Celebrating at POFQ/AKL in September 2015! COMPLETE

[Sisa]

Joining in!

 

[Dentam]

Joining in!

Glad to have you along! I'm enjoying reading your TR!

 

[Dentam]

Once we finished off our caramel apple and said goodbye to our fluffy new friend, we decided to head over to check out one more country before leaving EPCOT for the day.

We crossed the bridge and headed into France!



We knew we would be coming back the following day, so we didn't watch the film here this time. Instead, we looked in the shops a bit and found these cute mugs! I was tempted to get one but I really needed to limit my coffee mug purchases. I don't even drink coffee but have an entire cupboard of Disney mugs!



After we'd checked out the shops, we made our way back over the bridge and to the International Gateway to take a boat over to the Yacht and Beach Club resorts.



We had to wait about 10 minutes for a boat to arrive and then we were on our way! We wanted to walk around the resorts a bit before we continued on to HS for the evening.

I worked at each of these resorts during my horticulture internship and my parents stayed at the Yacht Club when they came to visit me during my internship - they did a split stay between this resort and the Grand Floridian since I was able to get them my cast member discount. Anyway, I would still love to stay at the Beach Club one day. I love the pool area and the theming of this resort!

We made our way into the Yacht Club lobby first.



It's very nice but I much prefer the beautiful Beach Club lobby, which we walked over to next.



Isn't it gorgeous?! Swoon...

My mom and I sat down to rest our feet while my dad walked around to take more photos.



Then we made our way back outside to walk around the awesome pool area and slowly make our way back to the boat.





We had a LONG wait for the next boat which made us nervous that we'd miss the first showing of Fantasmic. Would we make it in time?

 

[Angeejoe]

Ahhhh I love YC/BC, that's my happy place!

 

[Angeejoe]

You should've bought the mugs!!! You can never have enough, especially for us non coffee drinkers!

 

[Dentam]

You should've bought the mugs!!! You can never have enough, especially for us non coffee drinkers!

I know, I'm still kind of wishing I would have gotten the one with the cheese on it! However, my cupboard is packed full so I guess it's for the best...

 

[Angeejoe]

I know, I'm still kind of wishing I would have gotten the one with the cheese on it! However, my cupboard is packed full so I guess it's for the best...

Someday when we remodel the kitchen, I want to have a rack/display of all of my mugs on one wall!

 

[Dentam]

Someday when we remodel the kitchen, I want to have a rack/display of all of my mugs on one wall!

You should design your entire kitchen around your mug collection! Do you collect any other kitchen items from Disney? I liked some of the kitchen towels we saw but they were spendy! Of course what isn't at WDW...

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Dentam]

I would love to just walk into your picture and head directly into France myself...

I feel that way when I look at the photo of the BC lobby!

 

[Angeejoe]

You should design your entire kitchen around your mug collection! Do you collect any other kitchen items from Disney? I liked some of the kitchen towels we saw but they were spendy! Of course what isn't at WDW...

It's funny, I have someDisney towels & potholders I have put away to use in this dream kitchen, lol.

 

[KathyM2]

Wow the BC is so pretty. I'd love to stay at any of those resorts where you can walk to a park...any park...sigh....one day!! (like all the other things we'll do when we win the lottery lol!

 

[Dentam]

Wow the BC is so pretty. I'd love to stay at any of those resorts where you can walk to a park...any park...sigh....one day!! (like all the other things we'll do when we win the lottery lol!

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks of playing the lottery to finance my dream vacations! Just for giggles I checked the price of staying at the BC in early March instead of POFQ. It would be over double the price - we're talking about $500/night vs. less than $200!

 

[Sisa]

I totally agree about the Beach Club, I went there twice during my trip and just drooled. It is stunningly beautiful, I'd LOVE to stay there some day!

 

[Elevationist]

Thank you so much for the pretty BC photos! Just 392 days until I check-in there for my 6-night stay! (But who's counting?)

 

[Dentam]

I totally agree about the Beach Club, I went there twice during my trip and just drooled. It is stunningly beautiful, I'd LOVE to stay there some day!

I'm glad you got to check it out during your trip! I'd say that the BC and the Poly are my top dream resorts right now. I really loved the remodeled Poly lobby and the pool area - I'll have pics of those in a future update!

Thank you so much for the pretty BC photos! Just 392 days until I check-in there for my 6-night stay! (But who's counting?)

What?? You get to stay at the BC???!! Ahh - I'm SO jealous!! Wanna take me along?

 

[Dentam]

Sorry for the long delay here... I actually had a relapse after I finished the 10 day course of antibiotics. I'm still not quite back to 100% and it's been a month since I got sick. I'm getting there though!

So... where did I leave off? Oh yes, we were just waiting for the boat outside the Beach Club resort. We were heading to DHS and hoped to make it to the first showing of Fantasmic.

Well... by the time the boat finally arrived and got us over to the park, we had only minutes to spare to rush over to Fantasmic. As we were speed walking, they announced that the show was filled to capacity. Little did we know that this was the final night of the Frozen Fireworks show on top of being an EMH night. The place was PACKED.

We decided to hit Starbucks and then we worked our way through the crowd over to a walkway off to one side and settled in to watch what we could see of the fireworks show. We could hear bits and pieces of the stage show and the fireworks were really impressive. Too bad we didn't have a good spot to see everything but oh well - I guess we didn't do too bad considering we had no idea this show was even scheduled until we arrived that night.



After the fireworks ended the park closed and EMH's for resort guests started. We had two hours... not a ton of time to get much done... first we headed over to catch the second showing of Fantasmic. We weren't the only ones. I always feel like I'm part of a herd of livestock in this area! We finally got seated and all set to watch the show, which started off without a hitch... until less than five minutes in, the skies opened up and it started raining. Not good. Did I mention that I never actually bought rain ponchos for the trip? Hmm...

Announcements were made that the show would need to stop but they would restart it if conditions allowed. After about a ten minute wait, the light rain began to let up (we were SO lucky it wasn't a downpour like we had the previous afternoon) and the show started from about the point it left off. We lost a good chunk of our two hour window to this show, but what can you do? It was still fun - and memorable!






This boat with all the characters near the end of the show was kind of a bummer though. I guess I'd forgotten how much this pales in comparison to the version at Disneyland where they use the big river boat all decked out in lights!

After Fantasmic, we joined the herd (moo) and made a beeline for the Tower of Terror. My mom decided to sit this one out. The wait was about 35 minutes but it was well worth it. I had the BEST ride I have ever had on ToT that night. It was awesome! I guess my seatbelt was loose or something because every time we dropped not only did my feet leave the floor but my body left the seat completely - it felt like I was free floating down the elevator shaft - not everyone's cup of tea I'm sure but I LOVED it!!




We ended the night on that high note since we didn't have enough time to do the other two rides we would have liked to do - Rock'n Roller Coaster and Star Tours. In hindsight we probably should have skipped our stop at the Yacht and Beach Club resorts which ate up a lot of time, but it was a great night all in all.

We caught a bus back to POFQ and went to bed. We'd be heading back to EPCOT the next day!

 

[DonnaBeeGood]

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[Angeejoe]

So sorry to hear that your bug just won't shake off! I hate large WDW crowds, I always feel like I will trip & be trampled.

 

[Dentam]

I'm glad you are finally recovering! I wonder if the boat was not lit up because of the rain - I don't remember it being so plain like that the last time I saw Fantasmic. And the loose seatbelt - maybe that's why I always have a death grip on the metal handles, I need to tighten that belt up!

Thanks, me too!

Yeah, we wondered that too about the boat - I should go back and try to find pics from previous trips to compare. Disneyland does have WDW beat with this show though. Only thing is that DL doesn't have the stadium seating.

I thought my seatbelt was pretty tight but I guess not! It was so much fun though - and way better than the version at DL since this one keeps you guessing as to when you're going to drop and it does it so many times!

Speaking of DL - did I mention that we are planning a trip there next April? It's my dad's 60th birthday and DL will be celebrating its 60th through next Sept so we'll get to see the special shows that go along with that! Last time we were there the waterway was drained in DCA and the World of Color show was closed down as well so I've still never seen it. Can't wait!!

So sorry to hear that your bug just won't shake off! I hate large WDW crowds, I always feel like I will trip & be trampled.

Thanks - this bug has been crazy! I am still a bit congested and have to be careful not to overdo it because every time I do I can feel it trying to come back. I must have picked up some exotic FL bug...

This trip had higher crowds than we were expecting for sure. I've heard many others on the DIS say the same thing - September was very busy this year. I think when we go again it will be during a cooler time of the year. The heat really started to get to my mom by the end of the trip and if it's going to be busy anyway we might as well not be suffering in sweltering heat!