3rd Annual We are "NEVER" going to Disney in the summer again"

[natebenma]

Hi Dee, I finally clicked on this link from the Y&BC thread. I'm still on about page 3, but I just had to comment that I know exactly how you felt with the "I think I'm gonna like it here" and "Movin' on up" upon going from All Stars to BC. We had the same reaction when we stayed at Kidani Village this past May after staying at ASMu in 2007! Next October we'll be at BCV, and hopefully we'll have a similar reaction!

So glad to have you here!

We have never stayed at AKL or any of the villas- the area looks beautiful. But it would be very difficult to tear me away from the Beach Club- wonderful CMs, an unbelievable pool complex and a location that can't be beat!

I hope you will love it as much as we do and I would be happy to answer any questions you have about the resort here, or on the Y&B board.

There may be a return to the All Stars in my future, though. My son's 8th grade Middle School graduation trip is to Disney (May 2012), complete with stay at one of the All Stars. He goes back and forth about whether I can chaperone or not. For a long time it was "Definitely NOT!", but last word was- "Mom, you really know Disney".

So cool to watch the fireworks from the pool! I never would have thought of doing that. Next year!

Amanda

Well, I wish I could say I had planned on watching the fireworks from the pool, but it was just one of those magic Disney moments that happened to work out that way.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Way to go beating the boat back to the resort! Isn't it funny how you can get a spurt of energy after a long day at the park.

Lounging by the pool and watching fireworks......what a great way to end a day.

 

[natebenma]

Way to go beating the boat back to the resort! Isn't it funny how you can get a spurt of energy after a long day at the park.

Lounging by the pool and watching fireworks......what a great way to end a day.

I missed your post earlier in the week! As long as I am doing something, I can keep going and going and going. But once I slow down or stop, its over! So it was probably good that we walked back from HS instead of taking a seat on the boat.

I really enjoyed those few minutes at the pool watching the fireworks.

 

[tomaszewski58]

Maybe it's a little warm in the summer in Orlando, but the pictures are great.

 

[natebenma]

Maybe it's a little warm in the summer in Orlando, but the pictures are great.

Thanks!

You know, the heat does not bother us when we are at Disney, which is why we actually went 3 years in a row, but the tropical storm we encountered in August 2008 was the biggest problem for us.

 

[natebenma]

Today’s plan- back to the MK for EMH, with 11 AM reservations at Kona. This is the first time we have ever scheduled a late breakfast. Usually we just have something in the lounge to tide us over until a counter service lunch around 11 or 11:30. It is hard to justify using prime touring hours (8 AM to 10 AM) with a sit down breakfast, but it is also difficult to imagine a trip to Disney without Pineapple Macadamia Pancakes and Tonga Toast. An 11 breakfast (an early lunch, really) was a great compromise. We could get in a couple of hours of touring time AND Tonga Toast!

The afternoon was open for us- we didn’t really have anything scheduled until our Cape May Café dinner at 6 PM. We had a couple of ideas in mind. We could take the boat over to the Wilderness Lodge and check out that resort- it looks beautiful! We could head over to DTD and go to DisneyQuest, since we had purchased WaterPark Fun & More tickets when we were at Blizzard Beach the previous day. We could take the monorail to EPCOT and spend some time there. Return to the Beach Club for a swim. Or maybe head over to Typhoon Lagoon for a couple of hours.

As we were having our pre-park breakfast in the Concierge Lounge, we asked one of the CMs, Kyle, if he could find a weather station on the tv for us. He clicked around for about 5 minutes and finally found The Weather Channel. They were calling for a pretty high chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, so after being at Blizzard Beach when it closed down yesterday, we decided not to take a chance. That turned out to be an excellent decision!

Once again, we made it to MK for the ceremony at the train station.

Once again, Mary Poppins and Bert accompanied us as we headed down Main Street on our way to Peter Pan.

But first we stopped at the Partners statue for a few photopass pictures.

We also briefly, let Ben pull on the Sword in the Stone. Was he able to budge it?


Nope!

Looks like this picture is from a previous day, Tuesday, I think.


Another attraction that Ben enjoys, but the rest of us could really skip, is Tom Sawyer’s Island. We had not yet done it on this trip, so we promised Ben that we would go today. The first raft to TSI does not start until 10 AM, so we would have to wait to do that.

Peter Pan was a walk-on. Next we headed to Space Mtn, where there was about a 15 minute wait. While we were in line, the boys told us they wanted to ride all 3 mountains today. This was a pretty difficult order. Frontierland doesn’t open until 9, we promised Ben TSI at 10, so that meant trying to get to both mountains done by 10. I was worried that the wait for BTM would be pretty long by the time we rode Splash Mountain standby, so my idea was to have Mark FP BTM while we waited in line for Splash.


Mark actually wanted to FP Space Mountain at this point, since we were not holding any FPs, but I convinced him that the only way the 3 mountains by 11 would work would be if we saved the FP for BTM.


With a plan in place, we rode Space Mountain. At the end of the ride, I checked out the ride photo. It was a pretty good one. So I try to unobtrusively take a photo of the photo while chatting with the CM who is patrolling the tv panels. I take the picture without her noticing and then I wrote down the number of the photo.

Meanwhile, another CM comes up to me and says “Is this yours?” She is holding out a handful of coins that had fallen out of my pocket. I wonder when they slid out of my pocket and how they stayed in the car I was riding in!

It was about 8:50 and we debated about whether we had time to ride Winnie the Pooh. We really wanted to get to Splash Mountain as soon as we could, so we decided to skip it. We headed towards Liberty Square, but we were held at rope since it was not yet 9 AM and the park had not officially opened.

We made our way to Splash Mountain along the wooden riverside walkway. As we walked along, we noticed a tour group approaching Splash just ahead of us.

This is actually a tour group from later in the day

Fortunately, they regrouped. We got in line, while Mark got FP for BTM.

I mentioned earlier in my report that if I am waiting for a member of my touring party, I won’t enter the “rope portion” of the line until the missing member of our party joins us. Otherwise I consider it cutting, and not “joining”. So as I am waiting for Mark to return, I let people behind me in line go ahead of us. I notice the Tour Group has entered the line, and they are now just 20 or so people back from us. I finally spot Mark, but he has trouble getting to us in the queue area. Finally, Mark was able to join up with us, around 10-15 people in front of Tour Group. Our BTM FP were for 10:30.

We rode splash, then Haunted Mansion (Ben opted to skip the stretching room this time) and we made our way to Tom Sawyer’s Island on the first raft over. The raft was pretty crowded with families on a quest to find paintbrushes, but our goal was just to fulfill our promise to Ben.

At 10:30 another debate ensued. Do we have time to ride Big Thunder Mountain at 10:30 and still make it to Kona by 11?

We decided to ride. At 10:35 we hauled over to Big Thunder Mountain. At 10:50 we were finished with our ride. Of course, BTM is probably the furthest of all the attractions from the MK exit!

We made our way to the front of the park via Adventureland. Ben (and Nate) have been talking the whole trip about getting wooden rifles as souvenirs. We pass by the kiosk (no time to stop) and promise them we will come back after breakfast and pick them up.

As long as we are coming back, might as well get FP for Jungle Cruise! Mark takes a quick detour to get the passes then catches up to us. No time lost there!

Here is where I start getting concerned about time. Mark is worried about being late for our dining reservation. This is not my fear- Disney is pretty accommodating about fitting you in if you are late. But what time does breakfast end??? What if we arrive at Kona at 11:30 and they have stopped serving Tonga Toast? I tried to get the breakfast hours for Kona before we left for our trip, but I received conflicting responses to my DIS postings. Some said 11, some said 11:30.

We started encountering a series of doses of transportation pixie dust. The resort monorail was right there when we arrived. Polynesian Resort, here we come!

11:20, we check in. The restaurant has one other party – a group of 10 or 12.

Are they still serving breakfast?

YES!!!

For the record, they told us that the switchover to lunch happens at 11:45.


Continued in the next post

 

[natebenma]

This is the restaurant when we first arrived

Here is Ben's meal- Donald's Breakfast- 1 egg quacked and scrambled

MINE- Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes- YUMMY!

Nate's breakfast- Tonga Toast. Somehow I missed taking a picture of the toppings that come with it, so the second picture is borrowed from another DISer's post

Mark got the Big Kahuna-

For some reason I don't have a picture of this from this year.

Here is last year's version:

Here is what the restaurant looked like when we left just past noon.

Next up: Back to the MK, and racing a storm at EPCOT

 

[15isto2]

I know where I am making a breakfast ADR for on my next trip

 

[natebenma]

I know where I am making a breakfast ADR for on my next trip

Excellent choice!!!! We have gone to Kona for breakfast for 3 years in a row. I have ordered the Macadamia Pineapple pancakes each time. It is my FAVORITE thing to eat at Disney.

The Tonga toast is a nice treat, but a little too sweet for my taste.

Ben likes Donald's breakfast, so much that he usually orders two! Oh, it comes with cinnamon toast.

And the Big Kahuna has an assortment of goodies.

Enjoy!

 

[hill6]

Another great update.

 

[natebenma]

Another great update.

Thank you so much!

By the way- how was your trip?

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Need to fit in a Kona breakfast somewhere!! That all looks so good! We liked lunch there too. I mainly went for the sticky wings and they did not disappoint.

I'm glad you managed to squeeze in so much at MK in the morning already! You guys are like the energizer bunny!! Just keep going, and going, and going...

 

[natebenma]

Need to fit in a Kona breakfast somewhere!! That all looks so good! We liked lunch there too. I mainly went for the sticky wings and they did not disappoint.

I'm glad you managed to squeeze in so much at MK in the morning already! You guys are like the energizer bunny!! Just keep going, and going, and going...

We LOVE the Kona breakfast. It is tough to schedule it in, since the restaurant does not open until 7:30 and we hit rope drop at the EMH park at 8 AM every moring. Plus, you have the complication of getting to the Poly from the BC that early. Having a brunch- breakfast at lunchtime- at Kona on our "bonus" MK day turned out to be a great solution.

We still got a lot done at MK before and after our wonderful meal.

We ate dinner at Kona on our last night in August 2008. We enjoyed the meal, but it was pouring that night, after a week of non-stop rain, and I think we were all too wet and tired to really appreciate the meal.

Energizer bunnies. I like that! We certainly don't have a lot of "fluff" in our touring plans. This MK morning was a little strange for us because we weren't pulling FP as soon as we were eligible, and we actually waited at the Liberty Square rope for it to open instead of doing something else. Should have done Winnie the Pooh, again, though. But I was really obsessed in making sure we got all of the mountains done.

 

[jmskinner]

on getting all that done. Think you may now be my hero.

Part of me wishes we could do that in January on our trip, but with all the tours and such booked, not going to happen.

I'm hoping my DH likes Kona. I booked it for our trip and he is a huge breakfast person. I'm not, so that is all for him.

 

[natebenma]

on getting all that done. Think you may now be my hero.

Part of me wishes we could do that in January on our trip, but with all the tours and such booked, not going to happen.

I'm hoping my DH likes Kona. I booked it for our trip and he is a huge breakfast person. I'm not, so that is all for him.

Wow! Thanks!!!

The thing I'm loving about writing this trip report (other than the new friends I have made) is really remembering and reliving the details of our vacation. As I go through my notes and describe our days, I start to think, we really DID do a lot that week!

But as you know, no matter how many times you go or how much you see each visit, there is always something else to do at Disney. That's how the Mouse keeps luring us all back in!

Stay tuned- still have our return to MK, a visit to EPCOT, dinner at Cape May and yet another visit to EPCOT on this day. Then, day 7 is just as busy as all the rest!

My MK update is written, so I hope to get the pictures uploaded and post an update tomorrow or Tuesday.

I'm really excited to read about your well-deserved January trip! I totally recommend Kona and hope you both love it!

 

[MickeyT]

Keep it coming Dee. Taking my sisters to Boma after we do the Half Marathon. Figure all food is pretty much fair game then!

 

[Queila]

I have been missing in action but trying to catch up. Just realized I had not seen your post about Blizzard Beach. I agree people must respect the chair thing. Or at least apologize, get up and leave when the "owners" arrive.

It sucks that it had to start raining when you were there. It happened to me years ago when I went to BB. Such a bummer but at least you got to ride your favorite one twice.

And are you kidding me? Fireworks from the swimming pool? It can not get much better that that! I got to do that once during my visit to Disneyland and it was such a treat. I will add that to my list of things to do when we get to stay at the Beach Club.

Ok, back to reading some more...
Q

 

[natebenma]

Keep it coming Dee. Taking my sisters to Boma after we do the Half Marathon. Figure all food is pretty much fair game then!

Thanks for sticking with me, Mike!

Boma is a great place to indulge after the workout. Have you been? I'm sure you will enjoy it! And there is PLENTY of food. I think "Boma" means "Gluttony" in Swahili.

You're trip is coming up quickly! I'm sure you are getting more and more exicted by the day. How many of your are going? And running? Teena ran the race last year with some DIS friends.

 

[natebenma]

I have been missing in action but trying to catch up. Just realized I had not seen your post about Blizzard Beach. I agree people must respect the chair thing. Or at least apologize, get up and leave when the "owners" arrive.

It sucks that it had to start raining when you were there. It happened to me years ago when I went to BB. Such a bummer but at least you got to ride your favorite one twice.

And are you kidding me? Fireworks from the swimming pool? It can not get much better that that! I got to do that once during my visit to Disneyland and it was such a treat. I will add that to my list of things to do when we get to stay at the Beach Club.

Ok, back to reading some more...
Q

We are usually pretty lucky in the "towel game". We have never had a confrontation. I think once someone moved all our stuff to one chair when we had two, and then took the lounger. It is not right when someone touches your things!

Apparently, Ben was right as we were leaving Animal Kingdom- we should have skipped the line at Dinosaur and headed right to the waterpark. We still had fun at Blizzard Beach, but the frustrating part is not knowing WHEN or IF it is going to reopen. Should we stick it out? And for how long? And that none of snack shops are open.

The fireworks from the pool was a nice surprise. Bonus!

If I may make yet another plug for Beach Club...The location, great restaurants, fun activities like movies and a marshmallow roast, the amazing pool, wonderful CMs all make it a perfect place to stay if you can.

 

[natebenma]

After our brunch at Kona, which was as wonderful as we all expected, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom. As we got out to the Poly monorail waiting area a CM had just closed the gate for the monorail that was there. But he opened it up for us! More transportation pixie dust.

We encountered a Photopass photographer at the entrance and stopped for a few pictures. Nate is a blinker, like me, so the photographer kept trying to get a good shot. “Let’s try again” “One more” We didn’t get a great shot- I think this is the best one.

Our first stop was to buy the boys their guns in Adventure Land.

We don’t do a lot of shopping and the boys don’t get many souvenirs, aside from going on a Legos frenzy, so this is where they wanted to use their spending money. The rifles are pretty big, and getting them home would be a problem. But we’ll worry about that tomorrow!

We should have worried about it today. The next day, when we shipped them home from the Beach Club gift shop, the guy who helped us told us we could have shipped directly from the point of purchase in MK and the Florida state tax wouldn’t apply, so the shipping cost would be mostly “covered”.

Shipping Math: We paid something like $10 shipping cost plus $7.00 Florida tax, but if we had shipped from the kiosk, we would only pay $10 for the shipping, rather than $17.

Flashback story: We took a cruise with a stop in Nassau, the Bahamas a few years ago. One of the things we did was tour the pirate museum, and guess what Ben wanted as a souvenir. A gun! A pirate pistol to be exact. Brown plastic, orange tip, obvious toy. We were walking through the streets of Nassau and he was happy as a clam holding it and playing with it. When we got back to the ship, we went through security, they asked to see the gun, and started writing some notes. OK, I thought, they are noting that there is a toy gun in cabin 3488. Nope! “You can pick this up in Miami after you clear customs”. What?!? Then Mark commented “We’ll never see that again” and the boys got worked up. But, when we got to Miami, there it was at security, just like they told us.

Back to our regularly scheduled Disney trip report:

Look how happy the boys are! Even Nate is smiling!

After the boys’ purchases, we rode Pirates. We had about a 15 minute wait.

We then used our FP on Jungle Cruise, with another great driver, Skipper Sarah. We were lucky that both of our Jungle Cruise skippers on this trip were excellent, because the trip can be a real dud if they are not.


I realize I did not post JC photos earlier in my report, promised them later, so I guess now is the time!

I zoomed in on the fruit- Is this considered a Hidden Mickey? You make the call.

Insert corny jokes here:

As we were exiting the ride, Ben found $1 on the ground. Ben is 9, and as soon as money hits his hand, it must leave again IMMEDIATELY. So there we are at Shrunken Ned’s Junior Jungle Radio Controlled boats.

Ben MUST do this. I am not really in favor of wasting his windfall so quickly, but we agree to let him try it. Then we notice the price is actually $2. So I reluctantly hand over another bill. We put it into the machine.

And nothing!!!

The machine is broken.

I looked around for a CM to report the loss, and the broken machine, but there was none to be found. Another father is desperately looking for someone to change his $10 bill to make change to use the boats.

Note to man: save your money

Note to Disney: post someone close to the boats


We could have gone to guest services to report the loss, and I’m sure they would have returned our money, but even I’m not stingy enough to waste the amount of time it would have taken to get our $2 back.

But I’m peeved because instead of being up $1, we are now $1 in the hole!


Thus ended our visit to the MK. It was probably around 1:30. As I mentioned earlier, we didn’t really have any set plans for the afternoon. Mark and I had considered taking the boat to the Wildnerness Lodge to look around, but the boys were not interested in that. Another option was to return to the Beach Club for a swim. Or we could take the monorail to EPCOT and kick around there for a bit. That was our choice.

We got on the Express Monorail to the TTC and when we arrived at the TTC, the Tronorail was right there, we booked it across the ramp and got on.

Next up: Racing the Storm. Who wins?