Greg K.
Happy DVC Member, DIS Vet, and Catholic Deacon
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
- Messages
- 1,788
My wife and I recently completed two and a half wonderful weeks at the Beach Club Villas (combining two years' worth of points for one mammoth stay.) We stayed from July 6-July 23.
Some quick impressions ...
* LOVED the Villas. We stayed in Room 525, a studio, with a "wilderness" view. It was very quiet, close (but not TOO close) to the elevators and offered a stunning view of the IllumiNations.
* LOVED the crowds, which were surprisngly scarce. Some mornings (and even afternoons) our bus would rumble by the parking lot for the MK or the AK and there would be ACRES of empty spaces. I realize, that's mixed news. But for this first-time July visitor, this was a pleasant turn of events!
* LOVED E-ride night. Which, also to my surprise, still had tickets available for July 22 at 7 pm that night! The best part was not the short lines for the rides; it was, hands-down, the VERY short wait to meet the characters. There was an endless parade of them outside the castle, and hardly any wait at all! Everyone from Pluto to Mickey. Amazing. And there was something beautiful and eerie about wandering up and down Main Street with HARDLY ANYONE THERE, the whole place lit by the golden glow of millions of tiny round bulbs. Lovely.
* LIKED but did not really love Mission: Space. Rode it twice in a row during a cast member preview and I sort of agree with a woman who works at one of the gift shops in Epcot: it doesn't really live up to the hype. It's a really REALLY good version of Star Tours. But I liked the first 30 seconds a lot and would ride again, but not if the line was too long.
* DID NOT LIKE the abbreviated hours for the shops. I was surprised that our sundry shop at the BC did not open until 8 am -- which sort of made it useless if you were going for early morning. And at the MK, there were no shops open until 10 am on EE days, except the ones on Main Street. Which means if you wanted to kill some time with a FastPass or something, you had nowhere to go, but back to Main St.
* DID NOT LIKE the reconfigured Main Street Bakery. The expanded food selection is great. But the seating is not. There are simply not enough places to sit and eat those gazillion-calorie sweet rolls. I ended up standing on the sidewalk outside, wolfing mine down with one hand, cradling a coffee cup with the other. Not good. And what on EARTH are all those little glass baubles doing for sale right in the middle of the bakery?!
* HAD MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT the Villagator. He is one big muthuh. Seven feet or so, by one estimate. And a little creepy. He usually poked his nose out mid-morning, and guests would obligingly throw him bits of bagels (not, thankfully, BEAGLES!) which he'd chomp down if he felt like it. My wife was mortified that they haven't done something to get rid of him. I can't say I blame her. It wouldn't take a lot of effort on his part to climb up to to swimming pool area and have a toddler for lunch.
That's it. Any questions? I'm all ears
Some quick impressions ...
* LOVED the Villas. We stayed in Room 525, a studio, with a "wilderness" view. It was very quiet, close (but not TOO close) to the elevators and offered a stunning view of the IllumiNations.
* LOVED the crowds, which were surprisngly scarce. Some mornings (and even afternoons) our bus would rumble by the parking lot for the MK or the AK and there would be ACRES of empty spaces. I realize, that's mixed news. But for this first-time July visitor, this was a pleasant turn of events!
* LOVED E-ride night. Which, also to my surprise, still had tickets available for July 22 at 7 pm that night! The best part was not the short lines for the rides; it was, hands-down, the VERY short wait to meet the characters. There was an endless parade of them outside the castle, and hardly any wait at all! Everyone from Pluto to Mickey. Amazing. And there was something beautiful and eerie about wandering up and down Main Street with HARDLY ANYONE THERE, the whole place lit by the golden glow of millions of tiny round bulbs. Lovely.
* LIKED but did not really love Mission: Space. Rode it twice in a row during a cast member preview and I sort of agree with a woman who works at one of the gift shops in Epcot: it doesn't really live up to the hype. It's a really REALLY good version of Star Tours. But I liked the first 30 seconds a lot and would ride again, but not if the line was too long.
* DID NOT LIKE the abbreviated hours for the shops. I was surprised that our sundry shop at the BC did not open until 8 am -- which sort of made it useless if you were going for early morning. And at the MK, there were no shops open until 10 am on EE days, except the ones on Main Street. Which means if you wanted to kill some time with a FastPass or something, you had nowhere to go, but back to Main St.
* DID NOT LIKE the reconfigured Main Street Bakery. The expanded food selection is great. But the seating is not. There are simply not enough places to sit and eat those gazillion-calorie sweet rolls. I ended up standing on the sidewalk outside, wolfing mine down with one hand, cradling a coffee cup with the other. Not good. And what on EARTH are all those little glass baubles doing for sale right in the middle of the bakery?!
* HAD MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT the Villagator. He is one big muthuh. Seven feet or so, by one estimate. And a little creepy. He usually poked his nose out mid-morning, and guests would obligingly throw him bits of bagels (not, thankfully, BEAGLES!) which he'd chomp down if he felt like it. My wife was mortified that they haven't done something to get rid of him. I can't say I blame her. It wouldn't take a lot of effort on his part to climb up to to swimming pool area and have a toddler for lunch.
That's it. Any questions? I'm all ears
