2014 Beach & Yacht Club FAQ, Friends & Fun *DO NOT POST HERE- FIND NEW THREAD*

[db57me]

There is a check in area for the fastpasses to the left of the Be Our Guest bridge and a very long standby line on the right. If you have a fp you walk up to the check in desk, they give you a name, and then you walk up to the CM standing at the front of the line. They will let you in right away and you'll join the line that is waiting to place their orders at the kiosks.

Forgive the newbie, but I'm still confused. Even though I have a dining reservation for BOG at at specific time I still have to get in line? Why? What's the point of making a ADR?

 

[natebenma]

Forgive the newbie, but I'm still confused. Even though I have a dining reservation for BOG at at specific time I still have to get in line? Why? What's the point of making a ADR?

The line is for people who have a special luncheon Fast Pass reservation for BOG. At lunch the restaurant is a Quick Service location, but you can reserve a Fast Pass and even order your meal in advance- if you have this FP, then you need to go to the line.

At dinner, I believe it is just the regular Advanced Dining Reservations system. No line, but perhaps a wait, like any Disney restaurant.

Hope that helps.

 

[Ninja Mom]

You need to do what I did in January and just go by yourself! I totally understand what you mean about missing school, my high schooler can't afford to miss either. I hate being a slave to their schedules.

Ninja Mom runs away from home on a regular basis!

Start by booking a bounce back offer or a Disney Visa discount or any discount that you come across for a time that you would like to go. If a better discount comes along that applies to your circumstances just call a reservations CM and have them adjust your discount. They will do that for you!

As for the Disney Visa discounts, if you are at Downtown Disney there is a Disney Visa Booth near the World of Disney that offers gift cards or other promotions depending on which card you sign up for. When I signed up I went for the card that had a yearly fee but offered greater rewards points and a one time $200 gift card that covered the fee for a few years. I think they are still offering that $200 gift card, at least I thought I saw a sign that said that as I cruised by the booth in early March...

There are two types of Disney Visa cards with different fee and reward structures so ask at the booth and they will explain everything to you. Once you have this card you are eligible for special Disney resort discounts that come out on a seemingly regular basis. These discounts save you the aggravation of depending on Disney to offer a discount. Be sure to book your room as soon as the offers come out as only so many rooms are allocated at participating hotels for the discount. Once they are gone they are gone!

Some times these discounted Disney Visa rooms come out about 10 days before Disney releases the discount for that upcoming period. The key is to pay attention and as soon as a discount is announced jump on it and book early for best availability for your time frame.

When I book, I book a ROOM ONLY reservation. I have an Annual Pass but if I didn't.... I know I can always change that room only reservation to a package with tickets and perhaps dining. OR I can just buy my tickets from Undercover Tourist or some other ticket discounter. Keep in mind that Dining is not the value that people think it is, so let the buyer run the numbers and beware. Your mileage may vary.

By booking a room only I can put down a smaller deposit (usually one night's stay) versus booking a package (Larger amount being spent = larger deposit) and with the ROOM ONLY reservation I can cancel up to 5 days before arrival. With a package I have to cancel around 45 days out from my trip and there may be concerns about whether I get the deposit back. I'm not sure as I haven't done that type of reservation in forever.

So that is how Ninja Mom runs away from home. Work those discounts and you can live the footloose and fancy free life as well!

It (Club Level) will be moved to the Presidential Suite while the lounge itself is being renovated but when the rooms around the lounge ... all the rooms surrounding the lounge and elevators, the whole floor has to be shut down .... so no CL!!

Has anyone told Buzzy that HIS room (The Presidential Suite) is going to be taken from him and used for food and drink? Ah.... never mind, he would probably LIKE that!

~NM

 

[Ninja Mom]

Forgive the newbie, but I'm still confused. Even though I have a dining reservation for BOG at at specific time I still have to get in line? Why? What's the point of making a ADR?

Just look for the CM's working the lines in that area and ask them where you need to go depending upon your reservation type. The BOG LUNCH fast pass has a special check in Kiosk over to the left around the entrance/bridge area of the restaurant.

For Dinner just look for a CM and ask them how you should proceed... I haven't done dinner so I wouldn't know what to do for that meal.

OH and 1 more tip about the LUNCH BOG fast pass... I can never, in 3 tries, get the system to give me a confirmation # for that LUNCH FP reservation. SO be Sure to PRINT OUT and BRING WITH a copy of your reservation. That way in case you don't show up in the system properly you can show proof that you actually do have a reservation.

That little tid bit has saved my bacon 3 times.

~NM

 

[nannette]

Just look for the CM's working the lines in that area and ask them where you need to go depending upon your reservation type. The BOG LUNCH fast pass has a special check in Kiosk over to the left around the entrance/bridge area of the restaurant.

For Dinner just look for a CM and ask them how you should proceed... I haven't done dinner so I wouldn't know what to do for that meal.

The same kiosk that is used for the BOG lunch FP is the same kiosk used for BOG dinner. You check in there about 15 mins prior to your dinner reservation and they send you up to the front for seating.

~N

 

[izzylovesmickey]

Just upgraded to LV CL! Now I have to find out all the ins & outs of club level!

 

[chrismom3]

We currently have a GV room at the Beach Club early August but I'm a bit concerned about the "balcony" situation I've been hearing about (not many available on BC side?). We're considering moving over to Yacht Club - GV or LV. Would we pretty much be guaranteed a full balcony with either of these views on the Yacht side?
Thanks!

 

[aloha517]

We currently have a GV room at the Beach Club early August but I'm a bit concerned about the "balcony" situation I've been hearing about (not many available on BC side?). We're considering moving over to Yacht Club - GV or LV. Would we pretty much be guaranteed a full balcony with either of these views on the Yacht side?
Thanks!

Wanna trade lol!!! Had to give up my BC GV to get the summer discount .. I cant seem to get excited for YC WV ... I don't know why

 

[robndani]

I have a question... Does anyone know the likelihood of my waitlist coming through for Fri Oct 3- Sunday Oct 5 at BCV?

I know it's a weekend at a hotel close to Epcot during Food & Wine Festival, but we're hoping!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Well we checked into the Beach Club today. We booked a garden view room.

My only request was to be close to an elevator. I am a cancer survivor and use the wheelchair as a walker and when I gently tired I will have dh or one of the ds push me. Other ds is here with a walking air cast. If I exert myself too much I get really out of breath etc.

We ask at check in , is the room close to an elevator ,Unamed check in cast member tells us, oh its on the first floor O.K. We lug everything to said room.. We are going to neverland looking for this room. We finally find the room. Its 3 doors away from the Epcot secret entrance door. The farthest worst possible location for me.

Dh goes to front desk and says I have cancer etc can you please find us a room closer to an elevator. Oh magical pix dust magic. A room just happens to pop up on her screen. Not our original check in castmember, but a nice one who took sympathy on us. I told dh to check out the room before we move etc.
He says its the perfect room and yes it is.Its on the 2nd floor, close to the elevator and a full balcony too! Wonderful, we are in Beach Club heaven.

We tried to do a walk up around 1 pm for Beaches and Cream for 4. No such luck. We ate a Hurricane Hannas instead and then went swimming.

O.K - has this question ever been addressed before. Regarding the wooden wall between patios. If someone is putting their wet clothes over the patio and they are coming onto your side. What should you do? Ignore them, share the space etc. I wont say what my ds did or what the other person did either, Oh, it was their clothes. My ds have been instructed not to hang clothes on the patio etc.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm back from a day that I'll just call my "bad luck waiting for buses" day - grrrrrr!
Anyway - some more information:

You no longer have to show your annual pass at a restaurant to get the AP discount. It is now connected to the MB's. We got the AP discount at Captain's Grille for breakfast and Trail' s End for dinner and never needed to pull out the AP's when charging with the MB's. When we were at WDW in January, we still needed to show our AP's to get the discount. Now you don't have to show it.

Someone wanted to to know about the Disney tote bag.
Yes, you can buy the Disney tote bag for $16.95 when you have a merchandise purchase of $25 or more. I took a picture if anyone is interested in seeing it. The in room Disney channel also showed a fleece blanket for $19.95, but we didn't see any signs for those in the stores. But they sure did sell a lot of fleece blankets when we were there in January.

Captain's Grill has a really good breakfast buffet for $17.98. It had a lot of variety, too. The waiter brought me some gluten free toast, which was great. We are going back again on the last morning we are here.

I checked out the Ale and Compass on our way to Captain's Grille this morning and got a picture of the tea assortment. I'll post that information later, The coffee service is out and easy to reach, but the refillable mugs have to be refilled by a CM since the dispenser is behind the counter.

Someone else asked about the resort airline check in service. It opens at 5am and you can bring your luggage down as early as then. It closes at 1pm.

From the Captain's Grille we took the boat to HS and had a nice morning. We only had a five minute wait for the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow. They pass out reserved times, like a paper fast pass, for this little show, and we happened to get lucky to get in the next one. It was cute.

Then we used our fp+ for TSMM and walked onto the Backlot Tour. We were out of there by 11am, walking up to the boat just as it arrived. The morning went really well.

Then it was on to DTD. We waited 25 minutes for the bus. The bus stopped at BWI and then on to the Market Place bus stop. The ride was only 25 minutes, which wasn't bad. But the total time when the waiting is added was 50 minutes.

Then we walked through, picked up our tickets for La Nouba, and had lunch at Crossroads of House of Blues, which my husband picked because it was the closest restaurant. It was okay.

Then to the bus stop - my husband didn't want to take a taxi, even though I had cash ready to go. But he wanted to do the bus. Well, it was another 25 minute wait for that one. It stopped at Typhon Lagoon, Swan, Dolphin, YC, then BC. The ride was only about 30 minutes, but the added wait made the whole DTD trip, with lunch, exactly, almost to the minute, three hours long.

We got back to the room at 3pm and it hadn't been cleaned yet. I realize this happens once in a while, but it is a bother anyway. Finally at 4:11pm, housekeeping knocks on the door. DH is sound asleep on the bed. I tell the housekeeper to just give me some towels and coffee. And boy do I get towels and coffee! I think I got at least ten of each. So I called housekeeping tonight and asked for an early room cleaning tomorrow - better safe than sorry.

Unfortunately, the evening didn't turn out as planned either. I have never in all the times I have been at the BC had to wait 1/2 hour for a bus to the Magic Kingdom, but at 5:30pm tonight, that is what happened. Then the boat to Fort Wilderness took forever. Things are rather crazy over at MK right now with the monorail down from 11am to 7pm Monday - Friday. I think it is messing up all the transportation. The only good thing about this MK bus is that if we had decided to walk through Epcot to catch the monorail to MK instead of taking the bus, we would have been stuck at the TTC with the hoards of people waiting for the ferry. That would have been worse than our 1/2 wait was. But we had a great meal at Trail's End and caught the bus back to the BC from the MK right away - no wait. The bus from MK to BC took about 14 minutes. It was the shortest trip of the day.

Tomorrow is Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch and then plenty of resort time. And best of all, no plans for the evening. :

 

[MKay]

Thank you for taking the time to put in so much detailed info. I appreciate it very much. I hope you have a good day tomorrow. Do you know who the Flower Power concert band is tomorrow?

 

[Wood Nymph]

Thank you for taking the time to put in so much detailed info. I appreciate it very much. I hope you have a good day tomorrow. Do you know who the Flower Power concert band is tomorrow?

It is The Orchestra starring former members of ELO this weekend, We may try to catch it tomorrow night.

 

[Rorey]

Ok this may seem like a weid question, but DH is curious. With all this talk about BC getting a refurb, does anyone know when the last time YC was refurbed?

TIA

 

[Ninja Mom]

Wood Nymph....

IF and I mean IF you have the chance, could you find the time to talk with a resort manager type and get the official scoop about the locker/shower situation at the resort?

I'm only asking that you consider doing this if you have the time and energy and the where with all to do it. I understand how busy these trips can get so it's no worry if you can't/won't fit this in.

I'd just be curious if there were any shower and changing area alternatives for the people that like to use the pool after they have checked out and before the Magical Express comes to take them away. This is something that our family does on the last day of our Beach Club trips so I am looking for answers before we go again in August.

Smoochies,
~NM

 

[MickeyT]

We currently have a GV room at the Beach Club early August but I'm a bit concerned about the "balcony" situation I've been hearing about (not many available on BC side?). We're considering moving over to Yacht Club - GV or LV. Would we pretty much be guaranteed a full balcony with either of these views on the Yacht side?
Thanks!

The general thought on here is that if a balcony is a must then YC is the way to go. I think there is one maybe two rooms in the whole resort without a balcony.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[natebenma]

page 144-146

One season closer to the trip!! I love this


Dee I am sure you wouldn't be shocked with a date change....
YC SV CL 8/22 to 8/27 then WL CL 8/27-8/29 Gotta get my MK fix

Teena Enjoy!!

Safe travels Erika

Got it!

They said we could get a regular room at BC or change resorts. Fortunately, we were able to change to YC CL. We will be there 10/20-10/24.

Thanks again for letting us know. I'll make the change to your info on the Be Our Guest list.

Back from Animal Kingdom.... what a beautiful day it was!!!

I don't have any schedule for how long the renovations are going to take. Last I heard they were going to start on the fifth floor lounge, then the fifth floor, fourth floor, third floor, etc. I've been there thru two renovations but never for one this large so I have no idea. Depending on amount of workers, it could be faster, slower, etc. Please rest assured that the moment I have any idea of the length of time they anticipate it will take, I'll let you all know. I honestly do not think they know. Once they start, then they will have a rough idea of how long each floor will take.

I'm guessing that if they start on the fifth floor in October 2014, then by the summer of 2015 the fifth floor will be totally done ... actually I would think more than just the fifth floor would be done by the summer. Again, I'm only guessing but I promise to let you all know the moment I know anything for sure.

Glad you had a great day!

I know the refurb schedule is not set in stone yet, but as far as you know, are they still working on the lounge itself first? So if they are taking BC CL out of inventory in October, then presumably the lounge will be undergoing the expansion in early fall?

Just look for the CM's working the lines in that area and ask them where you need to go depending upon your reservation type. The BOG LUNCH fast pass has a special check in Kiosk over to the left around the entrance/bridge area of the restaurant.

For Dinner just look for a CM and ask them how you should proceed... I haven't done dinner so I wouldn't know what to do for that meal.

OH and 1 more tip about the LUNCH BOG fast pass... I can never, in 3 tries, get the system to give me a confirmation # for that LUNCH FP reservation. SO be Sure to PRINT OUT and BRING WITH a copy of your reservation. That way in case you don't show up in the system properly you can show proof that you actually do have a reservation.

That little tid bit has saved my bacon 3 times.

~NM

That is good advice to bring the printout. Now, I was also told at two different restaurants when we were checking in and they couldn't find our reservation, that they couldn't look up our reservation by our confirmation number.

"We don't have that info"

Why the heck do they give us the confirmation number, then???

We currently have a GV room at the Beach Club early August but I'm a bit concerned about the "balcony" situation I've been hearing about (not many available on BC side?). We're considering moving over to Yacht Club - GV or LV. Would we pretty much be guaranteed a full balcony with either of these views on the Yacht side?
Thanks!

The general thought on here is that if a balcony is a must then YC is the way to go. I think there is one maybe two rooms in the whole resort without a balcony.

Good luck with your planning!

As Mike indicates, almost all of the YC rooms have full balconies- there is one YC CL WV room I am aware of that does not, and I'm not sure if there any standard (non CL) rooms without a balcony. I don't specifically know of any.

If the balcony is important to you, and you don't want to leave it to chance (50%), then I would recommend a switch to YC.

Just upgraded to LV CL! Now I have to find out all the ins & outs of club level!

Nice!



There's a section with lots of info about Club Level on the first page of this thread for starters.

I have a question... Does anyone know the likelihood of my waitlist coming through for Fri Oct 3- Sunday Oct 5 at BCV?

I know it's a weekend at a hotel close to Epcot during Food & Wine Festival, but we're hoping!

Don't know the answer to your question, but

to the thread!

Well we checked into the Beach Club today. We booked a garden view room.

My only request was to be close to an elevator. I am a cancer survivor and use the wheelchair as a walker and when I gently tired I will have dh or one of the ds push me. Other ds is here with a walking air cast. If I exert myself too much I get really out of breath etc.

We ask at check in , is the room close to an elevator ,Unamed check in cast member tells us, oh its on the first floor O.K. We lug everything to said room.. We are going to neverland looking for this room. We finally find the room. Its 3 doors away from the Epcot secret entrance door. The farthest worst possible location for me.

Dh goes to front desk and says I have cancer etc can you please find us a room closer to an elevator. Oh magical pix dust magic. A room just happens to pop up on her screen. Not our original check in castmember, but a nice one who took sympathy on us. I told dh to check out the room before we move etc.
He says its the perfect room and yes it is.Its on the 2nd floor, close to the elevator and a full balcony too! Wonderful, we are in Beach Club heaven.

We tried to do a walk up around 1 pm for Beaches and Cream for 4. No such luck. We ate a Hurricane Hannas instead and then went swimming.

O.K - has this question ever been addressed before. Regarding the wooden wall between patios. If someone is putting their wet clothes over the patio and they are coming onto your side. What should you do? Ignore them, share the space etc. I wont say what my ds did or what the other person did either, Oh, it was their clothes. My ds have been instructed not to hang clothes on the patio etc.

I'm glad you were able to switch to a room that meets your needs. Kudos to your husband for taking care of that!

I'm intrigued by the balcony border drama!

I'm back from a day that I'll just call my "bad luck waiting for buses" day - grrrrrr!

Thanks again for all of the fantastic information and taking the time to post about your trip and experiences.

The only thing I can say is DTD bus =

Ok this may seem like a weid question, but DH is curious. With all this talk about BC getting a refurb, does anyone know when the last time YC was refurbed?

TIA

I believe the last refurb of the YC was late 2008/early 2009. It was shortly before my first trip to the resorts in July 2009. The BC was renovated immediately prior to that.

 

[HParr]

Wood Nymph, Your trip reports are awesome. Thank you so much for posting them.

 

[natebenma]

Captain's Grill has a really good breakfast buffet for $17.98. It had a lot of variety, too. The waiter brought me some gluten free toast, which was great. We are going back again on the last morning we are here.

Did your waiter offer to get you eggs prepared as you like them by the kitchen? I believe that was a really nice option with the buffet.

 

[rcraw45425]

page 144-146




That is good advice to bring the printout. Now, I was also told at two different restaurants when we were checking in and they couldn't find our reservation, that they couldn't look up our reservation by our confirmation number.

"We don't have that info"

Why the heck do they give us the confirmation number, then???

I'm sorry but BOG Fast Pass+ does NOT provide you with a reservation number, you simply receive a confirmation note with the number of guests and like a 30 minute arrival window. A number would make it too easy