Our Fall 2014 Trip Report - Coming to You Barely Live from Orlando - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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So far doesn't seem like too much of a benefit to the Premium Pass. Sorry it was too hot for you to really feel like eating much.
You're right, Pam - there wasn't a lot of benefit. We would have made more use of it, had the weather been better. And, our crowd levels during the lunch period weren't very high. That said, given all the stuff we got, we did okay value wise, even if we didn't eat a lot. (Better than with the Villain's Soirée - learned my lesson there ).
Even though we didn't do a lot of Festivaling on this day, we enjoyed our Epcot time.
Wow, Epcot seems very uncrowded for a festival day! Glad they were able to fix up the glitch in the magic band. I always take care of business at the IG Guest Relations-- never any lines. You can't win with the weather. You did pretty well considering the heat of the day. I'd have retreated to the resort as well. I agree with you-- very odd that in the future we'll all have our feet dangling off the ground at meals!
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Except for Grump's Magic Band not working, sounds like a relaxing and delicious end to your day. The food pictures from R&C make me hungry. We ate here in May so it's not on the list for this trip. Love all the Illuminations pictures (and by the way, there can never be too many)!
Oh my word! Those have got to be the best photos I've seen of Illuminations! Beautiful!! This is my favorite show and seeing those shots made me miss Disney.
Glad the issue with the MB was resolved! Great MM pictures! I bought it for our trip so I could actually be in the photos.
You're right, Pam - there wasn't a lot of benefit. We would have made more use of it, had the weather been better. And, our crowd levels during the lunch period weren't very high. That said, given all the stuff we got, we did okay value wise, even if we didn't eat a lot. (Better than with the Villain's Soirée - learned my lesson there ).
Even though we didn't do a lot of Festivaling on this day, we enjoyed our Epcot time.
Did you do the After Hours Party? Or am I jumping the gun? Do you use the special MagicBands instead of your regular ones? I'm still debating whether we want to spend the money, but we'll be there in 8 days, so I'd better make up my mind soon!
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Wow, Epcot seems very uncrowded for a festival day! Glad they were able to fix up the glitch in the magic band. I always take care of business at the IG Guest Relations-- never any lines. You can't win with the weather. You did pretty well considering the heat of the day. I'd have retreated to the resort as well. I agree with you-- very odd that in the future we'll all have our feet dangling off the ground at meals!
It was a fairly low crowd day at Epcot. We were generally lucky with respect to the rain, although the heat/humidity got to us at times. That sounds like I don't know it can be hot and humid in Florida in September . After 20 years of living here, I've figured that out, but circumstances made us less comfortable dealing with it on this trip.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Except for Grump's Magic Band not working, sounds like a relaxing and delicious end to your day. The food pictures from R&C make me hungry. We ate here in May so it's not on the list for this trip. Love all the Illuminations pictures (and by the way, there can never be too many)!
It really did turn out to be a good day and evening. I knew the Magic Band issue was related to the Festival Package being new, so wasn't too worried.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Oh my word! Those have got to be the best photos I've seen of Illuminations! Beautiful!! This is my favorite show and seeing those shots made me miss Disney.
Glad the issue with the MB was resolved! Great MM pictures! I bought it for our trip so I could actually be in the photos.
Did you do the After Hours Party? Or am I jumping the gun? Do you use the special MagicBands instead of your regular ones? I'm still debating whether we want to spend the money, but we'll be there in 8 days, so I'd better make up my mind soon!
I originally signed up for the Tuesday After Hours Party. When all Tuesday parties were cancelled, I opted for a refund of $79 for each of our tickets. I haven't read anything about the After Hours party, so can't help there.
Edit: Here is a review from the Disney Food Blog that also covers the After Hours Party.
We did wear the special Festival Magic Bands - I'll post photos later today. Our original bands still worked, and I should have had Lou bring his on our first time into the park with the new bands.
In addition to the "special" magic bands, we each got a $50 gift card, a bottle of wine, a wine glass, a generic wine bottle opener, a hunk of chocolate, and the credentials for the reserved ordering/standing areas. Because of the party refund, these goodies and privileges cost us $70 each. Even though I wouldn't have purchased the wine or chocolates or special band, it's not unreasonable to assign them a value of $40. That leaves us at $30 for the reserved areas, or $10 a day if you figure 3 days.
Whether it's worth it depends on individual needs. I was concerned about stamina, and wanted to minimize waiting in lines. I was also hoping for a place to sit, and mistakenly thought there would be chairs in the reserved areas - I did know this wasn't the case before we went. I was also hoping for shade - they had an umbrella over the cash register in each area, but not the tables for guests. Fortunately, several areas had shade from trees, and benches either inside or next to them. Worse case, you could lean on the railing.
Because it wasn't that busy when we went, we could have waited in line at each kiosk, and found a bench or concrete wall to sit on. Because it was hot and humid, we didn't sample as much food or drink as we might have. Because it rained one day, we didn't stay out as long as planned. And, because I changed plans, we didn't go back for F&W on the third day. Also, we enjoy our sit down dinners, so that reduced more time we might have spent sampling festival foods.
I guess this is is a long-winded answer to why we didn't really utilize the Premium Package, but I'm not particularly upset about trying it. Your mileage may vary, but unless it's going to be real crowded, it's tough to recommend the package as it's designed now. Chairs or stools, and umbrellas, would make it worthwhile (just my opinion). They could also cut the size of the Premium Package Credential on the lanyard in half - they were ridiculously large
So far, I'm not impressed with your experience of the Premium Pass. I'll be interested to see what you make of Monsieur Paul's.
Cheryl - you can see from my response to mamajab that I was not overly impressed with the Premium Pass either. This was our first F&W visit, so I didn't know what to expect. An experienced Festival visitor would not need it. I doubt we will go out of our way for Premium opportunities in the future, unless it's something like the Candlelight Processional.
I'm still really enjoying your TR, but I'm not getting this reference. Can you help me out?
Sorry! I should have quoted the photo! I was talking about the photo from the Spaceship Earth video of Lou and Sharon sitting at their futuristic table with the high stools.
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The food pictures from R&C make me hungry. We ate here in May so it's not on the list for this trip. Love all the Illuminations pictures (and by the way, there can never be too many)! 
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I'll be interested to see what you make of Monsieur Paul's.
. After 20 years of living here, I've figured that out, but circumstances made us less comfortable dealing with it on this trip.
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