Pre-trip:
Two friends and I planned a 1-night Platinum Plan trip in Sept, staying at the Beach Club. I had done the 1-night Premium plan in May 2010, so I had an idea of how this would play out. Here is what we planned:
Thursday, Sept. 29:
8:30am EPCOT Segway tour
11:30am Le Cellier Lunch
12:30pm EPCOT Seas Aqua Tour
3:30pm Pedicures, Yacht/Beach Club Spa
5:15pm Spirit of Aloha Luau
8pm Wishes Fireworks Cruise
Friday, Sept. 30:
9am Backstage Magic Tour
5:45pm Victoria & Alberts Dinner
9pm La Nouba
We thought this was quite an ambitious schedule and knew we would be literally running from event to event. We planned as much as we could ahead of time to help with that we have been to Disney MANY times, so we know the lay of the land very well; we got a
AAA parking pass to park as close to the gates as possible; we mapped out driving directions from location to location so we knew exactly which route would get us there fastest (not necessarily the way Disney signs direct you!), etc.
Post-Trip Report:
We checked into the plan at 7am. Our room was ready, so we brought our bags in then. We had our Spirit of Aloha tickets printed right then so we didnt have to worry about it later in the day. They can be printed by Concierge up to 3 hours prior to the show. They also had to retrieve our La Nouba vouchers from the Managers safe.
We had heard mixed reports of getting in at the International Gateway for our Segway tour, so we decided to drive. We did the 8:30 tour and had a great time. We heard Vern Yip was in the 9am tour! We finished at 10:30 and we had reservations at Le Cellier at 11:30, so we decided to try for Soarin. It said it was a 30 minute wait, so we went for it. It turned out to be about 35 minutes, and we made it to Le Cellier right as they began to sing Canadas national anthem. We had hoped to be seated before 11:30, but turns out they wouldnt have seated us early even if we had arrived a little early. At Le Cellier, our waitress struggled with crediting our meals under the Platinum plan. She came to our table 2-3 times stating we didnt have any meals left (I think she wanted me to offer to pay for the meal). I asked that she speak with a manager and she finally figured out that there was a separate Platinum button that she needed to use, not the regular dining plan button.
The meal ran a little long, so we high-tailed it out of the park and to the guest relations area by the monorail to check in for the Seas Aqua Tour. We were about 10 minutes late. They brought someone out to tell us that the Seas Aqua tours had to be cancelled for about a week because of problem with the water. It was unsafe for people to be in the water. We have no idea what this meant, but that tour was scrapped. So we did Test Track, a photopass shot and then Spaceship Earth before leaving to go back to the Beach Club. At the Beach Club, we changed and 2 of us went to the Periwig salon for pedicures. This location didnt have the spa feel that I am sure the Grand Floridian would, but it was a nice, relaxing time nonetheless.
We then did the Spirit of Aloha Luau which was nice. Afterwards, we went to the Grand Floridian for our fireworks cruise. We arrived at about 7:45pm and they said one more couple would be joining us and we could head out when they arrived. We chatted with two of the staff there and they were great! They said we had to wait until 8:30 for the other couple (they group platinum plan guests together), but if they didnt come, we would leave. Well, they didnt show up. So we did a brief tour of the Seven Seas Lagoon and got positioned for the fireworks. The music was piped in and it was a wonderful show!
The next day, we made it to the Tour waiting area of EPCOT by the Guest Relations window at 8:40am for our 9am Backstage Magic tour. We had a great time on the tour visiting all 4 parks as well as the horticulture area to see the topiaries under construction. We ate at Whispering Canyon Café, which was delicious. Our guides Bryan and Ben were incredibly knowledgeable and lots of fun. After the tour ended at 4:30pm, we raced to check-in at Hilton Bonnet Creek and got ready for our 5:45 reservation at Victoria and Alberts. We made it with about 5 minutes to spare (thankfully valet parking is included in the V&A reservation). The meal was spectacular. We told the staff up front that we had La Nouba at 9pm and they did a great job getting us out of there by 8:15pm. We had another issue here with our Platinum plan that was not at all the V&As staffs fault. Turns out, the spa staff charged our pedicures as meals somehow. The head waiter was on the phone getting the issue resolved and told us to get on our way so we didnt miss La Nouba. They took our number in case they needed to contact us. On the drive there, we received a call from the restaurant letting us know that it was all taken care of and the spa visit was now credited properly on the plan. I cant say enough about the staff at V&As we were SOOOO impressed!
We had all seen La Nouba, but thoroughly enjoyed the show again! And we fell into bed at about 11:30 after a whirlwind 2 days!
Recommendations:
-Book AAA, especially when staying Deluxe! We saved $77 over the regular price of the Platinum Plan at the Beach Club. We had a AAA membership, but even if you paid for a membership, youd still save a little (plus youll get the AAA parking pass, so you can park up front!).
-We had originally planned to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. After rebooking at the Beach Club, we saw on paper that it made so much more sense to stay there. We would have done A LOT more travelling on Thursday had we not been able to walk to everything in the morning/afternoon from the Beach Club.
-We received emails from Concierge prior to arrival, but we did not receive a Club Level room. We did receive turndown service with 3 candy bars and a nice letter from the hotel.
1-night Platinum Plan for 3 adults at Beach Club cost us $1291. For that we got:
1-night Beach Club Garden View, 3 adults = $270 (discounted, this room would be $270-ish. Rack rate was more like $388)
(3) 1-day tickets = $270
Photopass CD = $100
(3) Mugs = $40
Snacks on Meal Plan = $24
Segway Tour = $315
Le Cellier = ~$140
EPCOT Seas Aqua = $450
Spirit of Aloha = $202
Wishes Fireworks Cruise = ~$300
Backstage Magic Tour = $730
Yacht/Beach Ship Shape Health Club pedicures (tip included) = $160
Victoria & Alberts = $400
La Nouba = $345
Total =
~$3300
I am happy to answer any questions!!
