2012 Beach and Yacht FAQ ~ March, April and May ~Do Not Post Here-Old Thread

[skepace]

It's on the front page of this thread and it lists the dates when we are all going to be at the YC or the BC.
Be Our Guest

Oh! Well put us down Oct 9-15 at YC!!

 

[jeanf11]

Does anyone know if there are any conventions going on the last two weeks of October?

 

[focusondisney]

Thank you to all those who help with information on this board.
I will not be on the disboards much until after our trip. 1 more day of work, 1 day to pack. My family is so excited.

I will give a mini review of the resort when we get back.

Thanks again!!!

Have a magical vacation!!!

 

[kelleigh1]

Does anyone know if there are any conventions going on the last two weeks of October?

I've recently done some research on the October conventions at WDW. This is what I've found so far.

CCBO 30th Annual International Conference
Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resort in the Walt Disney World Resort® -*
September 29 - October 2, 2012



SMTA International
Conference: October 14 - 18, 2012
Exhibition: October 16 - 17, 2012
Walt Disney World Dolphin
Orlando, FL


18th Annual Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning
'At A Crossroads: Online Education in a Complex World'
October 10-12, 2012
Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort - Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Gartner ITXpo
Walt Disney World Dolphin, Walt Disney World Swan, and Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts
Orlando, FL
October 21-25, 2012

 

[skepace]

Thank you to all those who help with information on this board.
I will not be on the disboards much until after our trip. 1 more day of work, 1 day to pack. My family is so excited.

I will give a mini review of the resort when we get back.

Thanks again!!!

Have a great trip!!

 

[Lulu'sMom]

Thank you to all those who help with information on this board.
I will not be on the disboards much until after our trip. 1 more day of work, 1 day to pack. My family is so excited.

I will give a mini review of the resort when we get back.

Thanks again!!!

Maybe we'll run into you, GinCar!

You never know, "it's a small world!"
Can't miss me, big Texas blonde hair and an accent to go with it!

Oh well, I can't read any more of MM's posts, got to say MM, I keep paper towels by my PC simply because of you. You are simply hilarious.
Never a dull moment here. No siree.
Now, off to finish errands and pack.

 

[natebenma]

Thank you to all those who help with information on this board.
I will not be on the disboards much until after our trip. 1 more day of work, 1 day to pack. My family is so excited.

I will give a mini review of the resort when we get back.

Thanks again!!!

Have a fantastic trip!!!

Maybe we'll run into you, GinCar!

You never know, "it's a small world!"
Can't miss me, big Texas blonde hair and an accent to go with it!

You, too!

What is this?

If you haven't already seen it, go back a few pages (maybe 14?) or click on the link below to see reviews and descriptions of the boat trip for young pirates:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=44328095&postcount=202

 

[pixarmom]

This the schedule I have picked out for our Trip the end of April the beginging of July. We are staying at the BC!! YEAH!! Any suggestions?
Thurs Epcot or freeday?? We will see when we get there!! No DIning
Fri, MK Dining Cinderella's table Lunch
Sat AK Dining Cape May breakfast
Sun EP Dining Biergarten dinner
Mon Free Day
Tue HS Dining 50 Prime time dinner
Wed MK Dining Crystal palace Breakfast
Thursday Dining Kona Breakfast.

I have been following the board and haven't posted much because you all answer my questions before they are asked!! I would love to keep hearing updates about the pool though!! Just an Fyi we are first timers and My kids are dd9, dd8, dd6, and ds4
Jaymi

Welcome, Jaymi! We've been to all the restaurants on your list and think they are great for a first-time visit! I'll add just a couple suggestions:

Our boys are ages 5, 11 and 12, and we have a tradition of starting at Epcot on our arrival day. This is so easy when staying at BC because we can just hop through the International Gateway. And of all the parks, Epcot is the one we can enjoy even if we don't arrive early for rope drop. So I'd highly recommend Epcot on arrival day. I know some prefer not to make ADRs for their first day, just in case of flight delays, etc. But we start with a dinner ADR at Garden Grill - it's low key for a character meal and the kids get to meet Mickey right away.

When we have breakfast ADRs, we usually make them really early so that we can get to rope drop. Occasionally, we'll make a breakfast ADR later in the morning so that we can get to the park when it opens and take advantage of the low early morning crowds, then use breakfast as more of a brunch. So just something to consider with your breakfast ADRs!

 

[kelleigh1]

Dee: Could you add our new friend to the BOG list? I'm thinking you might have missed this since they were replying to me and I don't want them to miss getting on the list. Thanks!

Oh! Well put us down Oct 9-15 at YC!!

 

[natebenma]

Dee: Could you add our new friend to the BOG list? I'm thinking you might have missed this since they were replying to me and I don't want them to miss getting on the list. Thanks!

just did it

 

[jcondrad]

This the schedule I have picked out for our Trip the end of April the beginging of July. We are staying at the BC!! YEAH!! Any suggestions?
Thurs Epcot or freeday?? We will see when we get there!! No DIning
Fri, MK Dining Cinderella's table Lunch
Sat AK Dining Cape May breakfast
Sun EP Dining Biergarten dinner
Mon Free Day
Tue HS Dining 50 Prime time dinner
Wed MK Dining Crystal palace Breakfast
Thursday Dining Kona Breakfast.

I have been following the board and haven't posted much because you all answer my questions before they are asked!! I would love to keep hearing updates about the pool though!! Just an Fyi we are first timers and My kids are dd9, dd8, dd6, and ds4
Jaymi

We LOVE Kona for Breakfast!! Not sure how early you plan on doing breakfast but we usually do early (like 730 or 8). The best way to get there is by taxi. It was about $16 with tip but such a quick ride.

 

[natebenma]

We LOVE Kona for Breakfast!! Not sure how early you plan on doing breakfast but we usually do early (like 730 or 8). The best way to get there is by taxi. It was about $16 with tip but such a quick ride.

Kona is my favorite, too! Mmmm, others can have the Tonga Toast- the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes are my favorite thing to eat in the World!

 

[MissKaren]

Does anyone have experience with pool slide/pool refurbishments? Staying at BCV during the April 2012 refurb. Wondering if the dates they posted were set in stone...specifically, do they ever finish working on the pools early and then open the pools before the posted ending date? My stay is towards the end of the refurb. time. I'm hoping that they finish their work early and my girls get a ride down the slide before we leave. Thank you!
Also, looking forward to when Teena posts about the specifics of the closure. Is it just the slide and bottem of it or is it more than that? Thank you in advance, Teena. So glad we have your knowledge to ease or concerns.

 

[pixarmom]

Does anyone have experience with pool slide/pool refurbishments? Staying at BCV during the April 2012 refurb. Wondering if the dates they posted were set in stone...specifically, do they ever finish working on the pools early and then open the pools before the posted ending date? My stay is towards the end of the refurb. time. I'm hoping that they finish their work early and my girls get a ride down the slide before we leave. Thank you!
Also, looking forward to when Teena posts about the specifics of the closure. Is it just the slide and bottem of it or is it more than that? Thank you in advance, Teena. So glad we have your knowledge to ease or concerns.

Hi MissKaren, I don't have the answers to all of your questions, but we have experience with slide/partial SAB closures and it did conclude a little earlier than scheduled in February 2011. Here are my excerpts from my earlier posts:

Yes, we stayed at BC at the end of the slide closure/partial pool closure of February 2011. We didn't find it disruptive, and we would absolutely stay there again during a slide closure (see my post from the previous page, below.) In fact, we will! We'll be at YC next month during the closure and as I said earlier, don't believe it will impact our stay much. And if your family loves slides, the slide at BWI is quite fun! As Marlton Mom mentioned, I see it as a great pool-hopping opportunity.

For those who may have joined the conversation recently, I also wanted to offer some encouragement, share that we had personal experience with the slide closure last year (February 2011) and emphasize how much we still enjoyed the pool and our stay. And during our most recent BC stay (August 2011) we spent nearly the entire day at SAB. The jib slide was open that day and as much as our boys love it, they only went down it three times and spent the rest of the day in other areas of the pool. There is just so much pool to enjoy! During our YC stay next month, I plan to spend the afternoon at SAB with our youngest son. Based on our experience at SAB (with and without slide closures), I really don't feel the jib slide closure will impact us much.

I've taken many SAB photos over a number of trips last year (mostly in August) and like Teena said, it might help to review the photos to see how much of SAB is available to enjoy!

SAB Photo Thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2790323

 

[xipetotec]

Just back from our BCV stay.
Had a fantastic time, missing it already....

Won't likely be back until 2014! waaaah

 

[GinCar]

Maybe we'll run into you, GinCar!

You never know, "it's a small world!"
Can't miss me, big Texas blonde hair and an accent to go with it!

Oh well, I can't read any more of MM's posts, got to say MM, I keep paper towels by my PC simply because of you. You are simply hilarious.
Never a dull moment here. No siree.
Now, off to finish errands and pack.

I will keep a look out! Since I was born and raised in Texas, I know how to spot my own kind.

Only 47 more hours before my plane takes off!!

 

[Suzanne10]

Welcome, Jaymi! We've been to all the restaurants on your list and think they are great for a first-time visit! I'll add just a couple suggestions:

Our boys are ages 5, 11 and 12, and we have a tradition of starting at Epcot on our arrival day. This is so easy when staying at BC because we can just hop through the International Gateway. And of all the parks, Epcot is the one we can enjoy even if we don't arrive early for rope drop. So I'd highly recommend Epcot on arrival day. I know some prefer not to make ADRs for their first day, just in case of flight delays, etc. But we start with a dinner ADR at Garden Grill - it's low key for a character meal and the kids get to meet Mickey right away.

When we have breakfast ADRs, we usually make them really early so that we can get to rope drop. Occasionally, we'll make a breakfast ADR later in the morning so that we can get to the park when it opens and take advantage of the low early morning crowds, then use breakfast as more of a brunch. So just something to consider with your breakfast ADRs!

Thanks that helps alot!! I was hoping to do MK but I think that it would be easier to go over to Epcot and just look!!! Thanks again!

 

[Suzanne10]

We LOVE Kona for Breakfast!! Not sure how early you plan on doing breakfast but we usually do early (like 730 or 8). The best way to get there is by taxi. It was about $16 with tip but such a quick ride.

We ate going to do most of our breakfasts early. Kona is on the last day so we may sleep in and make it for around 9ish. The Taxi is a good tip! Thanks!

 

[pixarmom]

Thanks that helps alot!! I was hoping to do MK but I think that it would be easier to go over to Epcot and just look!!! Thanks again!

I know so many first-time guests (and many vets) like to start their WDW trip in MK, and I can understand the draw. For us, it's always been Epcot for a few reasons:

1) MK can get quite crowded in the afternoon and particularly if we haven't collected fastpasses, we find that unpleasant.

2) As you mentioned, you can walk around Epcot and explore World Showcase, etc. even if you arrive in the afternoon. And even though you might not get fastpasses for Soarin or Test Track, you can still ride Nemo, Spaceship Earth, Imagination, the Land and Gran Fiesta with very little wait. The kids can play Kim Possible and/or stop at the Kidcot stops while you explore World Showcase. And whenever you run out of energy, it's just so easy to walk out the International Gateway back to your room.

3) We love to start at MK bright and early on the day after arrival - our first FULL day at WDW. With the lower crowds at rope drop, it can be a better quality experience for everyone. For me, MK in the early morning is just the best!

4) Since childhood, I've known the theory that it's best to take kids to Epcot first because if they see MK first, Epcot would be disappointing. I'll admit that, at first, this is one of the reasons I continued the "Epcot first" tradition with our kids. But the funny thing is that Epcot has always been my favorite park, and now it's our 5-year-old's favorite too.

 

[woodleygrrl]

Hey All-

Just back from 7 nights at the BC with a 3-night cruise on the Dream added on the beginning for good measure. I wanted to provide you all with some impressions of our stay and some reflections of what I think Disney can do better.

This is my husband and I's 2nd stay in 2 years at the BC. I have stayed at BC or BCV 5 times due to work trips over the years. This time we were joined by my mom and dad who had an adjoining room to ours. We were in room 2580 and my folks were in room 2582. The rooms each had two full beds and a full balcony. It was a different set-up than the room we had last year which was a bit bigger and had a wet bar in the corner.

When we checked in on Sunday afternoon our rooms were ready and we said hi to Teena who was greeting guests in the lobby (hey Teena!) and went up to our rooms to change for dinner. We had been at baseball spring training all day and were in need of a change of clothes before the Flying Fish (ps? as great as ever!).

Immediately upon entering our room we noticed that the beds were not fully made. They had sheets on them, but no duvet or other blanket. We knew they were supposed to have another cover on them because we saw my parents room and they had a blue cover, duvet-ish thing over their beds as well as a coverlet over the ends of the bed. We of course called housekeeping and asked them to add the missing linens.

In my parents room, there is no other way to say it, the bathroom was dirty. There was urine in the toilet and there was towels on the floor. They had to call housekeeping as well.

It took over 2 hours for them to resolve the issue, but it ultimately was resolved for both rooms.

I wish I would have taken a picture of it but in our room the bed skirt on the bed closest to the window was ripped and frayed and askew from the bed. As we never slept in that one, it stayed like that the whole trip. and when I say ripped, I mean the seam was visibly ripped and frayed.

Another issue was the general "tiredness" of the room. In the bathroom the wall closest to the shower had peeling wallpaper and the actual plaster behind it was damp. No doubt from many showers hitting the wall. There were multiple black marks and nicks on the wall. The balcony was FILTHY the entire time we were there. There was no way to sit on the chairs or lean on the rail. They were dirty with bug and bird droppings. (which really? how hard is it to just wipe down the chairs and the railing? I know this insn't the Dream where it is done daily, but really?)

On our third night there we came back around 4 to go to the pool for a bit and then change for dinner. When we walked in there was a crib in our room near the door to the balcony. just my husband and I and we have no kids, sooooo...... we called housekeeping to come and get it, left for dinner, came back 3 hours later...it was still there. called around 10pm for them to come get it...still nothing. that crib stayed there the rest of the night and through the evening of the next day about 24 hours or so. I had to call three times but it eventually was removed.

Hey, I know I am going to get flamed for this, but at over $400/night I expect a bit more from our hotel room. I think, at the very least, it is time for a major rehab of the rooms at BC. Second, there needs to be some better management of housekeeping services. half made beds and dirty rooms just don't cut it. and finally, as a person that goes to Disney once a year, every year I deserve better. There was never an apology issued, never a call to make sure everything was ok. NOTHING.

I think this is the last time for a bit for the BC. and yes, I have written a letter to WDW about my disappointment.

Hope everyone else has a better stay than I did.

Jennifer