2012 Beach and Yacht FAQ, Part 3- Don't Post Here!!! New Thread, November 2012

[Couchy]

Cruises?? Card games??? I THINK NOT!!! First LOVE bugs now SEAgulls. The SECRET LIFE of Teena the Beach Club Greeter!

You saw it here first folks!

Ship shape is now open!

This is very good news. I trucked on over to the Boardwalk gym on our last trip



In other news My DH won a important contest at work that will save the company big $$$$ and time. He was rewarded with a sizeable Disney gift card After much discussion we booked our first Disney cruise. A 5 day Caribbean cruise in Feb because we found a great rate for this cruise We were able to apply the gift card to the booking and now our out of pocket expense was cut by over 1/3
I am nervous and excited. I have never cruised before

 

[em36]

How old are your daughters? Would your quick service meals be during non-peak hours so that you can avoid crowds? Are you OK with that much quick service? Just a few questions to consider because we find that CL and non-character ADRs mix well for our family.

Our boys are ages 5, 12 and 13, and we are now down to one character meal per trip. But we make lots of non-character ADRs because we all love Disney dining and we like to avoid standing in line, the rapid-fire ordering process, searching for a table and juggling trays when we eat. TS is so much more relaxing and the perfect kind of downtime for all of us. It doesn't have to be a big meal, especially if we've been in the club lounge before dinner. We've done the dining plan in the past, and felt like it was the inflexibility of the plan that tied us down, not the actual ADRs. Without the dining plan, we have complete flexibility in what we order - appetizers or soup and salad instead of entrees if some of us are not that hungry, for example. We can eat as light as if we were at a quick service location, but get the calm atmosphere of a non-character TS restaurant.

If the kids want to get back to the rides/shows/etc., we can usually be in and out of a restaurant in an hour or less, if we want that. If we know what we want and don't order multiple courses, it's pretty quick. (Although we now stay longer by choice for dinner, now that they boys are older.)

So many great non-character restaurants in and around Epcot - Via Napoli, Chef's, Rose and Crown, Le Cellier, Bluezoo, Il Mulino, Yachtsman, Flying Fish, etc. Just a thought if your daughters are getting older and might enjoy that as family downtime!

Thanks for your reply. My daughters will be 14 and 9 when we go and we do enjoy the ease of table service dining. I will definitely have to do some thinking about dining. We are not park commandos. We generally make rope drop, come back to the resort in the early afternoon for a swim, and then do a different park in the evening. It might be nice to have some lunch ADR's and then take a swim break. This would leave the "cooler" evenings open for rides, parades, fireworks, etc.

 

[gwynne]

This is very good news. I trucked on over to the Boardwalk gym on our last trip



In other news My DH won a important contest at work that will save the company big $$$$ and time. He was rewarded with a sizeable Disney gift card After much discussion we booked our first Disney cruise. A 5 day Caribbean cruise in Feb because we found a great rate for this cruise We were able to apply the gift card to the booking and now our out of pocket expense was cut by over 1/3
I am nervous and excited. I have never cruised before

Couchy, congrats on the giftcard! Won't be long until you're enjoying an amazing Caribbean cruise!

 

[pixarmom]

We are not park commandos. We generally make rope drop, come back to the resort in the early afternoon for a swim, and then do a different park in the evening. It might be nice to have some lunch ADR's and then take a swim break. This would leave the "cooler" evenings open for rides, parades, fireworks, etc.

This is exactly what we're doing now! Used to be more commando with just two kids and when we visited less frequently. But now with three kids and more frequent visits, it's become very similar to what you described - rope drop, lunch ADR, resort for swim, club lounge for a snack, dinner and usually Epcot if we return to a park after dinner!

 

[TeenaS]

I need a little advice. I reserved a vacation package that included 7 day park hoppers, garden view club level at the YC, and quick service dining. In the past, we have gotten the regular dining plan but I felt tied down to reservations when we, at times, were not really hungry. We stayed cl last May and often either enjoyed the club lounge and were not hungry for a large meal, or we skipped the lounge because we knew we had an ADR in a few hours.

Anyway, my thoughts are that we will keep the quick service dining plan and maybe schedule one or two table service meals during the week. When my daughters were younger, they loved the character meals. I noticed in May that they were more interested in eating and getting back to the rides, parades, fireworks, etc than they were in character interaction. I know that there are lots of quick service options in Epcot that include more than burgers and fries.

If anyone has any experience or insight on the quick service plan, I would love to hear your opinions. We will be at DW in June, so there is plenty of time to change to a different plan. Thanks!

Not a fan of the quick service plan. It pretty much forces you to get a dessert with every meal and for us, we wouldn't order a dessert normally. So if you do the math and ordered only what you really wanted, you would end up saving money by paying for what you want and not eating desserts at every meal.

 

[em36]

Not a fan of the quick service plan. It pretty much forces you to get a dessert with every meal and for us, we wouldn't order a dessert normally. So if you do the math and ordered only what you really wanted, you would end up saving money by paying for what you want and not eating desserts at every meal.

Thank you. We do not normally eat dessert at every meal, especially in the heat of Orlando in June. I think I will probably change our package. I appreciate all of the help and tips that I have gotten. This is the best thread.

 

[natebenma]

In other news My DH won a important contest at work that will save the company big $$$$ and time. He was rewarded with a sizeable Disney gift card After much discussion we booked our first Disney cruise. A 5 day Caribbean cruise in Feb because we found a great rate for this cruise We were able to apply the gift card to the booking and now our out of pocket expense was cut by over 1/3
I am nervous and excited. I have never cruised before

That is fantastic!!! Congrats to your DH and for you!!!

What are your ports of call?

 

[TeenaS]

In other news My DH won a important contest at work that will save the company big $$$$ and time. He was rewarded with a sizeable Disney gift card After much discussion we booked our first Disney cruise. A 5 day Caribbean cruise in Feb because we found a great rate for this cruise We were able to apply the gift card to the booking and now our out of pocket expense was cut by over 1/3
I am nervous and excited. I have never cruised before

If you have any cruise questions, I know Disney cruises inside and out and would be happy to answer any of your questions.

 

[pixarmom]

Congrats, Couchy! Hope you love DCL as much as we do!!! I'm missing the Wonder so much that I haven't been able to return to the cruise boards since I said my "thank yous" for fish extender gifts and posted a review of our most wonderful August vacation. Still watching to see where the Wonder will go next . . .

 

[ronnmel]

When do they remove the Holiday decorations at Beach Club? We will be staying there Jan 2-10 and would love to see it both decorated and regular look.

Also, is it possible to just boil water in those new coffee machines? If not, where could I boil water? I have a baby and I feed her formula.

 

[AlohaAnnie]

When do they remove the Holiday decorations at Beach Club? We will be staying there Jan 2-10 and would love to see it both decorated and regular look.

Also, is it possible to just boil water in those new coffee machines? If not, where could I boil water? I have a baby and I feed her formula.

You could always buy a small electric tea kettle & bring it with you. I have one at home and it boils my water when making tea or coffee. Just a suggestion.

 

[Sue M]

This is very good news. I trucked on over to the Boardwalk gym on our last trip



In other news My DH won a important contest at work that will save the company big $$$$ and time. He was rewarded with a sizeable Disney gift card After much discussion we booked our first Disney cruise. A 5 day Caribbean cruise in Feb because we found a great rate for this cruise We were able to apply the gift card to the booking and now our out of pocket expense was cut by over 1/3
I am nervous and excited. I have never cruised before

Congrats to you both!

When do they remove the Holiday decorations at Beach Club? We will be staying there Jan 2-10 and would love to see it both decorated and regular look.

Also, is it possible to just boil water in those new coffee machines? If not, where could I boil water? I have a baby and I feed her formula.

They have the Cusinart Pod coffee machines now. so you can get a cup of hot water, just run it without coffee. If you need more hot water you can go down to The Marketplace. There is a hot water spigot for tea next to coffee machine.

 

[Couchy]

That is fantastic!!! Congrats to your DH and for you!!!

What are your ports of call?

It's a 5 day cruise so only 2 ports of call. We leave from Miami and go to Cozumel and then the famous Castaway Cay which I am very excited to visit. When he brought the "prize" home I checked out what we could do and found a really good price on this cruise so I jumped on it. He was thrilled because the giftcard covered a decent portion of the cruise

If you have any cruise questions, I know Disney cruises inside and out and would be happy to answer any of your questions.

I was thinking about you and your cruise expertise. I will probably have a million questions when I start to plan over the weekend. I have never cruised before. I will send a PM at some point with some questions. I will be happy to take any tips you might have to tell me

Congrats, Couchy! Hope you love DCL as much as we do!!! I'm missing the Wonder so much that I haven't been able to return to the cruise boards since I said my "thank yous" for fish extender gifts and posted a review of our most wonderful August vacation. Still watching to see where the Wonder will go next . . .

I am so excited Nervous too because this is new for me and I am good with things I know and sometimes new things make me nervous I will admit but I have already been looking into future cruises as well

 

[Couchy]

Congrats to you both!



They have the Cusinart Pod coffee machines now. so you can get a cup of hot water, just run it without coffee. If you need more hot water you can go down to The Marketplace. There is a hot water spigot for tea next to coffee machine.

Thanks I am so very exicited

 

[Nancyg56]

One more day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ronnmel]

You could always buy a small electric tea kettle & bring it with you. I have one at home and it boils my water when making tea or coffee. Just a suggestion.

Thanks. If I have no choice I will do that, but I'm trying to avoid having to pack more things since we have to pay for checked luggage.

They have the Cusinart Pod coffee machines now. so you can get a cup of hot water, just run it without coffee. If you need more hot water you can go down to The Marketplace. There is a hot water spigot for tea next to coffee machine.

Thank you! That's exactly what I was hoping to hear.

 

[WendyWuWu]

One more day! We'll be there Friday for 11 days!!!

 

[TeenaS]

I was thinking about you and your cruise expertise. I will probably have a million questions when I start to plan over the weekend. I have never cruised before. I will send a PM at some point with some questions. I will be happy to take any tips you might have to tell me

I leave on the Disney Fantasy on Saturday so if you PM me and I don't get back to you for over a week, that's why.
Just a quick head's up: I've been at Castaway Cay pretty much every month of the year and in February, if you are lucky enough to get a warm enough day to actually hit the beach, the water at that time of the year will turn you blue. In March last year, we got lucky and had a warm day (wherein in past years it was too cold for me to hit the beach) but the water was so cold that I was the ONLY person in the water at the adult beach. I have to admit it was freezing cold but the air warmed me up enough to lay on my raft and float around. People don't realize that Castaway isn't the Caribbean, it's the Bahamas and that's pretty far north, so like central Florida, in November, December, January, February and March, it can be iffy for beach days there - same as it can be iffy at WDW as far as air temps during those months. However, the weather in Cozumel is super in February!! Our favorite time to cruise the Caribbean is in January and February!

 

[Katesdad]

HAPPY THANKGSIVING EVERYONE

Mickey has slid off the ticker and it's time to go. Dee, hope we find the new thread when we return. To all traveling this weekend, stay safe and have a great time at the World.

 

[natebenma]