2011 Beach & Yacht Club FAQ

[HockeyMomR]

After I talk to Jeanne, you might have to add me, Bob, Jeanne and Brian on the April list. Bob wants to stay over one night so we can have two days of fun at SAB while Jeanne is here. I'm going to run it by her after work tonight to see if she wants to do it and then if there is availability, I'll probably book the night of 4/21. I'll let you know if it works out so you can add me to the list. This will be the first time I've stayed at the BC since working there. It will be very strange!

Sounds like Bob has a wonderful idea....hope Jeanne agrees. How fun!

 

[Lane]

Have they started renovating the villas and some rooms are not done yet? We have reservations here this summer. My brother's family always stays off property. They pay a lot less and have always had great rooms. Very good quality. It is hard for me to convince him to stay at Disney with us. He has seen our rooms before when we were at the Yacht Club (before renovation) and said, no thank you. I thought, if I remember correctly, that the Yacht and Beach Club were renovated about a year ago. Are the villas on a different schedule?

 

[Bourquefam]

Marlton Mom---your last post is the funniest yet! I am going to be calculating the whole time I'm at Disney using your formula!

Teena----I LOVE your April plan. That will be perfect for everyone and you definitely need a turn at getting pampered at BC!

 

[tortoni]

Bounceback Clock is hilarious!

 

[DawnMaree]

Oh my GAWD!! I am SO glad I didn't have anything in my mouth when reading the bounceback clock. Hilarious!

 

[pixarmom]

Good morning! Just catching up on the past few days, so some of my comments are belated!

Teena, so glad to hear that you're home and the doctors were able to accomplish the mission with this second surgery. (You might recall that the second surgery worked for my mom - then chemo and radiation - so please don't hesitate to contact her with questions or to chat about the radiation part.)

So excited to hear about Jeanne's visit! I entirely second Robyn's advice regarding summer babies and the pool. There is absolutely nothing better than floating in a pool at that point - especially when the pool is SAB!

mtmbyck, thanks for posting your experience. I entirely agree with katesdad - no attacks here on this thread! I appreciate hearing not-so-positive along with the positive.

Marlton Mom, I'm still laughing!

Thanks BCV23 and Dee for the Florida trip good wishes! We enjoyed two sunny days on the gulf coast, so we were very lucky! While I didn't have a Sunken Treasure, I DID enjoy Sunken Treasure ice cream - vanilla with caramel swirls and chocolate covered caramel. The Florida weather definitely made up for the rain/snow mix in Williamsburg (but our oldest had a great time there and it was so much fun!) And for those who recall all the kitchen damage (yes, that took from February 13 to April 1 to fix!) we returned home to a fully repaired kitchen!!! Yay!

 

[summersalt]

The "Bounce Back Clock" is the clock that calculates how long it will take you to recover from a day of marching around the parks in the hot and humid weather. You have to enter in various factors which will determine how long or short of a period of time you'll need before you'll be ready to hit the parks again.

For instance, if you are traveling with kids you add 1 hour to the clock for each kid. Teenage children are multiplied by a factor of 4.5 and for husbands you just add 12 hours. If you are traveling with family and trying to coordinate everyone's schedule you add 1 hour for every person and 3 hours for crabby in laws.

If the people in your 'party' are not listening to you and you are late for everything add 6 hours, but if you've consumed multiple alcoholic beverages as you stagger around the World Showcase you can take off hours equal to the number of ounces of liquor that you've had while putting up with the whiny uncooperative people in your 'party'.

If some one in your 'party' is running out of clean clothes and you have to hit the laundry room then you add 2 hours, but then again you can drink while you're doing laundry so those hours may be a wash.

For each hour you spend at storm-along bay subtract 1 hour.... unless you are an adult and you were foolish enough to go down that slide. Then you'll have to add 3 hours just for your back to bounce back from all that bumping.

If someone in your traveling 'party' has forgotten to pack something important, say like underwear, then you have to add 5 hours. Every time someone in your party gets lost, you add an hour, unless it's an in law or other undesirable, then you subtract 2 hours for every hour they are missing.

For each time you can't find your hotel room add an hour. They are numbered for God's sake so we've got to nail you with the clock. Likewise if you lose your car in one of those Disney parking lots. If you have to ride around with security to find your car in the parking lot add 4 hours.

As you can see the "Bounce Back Clock" is an essential piece of equipment for your Disney Vacation. There are more than a few families floating around that have accrued so many hours on their "Bounce Back Clock" that they may never get back to the parks, at least any time soon.

However there was once a woman who went alone to the parks on a solo trip.... NO Kids, NO Husband and NO Family members. She managed to book a trip at 50% off of everything and nothing at the parks was closed, under construction, or dysfunctional, even the (Disco) *Yeti was still working! It was sunny and 75 degrees all week and park attendance was at an all time low!

This was the only person EVER who did not have to make use of the "Bounce Back Clock".

~MM
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KC5zts4ZsGo

Marlton Mom, You're a nut! I'm keeping my eye on your ticker so I can plan my next trip during your next trip. I would absolutely LOVE to meet you!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Keep checking for availability if you didn't get the room you wanted with the discount!

When we re-booked with the 30% discount on Friday the only cl rooms available were sv. We downgraded our gv cl to sv cl. Today I was checking again and we were able to upgrade the first nine days of our trip to gv cl and had to keep the second 6 days at sv cl. We were able to upgrade my in-laws from sv cl to lv cl. Now I'm going to keep watching and hope we can
eventually upgrade the last 6 days to gv cl. If not, I'm going to ask at check-in if we can pay the difference (very little difference in price) to be able to stay in the same room all 15 nights.

Hopefully they'll keep releasing more rooms. Hopefully an AP rate will come out too that's even better than the GP rate!

 

[DrMomof3]

The Bounceback Clock had me rolling!!!
As someone who has lost a child at Disney, not once but twice (at least it was 2 separate trips but same child - yes, yes Mother of the Year!), traveled with crabby and difficult grandparents (my parents, I'm sad to report), and listened to incessant whining.... Too funny!!!

Amanda

 

[DisneyMomx7]

The Bounceback Clock had me rolling!!!
As someone who has lost a child at Disney, not once but twice (at least it was 2 separate trips but same child - yes, yes Mother of the Year!), traveled with crabby and difficult grandparents (my parents, I'm sad to report), and listened to incessant whining.... Too funny!!!

Amanda

Now I don't feel so bad! We lost two children at Disney (different times)!
Once I told DH and his dad to watch older dd while I took the two younger
ones back to the room for a nap. Imagine my surprise when DH returned later alone! A minute later there was a knock on the door and it was DD.
DH thought she was with me (obviously NOT listening to me at all).

The other time was scarier. It was our first time at TL. I had the kids in the wave pool and DH was at the entry to the pool because the waves had knocked his glasses off. Middle dd wanted to go back with DH so I let her go.
Apparently another man had the same swimsuit as DH and DD went over to him instead. DH didn't know DD was coming to him so he didn't even realize she was lost until I brought the other two back. Talk about a panic. Thank goodness I had insisted that all three kids wear lifejackets even though the older two fought me on that. She was only lost a few minutes but it felt like a lifetime. She had enough sense to go to the chairs where we had our towels and stuff.

Oh yeah we definitely felt like the parents of the year those times!

 

[heatherbabydoll1]

MickeyT is keeping the December list (Thanks, Mike!) and you are on it! You can see it on page 1 of this thread, near the bottom of the page (Community Page)

Thank you! I did not relize that it was listed on the front page. I tend to go straight to the last pages to see what I missed.

 

[DrMomof3]

I've totally been there Robyn!
Time #1: We were having dinner at T Rex at DTD with my family, my sister's family, and my parents. My mom offered to take 3 of the grandchildren (my older 2 and my niece) to the lego store to play while the rest of us finished up. We met her at the lego store only to discover that my oldest child was missing. It was particularly scary because DTD is relatively open and surrounded by water. Luckily, we realized that my son had probably returned to the restaurant (which he had) but it felt like forever!
Time #2 (last August when we stayed at BCV): We had done baby swap at Kali River Rapids in AK. DH went with the 2 older kids while I sat with napping 2 year old. Then I took the 2 older ones. We got off the ride and met up with DH. There was a water play area right there and DH told me that our son was playing in the water (which didn't sound like our son at all but I believed him). When we went to retrieve him, he wasn't there. I was a little surprised by how casual the CMs were about a missing child - until I explained to them that Nathaniel is perfectly capable of finding a bus back to BC and hoping on by himself (he was 6 at the time but he's very independent and he was very wet after going on the ride twice). Nathaniel had a Who's Shoe tag on his shoe and when we found him he was holding the tag up and looking for a CM to call us. Apparently he had just kept on walking when he got off the ride!

Amanda

 

[heatherbabydoll1]

I debated posting here but I figured if I was a BCV DVC owner, I'd want to know the condition of some rooms.

We rented DVC pts for 2 nights and had a 2 bedroom March 10-12. We then moved over to Marriott Grande Vista for 10 nights to a 2 bedroom given it was half the price and we had friends who are owners there.

I was so excited to finally be staying at BCV. It has always been the cream of the crop when we have wandered resorts and strolled the Boardwalk.

We got our room at about 3:45 (I expected as much as it was March Break and it must take forever to clean those rooms). Got to room and was disappointed with view (big tree looking at front entrance). The balcony was also very small (comparing to SSR where we had a 2 bedroom a few years ago). But as I did my usual walk through, I had to start making a list of significant problems. 2 lights burnt out (no biggie), every element on the stove was either broken or mismatched as they didn't fit in the burners properly and were crooked so pots would sit crooked on stove (they came up to fix but only fixed 2 of the 4), Ethernet cable broken (I can't understand why Disney doesn't go wireless like every other resort), dishwasher door definitely not right (when I opened it it seemed to fall off the hinge so I was worried to run it for leaking - upon reporting they came up and ran it - no leaks - but it was not fixed and still unhinged when opening), one toilet didn't seem to flush properly (they did fix this), and just overall the room seemed VERY worn out. I will also say that the carpets were very damp when we checked in and room had a musty smell like they had sprayed to mask something. It took almost a day for the carpets to dry and that mustiness to go away.

As mentioned, I love Disney and the service and amenities at BCV were fantastic but the room just wasn't worth the money (I payed almost 500/nt - a deal compared to it's rack rate). Compared to the resort we checked in to afterwards, twice the size, have the price and like new - it was disappointing.

I have seen that they are still renovating the rooms on these boards. Perhaps we got one of the old ones. It's such a shame that it left such an impression on me. But not all bad.......

Bell services is the best, concierge got us a wheelchair for our whole stay at no charge, captains grill was the best dinner we had our whole vacation, loved beaches and cream and cape may cafe. Poolside activities were fun and you can't beat the location for evening strolls.

Hoping I don't get attacked for being honest.

I am glad you shared this even though I am a little worried now! Even with the discount I got this is the most I have ever paid for a trip to Disney. I want everything to be as close to perfect as it can for my son's surprise. We booked the 1 bedroom for this trip for several reasons, but I don't want any of the problems you had. We stay sometimes at the Fountains off site and they have two bedroom suits for way less but I wanted to have a similar experience with the convienence of the Disney property. Will all the renavations be done before December? What all are they doing during the renavations? Upgrading appliances? Changing carpets? My family is highly alergic to mold, I never thought this might be a problem at Disney. Should I worry about spending so much money?

 

[HockeyMomR]

Keep checking for availability if you didn't get the room you wanted with the discount!

When we re-booked with the 30% discount on Friday the only cl rooms available were sv. We downgraded our gv cl to sv cl. Today I was checking again and we were able to upgrade the first nine days of our trip to gv cl and had to keep the second 6 days at sv cl. We were able to upgrade my in-laws from sv cl to lv cl. Now I'm going to keep watching and hope we can
eventually upgrade the last 6 days to gv cl. If not, I'm going to ask at check-in if we can pay the difference (very little difference in price) to be able to stay in the same room all 15 nights.

Hopefully they'll keep releasing more rooms. Hopefully an AP rate will come out too that's even better than the GP rate!

Robyn - glad it worked out for you! I really like the new booking with difference between standard view and garden view. Yesterday morning I booked BC Dlx July 17 -22 with the 30% off. Wavering between that room and GV CL with no dining plan or possibly WV w/ dining plan. Decisions, decisions.

However, now DH and DS19 say no Disney this year. DS15 is totally on board with me. Hoping to compromise and book a few days in Clearwater and then hope to get to Disney after that!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Rebecca that would be fabulous!
We've kept missing each other for years. Last year I thought it was
definitely going to be the year we met up then dd broke her leg.

We booked the room only since we have APs and the TIW card. Last year that really worked out great. If good AP rates come out though I think we're going to do the first week DDP (regular) and the second week TIW.
My in-laws are coming with us for the first week so we booked them the 30% of MYW package. I scheduled most of the buffets for the first week so
that would make the DDP worth it. Disney killed me once the girls became
"Disney adults". They are mostly still eating off the kids menu which is why
TIW works out better for us, except for the buffets!

Hope we can meet up and have a Mini-Dis Meet like we did last year!

 

[natebenma]

Robyn - glad it worked out for you! I really like the new booking with difference between standard view and garden view. Yesterday morning I booked BC Dlx July 17 -22 with the 30% off. Wavering between that room and GV CL with no dining plan or possibly WV w/ dining plan. Decisions, decisions.

However, now DH and DS19 say no Disney this year. DS15 is totally on board with me. Hoping to compromise and book a few days in Clearwater and then hope to get to Disney after that!

Robyn's trip is July 17 to the end of the month. Hope this is the year you two can meet up!!! Unfortunately, I think chances are pretty good that Teena will be out in Vegas with Jeanne and the new grand-peanut! And I will just be returning from "The Trip Which Must Not Be Named"

 

[Marlton Mom]

To Robyn and Amanda and the other people who are adept at losing loved ones, can you fill the rest of us in on your secrets? Some of us have been trying to ditch cranky family members in the parks with out much success!

In my case it's usually my husband. I was thinking that the best place to ditch him was at the obligatory trip to Walmart to purchase his missing bathing suit or underwear that he forgot to pack for vacation. Unfortunately, security at Walmart is top notch and when the wife tries to sneak out, the alarms go off and a customer service rep reunites the bewildered husband with his family.

I've also tried the ladies room trick where you go in and don't come out for an hour. The ladies rooms at Disney are air conditioned and you get to sit down so it makes for a restful respite from all the whining. If you close your eyes you can even imagine that you're at the pool at the Wilderness Lodge with all that rushing water..... But even after an hour I come back out and there he is, none the wiser that I was waiting for him to wander off thinking that I'd left.

The hotel is another surefire place to lose your husband. Frequently I push the wrong button in the elevator and try to fake getting out at the wrong floor in hopes that he will follow and not be able to duck back in when the elevator doors close. My husband is the one at the hotel that everyone is calling security about because he tried to get in the wrong door. If you see a trail of M&M's on the floor leading to a particular door it's probably ours.

So don't hold out on us! Fess up on those ditching the cranky "loved" ones tips!

~MM

 

[natebenma]

To Robyn and Amanda and the other people who are adept at losing loved ones, can you fill the rest of us in on your secrets? Some of us have been trying to ditch cranky family members in the parks with out much success!

~MM

You've got some suggestions for the husbands covered. How about ideas for ditching teenaged children? I'm thinking of luring my son into Club Cool with its bright lights and sugary drinks and then hoping his sneakers get glued to the sticky floor long enough for me to make a break for it!

 

[moniqueelaine]

We aren't going until the summer of 2012 but I read the boards every Sunday...We have not decided were to stay but BC/YC is prob where we will stay..We are either going to stay there or POR...Cannot wait..really wanna do BC

 

[pixarmom]

Hoping to compromise and book a few days in Clearwater and then hope to get to Disney after that!

This is exactly what we did in March 2010 - loved it! My husband attended a conference in Clearwater at the Sandpearl Resort so the boys and I tagged along and enjoyed the beach. Then we all drove to WDW, checked in at BC and enjoyed 4 nights/5 days at Disney. Really hope your Clearwater/Disney plan works out!