I knew that I would have to take everything metallic out of my pockets and put them in the little white plastic container. So I started taking them out and holding them in my hand as I approached the metal detector. I had a celfone and wire frame glasses in my shirt pocket. I also had my Annual Pass in my shirt pocket.
Yep, you guessed it. The Annual Pass came out of my shirt pocket and fell to the ground. That was bad enough but to make matters worse, I wasn't aware of what had happened and went merrily walking along. When I went through the metal detector the security guard told me about dropping my Annual Pass and one of the security guards brought it to me. I was shocked to say the least because the Annual Passes don't come cheap. They have something at Disney called wrist bands.
They come in a variety of colors.
They contain a chip that the identification detectors can sense. The chip contains all the identity information like the chip in the Annual Pass card.
I decided that NOW was the time to get a wrist band of my own so that I wouldn't have to use the card for security identification purposes. Plus, you can use them for FastPass entry to rides and attractions. So my first stop was City Hall where Guest Services is located. This is where all of your questions can be answered.
But they were busy. They are always busy. There always seems to be a line. I was in a pinch for time because I had a FastPass reservation for the Haunted Mansion.
I decided to try the Chamber of Commerce next door.
No lines and no people at all and two cast members in the lobby. I just wanted to know where I could get a magic wrist band at. Just a simple question which I hoped that they would be able to answer even though this was really not the right place for that. By the way, the Chamber of Commerce is where you can have your packages of purchases in gift shops sent to so they can be picked up later.
It is really a nice convenience so that you don't have to lug purchases from the various gift shops around all day. The gift shops will transport your purchases to the Chamber of Commerce for you to pick up later. The Chamber of Commerce is close to the entrance as well as the exit of Magic Kingdom. The cast members in the lobby not only told me that I could get a wrist band at the nearest gift shop which they pointed to but one of them actually went and got the wrist band for me and programmed it with their laptop computer to identify me. I didn't have to do a thing. I thought that they were really great by going over and above in helping me. What did the wrist band cost me? It was free. Even better the cast member got me a blue wrist band which is my favorite color. This is the wrist band on my hand.
Off to the Haunted Mansion I flew to meet my reservation time. I made it and I got to use my new wrist band for the FastPass and it worked just fine. The cast members had also given me two free FastPasses that I could use for any ride and so I went on the Jungle River Cruise ride and used my wrist band again for the FastPass scanner.
Now this was really great because the last time that I went on the Jungle River Cruise I had a 45 minute wait. But not this time, thanks to FastPass.
So what did you do on Thursday? See ghosts at the Haunted Mansion? Take a boat ride through the jungles of Africa? Disney World is always an adventure and the cast members are always so pleasant. Have a great day wherever you may be. Lew
