Welcome meetings

[Elaine Guidi]

I am travelling with Virgin. Can anyone else who has travelled with them tell me roughly what time the welcome meeting started (is it at a regular time), and how long did it last. Most of all was it worth while attending.

I will have been trawling the boards for nearly a year by the time I go to Orlando and I have a good idea of what we want to do and roughly when, so I am not sure I would find the meeting beneficial as I won't possibly be booking anything else.

Ideas please.

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Ummmm....well I went to one a few years ago. I think it started at something like 9am-9.30 at the AMC in Downtown Disney. It lasted a good while too, because they showed an Orlando film and then all the spiel that comes with it about tours/excursions etc. Maybe an hour to an hour and a half - or atleast it seemed to go on forever! It may have changed since then.

Personally, I did it because it was my first trip and didn't know squat, as I didn't know about the boards. If I had had the benefit of the boards, I wouldn't have bothered. Also, if you decide you want to do a Virgin Excursion, they have a permanent desk in the Dolphin, so you could just go there and book it instead in 5 minutes, instead of sitting through a whole presentation (they <i>only</i> let you book trips at the end of the Welcome meeting)

Penny

 

[LindseyUK]

Hi Elaine

We went to one of these meetings a couple of years back- it wasn't with Virgin it was Thomsons (I think), but I'm sure they're all much the same.
It was at the cinema at the entrance of Universal and it started at 9am. It lasted about an hour. We went because it was our first time and we didn't really know what we were doing. You see a film, mostly stuff about their excursions, and you can also buy your park tickets there- they were very SLIGHTLY cheaper than on the gate but so are a lot of places!
I'd agree with Penny- it's only worth going if you need a bit of help and some ideas, if you already have your park tickets etc. under control the I wouldn't bother going- especially if you already have plans for your first morning......

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Hi - I agree with Penny. Unless you really don't know what you want to do when you're there, don't bother - these boards give you much better info

We went on our first trip, but all I can remember is getting impatient cos I wanted to get out there and get cracking on the parks. The meet started around 9.30 and as it's your first day you're up early anyway.

The only benefit of going is the discount booklet you get . . . right at the end (captive audiences and all that...

 

[UKDEB]

Much the same story from me, Elaine. The only time I've been to one (although not Virgin) was our first trip. And like Mrs D, I was just restless the whole time. They were selling park tickets, excursions, sun-tan lotion and I just wanted to escape! We did buy some excursion tickets, but as Penny says, you have to wait until the end. And none of them are for things you can't book yourself - we did a dinner show and the Backyard BBQ at Fort Wilderness. They also try to hook you with 'free' tickets which have to be collected from the meeting. The other thing to bear in mind is that you will be awake really early your first morning. We felt we wasted so much time just knocking about waiting to go.

 

[vernon]

Ditto all of the above

 

[DisneyAli]

as we have pre booked tickets with virgin can we just pop in and pick them up with out attending the meeting, as this is our third time we dont need to do the meeting. also we have pre booked ALL of our tickets as we know exactly what we will be doing and when?

 

[Elaine Guidi]

Alison
When you say you have booked tickets and need to collect them do you mean like your Hoppers and Flex tickets. Well I suppose I can cope with that as long as we just basically pop in and collect them. I had 'in innocence' thought we would receive them prior to departure, poss as the same time as tickets, maybe not.

 

[DisneyAli]

unless someone corrects me otherwise virgin issue vouchers when they send you your air tickets and these have to be exchanged at the meeting for either the real tickets or a voucher which you present at the guest relations window at the park. we have booked our disney, 14day flexi ticket and our discovery cove swim with virgin. hope this is of some help.

 

[Bovril]

We used the free transport that they supply to get to DTD and then dissappeared !
thanks for the lift Virgin LOL

caught up with some people who had been and they said it was a complete waste of time, the only useful thing they had said was don't use the hotel bedroom phones

it's a couple of hours out of your hol to hear that gem of wisdom

 

[Silver]

Originally posted by Elaine Guidi
Alison
When you say you have booked tickets and need to collect them do you mean like your Hoppers and Flex tickets. Well I suppose I can cope with that as long as we just basically pop in and collect them. I had 'in innocence' thought we would receive them prior to departure, poss as the same time as tickets, maybe not.

We had to pick up our Adventure Passport tickets booked through Virgin but we didn't go to the welcome meeting, just explained that we were only there to pick up our tickets and then disappeared. Don't waste your time with the meeting, you get much more info here. They start the meetings really early and there are a few each morning one after the other. The rep at the airport will be able to tell you what time they start. She also told us that you could pick up tickets at the Dolphin.

Plus, you don't even get the free Arabian Nights tickets at the Virgin welcome meeting any more, or at least there is no mention of it in the latest brochure.

Julie

 

[DisneyAli]

thanks for that julie, as its our third time we didnt want to waste valuable time listening to stuff we already knew. will be firm and just pop in and get the tickets, they can see by what we have booked that there is nothing else ticket wise that we need to buy.