My 1st PTR/TR: An unexpected trip, Disney in December 4 *Day 3 6/5 Illuminations!*

[Lady Lallie]

She looks like a little doggy supermodel in this picture! So cute.

 

[Roxychica7]

She looks like a little doggy supermodel in this picture! So cute.

I just caught her off guard by saying "you wanna treat?" and "treat" to her makes her FREEZE in her tracks. Only time I can ever get her to hold still sideways!

 

[Roxychica7]

So, for lunch I had planned....any guesses??


Beaches and Cream!!

I had heard that if you get there early enough, you don't have to wait. So, it was close to 12, and I stopped at the gift shop to double check where it was at. I couldnt for the life of me remember if it was at the Beach Club or Boardwalk and exactly how to get to it once I got there. So we rounded the corner of WS to head toward the boats

I love the maze gardens

We got confused by the sign

I figured we had to take the boat, we sat down for all of about 30 seconds when I told Dbf to ask the boat captain, and he says "Nope! Just take the bridge across. It's right in front of the pool!" So we jumped off the boat before it took off and headed outside of Epcot toward the Beach Club resort.

We've never been on this side of the resorts before, so Beach Club and Boardwalk were 2 more that we got to cross off our list of resorts we've seen.

Man, I LOVED it. Beach Club, next to Caribbean Beach is probably my favorites so far. Just beautiful. We looked at the pool for a few minutes.

And before we knew it, we spotted the little ice cream cones on the wall and knew this was the entrance to Beaches and Cream

There were only a few seats left, the place is smaller than I thought it would be, but very cozy! Dbf and I love diners. We had already picked out what we wanted ahead of time, but we ordered our drinks and waited for our server to come back. We got seated by the jukebox! Dbf got a water and I got a freshly made vanilla coke. YUM!

A view from inside

According to AllEars, Dbf ordered:
Roast Beef Sub - Grilled Roast Beef with Au Jus and topped with Provolone Cheese, Grilled Onions, and Peppers $11.49
He ordered his with a side of fruit

And I got:
Chicken Sandwich - Grilled Chicken Breast served on a Multi-Grain Bun $10.49
And I got mine with Onion Rings so that we could share

Both were AMAZING! I know that Beaches and Cream are known for their burgers, but we knew we'd be getting a burger later on in the week and wanted to try something different.
Desert came up quick! Now, I had been regretting this because I KNOW Beaches and Cream has some killer HUGE sundaes. But, I have a dairy allergy and was hoping that they had a non-dairy substitute. And they did!!
So I was excited, but of course we had to eye up the No Way Jose that one of the people the table over from us ordered

Check that baby out!!!
I LOVE peanut butter, it's my all time favorite topping, but I decided against it.
Dbf got a single scoop of coffee ice cream in a cone and I got a single scoop of tofutti vanilla in a bowl with peanut butter topping

As we sat enjoying our ice cream, I was telling Dbf about the Kitchen Sink. We were glancing at it on the menu

Then all of a sudden, these sirens go off and yellow lights are spinning in the room, and we're like what the heck is going on?!!
Then, it comes. The kitchen sink and is delievered by the nicest server that must LOVE her job

Dbf went over a snuck a picture of it sitting on the table of a family with 2 kids, a mom and her sister. It was HUGE!!!

The sandwiches were SO good that we didn't have much room to finish our ice cream. But I payed up, tipped our server and rolled out. As we left, we noticed the cute little ice cream cone tables!

Next up, we check out some more of the Beach Club and then head over to investigate the Boardwalk!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

only 22 bucks for teh kitchen sink that is way less than i thought it was, we are so getting that when we go there next june, you can spend that amount of 4 peoples single icecreams.

ohh and that beef sandwich looks awesome.

 

[Roxychica7]

only 22 bucks for teh kitchen sink that is way less than i thought it was, we are so getting that when we go there next june, you can spend that amount of 4 peoples single icecreams.

ohh and that beef sandwich looks awesome.

Oh I know! I figured it would be WAY more. Most of the other really big sundaes like the No Way Jose and the Milky Way one were only $7.99 which 2 people could definitely share too! It looked like the family that ordered it this go-round didn't make too big of a dent in it!

 

[Lady Lallie]

You know you are a DISer when you start taking pictures of other people's food.

Beaches & Cream looks so yummy!!

 

[Roxychica7]

You know you are a DISer when you start taking pictures of other people's food.

Beaches & Cream looks so yummy!!

It was SO good and SO cute!! And you know it! Have to take pics of other people's food just incase I decide that I want to eat THAT in an upcoming trip

 

[disneydusted]

Awww, now you are in my favorite area! I want to stay at the Beach Club someday. The pool sounds amazing! We haven't eaten at Beaches and Cream but by looking at your photos I think we need to!
I love the International Gateway that takes you right from WS to the Boardwalk area. On our Epcot mornings before WS would open we would cut thru there to go to FW. It was always so peaceful and empty. They do have CM's there to make sure no one goes into WS. Some mornings we would see gardeners working on the topiaries. One even gave DD and me roses that he had pruned off a bush.

 

[Roxychica7]

Awww, now you are in my favorite area! I want to stay at the Beach Club someday. The pool sounds amazing! We haven't eaten at Beaches and Cream but by looking at your photos I think we need to!
I love the International Gateway that takes you right from WS to the Boardwalk area. On our Epcot mornings before WS would open we would cut thru there to go to FW. It was always so peaceful and empty. They do have CM's there to make sure no one goes into WS. Some mornings we would see gardeners working on the topiaries. One even gave DD and me roses that he had pruned off a bush.

Oh I LOVED it. I took plenty of pics just for you too! (Which I'll post in the next entry!) It was so peaceful and I loved the waterfront. They had a Beaches and Cream express too where you can get milkshakes and stuff to go, it was all SO tasty! That is so awesome about the gardeners. I always loved the scenery at WS, I can only imagine what it's like when nobody's there!

 

[julezdisney]

Oh Beaches and Cream....how I long to eat at thee....

Great pix, Jess! And we miss you on the Gnomefest thread!

 

[jenjolt]

How in the world have I not found my way here yet Jess!! I'm so sorry for my late arrival!! I promise to finish getting all caught up but I wanted to at least read your latest update and WOW sounds like you guys had a great time!!

Beaches and Cream...yummy it looks so good!!! Definitely on the to do list some day in the future!!

Going to catch up with the rest of!!! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[Roxychica7]

Oh Beaches and Cream....how I long to eat at thee....

Great pix, Jess! And we miss you on the Gnomefest thread!

Thanks! I finally caught up on our Gnome thread. You were right, I need to get my butt over there more often!

How in the world have I not found my way here yet Jess!! I'm so sorry for my late arrival!! I promise to finish getting all caught up but I wanted to at least read your latest update and WOW sounds like you guys had a great time!!

Beaches and Cream...yummy it looks so good!!! Definitely on the to do list some day in the future!!

Going to catch up with the rest of!!! I can't wait to hear more!

Aw, it's ok! I know there's lots to keep up on lately!! Beaches and Cream will definitely be another stop for us in the future, I will have to try one of their famous burgers! Yum!

 

[Roxychica7]

Ok..now let's try this again. I typed up most of my updated entry yesterday afternoon and then the computer froze and I didn't get a chance to save it! Bah!
But it's ok...on we go!

So after we waddled out of Beaches and Cream, we took in some more of the pool and the Pirate ship. It's so pretty!

We decided to go check out the lobby of the Beach Club, since we were here. I was looking forward to seeing the Chocolate Carousel! Yummy!

Even the landscaping was beautiful!

1st thing we did inside? Check out lights for LL of course!!

And then we saw it...the carousel! Who doesn't want to take a bite!?

Next to the carousel, they had a few gingerbread pieces, my favorite of course was the Pirates inspired Black Pearl gingerbread ship! Complete with Capt Jack Sparrow and Will on board, can you see them? Too cool!

And the beautiful Beach Club Christmas tree! I love the colors, the purple and sea blue and all the starfish and seashells!

 

[jenjolt]

WOW Jess...simply amazing!! Great photos and another great update (I'm not losing this TR LOL!!!)

Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[Roxychica7]

WOW Jess...simply amazing!! Great photos and another great update (I'm not losing this TR LOL!!!)

Can't wait to hear more!!

Thanks!! The Beach Club was SO pretty!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

that is neat they had games out under the tree to play with.

 

[Roxychica7]

that is neat they had games out under the tree to play with.

I thought that was so cool too! It was like Christmas morning!

 

[Roxychica7]

After looking around at the beautiful lobby, we started heading back around the circle toward Epcot.
Not too sure what Dbf was doing, but he looks to be having fun!

Now, I'm quite familiar with birds, but we spotted this guy in the grass in front of one of the resort buildings. I've never seen anything like him, I'm assuming he's Florida native, but he's BLUE and looks like a cross between a great blue heron and some sort of egret. We stared at him for a few and the people walking past us stared at us while we stared at the bird

Before making the turn to Epcot, I looked at my watch and realized it had taken less time to eat and look around than I had first thought. It still wasn't even 1pm yet, and I could tell Dbf was giving me that "do you think we can go over there?" look in the direction of the Boardwalk. SURE! We've never seen it, and I was working very hard on my patience of taking my time to do things. The scenery was great, some of the buildings reminded me exactly of some of the old condos/motels on the Boardwalk at Ocean City (Maryland) to which I've been with my family every summer since I was little.

The one in particular!

And some views across the way to Beach Club

We followed the Boardwalk around until we hit the lobby. We didn't go inside, but I took a picture of the Christmas tree

And something else caught my eye...

Now I am a HUGE fan of Wyland's work. He's known in Hawaii for painting all these HUGE murals on sides of buildings and his main art choice is marine mammals and fish. Here's one for example (I didn't take this one!)

So of COURSE the biologist in me loves him! There's a small art shop in Ocean City that has some of his original pieces which retail for thousands and thousands of dollars. Of course, I only have 2 reprinted lithographs that are on my wall in my apartment. What I didn't know was that there's 4 other artists that work with him and showcase their works too. For Disney, they themed some of their marine animal paintings to include Disney characters, two of which I know hang in the Polynesian resort.

Very cool glasswork. This was a series of 3

And a few other non-Disney ones that I would love to have

They had a bunch of these, who wouldn't want to have this as their window view?

Up next...heading back to Epcot, what did we do for the rest of the afternoon/evening? Stay tuned!

 

[jenjolt]

Oh Jess the artwork in this update is just gorgeous!! How did you ever resist not taking one home LOL (if only we had unlimited funds LOL)!!!! I have to agree the biologist in me also loves those pictures!! Just beautiful!!

So glad you guys had a great time exploring...bring on more EPCOT...I adore that park!!

 

[Roxychica7]

Oh Jess the artwork in this update is just gorgeous!! How did you ever resist not taking one home LOL (if only we had unlimited funds LOL)!!!! I have to agree the biologist in me also loves those pictures!! Just beautiful!!

So glad you guys had a great time exploring...bring on more EPCOT...I adore that park!!

Thankfully the funds DID stop me from taking one home. I'd be happy even with the 2nd one from the bottom (reef fish, coral) a small painting is all I need! I didn't want to leave, thankfully the people running the gallery were SO nice and told us to take as many pictures as we wanted! (I guess that's all we could technically do anyway right!? )