Castillo Mom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 5, 2003
- Messages
- 3,835
The players:
Me, Lisa-mother of 3 wonderful boys, obsessive WDW planner of our first ever trip and now trying to arrange a return in '07 combined with Disney Cruise. Can you tell I got hooked? I started planning this trip in December '01 and have spent many hours on these boards, much to the irritation of DH who eventually sang my praises once we were finally there!
DH-Eblis, Mr. Bah humbug who would roll his eyes every time he caught me DISing. He refused to even discuss the trip with me until his designated date of 7/15/04 when he said he would officially be open to conversations about Disney. This coming from a man who would later get misty-eyed while watching Fantasmic! and giggle like a little boy at Chef Mickey's! Score 1 for me!
DS-Damian, 15 years old and first born of my little brood. Loves Disney, closet character-lover and extremely talented artist. The child must have thanked me 50 times by the time the trip was over. What a sweetie!
DS-David, 12 years old. Worry wort and constant clock watcher, collector of stuffed Mickey's even though he's almost a teenager. Mid trip, we ended up temporarily taking away the watch we bought him at WDW. Sheesh, I thought I was obsessive about sticking to the itinerary!
DS-Daniel, 10 years old. Born with a smile on his face, go-with-the-flow kinda guy, wisecracker with excellent comedic timing. Also trying to transition from being a kid to a pre-teen but fortunately allowed himself to be a little boy while at WDW which warmed my heart since he's my youngest, even let me hold his hand a couple times.
After a cool, relaxing limo ride, we finally arrive at the Beach Club! What a beautiful resort! The front entrance was a lot bigger than I expected after having looked at pictures a thousand times. My husband had warned me that if I kept looking at them, it would spoil it for me. Not a chance! The photographs on the internet couldn't compare to the reality of seeing it in person. What struck me was how pristine the resort looked. I loved all the little themed details everywhere. Disney plays up the resort themes to a hilt!
When we walked into the lobby, I noticed that the place was just buzzing with activity as those who were stranded by the hurricane tried to check out and we happy folks who had just arrived were trying to check in. The line wasn't very long though and the staff was very friendly and efficient. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted that I didn't catch every single word of the schpeel they give you about where everything in the resort is located and how to contact them to check on our room.
When we finally finished pre-check in, it was about 2:00 and we were starved since the only thing we had eaten were the scones we picked up at Starbucks at the airport in Cincinnati. Since my itinerary was thrown off due the day and a half delay in our arrival, I had to think quick about where to eat. Even though we were all excited to have finally arrived, DH and the boys were getting cranky due to lack of sleep and empty stomachs. I had to quickly think of a back up plan which was easy because the Boardwalk was right across the way. One of the things that attracted me to the Beach Club was it's centralized location and lots of restaurant choices.
We hopped on the boat and decided on Big River Grille because I forgot that Spoodles doesn't serve lunch. DH and David had the Flame Grilled Meatloaf which was very good and the mashed potatoes were delish. Daniel and I split the honey Dijon chicken sandwich was wasn't as big as I thought it would be but was very good as well. Damian had the Big Brew Burger which was huge. I must've been good because he ate the whole thing in 2 minutes!
By this time it's 3:30. We stopped in ESPN Club to take a peek and realized we should have had lunch there. We said we'd be back for sure, but we never made it. Oh well, next trip. Did I say next trip? The words "next trip" were uttered many times while we were there, so we'll definitely be back. It's just a matter of when!
Now it's 4:00 and we walk back to the Beach Club. We thought for sure our room would be ready, but it wasn't. David was so tired, he was almost to the point of tears. This is a child who when given the freedom during summer vacation to stay up as late as he wants, will put himself to bed at 10:00 p.m. This boy has to have structure and is a creature of habit and has been since birth. Throw a kink into his routine and he becomes a great big grouch butt. He's also the kid who's never late to school and never misses a day, gets As and Bs and is the informer of all of his siblings' misdeeds, so 'ya gotta love him! But I digress. There's no use getting upset over the room situation because the staff was doing the best they could, so we have the kids sit in the lobby to watch cartoons and people watch. DH and I check out the gift shop. Let the spending begin! When we got back, the kiddos were fast asleep. Those are some really comfy chairs in the Beach Club lobby. 5:00 p.m. rolls around, then 5:30 and we're finally told the room is ready.
We head to room 3577. I loved it! I didn't make any special requests other than nonsmoking and to be near the elevator, but we got a courtyard view. I think I only looked out the window twice the entire time we were there so I'm glad I didn't spring for the pool view. I call down to Bell Services and a nice Dutch man named Arniel tells me he'll have our luggage up in a "jiffy." Well, about 5 minutes later he calls back apologizing all over the place and says he can't find our bags and asks me to please describe it. He was just the sweetest man and kept saying "I'm so sorry, please don't be angry with me Mrs. Castillo!" How I could I be mad? I told him it was not a big deal, it had to be somewhere so I told him to just look for the cart filled with about 50 pieces of luggage, groceries and 4 cases of bottled water piled on top. He says,"Oh, now I know which one it is!" I was too tired to be embarrassed so I just laughed. I guess you had to be there to see how much we brought with us. He finally brings all of our belongings and he gives us a very spirited orientation of WDW once he hears that we're first timers. He must've talked to us a good 20 minutes. We just loved him and ran into him a few times around the resort.
Now that the boys have been rejuvenated by their hour and a half nap, commando mom says it's time to go to a park. DH was not enthused but he was a good sport and conceded anyway since he knew we had UPH passes and the kids were too excited to stay in the room anyway. Note to self, since our vacation got off to a late start which caused us to be commando most of the trip, I'm promising to make it up to my family the next time we go by getting 7 day park hoppers so we can have a little more down time at our resort.
We decide on Epcot since it's the closest. I knew it would be a short walk, but wow, only 5 minutes. We head to Future World first and decide on Honey I Shrunk the Audience. We live only 20 minutes away from Disneyland and have seen it before but it was fun to see it again anyway, plus it got DH off his tired feet. Next stop was Mission Space which was a walk on. I remember reading that a lot of people have gotten off this ride pretty green, but it didn't affect me. We loved the ride, very intense and unique. The boys liked it so much that we got on again. Big mistake! It was Damian's idea to get back on again but he didn't do well the 2nd time around. None of us have ever been prone to motion sickness and we've ridden all the extreme rides at Magic Mountain. Poor guy was queasy the rest of the evening but was fine the next morning. Next ride was Test Track which was a blast. This was the longest wait we had the entire trip, 20 minutes.
We all wanted to keep going, but DH couldn't stand the fatigue any longer, so we went back to the hotel. Even though all five of us were in one room, we didn't feel cramped at all and it made for some great family time. At home, we're often in separate areas of our home, each doing our own thing, so this forced us to interact with each other a lot more than usual. I was worried that we might be at each other's throats by the end of the trip due to the close quarters, but it worked out well and we have a lot of fond memories to look back on when we would come back to the room each night and joke and talk about the day's events. I want to go back! This night would be our first time seeing Krista on the WDW channel. We found her to be so annoying, yet we would watch her every single night! I can still hear her high pitched squeel in my head!
Even though we only spent a short time at Epcot that first night, I fell asleep with the satisfaction of finally being at WDW and see my children so happy. Everything I do is for them and for moments like these.
Me, Lisa-mother of 3 wonderful boys, obsessive WDW planner of our first ever trip and now trying to arrange a return in '07 combined with Disney Cruise. Can you tell I got hooked? I started planning this trip in December '01 and have spent many hours on these boards, much to the irritation of DH who eventually sang my praises once we were finally there!
DH-Eblis, Mr. Bah humbug who would roll his eyes every time he caught me DISing. He refused to even discuss the trip with me until his designated date of 7/15/04 when he said he would officially be open to conversations about Disney. This coming from a man who would later get misty-eyed while watching Fantasmic! and giggle like a little boy at Chef Mickey's! Score 1 for me!
DS-Damian, 15 years old and first born of my little brood. Loves Disney, closet character-lover and extremely talented artist. The child must have thanked me 50 times by the time the trip was over. What a sweetie!
DS-David, 12 years old. Worry wort and constant clock watcher, collector of stuffed Mickey's even though he's almost a teenager. Mid trip, we ended up temporarily taking away the watch we bought him at WDW. Sheesh, I thought I was obsessive about sticking to the itinerary!
DS-Daniel, 10 years old. Born with a smile on his face, go-with-the-flow kinda guy, wisecracker with excellent comedic timing. Also trying to transition from being a kid to a pre-teen but fortunately allowed himself to be a little boy while at WDW which warmed my heart since he's my youngest, even let me hold his hand a couple times.
After a cool, relaxing limo ride, we finally arrive at the Beach Club! What a beautiful resort! The front entrance was a lot bigger than I expected after having looked at pictures a thousand times. My husband had warned me that if I kept looking at them, it would spoil it for me. Not a chance! The photographs on the internet couldn't compare to the reality of seeing it in person. What struck me was how pristine the resort looked. I loved all the little themed details everywhere. Disney plays up the resort themes to a hilt!
When we walked into the lobby, I noticed that the place was just buzzing with activity as those who were stranded by the hurricane tried to check out and we happy folks who had just arrived were trying to check in. The line wasn't very long though and the staff was very friendly and efficient. Unfortunately, I was so exhausted that I didn't catch every single word of the schpeel they give you about where everything in the resort is located and how to contact them to check on our room.
When we finally finished pre-check in, it was about 2:00 and we were starved since the only thing we had eaten were the scones we picked up at Starbucks at the airport in Cincinnati. Since my itinerary was thrown off due the day and a half delay in our arrival, I had to think quick about where to eat. Even though we were all excited to have finally arrived, DH and the boys were getting cranky due to lack of sleep and empty stomachs. I had to quickly think of a back up plan which was easy because the Boardwalk was right across the way. One of the things that attracted me to the Beach Club was it's centralized location and lots of restaurant choices.
We hopped on the boat and decided on Big River Grille because I forgot that Spoodles doesn't serve lunch. DH and David had the Flame Grilled Meatloaf which was very good and the mashed potatoes were delish. Daniel and I split the honey Dijon chicken sandwich was wasn't as big as I thought it would be but was very good as well. Damian had the Big Brew Burger which was huge. I must've been good because he ate the whole thing in 2 minutes!
By this time it's 3:30. We stopped in ESPN Club to take a peek and realized we should have had lunch there. We said we'd be back for sure, but we never made it. Oh well, next trip. Did I say next trip? The words "next trip" were uttered many times while we were there, so we'll definitely be back. It's just a matter of when!
Now it's 4:00 and we walk back to the Beach Club. We thought for sure our room would be ready, but it wasn't. David was so tired, he was almost to the point of tears. This is a child who when given the freedom during summer vacation to stay up as late as he wants, will put himself to bed at 10:00 p.m. This boy has to have structure and is a creature of habit and has been since birth. Throw a kink into his routine and he becomes a great big grouch butt. He's also the kid who's never late to school and never misses a day, gets As and Bs and is the informer of all of his siblings' misdeeds, so 'ya gotta love him! But I digress. There's no use getting upset over the room situation because the staff was doing the best they could, so we have the kids sit in the lobby to watch cartoons and people watch. DH and I check out the gift shop. Let the spending begin! When we got back, the kiddos were fast asleep. Those are some really comfy chairs in the Beach Club lobby. 5:00 p.m. rolls around, then 5:30 and we're finally told the room is ready.
We head to room 3577. I loved it! I didn't make any special requests other than nonsmoking and to be near the elevator, but we got a courtyard view. I think I only looked out the window twice the entire time we were there so I'm glad I didn't spring for the pool view. I call down to Bell Services and a nice Dutch man named Arniel tells me he'll have our luggage up in a "jiffy." Well, about 5 minutes later he calls back apologizing all over the place and says he can't find our bags and asks me to please describe it. He was just the sweetest man and kept saying "I'm so sorry, please don't be angry with me Mrs. Castillo!" How I could I be mad? I told him it was not a big deal, it had to be somewhere so I told him to just look for the cart filled with about 50 pieces of luggage, groceries and 4 cases of bottled water piled on top. He says,"Oh, now I know which one it is!" I was too tired to be embarrassed so I just laughed. I guess you had to be there to see how much we brought with us. He finally brings all of our belongings and he gives us a very spirited orientation of WDW once he hears that we're first timers. He must've talked to us a good 20 minutes. We just loved him and ran into him a few times around the resort.
Now that the boys have been rejuvenated by their hour and a half nap, commando mom says it's time to go to a park. DH was not enthused but he was a good sport and conceded anyway since he knew we had UPH passes and the kids were too excited to stay in the room anyway. Note to self, since our vacation got off to a late start which caused us to be commando most of the trip, I'm promising to make it up to my family the next time we go by getting 7 day park hoppers so we can have a little more down time at our resort.
We decide on Epcot since it's the closest. I knew it would be a short walk, but wow, only 5 minutes. We head to Future World first and decide on Honey I Shrunk the Audience. We live only 20 minutes away from Disneyland and have seen it before but it was fun to see it again anyway, plus it got DH off his tired feet. Next stop was Mission Space which was a walk on. I remember reading that a lot of people have gotten off this ride pretty green, but it didn't affect me. We loved the ride, very intense and unique. The boys liked it so much that we got on again. Big mistake! It was Damian's idea to get back on again but he didn't do well the 2nd time around. None of us have ever been prone to motion sickness and we've ridden all the extreme rides at Magic Mountain. Poor guy was queasy the rest of the evening but was fine the next morning. Next ride was Test Track which was a blast. This was the longest wait we had the entire trip, 20 minutes.
We all wanted to keep going, but DH couldn't stand the fatigue any longer, so we went back to the hotel. Even though all five of us were in one room, we didn't feel cramped at all and it made for some great family time. At home, we're often in separate areas of our home, each doing our own thing, so this forced us to interact with each other a lot more than usual. I was worried that we might be at each other's throats by the end of the trip due to the close quarters, but it worked out well and we have a lot of fond memories to look back on when we would come back to the room each night and joke and talk about the day's events. I want to go back! This night would be our first time seeing Krista on the WDW channel. We found her to be so annoying, yet we would watch her every single night! I can still hear her high pitched squeel in my head!
Even though we only spent a short time at Epcot that first night, I fell asleep with the satisfaction of finally being at WDW and see my children so happy. Everything I do is for them and for moments like these.
this taught me a lesson. never buy UPH...always regular PH (or PHP).....unused days never expire. i'd rather shell out extra money to things included in UPH than risk losing days! ~~just my $.02~~ 
