OLD THREAD: 2012 Beach and Yacht FAQ, Part 2- May, June and July DON'T POST HERE!

[VAfamily1998]

SAB has designated hours that change according to the season. If it is open 10 AM to 10 PM, then you cannot get into the pool except for those hours.

The three "quiet" pools are always open and not attended by lifeguards.

Thanks!

 

[Laffites Landing]

Hi, everyone! I'm trying so hard to keep up with this thread, but I think it's a lost cause. I started with the old one (March/April/May) and was keeping up on the iPad during my walks until mid-April, but I fell way behind because i had to elininate my morning walks due to construction adding 20-40 minutes to my daily commute. Then I was dismayed when I came back on Monday and found not only was I 30 pages behind, there was a NEW thread with 14 more pages!!! I think I give up!

So...I'll just throw out my question though I suspect it's been asked in some form before...

I'm close to my 180 day mark! (Next Monday, I do believe) And I'm completely overwhelmed at dining choices. It has been almost 7 years since we've been to Disney, and that was our first time, so my knowledge of restaurants is pretty limited. Since I know I should make my ADRs on Monday, and I want to send them to IPO to let them do the hard part, I need to figure them out!

I'm looking for ideas...the "tried and true" restaurants that everyone loves. My boys are 6 and 10 and I suspect one character meal will do us. (Sadly, no princess meal for me, since I'm the only girl in the party. ) We like to eat late as a general rule (8 or 9pm is not unheard of for us), and I suspect having the ability to snack on the conceirge offerings will help tide us over.

If anyone has any "must try" options that they love, I'd love to hear them! Thank you!

PS: We also have the dining plan in addition to CL, for what it's worth.

Steph:

I am about to return to Disney world for the first time in 14 years. We picked out all of our restaurants prior to the 180 day point. Here's how I chose them:

1) I purchased an unofficial guide to WDW and read up on all the different food options

2) I started reading about them on the Internet. There are reviews both here and at allears. I found menus at several different places.

3) I talked to my family about different choices to find out what they wanted.

4) I looked at all the pretty photos and decriptions on the WDW website.

5) I tried to fit every choice in with what park we were going to tour that day.

Keeping in mind that we are doing the deluxe dining plan, we ended up a nice list which includes several 2 credit options and 3 character meals over 10 days. It took work but if you want, I will give you my whole list. I won't know for sure if it worked for a couple of weeks but that was my process.

 

[jenij]

Anyone ever get a little too excited for a trip and make a planning ooops?

So my last day of school/work (I am a teacher) is June 12th, I was so excited to book our trip that somehow in my January mindset leaving the morning of the 13th was a brilliant way to celebrate the first day of summer vacation. What was I thinking? I am off all summer, we could have left on the 14th or even the 15th but no, I chose the day after I am done so here is hoping my room is cleaned and ready to leave in time for me to be able to pack for Disney. I think I got a little too excited when I was planning and did not think logically. At least I will be in my happy place in 2 weeks!.

I'm a teacher and did the same thing. It made since in January because we wanted early June and cooler weather and we wanted to go to SWW. We leave Saturday and the 10-day forecast shows 95 degree temps! I also have to get my own kids settled as this is a couple trip to celebrate our anniversary without our kiddos. I will probably forget all this and do the same thing in two years when we do take the kids. At least you have some time to pack up. I only have two more days!!

 

[jenij]

What is it about having to race the boat when you're walking? We've done the same.

I was just talking to DH and showing him the cut-through and now we're thinking we may drive. It will be my younger DS's first year without a stroller and we don't want to put that much stress on him our first day/morning.

We will be going to DHS the same day, June 8!

We took an unexpected trip to Southern Cal in December for my grandma's funeral and added a trip to see the Mouse. My daughter had been without a stroller for awhile, but I knew she couldn't last all day walking. We ended up renting a stroller and it saved our backs from carrying her and gave us a place to put stuff when it wasn't in use. This December we will be at WDW and we will rent a stroller from an outside company. It looks bigger than the parks' strollers and they deliver to your resort! It may be worth looking into since it is your DS's first year without a stroller. Just a thought.

 

[sndral]

So...I'll just throw out my question though I suspect it's been asked in some form before...

I'm close to my 180 day mark! (Next Monday, I do believe) And I'm completely overwhelmed at dining choices. It has been almost 7 years since we've been to Disney, and that was our first time, so my knowledge of restaurants is pretty limited. Since I know I should make my ADRs on Monday, and I want to send them to IPO to let them do the hard part, I need to figure them out!

I'm looking for ideas...the "tried and true" restaurants that everyone loves. My boys are 6 and 10 and I suspect one character meal will do us. (Sadly, no princess meal for me, since I'm the only girl in the party. ) We like to eat late as a general rule (8 or 9pm is not unheard of for us), and I suspect having the ability to snack on the conceirge offerings will help tide us over.

If anyone has any "must try" options that they love, I'd love to hear them! Thank you!

PS: We also have the dining plan in addition to CL, for what it's worth.

Mmm, you must be arriving 12/1/12 - my 180 days is Sun., so I'm obsessing about the same thing. We have deluxe dinning, so we plan on a lot of 2 TS restaurants, and we sleep in (heresy, I know to rope drop people) so we don't usually schedule breakfasts.
The huge advantage to YC/BC is the easy stroll into Epcot where every country has a restaurant.
Le Cellier in Canada is a huge favorite w/ us it's 2 TS @ dinner but only 1 ts for lunch. I also love Boma's dinner buffet @ the Animal Kingdom lodge - I try to schedule it on a day I know we'll be @ AK and then just hop over after AK closes. Ohana at the Poly is a fun dinner w/ kids and easy to reach via monorail on an MK night. I personally really like Le Chefs in France - it's right by the International gate entry @ Epcot, so super convenient from the YC/BC.

 

[natebenma]

A few of our favorites (short list). Via Napoli, Kona, Boma and Cape May.

Great list! We haven't been to Via Napoli because it opened after our last trip, but the other 3 are on our must-dine list. I just noticed, these 3 are all resort, not theme park, restaurants!!!

Steph:

I am about to return to Disney world for the first time in 14 years. We picked out all of our restaurants prior to the 180 day point. Here's how I chose them:

1) I purchased an unofficial guide to WDW and read up on all the different food options

2) I started reading about them on the Internet. There are reviews both here and at allears. I found menus at several different places.

3) I talked to my family about different choices to find out what they wanted.

4) I looked at all the pretty photos and decriptions on the WDW website.

5) I tried to fit every choice in with what park we were going to tour that day.

Keeping in mind that we are doing the deluxe dining plan, we ended up a nice list which includes several 2 credit options and 3 character meals over 10 days. It took work but if you want, I will give you my whole list. I won't know for sure if it worked for a couple of weeks but that was my process.

Fantastic suggestions. Before I was spending all my time here, I could be found feeding my food porn addiction (yes, pun intended) over on the restaurant boards looking at food reviews and menus. Definitely check out the menus on all ears.

Character meal- we like the Cape May breakfast, Chef Mickey's is iconic and we haven't been, but I hear great things about Garden Grill in EPCOT/The Land (dinner only).

As mentioned above- we like Boma, Kona and Cape May Clambake

We don't eat usually TS in the MK or AK

At Hollywood Studios, we enjoy lunch at the Sci Fi.

At EPCOT, Le Cellier, Teppan Edo is fun, Restaurant Marrakesh is exotic

I am dying to try Kouzzina at the Boardwalk. LOVE Greek food.

 

[Katesdad]

I'm close to my 180 day mark! And I'm completely overwhelmed at dining choices. Since I know I should make my ADRs on Monday, and I want to send them to IPO to let them do the hard part, I need to figure them out! My boys are 6 and 10 and I suspect one character meal will do us. We like to eat late as a general rule (8 or 9pm is not unheard of for us), and I suspect having the ability to snack on the conceirge offerings will help tide us over. We also have the dining plan in addition to CL, for what it's worth.

My 180 mark is Monday as well. DW and I are spending Dec. 1 at WDW after seven days on the Fantasy to do some Christmas shopping at DTD. Sounds like you'll be busy this weekend with the ADR planning. My suggestion has already been mentioned. Look at your touring plan. Look at where you will be that day and choose something close by. I would recommend getting over to AKL and doing their buffet for the boys. Also Rainforest in AK or DTD is fun (make sure to get the volcano). Do the boys do well at dinner? If so, I would recommend going to WL for the Christmas decorations and for one of the dinners. Their two restaurants are great but Artist Point is just a little more fancy (and expensive). I'd stick with Cape May for your character breakfast. It's convenient and great food with excellent character interaction. You can always get over to Epcot and do Germany or Italy before the fireworks show. If you aren't doing the Candlelight Processional getting in the restaurants later at night for a reservation isn't going to be tough but I would encourage seeing the CP if you haven't done that. Also the boys will enjoy the different Santa's at the various pavillions. Be sure to check out Canada and Norway. I think the boys are of the age where they really would enjoy the presentations then stay in Norway for dinner. And don't forget to try to get into B & C at the YC/BC for the kitchen sink. They don't take ADRs but it's well worth it if you can swing the time.

I'm still unsure what we are doing for that one evening but I'm pretty sure it will be over at the Poly. One more thing to do this weekend.

Be sure to check out the menus on AllEars.net and have fun planning!

 

[gokimiko]

Good Wishes to all those heading off in the next week. Especially Dee, with all the moody teens! Just 17 days for me and I'm starting to go a little crazy with anticipation.

 

[lynn46356]

I was there a couple weeks ago and it was $12...and I agree it was worth it!

Thanks VAfamily1988 and Wishinon3stars, I'll put that on my list of things to do hoping we have time!!!!

 

[Couchy]

Couchy, do you have kids. My daughter is 11, but will be 12 while we're there. She would love to meet other kids there!!

Ryan

Ryan

No kids here. It's just the DH and I. But we sre big kids if that counts

 

[lkrasnavage]

Ok, so i finally decided thaqt i am going to stay at beach club. I will not read any more of the other resort boards because i have changed my mind a hundred times. Now my dilemma? We are a family of five with no dining plan. I wanted to stay CL i feel we would get our moneys worth because o no diining plan. The only problem is i really want at least a garden view, but that is not a option with 5 in club level( and i am not getting delluxe room) So my question is would u pass on Cl in order to book garden view, and just use the extra money to buy breakfast snacks and alcohol?

 

[mmtwinmama]

I believe that is correct.

Thank you!

 

[TeenaS]

Ok, so i finally decided thaqt i am going to stay at beach club. I will not read any more of the other resort boards because i have changed my mind a hundred times. Now my dilemma? We are a family of five with no dining plan. I wanted to stay CL i feel we would get our moneys worth because o no diining plan. The only problem is i really want at least a garden view, but that is not a option with 5 in club level( and i am not getting delluxe room) So my question is would u pass on Cl in order to book garden view, and just use the extra money to buy breakfast snacks and alcohol?

I'd go with CL standard view. Really think about it hard. How much time will you actually be sitting on the balcony or staring out the balcony door to look at the view. CL versus a view, I'd pick CL anytime!!!

 

[kelleigh1]

Hi, everyone! I'm trying so hard to keep up with this thread, but I think it's a lost cause. I started with the old one (March/April/May) and was keeping up on the iPad during my walks until mid-April, but I fell way behind because i had to elininate my morning walks due to construction adding 20-40 minutes to my daily commute. Then I was dismayed when I came back on Monday and found not only was I 30 pages behind, there was a NEW thread with 14 more pages!!! I think I give up!

So...I'll just throw out my question though I suspect it's been asked in some form before...

I'm close to my 180 day mark! (Next Monday, I do believe) And I'm completely overwhelmed at dining choices. It has been almost 7 years since we've been to Disney, and that was our first time, so my knowledge of restaurants is pretty limited. Since I know I should make my ADRs on Monday, and I want to send them to IPO to let them do the hard part, I need to figure them out!

I'm looking for ideas...the "tried and true" restaurants that everyone loves. My boys are 6 and 10 and I suspect one character meal will do us. (Sadly, no princess meal for me, since I'm the only girl in the party. ) We like to eat late as a general rule (8 or 9pm is not unheard of for us), and I suspect having the ability to snack on the conceirge offerings will help tide us over.

If anyone has any "must try" options that they love, I'd love to hear them! Thank you!

PS: We also have the dining plan in addition to CL, for what it's worth.

I'm another on the Deluxe Dining Plan. We're going in October, so our 180 day mark has come and gone. I started my planning WAY in advance. We had decided that we wanted this trip to be all about trying new things and dining at places we'd never been. And because we were going Deluxe, we knew there would be a lot of 2TS meals, but we're celebrating, so I think 2TS are perfect.

I started looking through my Passporter book at all the restaurants. Then we made a list of the ones we thought we'd enjoy. Then we had to narrow it down because we only had 21 credits. We crossed things off and had a list based on the 21 credits by about December of last year. Then we heard that there was a new restaurant going into Magic Kingdom, so we thought we might add that. Then we found out that Ohana doesn't serve lunch, so we had to take that off the list since all our dinner spots were already taken with 2TS and Cape May. Then we decided we didn't want to try to do a 5:00 dinner the night of the Halloween Party.

I eventually made note cards in different colors for our different meals and posted them up on the closet doors in our bedroom to try to keep it all straight. I call it our Wall of Planning. This was all before we had park hours or anything. Once tentative park hours and MNSSHP hours came out, there was more re-working. We dropped one place and stuck something else in it's slot.

It's been a crazy fun process. My 180 day mark was April 30th. I took the day off from work so I could be online at 6am (I usually leave my house @ 6:30 to catch the train to work.) I booked everything we wanted at the times we'd hoped for and now I'm just counting the days until we leave.

I seriously feel like I spent an entire year planning our meals and now I have nothing to do but wait.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Ok, so i finally decided thaqt i am going to stay at beach club. I will not read any more of the other resort boards because i have changed my mind a hundred times. Now my dilemma? We are a family of five with no dining plan. I wanted to stay CL i feel we would get our moneys worth because o no diining plan. The only problem is i really want at least a garden view, but that is not a option with 5 in club level( and i am not getting delluxe room) So my question is would u pass on Cl in order to book garden view, and just use the extra money to buy breakfast snacks and alcohol?

I think with a family of 5, the breakfast alone will make CL worth it...and I agree with the other poster that said you probably won't spend that much of your time sitting on your balcony looking at a view.

 

[tsme]

Can anyone tell me how the lighting is in the Beach Club rooms? We've stayed at the Poly & it's hard to see to put on make up, so I was wondering if it's the same at the BC. Usually I don't wear alot of makeup, especially to go to the parks (too hot when we go) but if we go eat somewhere nice or something like that, I'll throw some on. Last year we were staying at the Poly & I got dressed, etc. to go to La Nouba. When I got in the light outside the room & saw my reflection I was a little clownish, too much blush. Had to wipe some off, it's so dark in the room I couldn't tell when enough was enough. So after that I only did one swipe per cheek, even if I couldn't see it.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

And Dee, you don't want to hear the phrases that High Schoolers come up with. Though one "clean" one is "you are so swag" and if I hear YOLO one more time this year it will be way too many.

YOLO! DS & DH say that to each other all the time!!

I know this is off the subject, but are there only 2 places that you can get a DOLE WHIP (MK by Swiss..Treehouse and in the Poly)? Does Hurricane Hannahs or Beaches and Cream???

No Dole Whip at BC

Hi Everyone! Only 13 days until our first trip to BC. For those of you who have visited before do you prefer to bring your own towels for SAB or just use the ones provided?

We use their towels.

I'm a teacher and did the same thing. It made since in January because we wanted early June and cooler weather and we wanted to go to SWW. We leave Saturday and the 10-day forecast shows 95 degree temps! I also have to get my own kids settled as this is a couple trip to celebrate our anniversary without our kiddos. I will probably forget all this and do the same thing in two years when we do take the kids. At least you have some time to pack up. I only have two more days!!

Yikes!! June is definitely NOT cool weather down there! Granted, its not as humid as July or August (or even September) but cool is not a word to describe it. Good luck!!

Can anyone tell me how the lighting is in the Beach Club rooms? We've stayed at the Poly & it's hard to see to put on make up, so I was wondering if it's the same at the BC. Usually I don't wear alot of makeup, especially to go to the parks (too hot when we go) but if we go eat somewhere nice or something like that, I'll throw some on. Last year we were staying at the Poly & I got dressed, etc. to go to La Nouba. When I got in the light outside the room & saw my reflection I was a little clownish, too much blush. Had to wipe some off, it's so dark in the room I couldn't tell when enough was enough. So after that I only did one swipe per cheek, even if I couldn't see it.

If memory serves, there are 2 sets of lights by the vanity- the overhead and the sconces on the wall. Plenty of light!

 

[abk96]

I need help decided whether to do online check in or not. Starting today I can check us in but I have read that online check in is for people who don't have any special requests put in for there room. I want full balcony and no first floor.

Now since we aren't going to be getting to BC until around 3 PM (I know I'm hating it) I'm afraid that we will be stuck with whatever is left.

Now I took a look at what you need to fill out for online check in and it asks for special requests but all I can click on is full balcony.

Does that mean they go by the online check in you submit and don't look at what you asked for when you made your ressie? Or do they look at both?

What do you think?

 

[osugal]

Ok, so i finally decided thaqt i am going to stay at beach club. I will not read any more of the other resort boards because i have changed my mind a hundred times. Now my dilemma? We are a family of five with no dining plan. I wanted to stay CL i feel we would get our moneys worth because o no diining plan. The only problem is i really want at least a garden view, but that is not a option with 5 in club level( and i am not getting delluxe room) So my question is would u pass on Cl in order to book garden view, and just use the extra money to buy breakfast snacks and alcohol?

We stayed at BCR CL last year and it's soooo worth it! The convenience and enjoyment far surpasses what a view will give you. I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to stay CL.

 

[WsPrincess]

Ok, so i finally decided thaqt i am going to stay at beach club. I will not read any more of the other resort boards because i have changed my mind a hundred times. Now my dilemma? We are a family of five with no dining plan. I wanted to stay CL i feel we would get our moneys worth because o no diining plan. The only problem is i really want at least a garden view, but that is not a option with 5 in club level( and i am not getting delluxe room) So my question is would u pass on Cl in order to book garden view, and just use the extra money to buy breakfast snacks and alcohol?

I would totally NOT give up CL for a view. Standard View CL to me is still more than worth it!