First Trip Report June 4-11 @ The Beach Club

[defendthehill]

The above picture is an example of what happened to many of my pics of SpectroMagic. I am sure if I was a better photographer that I could figure out how to take a better pic of a parade at night....but oh well. I did take a lot of video.

The things I will do for my daughters.......

 

[defendthehill]

Splash Mountain. After seeing this picture of the faces on my girls I had to buy it. Sure it was expensive but worth every penny!

My three princesses with THE princess of all-time.

 

[thechesters420]

Well they are great. I had a Nikon camera there last summer and I never could get a picture of the castle changing colors. I swear I took 20 pics and always nothing!! All my Spectro pics were pretty bad too, so my goal when I go back is to get those pictures! I'm buying myself a nice new camera before the trip too. Your girls a precious. I also have three girls that are 7, 2 and 9 months.

 

[defendthehill]

It really was a no brainer that we would do MK two days. And since we were staying on site we had the opportunity for use of Extra Magic Hours on this day. We didn't really hit the park that early though. I think we entered the park at 9:15 or so and it opened at 8 for the extended hours. The nice thing was that meeting Ariel was a HUGE priority for my girls this day. So we went straight to Ariels Grotto when we entered the park. Or I should say my wife, kids, and mother in law headed there. I went to splash mountain to get fastpasses since my older two decided after watching splash mountain the day before that they would like to ride it. After getting the fastpasses I joined the group at the Grotto. The wait was 45 minutes or so but that is why we came. So we waited and played in the fountain. We didn't mind the girls getting wet. It was a warm morning already and we knew they would dry out rather quickly. Which they did.

When we finally met Ariel it was worth the wait. First of all she was probably the best of the best CM's that we encountered. She was fantastic with the girls and they just ate it up. Certainly worth our time.

The Barnstormer was next on our agenda. My youngest didn't want to ride so she went with her grandma for a snack. The rest of the family rode and enjoyed it. I told my girls that it was a rule that you have to scream when riding a rollercoaster. Which they did almost all the way around. The only problem with The Barnstormer is it is way tooooooo short! But the wait was 20 minutes or so. So a second ride was not in order.

We ran to Story Time with Belle. Which we made by 5 minutes or so. When Belle came out my girls were awestruck the gal playing Belle was perfect! Belle's helpers even picked my middle daughter to be Illumineer. She got to wear a couple of candlesticks on her hands and be involved in the story. That was an experience that she will remember forever.

We then watched the show that happens in front of the Castle with all the princesses and princes, plus Mickey and Minnie and crew. I don't recall the name but something about Dreams coming True. The girls loved this as well.

Then we hit Liberty Tree Tavern for our ADR lunch. This may have been my favorite meal that wasn't a breakfast buffet. We had a friend suggest it to us and I am so glad we ate there. Not only did the adults love their food but the kids meals were better here than most places. The kids could get sliced turkey which is always a favorite at my house. We had a very relaxing lunch and we only had two stops left for our day at MK. My wife and I took our older girls to Splash Mountain while grandma and the youngest went to Aladdin. Splash Mountain was awesome. The ride is good but what made it great was doing it with my kids. If you look at the pic I posted you can see the girls faces. They were scared. I would have had two hands up but my riding partner required dads hand! So only one hand up Spash Mountain got a big thumbs up from my kids as did Aladdin from my youngest. The last stop was shopping on Main Street. My oldest had just had a birthday and saved her money to shop at Disney. It was nice as a father to see her "get it" when it came to the money. The girls all got something to add to the collection.

Then we were back at the Beach Club for some swimming and lazy river time. Staying at The Beach Club was perfect for us. We got in on the 4/3 deal so it wasn't too expensive but with three young ones who really couldn't do a park all day and night the pool at the Beach Club was incredible!

Dinner was simple that night. Me and the girls had stuff from The Marketplace at the Beach Club and my wife and her mother went to Cape Mays for the dinner buffet and some mom and daughter time. They didn't have reservations but just walked up and were seated right away. They both came back saying how wonderful that meal was!

More than anything I couldn't believe we only had one day left of our First Disney Vacation. I had been looking forward to it for so long and having so much fun with my family that I really wished we had another week. With my kids sleeping, my wife and her mom at dinner, I had some game on the TV but more than that just thought about the week and scanned the pictures on the camera. Already missing what wasn't quite over yet.

 

[defendthehill]

One item I have failed to mention through out this report is the Housekeeping was great. I had read some people's criticism of Housekeeping before we left. Now this was our first trip so I didn't have another trip to compare it to. But we found the room to be exceptionally clean. And it stayed clean the entire trip. The people working our room would arrange all the stuffed animals and put them in bed. They also made a little wash cloth bed for my girls toothbrushes.

 

[jana616]

I've enjoyed your report a ton! We're planning our first family trip in September, and I hope ours goes as smoothly as yours, and my boys' smiles are as big as the ones I see on your daughters' faces!

 

[defendthehill]

I've enjoyed your report a ton! We're planning our first family trip in September, and I hope ours goes as smoothly as yours, and my boys' smiles are as big as the ones I see on your daughters' faces!

Thanks for the nice words.

A couple pieces of advice that I took to heart and they worked very well.

1. You can not see it all even if you stay for one week like we did.
2. No one knows your kids like you do. So if they are early risers like mine. Take that into account when planning out days.
3. Maybe the best singe tidbit......if this trip is for your kids...as mine was. Then don't worry about riding "the biggies" We didn't do Everest, TestTrack, or most of the major adult type attractions. My kids didn't want to.....so I didn't either.

 

[defendthehill]

Our last day in The World. It was hard to believe. We had very little planned for the day except our ADR at Chef Mickey's. Teena was so kind to explain to us how the best way was to travel from The Beach Club to The Contemporary. So we followed her advice and bussed to MK and then walked to The Contemporary. Breakfast was fantastic. I thought it was better than Cape May for breakfast but they both were great. After breakfast we rode the monorail to the station and then switched over to the Epcot line. Not many people were there so we waited for one train to load and leave so we could be first for the next train. So me and my girls asked to ride up front with the driver. My wife and mother in law had to ride in the first compartment..only 4 up front with the driver. The ride to Epcot was beautiful. Wonderful view of Spaceship Earth as we got close to Epcot. The girls got their Co-Pilot licenses and then our drive gave them collectors cards since we had to wait 7 or 8 minutes in the train at Epcot. They were adding a new train on the line.

We entered Epcot with a desire to get fastpasses for Soarin for later in the day. It was the girls favorite ride and they wanted to do it again. We watched TestTrack and gave them the option of one or the other and they chose Soarin so that is what we did. We walked through Epcot, got a few pictures taken. Hit World Showcase to see if we could meet any princesses with little wait. Luckily we found Jasmine and Aladdin just as they were coming out. So we met them, took pics, and then we headed back to the Beach Club for some serious pool time. I must of floated around the lazy river a dozen times with my kids. They loved it. They put swimmies on and just floated. I did it without any floatation device which was no big deal since you can walk half of it if you want.

After our pool time we relaxed in the room a bit. Cleaned up and headed back to Epcot for dinner. We went to The Land and ate at Sunshine Seasons. Which was excellent. The choices were fantastic. However, the best part of dinner was that we had extra counter service meals left. We had skipped a meal during the week sometime and now I needed to use these extra meals. As we approached the cash register I asked a father behind me if he was on the Disney meal plan and he said no. So I asked him if I could buy his family dinner. I explained I had these meal credits and we were leaving in the morning and they would go to waste if I didn't use them. He, of course, was surprised and grateful at the same time. He asked multiple times if he could pay me for it. I told him no, that is was my treat. As we talked he and his family were on vacation from the Isle of Man, Ireland. So we chatted for a minute or two and then he handed be a $20 bill. He said that was for a Guiness on him. I gladly accepted, we thanked each other and we went our seperate ways. That was fun!

We road Soarin, grandma and my youngest hit Turtle Talk with Crush again. We did some final shopping and ended our time in Epcot. My wife and girls walked back to The Beach Club. I, however, needed to drop our stroller at All Star Movies for the next person in the Swap. So I bussed to Movies and dropped it off then making my way back to The Beach Club.

My kids were asleep and my wife had just about everything packed up. We had a 6:40AM meeting with Magical Express so I had arranged for Bell Services to pick our bags up at 6:15 so we needed to be ready in the morning. So off to bed for an early morning!

 

[Disney4nonah]

What a wonderful trip and very nice TR. I enjoyed it so much.
I loved your stories about giving away the FP's, it feels so good to give someone a little something doesn't it? We did it twice this time because we just ran out of time, it fun to watch for just the right people too...
And buying that family dinner how nice, glad you enjoyed the Dining Plan.
Wonderful Pics too! LOL, funny you mentioned why you only had one hand up on SM, because i looked at the pic before reading and thought, oh yeah, she totally has a hold on that other hand...haha

You were very well educated too your story indicated more then once of tips i know you would of had to get from the boards in order to know about it.
(Stroller swap)..... How cool, disboards is great!

 

[defendthehill]

I just got my PhotoPass CD and I had to post a few pics to go along with the report.

This is our first PhotoPass picture of the trip. We were on our way to Cinderella's Castle for dinner and the thunderstorm had just let up. Not many people out for being 7:30 PM on Thursday June 4.

This picture was two of my girls faces when they came up to meet Minnie at Animal Kingdom. The photographer did a great job catching the wonderful look on their faces.

My 5 year old. What a princess This photographer asked us if we wanted some close ups of just the girls faces. I hadn't thought of it but I am glad he asked us.

The magic balloon shot from Epcot. I couldn't get my five year old in the picture. When the photographer was explaining this to us, she misunderstood the balloons.....she wanted real balloons to hold. Anyway, her frustration with not having real balloons kept her from getting in the picture.

 

[defendthehill]

What a wonderful trip and very nice TR. I enjoyed it so much.
I loved your stories about giving away the FP's, it feels so good to give someone a little something doesn't it? We did it twice this time because we just ran out of time, it fun to watch for just the right people too...
And buying that family dinner how nice, glad you enjoyed the Dining Plan.
Wonderful Pics too! LOL, funny you mentioned why you only had one hand up on SM, because i looked at the pic before reading and thought, oh yeah, she totally has a hold on that other hand...haha

You were very well educated too your story indicated more then once of tips i know you would of had to get from the boards in order to know about it.
(Stroller swap)..... How cool, disboards is great!

Reading this board before we went on our trip was so helpful. I spent hours reading this stuff. I read the Beach Club thread mulitple times, I read the thread about tips from Cast Members, and the thread just suggesting MK tips. I also read many Trip Reports. Even though I was a first timer....I didn't really feel like it! The Stroller Swap I found here as well. It is too bad those are not really happening anymore. It was such a great thing!!

My daughter read your post about her holding my hand on SM and got a big kick out of it. Although she is not going to admit that daddy's hand was important to her enjoyment of the ride

 

[defendthehill]

Our day of departure came way too fast. But as everything on this trip it was a smooth as I could have hoped for. Bell Services was right on time. They took our bags and I didn't touch them again until Indianapolis, which was fantastic. The Magical Express picked us up at The Beach Club right at 6:40 and we stopped at a couple of other resorts before we hit the airport. Once at the airport we went to McDonald's for a bit to eat. Sat and relaxed and then went through security, boarded our plane and flew home. I always like coming home but I could have spent a few more days at Disney!

It wasn't but a couple of days after we got home that one of our experienced Disney friends, her husband, and their newborn and us started talking about doing Disney together. We stayed at the Beach Club based upon her recommendations. She was so excited about our trip and we sent each other mulitple texts during our trip. They were living vicariously through our texts. Anyway, we have already started looking into doing a 2BR at The Beach Club Villas..together. Probably not until May of 2011. But it does give us something to look forward to and it lets their newborn get a bit older before venturing out into THE WORLD.

I could not have wished for a better trip than we had. It was awesome!

 

[ScrapperBelle]

I just came across your trip report and have enjoyed reading it. I wanted to wish you a "Happy Father's Day" as you certainly seem to deserve it. Your family is precious and I loved reading about the good time you all were having.

I also love to see people who "get it" where their kids are concerned. You are exactly right about knowing your kids and realizing who the trip is actually for. We have always had a much better time when we took breaks and had plenty of rest/pool time instead of pushing the parks from open to close (20 trips and we have never managed to be at a park from opening to close!)

Glad you enjoyed the BC. The YC is our fave, but they are practically the same resort! SAB is truly amazing. Our kids love it. Another reason to take plenty of swim/rest time at WDW! We also enjoy being a short walk back to the room after the fireworks.

I do hope you all get to make the return trip you are planning and wish you all the best for that trip as well!

 

[tractortippin]

Great TR!!! All your pics are great but the close up of your little girl is awesome! So sweet!

Glad you has such a nice time! We took our DS for the 1st time last Sept and seeing the looks on their little faces truely is the best part of the trip!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[defendthehill]

I just came across your trip report and have enjoyed reading it. I wanted to wish you a "Happy Father's Day" as you certainly seem to deserve it. Your family is precious and I loved reading about the good time you all were having.

I also love to see people who "get it" where their kids are concerned. You are exactly right about knowing your kids and realizing who the trip is actually for. We have always had a much better time when we took breaks and had plenty of rest/pool time instead of pushing the parks from open to close (20 trips and we have never managed to be at a park from opening to close!)

Glad you enjoyed the BC. The YC is our fave, but they are practically the same resort! SAB is truly amazing. Our kids love it. Another reason to take plenty of swim/rest time at WDW! We also enjoy being a short walk back to the room after the fireworks.

I do hope you all get to make the return trip you are planning and wish you all the best for that trip as well!

Thank You very much. I have had a wonderful Father's Day. It also seemed obvious to me that pushing my kids at the parks was just going to be a huge mistake. I can't explain how much this attitude made our trip so much better! And the BC was awesome. I don't think it will be an every trip resort for us but it is amazing!

 

[defendthehill]

Great TR!!! All your pics are great but the close up of your little girl is awesome! So sweet!

Glad you has such a nice time! We took our DS for the 1st time last Sept and seeing the looks on their little faces truely is the best part of the trip!

Thanks for sharing!

You are welcome! Thanks for the kind words especially about my daughter. We have been home for over a week and my kids still walk around the house singing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Come inside it's fun inside. I thought It's a Small World would stick in their heads but after the Playhouse Disney show at Hollywood Studios they kept singing the theme over and over and over again.

We had a blast and can't wait for the next one!

 

[mooneyda]

I loved the trip report and the pics were awesome . I am glad you had a great time

 

[defendthehill]

I loved the trip report and the pics were awesome . I am glad you had a great time

Thanks. We did have a blast. Only a short time and you will be back. Have a blast at BCV!!!

 

[defendthehill]

We went to Disney and bought the Dining Plan. We had 1TS and 1CS meal per night plus 1 Snack. Here is how we used them and what we thought of each meal.

TS #1 and #2: Cinderella's Royal Table: Night 1 of our trip after arrival and check in we headed straight to Magic Kingdom for dinner. I did mention this meal already but we found it to be enjoyable. My wife had Prime Rib and gave it a big thumbs up. I had lamb and it was good....not great. Portion sizes were average. We both got the chocolate muffin type thing for desert. Don't recall the name of it. But it was OUTSTANDING in our view. The girls got a variety of pasta and chicken strips. The chicken was good and the pasta was not in their views. All had ice cream for desert. Is the meal worth two table service credits....no. Is the meal worth one and the magic of eating in the Castle worth one. Yes. When we go back to Disney I would do CRT again but probably not for dinner. I would probably try for breakfast (which we wanted but couldn't get).

TS #3: Coral Reef in Epcot for Lunch: The atmosphere in the restaurant was very nice. Our table was far away from the aquarium unfortunately but oh well. The kids liked the fish etc. but not being close it did not hold their interest very long. I got Tilapia which I found to be outstanding. I enjoyed it very much. My wife got steak which she also enjoyed. My mother in law got Mahi Mahi and she talked about it all week. She wanted to go back to The Coral Reef again during the week. The kids got pizza and chicken. The chicken was eaten....the pizza not so much. One daughter ate some of my wife's steak. Desert was a variety here. Everyone got something different. I don't recall all of them. Kids..ice cream. Mousse was my adult desert. The others I don't recall. Nothing was said about their excellence or their lack there of. Will I got back. Probably not on my next trip. Too many other choices in Epcot. Not going back has absolutely nothing to do with the food or dining experience. Just my desire to try a different place.

TS #4 Cape May for Breakfast: Our second character meal. Staying at The Beach Club made this choice a no brainer for us. We all like breakfast and found the Buffet to be very good. It was well stocked and replenished quickly. The fruit choices were beautiful. Good selections for kids and adults. Would I do Cape May's again? I would certainly say yes if I were staying at the Beach or Yacht Club or even on the Boardwalk. I am not sure I would go back if I had no other reason to be at The BC.

TS #5 Crystal Palace for Lunch: We loved this. Not only was it our third character meal but we found the food to be excellent. The lunch buffet was outstanding. The seperate smaller buffet table for kids was very nice. The adult food was super! The mashed potatoes were a big hit with the entire family. A very nice garlic mashed...we ate a bunch! Desert was very nice as well. We would go back and repeat this meal.....absolutely. Not so much for the character but for the food!

I will have to finish this up later....gotta run my youngest to gymnastics

 

[MJAJmom]

Really enjoyed reading your report. Your daughters are so pretty and and the pictures of them are priceless!! Also, your picture in a minnie mouse hat - stunning!! Sounds like your had a great trip. Next time for us I'd like to try Beach or Yacht Club. I opted for CBR this trip to save some money. Thanks for sharing your insights.