Fact: I had not been to the Magic Kingdom in 34 months.
Fact: I have not been to Orlando in two years.
Fact: This is the longest time span since betwixt the ages of 7 & 10 years old.
This is blasphemy in the Dilloverse (that’s right, Dilloverse), but I thought it would be better to focus on my impending nuptials then try to coerce the then fiance now wife into a Disney getaway.
Now, that I have gone and returned, I will blog all week long on my 28 Hours at The Diz.
Hour One
The following is not a complaint against Disney, Walt Disney World, the Magic Kingdom, or any WDW Guest Relations. I cannot complain when we know enough people to financially justify these quick trips in and out.
We had to transfer our E-ticket that was given to us into a hard ticket to enter the Magic Kingdom. We were too excited and failed to realize that we could do this at the Transportation and Ticket Center.
Mistake #1.
We went to the ‘Will Call & Tickets’ kiosk that we were directed to. It looked like a good option because the Guest Relations line looked longer.
Mistake #2.
We began to notice that those in line were restless. They were restless in the hot Florida sun. We slowly realized just how hot when one guest said ‘one hour’ and one closer to the front said ‘an hour and fifteen minutes’. And then we realized just how long this line was – not by the amount of people – but by how long the guests at each of the two kiosk windows were taking.
One man in a safari hat, who was clearly a former cast member, had had enough and asked for an ‘area manager’. He was quickly taken away in the direction of the MK Guest Relations. Our line began to pick up and he finally was brought inside Guest Relations conveniently around the time his place was about to be called.
I love Disney for these kind of things.
We waited in line for about 50 minutes – it was the longest we would wait in line all day. Guest Relations were very nice, as always (the ‘Be Our Guest’ book sits on my desk at work, after all). They did ask a lot of questions we really didn’t need to be asked or answered. I was trying to see if he was stalling with the questions in order for the tickets to process, but it didn’t seem that way.
There’s a fine line in making the best guest experience possible versus having the awareness that there are elderly, children in carriages, and those needing special assistance in the blazing – it felt like August because I wasn’t used to it anymore – heat. I, myself, had a nice rosy hue when we got called to the window.
All that didn’t matter once I went under that Main Street Railroad tunnel and came out onto Main Street U.S.A.
NEXT BLOG: I finally see the New Fantasyland
Brother Dillo
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