Christmas Town
- Thread starter Thomas
- Start date
Good news!
We just entered through the employee gate and parked in England. Also, apparently you are now supposed to go to the left of the booth, following the sign for Premiere and Dine.
We just entered through the employee gate and parked in England. Also, apparently you are now supposed to go to the left of the booth, following the sign for Premiere and Dine.
Luke and I spoke with David Cromwell about the parking issue, he said some employees got bad information. He said we are still able to use the employee entrance with platinum.
We went yesterday. Got there at 1:15, and parking attendant said platinum could not use employee entrance. We asked him to call a manager, and he did, and the manager said to let us through, but we should know from now on not to come to the employee entrance anymore.
We went to customer service and they said that between premiere parking, dine with Santa, dine with Rudolph, and buses, there was no room for the platinum pass members to use the employee entrance and park in England.
Maybe things changed from yesterday to today, or it depends who happens to be at the gate.
We went to customer service and they said that between premiere parking, dine with Santa, dine with Rudolph, and buses, there was no room for the platinum pass members to use the employee entrance and park in England.
Maybe things changed from yesterday to today, or it depends who happens to be at the gate.
For those who get the photo key and do the dine with Santa:
On the website they state that photo key chines with a 50% discount on dine with Santa photo packages, plus free digital copy of photos with purchase.
We went to the dine with Santa yesterday, and the photo people there insisted they had no discount and no way to give us digital copies.
I showed them the photo key info on the website, and she went back to speak to her supervisor. They said they had no way on the computer to do a 50% discount but they found a way to charge me a few dollars less than what 50% would be (by putting random items in that worked out best they could) , and charged me that. But, did not know how to give me digital copies.
Later, I went to adventure photo, and they were able to put the Santa pictures on my account.
They said no one had told the dine with santa people that they were part of photo key (discount, not included), but they were going to try and figure it out.
On the website they state that photo key chines with a 50% discount on dine with Santa photo packages, plus free digital copy of photos with purchase.
We went to the dine with Santa yesterday, and the photo people there insisted they had no discount and no way to give us digital copies.
I showed them the photo key info on the website, and she went back to speak to her supervisor. They said they had no way on the computer to do a 50% discount but they found a way to charge me a few dollars less than what 50% would be (by putting random items in that worked out best they could) , and charged me that. But, did not know how to give me digital copies.
Later, I went to adventure photo, and they were able to put the Santa pictures on my account.
They said no one had told the dine with santa people that they were part of photo key (discount, not included), but they were going to try and figure it out.
It really seems that training of employees wasn't high enough priority.I'm reading way to many, "they got bad info", comments. Hope that gets fixed soon. How have the crowds been? Crowd management by the park?
deacfan31 said:
On Saturday, either I had a great touring plan, or they improved things greatly on this front.
During prime hours, I did:
4:15 Rudolph's pictures, with priority access with the photo key, with a 15 wait. There was a very long line for general public
5:00 scrooge no more. Got in line at 4:50 and got great seats
5:40 dine with Santa
7:15 got in line for twas the night. Let us in 5min later, and had choice of seats
8:40 walked around the park the long way to look at lights before leaving.
Easy to navigate crowds, while pushing a stroller. As we walked, I noticed:
-long line for swings and nacht tower
-short line for verboten
- plenty of good seats for 9:00 miracles
-polar pathway easy to admire and walk through
-calling there was 1 min to 9:00 scrooge, and seats available
Kyle said:
Carl Lum and David Cromwell have both told me more or less the same thing in response. "I don't see why they won't allow it."
It's hard to tell if one really cares about pass-holders over the other because some managers (like Carl) tend to have a poker face with such questions. Others (like David) tend to give larger reactions. In the end; actions speak louder than words, especially if it is an immediate response.
I just don't know how they will avoid this apparent oversight in the future. Supposedly in the past, part of the action was taken in response to the negative press pointed directly at security (the man turned away in a kilt, for starters). They need to find a fool-proof reminder for the entire department. The smallest oversights usually end up being the biggest issues for the park.
deacfan31 said:
Please let us know how the 8k goes. My wife wanted to do it this year, but has a hamstring issue. She's hoping to do it next year, though.
I'm anxious to hear more experiences with getting in the employee/bus entrance. I've never been turned away, and I'm pretty sure I've used it for Xmas town last year without issue.
If I can park in England, I'll get the pass and visit a few times during the month of December. If I'm forced to use the main entrance, I'll only visit once with family later in the month. So, it's their choice whether they want to lose money or not. I have no interest in going back to Tram Life. It may seem trivial to some, but it's hard giving up such a nice perk when you're used to using it.
If I can park in England, I'll get the pass and visit a few times during the month of December. If I'm forced to use the main entrance, I'll only visit once with family later in the month. So, it's their choice whether they want to lose money or not. I have no interest in going back to Tram Life. It may seem trivial to some, but it's hard giving up such a nice perk when you're used to using it.
Based on the official response from the park; our experience this weekend; and Luke and Kyle's discussion with David Cromwell, the only reason you would be turned away at that gate is if the guard were still misinformed. That said, I am also curious about people's experiences on Sunday, after the problem was supposed to have been fixed.
I have always had official statement from the park ready to go on my phone, but I didn't personally have problems Friday or Sunday.
On another note, I would recommend getting there for rope drop, especially on crowded days. They were parking everyone in England at 1:30 on Friday. Sunday, England was much less crowded at 1:30, however.
I have always had official statement from the park ready to go on my phone, but I didn't personally have problems Friday or Sunday.
On another note, I would recommend getting there for rope drop, especially on crowded days. They were parking everyone in England at 1:30 on Friday. Sunday, England was much less crowded at 1:30, however.
First round of Forest of Fun pictures are live on BGWFans.com's Facebook page!
[facebook=https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154210237653721.1073741844.132615588720&type=1&l=01c1ed092e]
[facebook=https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154210237653721.1073741844.132615588720&type=1&l=01c1ed092e]
It appears on some days they have been filling England and France first, yes.
Your best chance to get free France or England parking comes from getting to the park before it would make sense for them to run trams. I don't think we've seen them running before two thus far this year, but that may change as the season progresses.
I can't help feeling like the more controversy that employee entrance parking causes, the better the chances become of it disappearing.
Nicole said:
I got in Sunday no problem at all. And I had the same parking guard person that was about to turn me away Saturday. I assume he was given the corrected info.
Here's a pic of Big Ben
[instagram=https://instagram.com/p/BNSuSqYAC58/]
when i went thru the bus entrance, i did't talk to a guard, I talked to a regular employee. tehy told me the onyl tim they wil turn plat's away is if they are parking across 60 becuase they fill those lots last and all the others would be full