Disney Hodgepodge: Five More Random Disney Things I Learned

Fresh off last week’s list of five Disney things I learned on our recent trip is another installment.

Beware of Hidden Fees. This first one isn’t good news, my Disney friends. I was initially charged a $20 processing fee for two cases of water I had shipped to my resort from Costco.

Three months earlier, I ordered a case of water from Staples and shipped it to a different resort and there were no processing charges. The difference, it turns out, is whether the resort has a business center.

After some investigation (and a call to the resort manager), I found out that non-USPS packages are received by the business center, if the resort has one. Since the businesses centers are operated independently from Disney, they may charge a processing fee. My water arrived via UPS, the business center received it, and I was charged by weight. The manager did refund the charges to my room after I expressed my dissatisfaction but had no satisfactory answer as to how to avoid these charges in the future if I ship packages via UPS. The moral is I will continue to ship my packages of kids’ supplies via USPS and have water delivered by a local delivery service.

You Won’t Find any Mickey Impersonators Among Cast Members. My six year-old was having a moment and in my own moment of frustration, I foolishly told him if he didn’t start listening, I would tell Mickey not to bring his gift that day. (Mickey visits our room while we’re at the theme parks and leaves a small gift for the boys each day). Wouldn’t you know it but he called my bluff and wanted to know exactly how I was going to contact Mickey? I bought myself a few minutes, grabbed a crayon, and headed to the front desk. I asked the friendly Cast Member to write a short note from Mickey on resort letterhead; I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to disguise my handwriting. She politely refused and explained Cast Members cannot write notes from Mickey Mouse. She did give me a piece of letterhead though. My left hand, a crayon, and the letterhead did the trick and Mickey paid my son a visit every day for the rest of the trip.

Call Maintenance to Help Next Person. Every visit, there are unfortunately some maintenance issues with our resort room, from a toaster that doesn’t toast to an air-conditioning unit that is very noisy due to a fan that needed to be cleaned to issues with the toilet working properly. We’ve always called maintenance and the issue has been resolved immediately but it surprises me that the previous guests lived with such maintenance issues. It’s my hope that by calling maintenance, not only did I have a more pleasant stay in the resort room, but so will the next guest.

Tomorrowland Speedway. The steering wheel of the Tomorrowland Speedway vehicles feel sticky. My husband thought it was by design to mimic a real racecar but it was a bit disconcerting. My son also received a driver’s license from the friendly Cast Members after his ride.

Lost and Found is Magical. We lost our theme park bag not once but twice on our past trip. Forty-five minutes after we discovered it missing the first time we retrieved it from Guest Relations at the front of the park. It was truly magical. The second time we lost our bag, luck was not on our side. Our bag was never turned in to Lost and Found.

I learned a bit about the process. Bags that are turned in are sent to one of the local shops. When the service that delivers packages to your resort arrives for a pickup at the merchandise location, it also picks up any lost items and brings them to Guest Relations. If a lost item is deemed suspicious (often backpacks), security first examines the lost item which can add a delay. Any items that are not claimed by park close are picked up the next morning before park open and are brought to the central Lost and Found, located at the Transportation and Ticket Center. If you call Lost and Found after 9am, be sure to have as much information as possible regarding the item and when it was lost. If the item is recovered after you leave the Walt Disney World Resort, they will ship it to you.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love that I learn new things on every Walt Disney World visit.

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