The Many Uses of City Hall

[AmericanItGirl]

City Hall is the place to ask if you would like to ride the Lilly Belle (for those who don't know, the Lilly Belle is the fancy train car named after Walt's wife, if you ask at City Hall, are willing to wait, the train is running and a CM is available to take you, you can get a special treat and ride in it).

Good to know. Riding in the Lilly Belle is my next goal now that I've ridden in (and taken a zillion pictures from ) the pilot cabin of the Mark Twain.

As for the Main Street smell, I forget what the normal smell is, but during the holidays they pump out peppermint.

The line is only long at City Hall in the morning, about 15 mins or so after opening.

 

[AmericanItGirl]

Is it a list that is given out or do they just tell you verbally?
I would LOVE to know where the characters so we'll be the first ones to take pictures with them

They tell you verbally. You ask where and when so-and-so is going to be today for pictures/autographs and then the CM tells you (or they'll tell you if said character isn't coming out that day...as was my case with Piglet).

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Someone said on another thread that you could get information on a particular type of plant if you wanted to know.

You can find out what characters will be out in the parks that day and where they will be located, and what time they are scheduled to appear.

I didn't know that! There's a plant on the Storybook Land Canal Boats ride that we had in our yard in Northern California that I'd like to identify, it's been bugging me since I saw it!

And I can't tell you how many times one of my boys really wanted to see a particular character and we were told we'd just missed him/her! It would be nice to know who will appear and when, particularly with favorite or more rare characters!

Ok, how long is the line inside city hall? Is it usually busy?

Yes, the line is usually fairly long when I've seen it, maybe not so bad if you stop in first thing?

BUT City Hall indeed does give out a list of all the pressed penny machines in the parks, hotels and Downtown Disney. And it tells you which three pennies you can get at each machine which is very helpful! And it changes often because they put up new ones for holidays and special events. (Once upon a time penny albums were sold in the parks to hold the collections. but I am not sure if I saw any of these albums the last time I was there.)

This would be great! On our first trip we pressed a lot of pennies, but lost them on the trip home when DH stored them in a bag with some batteries.

Every trip since then we've tried to replace DS7's Splash Mountain penny but the penny press machine was either out of order or removed.

A very important, very cool service at City Hall: DS4 and I were surprised with Dream Fastpasses on our last trip! Unfortunately DH and DS7 were not with us at the time. When I showed the passes to DH, he told me we should go to City Hall and ask if they'll give us two more, since our party was not together at the time of the award. I asked where the heck he heard that, I was skeptical; but he told me I'd read it to him from the DIS before our trip! Ha! (Yeah, OK, my brain is full of lots of clutter...)

So we went to City Hall. We asked, and sure enough, as long as your whole party is together at City Hall, and you show them the Dream Fastpasses you DID get, they will award additional Dream FPs for the remainder of the party! I was stunned! That was awesome!!!

 

[Sherry E]

This would be great! On our first trip we pressed a lot of pennies, but lost them on the trip home when DH stored them in a bag with some batteries.

Every trip since then we've tried to replace DS7's Splash Mountain penny but the penny press machine was either out of order or removed. :sad1

Yes, I found that, even if I am not getting any pressed pennies, I like to know where they all are, just in case, because sometimes they show up in places you don't see! So if you have the list from City Hall of where to find the machines, maybe you will see that the Splash Mountain one has just been moved and you can still get it. They even sell little pressed penny albums in DL here and there, so you can protect them and keep them away from batteries!! I like the fact that City Hall gives a list of each machine and each penny in that machine, in the parks, hotels and DTD, and will include the special holiday pennies on the list as a rule too.