Family Trip - Beach Club 10/23 to 10/30 (report is a bit long)

[StevieD]

Family Trip to WDW – Beach Club Villas

Participants – Myself, DW, and DD (6 yrs old)

When – Oct. 23 – Oct. 30

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The following are highlights from our recent trip. We just joined DVC this year and this was our first stay at Beach Club Villas. Our previous trips with our DD included the Polynesian, and the Dolphin. Overall, this trip was a “so-so”, but mainly due to an illness my wife had during the first three days of the trip, as well as head colds my daughter and I had as well. Once we all recovered, the trip improved dramatically.

Transportation

The Good – we used yourride.com and had a great experience for transfers from the airport and back. Highly recommended.

The Bad – We won’t visit WDW again without renting a car – there were just too many times we wished we had one during the trip, even if it sat in the lot for a few days unused.

The Ugly – WDW bus transportation was the slowest on this trip (a low attendance period) than any other we have been on. Also, during the last two days of our trip, a huge convention was at BC/YC resorts (Omnilife – I’ve never heard of them) which clogged the busses dramatically.


Beach Club Villas (BCV)

The Good – Beautiful resort, wonderful rooms (we stayed in a 1-bedroom villa), and fantastic access to the parks. In our opinion, BC is the most convenient resort for families – Walking access to Epcot (we spent at least a few hours each evening in Epcot), close to Boardwalk, boat to MGM, Stormalong Bay (SAB). One caveat though – we liked SAB for the sand bottom pool/simulated beach, but for older kids I don’t think this pool would be as big a deal. Our DD loved the Sandcastle Club – we highly recommend it as well.

The Bad – General lackluster attitude among the CM’s at Beach Club – not very many smiles, poor attitude. Also, we ended up with a room next to the elevator shaft – turned out to be very noisy, but this wasn’t a major complaint.

The Ugly – We had a trip to the emergency room on the second day of our visit which caused us to miss our PS’s for the Storybook Breakfast. Unfortunately, our “good friend” (Dripping with sarcasm) CM “Brett” was unable to help us out – the old Disney Magic I’ve heard so much about just wasn’t there.

The Parks

The Good – Very low crowds, Magic Kingdom was operating beautifully, had a wonderful time at MNSSHP. Epcot was also running great, with the Food and Wine Festival in full swing. My first visit to Ice Station Cool – don’t go near the Italian beverage – I found it vile. Lot’s of Characters at MK – we had a great experience. Very short wait times at MK and MGM. Big Tip – GET A STROLLER! Even if your kids are a bit older! My wife swears that pushing the stroller cut at least 5 mph off my normal pace, and she was very grateful.

The Bad – In spite of the time of year, Orlando was having a heat wave and temps were in the upper 80’s with rain in the afternoons. Oh well, you can’t control the weather. Also, we continue to be amazed at the people who don’t recognize queueing (waiting in line). I’m sure this is a common complaint, but disappointing nonetheless.

The Ugly – Well, we gave Animal Kingdom our third try in as many years on this trip. We went there just after it opened and had a horrible time. Last time was a little better, this time about the same – but still not up to the quality of the other theme parks. Two of our favorite attractions are there (Tough to be a Bug, Festival of Lion King), but this park has the worst layout of any park we’ve ever visited. The layout leads to congestion even on low attendance days! We waited in line for over 30 minutes to get a stroller (only one stroller location in the entire park!). Kali River Rapids seems perennially broken. Disney needs to work on this park, particularly crowd flow and access.


Food

The Good – We generally had a good food experience at WDW. Liberty Tree Tavern was a great character dinner prior to MNSSHP – good food, great service. Had a wonderful dinner at the San Angel Inn in Mexico – fantastic atmosphere, good food. For those who will still catch the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, you have to try the “Watermelon Water” at the Mexico kiosk – best refreshment in WDW! Also good was smoked ribs at German kiosk, quesadillo at Mexico, tomato/sourdough bread salad at California kiosk, and onion tart at French kiosk. Finally, we had a good meal at Spoodles, a fantastic lunch at Concourse Steakhouse (consistently our favorite restaurant at WDW!), and a fun time at Sci Fi Diner.

The Bad – Well, again referencing the Food and Wine festival – you may want to skip Morocco kiosk (hummus was horrible – interestingly, though, the hummus at the counter service Moroccan restaurant was great!!!), Japan kiosk (“golden shrimp” was just plain horrible), Australian Kiosk (both the shrimp and meat pie were sub-standard).

The Ugly – OK, here’s my suggestion (at least for this time of the year) – Skip PS’s altogether. Why??…well, this is based on our experience. We had PS’s for lunch and dinner almost every day, and we used most of these. For most of our meals, PS’s would not have been required – there was no wait time and walk-ins were getting seated right away. However, for those meals where there was a long wait (Cape May Character breakfast, Flying Fish) – our PS’s weren’t much help. For example, at the Cape May breakfast, walk-in’s were being told 40 minute wait, PS holders were told 30 minute wait. The truth is that, based on our observation and discussions with a few other couples, everyone (walk-ins and PS holders) was being seated in about 35 minutes. So next time, we may not bother that much with PS’s.

Finally, a word about pin trading. Don’t go too crazy with this, as we have on our last two trips. Most of these pins can be had for much less via Ebay – so just have fun picking up a few pins, and spend more time trading rather than buying. We had a great time at the pin trading night at Downtown Disney Marketplace – lots of activities for the kids to win lanyard pins, and the CM’s here were the nicest we encountered in all of WDW.

Anyway, not our best trip (in part due to illness), but a nagging feeling that service at WDW has gone down a notch. I hope I’m wrong.

 

[pumba]

even with the things happening....you did alot and saw alot.....

 

[Boots]

Thanks for the great trip report! DH and I have often considered the BC.

 

[disneysteve]

"We waited in line for over 30 minutes to get a stroller (only one stroller location in the entire park!). Kali River Rapids seems perennially broken."

Actually, Magic Kingdom has only one stroller location. Does EPCOT have 2? I guess there might be one at International Gateway, not that all that many people enter the park there. I would think that the main entrance is where the vast majority of guests enter, so that stroller site gets most of the business. Regardless, a 30 minute wait is certainly unacceptable.

I haven't heard of problems with Kali River Rapids. Its always been running when we've been there. Actually, neither my wife nor I like the ride but we go over there because my mother-in-law insists on riding it.

Sorry to hear you don't care for Animal Kingdom. We find it to be the most beautiful of the parks. When we want to wander and not feel rushed or bombarded by Disney, meandering the paths and taking in the sights there is very relaxing.

Steve, who leaves tomorrow for a week in sunny Disney World.

 

[Krissalee]

Thanks for sharing your good, bad, and ugly experiences. I am sure that this will help others when planning their trips.

Overall, it sounds like you and your family had a great time!

 

[StevieD]

You can get strollers at Tinkerbell's Treasures in the MK as well. And we definitely use the International Gateway entrance as we tend to stay at the Boardwalk/BC/YC resorts - so this location is handy for stroller rentals.

Kali River Rapids has broken on every one of our visits to AK in the last 2 years (3 visits) - could be just coincidence. Even still, I think the park layout is poor. Look at the MK - While it is basically a hub and spoke system, you can reach each "land" from at least two (and sometimes 3) directions. In AK, each land can only be reached by one path, and everything is routed through Discovery Island. We have encountered horrible waits for the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch. Anyway, this layout tends to lead to congestion even when the park is relatively under capacity. I do like AK - as I said, two of our favorite attractions are there.

Hope you have fun.