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

[Sue M]

Originally Posted by suemom2kay

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!

[TeenaS]

Originally Posted by pixarmom

That's five cheers from our family for Newport Beach!!!! So excited for you and so happy it all came together! No better combination than Newport Beach and BC back-to-back. (Hey wait! We did that in 2010, but it was BC in July and Newport in August.) Yay!!

Thanks for all your help. I'll probably have loads of questions for you when it gets closer.

[luvpoohandcompany]

Originally Posted by Ninja Mom

The possibilities for this charade are endless. If it were me, I'd be making up a fake itinerary with plans for visits to such exciting places as "The Nursing Home museum" and the "Liverwurst Factory tour" . I'd really talk it up too and get really excited about how they offer free samples at the Liverwurst factory. Really work that itinerary so they think you've lost your mind.

Perhaps you and your husband can "argue" about which would be "more educational" for the kids, the "Make your own stuffed manatee at the mall store" or the "Learn how to milk a poisonous snake experience"

If it were me I'd be all over this one.... jus sayin....

~NM

Originally Posted by TeenaS

Super excited!!!

And more good news. Thanks to one of our Disers here, we just rented a house in Newport Beach, CA for Lily's 2nd birthday ... for a week (July 8th we arrive). Then towards the end of July and the the first two weeks of August, Jeanne and Lily will be here in Florida with us and we will be staying at the Beach Club for 4-5 nights or maybe longer. Lily has to go back to Stormalong Bay!

This all sounds brilliant Teena. You will have a blast

Originally Posted by TeenaS

Sure hope so or the seagulls will be attacking me too!

Originally Posted by natebenma

You may think that is me worshiping, but it is me doing awkward sit-ups.

So is the Solarium back to its original glory?

.

I like your style Dee

[em36]

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!

[pixarmom]

Originally Posted by em36

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!

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!

[Couchy]

Originally Posted by suemom2kay

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!

Originally Posted by TeenaS

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]

Originally Posted by pixarmom

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]

Originally Posted by Couchy

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]

Originally Posted by em36

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]

Originally Posted by em36

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]

Originally Posted by TeenaS

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]

Originally Posted by Couchy

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]

Originally Posted by Couchy

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.