From: kimi@newsance.att.com (Kimiye Tipton;ball of confusion)
Subject: Re: Corporate Lounges at WDW
Organization: AT&T IMS, Maitland, FL
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 14:09:13 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.152340.19423@cbnews.cb.att.com> rjf@cbnews.cb.att.com (robert.j.fredette) writes:
>In article <dbarber.720945395@crash.cts.com>, dbarber@crash.cts.com (David C. Barber) writes:
>> There are at least 3 corporate lounges at EPCOT (as in: Every
>> 
>> Question:  Has anyone here been in any of them, and if so, what are
>> they like inside?
>
>   AT&T's hospitality room is located on a level above EARTH STATION. 

In addition to the small reception room that Robert describes, there is a
large suite of office and conference rooms that looks out over the fountain
behind the sphere.  They are used for customer meetings and other 
small conferences for AT&T.  There is a long, semicircular lounge area
with coffee tables and leather couches, the outside wall consisting of
windows with a panoramic view of the park.  If you stand next to the
fountain and look back up at the sphere, you can see the windows.

There's a bar at the far end of the lounge, from which meals are served.
In the back there is a conference room (with leather swivel chairs and 
full AV capabilities) and a display room with PC's and other computers.  
I used to work on the UNIX machine there, and have attended several
meetings there as well.  Most of the time there's a meeting going on,
but if not, and you know to ask, you might convince one of the office
people to take you on a tour.  Take your camera-- you can squeeze
the lens through the mini-blinds and get a rare shot of the park.

Does any other AT&T employee get a thrill out of going into the little
room and sticking your id on the plate to be identified?  It's so 
science fiction!  Keep in mind you can only get into the small lounge
9-5 weekdays, but the people in Earth Station will get you past the 
Spaceship Earth line nights and weekends, if you show your id.  

Once, when we couldn't get into the AT&T facility, my group was switched
to General Electrics' conference room.  The companies cooperate in 
sharing the rooms, I gather.  There's a door around the right hand
side of Horizons, which leads you into a small reception area that
is also the GE employee entrance for the ride.  Take the elevator on
the right and you enter a beautiful conference facility with a glassed-
in conference table handling up to 10 people, and a large lounge
with sunken seating areas, a bar, and offices off to one side, but
no windows.  

There is some gorgeous art, but the main feature is a huge screen on one
wall that is fed by a video camera on top of the Horizons building.
The hostess told us that the camera can focus on an object 30 miles
away.  The camera used to be adjustable by anyone visiting the room,
but that feature was removed at some point.  It's still a thrill
to watch the camera pan around the park, live.  Now the GE lounge is
the prime spot for WDW employees to watch shuttle launchings.  

GE allowed their employee guests into the lounge even while we were
holding our meeting, which was somewhat distracting, even though
we could pull down these big screens to shut the conference area
off.  Then we got a little claustrophobic.

Unisys also has some corporate offices above (or maybe below :-)
the Computer Magic show-- Sheesh, my memory is going-- it's been
eight years.  I was there as a guest of Sperry Univac when I helped
support a couple of Sperry machines.  The rooms are small, with no
view, but have full AV capabilities.

I have a faint memory of being in the General Motors lounge area,
but that was on a back door tour in 1984, and we just whisked
through most of the office areas to get past the lines.  Our guide
had taken Michael Jackson and Ronald Reagan on backdoor tours,
and was leaving for a new job the next day, so we heard all sorts
of strange stories.  I wish I'd written them down on the time :-(

In all cases, Disney caters the meals for these meetings.  And let
me tell you, the food is to die for.  The best meals we had were
at the GE facility, lots of cold seafood salads and spectacular
little pastry desserts-- we were all fighting over them.  

The only down side of going to these meetings is that they do not 
allow you out into the park to play.  You have to be escorted in and 
out.  Figuring a way to sneak out of the meeting is always a big
conversation topic, but very hard to do (since we're usually wearing
suits, and operating under a death threat).

AT&T is the only company that has a lounge and conference facilities 
at Universal Studios.  If you want to hear about that, too, let me 
know, as I've arranged one conference there.


Kimiye Tipton  kimi@kokomo.att.com or kimi@newsance.att.com  Maitland, FL
"Hey, Joel!  I've just landed on Earth?  Are you friendly?"