2011 Yacht & Beach Club FAQ, Part III- DO NOT POST HERE- Summer/Fall

[vicki_c]

We use Tables in Wonderland w/APs. We find that fits us better. We have never done a dining plan, paid or free. I once did calculate whether TiW or DDP would be a better choice for us for a particular trip and it was close to a wash, so we just stuck with TiW.

 

[rusty4]

So I have to make our ADRs on Monday and we have decided to not go with the dining plan. We had it when we were there last year, but found we ended up throwing most of the food away that our girls got (CS meals), and on the last day we spent about an hour buying stuff just to use our snack credits.

Do many people not do the dining plan or do you find for your family it works well to have it? I think I may end up booking CRT for the Saturday we arrive for Paige's 6th birthday. I just think eating in the castle on her birthday would be awesome. We will be planning 5 other TS meals ('Ohana dinner on my birthday, Crystal Palace early entry to the park, 50's Prime Time dinner, Cape May Cafe breakfast, and Tusker House late breakfast).
Ugh it's such a struggle to know what to do. I would love to book a lot of sit down dinners, but I planned to order from Garden Grocer and have lots of breakfast stuff and snacks/drinks at the room. We would eat breakfast most mornings in the room before we left. Our late breakfasts would be used more like lunches, so we would likely only have a snack mid afternoon, then dinner at a CS.

Do you find that there is enough variety from the CS that you don't miss not having TS everyday (lol or hypothetically would you if you have never done it that way). I just think there are so many great CS places to eat....I want to try Main Street Bakery and Columbia Harbour House in MK, Flame Tree BBQ at AK, Starring Rolls for lunch at DHS (ok truth be told I just want to gorge on cupcakes ), and there are so many magnificent places to try Epcot.

On the flip side, I would love to book Le Cellier, Flying Fish, Citricos, Blue Zoo, the HDDR, Kona Cafe breakfast, etc etc...but that's really not how we eat at home...lol I would just love it if it were.

I guess I would just love to see what most people do. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot and not have enough TS, but I just don't know if the meal plan is worth it. Should I book a TS every day and as we get closer to our reservation (meaning before we leave as to avoid the cancellation fee) cancel if we decide that we would rather just play it by ear and eat when we are hungry rather than have it be so scheduled? lol as you all can tell I am really struggling with this!

We are not eligible for the DP so have never had it. Our last 2 trips we had alot of reservations. Usually one TS per day. We ended up cancelling most of this because we like the CS better. Costs less money and we like the freedom more. This year I have booked about one per day but they are one's that we have always wanted to try like Sci Fi and Liberty Tree Tavern.

You sound like you eat like us. I know that we have remarked the last 2 trips that we know we would of wasted money on the DDP because we do not eat that much food. We even share CS meals if we are not that hungry.
Starring Rolls is on our list to try this trip as well. Columbia House is always a hit for us. I would suggest sharing there if you get the tuna sandwich for sure. It is HUGE! We regretted not sharing last year. Way too much food and we ended up tossing alot of it.

Our Son will turn 8 while there. We are taking him to the Garden Grill for his Bday and then later in the week the Cape May dinner because he loves seafood. Luckily I booked all of our character meals before the credit card requirement. We have Cape May booked for breakfast one morning too. I think he will really enjoy that. Between that and the GG he will get to see all of his favorite characters. We are avoiding Tursker House this trip because it was so loud and crazy when we were there last. Going to give GG a try instead. Actually the only place we have reserved this trip that we have been to before is Kona Cafe. We loved our meal there before.

As far as cancelling goes I did that last year a couple of days before while there. Once there we decided we did not want all of those sitdown meals. I really wanted to take DS to 1900 PF. We were staying at the GF and it was convenient. But he did not want to go. We also cancelled a breakfast reservation because we did not want to get up so early. We cancelled them all at once giving others plenty of time to schedule if they could use those times. If you are staying a week or so you should have the time to cancel while there too if needed without the charge.

HTH's some. I think I was long winded.

 

[natebenma]

DISNEYNUTS - Christmas at BC/BCV is wonderful! I hope Dee doesn't mind if I share some photos from 2008 for you (okay, a bunch - they came from the Christmas Eve part of my trip report from that year):

Thanks for posting your holiday pictures! I absolutely don't mind, but you are taking a risk that I may borrow some of these and repost on the front page (I will ask your permission before I do that)

> SNIP <

So lets hear it for BC/YC Resort Shampoo! I'm nominating it for amenity of the week!

~Marlton Mom

PS. Don't worry about the CM's noticing when you drag a Hefty bag, filled to overflowing, out of an all you can eat buffet. Most of the CM's are from Germany so if they give you the hairy eyeball upon your exit just yell "Look!! It's David Hasselhoff, over THERE!!!" and they will go running towards the direction that you point to. For me it works every time!

~MM

OK, this is some seriously funny stuff!!! Requesting a smilie spitting liquid on the computer screen, as mentioned above.

And don't Hassle the Hoff!!!!

When I worked in a record store 100 years ago, we had a section for David Hasslehoff records, only they were under "A". The manager renamed him David [bad word that starts with A]hoff.

He SINGS too???? Is there any talent that man doesn't have?

By the way already cooked and ate my Thanksgiving meal last Thursday. My mother wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving while she was here, so the day she drove to KY from SC I cooked! Ate leftovers all weekend. I am thinking on the real Thanksgiving the three of us will be at Golden Corral!

Love that you are now in full-tilt planning mode.

We had our first Thanksgiving too, at the end of September. We cook a traditional dinner before my husband's grandparents head to Florida for the winter. We usually call it Hallowgiving when it is in October, but this year it was Harvestgiving.

Thanks for asking.
Some days are good, some not so good. I haven't posted a lot lately - between my Mom and school starting things have been hectic!

 

[RadioFanatic]

A group of 15 of us are staying at the Beach Club in three studios and a one bedroom from 1/5-1/10/12 the adults are running the 1/2 and full marathon! Would love to get those pins but couldn't figure out who to ask?

 

[MickeyT]

A group of 15 of us are staying at the Beach Club in three studios and a one bedroom from 1/5-1/10/12 the adults are running the 1/2 and full marathon! Would love to get those pins but couldn't figure out who to ask?

Welcome RadioFanatic. Do you mean the marathon pins of room discount pins? The marathon pins are available on the registration form when you sign up for the event. Room pins....who knows where those suckers come from.

 

[vicki_c]

Thanks for posting your holiday pictures! I absolutely don't mind, but you are taking a risk that I may borrow some of these and repost on the front page (I will ask your permission before I do that)

No problem - I wish they were better. It's weird, but they don't seem as good to me now as they did back then - I swear I thought they were just better photos, now they all seem so dark / red / whatever. Trust me though - the lobby is beautiful!

 

[natebenma]

A group of 15 of us are staying at the Beach Club in three studios and a one bedroom from 1/5-1/10/12 the adults are running the 1/2 and full marathon! Would love to get those pins but couldn't figure out who to ask?

Welcome RadioFanatic. Do you mean the marathon pins of room discount pins? The marathon pins are available on the registration form when you sign up for the event. Room pins....who knows where those suckers come from.

Are you talking about the BC/YC pins shown on Page 1?

If so, Nannette is the one you want to contact about those, but I would suggest that you wait until the end of November because she is currently in moving h#ll and then will be headed out for a most amazing Disney trip.

You can PM her (she has a post on Page 2 of the thread).

Mike and I will add you to the guest list.

 

[rusty4]

Marlton Mom,

Thank you for the link. Man I cry every time at the MK Park opening!! Nate heard the music and came running in just in time to see it. Made me pause it because he has school this morning and we both wanted to keep watching but he needs to get dressed. He wants me to wait to finish it when he comes home today.

Thanks again!

 

[TeenaS]

PS- My FAVORITE meal is breakfast at Kona. Three words- Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes

Have you tried the pancake at Cat Cora's restaurant? Orange flavored with granola and blueberries in it!!!! OMG!

 

[TeenaS]

We are not eligible for the DP so have never had it.

Why aren't you eligible?

 

[TeenaS]

You're right, I love my dis friends!!! Stalk all you want!

 

[vicki_c]

Have you tried the pancake at Cat Cora's restaurant? Orange flavored with granola and blueberries in it!!!! OMG!

I heard they took these off the menu. I will be there a week from Sunday, so I will check it out though to see if that's true.

 

[RadioFanatic]

Are you talking about the BC/YC pins shown on Page 1?

If so, Nannette is the one you want to contact about those, but I would suggest that you wait until the end of November because she is currently in moving h#ll and then will be headed out for a most amazing Disney trip.

You can PM her (she has a post on Page 2 of the thread).

Mike and I will add you to the guest list.

yes, the bc/yc room pins - thanks!

 

[JLVermillion]

Hello to everyone It has been a rough few months here and I have a lot of reading to do to catch up ( at BCV on the 4th) and will still be reading when I sit my bum on that plane in the early am. I was wondering about the BC Holiday decorations, we usually go Halloween week and have never seen the carousel or all the decor up. When do they have it up ? We will be there the 4th - 12th.

 

[Mississippianna]

I only work Sundays and Mondays (except this week I'm working Friday & Saturday too).

Oh my goodness! So you will be working this weekend? October 28-31? Then I WILL get to meet you! I thought I saw you say a few pages back that this past weekend was your last before your vacation. Oh, I'm so excited!

As for the Dining Plan, I love having meals paid for before we go! At TS restaurants, you don't have to accept dessert every time. In fact, we plan to decline a few this trip. It decreases the overall cost of the meal, and your gratuity. We do have free dining for this trip, though. DH and I went just the two of us for our first experience at food & wine (and with the dining plan) back in 2006 and used ALL our snack credits at the booths! We plan to do that again next week! I think if you're going during F&W, your best bet is the dining plan, because sampling those booths can get expensive. We're also a 3 meals a day family, especially my 4 year old. I have to keep her fed to keep her from getting cranky. Even if it's a snack credit for cereal in the morning, we always start with some breakfast, then take a much needed sit-down for lunch and dinner. Only one meal a day for us will be TS, though. Lunch is usually CS. DH loves "Disney burgers."

I totally agree that the best way to make it work for you or decide IF it would work is to make a list of places you want to go, look at the menus, and then decide based on how much you might spend.

For Deluxe Dining, I tried this when I went for a "mommas only" trip with my best friend this past December. We ate at a signature every evening for dinner. THIS, I think, is how you get the most out of Deluxe: Signature dining!

 

[cindydare]

MickeyT

Speaking of the unofficial drink, The Sunken Treasure- apparently it is no longer on the menu at HH. Some of the bartenders still know how to make it, and one was thrilled when Pixarmom recently asked for one. For research and photographic purposes, of course.

I had several during our September trip and one of the bartenders commented to my DH that it was an oldie, but goodie! Definitely a goodie!!

I had a wonderful opportunity come my way last week....one of my coworkers and her DH are going to be at OKW from Dec. 4-11. Their friends who were supposed to be joining them have had to cancel, and they're DVC members and have a 2 BR villa reserved, so she asked me if I would be interested.....uh, YES! So I will be joining them from Dec. 4-7, thanks to AirTran's sale last week, and my wonderful DH who was feeling guilty about his upcoming Vegas trip with his friends in Feb. Now I'm just trying to talk another coworker into joining the fun, and trying to not feel guilty about leaving the kids at home. Guess that just means they'll have extra stocking stuffers and presents this year.

I'm sad that I won't be staying at BC, but my friend has an ADR at the Captain's Grille on our arrival day, so I'm hoping I can pop in to say Hi to Teena that afternoon or Monday, if she's not already headed to see Princess Lily! I love the Halloween pic! DD8 and DS3 were both dalmatians for Halloween when they were around 3, and DS3 still loves to dress up in the costume!

Cindy

 

[natebenma]

Have you tried the pancake at Cat Cora's restaurant? Orange flavored with granola and blueberries in it!!!! OMG!

Um, NO! Sounds fantastic!

I so want to try Kouzzina. Greek food is my favorite cuisine. I dated a Greek boy (right before I started dating my DH in high school) and I hated breaking up with his family!!!

I heard they took these off the menu. I will be there a week from Sunday, so I will check it out though to see if that's true.

Oh, I hope it is still there! Please let us know.

 

[SydandPaige'sMom]

My family had done the Deluxe Dining Plan once (WAYYYYYY too much food) and the regular plan twice. We like the ability to order what we want, knowing that we have "prepaid" for the meal. We don't have annual passes, but if we did, I would do Tables in Wonderland instead.

The dining plan is not for everyone- if you are not all dessert eaters, or if you want to order some appetizers and potentially split meals (the portion sizes at Disney are HUGE), then it is probably not cost effective. If your kids are "Disney Adults" at the ripe old age of 10 and they are picky and will order kids meals anyway, the DP may not be for you.

I don't think you need to make a final decision about the DP until right before your trip (is it a week or so, or a few days).

Make the dining reservations you want. (You can cancel later). Closer to your trip, pull up the menus on the DIS or Allears and do a rough estimate of what you might spend. That can help you determine whether the DP is worth it or not.

Dining is hands down my favorite thing to do at Disney!!! There are a bunch of awesome counter service options. Heck, I could eat at Sunshine Seasons at EPCOT every day and have something different, except that there are too many other amazing World Showcase places.

Good luck, and let us know if you have other questions

Dee

PS- My FAVORITE meal is breakfast at Kona. Three words- Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes

lol Thanks Dee! I have been struggling with Kona for breakfast. lol there are so many great breakfast places to eat! That is on the must do list for next time! lol Disney vacations are supposed to be fun not this stressful! lol who knows what and where you will want to eat 6 months in advance

Hey SydandPaige'sMom. We have done it many ways. Free dining plan. Bought the dining plan. No dining plan. Now we do not do the dining plan for just the reasons you stated. If we want Beaches and Cream as our sit down meal for day we have Beaches and Cream. We love Columbia Harbor House and Flame Tree BBQ. Make your ADR's as you normally would (early) and you can cancel as needed.

Another thing I have noticed. May be perceived or not on my part. When you tell the servers that you are not on the dining plan they almost sigh a 'thank you'.

Another tip. If you like the prepaid part of the dining plan just add up the $$$$$ cost of the dining plan and add it to a prepaid debit or gift card and take it with you. Then if you don't use it you will have it to buy what you want at the end, not what snacks Disney says you can.

Hope this helps.

Thanks so much Mike. I was trying to go through the places we wanted to eat at and I just figured that we would save money by not having the Dining Plan. You guys have definitely solidified it for me. The girls are not big eaters, so a meal for each of them is a huge waste.

We are not eligible for the DP so have never had it. Our last 2 trips we had alot of reservations. Usually one TS per day. We ended up cancelling most of this because we like the CS better. Costs less money and we like the freedom more. This year I have booked about one per day but they are one's that we have always wanted to try like Sci Fi and Liberty Tree Tavern.

You sound like you eat like us. I know that we have remarked the last 2 trips that we know we would of wasted money on the DDP because we do not eat that much food. We even share CS meals if we are not that hungry.
Starring Rolls is on our list to try this trip as well. Columbia House is always a hit for us. I would suggest sharing there if you get the tuna sandwich for sure. It is HUGE! We regretted not sharing last year. Way too much food and we ended up tossing alot of it.

Our Son will turn 8 while there. We are taking him to the Garden Grill for his Bday and then later in the week the Cape May dinner because he loves seafood. Luckily I booked all of our character meals before the credit card requirement. We have Cape May booked for breakfast one morning too. I think he will really enjoy that. Between that and the GG he will get to see all of his favorite characters. We are avoiding Tursker House this trip because it was so loud and crazy when we were there last. Going to give GG a try instead. Actually the only place we have reserved this trip that we have been to before is Kona Cafe. We loved our meal there before.

As far as cancelling goes I did that last year a couple of days before while there. Once there we decided we did not want all of those sitdown meals. I really wanted to take DS to 1900 PF. We were staying at the GF and it was convenient. But he did not want to go. We also cancelled a breakfast reservation because we did not want to get up so early. We cancelled them all at once giving others plenty of time to schedule if they could use those times. If you are staying a week or so you should have the time to cancel while there too if needed without the charge.

HTH's some. I think I was long winded.

lol that was awesome thank you! You just said a lot of what I feel. I want to be able to say, "oh hey I'm hungry now, let's go grab something to eat", rather then telling everyone, "Hey. You're hungry now." I think I will book some of the places I would love to eat at if I had the chance, and cancel. Our of the 6 I have planned, we have done CP for breakfast, and 50's Prime Time. I don't mind doing them again because 1. CP was good and it was great to get into the park early, and 2. 50's prime time was fun, and I never got a shake there! What was I thinking?!?! So for us, 'Ohana dinner is new (did breakfast), Cape May is new (although I'd love to make both breakfast and dinner reservations there), CRT is new, and Tusker House is new. I know it's loud, but meh I need to try this juice everyone raves about


Thank you all so much! Ok now I promise no more food questions...just lots of chatter

 

[TeenaS]

I heard they took these off the menu. I will be there a week from Sunday, so I will check it out though to see if that's true.

Oh no. Please check and let me know! They were unbelievable!

 

[TeenaS]

Oh my goodness! So you will be working this weekend? October 28-31? Then I WILL get to meet you! I thought I saw you say a few pages back that this past weekend was your last before your vacation. Oh, I'm so excited!

As for the Dining Plan, I love having meals paid for before we go! At TS restaurants, you don't have to accept dessert every time. In fact, we plan to decline a few this trip. It decreases the overall cost of the meal, and your gratuity. We do have free dining for this trip, though. DH and I went just the two of us for our first experience at food & wine (and with the dining plan) back in 2006 and used ALL our snack credits at the booths! We plan to do that again next week! I think if you're going during F&W, your best bet is the dining plan, because sampling those booths can get expensive. We're also a 3 meals a day family, especially my 4 year old. I have to keep her fed to keep her from getting cranky. Even if it's a snack credit for cereal in the morning, we always start with some breakfast, then take a much needed sit-down for lunch and dinner. Only one meal a day for us will be TS, though. Lunch is usually CS. DH loves "Disney burgers."

I totally agree that the best way to make it work for you or decide IF it would work is to make a list of places you want to go, look at the menus, and then decide based on how much you might spend.

For Deluxe Dining, I tried this when I went for a "mommas only" trip with my best friend this past December. We ate at a signature every evening for dinner. THIS, I think, is how you get the most out of Deluxe: Signature dining!

Yep, I'll be there tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Then we leave next Saturday for the cruise and I won't be back to work until November 20th.