Virgin Welcome Meeting

[jwhiting]

Has anyone got an update on current Virgin welcome meeting venues, especially for guests staying on or close to International Drive?

We probably wouldn't have gone normally (we have bought our tickets already) but the lure of the free Hard Rock meal is too good to be missed

So that will be a free PH and HR meal, I wonder if I can get any other freebie food whilst I am over there!!!!!!

Julian

 

[alisonbestford]

When we were there in Feb the only venue we were offered was at the Virgin MegaStore in Down Town Disney.

 

[Candy]

1 have only been to a Virgin welcome meeting once and i will never go again it is all hard sell.one tip that some one gave me is in order to collect your free meal ticket pop in a bit later and just tell one of the reps you were at the meeting earlier and you forgot to collect your meal voucher.they should give it to you.

 

[DisneyBB]

You can go to the Virgin center in the Holiday Inn on I.D. They are near Wet and wild end. There are signs as you go into the car park indicating where the office is. It is in the second building, not the big square one, but the one that has an internal courtyard. If you turn up between 5pm and 7pm any day there is someone manning the office and when you tell them your name he/she will give you the vouchers. We did that no problem in Feb and there was no hard sell of mention of any other tickets. I tried to get them at the end of a welcome meeting and there was a lengthy queue just for that. It was the virgin rep that said come back later between 5 and 7pm.

Also just to mention, the voucher is great well worth the effort. You have a limited menu but really great food. However the voucher states that gratuities are included, this caused our server to be not so great! We were planning on leaving a tip, but after the way she behaved we didn't. I wished I had said up front, we are still going to leave a tip. It might be worth mentioning that so you get great service.

 

[Ware Bears]

Definitely agree with DisneyBB about saying up front you will be leaving a tip (if you plan to leave one ). Our server was very off with us, he would have had a tip otherwise. If I ever have a free meal with gratuities included again, I will always say I intend to tip when I order.

 

[kev kendall]

We had many problems with our welcome meeting - we genuinely missed it, and they were holding our Cirque de Soliel tickets - and we ended up spending half a day driving around different resorts trying to find them!!! It was a nightmare and kind of spoiled our holiday!! I think they only hand around the megastore for a few hours!

 

[wicket2005]

I wouldn't waste any time going to welcome meetings at all, the holiday is too short as it is never mind wasting time attending these meetings.

 

[kevin harrison]

Do a search on here for the Virgin welcome meeting - no one recommends going. Complete and utter waste of time.

 

[Ware Bears]

Do a search on here for the Virgin welcome meeting - no one recommends going. Complete and utter waste of time.

Couldn't agree with you more, Kevin. We only went because we wanted the free Hard Rock meal voucher and as it was held at our hotel it wasn't too far out of our way. We were Florida first-timers yet we knew far more than the rep and he flatly refused to hand our voucher over until the end of the meeting. Reminded me of the time-share sellers who used to haunt Tenerife!!! Then, the experience of the Hard Rock server left a nasty taste in our mouth, it was the one place in Florida I would never want to eat again.
In a nutshell, would I go to another Virgin welcome meeting,....NO!!!

 

[kevin harrison]

the experience of the Hard Rock server left a nasty taste in our mouth, it was the one place in Florida I would never want to eat again.

Thats surprising, the HRH prides itself on customer service, they have always been excellent, whichever I have visited.

 

[daveyoghurt]

I've always enjoyed my visits there, the foods ok and the service has always been excellent. As regards the welcome meeting, if you've sorted out your park tickets prior to going then there's no need to go, I'm assuming that the HRH vouchers are an incentive to purchase them from Virgin - can't really blame them for not wanting to give them out until they've done their sales pitch!

 

[jax100]

Our virgin meeting was held next door to our hotel. we stayed in the quality inn plaza and the meeting was held in the rail museum - we only went for the hard rock voucher and also bought the kids eat free card.

that is the only reason we went. i think if you are early for your meeting though you can collect your voucher, and just leave as that is what a few did when we were there.

 

[wicket2005]

When we last went to Florida it was with Airtours. They very kindly gave out to everyone on the plane a free admission to Universal Studios for the next day, where they were holding their welcome meeting. This was excellent got a free family admission and just didn't bother with the welcome meeting at all.

 

[trevorsem]

I think the Virgin welcome meetings are a waste of time if you've been before.
Tell them beforehand that you just wish to go and do your own thing and is there any paperwork to get?

Why waste half a morning in a ploy to sell you excursions when you could be in the front of the queue at a theme park?