Sab

[ducklite]

We visited SAB a couple times on this trip. They were stringently checking resort ID's, needed one for the four year old with our party, but not the one year old. Everybody got a wristband, you could wear it on your wrist, ankle, bathing suit strap, where ever you wanted as long as you wore it.

While waiting in line for food I saw several families turned away as they were not staying at the YC/BC/BCV, and one family sent back to their room to get the ID's for the entire party--they had only brought one.

On to that line--it took half an hour to place my order and get chicken fingers, very unacceptable IMHO. They were very unorganized and moving like molasses in January, this was one of the few complaints I had about the entire trip.

Chair saving-- at about 11:30 I saw a CM going around collecting towels that had been left folded on chairs with nothing else or in the case of the one in the chair next to us, yesterdays newspaper. I would say they removed towels from about 25 of the most "choice" chairs in the pool area, and I couldn't see the kiddie pool area or the area down by the slide, I'm assuming there were probably more. I noticed there were no shoes next to or under any of these chairs. We wre there for three plus hours, and never saw ANY of those people come back for their chairs. Glad to see them being proactive about it.

Tubes--they were allowing colored tubes in the pool. They have less of their own to rent than in years past. I was talking to one of the lifeguards about why they have less, and he said that they had gottten to the point that there were too many and the lifeguards couldn't see the water. I asked about bringing our own, and he said that people can, but if the guards feel there are too many in the water they will tell people who haven't rented WDW tubes they can't use them. He said at one point they were only going to allow clear ones, but now they just will tell people they can't use their own if it gets too crowded. They seem to be pushing the noodles over the tubes.

Anne

 

[Jillpie]

Thanks for the update. We'll be at the BCV's in January, we'll be sure to bring all our id's to the pool. A question on these wristbands, what material are they made of and are they easily removed after use...or do you need scissors to take them off? Also, how do they determine if you are just using yesterday's band, are they a certain color each day? Just curious. Can't wait to get there for the first time!

 

[Janet2k]

Ducklite, thanks for the update. I'll be at the BCV on my upcoming vacation (if I don't cancel it due to health issues) and I'm glad to hear that the SAB CM's are being proactive regarding things. It should make for a good vacation as I plan on hanging out at the pool for a majority of my time.

 

[ducklite]

Jillpie--The wristbands are a Tyvek material, waterproof and not easy to "loose". If you flip it inside out it's easy to grab the end and pull to rip it right off, no scissors needed.

They do seem to be changing the color day-to-day.

Janet2K--Hope health issues don't force you to cancel!

Anne

 

[tnkrbell]

We also were there in Jan(the week after new years) and found they were not checking for room keys, But it was also FREEZING when we were there! I really hope they are checking for room keys this trip.

 

[Lexxiefern]

Anne, we will be traveling with our 2 1/2 year old DD in 3 weeks. Do you think we will need a resort id for her? I guess I will have to ask for an extra one for her at check in? Thanks!

 

[wdwfan]

I was wondering where you were, Ducklite! Thanks for the SAB update. I'll be there next week and I hope they continue to check the bands and collect those pool-saving towels! Were you just at YC/BC this trip? How did you find the crowds to be in the resort and parks? Thanks!

 

[hightown]

Thanks for the update! We'll be there two weeks from tomorrow. I just can't believe it's finally so close.

I had looked around here for tubes to take with us. $10 per day to rent is crazy! Couldn't find clear but found colored. Figured for $1.55 if it ended up in trash, that's ok. Nice to see that we might be able to use.

Hope your trip is great. Your postings have been very helpful to me.

Thanks, Sharon

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

Thanks for the report Anne,

We were at BC in May and the CMs were very ADAMANT about checking wristbands. At times there were 4-5 of them literally scouring the area for non compliance.

We spent a lot of time each day at the pool. On one occasion my DW was lying on her stomach sun bathing and had both arms extended above her head. She was wearing her band on the strap of her bathing suit. When a CM came on duty (one who had not seen us earlier) she made her roll over and show her the band! lol

Thanks again for the update!

 

[palmtreegirl]

Anne, we will be traveling with our 2 1/2 year old DD in 3 weeks. Do you think we will need a resort id for her? I guess I will have to ask for an extra one for her at check in? Thanks!

Hi we were there August 1- 10 and went to the pool everyday and only needed 1 resort ID for our family. At check in we received an ID for our 7 year old but they didn't give us one for our almost 3 year old, they said we needed only 1 ID per family for SAB and that's what we experienced. We mostly arrived at the pool either early, around 10:30 or later in the day, around 3pm, so maybe time of arrival makes a difference. They also only issued wrist bands until 5pm and after that there wasn't anyone checking and no bands.

I didn't notice people checking for bands inside SAB or the towel thing but then again I wasn't paying atention to stuff like that, I was too busy playing in that great pool-lol.

Have a great time!!

 

[Gabrielle]

Hi,

We were at the YC the weekend of Aug 2-3 and, while they were checking wristbands on the resort side of the pool, they weren't checking wristands on the beach side, nor on the slide.

I came into the pool area around 3:30 - 4:00 on Sunday, Aug 3. I usually go over to the beach side, near to where the slide empties, because there are more chairs in the shade. There were many folks without wristbands on that side of the pool and there were many folks on the slide without wristbands.

 

[WDW4us2003]

I just returned yesterday, and I did find that someone was checking wristbands about 90% of the time. We were told just one per family, and that is what every other person told us also, and only until 5:00. A few times we saw lifeguards questioning people without them. I think they are more stringent about it when the pool is busy, and less at slow times. I will tell you that I did not find the pool crowded AT ALL, no matter what time of day we went, and we went every day. I am wondering if this is because a large portion of the BC is not occupied due to the scaffolding.
Also, the lazy river area is being worked on, so we weren't able to float around it in a complete circle, and some of the jets weren't working. We brought a clear tube with us, but never used it much since it was kind of hard to float around.

 

[susy]

Anne,

Welcome back! Where did you stay?

I just about died laughing when I read "molasses in January". I use that phrase all the the time. I don't know anyone else who does. I am very glad to hear they are cracking down on pool hoppers and chair savers. Tomorrow I will be in the double digits. It still feel SOOOOO far away!

 

[LIFERBABE]

Does anyone know how long the lazy river will be under construction? Will be there in 2 weeks, and this would really change our BC decision to the AKL (If they have availability).
We hadn't planned on hitting the parks Labor Day weekend, we were just going to spend the weekend at the pool.

Thanks
Lifer

 

[WDW4us2003]

Don't let the construction of the lazy river change your plans. It is only a small part of the river that goes under a bridge, not all of it, and you can still float around in most of it. You just can't make a complete cirlce. The construction is in a small area and is very well hidden from view. I can't imagine it will last much longer. There are so many other things to do at that pool. The views and atmosphere can't be beat!!

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by Lexxiefern
Anne, we will be traveling with our 2 1/2 year old DD in 3 weeks. Do you think we will need a resort id for her? I guess I will have to ask for an extra one for her at check in? Thanks!

If they need a park pass they'll need an ID for the pool seems to be the rule of thumb, so I wouldn't think so.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by wdwfan
Were you just at YC/BC this trip? How did you find the crowds to be in the resort and parks? Thanks!

We were at the BCV. The resorts were sold-out or close to it every night, and the parks were a madhouse. It was as crowded as Thanksgiving!

Anne

 

[ducklite]

The lazy river was operating in a full circle this past week

Anne (who made many loops!)

 

[LIFERBABE]

Thanks Anne for answering my question about the lazy river.

I plan on making many loops also so I am glad to hear the river is looping!

Scaffolding I can live with, But my lazy river has to loop!

 

[prince of thieves]

As of riight now there is no plans at all for the lazy river to go under any construction or rehab. the Bridge that has been talked about on here is off to the side of the lazy river and doesn't affect the pool much except that we have two small areas that are blocked off for safety reasons.

In the middle of the day during the shift change between the A.M. and P.M. lifeguards, depending on what needs to be done and how much needs to be cleaned will determine if there will be any lifeguards going around checking for wristbands on the pool deck. If we have an extra on any particular day then that could be one of their duties as well.

John (who probably made sure that Anne made many safe loops around the lazy river ;-))