TestingH2O
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2014
July 3 Part 2- The Interim Hour
So, we had a little over an hour until we needed to call bell services and head to the port. As I mentioned previously, my dad's birthday was on June 30. He's hard to shop for and he's made it clear that he would prefer to have experiences instead of more things when that makes sense. So, I began investigating different options and narrowed it down to Fly Over Canada and the Mount Roberts Tram in Juneau. After talking it over with my mom, we decided to do Fly Over Canada. We knew that if the weather was bad in Juneau, the tram wouldn't be as fun. My mom was a bit worried about timing for Fly Over Canada, but all the reviews said the whole thing took less than an hour, so we figured if we arrived right when they opened at 9:30 we'd be good. So, I ordered the tickets and gave them to him in Vancouver.
We left the hotel and headed to the end of the pier.
Good to know we had the right day.
I was finally able to get a photo of the Canada 150 sign without a crowd.
Phew. She's still here!
We walked up to the entrance of Fly Over Canada at 9:25. That's five minutes before they say they open the doors for the first show. Well, we were not happy when we saw a group going in at that time and the high school aged girl at the gate told us we couldn't fit and would have to wait 20+ minutes.
So here's my thing. We bought tickets with a time associated with them. The ticket clearly states that it is good for a show within that window. I'm fine with that. BUT! When you explicitly say that you open at 9:30 and a family that has prepurchased a ticket for the 9:30 slot arrives BEFORE 9:30, don't say that they can't go at 9:30 because you started selling day of tickets before the previously stated opening time!
Waiting would have put us at the port later and we really wanted to get there sooner rather than later. Yes, we are those people. Plus DD is much more fun in the terminal where she can see characters than she is in a hotel room.
We spoke to a manager and made clear that we weren't arguing about the tickets being for a window, but that the timing of the whole situation was frustrating. By this point there were at least 30 people in line. The manager was magically able to make the wait shrink to 7 minutes. I'm still not sure why that wasn't an option from the get go.
Anyway, we went in and the experience itself is really fun. We don't do the parks, but I'm told it is similar to Soarin'. DD LOVED everything about it. The adults all had a great time too. My dad was a bit worried about motion sickness but he didn't have any trouble. He said it was a fabulous birthday gift. It ended up being about $45 US for the 4 of us. A bit pricey for the length of time I guess, but in terms of tourist experiences it wasn't outrageous and I don't regret doing it at all.
There's a cute photo op with a bear on the way out.
So we headed back to the hotel. Dad checked with Enterprise to tell them that we would need a larger car when we returned. Then the grown ups got one more small cup of coffee from the lobby and DD finished her juice from breakfast.
Next up: Time to Board!
So, we had a little over an hour until we needed to call bell services and head to the port. As I mentioned previously, my dad's birthday was on June 30. He's hard to shop for and he's made it clear that he would prefer to have experiences instead of more things when that makes sense. So, I began investigating different options and narrowed it down to Fly Over Canada and the Mount Roberts Tram in Juneau. After talking it over with my mom, we decided to do Fly Over Canada. We knew that if the weather was bad in Juneau, the tram wouldn't be as fun. My mom was a bit worried about timing for Fly Over Canada, but all the reviews said the whole thing took less than an hour, so we figured if we arrived right when they opened at 9:30 we'd be good. So, I ordered the tickets and gave them to him in Vancouver.
We left the hotel and headed to the end of the pier.
Good to know we had the right day.
I was finally able to get a photo of the Canada 150 sign without a crowd.
Phew. She's still here!
We walked up to the entrance of Fly Over Canada at 9:25. That's five minutes before they say they open the doors for the first show. Well, we were not happy when we saw a group going in at that time and the high school aged girl at the gate told us we couldn't fit and would have to wait 20+ minutes.
So here's my thing. We bought tickets with a time associated with them. The ticket clearly states that it is good for a show within that window. I'm fine with that. BUT! When you explicitly say that you open at 9:30 and a family that has prepurchased a ticket for the 9:30 slot arrives BEFORE 9:30, don't say that they can't go at 9:30 because you started selling day of tickets before the previously stated opening time!
Waiting would have put us at the port later and we really wanted to get there sooner rather than later. Yes, we are those people. Plus DD is much more fun in the terminal where she can see characters than she is in a hotel room.
We spoke to a manager and made clear that we weren't arguing about the tickets being for a window, but that the timing of the whole situation was frustrating. By this point there were at least 30 people in line. The manager was magically able to make the wait shrink to 7 minutes. I'm still not sure why that wasn't an option from the get go.
Anyway, we went in and the experience itself is really fun. We don't do the parks, but I'm told it is similar to Soarin'. DD LOVED everything about it. The adults all had a great time too. My dad was a bit worried about motion sickness but he didn't have any trouble. He said it was a fabulous birthday gift. It ended up being about $45 US for the 4 of us. A bit pricey for the length of time I guess, but in terms of tourist experiences it wasn't outrageous and I don't regret doing it at all.
There's a cute photo op with a bear on the way out.
So we headed back to the hotel. Dad checked with Enterprise to tell them that we would need a larger car when we returned. Then the grown ups got one more small cup of coffee from the lobby and DD finished her juice from breakfast.
Next up: Time to Board!
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