How I Survived 11 Days at WDW with a Disney-Resistant Husband **2/20 THE END **

[chrisw127]

Just caught up. Love your TR so far. I'm running a race in October (the Food and Wine at WDW--the Food & Wine part lured me in) and I'd also forgotten how hard it is to get back into running. I work out enough so my aerobic capacity is fine, but there's something about running that just pushes you farther than most sports. I alternate between loving it and hating it. Good luck with your race!

 

[ashleighbass06]

Ha, ha, ha! That is my husband's favourite line!

Welcome to the club!

Not only do they say the same things but they have the same name...DBF is also Chris. I'm doomed

 

[DrMomof3]

Phew!

Remember I said that I was going to start back running this week so I would be able to run the 10k in October with my husband during his companion Half Marathon race? Well, just under the wire I squeeked in my first workout tonite (if you can call it that).

I ran/walked for 25 mins. To save my embarrassment I won't tell you the distance I covered.

I also won't tell you that I just about fell down getting off the treadmill at the end due to dizziness.

2 things I forgot about starting back to running:

1. it is so hard at first to keep moving and putting one foot in front of the other...​

...but...​

2. it is so gratifying, (especially if you have a desk job and sedentary lifestyle), to feel that good, sweaty tiredness afterwards.​

I am determined to keep this up and get in shape for October's race. Feel free to keep me honest by periodically checking in on me to make sure I am keeping it up!

Good for you! I'm struggling with my 1/2 marathon training so I need some motivation!

Amanda

 

[cdotla]

Now you have me feeling guilty!!!!!! Especially after I ate a bowl of icecream and apple cobbler!!!

We are more alike than you would think!

LOVE your view from your room!! Beautiful!! And that pool looks AMAZING!!! Can't wait to hear about Brown Derby and Fantasmic!!

Coming up soon!

I like your pic of the BC. We have never stayed there...but it is a place we want to stay.

Can't go wrong with the BC IMO - LOVE IT!!!

Oh, I love the BC and SAB! We can't wait to go back and stay there again one day. I always think that the kids meal in the pail is a fantastic idea. We actually have two of those at home I think from our past trips. Sigh, I could just smell the BC lobby as I was reading about your stay. Glad you got to use the slide a bit too, as we walked by a few times and saw the slide being worked on.

I spent sooo much time at night in that Lobby! Me and all of the other night owls!

Love the picture of BC! I am dying to stay there. We are a beach loving/pool loving family so I am sure that my whole family would love it! We just, typically, spend so little time at our resort that I am not sure it is worth the $$. We loved POR last year and are planning to do it again while DS is still small enough for the trundle. What to do? What to do?

If there is ever a resort that actually makes you want to *leave* the Parks, the BC is it!

What a wonderful room view!!

Many years ago we did the late night trek through Epcot when our boys were young. They were totally exhausted - younger DS were were able to carry for partial time. That walk through Epcot to BC can truly be long!

I can walk forever. Especially with scenery as fantastic as Epcot and Crescent Lake. However, I grossly overestimated the kids' endurance, especially given the heat that day. Lesson learned!

 

[cdotla]

Beautiful BC pics! SAB sounds heavenly, I'm afraid if we were to stay there I might have a hard time convincing the boys to leave the pool for the parks as well - no wonder Chris was content to just hang at the resort!

You've got that right! I don't know of any resort pool anywhere that can compete with SAB!

Just caught up. Love your TR so far. I'm running a race in October (the Food and Wine at WDW--the Food & Wine part lured me in) and I'd also forgotten how hard it is to get back into running. I work out enough so my aerobic capacity is fine, but there's something about running that just pushes you farther than most sports. I alternate between loving it and hating it. Good luck with your race!

Good luck training for the F&W! Sound be an awesome race!

Not only do they say the same things but they have the same name...DBF is also Chris. I'm doomed

Good for you! I'm struggling with my 1/2 marathon training so I need some motivation!

Amanda

If you find any, please send it my way!

 

[DisneyFanDC]

We've never stayed at the Beach Club, but reading your TR is making reconsider for future trips! Very much enjoying reading about your trip.

 

[cdotla]

Brown Derby & Fantasmic!


After a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon at Stormalong Bay, we cleaned ourselves up for dinner and headed out to catch the Friendship Boat to Hollywood Studios.

We were headed to the Brown Derby - one of my favourites.

How great it felt to be walking through the Beach Club lobby and knowing that we would be calling this wonderful resort home for the next 8 nights!

We headed out the lobby's back doors toward the wonderful boardwalk which circles Cresent Lake.

On our way, we ran into the Beach Club's Photopass photographer. I assume that he is there primarily to shoot people who pay for the resort photo session, but during our time at the Beach Club we saw him numerous times roaming the resort taking candid shots of families. He was such a great photographer! Very enthusiastic about his job, and worked really hard to get great photos. If you happened to get this guy as your photo session photographer, I would say you hit the jackpot!

As we were walking by, this wonderful photographer asked if we would like him to take our picture. Given that there was no Friendship Boat in sight and we had some time to kill, I thought this was a wonderful idea. While DH as usual wasn't thrilled about posing for photos, he begrudgingly agreed. In addition to the one and only park photopass picture we took when we entered the Magic Kingdom the day before, this would end up being our second and last family photopass picture of the entire trip. Thank goodness we took the time to pose for these photos because I was so, so impressed with the end results!!!

In the span of about 2 minutes, this guy got us all to pose on some rocks on the beach about 4 feet off the boardwalk. He set up the shot perfectly within seconds and took some wonderful photos of the whole family. I don't yet have the photopass CD (it was ordered last week), but I will be sure to post these pictures as soon as it arrives.

After posing for our photos, we were off to the dock to wait for our boat.

It came quickly, and then we took off down the canal for the short trip to Hollywood Studios. This was a first-time ride for all of us. I had only ever taken the Friendship Boats to and from Epcot. What a huge benefit of staying at the Crescent Lake resorts. So convenient!!!

We arrived at Hollywood Studios just in time for our reservation at the Brown Derby.

I love the decor here and we were all happy with the meal.

Chris ordered the Baby Greens Salad and the Grouper and was pleased with his selections.

My MIL ordered the Crab Cake, another appetizer (which I don't seem to have taken a photo of) and some type of non-descript dessert. No complaints from her (although she is not one to complain anyway!)

The kids each ordered grilled cheese. Pretty basic and boring. The bread was dried out and the presentation was definitely lacking. I have seen better counter service kids meals!

After hearing about the infamous Cobb Salad, I decided to give that a try.

Unfortunately, this was not something I enjoyed at all. Not sure exactly why, but the flavours just didn't sit well with me. So this was kind of a disappointment. Luckily, my dessert more than made up for it. I had heard for a couple of years now all about the Grapefruit Cake but had never tried it. Tonite was the night. And it was about time. I loved it!!!

After the meal, we had just enough time to head up for the 1st showing of Fantasmic. By the time we arrived (about 40 minutes before start time), the theatre was literally almost completely full. I couldn't believe it! This was my first time at Fantasmic since they dropped the schedule back to only a couple times a week instead of nightly and boy, did it show!

We very quickly made our way over to find seats just in the nick of time. If we had been 10 minutes later we would have had awful seats on the extreme ends of the theatre. This is the main reason why the Fantasmic dinner package is of absolutely no interest to me: I have to be seated in the middle of the theatre. I know I would not enjoy the views from the ends.

After entertaining the kids with glow sticks and snacks, and participating in The Wave, it was finally time for the show to start. This would be Chris, Declan and my MIL's first time seeing the show. Of course everyone loved it.

I was pleasantly surprised that the show had changed a fair bit since I last saw it. As I regularly listen to 4 Disney podcasts and tend to keep up with the latest Disney internet news, I was very surprised about the changes. I am not sure how I missed this update, but in retrospect, it was great not to have been expecting the changes. It kind of made the whole show new to all of us.

What a great introduction to the Parks for my MIL. She was blown away and couldn't believe the quality of the nightly park entertainment.

After the show, we of course had to fight our way through the crush crowds to get out of the Park. Fortunately, we were able to get on a Friendship Boat after only about a 10 minute wait. What a nice way to cap off the evening.


UP NEXT: Day 3 and off to Animal Kingdom!

 

[cdotla]

We've never stayed at the Beach Club, but reading your TR is making reconsider for future trips! Very much enjoying reading about your trip.

Thank you! So glad you are following along!

The Beach Club is awesome - you should check it out sometime and see what you think!

 

[PrincessInOz]

My turn to reciprocate the feeling! That shot of Crescent Lake and the Boardwalk makes me wish I was back there .

I know what you mean about the Y&BC PP photographer. We met him too...unfortunately for us, never as a family together. We had intended on getting a family shot with him and were very impressed with his friendly and chatty manner. But somehow, we kept missing him when we were together as a family and only saw him individually!

Next time....

 

[edk35]

Brown Derby & Fantasmic!


After a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon at Stormalong Bay, we cleaned ourselves up for dinner and headed out to catch the Friendship Boat to Hollywood Studios.

We were headed to the Brown Derby - one of my favourites.

How great it felt to be walking through the Beach Club lobby and knowing that we would be calling this wonderful resort home for the next 8 nights!

We headed out the lobby's back doors toward the wonderful boardwalk which circles Cresent Lake.

On our way, we ran into the Beach Club's Photopass photographer. I assume that he is there primarily to shoot people who pay for the resort photo session, but during our time at the Beach Club we saw him numerous times roaming the resort taking candid shots of families. He was such a great photographer! Very enthusiastic about his job, and worked really hard to get great photos. If you happened to get this guy as your photo session photographer, I would say you hit the jackpot!

As we were walking by, this wonderful photographer asked if we would like him to take our picture. Given that there was no Friendship Boat in sight and we had some time to kill, I thought this was a wonderful idea. While DH as usual wasn't thrilled about posing for photos, he begrudgingly agreed. In addition to the one and only park photopass picture we took when we entered the Magic Kingdom the day before, this would end up being our second and last family photopass picture of the entire trip. Thank goodness we took the time to pose for these photos because I was so, so impressed with the end results!!!

In the span of about 2 minutes, this guy got us all to pose on some rocks on the beach about 4 feet off the boardwalk. He set up the shot perfectly within seconds and took some wonderful photos of the whole family. I don't yet have the photopass CD (it was ordered last week), but I will be sure to post these pictures as soon as it arrives.

After posing for our photos, we were off to the dock to wait for our boat.

It came quickly, and then we took off down the canal for the short trip to Hollywood Studios. This was a first-time ride for all of us. I had only ever taken the Friendship Boats to and from Epcot. What a huge benefit of staying at the Crescent Lake resorts. So convenient!!!

We arrived at Hollywood Studios just in time for our reservation at the Brown Derby.

I love the decor here and we were all happy with the meal.

Chris ordered the Baby Greens Salad and the Grouper and was pleased with his selections.

My MIL ordered the Crab Cake, another appetizer (which I don't seem to have taken a photo of) and some type of non-descript dessert. No complaints from her (although she is not one to complain anyway!)

The kids each ordered grilled cheese. Pretty basic and boring. The bread was dried out and the presentation was definitely lacking. I have seen better counter service kids meals!

After hearing about the infamous Cobb Salad, I decided to give that a try.

Unfortunately, this was not something I enjoyed at all. Not sure exactly why, but the flavours just didn't sit well with me. So this was kind of a disappointment. Luckily, my dessert more than made up for it. I had heard for a couple of years now all about the Grapefruit Cake but had never tried it. Tonite was the night. And it was about time. I loved it!!!

After the meal, we had just enough time to head up for the 1st showing of Fantasmic. By the time we arrived (about 40 minutes before start time), the theatre was literally almost completely full. I couldn't believe it! This was my first time at Fantasmic since they dropped the schedule back to only a couple times a week instead of nightly and boy, did it show!

We very quickly made our way over to find seats just in the nick of time. If we had been 10 minutes later we would have had awful seats on the extreme ends of the theatre. This is the main reason why the Fantasmic dinner package is of absolutely no interest to me: I have to be seated in the middle of the theatre. I know I would not enjoy the views from the ends.

After entertaining the kids with glow sticks and snacks, and participating in The Wave, it was finally time for the show to start. This would be Chris, Declan and my MIL's first time seeing the show. Of course everyone loved it.

I was pleasantly surprised that the show had changed a fair bit since I last saw it. As I regularly listen to 4 Disney podcasts and tend to keep up with the latest Disney internet news, I was very surprised about the changes. I am not sure how I missed this update, but in retrospect, it was great not to have been expecting the changes. It kind of made the whole show new to all of us.

What a great introduction to the Parks for my MIL. She was blown away and couldn't believe the quality of the nightly park entertainment.

After the show, we of course had to fight our way through the crush crowds to get out of the Park. Fortunately, we were able to get on a Friendship Boat after only about a 10 minute wait. What a nice way to cap off the evening.


UP NEXT: Tusker House Breakfast and Touring Animal Kingdom

I have to say that salad doesn't look too appetizing either!!! We have never tried the Brown Derby.

 

[SoonerGirl]

I've read rave reviews of the cobb salad too, but I agree with a previous poster - from your pic it doesn't look very good

I'm so happy your family enjoyed Fantasmic! That mad crush of people leaving the area is the main reason why I have avoided it to date, I'm sure some day I'll see it, but I'm not looking forward to the crowd!

 

[klacey1]

What a lovely night at DHS!! Your pictures are so beautiful-- BC is so lovely! From the way you've described them, I can't wait to see these photopass pictures!! I'm sure they came out beautifully!

 

[lumpy08]

looking forward to seeing your photopass pics.

 

[Queenofallthings]

What a wonderful evening you had! We have never dined at BD....but that Grapefruit Cake looks and sounds delicious. So glad you took the time to pose with the PP. Last summer we did a private session while we were staying at AKV and I am so happy we did...our photographer did a good job too! I would do it again in a heartbeat!! Love Fantasmic! We almost froze when we watched it in January, but so worth it!

 

[declansdad]

Once again I love your photos, excellent job!

We have watched Fantasmic from both the end and the middle and I much prefer the middle. The end wasn't bad but it was just missing a little.

 

[BippityBoo]

Great updates---I am all caught up So sorry, I have been SO MIA this past week!

I am glad that you enjoyed your time at the pool!! I can not wait to see your family pic when you get your CD in the mail!

What a great service the friendship boats were!! We use the ones in Epcot and just love the time it saves us. We were going to eat at Brown Derby during our 08 trip---your food looks really good! I agree--the kid's meal could be nicer for the quality of the meal.

I also agree with your comment about Fantasmic! I do not see the point in using 2 TS credits for for the Fantasmic Package. We have always gotten a good seat just walking in. I hope I don't eat my words this trip Can't wait to hear more about your trip

 

[cdotla]

My turn to reciprocate the feeling! That shot of Crescent Lake and the Boardwalk makes me wish I was back there .

I know what you mean about the Y&BC PP photographer. We met him too...unfortunately for us, never as a family together. We had intended on getting a family shot with him and were very impressed with his friendly and chatty manner. But somehow, we kept missing him when we were together as a family and only saw him individually!

Next time....

I wish I had that guy's name. We didn't do the family photo session this year, but on a future trip I would request him for sure.

I have to say that salad doesn't look too appetizing either!!! We have never tried the Brown Derby.

It certainly won't be something I would order again!

I've read rave reviews of the cobb salad too, but I agree with a previous poster - from your pic it doesn't look very good

I'm so happy your family enjoyed Fantasmic! That mad crush of people leaving the area is the main reason why I have avoided it to date, I'm sure some day I'll see it, but I'm not looking forward to the crowd!

You will love Fantasmic once you see it! Even crush crowds can't keep me away!

What a lovely night at DHS!! Your pictures are so beautiful-- BC is so lovely! From the way you've described them, I can't wait to see these photopass pictures!! I'm sure they came out beautifully!

I don't want to overstate, but for a photo that was put together in under 30 seconds, I was very, very pleased with the end results!

looking forward to seeing your photopass pics.

I will post it for sure once the CD arrives!

What a wonderful evening you had! We have never dined at BD....but that Grapefruit Cake looks and sounds delicious. So glad you took the time to pose with the PP. Last summer we did a private session while we were staying at AKV and I am so happy we did...our photographer did a good job too! I would do it again in a heartbeat!! Love Fantasmic! We almost froze when we watched it in January, but so worth it!

Two thumbs up for sure for the Grapefruit cake. I would go back in a heartbeat for the cake alone!

Glad to hear you had a great photopass session at AKL!

Once again I love your photos, excellent job!

We have watched Fantasmic from both the end and the middle and I much prefer the middle. The end wasn't bad but it was just missing a little.

It is the middle all the way for me!

Great updates---I am all caught up So sorry, I have been SO MIA this past week!

I am glad that you enjoyed your time at the pool!! I can not wait to see your family pic when you get your CD in the mail!

What a great service the friendship boats were!! We use the ones in Epcot and just love the time it saves us. We were going to eat at Brown Derby during our 08 trip---your food looks really good! I agree--the kid's meal could be nicer for the quality of the meal.

I also agree with your comment about Fantasmic! I do not see the point in using 2 TS credits for for the Fantasmic Package. We have always gotten a good seat just walking in. I hope I don't eat my words this trip Can't wait to hear more about your trip

Actually, BD is 2 TS credits regardless. It wasn't the credits that turned me off the Fantasmic Package - just the location of the crappy seats they give you.

I would be all over paying a premium to have guaranteed seating...but it has to be good seating or what is the point?

 

[LilAnn]

Looks like you had a fun evening! It is so nice to visit DHS and Epcot when you stay at BC. So easy! Can't wait to hear about Tusker House as that is a place I have been wanting to try out. Does that mean you were at AK on Saturday? If so, we were there that morning too!

 

[bluejasmine]

I too can relate I USE to be married to a WDW resister.. Its just one of the many reasons he is a EX! lol I am now married to a WDW lover..Thank GOD! I am enjoying your report very much cant wait to read the rest!

 

[taymacsmom]

I wish they hadn't cut down the number of Fantasmic shows. We absolutely love that show, but standing in line for an hour to see it seems like such a long time! Even then you may not get a good seat. In 2011 when we go, it will be for at least 10 days so, hopefully, we won't feel as bad about waiting! And we will see it again!