Get Off The Ship - we are running out of towel animals! Update 10/25 Day 31

[jenseib]

dinner does look good. Sounds like the evening was pretty crowded at MK, but at least you could do a few things.

 

[franandaj]

Breakfast at the Captain's Grille sounds great! I've never eaten there before. Maybe next time we stay at BCV.

SAB always seems really crowded when I've gone there, I like the quiet pool.

The pastries at the new French QS look really good. There has always been a huge line when I have tried to go in there and look. The ice cream shop is wonderful! A perfect fit for that tiny space.

The Wave is another place I've never eaten at, but I see good reviews of it.

Boy you two really packed it in that day!

Hi, Alison! Where is the nearest Steak & Shake?

It's closer to you than me. Somewhere in Santa Monica one opened up. There is one in Victorville off the I-15. The one that I've been to is in Las Vegas at the South Pointe Casino. The only other ones I've been to are in the Midwest.

 

[jedijill]

Wow! What a great and long day. Dinner looks really delicious. I've never had dinner at The Wave but breakfast is yummy.

Jill in CO

 

[Leshaface]

The room is so bright and happy! And perfect balcony overlooking the pool.

Mushy peas? Yeah, i'd pass on that Did he like the Cottage Pie? I enjoy making it at home every once in a while.

The cappuccino cupcake looks fabulous, but the donuts look better!

Your tenderloin looks so delicious at the Wave.

I do the same thing as you and Tom. Try and see what other rides to get on even if i'm so tired! But darn it, if the park's open till 1am, i'm staying as long as possible!

 

[dizneeat]

Dinner looks delish! Yum!

Yay for extra magic hours. I know that feeling of "just one more ride" when you know you can barely stand up, let alone walk!

Looks like a fun night!

It was a great day and I was proud we made it through EMHs.

dinner does look good. Sounds like the evening was pretty crowded at MK, but at least you could do a few things.

It WAS crowded, but we kind of are used to it as we always have to travel during the height of the travel season, but for a crowded park we were able to fit in quite a few things.

Breakfast at the Captain's Grille sounds great! I've never eaten there before. Maybe next time we stay at BCV.

We have had quite a few dinners there and only had eaten "a la carte" for breakfast, but since we do enjoy the buffet at The Wave we wanted to give it a try and we were not disappointed.

SAB always seems really crowded when I've gone there, I like the quiet pool.

Once we tried to get there early it was fun, but if you arrive mid day it is really crowded there. But the sand bottom pool and lazy river are great.

The pastries at the new French QS look really good. There has always been a huge line when I have tried to go in there and look. The ice cream shop is wonderful! A perfect fit for that tiny space.

The pastries looked pretty nice, but we are so spoiled by the pastries they sell in the little patisserie near DLP.
The ice-cream shop fits in perfectly nice - I did have an ice-cream let down there though, a little later.

The Wave is another place I've never eaten at, but I see good reviews of it.

Boy you two really packed it in that day!

You really should give The Wave a try. It is a great restaurant and the menu is a bit different to the usual Disney fare.

Wow! What a great and long day. Dinner looks really delicious. I've never had dinner at The Wave but breakfast is yummy.

Jill in CO

It was quite the day. But it was fun and dinner was really good. You need to have dinner or lunch at The Wave, as their food is really nice.

 

[dizneeat]

The room is so bright and happy! And perfect balcony overlooking the pool.

I had never ever dreamed about staying at the Beach Club, but since there are the DVC units we thought we should give it a try and it was such a great stay. The villa was really nice and you cannot beat how close to Epcot the resort is.

Mushy peas? Yeah, i'd pass on that Did he like the Cottage Pie? I enjoy making it at home every once in a while.

I really LOVE mushy peas, IF they are done right. Those, I have to say, were not done right - they were just mushy.
My aunt in Britain makes awesome Cottage Pie and we sometimes make it at home too. Love it!

The cappuccino cupcake looks fabulous, but the donuts look better!

For someone who doesn't drink much coffee - I am an Earl Grey/Countess Grey Tea kind of girl - I sure like that coffee taste on cakes. That cupcake was really yummy, but then KK are heaven for us.

Your tenderloin looks so delicious at the Wave.

I do the same thing as you and Tom. Try and see what other rides to get on even if i'm so tired! But darn it, if the park's open till 1am, i'm staying as long as possible!

Sometimes we are so tired after fitting in another ride and then one more ride, that I don't know how I make it to the exit, let alone the car, but we all have to travel far, so we should try to get the max out of every visit.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 20, August 26

No park, but we had fun anyway! - Part 1

Again, we slept in a bit and fixed breakfast in our little kitchen. And after filling our bellies we knew where we wanted to go.
Stormalong Bay was on our minds.
So we walked all the way around to the entrance, received our wristbands after showing our room keys and since we were early today we found great loungers near the pool. We picked up some towels, put them on the loungers and our stuff under them and headed into the pool. It was bliss as it was nearly empty, so we enjoyed this sand bottom pool by drifting along the lazy river and then sitting underneath the little waterfalls.

























After about half an hour we went to try out the hot tub and spent another 10 minutes in one. Once we were done we walked back to our loungers and Tom read for a while, while I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the sun. I think we did not sit there for very long as the pool was calling our name again. It was now considerably more crowded, but still fun to swim and drift along the lazy river or just sit on one of the ledges and watching people having fun in the pool. I think we swam about two or three rounds with several stops before heading to the hot tub again. One of them was full of teenagers, so we went to the other one, where there were only two adults. We talked for a bit, before they decided to leave the hot tub and said their goodbyes. Tom and I enjoyed some more time in the hot water talking about how to organize the next part of our vacation.



And once we felt thoroughly “cooked through” we left the hot tub and went back to our seats to soak up a little more sun and dry off. Around 12.30 we packed up our things and left the pool area. Our first stop were the restrooms by the Yachtsman Steakhouse where we both changed into dry clothes and then we headed outside again and over to Beaches and Cream. We asked about a table for two and they told us that we would have to wait about half an hour if we wanted a table but if we decided to sit at the counter we could get right in. So the counter it was.
We were led to our bar stools, sat down and were handed a menu. And once we had decided on what to order we just watched the cast members making ice-cream treats and preparing lunches. Soon our order was taken and we were now watching our lunch being made. Tom had decided on the



Pot Roast Sandwich, open-faced on fresh baked Sourdough Bread, on top of Mashed Potatoes and Mushroom Gravy. I tried something new for me, the



Grilled Cheese and Tomato Bisque, a Six-Cheese blend on Brioche Bread, toasted to perfection. I really was in awe with it and it has become one of my new favourites. We both sat and enjoyed our delicious lunch and even ordered dessert after we had finished it.



Tom ordered a



Milk Shake while I had my heart set on the



Strawberry Shortcake - Vanilla Shortcake, Strawberry Compote, Vanilla Ice Cream, and fresh Whipped Cream. They were both really good, but I just could not finish mine, it was far too much. Once we had finished our lunch we headed back to our villa. When we crossed through the Beach Club Lobby we made a pit stop at the Beach Club Marketplace and picked up a



Coconut Bar. Back in the room we put on another load of washing and started packing. By that time the sky had gotten a bit grey and about half an hour later heaven opened up and it poured with rain.


To be continued ............ ​

 

[dizneeat]

Day 20, August 26

No park, but we had fun anyway! - Part 2

By that time the sky had gotten a bit grey and about half an hour later heaven opened up and it poured with rain.











So Tom took another dip in the Jacuzzi, while I chilled and watched a little TV while trying the Coconut Bar.



Around half past three the rain had stopped again and we got ourselves ready to head out again and do some shopping.



We went to Staples to get some school supplies and browsed through Walmart. It was fun to just go through regular shops and pick up a few items here and there. We even got some more groceries at Walmart and around 6 pm we arrived back in our villa. And once we had stowed away all our purchases we thought about which park to go to, but soon gave up on the idea, as we both did not feel like going to a park. Instead we went back to the car and drove the well known way to Krispy Kreme to pick up another load



and with it we wanted to have a nice leisurely evening in our villa. When we were back I did some more washing and packing, then we sat out on the balcony with a drink before we got comfortable in front of the TV. Around 8am we decided to have some dinner and so a frozen pizza went into the oven, we made some salad and the green beans went into the microwave and soon we were having a nice leisurely TV dinner.





And after cleaning up in the kitchen and even more TV we called it a day.


To be continued ............ ​

 

[dizneeat]

Day 21, August 27

One more day of WDW bliss before we hit the road again! - Part 1

Having had such a relaxed day the day before we were up by 7am and fixed some breakfast in our room, which we had out on the balcony. Around 9.45 we were on our way down to the Stormalong Bay which was supposed to open at 10am, but they were already letting people in.
We found two loungers close to where we had been the day before



and stowed our bag under them before heading right for the lazy river. It was wonderful drifting along with next to no one in there. There were far more life guards on duty than there were people in the pool. Makes you feel VERY safe.











We drifted for about half an hour, then headed over to where the little waterfalls are, closer to the resort. We played around there for a bit and then ended our water fun in the hot tub.



To say we had enjoyed our water fun so far would be an understatement. We sat in the sun for a while enjoying doing nothing before we headed back to the waterfalls and lazy river. But by now the pool again had gotten quite full with other guests but nonetheless we had good fun. It was fun finding spots to swim between the many people drifting on tubes in the lazy river and we spent way more time in there than we had imagined. As always we ended off our swimming fun in the hot tub.
We were to leave for Key Largo the next morning and we quite sad having to leave behind the wonderful leisurely time in the pool. But when we thought and talked about it we realized that we could just leave a little later than we had planned on and have one more morning in the pool. And with that in mind we left the hot tub, dried off and headed back to our villa.
There we had a shower and about an hour later we left our villa again, this time for Epcot.





It was half past one and we getting a bit hungry, so we thought about where to go and came up with the idea of trying some place we had not been before, Tutto Gusto. So we headed around the World Showcase to our destination of Italy. When we arrived, we were quickly led to a table and handed a small menu.



Tom decided to try a white wine sampler





while I just opted for a glass of



Pinot Grigio. We decided to order a sampler for two,



which had Fior di Latte Mozzarella, hand-crafted, made from cow's milk,



Finocchiona, fennel and pepper flavored salami and



Caponata, Sicilian eggplant agrodolce salad, some Grissini and some slices of lightly



toasted white bread. It was definitely enough for the two of us to share as everything was pretty filling. And it was nice to sit in an air conditioned restaurant, as it was pretty hot outside.
Once we had emptied our glasses and our plate, Tom ordered an



espresso, while I tried one of their desserts, the



Mocha Tiramisu, marscapone cream, espresso, Savoiardi biscuits and chocolate. Soon we were heading out again into the sun, just to discover that a Friendship boat was about to dock.


To be continued ............ ​

 

[michelle9343]

Karin I am laughing to myself right now because I had just been reading your cruise report about Italy and now you are eating lunch in EPCOT Italy LOL. I just thought it was very funny....

 

[Leshaface]

I'd love to visit Stormalong Bay one day. I hear great things about it!

Your grilled cheese sandwich sounds sooo delicious. Especially on a cold day that we're experiencing today.

You guys made it back to your room just in time before the downpour

Sometimes, dinner in your villa sounds better than going to a park.

I just love the Wine Bar in Italy. We made a stop there too for lunch!

 

[jenseib]

You really are making the most of your time and getting some nice relaxation in too.
I need to really schedule more down time. I did a little last March...our final day was supposed to be just swimming...but Skip changed plans....he's not good with down time...or at least down time I schedule.

 

[Flossbolna]

I am not a huge fan of the look of the BCV and they seem to have an odd location. But I know that I need to stay there at one point in order to be able to use Stormalong Bay. Since I own at the Boardwalk which has about the same location, I am of course always tempted to make use of my 11 months booking window there to get one of the standard view villas which are so fewer points that I could never justify booking BCV for the location. But that pool... I think it is really calling my name!

 

[dizneeat]

Karin I am laughing to myself right now because I had just been reading your cruise report about Italy and now you are eating lunch in EPCOT Italy LOL. I just thought it was very funny....

I really need to finish this one up. Especially in the light that we have another trip very soon.

I'd love to visit Stormalong Bay one day. I hear great things about it!

Stormalong Bay is just the greatest "just" pool area at Disney. The sand bottom is awesome and we really love the quiet pool as you can see from my updates.

Your grilled cheese sandwich sounds sooo delicious. Especially on a cold day that we're experiencing today.

A grilled cheese sandwich like that is not really common around where we live, but it has found its way onto our table quite a few times since. Such good comfort food.

You guys made it back to your room just in time before the downpour

Sometimes, dinner in your villa sounds better than going to a park.

Not living in the US some of your staple foods make an awesome dinner for us - so we really enjoy having a meal or two in our villa.

I just love the Wine Bar in Italy. We made a stop there too for lunch!

And isn't Tutto Gusto great. We just love having a lot of those things on our weekend trips to Italy, so we really enjoyed it there as well.

You really are making the most of your time and getting some nice relaxation in too.
I need to really schedule more down time. I did a little last March...our final day was supposed to be just swimming...but Skip changed plans....he's not good with down time...or at least down time I schedule.

It's the blessing of having a long vacation. You can take your time and enjoy some relax time as well. Thankfully Tom likes to go along with my suggestions, so it is easy to dump park plans in favour of some pool time or balcony time.

I am not a huge fan of the look of the BCV and they seem to have an odd location. But I know that I need to stay there at one point in order to be able to use Stormalong Bay. Since I own at the Boardwalk which has about the same location, I am of course always tempted to make use of my 11 months booking window there to get one of the standard view villas which are so fewer points that I could never justify booking BCV for the location. But that pool... I think it is really calling my name!

We loved staying at the Yacht Club in our pre DVC days and I would have never thought of staying at the BC. But we were pleasantly surprised. The location of our villa was just great, we loved all the space and you cannot beat the short walk to Epcot. It does have quite some "point value" though.
It is still worth it for us in April. With the very limited time we will have for the parks, being so close to Epcot and the F&G festival should be awesome.

Oh, and YES, that pool has a lot of power when it comes to decision making about where to stay.

 

[dizneeat]

​

Day 21, August 27​

​

One more day of WDW bliss before we hit the road again! - Part 2​

​

Soon we were heading out again into the sun, just to discover that a Friendship boat was about to dock.


We got in line hoping that we would be able to get on board and we did.

There was only standing room inside, but it was nicer not to have to walk and battle the crowds.

We got off close to Mexico and decided to tackle the World Showcase from there. So we headed towards Norway and got ourselves onto Maelstrom.
As always we skipped the little movie and just headed for the stores. And when we left we were hit by the heat again and instead of heading towards China we went back to Mexico to visit there.

After checking out the merchandise, we headed for the little boatride, which then got stuck right in the middle of the ride.
Once we were able to get off we peeked into the Cava de Tequila if we could find a table there and low and behold there was a table for two.

We quickly sat down and ordered some more snacks. Tom went for a

Margarita while I just ordered a

Diet Coke. But there were still snacks to order. We got an order of freshly made

Tortilla chips, which came with two different kinds of

salsa, a side of

Guacamole and some out of this world good

Cheese dip. I think I had a refill of my Diet Coke while Tom sipped his drink and we tucked into these yummy snacks.
We sat there for quite some time, before we braved the Florida summer again.

There were just a few more things we wanted to do, so we headed to the tipboard. Soarin’ had a really long line, but Mission Space had only a 15 minute wait. So this was where we headed.

We picked up our orange mission tickets and headed inside. 15 minute wait – no way. This was a walk on. We did not even have to stop before we were divided into teams. And when we got off the ride, we turned right around and got in line again.

This time we had a bit of a wait,

but it was just a short one. Soon we were on our mission again and enjoyed the second flight to Mars. Once we got off we decided to try to ride Spaceship Earth, but it was down, so we headed for Mouse Gear

and then made our way back to the International Gateway. Tom got another

Moosehead in Canada and when we got to the bridge to France we headed down to pick up a Quiche and some baguette and then we even stopped at the new ice-cream parlour. I could not resist and ordered some

Caramel Fleur de sel as it sounded really nice. Unfortunately it was not. There was way too much salt in it and it tasted really horrible and was binned after a few bites. We were done with the park for the day and headed over to the International Gateway and back to our villa. It felt really good to be back in the air conditioned room, grab a drink out of the fridge and sit out on the balcony again. After a while I started to do some packing as we were to leave for our next destination the next day. Around 7pm we changed into some nicer clothes and headed down for our dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse.​

​

To be continued ............​

 

[jenseib]

Mmm the chips and salsa and dips looks yummy. Good idea for a nice snack. Too bad the ice cream didn't pan out for you.

 

[franandaj]

Shame the ice cream was not to your liking. I'm really looking forward to another trip to La Cava and that cheese dip.

Mission space is a favorite of mine and will be nice to get our friend who has never been to WDW to ride it.

The days at Stormalong Bay sound wonderfully relaxing. I have never been to Beaches and Cream and we won't make it there thus next trip. Maybe in 2016 I can finally try it.

I can't believe how long this trip has been. What a luxury!

 

[dizneeat]

Mmm the chips and salsa and dips looks yummy. Good idea for a nice snack. Too bad the ice cream didn't pan out for you.

OMG the chips and the cheese dip and guacamole were heavenly. We were full after our visit to Tutto Gusto, but we just could not stop eating. The ice cream on the other hand was just gross. Like caramel with a spoonful of salt - not really what I had expected it to be.

Shame the ice cream was not to your liking. I'm really looking forward to another trip to La Cava and that cheese dip.

Mission space is a favorite of mine and will be nice to get our friend who has never been to WDW to ride it.

The days at Stormalong Bay sound wonderfully relaxing. I have never been to Beaches and Cream and we won't make it there thus next trip. Maybe in 2016 I can finally try it.

I can't believe how long this trip has been. What a luxury!

The ice cream was really bad, but we had had such a wonderful treat at La Cava. And like you I really hope we will have another helping of that cheese dip when we return to WDW next month.

You have never been to Beaches and Cream. Well, you have to go visit then. We always visit when we have friends staying at WDW for a Kitchen Sink - most wonderful (and huge) ice cream treat ever. But let me tell you, even with 6 grown ups we were not able to finish it.

 

[Leshaface]

Mmm, I just love the guacamole at the Ditch. Haven't had the cheese dip though! Bet it's good.

For the second time ever in life, we rode Mission Space this past trip! With no wait of course.

Ick, sorry about your ice cream. That doesn't sound good at all!

 

[dizneeat]

Mmm, I just love the guacamole at the Ditch. Haven't had the cheese dip though! Bet it's good.

For the second time ever in life, we rode Mission Space this past trip! With no wait of course.

Ick, sorry about your ice cream. That doesn't sound good at all!

You really have to try that cheese dip - it was heavenly - and the jalapenos (spelling?) really came through.

We LOVE Mission Space, one of Tom's all time favourite rides!

Well, I promise to stay away from Sea Salt and Caramel ice-cream next time - I guess I will just stick with chocolate, or mint chocolate chip.