Mouseketeer & hubby at the Beach Club - Oct. 2002 (FINISHED REPORT) About This Page:

[Mouseketeer]

Travelers: Lynda (Mouseketeer), and her husband Kevin
Resort: Beach Club
Dates: October 21-27, 2002

Day 1: Today’s the big day - we’re going to Disney World!

Got up about 6:30am so we could have a good breakfast before bringing the dog to the vet and heading to the airport. Our flight wasn’t until 10:30 am, so we didn’t have to rush. Unfortunately, our city doesn’t have direct flights to Orlando, so we would not arrive until the afternoon. The weather was cool and a little foggy, so I was hoping we would not have any delays flying into Atlanta. Luckily, both flights were smooth. The only glitch was the long wait on the runway in Atlanta, which made us 30 minutes late arriving into Orlando.

Got our bags and walked down to National to pick up our rental car. I highly recommend renting the car through one of the on-airport rental companies. It was great. So easy to just go downstairs and the cars are right there. We had taken advantage of the free Emerald Club service offered through the partnership with Disney Club, and this was a wonderful benefit. No waiting in line at the rental counter in the airport, we walked right outside to the parking garage to pick out a car (made sure not to get a white one!), threw the luggage in and got in the check-out lane. We followed the directions on the back of our ressie from WDW and got to the hotel with no problems. Plus, the signs along the way insured us we were going in the right direction. Be sure to have cash on hand for the tolls. It was $2.25 each way. The only toll booth we noticed that did not have a person to make change was the 25 cent booth.

At last, we are at the Beach Club and the lobby is just as I remember it from when we stayed there five years ago. We head to the check-in desk where the CM continues to call us “kids” while she is checking the computer for our room and getting together our maps and hotel information. It was fun the first couple of times, but a little annoying afterwards! I ask if they are busy, and she says the hotel is quite full. We head up to our room, which is on the third floor, and hooray it is a garden view room. We look down onto a flowered courtyard, and can also see part of the lake behind the Beach Club as well as the Dolphin hotel. I’m relieved our request for a garden view room was fulfilled.

Kevin helps me unpack, so we can head down to Cape May buffet for our 6:45 PS. We love this buffet, and usually eat here each time we come to WDW. We were ready for a nice meal by this time, and thoroughly enjoyed the food. After dinner, we went to the grocery to pick up some snacks, milk and water to keep in our collapsible cooler.. We went to the Winn Dixie, which is about a half-mile down from Goodings in the Crossroads shopping center, but I didn’t find it any cheaper.

Back at the Beach Club, we put away the groceries then decided to head to the Boardwalk to see what kinds of shops and restaurants they had. Plus, we needed to walk off some of our dinner from Cape May. Illuminations was just about to start at Epcot, so we found a spot on the bridge connecting the Boardwalk and the Beach Club and were able to see the beautiful fireworks. What a magical way to end our first day!

[ 11-08-2002, 08:01 PM: Message edited by: Mouseketeer ]

[gumby74]

Lynda-

Thanks so much for your first day's report. Can't wait to read more. We leave Nov. 30 and I can't wait! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[tikibird]

Great start - thanks for deciding to share your trip with us!

Looking forward to more... [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Debo2]

Looking forward to more about your trip. Sounds like your first day went well. That's always a good sign. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[chezp]

I can't wait to hear more about your stay at the Beach Club! We're counting the days til we go back..! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Mouseketeer]

Travelers: Lynda (Mouseketeer), and her husband Kevin
Resort: Beach Club
Dates: October 21-27, 2002

Day 2: MGM Studios & shopping at Downtown Disney

Today was early entry day at MGM, so we started the day with our Mickey wake-up call at 6:45 am. (Thanks fellow Passporters for the tips about using the speakerphone! This was a nice surprise for my DH.) Woke up with a stiff neck because the pillows in our room were not terribly comfortable. Probably my only complaint with the Beach Club.

We took the boat launch from the Beach Club to MGM. We were in the first row and struck up a conversation with one of the CM’s who told us that Disney has been having a lot of convention business. I know we saw quite a few groups while we were there at the beginning of the week, including Old Navy, who had part of the beach reserved for a big party the night we checked in. After the boat picked us up, it stopped at the Swan/Dolphin launch then went on to MGM.

The first thing we did once we got into the park was to go straight to the big sorcerer’s hat so we could get our Magical Moments pins. We each chose one and I had the certificate for the free pins I had printed up off of Disney’s website. The free pin is cute, it is Sorcerer Mickey at his computer and the screen says 100 Years of Magic. Did my first pin trade ever with the CM, but unfortunately I lost this pin later in the day.

We went straight to the ToT and got on with no wait. Our MM pins started flashing as soon as we were in the ride waiting to get on the elevators. I surprised myself by actually going on ToT after vowing to never do it again after our last trip. It was better this time since I knew what to expect, but I still screamed! Luckily, the people next to us were screamers too, so I didn’t feel too bad. Sent Kevin to do RnR while I picked us up some muffins for breakfast at Starring Rolls. That is one ride I won’t let him talk me into trying.

We fit in Star Tours, Muppet Vision 3-D, Sounds Dangerous and the Great Movie Ride before heading for our lunch at Sci-Fi. Even with our PS, we still had to wait for about 15 minutes. If you are thinking about doing Sci-Fi around regular lunch times, I recommend the PS. There were a lot of people waiting to get in, and quite a few stopping by to check on availability. We were lucky to get seated in one of the cars, and laughed at all of the old movie clips they showed. The cheeseburgers and french fries were very good and very filling. Lunch for two of us ran $29.

After lunch we got a FP for the Little Mermaid, then headed to One Man’s Dream, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I especially liked seeing the scale models from all of the theme park icons, like the castle, Spaceship Earth, and the Tree of Life. I thought the movie about Walt Disney was very interesting too. After this we caught the Little Mermaid, then went through Disney Animation. The parade was ready to start in about 30 minutes, so we staked out a spot in front of the big hat with the sun behind us. I loved this spot for the parade. There was a little pre-show entertainment by some jugglers that helped pass the time. The cars in the parade were very well done - I took a whole roll of film just of the parade! After the parade, we headed to Millionaire. What fun - the lighting and music are just like the TV show. At the end, my seat number showed up in the top 10.

It was raining after we got out of Millionaire, so we hopped into a few shops then went back to the hotel after the rain passed. On the way out, I asked one of the CM’s to take a picture of us in front of the 100 years of magic sign. We decided to eat at the Olive Garden for dinner, with hopes of coming back to see Fantasmic. Unfortunately, our waiter was a little slow so we would not have had the time to park the car and dash through MGM to the show area. I talked my DH into letting me stop at Downtown Disney for a little shopping. I bought a Tigger fanny pack to use during the week instead of my heavy tote bag. We were beat when we got back to the Beach Club. Kevin was asleep by 10 and I jotted some notes for my trip report.

Tomorrow: Kona Cafe for breakfast and this is the most fun haircut ever!

[Diz]

Lynda great day at MGM! Everything seems to be falling into place for you, how wonderful!

Illuminations was just about to start at Epcot, so we found a spot on the bridge connecting the Boardwalk and the Beach Club and were able to see the beautiful fireworks. What a magical way to end our first day!

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">So true! Being on the Boardwalk at night and seeing the fireworks is priceless! It is such a nice added touch ImaginEARS thought of when planning the Boardwalk!

Can't wait to hear more!

[Bert & Sully]

Boy aren't those BC pillows the PITS?! I'd say that was about our only complaint as well!

[tikibird]

Sounds like you had a great day - looking forward to more! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Mouseketeer]

Day 3: Breakfast at the Polynesian, Magic Kingdom and Food and Wine Festival for dinner

We got up early today so we could make our 7:30 PS for breakfast at the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian. We parked at the TTC, then walked over to the hotel. The plus is that we have front row parking for when we finish our day at the MK. It is a short walk to the hotel, about 5 minutes. I loved being in the lobby of the Polynesian - it reminded me of the first time I went to WDW with my family because this is the hotel we stayed in. The lobby is very relaxing with all of the tropical plants and the sounds of water. The Kona Cafe is open to the lobby so it made for a very nice breakfast spot. I had the banana-stuffed Tonga toast for breakfast and Kevin had a shrimp omelette and a pot of the Kona coffee, which was quite good and just the burst of caffeine we needed to get the day started. We had enough time after breakfast to take a walk around the hotel grounds, past the pool and the beach and I have to say I wouldn’t mind staying here for a few days the next time we come.

We had a short wait for the monorail, then we are on our way to the Magic Kingdom! We went through the security check and headed to the gates to wait for the park opening at 9. A very nice CM to the right of the crowds, told us to come in her line so we would have an unobstructed view of the opening of the park. This is the first time I’ve ever been at one of the parks the moment it opened since in the past they used to let you in early to wait at the ropes at the end of Main Street going to the different lands. The characters came into the railroad station on the train, and Mickey opened the park with some pixie dust sprinkled by a family chosen to help him. Lucky folks! I wonder how you get picked to do that?

The first thing we did was grab a map and event schedule, drop off some film to be developed, then headed to the barbershop. Kevin needed to get his hair cut before vacation, and did not have time to fit it in, so I suggested the barbershop at MK. This ended up being one of the highlights of our trip. The barbershop is first-come, first-serve so you must get there early to avoid a long wait. There were two stylists in there and both already had someone in their chairs that they were working on. Kevin was up next, so I left him to wait and walked around Town Square snapping pictures of the characters. A very nice CM saw me taking pictures of the bears from the Country Bear jamboree and offered to take my picture with them. I headed back to the barbershop to see what kind of progress Kevin was making and he was in the chair, so I decided to wait. You can just tell how much these ladies like working here. They laugh and joke with everyone. While the stylist was cutting Kevin‘s hair, the barbershop quartet came in and started to sing. After the stylist cut Kevin’s hair, she covered him with a red and white striped smock with a Mickey face on it and took some giant scissors and pretended like she was cutting his hair with those so I could take a picture. While I was getting the camera ready, she had the barbershop quartet come stand behind him and sing. I got such a great picture there, I hope I can figure out how to add it to the trip report at some point so you can all see it. Well, all of this fun for a haircut, and it was only $15! We left smiling, and I told Kevin that is the most fun he will ever have in a barbershop.

Our first stop was Adventureland. We got right on the Jungle Cruise with no wait and then did the new Magic Carpet ride. The Genie hopped on the ride in a seat behind two ladies and rode the ride with them. That was fun and the first time I ever saw a character do this. After this we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. Our next stop was Frontierland and straight to Big Thunder, which is one of my favorite rides. We rode twice with no wait, then decided to skip Splash Mountain because I wasn’t in the mood to get wet. I always get soaked on that ride. One trip I rode it when it was raining, because I was wearing a rain poncho and figured I would stay dry and on the big drop down, the hood blew off my head and I got soaked! Not a pretty sight - makeup like Tammy Faye and hair plastered to the head. On then to Country Bear Jamboree, walked right in with no waiting and then we played in the shooting arcade for a few minutes before heading to The Haunted Mansion. I would not have noticed the eyes moving on the new gravestone if the lady in front of me hadn’t said something. It is so quick, but it takes a long time before she does it again.
We headed to Fantasyland and got the FP for Peter Pan because the wait was about 45 minutes. We went in “It’s a small world” and Kevin surprised me by coming in with me. He usually skips this ride and waits outside for me because that song just stays with you. I think he must have needed an A/C break! We rode Dumbo with a short (surprising) wait, then the tea cups, the carousel and Snow White’s Scary Adventures. I hadn’t been in the Snow White ride in ages and did not remember what it was like. Back to Peter Pan, which I love, but it looks like it could use some painting in the inside to spruce it up a bit. Missed Winnie the Pooh because the lines were long and decided to try again later.

We decided to walk to Tomorrowland. Went on Space Mountain, then did Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately, the ride stopped for a couple of minutes and wiped out our scores before continuing on. The little boy in front of us ended up with over 200,000 points even after this happened. How did he do that? We decided to eat a late lunch at Cosmic Ray’s and sat in the section where we could listen to Sunny Eclipse. We split a chicken dinner with mashed potatoes for lunch, and then I decided we should head to Main Street and find a place to wait for the parade.

We found a great spot on the shady side of the street in front of the Emporium. Aah, nice cool blasts of A/C from the doorway of the shop! I don’t know if I mentioned this already, but it was hot the whole trip, in the high 80’s and very humid. I left Kevin to hold down the fort and went to pick up my pictures of the MGM parade at the photo shop. Unfortunately, all of my pictures have a small brown line in the corner, the size of a strand of hair. Kevin notices them on the negatives too, so I trek back to the photo shop to ask them about it. They think it is my camera, so I rewind the roll that is in there so they can open it up and look at it. They say it is a very small scratch on the lens, and they put some cleaner on it but say they are not sure this will help. Now, I am bummed, because this is a brand new camera that I bought for this trip. Luckily, I also have my digital camera so I do have a backup and I will use that instead so all is not lost. I’ll just return the camera to Sears when I get back for another one. Back to Main Street and Kevin before someone tries to grab my wonderful parade spot. The parade was excellent, and that is the first time I’ve ever seen one of the parades with the castle in the background. We commented that the characters must love being inside the air-conditioned globes.

After the parade, we are seriously hot and sticky so we decide to get an ice cream. I must have a citrus swirl, which I get every trip to WDW, so we double back to Adventureland. Kevin picks up a Mickey ice cream cookie from one of the vendors on the way there. We decided this afternoon would be a good chance to go back to the hotel and take a relaxing swim. After all, we are staying at the Beach Club and have access to the fabulous Stormalong Bay and have not been in the pool yet. Well, no sooner do we take the monorail and get in the car then it pours with rain and does not let up for the next couple of hours. Bummer!

We relax at the hotel for a little while, then walked over to Epcot after the rain let up so we could sample the Food and Wine Festival. We decided to walk over to Test Track and were able to get in after waiting for about 20 minutes. The ride had been down because of the rain and they were testing the cars to get it ready for re-opening. They honored all of the FP people first though since the rain kept them from riding before opening the line that we were waiting in. I love this ride, my second favorite after Big Thunder. We headed to World Showcase, and walked around sampling foods from the different booths set up for the festival. We had cheddar cheese soup, stuffed cabbage rolls, crab cakes and quesadillas. Yummy! We decided to find a spot for Illuminations, and Mother Nature was starting to put on a show of her own. When we saw lightning off in the distance and it started to rain, we gave up our nice spot for Illuminations and decided to walk towards the International Gateway so we would be nearer to the Beach Club in case the weather got really terrible. We found a spot on the bridge past France and still got a decent view of Illuminations. What a beautiful show this is - we always enjoy the music and the fireworks. Right after the show stopped, the rain came down harder so we headed back to the hotel. We decided to get dessert at Beaches and Cream. I found a table outside and we sat and watched the bad weather and ate our fabulous mud slide dessert, which was a brownie with three scoops of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge sauce and whipped cream. Not what we need before bed, but vacation calories don’t count right? We will walk them off tomorrow.

[Bert & Sully]

Lynda I think the same woman checked us in as well!

We've seen Tigger and Pooh get on The Many Adventures of... and ride together. Also saw Hook and Smee on Peter Pan and a few other similar characters on their related rides. Isn't that fun to watch?!

Enjoying your report.

Elaine

[tikibird]

Sounds like Kevin had a magical visit to the babershop! And what a yummy day - Tonga Toast, Citrus Swirl, and the Food and Wine Festival! [img]graemlins/yuma.gif[/img] Great installment - keep 'em coming! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Diz]

The lobby is very relaxing with all of the tropical plants and the sounds of water

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">Isn't it wonderful at POLY?! Stayed there for the first time this past July and absolutely loved the waterfalls and ambiance!

The characters came into the railroad station on the train, and Mickey opened the park with some pixie dust sprinkled by a family chosen to help him.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">[img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] I have never been to the opening of any park! We usually swim before we start the day. Sounds like we should give this a try atleast once!

A very nice CM saw me taking pictures of the bears from the Country Bear jamboree and offered to take my picture with them

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">This is an added touch of pixie dust the CMs are taught. I don't think as many follow through as they used to! But they're taught to offer to take a photo of individuals and families so everyone can be in the picture.

After the stylist cut Kevin’s hair, she covered him with a red and white striped smock with a Mickey face on it and took some giant scissors and pretended like she was cutting his hair with those so I could take a picture. While I was getting the camera ready, she had the barbershop quartet come stand behind him and sing.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">[img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img] Boy the morning just started and you've already had such a magical day!

Loving your TR! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Mouseketeer]

Thanks for all of the nice words and encouragement to finish the trip report. Here's the next installment!

Lynda

[Mouseketeer]

Travelers: Lynda (Mouseketeer), and her husband Kevin
Resort: Beach Club
Dates: October 21-27, 2002

Day 4: The Animal Kingdom, a visit to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and dinner at Boma

This morning, we decided we’d grab something quick for breakfast at Beaches and Cream but they were closed. I remembered a few years ago that they had donuts for breakfast and I was really craving them for some reason, so I was a little disappointed. But I remembered seeing that the Rip Tide Lounge in the lobby area was open, so we grabbed some muffins and my hot tea and found a sofa in the lobby to sit at. Since we were packed up and ready to go, we decided not to go back upstairs to our room to eat. Just a note, if you are getting a quick breakfast at Rip Tide there is not much seating in the lounge so you may prefer to take breakfast back up to your room.

We decided to drive to the Animal Kingdom instead of taking the bus, and we got there about 10 minutes after the park opened. There were quite a few characters inside the park greeting everyone, but we headed straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris to get a FP. I did my first pin trade of the day with a CM by the FP machine for a 100 years of Magic pin with Mickey. He told me he was already wiped out of pins, but I was just trading for fun anyway and was very happy with the one I chose. We decided to see the first Lion King show. When we walked back to the theater, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and Goofy were out at Camp Minnie-Mickey waiting to take pictures. There was no one around, so I made Kevin take a picture with me and Mickey as this is probably the only time I’ve seen Mickey where he was not being mobbed. Kevin was a good sport, because he is not a character hound like I am. On to the Lion King show - and I have to say what an uplifting way to start our day at the Animal Kingdom. We headed over to do our safari ride, and ended up in the first row behind the driver. The highlight of our safari was when two giraffes walked right past our truck. After the safari, we decided to walk on the Pangani Exploration Trail and see the animals there.

Next stop was the First Aid station for some Tylenol. I woke up with a mild headache that I just couldn’t shake and I didn’t want it to get worse. We decided to take a break at Pizzafari for a few minutes. They have the best breadsticks and marinara sauce to dip them in. A CM, who looked to be a manager, saw my lanyard and offered to trade with me. I got another good pin, a Mickey Florida pin. Very cute. He gave me some good advice about making sure that CM’s who trade give you rubber backs for the pins instead of the metal ones because they are more secure. I appreciated him coming up to me, because I was kind of shy about trading.

We decided to head to the Tree of Life and see “It’s Tough to Be a Bug”. I forgot about a couple of the surprises in the show, but I always love hearing the audience reactions since we’ve already seen it and know the story. We also enjoyed walking around and admiring all of the carvings on the Tree. After the movie, we walked through the Asia section and decided to skip Kali River Rapids because everyone coming off of the ride was soaked through. We decided to see the Flights of Wonder show instead, which is a bird show with some corny humor.

We walked over to DinoLand so we could check out the new Primeval Whirl ride. I thought this was pretty fun - I liked how it spins you around. I don’t know if I like the way this section of the park looks, though. It seems out of character with the rest of the Animal Kingdom. We did the Dinosaur ride next, and I forgot how much it shakes you up.

We took our lunch break at Flame Tree BBQ. We both had the pulled pork sandwiches that came with corn on the cob and a side of baked beans. This was a very good, and very filling lunch. There are a lot of nice shaded areas to eat in this section of the park. We ate down by the lake. When you looked over the side, there was a four foot alligator waiting for any handouts. After lunch, we caught the last showing of Tarzan Rocks. It was just starting to rain when we left the show, so we waited it out in one of the gift shops. Once the rain passed it was almost time for the parade so we decided to stay and catch it.

I was surprised to see so many characters out when we were leaving the park. We wanted to go back to the hotel to swim, but unfortunately it started to rain again on the way back to the Beach Club.

Since the weather wasn’t cooperating with us, I decided to move our reservations for Boma up a night. The CM at the guest services desk got us a reservation for 7:50, so we had time for a shower and change of clothes and we were off to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. As you’ve read from many posts on the boards, the Animal Kingdom Lodge is simply stunning. As soon as you walk into the lobby there is that “wow” factor. We had about an hour before our PS, so we did have some time to walk around and explore. We wandered around the lobby, took a look at the animals on the savannah and the outdoor storytelling area and checked out the pool area and peeked in the other restaurants. Kevin and I decided we would like to try to spend a couple of nights here on a future trip to WDW. We still had a few minutes before our PS, so I checked us in and we headed to Victoria Falls for a glass of wine. We sat overlooking the restaurant and smelling all of the wonderful foods we couldn’t wait to try. Our waitress in the bar told us to be sure to sample small amounts of everything, particularly the soups.

Well, I can attest that Boma deserves the high praise everyone gives it. We were lucky to have a table by the window in a quiet area of the restaurant. Boma is a bustling place. Our server was very attentive, and I also liked that the chefs at each station will come over and tell you what a dish is like if you have questions. I can say that we stuffed ourselves and enjoyed every single thing we tried and there were many! When I mentioned to the waiter how much we enjoyed our dinner, he brought out a recipe request form for me to fill out. I borrowed his pen and walked back to get the names of the things I enjoyed the most and I listed a few requests for them to send to me. I put my e-mail address on the slip and the recipes were waiting for me when we got home from WDW.

After our meal, we decided to stop at guest services to get some information on the hotel. We spoke to a very nice CM who gave us a Disney resort brochure, as well as a map of the AKL and the information sheet they give to guests who check in. Our only regret is that we didn’t get to the hotel before dusk so we would have had a better view of the animals, but our hotel tour and dinner at Boma were a great way to end our day.