounts on shows ( blue group etc~) but i think

For BMG check this thread I started yesterday http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2192377
Its only for this month for now but keep an eye on it, they offer discounts for BMG and Cirque from time to time. We bought Mama Mia tix in Vegas thru them at half price.

 

[bombhead444]

We're the same as everyone else, done one welcome meeting and never bothered from then on.

As for your tomtom, depending on how old your tomtom is, connect it to your computer and it should install tomtom home onto you pc. If it doesnt then just download tomtom home from their website. Once installed you attach your tomtom and then click on buy maps and follow instructions on screen, pretty simple. Also you can update the tomtom to latest software etc for free.

 

[virginatlantic]

As many have said the welcome meeting is of little use if you already use this forum.
Plus I recall the welcome meetings at DTD are about 10.30, you will be up early anyway and could have been in the parks or buy the pool for a good few hours by then, a far better bet

As for sat nav we will be taking our tomtom, I have a question though for anyone who knows, our USA map is from 2006, have any roads had a major changed since then, or is it neccesary to download 2009 from tomtoms site

 

[bombhead444]

Dont think you should worry too much, the only difference since 2006 i've noticed is the turnoff on I-4 for Highway 192/kissimmee, thats had a revamp but apart from that dont think much has changed at all.

 

[virginatlantic]

Dont think you should worry too much, the only difference since 2006 i've noticed is the turnoff on I-4 for Highway 192/kissimmee, thats had a revamp but apart from that dont think much has changed at all.

Cool I know where you mean,we are off in 4 weeks!! thats great thanks for the reply

 

[wayneg]

Dont think you should worry too much, the only difference since 2006 i've noticed is the turnoff on I-4 for Highway 192/kissimmee, thats had a revamp but apart from that dont think much has changed at all.

Rarely use sat nav but when I have thats the only junction/road I have seen change in past few years, there will be more but it will depend where you go/stay.