2013 Beach and Yacht Club FAQ: Don't Post Here! New Thread Now Open

[medicgirl177]

Hey all! Today was very interesting!

It started off on a very very sour note. We went over to DHS this morning and I didn't even make it into the gate! Ugh! Since we have APs we can't use the super duper special new entrances for resort guests. So we had to stand in the ridiculously long line for the regular turnstiles. Cool, whatever, what's a few extra minutes? Well we get up to the gate and my sister's card doesn't work. So they tried my mothers. Didn't work either. Then me! Nope, not working for me either. She assumed it was our passes, so she had us go to guest relations to get new ones. I was super ticked off. After that I went back to the boat while my family went to DHS. Turns out that the turnstile was broken and the lady realized it after everyone's tickets weren't working. Yeah. My beautiful Mickey AP is now a Donald Duck AP. I went off to Epcot and got a margarita! My friend is down here too with his family so we made plans to meet up. Well, he never gave me a time so I came back to the BC and had some of those chips! Oh my! Those chips! My friend said he could meet up after eating lunch, so I headed over to Epcot again and had the Grand Marnier orange slush! Woooo! That was awesome! (Did I mention I'm wearing a shirt that says 'keep calm and drink on') I almost did not get served by the silly French girl, but I did so its all good! I headed over to Italy and waited in the sun and people watched. Now I'm a lobster because I neglected to put on sun screen. Anyway, my friend ate at via Napoli and said that the service was super slow and the food was on par with Olive Garden, however the dessert was good! So I waited a bit longer than expect and he skipped over when he saw me.

Little back story; I had never met my friend Matt in person. We started chatting on a website- the first thing he said to me was along the lines of 'I like Disney too!' From there we would message each other back and forth and eventually evolved into Facebook friends. We talked forever about Disney world. He knew I was coming down in march and on Super Bowl Sunday he got a call from his father - he was coming down to Disney with his family at the same time! So we started texting and he arranged some of his days to coincide with my park days and promised to be my drinking buddy! That happened today!

Back to the report! So this was my first time meeting Matt in person and I think it's awesome that we could do it in Epcot! He suggested we go to china to start drinking. I was game and he said that the plum wine was good! So I got it. The cashier was adorable, she was excited that I was old enough to drink! From there we went over to Mexico and decided that tequila makes your clothes fall off, so we held off on getting margaritas! I suggested we ride on maelstrom but the line was 30 minutes long. Fast pass time! I had to go to FOUR different machines before I could get my pass to work! Lol oh well! We wanted to beverages in us before we got on so we walked passed Mexico and went to the promenade where they have booths set up. We stopped at one where they had a honey blossom pilsner? Something along the lines of that! We got that and sat down and talked for a bit. Then we wanted more yummy drinks and so he steered me over to the United Kingdom where I got the woodpecker cider and he got some pear cider or something! We got a photo pass by the bridge to France and then walked over and stood by the water so we could have more conversations. We walked through France and we were both feeling a bit silly. He started to mumble things in French to me and then he wanted a French drink! So I suggest the grand Marnier orange slush! I decided I wanted another one too, and this time the server noticed that my birthday was yesterday so he wished me a happy birthday! Lol! It was nice of him. At that point I wanted to get another photo pass picture so when I saw a photo pass photographer walking towards me, I flagged him down and then wondered where his camera was! Turns out he was on break! I think I scared him a bit so we set off to find a photographer. We never found one because we realized we were holding fast passes to maelstrom! Oh my! We had 15 minutes to get there so we strolled along all the people. I stopped in Germany to potty and a lady said she liked my shirt! Win! So worth it! We high tailed it over to maelstrom and walked right on! (The standby said it was 30 minutes but I know it has to be longer!) after maelstrom i felt super funny. I hadn't eaten anything in hours and I wasn't drinking water, so we decided no more beverages. We thought it would be a good idea to ride spaceship earth. We both had to be back in Japan by 6, and it was about 5:15. We got out about 5:40 and had a few misses calls. Whoops! We stopped in club cool for a quick second and then ran to catch the boat! (Back in January there was one boat captain that stood out to me, his name is Andrew and he's super cute and I hadn't seen him on this trip yet, low and behold, he was our captain! That sent me into the giggles) we got off the boat at about 5:55 and I had to quickly get over to Japan! I made it in at 6 pm where my cranky family was sitting at the table waiting for me. Tokyo dining is delicious. Now I'm back at the beach club, relaxing and watching Stacey.

I really love Disney world! Tomorrow it's magic kingdom day (Matt will be there too!!) and my family is taking KTTK tour! Then I'll probably hang out with Matt!

AWESOME day. Love the back story. Will have to try the plum wine but something tells me nothing beats a first pseudo-date the first full day you are 21 while at Walt Disney World. Those are memories my friend! We are all sighing sweet sighs and living vicariously through you right now!!

 

[Sue M]

AWESOME day. Love the back story. Will have to try the plum wine but something tells me nothing beats a first pseudo-date the first full day you are 21 while at Walt Disney World. Those are memories my friend! We are all sighing sweet sighs and living vicariously through you right now!!

yes we are!!

 

[Sue M]

I'll throw in my two cents regarding online check in! Before the new website, I very rarely used online check-in. Online check-in is for guests who can literally grab their keys and go. I usually wanted to check on my request at the front desk, and offer to wait if our original room didn't have one, so online check-in wasn't for me. We did use it twice under the old system when I was truly comfortable with "grab and go." Once was at POFQ with an upper floor request, and once at BC for short trip and full balcony request - I wasn't going to ask to switch if our request wasn't granted, so I used online check-in.

The new website, however, changed my philosophy. The main difference for me is that the new website allows guests to confirm common room requests during online check-in. I still call in my request to CRO and, if staying CL, e-mail it to IPO. But with the new online check-in system, I can let them know what time I'm arriving and reiterate my requests. So I can confirm my request for Samoa/balcony at Poly, or for a Boardwalk view when staying standard CL at BWI. And at that point, if I've called CRO, e-mailed IPO and confirmed through online check-in, then I'm done! It's time to grab our keys and go enjoy our vacation! But that's my general vacation philosophy - plan like crazy ahead of time, do all I can to get the pieces in place, and then just relax and enjoy, come what may!

So while I did not generally recommend online check-in under the old system, I do under the new. But you have to be willing to stick to the grab-and-go approach!

Same here, I was resistant to doing online check in because I always have specific location requests. I also wondered if it lessened the chance of a upgrade.
But my last 2 trips, August and January, I thought I'd give it a try.
I always have my requests noted on my reservation by CRO. And in August they were also noted by IPO. For POFQ I had all 3 requests noted by CRO.
This was still using the old online check in (Canada doesn't have the new web site yet ).

I was happy both times. We got every room request, great experience.

Now I think it's even more important to use online check in with all the tec changes. When the Fastpass + option comes online, I think you'll have to do online check in to access that.

And maybe by the time my 60 day check in time comes for August trip, who knows, maybe even us up here in Canada, land of the Loonie, Poutine & Speedo (did I forget anything NJ eh?) will have the new web site!!!

 

[Sue M]

Currently eating those chips in the BC lounge. I'm in love.

very addictive!!

 

[Sue M]

Hi all! Pulled the plug, and booked flights for August, boy have they gone up I paid about $100 more then I'm used to, but was afraid to wait longer in case they keep creeping up. Guess I'll just have to live with the higher fare, and hope for our next trip I can do better!!
On the bright side, I'm one step closer to our Aug trip! so Yay!

 

[1971DBday]

Hi all! Pulled the plug, and booked flights for August, boy have they gone up I paid about $100 more then I'm used to, but was afraid to wait longer in case they keep creeping up. Guess I'll just have to live with the higher fare, and hope for our next trip I can do better!!
On the bright side, I'm one step closer to our Aug trip! so Yay!

I know what you mean! I got our flight for June there but I'm still holding out for a cheaper flight home. At one point I has $1200 rt for 5 from Chicago but hesitated. I am regretting that decision!

 

[ocalla]

AWESOME day. Love the back story. Will have to try the plum wine but something tells me nothing beats a first pseudo-date the first full day you are 21 while at Walt Disney World. Those are memories my friend! We are all sighing sweet sighs and living vicariously through you right now!!

So true......So true

 

[AliceIn]

Hi all! Pulled the plug, and booked flights for August, boy have they gone up I paid about $100 more then I'm used to, but was afraid to wait longer in case they keep creeping up. Guess I'll just have to live with the higher fare, and hope for our next trip I can do better!!
On the bright side, I'm one step closer to our Aug trip! so Yay!

I know! The plane tickets for the five of us cost $750 more this year than last year. They have been creeping up and up so I bought mine, too. I know at some point there could be a sale, but I can't risk having us sitting all over the plane. I saw some families doing that last year, begging the airline to move people to seat them together, but no dice.

 

[natebenma]

Hi, it was suggested by another DIS'er that I post here.

This is probably THE oddest question I've posted in all my years on the DIS. We just did a wedding tour with my daughter and her fiance on March 5. The Beach Club is one of the reception venues we are looking at. Does anyone have a picture of the public restrooms off the lobby---over by Ariel's by any chance ? I know there has to be others like me that take pics of bathrooms and such while on vacation ? This would be the bathroom our wedding guests would use and just want to have a photo of it if possible.
Thank you for whoever might have taken a photo. I do have several public bathroom pics of resorts but not from the BC and I've been there twice since December !
PS: I did check the photo and links on page 1 and did not see a bathroom pic. Maybe even someone who is there now could take a pic for me ?? Please

I'm not sure, and the person who provided the pictures, is not positive that it is the restroom you are talking about, but these are definitely at either the Yacht or Beach Club.

Perhaps someone here knows.

We still have a couple of volunteers visiting in the next month or so who can confirm, or take additional pictures if needed.

Let us know.

DISers rock!

Now, I have an odd question for you. Do you by any chance have a picture of the public bathroom between the Beach Club and Yacht Club (near where Ariel's bar was)? Someone on the FAQ thread for the resort asked if anyone has a picture because her daughter is considering getting married there. At the resort. Not in the bathroom.

Thx!

I do.... I need to find it but I do. Probably the last update or so of this report actually. Now if I can get PB to cooperate once I do I can post them.

And to the clarification of where she is getting married.


this one ?

This may be the inside to that one or the one by Cape May...not too sure.

 

[AliceIn]

I really love Disney world! Tomorrow it's magic kingdom day (Matt will be there too!!) and my family is taking KTTK tour! Then I'll probably hang out with Matt!

I'm glad your trip recovered from the slow start. It sounds like you are having a blast!

 

[natebenma]

I have a question about the first haircut. How much hair do they really need to have? Our DD will be 9 months and I really would like to do this but she does not have a ton of hair and I really do not forsee too much growing in the next two months. Is this more a symbolic thing or will I be secretly laughed at due to her lack of hair?

I think a good rule of thumb for a first haircut is enough hair that they can cut off a big enough lock for you to save, and not have her be bald when they're done Neither of my DD's had enough hair to cut until they were two! (Parents of bald daughters, unite! )

That's funny, Teena - I have not let my son get a haircut anywhere besides Magic Kingdom either! He is almost 2.5 and has had his only 3 haircuts there. Unfortunately, that might have to change, as we won't be back until the end of October.

Bumping this to see if Teena has any additional comments and to post to the link to the part of Lily's trip report where she gets her first haircut.

Cuteness alert:

My First Trim

.

 

[jemh628]

I think a good rule of thumb for a first haircut is enough hair that they can cut off a big enough lock for you to save, and not have her be bald when they're done Neither of my DD's had enough hair to cut until they were two! (Parents of bald daughters, unite! )

Thanks Ella. While not entirely bald, I do not truly think she has enough for a lock and most likely will not in two months. I guess I just thought it would be so cool to have it done and be her first true haircut. Guess that means another trip when she does have enough!

 

[natebenma]

I am working on the FAQ post about On-line vs. In-Person Checkin-

This is the info I have.

If anyone has done the checkin for YC, could you let me know what choices are given for room requests.


If anyone has experienced different requests, let me know.

Thanks! Dee


60 Day Online Checkin/My Disney Experience

Confirm arrival and departure times.
Pick PIN numbers to use for park and resort purchases

There is also an option of clicking a box which said they would possibly allow early entry to a room prior to 3 but it might override room requests.

Request for a day bed does not appear to be an option you can request through on-line checkin.


Beach Club 60 Day Check In:

Room Request Options- Choose 2 of the three listed:

Large balcony
Lower floor
Near transportation

Yacht Club 60 Day Check In:

Info to be added


Beach Club Villa 60 Day Check In:

Room Request Options-Choose 2 out of the four listed:

Near Elevator
Lower Floor
Woods View
Larger Balcony

 

[jennyjinx3]

Dee: We are booked for CL SV at the BC, and we are coming up to our 60 days. Do you think it is necessary to do online check in for CL? Thanks!

Jen

 

[natebenma]

Dee: We are booked for CL SV at the BC, and we are coming up to our 60 days. Do you think it is necessary to do online check in for CL? Thanks!

Jen

I am still working through my understanding, feelings and opinions about the advanced checkin.

What are your requests? Daybed? Full Balcony? Both? A particular location?

 

[jennyjinx3]

I am still working through my understanding, feelings and opinions about the advanced checkin.

What are your requests? Daybed? Full Balcony? Both? A particular location?

Well, we are a family of five, so I thought we would have a daybed? I guess are requests would be a daybed, and full balcony. Not sure of what location to request so would probably leave that to chance for CL. The problem is the My Disney Experience App is not working properly for us, but I don't want to miss out on anything but not doing the online checkin.

 

[natebenma]

Well, we are a family of five, so I thought we would have a daybed? I guess are requests would be a daybed, and full balcony. Not sure of what location to request so would probably leave that to chance for CL. The problem is the My Disney Experience App is not working properly for us, but I don't want to miss out on anything but not doing the online checkin.

I don't think you need to request a daybed. As a family of 5 (if all members are over age 3) you will be given priority for a daybed. You need to be given a room that will allow all of you to have a place to sleep. In the rare situation where a daybed is not available, you will be given a rollaway cot, but I don't think having the request will give you any more of a chance in that case. It will be available or it won't, but if there is only one room available with a daybed when you are checking in, a family of 4 requesting a daybed and checking in at the same time should not be receiving one even if they requested it.

You should have Full Balcony, please as a request on your reservation, and to cover your bases, email IPO to let them know that is what you want.

Location (close to lounge/elevator) would not be important to me. It may be to your family.

Right now, I think the big advantage for the advanced checkin is to speed up checkin, but since you are staying club level, you will have individual check in anyway.

I'm not sure that there are other advantages at this time- there may be some coming soon, like access to fast pass plus, but I don't think there is an announced timeline for that yet.

Anyone else think of other advantages or reasons to do the 60 day advanced checkin (particularly for a club level stay)?

 

[jennyjinx3]

Thank you so much, Dee. I don't think I will sweat it too much then, if we cannot figure out how to do it.

 

[msjprincess]

I have a question about room requests. I have a standard view booked at the YC. I know that I won't have a good view. But are are there some areas that are better than others? As long as I'm not overlooking a dumpster I'll be happy.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I don't know if anyone has seen the orbitz deal thread, but I just rebooked our ressie. Didn't get money back b/c there are no GV rooms available, but was able to save enough thru orbitz that I switched us to arrival night ONLY at YC GV (BC still unavailable) and kept it thru WDW directly using spring promo as a package with our 8 day tix...$1729. Then booked the last 8 nights at BC water view room only for $2696 thru the orbitz deal! So I ended up spending the exact same amount as our previously booked YC/BC all GV split but now we don't have to change rooms mid-trip AND we get WV for our 8 nights at BC!!

Super excited!