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

[Sue M]

Looks like we're going to miss each other. I'll be leaving on the 21st to go out and help my daughter get her classroom ready for school and then I stay for the first week of school as a teacher's aide. I do lots of volunteer work at the school where she teachers as a Disney VoluntEAR. Tell your children I will miss meeting them and pin trading with them but that the "celeb" is my boss, not me. Mickey is the best boss in the world!!!!

Oh noooo! Looks like I'll miss you too! We arrive 8/22 - 9/3 Darn! We're staying at AKL, but had planned to pop by to say hi. So sad to miss you.
I noticed your post about working on 9/2, but we've booked the Sunrise Safari that day. sigh.

 

[Sue M]

My BC Recap/Review:

We moved over from CR early Saturday morning. Disney took care of the bag transfers and we took a cab which worked great. We arrived and John working at the entrance met us. He was so nice and wonderful. He grabbed our packet from online check in and swept us up to the 5th floor. It was a busy morning so he took us on a tour of the lounge and helped get the kids settled with breakfast. He was so welcoming and I cannot say enough about him.

Rooms were ready about 1pm which was nice. SAB was awesome for the kids. With a 2.5 and 4 year old, I was worried about some of the reviews but the sand area was so beyond perfect for them. I loved it.

Captains Grill was tasty and relaxing though it was a LONG lunch.

We loved the walk to Epcot and I enjoyed the walk to DHS. DH felt the boats were slow (it took us 45 minutes to get back from DHS after EMH and that was once we were on the boat) but the location was great!

The best part by far was meeting Teena and getting to talk to her. She is truly as sweet in person as I imagined and made the visit to BC great!

CL--Now here is my only area where I hate to admit it but I was disappointed. I cannot really put my finger on it but I just never felt comfortable and overly welcomed. There were so great points. Neil made the kids beautiful birthday buttons (we had booked the trip on DD's birthday so she was convinced it was her trip). Jill helped me with a wrangle DS new water shoes on, now that was funny. I think that after our amazing stay CL at CR last year where everyone was so beyond welcoming and nice, this was just a change. There were not happy greetings when we got off the elevators, no asking about the day or talking to the kids about things. Also, the lounge closing for 1 hour at a time several times a day was just hard since it happened several times when we would have gone in (and no one was around to ask to get something). I don't know if it was just that I wanted to love it so much and there was no way it could meet my dream, if what we experienced at CR was really above and beyond the ordinary so we were spoiled or if it was just the timing of when we happened to be around. I do know that if this had been our first CL stay, I don't think I would spend the extra money which makes me sad since like I said, I wanted to love it there. It was just strange that the people in the lobby were so much nicer, welcoming, friendly and are what made BC so much fun for us and not the CL staff.

Now IPO though did a GREAT job shopping for the welcome gifts for the kids! They did so well! IPO at BC was better than CR so I guess it is a trade

Overall we really liked BC and know if we can get into BCV for a couple days we will for sure be back.

Sorry you were disappointed in the BC CL, funny how people can have such different experiences. We did get warm welcomes both leaving, and coming back off the elevators. They made my (adult) daughter feel so special. Always asked our plans for the day leaving, and when returning asked how things went, etc. Our last day they remembered how much my daughter loved the salt water taffy they have in the bowl on the desk, and gave her a big bag to take on the plane.

 

[teachermom2boys]

Hi!

We would love to spend some quality time with the Noodle family if there is still a "gap" from Aug. 1 -4. We promise to show them a great time!

 

[Feckless]

Loving the live TRs! Keep 'em coming, boys!

 

[chaoscent]

Nope, I'll be back at work on September 2nd.

I look forward to meeting you.

Penny

 

[gwynne]

Hi, everyone! I've never commented on this thread, though I'm pretty sure I've read every page (and of the last version!). We are staying at the BC on our wedding trip in a few months with all of our family. We have garden view rooms booked, and I was curious about making specific room requests. All of our vendors will be coming to our room on the wedding day, so I was going to request to be near an elevator. Is there anything else I should consider requesting (maybe for a better view or something!)? Thanks for your advice!

Congratulations on your coming wedding! It sounds like it would be helpful for you to be closer to an elevator. I've had nice luck over the years with Disney by requesting a "pretty view". When you have several requests, it's sometimes hard to get them all--like rooms close together, near an elevator, so leaving the specific view up to them sometimes helps.
Best Wishes!

 

[gokimiko]

Tomorrow has us at EPCOT for RD. A little Soarin, Livin with the Land, JTi etc. Probably back for some serious pool time weather permitting. DW and I have ADR’s at Yachtsman tomorrow night. A first for us and kinda excited/high hopes. We’ll see.
Ta Ta for now!

We did Yachtsman Tuesday and were not disappointed! Food was very good and service was superb. Enjoy!

 

[natebenma]

Hi!

We would love to spend some quality time with the Noodle family if there is still a "gap" from Aug. 1 -4. We promise to show them a great time!

Yes, the noodles are available for those dates, so I added you to the swap.

 

[mmtwinmama]

…..We went and did the The Art of Animation. We don’t do the actual show but go through the store (in the back of Animation Courtyard) and do the drawing class. We drew Tigger and had great souvenirs to boot.

What?!? LOL - How do I not know about this? Wow. We've always gone through the store to get to that hands on area and to see characters. I've never seen a drawing class? Is it near where the characters are? This would be great because my boys are not really into characters anymore (10), but they just recently mentioned how they loved drawing characters when we went to Disney Land and wish they had it at WDW! In California we walked a few times to the parks JUST to do that they loved it so much.

I'm so excited!

Carla

 

[MickeyT]

What?!? LOL - How do I not know about this? Wow. We've always gone through the store to get to that hands on area and to see characters. I've never seen a drawing class? Is it near where the characters are? This would be great because my boys are not really into characters anymore (10), but they just recently mentioned how they loved drawing characters when we went to Disney Land and wish they had it at WDW! In California we walked a few times to the parks JUST to do that they loved it so much.

I'm so excited!

Carla

Sounds like you walked right past it. As you come out of the store and pass the Oscar statues there are benches with a CM located on the right. They start every 25 minutes. And you can do multiple because they do different characters each time. You just have to get back in line.

Sounds like our day has changed. Family vote (and a Touringplans OK) has us going to AK this morning. Still have plenty of time to make RD. Wish us well!

(Staying away from Romneyville today. And no ADR's at Obama's tomorrow!)

 

[TeenaS]

(Staying away from Romneyville today. And no ADR's at Obama's tomorrow!)

Sounds like a smart plan!!!

 

[kelleigh1]

Ok, now I'm glad I'm not at WDW this week. I forgot this was the Romney/Obama week. Ick! Hope all those of you who are there have no issues.

 

[jcondrad]

I have to agree that everyone has their own expectations for CL staff and it's hard for them to know what each person wants.

We loved the staff. They would always greet us, especially our daughter, asking us what our plans were for the day or how her day was. We used the DVD rental often so they enjoyed picking out movies each night that she may like!

Also, it was mine and my DDs birthdays during our trip. We each got a princess card right after check-in and birthday pins. The CMs had competitions on who made the best birthday pins so it seemed like everyday they had made each of us a new one because the previous one just wasn't good enough! They also delivered to the room a couple balloons with some skittles and candy bars tied as a weight for my DD.

Whenever I had a question or problem they were more than happy to help...we had a wrong charge at a restaurant and they corrected it with no questions asked, my DD wasn't feeling well one night that we had Fantasmic ressies and they canceled that for us (and got around the cancellation charge since it was less than 24 hrs), and helped me apply some gift cards towards our KTTW charges.

I am excited to see how different or the same our next trip is with regards to CL. Really I think if you walk in there just expecting the regular treatment (with a few goodies in the lounge), you will have a much better experience because anything good that comes your way will be Disney Magic rather than an expectation.

 

[333disneymom]

Thanks for the updates MickeyT. Sounds like you are having a great week!

Does anyone know what the resort order is for pick-up and drop-off from/to the airport using Magical Express?

Thanks!

We stay at Beach Cub and it seems to be different every time we go, but usually includes any combination of Yacht Club, Beach Club, Boardwalk and Port Orleans. Going to the resort, we are usually dropped off after Port Orleans and Yacht Club. Going back, we usually only had to stop at Boardwalk, as others were already on the bus. Just know that you will probably have some stops.

So excited, we just booked BCV for April!! We are staying there in November and April, I was tempted to do AKV or SSR for April, but the BC is so hard to say no to!!

So true. Our last 3 trips were at the Beach Club Villas. We considered staying somewhere else, but couldn't resist the Beach Club. This December, we couldn't get into the BCV, so we are at the BWV.

We'll be checking in in less than 2 weeks and I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts were about online check in?

We won't be getting to the hotel until about 7pm so I'm not sure which "check in" option will give us the best chance of getting our preferred room!

Obviously I know that room requests aren't guaranteed but the UK booking tool didn't allow for room preferences to be added either

TIA

Lots of people will tell you not to do online check-in, but with such a late arrival I would. We had two resorts on our last trip and checked in online at both locations. Our requests were met at both locations, but we were willing to take any location, so it worked for us. If you want to know what is left when you arrive and change what they've given you, then online might not be best. Although at that time, there may not be a whole lot of switching options.

What?!? LOL - How do I not know about this? Wow. We've always gone through the store to get to that hands on area and to see characters. I've never seen a drawing class? Is it near where the characters are? This would be great because my boys are not really into characters anymore (10), but they just recently mentioned how they loved drawing characters when we went to Disney Land and wish they had it at WDW! In California we walked a few times to the parks JUST to do that they loved it so much.

I'm so excited!

Carla

This is my DD's favorite activity at HS. It is really fun to see what you and your family can create. It's in a small roped off area to the right before you go down the steps where the characters are.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We had the Volleyball area view Teena mentioned, and loved it. We were in the section facing Epcot direction, and if we looked to the right off our balcony we could see
the Boardwalk and some of the lake. At night we could see the higher Illuminations fireworks which we didn't realize till our last night when we were in our room at that time packing!

The first time we stayed at BC we had the voleyball area view section and it was great. Same as Sue - we cold see Crescent Lake/Boardwalk with a sideways view and a nice view of the the higher Illuminations fireworks.

Everyone has their own experiences but I have to say that I thought the BC CL CMs were among the friendliest. We stayed at GF RPC for the first time last year and while it was lovely both DH and I felt the cms there were rather aloof. Still enjoyed GF RPC but just prefer BC CL!

 

[kelleigh1]

Does anyone have the link to the good map...I think it's the Google map that shows all the detail in aerial view? The one where Teena spotted her car in the parking lot. LOL I lost my link.

Thanks!

 

[Katesdad]

Does anyone have the link to the good map...I think it's the Google map that shows all the detail in aerial view? Thanks!

Is this the one you are referring to?

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=nq...ty=b&ss=ypid.YN184x401291151~pg.1&form=LMLTCC

 

[kelleigh1]

Is this the one you are referring to?

http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=nq...ty=b&ss=ypid.YN184x401291151~pg.1&form=LMLTCC

YES! Thank you! I just feel the need to look at it every now and then.

 

[mariamouse]

We stay at Beach Cub and it seems to be different every time we go, but usually includes any combination of Yacht Club, Beach Club, Boardwalk and Port Orleans. Going to the resort, we are usually dropped off after Port Orleans and Yacht Club. Going back, we usually only had to stop at Boardwalk, as others were already on the bus. Just know that you will probably have some stops.

Thanks so much for the info!

 

[gokimiko]

Sounds like a smart plan!!!

We are staying clear too!