Sneaking Into the VIP Lounge at The Land

I’m back, bitches! My self-imposed exile is over, which means MORE VIDEOS!

But first, some other business:

1. Draven Star and I will be signing and reading at Atomic Books in Baltimore this Friday, 1/27 from 7-9PM. If you’re anywhere near Baltimore, you definitely shouldn’t miss this event! We’ll also be on 98 Rock that morning promoting the event, probably around 8:15AM.

2. I was recently interviewed on the WDW Dis-Cussion Podcast, and it turned out really well! The hosts had some interesting questions, and towards the end I rant a lot about EPCOT and reveal the title of my upcoming novel. Download the podcast at www.wdwdiscussion.com.

3. Draven and I were also interviewed live on WDW After Dark’s vidcast! We had a fantastic time talking to the hosts and the audience (via chat), and hope to do it again soon. A replay of the episode (#38) can be seen at www.wdwafterdark.com

Okay, now onto the video!

The back story here is that I bought a butt-ton of WDW blueprints off eBay years ago, and one of them was of the 3rd floor of The Land pavilion. The 3rd floor housed Kraft’s VIP lounge, where executives from Kraft could go to have meetings, get some refreshments, or just relax. You can see the windows of the lounge clearly from the lobby of the pavilion (smoked glass over top of The Good Turn) and also from within the Listen to the Land boat ride (look up and to the left during the rainforest and farmhouse scenes).

Blueprint of The Land's VIP Lounge

Well, after staring at this blueprint every night (it’s hanging next to my bed) I’d worked up a pretty rabid desire to see the place for myself. As far as I could tell, the only way up there was via the elevator on the left side of the pavilion, near the bathrooms and The Good Turn. Unfortunately when you try to press “3” in that elevator, nothing happens. That stumped me for about a year, until fate intervened…. Now, I can’t reveal exactly how I was able to press the button, but lets just say that patience, some advice from a friend, and a little bit of luck all played a part.

As the video starts, I’m pressing the button for “3”. Draven and Pentakis are in there with me, and when we hit the 3rd floor, the door opens to reveal the lobby. We get out, and I realize only seconds later that I’d forgotten to tell the girls to hold the elevator door. Too late. The door closes and the elevator is gone. Damn. No fast escapes this time.

Since we’re stuck up there anyway, I decide to go exploring. I head to the right, and wind around the hallway. But as I approach a black velvet curtain randomly hanging from the ceiling, I hear voices on the other side, and they sound like they’re coming right toward me! So I turn and run, only to see that the damn elevator still hasn’t arrived! I’m freaking out a bit, but the people I heard behind the curtain haven’t shown up to bust us yet, so I decide to look around and film the immediate vicinity of the elevator, which admittedly, isn’t very interesting.

Finally, after what seems like hours, the elevator arrives. And in it is a very obese lady on an ECV, along with her companion. They’re looking at us, totally confused, not having any idea where they are. Apparently they’d gotten in the elevator on level 2, intending to go to level 1, but were instead brought up to 3 because we’d been repeatedly pressing the button! We nonchalantly cram ourselves in with them, say nothing, and go down to level 2, where we make a break for it and get the hell out of the pavilion.

I’d really like to explore the lounge more in the future. As near as I could tell there was also a stairway entrance, which can be seen briefly in the video, so maybe I’ll try to get up there that way? I’m also very curious as to what’s in the “B” basement level. Would that take you underneath the boat ride? That’d be pretty awesome. If anyone has any other info about access to the 3rd floor lounge, or knows what’s in the basement, please let me know!

More videos coming soon, including a backstage adventure at the Mexico pavilion!