OUR BEST DISNEY VACATION YET(8/22-9/1) At the BEACH CLUB w/ MORE pics-NOW COMPLETE

[mommykds]

WHO?:
Me (38) SAHM who is obsessed with Disney World & planning Disney trips.
DH (38) The best dad & husband a family could possibly ask for.
Kate (10) Loves Disney & loved being considered an “adult” at Disney World.
Dan (7) Loves M:S, Splash, & Test Track.
Sophie (5) My baby who loves the princesses.

WHAT?: Our 6th Disney World vacation together.

WHERE?: The Beach Club

WHEN?: August 22 - September 1

WHY?: Because we LOVE Disney World!!

This trip was planned last summer when I was booking our October 2005 trip. I officially booked in January in the hopes a deal would come out during the late summer. Fortunately, the free dining promo was released again so my DH could not refuse! This vacation was to celebrate out 15th wedding anniversary .
Ok, I’ll get started…

DAY 1 - August 22
We wake up at 3am to catch our 7am flight from NY. As soon as I arrive at MCO I start to feel like I am on vacation. There were long lines for the ME but they moved quickly & soon we were on our way to the Beach Club & when we passed the Disney World gate I knew I was home!
We checked in at around 11am & I knew the room would not be ready so I packed bathing suits for us in my carryon. The CM who checked me in handed me all the paperwork & told me to take my room keys & I could wait in the 5th floor lounge until my room was ready or go have a swim. “What?” I thought. I knew the BC rooms & the 5th floor was concierge & I had booked standard view. Maybe I was wrong, I thought. I walked back to my DH & told him “I think they upgraded us to concierge.” I was shaking & had tears in my eyes. I know that may sound extreme but it was such a wonderful surprise & such a magical way to start our vacation. (THANK YOU TEENA!!!)

We went up to the Stone Harbour Concierge & we were met by lovely CM’s especially Vilma. We went to the lounge & had some snacks. There were goldfish, pretzels, nuts, sodas, water, coffees, teas. Soon after they told us our room was ready. We had been given #5682 which was a water view room. Here is the view from our room. You could see the top of Illuminations from our balcony. It was a perfect location looking down into the back entrance.

I was in Disney…I was standing on the balcony of my “dream” resort…My beautiful family was inside the room watching old Mickey cartoons & dressing for the pool…I just felt the magic & knew this would be a wonderful trip.
Our room.

The Mickey on the bedspread

So we finally get to see how great SAB is…& it is! After I buy a $13 bottle of sunscreen (couldn’t pack it in my carryon) we get to what has been reported to be the pool to end all pools. We got to meet Art the Greeter on the way to the pool. What a nice gentleman. He was surprised when my kids wanted HIS autograph & kindly obliged. My kids have been watching the “Great Hotels (BC) with Samantha Brown” show over & over & over so they knew who Art was from the show.

Ok so off to the pool…Since my kids are young & not swimmers we stayed in the sand bottom section . There were pails & shovels for the kids to play with. The sun was shining & the water was refreshing. In all my other Disney vacations, we have always gone straight to a park which I did not want to do this trip. We had been up since 3am & I didn’t want everyone to be tired & cranky the next morning so some winding down time at the pool was just the ticket.
DH with the kids.

After our swim we went over to EPCOT just for dinner.

We dined at Alfredo’s in Italy. I had seen mixed reviews of this place but I wanted to eventually try every restaurant in EPCOT & we hadn’t gone to Alfredo’s yet.
This was a wonderful meal. Our server was very attentive as well. I had the fettuccine all'Alfredo & DH had the trittico di pasta. One of the pastas on his dish were dumplings stuffed with imported black truffles. Absolutely delicious! Dan fell asleep on DH in the middle of the meal so after some yummy desserts we headed back to the BC for an early night.

Tomorrow was magical beginnings EMH at the Magic Kingdom so we had to be up bright & early!

 

[bethbuchall]

Terrific start, Anne Marie! I can't wait to read the rest!

 

[lonegirl]

Love the pix and your excitement! Your family is beautiful.

 

[tinknme]

Great report & pictures! Look forward to more

 

[pumba]

what a gorgeous view from your window and WOW what a great upgrade to conciege......congratulations and hope you had a great trip

 

[teentoddlermom]

Lucky you! Concierge! How quick of you to post your TR with pics!
Curious, with 3 kids, what sleeping arrangements did you get? Day bed? I know not all BC rooms have day beds.

 

[mommykds]

DAY 2 - August 23
“Ring - ring!” goes the phone for our 6am wake up call! Mickey & Stitch wake us up. Sophie is so excited that Mickey called us! Everyone is very excited since it’s our first full day so no trouble getting anyone out of bed! We dress & head to the concierge lounge for a breakfast of bagels, donuts, fruit, croissants, banana bread.

At 7:40am we are on the bus to the Magic Kingdom for their magical beginning EMH. I had read that EMH’s should be avoided at all costs but since this was our first full day it had to be at MK so we went expecting large crowds of toddlers & their families.

First view of the castle

8am we get to the gate, right through security & walk right under the castle where there is a rope..The rope drops & we run (again expecting crowds). Let me tell you that this was the best EMH Disney has come up with. All of Fantasyland was ours for the taking. There were no lines, we just walked on everything.
Here Mickey was playing duck, duck ,goose with all the kids.

Peter Pan, Wendy, Alice, Madhater, Stitch, Goofy, & Captain Hook were out in FL.
Between 8am & 9am we had rode.
Dumbo

Pooh 2x
Peter Pan 2x
Snow White 2x
IASW

Carousel - Goofy rode this with Kate. I love Goofy!

Then finally Philharmagic. I love the part when Donald falls on the Big Ben‘s clock hands! Still no lines!

We headed to Adventureland for a DIS meeting. I had the pleasure of meeting Beth (Bethbuchall) & Bernadette (Lovesdumbo) from the Disney Design Addicts (or Tee-shirt thread). It was so nice to meet them as we have been chatting some time now. Beth also gave me a surprise gift from Paula (kc10family) Thank you again Paula! My DDA friends are so special.

After our meeting we went on POC. The addition of Captain Jack does not over take the ride. It is done in such a way that unobtrusive & should please lovers of the original. There are 3 segments where you see CJ & at each time in the ride my DH grabbed me & said “now you stay in the boat!”(so as not to attack the Johhny Depp look alike audio animatronic!) The whole ride seems brighter & the audio clearer than I had remembered. I think Disney did a great job with this & has breathed life into it again. We did POC 2 x as there were no lines.

After that we went over to Pecos Bill’s for some burgers. There were many table available & we went all the way in the back to the left & found a completely empty dining area. Food was good but too much dessert. The dining plan is great but we ended up giving our desserts away most times which is a good thing because we made some other people happy. It’s funny, I would go up to a table that looked as though they weren’t on the dining plan & proceed to explain that we were on the dining plan & that it was too much food & would they like our desserts which was met with a smile & a cordial “thank you” from the people at the table. I think of these times as a “pixie dust moment” because I like to make people happy. Well one day of the trip DH decided to give the desserts away so he walks over to this older gentleman with his 2 grandkids & says “Hey, you want this?” & put it on the table. (Yep we are from NYC!) The guys says “yea, thanks”…Ahh the difference between men & women!

So after a filling lunch of burgers, fries, & some chocolate cake we rode Splash Mountain 2x & saw the Tiki Birds. The kids wanted to get over to Buzz so we went to Tomorrowland. The wait for Buzz was about 20 minutes so we grabbed a FP & went on the TTA (which I love). We had never rode Astro Orbiter before & now the kids were tall enough so we did that. It is a fun ride up there…basically Dumbo in a rocket but way high up over the MK! We did everything in TL, Carousel of Progress - Disney, please don’t change that one we all love it! We were all singing “There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow!”) and Buzz 2x. DH & I rode Space Mountain each while the other one watched the kiddies. That was the first ride I was ever on as a kid back in 1974 so I just had to go on it. I do feel like a little kids at Disneyworld.

5:00 - We have a adr for Chef Mickey’s. This is a must do every trip for my kids. It is like we are officially christening the vacation when we eat here. We were seated after only 5 minutes & were given the same table as we had last October. The kids got a kick out of that. DH told them “I asked for our usual.”
The whole time I had been just watching my kids & my DH thinking how lucky I was that I had them. I thought “this is the sweet spot” in my experience as a mother. The kids are old enough to do most things on their own but not old enough that they still need “momma”. My DH works so much that it was nice to have him all to myself for 11 days…no cell phone calls from work, no fires for him to put out, nothing..just a fun time with us. This is what I have waited for in all those months of planning.

We met the gang Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Chip & Dale.

Food was good, especially these chocolate mousse Mickey hats.

After dinner we went back to the Beach Club for a swim. So here is my only issue with SAB. The SAB part closes at 8pm & we didn’t get back to the room most nights before 8 so we missed a lot of SAB pool time. The quiet pool was o.k. but since it wasn’t zero entry my kids sat on the steps of the pool & DH & I gave them “rides" to the deep part of the pool. Katie met some girls her age who gave us their pool noodles (as they were leaving the next day) which was very kind. We passed those same noodles on to some people at the pool the day we left. (again, lots of pixie dust & just happy folks happy to be at Disney like us!)

On the way back to the room we stopped at the lounge for a soda & a cream puff (yummy). Showers & bed by 10pm. What a magical day we had. If you have an opportunity to do the MB EMH I say go as you will get a lot done & your kids will love the personal attention from the characters.

Tomorrow - Animal Kingdom…Yeh! I get to finally ride EE!

 

[yellowfish78]

Great start Anne Marie!!! I love reading trip reports with pics...makes you instantly be transported to WDW!!! Can't wait to see more!!!

 

[mommykds]

Lucky you! Concierge! How quick of you to post your TR with pics!
Curious, with 3 kids, what sleeping arrangements did you get? Day bed? I know not all BC rooms have day beds.

Yes we had 2 queen beds & a daybed. DH & I on 1 queen, the 2 younger ones on the other queen, & my oldest dd on the daybed. The queen bed was so much nicer than a full for us..DH is a twister & turner while he sleeps so it was nice for me to have some extra room.

 

[mommykds]

Thanks for reading everyone. I am trying to keep it to the point but that never works!

Glad you like it so far...I'll try to get more done as soon as I can.

 

[Tinkaroo]

Great job so far!

I'm so jealous of your upgrade to concierge - how awesome!

 

[MassMom94]

Also am enjoying your report. I agree totally about Magical Beginnings - we went twice and it was great - walked on to everything, including Dumbo. My kids, who are NOT early risers at home, even thought it was worth getting up for!

 

[wee-haggis]

Really nice report.

 

[rosiejo]

Wow - upgrade to concierge?? That's amazing! I'm so jealous

Can't wait to read more about your trip.

I have a question... do you have to have kids to be able to go to the magical beginnings EMH? I wanna ride the carousel with Goofy!

 

[mommykds]

DAY 3 - August 24
This was our Animal Kingdom day. I was so excited about finally getting to ride Expedition Everest. I checked out all the info I could on this ride on T.V. & the internet. I was ready for the Yeti! So we get a wake up call for 6:55am, have breakfast at the lounge, & hop on the bus for Animal Kingdom. This has always been a “slower” park. I have never felt like I needed to rush through the place…well that all ended on this day. By 8:30am the lines for the turnstiles were l-o-n-g!!!! It was hot, people were pushing, & it was basically a mob scene when they let us through to yet another rope drop by the Tree of Life. Wow, I hadn’t seen this many people at AK since it opened….Disney was smart to put EE in this park because it certainly perked it up quite a bit…Good for Disney , bad for a mom & dad with 2 kids in 2 umbrella strollers & a huge backpack & a 10 year old walking who had her feet clipped several times as we made our way up to EE. What a hike! But again, we were all just happy to be at Disney & didn’t let the fact that our strollers slowed us down & thousands of people carrying only a mere fanny pack darted in front of us. Finally, at Asia I ran to the left to ride standby & DH took the kids to get a fast pass. The lines for FP were longer than any I have ever seen & that goes for Soarin too! It was a sea of people, some confused about where to get the FP & some with a mission to get on that ride. The ride itself was excellent. The ride queue is worth a look at but the people behind me were in a rush so I saw what I could. If anyone has seen "The Making of a Thrill Ride" on Discovery channel or "Expedition Everest Journey to Sacred Lands" on the Travel channel with Joe Rhode you really appreciate the work & research that went into the ride. It was beautifully crafted. I got to ride it twice, first in the front, then all the way in the last row. I much prefer the last row near the train engine. You get to see the Yeti longer. He IS scary. DH rode three times & loved it & he is not easily impressed.

So with our mission completed we headed over to Dinoland. Daniel was very happy to know that he now met the height requirement for Primevil Whirl (which he did not last October) & got to ride with DH & Katie while I took Sophie to Triceratops spin. All of dinoland was fairly empty & we did both rides several times.

Around 11:30 we had a tasty lunch as Tusker house. The salad bowl w/ chicken & the turkey wrap are so good. We had FP Kilamangaro Safari before lunch & now it was time. Considering how hot it was the animals were out an about. We saw Okapi’s (Sophie’s favorite), Thompson’s gazelles, ostriches, & the new 7 month old baby elephant.. She came running when the ride vehicle came by. She was waving her truck like she was trying to say “hi”. We were all amazed at how “friendly” she was. Just then her mother came behind her & started nudging her back away from us…amazing animals.

The day was cloudy & hot. We were lucky enough to dart into LOTK seconds before a huge downpour & thunderstorm. You could here it from inside the theater. We have seen this show at least 6 times & it never ceases to entertain us all. The performers are very talented & the production is very professional. This is a highlight to our stay at Disney. We saw some characters over at Camp Minnie Mickey.

& walked the Pangali trail.

Then we took our seat for the parade near Pizzafari. This is a cute parade & reminds me of the old tapestry of nations parade in EPCOT with the large animal puppets (boy do I miss that EPCOT parade) anyway back to AK…

The parade was fun & now it was time to go to AKL to have dinner at Boma.
DH at Boma with the African red wine sampler

Animal Kingdom Lodge is one of those places I feel calmness & peace in. It is so large yet the seating areas in the lobby are cozy & warm. We went to our favorite spot to watch vintage Mickey cartoons on the T.V. I love this resort & hope to stay there some day. Dinner at Boma was delicious & always worth a trip over to AKL.

It was about 7:30pm so we took the bus to EPCOT. Spaceship Earth had no wait so we rode that. We went over to Turtle Talk at around 8:30 & after 5 minutes wait we walked in. We had never seen this before. Crush was very “believable” & he was very funny. All the kids were cracking up. Just a note, your child does not need to sit in the very first row to get picked to ask Crush a question. Crush was picking kids from all the areas down in the "sublevel."

It was almost time for Illuminations so we ran to the International Gateway & found a spot right by where they park the Breathless & other boats so we figured if it was good for those folks paying a lot of dosh to float there then it’s good enough for us . Spectacular is the only word I have for the fireworks not only in EPCOT but in all Disney parks. I am always teary-eyed so no need to say more.

Now here is the one of the best parts of staying at the Beach Club...no buses!!! We just turned around after Illuminations & walked 5 minutes back to our lovely resort….Sweet!!!!(as Crush would say) After many trips lugging strollers & sleeping kids on the Disney buses, this was such a pleasure!

Before we got to the room DH stopped for a cordial & I for some diet coke at the lounge. Showers & bed by 11pm to the sound of old Mickey cartoons….We had all laughed & played all day. Another wonderful day at Disney.

 

[mommykds]

Wow - upgrade to concierge?? That's amazing! I'm so jealous

Can't wait to read more about your trip.

I have a question... do you have to have kids to be able to go to the magical beginnings EMH? I wanna ride the carousel with Goofy!

Nope, just a Disney resort guest.

 

[winniethepoohsmom]

I also read on someone elses TR that the pool at BC closed early. We have eaten at the BC and love it there and we were thinking of staying there in May. Besides the fact that it is a beautiful resort and close to Epcot my ds's thought the pool was great and would miss being able to go night swimming on vacation. I'm trying to find out pool hours for resorts but I don't see that anywhere. I can't imagine that BC is the only resort who's pool closes that early, especially after being known for having the best pool in disney.

 

[bear74]

great trip report AnneMarie

 

[mommykds]

DAY 4 - August 25
This day was slated as a “pool/sleep in” day. Last October we did the parks commando for 10 days straight & everyone was exhausted by the end so this trip I planned for more down time, but as you will read the “commando” in all of us won out. We slept in until 9am. After breakfast (we had breakfast every morning except one at the concierge lounge. Since we were on the free dining plan we used the CS for lunch & the TS for dinner). It was so nice not to have to go to a food court & wait on lines for breakfast. We really appreciated this & just have to say “thank you” again to the staff at the BC. We were treated so well.

Anyway, I decide to get my shopping done today...just the basics, lots of pins, photo album, picture frames, & of course things for the kids. My guys have been doing chores to save money for Disney. They also filled a Coke bottle with all their loose change (which ended up coming to over $100!) So they were allowed to spend what they had earned. They were very careful about their choices since this was “their” money. Among the things they got…Katie bought the EPCOT passport. This was a nice choice. She went through EPCOT getting her passport stamped from each country & the CM there would write something in their language to her. There are also stickers with pictures of each country to put in that countries page. She was very interested in what they wrote & the different languages. This was a great souvenir for a kid.

Anyway after shopping at the Beach Club Marketplace (DH went back up to the room, I take way to much time shopping for him & I told him to go back because I didn‘t want to rush). After shopping I decide to take the kids back up to the room & dress to go swimming. Here’s the problem, you can’t get upstairs to the 5th floor without a room card. DH has all the rooms cards! So I am down in the lobby with a bunch of bags & 3 kiddos who want to go swimming. I call the room, he doesn’t answer….Ok maybe he took a walk, walk around the lobby, & to the pool. Nope, nothing. I didn’t have my cell phone so I went to the desk & while I was explaining what had happened I hear a loud “whack!” & look down to see blood coming out of Sophie mouth. She was bouncing up & down at the desk (which looks to be made of marble) & hit her head & then bit her tongue. The poor thing. So they get her paper napkin & I finally calm her down & stop the bleeding. She had 2 huge bites. I felt bad for her. She is my trooper & never cries when she gets a boo-boo so I knew she was hurt. After all that commotion they reissue me a room card. I take my bags & the kids to the elevator when here comes DH. Let’s just say I wasn’t too thrilled & to save my vacation I kept my big 'ole mouth shut. Hey, I am the one who told him to go back to the room, right?

So we all get go get dressed in our bathing suits. I check outside the balcony & the sun is shining. I slap on the sunscreen on all the kids & we head to the ship part of the kiddie pool. We jump in & the next thing I hear “Everyone out, the pool is closed” & the crack of thunder. Ok out of the pool, back upstairs to change.
You get the idea that this day wasn’t as magical as the rest eh?

Back in our clothes we go to EPCOT to make the most of our day. Now let me tell you my kids love, love, love EPCOT. Yes , more than the Magic Kingdom… Don’t ask me why...I am a MK girl all the way. They like to learn & see new things on vacation. Well they must get that from DH because I don’t want to learn anything at Disney. Just give me a Dole Whip & put me on Peter Pan or Philharmagic over & over I that’s what I call a vacation!!! No seriously, just kidding (ok not really). Anyway we go to Innovations & do “Where’s The Fire?”, “Pizza Game”, make your own robots, make your own paper, play Opportunity City, & send email greetings back home. We also waited 50 minutes for Test Track which was the only line we waited on all week. We just had to go!
Daniel playing "Opportunity City" (he loved this)

We had a 5:40 adr with Cindy at 1900 Park Fare so we caught the monorails to the Grand Floridian. We got to see Cinderella, the Prince, Suzy, & Perla who were all very friendly. The Fairy Godmother was in the lobby. The kids were wearing shirts with their names on them so when Cindy, the Prince, & the FG saw them they called my kids by name. Sophie & Daniel were very impressed that they knew who they were (obviously forgetting what shirts they had on). Katie just giggled constantly since she knew it was because of the names on the shirts. Sophie said “hey, Cinderella remembered me!”

After a delicious dinner & strolling around the Grand Floridian (we enjoyed the band that was playing 40's music in the lobby) we took a cab back to the Beach Club. Swam in the quiet pool until 8 or so. Showers & everyone was on the balcony at 9 to watch Illuminations. We must have gotten to bed by 10 that night. Tomorrow is to be an all day EPCOT day & the kids were very excited about that.

 

[uconn01001]

so how did you manage to get upgraded I am taking mom on a b-day trip to AKL last week of Sept and booked for standard but really hoping to somehow get upgraded.