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

[heatherbabydoll1]

Check out mousesavers.com and their ticket info. There is a part in there about a fundraiser for Florida Children's Hospitals that mentions as of March 2011, you could purchase a one-day ticket at the hospitals' gift shop for $74, and that the closest hospitals to WDW are in Celebration and Kissimmee. Since you're going to have a car, it would be worth calling to see if that promotion is still in effect. If it is, then that would be $224 before any tax. Also, check with any of your friends that work for local hospitals in your area, sometimes hospital employees can get discounted tickets. We do for our local amusement parks (Kennywood and Idlewild), but not for WDW---but I think I could get them when I worked at hospitals in NC and SC.

Cindy

Great idea. My dad lives in cenral Florida and works for Florida Hospital so I will check it out. Thank you!

 

[rusty4]

I've been comparing Touring, wdweasy crowd calendars and disney's May 2012 park hours (thank you Mickey T for this one!!!) and now I'm totally confused. So I'm asking all you disney wise ones for help. Do you or don't you do early and/or late magic hours? I read and was planning on avoiding the parks with early morning extra hours, but was planning on doing MK and Epcot extra night hours. Now according to Touring it doesn't make a difference, example MK night hours are a 4.9 crowd level for that day and recommended as a good park, where as wdweasy it is a park to avoid. Now I'm not a nite owl, but since the parks close around 9, I thought it would be fun to "stay out late" a couple of nights and enjoy MK and Epcot late nights.

Any help from you guys is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!!

Last year was our first year with PH's. Will you have the PH tickets? If so, I would do as Marlton Mom suggested and do the morning hours and then switch to a different park. I think people have already decided they are going to a certain park that has EMH planning to make the opening. Then when they don't get up in time they still go anyway because that was their plan. Most people don't have PH's so that is why the park stays crowded.

Like Natebenma, we usually don't do the evening EMH's. We are usually tired out by then after making the Park openings even though we go in the winter with earlier closings. We usually only have about 4 or 5 days too. This year we have 7 full park days so we are going to give it a whirl one night at Epcot. Then sleep in the next morning. This is based on the fact that we plan to have hit all of our main attractions beforehand and will be able to have the next morning to be lazy.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

I've been comparing Touring, wdweasy crowd calendars and disney's May 2012 park hours (thank you Mickey T for this one!!!) and now I'm totally confused. So I'm asking all you disney wise ones for help. Do you or don't you do early and/or late magic hours? I read and was planning on avoiding the parks with early morning extra hours, but was planning on doing MK and Epcot extra night hours. Now according to Touring it doesn't make a difference, example MK night hours are a 4.9 crowd level for that day and recommended as a good park, where as wdweasy it is a park to avoid. Now I'm not a nite owl, but since the parks close around 9, I thought it would be fun to "stay out late" a couple of nights and enjoy MK and Epcot late nights.

Any help from you guys is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!!

We rarely go to AM EMH's since it seems like that park gets busier faster. About the only PM EMH we go to is MK, but we commit to staying till the end (yes, in some cases that is 2 or 3 am). But we are fortunate that most of our trips are in the 7-10 day range, so we can sleep in the AM after a late night and not worry about "missing" park time. We did try EPCOT's PM EMH a few years ago and it was a madhouse at Soarin and TT, so we left pretty quickly.

In the past we have followed TGM and TP recommendations. But TP is all over the place lately. (and don't even get me started on TGM). We are following easywdw.com next week since some of his recommendations differ from TP so I will let you know what we thought!

Generally, our strategy is to get to a park in time for rope drop on one of it's "green" days. We accomplish so much in those first 2-3 hours. We also hoard our FP's for later in the day when the lines are at their worst. And when it is hot, we are BIG believers in a 2-4 hours escape from the park to swim and relax at the resort.

HTH!

 

[SydandPaige'sMom]

Well, sorry (a little ) to say, we will need to be taken off the list for Dec. Our DS just called and said as an intern he got a great, new rate, and that the Poly was on the list. So, we are bailing from the YC to the Poly. We were looking forward to staying at the YC, but the Poly has been our favorite since we first stayed there. We just love the theming at the Poly, have ever since our honeymoon to Hawaii a long time ago. Have a great day !!

Have a great time at the Poly! It is on my bucket list of resorts

I've finished my pictures from my Balloon trip last weekend.

I'm going to post a link, and just so it's Disney related I will remind you that buses do in fact run from the Beach Club, Yacht Club and Beach Club Villas (there, did I get everything?) to Downtown Disney where they have a tethered balloon ride for your enjoyment.

You see, Marlton Mom can get around anything (even her stubborn husband! )

So here is the link. Feel free to post comments or questions if you would like and I'll be happy to answer them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marlton-mom/sets/72157627869254093/

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread.



~MM

oh my goodness. I just love the fall and those colours just took my breath away. What an amazing time you must have had. Great picture taking!

 

[rlahansler]

Generally speaking I find that doing extra hours in the Morning pays off because most people can't get their act together enough to be at Rope Drop on an extra magic hour (EMH) morning.

You must absolutely be there at park opening and then hit the rides that will have the biggest lines later on in the day at the park that you are doing EMH at.


What happens is that people arrive later and later in the day thinking that EMH means something more than just early park entrance and consequently that park gets crowded. What we do is hit EMH -MORNING parks until about noon and then scoot on over to the least crowded park after that.

This is the strategy that generally pays off, with you doing the longest wait attractions in the morning when there is very little wait due to the fact that the bulk of the thundering herds haven't arrived yet.


As for Evening EMH I try to avoid it but not really because my ADR's can get in the way. So I don't sweat it and if I have to go to an EMH Evening park in the PM. I go with the flow.

I hope that answers your questions. Keep posting if you need more help.



~ Marlton Mom, who has been putting ketchup on my Collie's kibble.... is that wrong?

Marlton MOM, completely agree with you. Last trip was March 2011 (Spring break). I was so scared on how crazy busy it would be with the crowds as our previous trip was end of Sept 2009 and noone was there.
We stayed 8 days and hit rope drop almost every day. The first 2 hours its amazing how quiet it is. I especially love walking down main street with hardly anyone on it and seeing the Castle. My Disney motto for our trips is get there early, eat lunch either at the park or go back to our hotel at eat lunch. Enjoy the afternoon at your hotel pool (Stormalong Bay our fav), freshen up and then go to my dinner ADR in whatever park it is is. IN the evening we knew that the major attractions would be crazy busy so that was for shopping and less busy things.
Been awhile since I have been on here. Crazy busy at work and kids activities. Cannot wait for our next trip, probably 2013 .

 

[beachmom14]

Generally speaking I find that doing extra hours in the Morning pays off because most people can't get their act together enough to be at Rope Drop on an extra magic hour (EMH) morning.

attractions in the morning when there is very little wait due to the fact that the bulk of the thundering herds haven't arrived yet.

Thank you Marlton Mom (I just love your way with words), natebenma, Cinderumbrella and rusty4 for your advice.

We will be there for 9 days (but on the 1st day, not arriving till around 6pm) and yes, rusty we are getting 8 day hp. I have my ADR's to make in 21 days so now I will be totally changing the game plan. I already told dh that there is no sleeping on this trip, so it makes sense if we are getting up bright and early why not go for the AM EMH. The plan is to hit a park in the morning maybe do an early lunch then go back to BC hit SAB (dh is allow to take a nap then lol) and then go hit a park again. I want to keep the plans for doing PM EMH at MK since our next day we will hit Typhoon Lagoon and DTD, so we can sleep in a little there.

So the game plan is to be at a park at least 1/2 hr before opening, so I'm assuming the buses also pick up early if a certain park has early EMH?

Thanks again everyone, it's all coming together, now it's time to plan my attack.

P.S. Marlton Mom as a fellow Jersey girl, are you prepared for the snow???
I want my sun in the fun back.

 

[Marlton Mom]

Thank you Marlton Mom (I just love your way with words), natebenma, Cinderumbrella and rusty4 for your advice.

We will be there for 9 days (but on the 1st day, not arriving till around 6pm) and yes, rusty we are getting 8 day hp. I have my ADR's to make in 21 days so now I will be totally changing the game plan. I already told dh that there is no sleeping on this trip, so it makes sense if we are getting up bright and early why not go for the AM EMH. The plan is to hit a park in the morning maybe do an early lunch then go back to BC hit SAB (dh is allow to take a nap then lol) and then go hit a park again. I want to keep the plans for doing PM EMH at MK since our next day we will hit Typhoon Lagoon and DTD, so we can sleep in a little there.

So the game plan is to be at a park at least 1/2 hr before opening, so I'm assuming the buses also pick up early if a certain park has early EMH?

Thanks again everyone, it's all coming together, now it's time to plan my attack.

P.S. Marlton Mom as a fellow Jersey girl, are you prepared for the snow???
I want my sun in the fun back.

A note to my peeps. Thanks for all the lovin for my pictures.
~~~~~
....and no I'm not ready for the snow, sigh.....

We've had such a sucky spring, summer was barely there and this fall is a real mess with half the trees empty and the other half still green. I have a feeling it's going to be a very interesting winter!
~~~~
Hey Nannette! How's it going? Have you gotten to the point where you just wanna call for the dumpster and have them haul it ALL away? Just take 1 day at a time. Each day you are closer to those chocolate croissants at the BC/YC Market place. Closer, Closer, CLOSER!!!!

~MM

 

[Sue M]

Generally speaking I find that doing extra hours in the Morning pays off because most people can't get their act together enough to be at Rope Drop on an extra magic hour (EMH) morning.

You must absolutely be there at park opening and then hit the rides that will have the biggest lines later on in the day at the park that you are doing EMH at.


What happens is that people arrive later and later in the day thinking that EMH means something more than just early park entrance and consequently that park gets crowded. What we do is hit EMH -MORNING parks until about noon and then scoot on over to the least crowded park after that.

This is the strategy that generally pays off, with you doing the longest wait attractions in the morning when there is very little wait due to the fact that the bulk of the thundering herds haven't arrived yet.


As for Evening EMH I try to avoid it but not really because my ADR's can get in the way. So I don't sweat it and if I have to go to an EMH Evening park in the PM. I go with the flow.

I hope that answers your questions. Keep posting if you need more help.



~ Marlton Mom, who has been putting ketchup on my Collie's kibble.... is that wrong?

So wrong. ketchup on pooches kibbles,

Yes, I do the same if I go to morning EMH, do the main attractions right away, then get outta Dodge.
But i love the evening EMH, not because their more productive, getting on attractions, but because there's something magical walking around the parks at night.

 

[Laffites Landing]

Hi all. Thanks everyone for your suggestions, re: My trip to DHS after the morning in Epcot on our second full day at WDW. We are still going to DHS that day after spending a few hours at the pool. We are planning on taking a bus from DHS to FW to see the Hoop-De-Do that night. Figuring on leaving the park at 8PM for the 9:30 HDD as of now.

Our next day will be a full day at DHS picking up whatever rides/attractions we didn't do the day before. I feel like we have an advantage in our touring of this park because we are unlikely to do Toy Story (it exists here in California and we've been on it plenty).

We are really excited about Rock N Roller Coaster as well as many of the shows and hope to do most of them before doing lunch at Sci Fi Dine In and then back to the resort for swimming and relaxing from like 2-5 or so. Following this up with a trip back to eat the Brown Derby and then Fantasmic.

Now, here comes my question. Other than asking if you like where I am at this point, I want to ask, should we switch the lunch and dinner and have the Brown Derby for lunch and then Sci Fi for dinner? I wonder if Sci Fi wouldn't be a quicker experience for us, thus giving us plenty of time to see Fantasmic. Also, how long before the first Fantasmic should we line up to get good seats (middle of stage, middle up)? Remember, this will be June.

Thanks again for all your help!

Allen

P.S.-Thanks for the advice about the Monorail, Marlton Mom. Oh and btw, if you want to know why I called you infamous, just read that post on resort shampoo and undies.... yeah....

 

[Marlton Mom]

P.S.-Thanks for the advice about the Monorail, Marlton Mom. Oh and btw, if you want to know why I called you infamous, just read that post on resort shampoo and undies.... yeah....

So YOU'RE the one whose a few drawers short of a full week! I had my suspicions all along.....

~MM

 

[MickeyT]

MM, I've said many times I love your pictures and I do believe you are getting better and better. You, a dear friend and a coworker inspired me to take the plunge and purchase a good camera. I bought a Cannon D60 a few weeks ago. I've mostly used it for grandsons football games but now that I have the camera the possibilities are endless. Have you ever taken photography classes or are you a natural talent? Any books that you have read that helps?

Anyway keep up the good work. Love looking at your photographs. Mike

 

[Marlton Mom]

MM, I've said many times I love your pictures and I do believe you are getting better and better. You, a dear friend and a coworker inspired me to take the plunge and purchase a good camera. I bought a Cannon D60 a few weeks ago. I've mostly used it for grandsons football games but now that I have the camera the possibilities are endless. Have you ever taken photography classes or are you a natural talent? Any books that you have read that helps?

Anyway keep up the good work. Love looking at your photographs. Mike

Thank you darling!

The first thing I have to tell you is to start checking out the Dis board's Photography Forum http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97

This is the place to find friendly and helpful advice about photography, especially Disney Photography! You'll learn things like how to take dynamite fireworks pictures and you'll see inspiring photographs that will put some wonderful ideas in your head. We are a very friendly bunch so don't be intimidated!

As for me, photography has been a passion since I was a little girl. I've been interested in photography since I was 7 years old and asked my parents for a camera. What I wanted back then was an adjustable camera, sort of like a fore runner to an SLR. What I got was a Kodak Instamatic with the square flash bulb and 1 roll of B+W film! Alas the dream died until I was in high school and I saved up all my money to buy a Minolta XG7. Back in the days before the web you had to purchase a photography magazine, look for the addresses of all the camera companies that advertised and write letters asking them to send you information about their cameras. My parents were alarmed at all the giant envelopes I started receiving and wanted to know "who is sending you all this mail???" After hours of study I decided that Hasselblad was the camera for me and I just about fainted when I found out how much they cost. (think the price of an economy car)

I've managed to take some courses in high school and college, but it was just a class or two, not a course of study and it was mostly so I could have access to a film lab.

Over the years photography has been very, very good for my soul and it's my primary form of artistic expression. In this age of technology and information, keeping up with ever changing photography is what keeps me on my toes and connected to an ever changing world. I hope you enjoy my pictures and my unique sense of humor!

My favorite work experience was as the principal photographer for a Pre-K to 8th grade private school. My work was used in promotional and advertising efforts for the school as well as a weekly school newsletter. I photographed daily events at the school and compiled these pictures into an all school yearbook. I immensely enjoy working with children and teachers and I find great satisfaction in using my skills as a photographer to document some of the wonderful things that were happening each day at the school.

I did all that for free so I'm still an amateur! Right now I'm not spending way too much time volunteering at my son's school so I have the time to study software applications for photo processing. This takes me forever but it's the price one pays for having to keep up.

The first thing I would recommend is that you learn your camera's controls and understand what they do. Next I would start with the basics of photography. A fellow by the name of Bryan Peterson has written a book by the name of "Understanding Exposure". This book talks about, and more importantly shows you what ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture mean and how manipulating those variables impacts your pictures.

When you get a handle on that topic you next might want to consider finding out about computer software programs that manipulate your digital images. I took a 4 session mini course in Photoshop at my community college, which was so fast and so complicated that I almost fried my brain. I did manage to figure out how to work with Camera Raw software and that's was a good enough start. I recently purchased Adobe Light room 3 and for this Non Photoshop photographer it's proving to be slow for me to figure out. The good news is that there are tons of online tutorials so it's just a matter of time and persistence to figure it out.

Seeing that I'm 48 years old, I tried to approach this photography software knowledge acquisition effort from the traditional bricks and mortar school. After not having much luck finding the classes I wanted it dawned on me that much better resources were to be found online, and for the most part for FREE! How quickly times change!!

Photography can be anything you want to make it. With today's cameras you can keep it simple or you can go 'there'. In the end it's all about making the picture what you want it to be, so don't get overwhelmed and don't get frustrated and compare yourself to what others are doing. If you are inspired you will find a way to get there. Every photographers journey is there own.

Photography is one of those things that keeps giving. There is enough to it to keep you learning and inspired for a long time. We are also in a very exciting age of photography with the advent of digital imaging. I like to think that photography is more accessible to many people, now, more than ever, and in this age of communication that we find ourselves living in, that's a beautiful thing!

It seems you've been bitten by a very intriguing bug.... Congratulations!
And take lots of pictures! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions and I will be more than happy to help!

~ Joanie

 

[LaurieN]

Marlton Mom, that was very insparational advice you gave to MickeyT, you ROCK I've recently gotten my first DSLR and found the photography boards here to be VERY helpful!! I can't wait to get to Disney with my new toy! Looking forward to getting some great Boardwalk shots!
Thanks again,
Laurie

 

[JanetMom]

Marlton Mom, that was very insparational advice you gave to MickeyT, you ROCK

What she said! Great post.

 

[cocoabean1]

SNOW here!!!!! 13 days and counting, can't come fast enough

 

[LaurieN]

SNOW here!!!!! 13 days and counting, can't come fast enough

Same here, we've got 8" and still coming down heavy 27 more days and I agree with you can't get here fast enough for me!!

 

[heatherbabydoll1]

We were supposed to get some early this morning, but non here. Just cold and wet. Going down to 29 tonight. We are under the 45 day mark and so excited!

But, stressed with all the last month stuff, like getting RX's refilled at the right time so you don't run out on vacation. Secureing a nanny for 5 dogs and plants. Last minute Christmas shopping without going into the travel money, ect.

 

[JanetMom]

Same here, we've got 8" and still coming down heavy

That is so wrong when it isn't even November yet!

Oddly enough, up here in Canada it is a beautiful sunny day with not a snowflake in sight.

 

[Hopefully]

Hi All,
We are just back, Oct 16 -21 at BCV and then on to Vero Beach from Oct 21 - 27.
We had a great stay
We checked in on Sunday 10/16 around 11 AM. Tina was in the lobby, but busy with another family. I didn't interrupt her. Our room was ready, much to my surprise. We were in a 1 BR BC Villa. I had requested: Higher Floor, Water View. I did OnLine Checkin. We received a 2nd floor room with a woods view towards Epcot. Almost exactly opposite my request. Regardless, we enjoyed our room. We have never been unhappy at BCV.
We had a great F & W visit. We visited Epcot every day, even the days we did the MK, DHS and AK.
We loved dinner at Via Napoli. Our table at La Hacienda was off to the side, but the view of Illuminations from the main dining room was stunning ( I stood at the back). We tried Toyoyo Dining and next trip we will return to Teppan Edo. Once again, we loved the Tangerine Cafe lunch.
Our room was in great condition. We had trouble both here and at Vero with the time on the iHome docking stations being wrong, I couldn't figure out how to change it and when I called they sent someone right up. Other than that, I was totally pleased with the cleanliness and condition of the room.
The weather was "iffy". They predicted severe storms on Tuesday and Wednesday, which second to a Low pressure system did not reach us. But it was cloudy and showery. After that passed it was pretty cool (cold for me). For this reason we did not pick up Mrs Noodle, as we never went to the pool.
All in all, It was a great vacation and I can't wait to return.
Questions?

 

[Laffites Landing]

Thank you darling!

The first thing I have to tell you is to start checking out the Dis board's Photography Forum http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=97

Awesome post MM. I am hoping to get more into photography soon myself so I'm happy to read this and have spent some time checking out those boards today.

Anyway, out of curiosity as I will be in the market for a DSLR camera in the next three months or so. Canon or Nikon? I lean towards Canon and I'm planning to actually go to a camera shop and hold each of them in my hands once I'm ready to actually buy but I wanted this forum's opinion on that. I figure since I will be using my camera to photograph the parks, that makes your opinion even more relevant than others.

Thanks Again!

Allen