I'm going to try and tell some stories about the fun and difficult times at the Downtown Disney resorts.
Before I start, I will do not have any tales about the Downtown Disney area itself nor do I have any great stories about the Animal Kingdom. I didn't have access to any backstage areas, so sorry!
Anyway, let's take a look at the Saratoga Springs Resort and Port Orleans. I never ventured into the Old Key West Resort.
I want to start with Port Orleans, French Quarter. Actually, let's start at Downtown Disney. It is located south of the resorts and has a bus staging area across the street just behind the Hess gas station. We would meet up the rovers (supervisors) daily to get our radios needed for those resorts. I don't know why DTD kept their own radios, but they did. Anyway, we would then venture to the resorts.
Okay, French Quarter. This is one of my favorite resorts. It is modeled after New Orleans and has my favorite sandwich, the muffaletta. This was my Christmas Eve meal last year. It was a little sad eating by myself underneath some massive Mardi Gras floats. I am truly thankful to Kyle and his family for inviting me to join them at their off-property resort to eat Christmas Day Dinner.
The French Quarter and Riverside shared buses. The vast majority of buses would start in French Quarter with the exception of Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney. Because of that, French Quarter was generally easy to work with little disruptions. Occassionally, but not too bad. The break area was concealled behind the luggage area and wasn't necessarily impressive.
Same with Riverside. The difference was Riverside was very much considered the hardest resort to work (with some debate against the All Stars). One reason it was difficult at Riverside was the fact that French Quarter was the first stop for the most popular parks. There were also two different bus ports. One was for EPCOT, Downtown Disney and Animal Kingdom. The other was Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. This is significant because you had to pay close attention to which buses were coming in and what guests were left on the platform to determine who was going where.
FQ would not always have a greeter which really made it difficult for a solo Riverside person. Riverside was the top priority resort because of the continuous disruptions of bus service. With a good team between the two Port Orleans resorts, the disruptions could be easily anticipated and corrected quickly.
A great resort was Saratoga Springs. It was modeled after the horse racing, upstate New York atmosphere. I made a reservation here for my mom and sister because she's a big horse fan. It was good stuff.
Anyway, there were two different positions one could work. One was the first stop on the line, the other was the last stop. The last stop could be a little difficult, but it really was amazing. The first stop was directly across from a tee on the Lake Buena Vista Golf Course, so you could see all the golfer and their amazing/horrible tee shots.
An interesting site at this first stop. There was a invisible road. Well, kinda invisible. Maybe unused is a better word. See, there was a path and on either side were wooden posts makered with the word FIRE. Why? It was a fire path and golfers were not allowed to use it with their golf carts. Interesting.
If you walk to the main check-in, The Carriage House, you pass a pool I never saw anyone using. Half of it is a traditional pool and half of it has squirting horseheads. It was pretty weird location.
Inside the carriage house, you take a staircase downstairs to the small break room.
Now, the last stop has a few stories with it. First of all, it's a great place to see some neat wildlife. Some is kinda typical wildlife for Florida (ibis, crane), but some is much more rare. Living in the lake right next to the bus stop is a pair of otters. It was a great thrill to stay out by the lake, do your job, and just watch the otters go fishing for a few hours.
Another interesting sight I saw only once was a bald eagle in flight. It was really something spectacular and awe-inspiring. I was in the middle of doing some trivia with the guests and noticed it flying above the lake. I stopped the trivia and directed guests to the back of the stop (by the lake) if they wanted to see the bald eagle. I've never seen a bus stop empty so quickly!
Now, the absolute worst day (weather wise) was experienced here at Saratoga. Man, I get cold just thinking about it. If it was cold, we could wear peacoats, and they were quite warm. However, this was an absolutely miserable experience. Hardly any guests ventured to this bus stop. I got on almost every bus that came by just to warm up. It was shortly after this day that the bus ops people provided hand warmers for your pockets. I suspect much of this was because it is hard to write legiably when you are literally shaking from the cold.
Saratoga did have a reputation of being the coldest resort, especially the last stop. The main reason was that magnificent lake. Mix in some cold COLD temperatures and there you go. That lake would create quite a wind. The Beach Club had some wind too, but this was the worst.
Now, I will say that lake brought one of the most, um, unique scenes I've ever seen. Not really the lake, but the fence around the lake. Right behind the bus stop is just a drop off into the lake. A ledge really. So, a small wall is at the top (maybe two feet high) and a fence extended about two feet above it. The fence was one of those fences with the bars that are all perpendicular to the ground and parallel to each other.
Well, I had just recieved word from the greeter at the first stop that three of the four buses he knew about were going to be late. I hate late buses (as do most guests), but I think the best policy is to be upfront and tell people what was going on. Now, after telling people that you have to deal with the questions and concerns of guests who are running late for reservations or whatever. But still, as a guest I'd rather know and frankly it helps quell some of the guests asking about their buses.
I just made the grim announcement that the buses were running late but they were on the resort making their way around. Then, someone comes up to me. It was a mother who was a little panicked. She told me I needed to come out to the lake. So I did. And what did I find? An attractive girl who had wedged her leg in the fence.
What she had done was proped her knee on the little wall and allowed the knee to go through the fence. So here was this young lady with her leg stuck in the fence. This is a problem. She wasn't in any pain, but she was of course totally embarassed. I didn't try to draw attention to her, but people did notice. I radioed my supervisor and told him that I was leaving the bus stop to assist with a guest situation. I had an idea.
The normal course of action would be to call an ambulance to dislodge the guest. But I had a different plan. So I walked across the street to the pool (literally across the street from the bus stop) and talked to an amazing looking lifeguard. I explained the situation and asked if they had anything that might be able to help. The lifeguard said they have an industrial sized pump of sunscreen.
So, after clearing the departure with her fellow guards, here comes the hot lifeguard with the gallon sized sun screen pump to the trapped, pretty pretty guest along with the lifeguards supervisor. By this time, almost all of the bus stop (which was pretty crowded) knew something was wrong. The cast member (me) left and returned with a lifeguard and a woman who looked very important. Everyone watched as we got the guest permission to attempt to lube up her leg in order to free it before we called EMS. Since the girl couldn't reach the other side of her leg, it was up to the lifeguard greased up the leg and eventually pulled it free.
I have never had that many buses so late without a single complaint from guests. I'm sure some realized this was a semi-serious situation. I mean, she wasn't in danger of her life anything, but we had to get her out of there. But still, it wasn't the most unpleasent thing many of these people would see all day. Especially the gentlemen in the group.
As the cast member in charge of the bus stop, I was forced to monitor the situation closely and make notations for liability purposes. It's a tough gig sometimes, being a Cast Member.
Saratoga Springs was the last resort I worked at. During my last shift, the van that picks us up arrived hours early and told me to get in. From there, we traveled around Walt Disney World and picked everyone up for a special surprise.
We headed into the Utilidors...but that story will have to wait until we get to the Magic Kingdom stories!
TTFN
On Deck: Halloween on Main Street U.S.A.
In The Hole: A Hollywood Studios Street (or two)
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