Virgin welcome meetings, how to skip them, any ideas

[Bellis Belles]

Hi All, we are on our 4th trip in 2 weeks. This is the first time that we have booked villa through Virgin although flown with them every time. Because we have booked our tickets through them, they have insisted that we have to attend the welcome meeting. This is a major pain as we have a tight schedule planned and wanted to be in seaworld for 9am as this is a tradition on our first day (sad I know), however does any one know where the Virgin welcome meeting is held, and even better does any one know a way of getting out of it, and still get our tickets, there is nothing they can tell us in a welcome meeting that we do not already know. Help.

 

[debbyLL]

the virgin meeting is at the cinema at downtown disney, and it starts around 10 so if you want to collect yr tickets i think you will be out of luck, however maybe if you speak to virgin staff at the airport they may help you, sorry if this doesn't help

 

[WDWFOREVER]

Have they re-opened the DD venue then? When we were there in June it had closed and our welcome briefing was actually held in the lobby of our hotel (Courtyard by Marriott along Hotel Plaza Boulevard) with one other family! We were told that all welcome briefings were now held in the hotel. No video or anything. We just had one lady giving us a quick chat about where we could go and what we could do, the opportunity to buy a phonecard etc. All very minimal.

 

[jwhiting]

The welcome meetings are all held local to the area you are staying in, this was new this year as people were moaning (how can you moan in Florida) at a considerable drive first thing on their first day and tended to give the welcome meeting a miss. In June we stayed on International Drive and the welcome meeting was held in the English pub at the Mercado centre. Obviously you could buy tickets as usual, although we DID have a video briefing which really didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. My personal reason for going was that we had met the woman rep doing the welcome meeting at the airport the previous day and she was rather nice (if you get my drift).
I would say that unless you haven't got tickets its not really worth going, even the Virgin Megastore vouchers have stopped being handed out now as well.

Anyway I am really jealous of you, have fun!!!

J.

 

[SEVANS2208]

The location of the welcome meeting depends on where you're staying. We had a house in Davenport & the welcome meetings were held nearby at 8.00 9.00 & 10.00 am. We didn't go though! I found out before that we needed to go & exchange the voucher for Kennedy which I wasn't happy about so managed to get a refund from Virgin (they really ought to tell people about the vouchers when the excursions are booked). We did Kennedy independently & it worked out better anyway!

 

[jean88]

Our welcome meeting last October was held in the hotel where we were staying it was the quality inn international.

Jean

 

[Bellis Belles]

thanks everyone for your valuable contribution. We are staying in a villa in Davenport, does anyone know how far this is from disney in minutes and what are the villa like. Sadly it sounds like we will have to go to the meeting to exchange our vouchers for tickets. I just hope there is one earlier than 10am. That is 1/4 of our day gone, not good.
Nicky

 

[SEVANS2208]

The houses are lovely, we've stayed in 2 now & they've both been brilliant. About 15 minutes to get to WDW depending on what park you're going to. Universal etc are 30-40 minutes depending on traffic. There are some good restaurants along West 192 which is closeby so you're pretty near to everything.

When we went last (August) Virgin were having 3 meetings a day 8.00, 9.00, 10.00 which apparently don't last very long at all. I think they're at the Virgin office where you collect your house keys from so it shouldn't take you long to get there. Be warned though the managing agents come round the day after you arrive to get you to sign the paperwork, it doesn't take long & they do it in the morning but don't plan anything too early on your first day as they'll expect you to be at the house!

 

[Bellis Belles]

Sevans Thanks.

Oh dear we will not be popular then as we have PS character b'fasts for most mornings that week. They will have to do it some other time I guess. Surely they realsie that when we come to WDW we have plans and dont expect to be hanging around the houses. DUH!!
Nicky

 

[JANNYANS]

I had guests stay in my home on Lake Davenport Estates at Easter.They booked their park tickets through virgin but asked me to find out whether they had to go to the meeting to exchange the vouchers.I rang Disney for them and was told they could exchange the vouchers at any guests services window in any park so they did this and gave the meeting a miss. If you are staying near Davenport Lakes or Lake Davenport then the meeting will most likely be in the office just on the 27 about half a mile away.

 

[marlouwrig]

We just returned earlier this week staying at Courtyard DD.

We were told that we had to go to Wyndham Palace for the welcome meeting. Luckily we did not need to pick up any tickets so we gave it a miss.

 

[DisneyAli]

We purchased Disney, 14day orlando flex, and DC ticket all from Virgin and exchanged them all at guest services with no trouble,

BUT for the 14day flex and the DC tickets we had to show ID.

 

[peter r]

Nicky

With regard to the management agency getting their paperwork. completed. They knocked on our door at 7.30am the first morning & we were all still in bed so they left a message to say that we had to go their offices within 24 hours to sign the paperwork, It took about 5 minutes & is at the entrance to Davenport Lakes, so no real hassle.

Hope that helps

Peter

 

[Bellis Belles]

Fantastic advice, thanks so much everyone.

Really looking forward to holiday now. Can anyone reccommend any nice restaurants for our first evening meal of the holiday near or in Davenport. Dont really want to drive too far on first night as have a very early start planned next day.
Thanks again
Nicky

 

[JANNYANS]

Try the restaurant at Southern Dunes Golf Club you can take it away if you prefer.