Hi!
I love the Boardwalk! It is one of my favorite places at Disney. I can't believe they haven't started charging admission, but shhhhh, I hope they never will. It was the perfect place for our family to spend our first night and get us in the Disney mood!
Who went:
Jennifer Age 29 - Travel Agent
Dennis Age 28 - Computer Technician
Kaitylnn Age 3 1/2 - Aspiring Princess
Julie Age 2 - Junior Princess in Training
If you have never been to the Boardwalk the view is absolutely breathtaking. It is so peaceful just staring across the water at the Yacht and Beach Club and Swan & Dolphin, and you can also see the Big Ball at Epcot. There is shopping and arcades and street performers - we saw a knife swallower and female magician. You could also just take a peek at all the really beautiful hotels (Boardwalk Inn, Yacht & Beach Club and Swan & Dolphin) even though you aren't staying there. (Heavy sigh - someday!)
We got there around 4:30pm and spent some time feeding the fish and birds. There are some big fish in the lake! DH pointed out some big-mouth bass which got him really excited. (They have fish food vending machines that you can put a quarter into. DH quickly found out after a few quarters that if you just jiggle the handle a little the food came out for free.) This activity kept DH and the chickee-monkeys occupied for awhile. I was just enjoying the view while they continued to steal fish food and tried to decide where we wanted to eat for dinner. So many choices - Spoodles - The Flying Fish - ESPN? No, we need to go over to the Beach Club and go to Beaches and Cream!
So we strolled to the other side of the Boardwalk to the Beach Club. DH accidentally wandered into their pool area (Stormalong Bay) which is phenominal and probably the best pool on Disney property - huge waterslide, sand bottom, fountains, waterfalls - the works. It was very difficult to keep the chickee-monkeys and DH from just jumping in. DH gave me a sad look that said, "I want to stay here!" I told him I wanted to stay there too - and someday we will when we have $300 a night to pay for a room.
We headed towards the lobby which is beautiful and asked a nice older gentlemen at their information desk where we could find Beaches and Cream. He gave us directions - just past Cape May Cafe and outside past the pool again. He also gave the chickee-monkeys two pieces each of godiva chocolates! Bless his heart! I want to stay at the Beach Club! (Heavier sigh - someday!)
Beaches and Cream had about a half hour wait if you want to eat inside. We got a pager and headed over to the arcade next door to play some games. They had a cute Mickey Mouse car that the girls rode over and over!
Finally, our pager went off. Beaches and Cream is a cute little 50's style Soda Shop. They have little jukeboxes at your table and a big Wurlitzer. We were disappointed b/c our little jukebox didn't work anymore b/c it had taken too much abuse, but our server insisted the big one did and it is free to select he music. DH selected some songs but we never heard them? I think the restaurant has pre-recorded the tracks and just makes you think you are playing the jukebox - but this is just a theory. Anyway, we ordered Vanilla Cokes (Yum!) for DH & I and cherry cokes for the girls. I had a cheeseburger & fries - DH had a turkey sandwich & fries - the chickee-monkeys split a hot dog kiddie meal. For desert we ordered the Milky Way Sundae which was awesome! I highly recommend their ice cream. Better than Ghiradelli at Disney Marketplace in my opinion. Their food was just OK. Very good but nothing special. Definitely not worth the price we paid for the bill ($44.77 including tip). The restaurant has a fun atmosphere but next time I think I'll skip dinner there and just order the sundae! Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club has an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. Next time we'll try that instead.
The girls and I sat outside in some Beach Club deck chairs and stared longingly at Stormalong Bay some more and ate our yummy sundae. DH was marveling over the quality of the beach towels at the beach club and exploring a little. (Later that night I found two of those beach towels in our backpack! DH admitted to swiping them because they were nice towels!) He is hopeless, hopeless, hopeless! But, I admit they are nice towels.
There was a club called Ariel's Grotto that a wedding party was renting out which reminded me of our Honeymoon 7 years ago when we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. Has it been that long since I've stayed a a deluxe property? Yes, it has! Heavy sigh again. Then I saw a lady with a Tinkerbell balloon! "Where did you get that?" I asked because Katie & Julie immediately wanted one. They are at the Magic Kingdom in a store on mainstreet she replied. We decided to finally leave the Beach Club head back to the other side of the Boardwalk.
On our way back we were being passed up by these goofy looking bicycle contraptions which you could rent. They have two seaters and four seaters. The two seaters have room for two adults sitting side by side and there is room for two small children up front. The four seaters can accomodate four adults (sitting 2x2 and two children up front. All of them have an annoying bell that you can ring to warn people to get out of the way. I laughed and told DH, "Look at all those dorks on the bikes. You wouldn't catch me riding one of those!"
Oh, boy did I ever eat my words! As soon as Katie saw one of the bikes she started to ask, "Mommy, I wanna ride that bike!" She probably asked about ten more times by the time we came to the bike rental station. DH was laughing at me. "Come on Mommy. Sometimes you have to be a dork for your kids." He was already whipping the $20 for a half hour out of his wallet and paying the bike guy. We strapped the chickee-monkeys securely to the front and showed them how to ring the annoying bell - which they enjoyed tremendously. Bike guy told us that Illuminations was starting in 10 minutes so if we stop on one of the bridges we could see the fireworks. Cool!
We rode our bicycle contraption around the Boardwalk about four times and only ran over 4 people. (Just Kidding!) We oooh'd and ahhh'd at the fireworks, looked like dorks, but had an absolute blast. It was well worth the $20. The hotels even look more beautiful at night with the lights on. Did you ever notice that the sea shells on Swan & flowers on the Dolphin are big fountains that light up at night!
Warning - you have to be in sort of good physical condition to attempt to ride the bikes. There are two very steep hills which are very hard to pedal up. The first couple of times I admittedly let DH do most of the work. On the last hill he let me have it and wasn't pedaling at all! Needless to say I couldn't make it up the hill and DH had to get out and push. This was the highlight of our dorkiness! Bike guy also agreed to take a picture of all of us on the bike contraption which I'm sure we will treasure for years and years.
We returned our bike and went back to our Priceline hotel regretably. (Heavy, heavy sigh - someday Beach Club!) It was a fun and fulflling night for all. We love the Boardwalk - dorky bikes and all!
So here's the breakdown of what we spent for our first day in Orlando:
Burger King lunch $18.48
Map & Cigarettes at Amoco $14.12
Beaches & Cream $44.77 (includes tip)
Bike Rental $18.00
Gas, soda, milk & beer $43.51
Fish Food & Beach Towels - Free
_____________________________
Total Spent for the Day $138.88
Tomorrow is Sea World!
I love the Boardwalk! It is one of my favorite places at Disney. I can't believe they haven't started charging admission, but shhhhh, I hope they never will. It was the perfect place for our family to spend our first night and get us in the Disney mood!
Who went:
Jennifer Age 29 - Travel Agent
Dennis Age 28 - Computer Technician
Kaitylnn Age 3 1/2 - Aspiring Princess
Julie Age 2 - Junior Princess in Training
If you have never been to the Boardwalk the view is absolutely breathtaking. It is so peaceful just staring across the water at the Yacht and Beach Club and Swan & Dolphin, and you can also see the Big Ball at Epcot. There is shopping and arcades and street performers - we saw a knife swallower and female magician. You could also just take a peek at all the really beautiful hotels (Boardwalk Inn, Yacht & Beach Club and Swan & Dolphin) even though you aren't staying there. (Heavy sigh - someday!)
We got there around 4:30pm and spent some time feeding the fish and birds. There are some big fish in the lake! DH pointed out some big-mouth bass which got him really excited. (They have fish food vending machines that you can put a quarter into. DH quickly found out after a few quarters that if you just jiggle the handle a little the food came out for free.) This activity kept DH and the chickee-monkeys occupied for awhile. I was just enjoying the view while they continued to steal fish food and tried to decide where we wanted to eat for dinner. So many choices - Spoodles - The Flying Fish - ESPN? No, we need to go over to the Beach Club and go to Beaches and Cream!
So we strolled to the other side of the Boardwalk to the Beach Club. DH accidentally wandered into their pool area (Stormalong Bay) which is phenominal and probably the best pool on Disney property - huge waterslide, sand bottom, fountains, waterfalls - the works. It was very difficult to keep the chickee-monkeys and DH from just jumping in. DH gave me a sad look that said, "I want to stay here!" I told him I wanted to stay there too - and someday we will when we have $300 a night to pay for a room.
We headed towards the lobby which is beautiful and asked a nice older gentlemen at their information desk where we could find Beaches and Cream. He gave us directions - just past Cape May Cafe and outside past the pool again. He also gave the chickee-monkeys two pieces each of godiva chocolates! Bless his heart! I want to stay at the Beach Club! (Heavier sigh - someday!)
Beaches and Cream had about a half hour wait if you want to eat inside. We got a pager and headed over to the arcade next door to play some games. They had a cute Mickey Mouse car that the girls rode over and over!
Finally, our pager went off. Beaches and Cream is a cute little 50's style Soda Shop. They have little jukeboxes at your table and a big Wurlitzer. We were disappointed b/c our little jukebox didn't work anymore b/c it had taken too much abuse, but our server insisted the big one did and it is free to select he music. DH selected some songs but we never heard them? I think the restaurant has pre-recorded the tracks and just makes you think you are playing the jukebox - but this is just a theory. Anyway, we ordered Vanilla Cokes (Yum!) for DH & I and cherry cokes for the girls. I had a cheeseburger & fries - DH had a turkey sandwich & fries - the chickee-monkeys split a hot dog kiddie meal. For desert we ordered the Milky Way Sundae which was awesome! I highly recommend their ice cream. Better than Ghiradelli at Disney Marketplace in my opinion. Their food was just OK. Very good but nothing special. Definitely not worth the price we paid for the bill ($44.77 including tip). The restaurant has a fun atmosphere but next time I think I'll skip dinner there and just order the sundae! Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club has an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. Next time we'll try that instead.
The girls and I sat outside in some Beach Club deck chairs and stared longingly at Stormalong Bay some more and ate our yummy sundae. DH was marveling over the quality of the beach towels at the beach club and exploring a little. (Later that night I found two of those beach towels in our backpack! DH admitted to swiping them because they were nice towels!) He is hopeless, hopeless, hopeless! But, I admit they are nice towels.
There was a club called Ariel's Grotto that a wedding party was renting out which reminded me of our Honeymoon 7 years ago when we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. Has it been that long since I've stayed a a deluxe property? Yes, it has! Heavy sigh again. Then I saw a lady with a Tinkerbell balloon! "Where did you get that?" I asked because Katie & Julie immediately wanted one. They are at the Magic Kingdom in a store on mainstreet she replied. We decided to finally leave the Beach Club head back to the other side of the Boardwalk.
On our way back we were being passed up by these goofy looking bicycle contraptions which you could rent. They have two seaters and four seaters. The two seaters have room for two adults sitting side by side and there is room for two small children up front. The four seaters can accomodate four adults (sitting 2x2 and two children up front. All of them have an annoying bell that you can ring to warn people to get out of the way. I laughed and told DH, "Look at all those dorks on the bikes. You wouldn't catch me riding one of those!"
Oh, boy did I ever eat my words! As soon as Katie saw one of the bikes she started to ask, "Mommy, I wanna ride that bike!" She probably asked about ten more times by the time we came to the bike rental station. DH was laughing at me. "Come on Mommy. Sometimes you have to be a dork for your kids." He was already whipping the $20 for a half hour out of his wallet and paying the bike guy. We strapped the chickee-monkeys securely to the front and showed them how to ring the annoying bell - which they enjoyed tremendously. Bike guy told us that Illuminations was starting in 10 minutes so if we stop on one of the bridges we could see the fireworks. Cool!
We rode our bicycle contraption around the Boardwalk about four times and only ran over 4 people. (Just Kidding!) We oooh'd and ahhh'd at the fireworks, looked like dorks, but had an absolute blast. It was well worth the $20. The hotels even look more beautiful at night with the lights on. Did you ever notice that the sea shells on Swan & flowers on the Dolphin are big fountains that light up at night!
Warning - you have to be in sort of good physical condition to attempt to ride the bikes. There are two very steep hills which are very hard to pedal up. The first couple of times I admittedly let DH do most of the work. On the last hill he let me have it and wasn't pedaling at all! Needless to say I couldn't make it up the hill and DH had to get out and push. This was the highlight of our dorkiness! Bike guy also agreed to take a picture of all of us on the bike contraption which I'm sure we will treasure for years and years.
We returned our bike and went back to our Priceline hotel regretably. (Heavy, heavy sigh - someday Beach Club!) It was a fun and fulflling night for all. We love the Boardwalk - dorky bikes and all!
So here's the breakdown of what we spent for our first day in Orlando:
Burger King lunch $18.48
Map & Cigarettes at Amoco $14.12
Beaches & Cream $44.77 (includes tip)
Bike Rental $18.00
Gas, soda, milk & beer $43.51
Fish Food & Beach Towels - Free
_____________________________
Total Spent for the Day $138.88
Tomorrow is Sea World!
I'm sure many do it but just never say - It is kind of a humorous twist to your story.
