The Brits at the Beach Club - a 19 night special (FINALLY FINISHED) About This Page:

[Mauimouse]

Sounds like an excellent start to your vacation. I am with everyone else, 19 days that is great, would love to be able to do that. I though just booked my 9 night stay for September, so that is okay as well. Thanks for the report, keep them coming. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bert & Sully]

Great report so far Cheryl. When does the Eeyore collecting start [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ?

[FanOfMickey]

Great report so far, can't wait for the next installment

Janine

[chezp]

Thanks for all the encouragement so far - it's much appreciated, as I've never written a trip report before and I was worried I was going into too much detail! Here's the next bit...

Day 2 – Monday 16 December, part two

After all the problems with getting our photographs at AK, we did make our PS at Boma, with ten minutes to spare, so we headed out to look at the savannah, before it got dark. We saw zebras, gazelles and antelopes, but I can imagine that you could stay in a room with a savannah view and not see many animals. I didn’t realise how many of the rooms had savannah views. The smell outside was interesting too! The AKL lobby was lovely and you can certainly see the similarities to Wilderness Lodge.

Our meal at Boma was the highlight of our first day. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Our server, Lissa, was extremely attentive. Every time we drank any of our water or Coke, it was immediately refilled. I managed to make my make along most of the buffet, sampling as much as I could and there was a lot available for vegetarians. What a beautiful set of flavours in all the food I had.

The chefs were exceptionally good about explaining what things were and mking sure that I kept to the vegetarian dishes. The corn soup was just the best (I asked for the recipe for this one) and some of the vegetable accompaniments were just perfect. Well worth every penny and we will be back here in future trips. Another Boma convert.

Boma Me DH
Starter 10 N/A
Main course 9 8
Atmosphere 9 8.5
Service 10 9
Value for money 9 9

Average: 9.06


The two of us after our meal at Boma

In all, I loved Boma and will return in the future, but I was somewhat disappointed with our first visit to AKL. Maybe after everything I’d read on the board in recent months, I expected too much. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] It’s also very much in the middle of nowhere and I think to stay here, I’d want to have a car. When you leave AKL, there’s only one way which you can go to reach the rest of Disney, which makes you feel as if you’re right on the edge of Disney property. It makes you realise how much more space there is to be developed in the future.

We weren’t planning on going out again, but having worn new shorts today (big mistake) the inside of my legs were red raw, so I wanted some antiseptic cream (that’s what I forgot to pack!). [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] We headed over to the Boardwalk, with me in agony with every step, thinking their shop would have some, only to be told that any hotel shop sells it, but they don’t. Still it was lovely to visit the Boardwalk, although I was pretty upset to discover I’d lost $50 somewhere along the line. It’s not I can afford to throw money away! [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

When we got back to the Beach Club, I was disappointed not to find any more of that nice hot apple cider in the lobby tonight. I hope they have it again before Christmas, it was a really nice touch to have that when we arrived last night.

We ended up going over to the Beach Club Villas, as I’d been dying to see them. We went on the Open House tour in 1999, but didn’t like the Boardwalk Villas, as really we’d fallen in love with the BC by that point and wanted to stay there. We were very interested when we came back in 2000 to see work just starting on the BCV (we overlooked the construction site).

We wanted to buy into them and when we moved house in August, we took out enough extra money on the mortgage to ensure we could join the DVC. We asked if the prices would be going up before the end of the year, as we wanted to see the finished product during this vacation and were told there’d be no more rises before 2003. So we were pretty upset to find out that it’s now $84 a point, not $80, the prices having gone up on 1 December! [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

One look at the one bedroomed villas and we were sold. We want to stay here next time. We asked for the sales rep we’d originally spoken to three years ago to give us a call, so we could get things moving while we’re here. I guess that means we’ll be back at Disney soon then…. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

The weather today was sunny and dry, with highs in the low 60’s.
The best thing today was trying out Boma.
The worst thing today was finding out I’d lost $50.
The funniest thing today was all the character interaction in the AK parade.
Today we tried Boma
And the result was we want to go back again.
The most magical moment today was taking the safaris early in the morning.

Pedometer reading: 6.9 miles (a bit of a guess, as it didn’t work properly until lunchtime!)

Next: Our first trip to Walmart, Sea World and DH’s very early wake up call!

[ 02-01-2003, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: chezp ]

[tikibird]

Don't worry about detail - we LOVE [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] detail!

Glad to hear that you are another Boma convert (I want to go and eat there now!), and congrats on your DVC purchase.

More please.... [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[TINKN]

Another great installment. Glad you like Boma, but what a bummer about losing the money. It's to bad you didn't know where you might have lost it. There are a lot of honest people out there and someone might have turned it in.

[joyjoy]

Originally posted by TINKN:
It's to bad you didn't know where you might have lost it. There are a lot of honest people out there and someone might have turned it in.

<font size="2" face="Comic Sans MS, Arial">My daughter and I found $100 on the floor at Pizzafari one time. Jordie saw the lady and little girl that were in front of us in line and we thought they probably dropped it, but by the time we figured out what was going on - they had disappeared! We gave the money to the manager and we looked for those people all over AK all day. I wonder if they ever got their money back.

Excellent job so far, Cheryl. Two down, only 17 more days to summarize, woohoo! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[minnievoice]

Great detail! Can't wait for the rest!

[chezp]

Before I post the next part of my trip report, I can exclusively reveal there is a happy ending to the tale of the lost $50, but you’ll have to wait a while to read that little story...!

Day 2 – Tuesday 17 December, part one

We awoke at 5.40 a.m. and planned to go back to sleep, but Disney were showing Winnie the Pooh was on TV, so I just had to wake up to see Eeyore! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Apparently the day had started a lot earlier for DH, at around midnight. They must’ve been testing the fireworks for New Year’s Eve, but according to DH, it sounded like Armageddon. He told me that everyone was out on their balconies trying to see what was happening and there was smoke everywhere. So how on earth did I manage to sleep through all of this chaos? [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

It’s only day 2 and already we’ve got a daily routine. 1) tidy up the room and safely store souvenirs in the suitcases and 2) shower. We have never found showers anywhere else as refreshing as Disney, perfect for waking up after a hard day exploring the parks. Another routine is Riptide Lounge for a chocolate chip muffin breakfast.

We ended up giving one of the teabags we’d bought with us to the CM, so she could try them. I was keen to know what she thought of them, but when we saw her again, she hadn’t tried them and we didn’t see her again after that. For the record, we hate Twinings Tea, in fact we don’t know anyone in this country who uses them, although Disney would have you believe otherwise, if you’ve ever seen the shops in the UK in Epcot! I’m afraid we like our PG Tips pyramid teabags too much, so we never now come to Disney without them!

Originally we were going to go to Busch Gardens today, but we decided yesterday that we were too tired for the long journey there, so we opted for Sea World instead. Before we got there though, we had an important job to do first, find Wal-Mart and put our first three films for developing. Yes, you did read that right – three films shot in just our first day. I love to take photos, but it is an expensive hobby and when I found out from Joy (Grumpygal on the boards) how cheap photo developing is at Wal-Mart, that seemed to be the solution. It also meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about more films going through security on the way home.

Of course, I followed the directions given on the Wal-Mart website to the letter and we ended up back on the 417 toll road, heading back towards the airport. No, I don’t want to leave yet! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] We got there in the end though.

I had never been to Wal-Mart before and was amazed to see how big it was. It seemed to sell everything under the sun. Can we have one of these at home please? It even had more Eeyore tops than I’d seen so far at Disney and they were at reasonable prices. So I just had to buy a couple! But the real reason I came here was to get deodorant, believe it or not! It’s about 50% bigger in the States and it costs less than at home – true!

There is very little which is cheaper in the UK, although I did discover from conversations that plane flights is one! We flew from London to Orlando for less than $600 and it’s not hard to get hold of internal flights for $80 or less and flights to certain parts of Europe (Paris, Amsterdam etc.) for less than $200. Anyway, I digress..

Once we got to Sea World, DH spotted a behind the scenes tour called “To The Rescue”, featuring one of my favourite animals (apart from Eeyore), the manatees. As it cost just $8.95 each for an hour long tour, we thought it sounded like good value, so we put our names down for the 12.15 p.m. tour.

DH went straight on Journey to Atlantis. It was deserted, so he was literally straight on it. In fact, it was so quick that by the time he came out at the end, I was still putting on suntan lotion and wasn’t ready to take the obligatory snapshot. Oops…

Then we headed to Penguin Encounter, another of DH’s favourites. It’s amazing to see how graceful they are underwater and yet they don’t do a lot on dry land, except stand there and look foolish.

Terrors of the Deep has changed a lot since we were last here. The whole thing is now done in reverse, so the sharks are the last thing you see, which I suppose makes sense. However, you go through the tunnel with the sharks and other predators swimming above you, before you’re told how the tunnel could hold six elephants. I think it was more reassuring the other way round…

Next stop was Pacific Point Preserve, the haunt of the sealions and another of our favourites. We learnt the hard way on our last trip that it wasn’t worth feeding them, as the birds got all the food. Sea World seems to have taken measures to stop this, which is good to see, but there were still a lot of birds around. The noise the sealions make has to be heard to be believed, it is deafening.

We then needed to get some food before our behind the scenes tour. Even though it was only an hour long, it had been made clear to us that there would be no breaks and no stopping, so after looking on the map for the closest fast food outlet, we ended up at Captain Pete’s Island Eats. DH had chicken and I had battered fish, which was specially cooked for me and was very nice. I think if I didn’t eat fish, I’d have had no joy here, but then again, Sea World are very good and if you go to their information counter as you enter the park, you can always ask for a list of where you can get vegetarian food. I don’t know if Disney do the same, as I’ve always found out that information before I go, but it’s very useful.

Captain Pete’s Island Eats
Quality Fair to good (DH said fair, I said good!)
Size of portions Good
Value for money Excellent

Next: We go behind the scenes of Sea World, a first for me at Stormalong Bay and we hit Downtown Disney!

[chezp]

Day 2 – Tuesday 17 December, part two

Next it was off to our behind the scenes tour. There were only about ten of us on it and two children, but they spent a lot of the time in their stroller and we certainly weren’t too aware of them, which was good. During the tour, we saw an operation on a green sea turtle to amputate one of his fins, which was amazing. Apparently they can get by fine with just three fins and later, back in the park, we noticed lots were indeed missing a fin.

We then saw dolphins, turtles and manatees, which were all in the rehabilitation section for one reason or another. Feeding the manatees and when I say feeding, really I mean throwing lettuces out to them was wonderful, but the highlight for me was the baby manatee. I would happily have taken him home with me, but there was just no way that I was going to be able to smuggle him out! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I would recommend taking this tour, it was great fun and a good length at an hour. We saw a lot of animals up close and learnt a lot, although they do stress that they can’t guarantee how many or what type of animals you’ll see, as it is a rehabilitation section and it depends which animals are in it at the time.


Me with one of my favourite animals!

As if we hadn’t had enough of manatees, we headed straight to “Manatees – the Last Generation?” but they were eating and I’d just got lots of shots, so we didn’t stay long. We stopped by the underwater viewing for the dolphins, but didn’t bother feeding them. We’d got a lovely photo of both of us feeding them on our honeymoon in 1999 and had gone to Discovery Cove in 2000.

After a quick look at the stingrays and turtles, we made our way round to Wild Arctic. There was no quick route over there, with all the development they’re doing there. It’s affecting a great chunk of the park, but fortunately not too many attractions, it just meant a long walk over there. I wish they’d put up signs explaining what they’re doing, but we couldn’t see anything, so I don’t know what their latest plans are.

Wild Arctic is great. I love the way that you have the simulator ride route or an alternative without the motion sickness, the option we took. The polar bear didn’t want to know. He moved, stood up and sat down and went back to sleep straightaway. Thanks! The walrus was a different matter. He was extremely active and regularly swam right by the window.

So that was Sea World completed in five hours. We’re not a huge fan of the shows, instead preferring to see the animals in their natural environment, well as natural as you can get in a theme park. Best of all, it was still early enough to get back to the BC for a quick swim in Stormalong Bay.

I was determined to make more use of it this vacation, as we only swam in it twice in 2000. In preparation, I’ve been swimming twice a week for the past six months, but having said that, I found the deep water section of SB hard work, as it’s got a very strong current. Still I was able to make it all the way round in one go, something I could never managed on our last vacation in 2000.

DH persuaded me to try out the water slide. I have never been on a water slide in my life and there I was, five days away from my 30th birthday! Boy, was it fast and far longer than I expected. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I’m not sure how much I liked it, but at least now I know what to expect, I might try it again. We’ll have to see… I love the sandy base to SB, but did find the steps out of the pool something of a health hazard! My toes had a couple of bruises and cuts to show for my encounter with the steps. I was surprised how the temperatures varied in SB, where it was sunny, it was lovely and hot, but other parts of the water in the shade were pretty cold.

On our way back to our room, we stopped at guest services to sort out transport over to CRT for breakfast tomorrow and the CM (whose name escapes me) told me we were celebrities, as he’d never met anyone who’d got into the CRT breakfast! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] We also met Art the Greeter and congratulated on his recent wedding, following information from Elaine (Bert and Sully on the boards).

Dinner was at Beaches and Cream. That place is such good value. We had a Caesar salad between us (I love Caesar salad and make the best of it when I’m in the States, as the only way you get one over here is buying a pre-packed one in the supermarket, which isn’t really the same!). I had the veggie burger (still the best I’ve ever had), while DH had Burger Heaven.

We sat at the bar and watched them preparing all the food. I couldn’t believe how much cream went on the desserts. I just wish I’d brought my camera down with me to take some pictures!

Beaches & Cream Me DH
Main course 9.5 9.5
Service 9 9
Atmosphere 8.5 8
Value for money 10 9

Average: 9.19

Later we headed to Downtown Disney and escaped, only having spent $150, which is good for us! That did include a beautiful book about the Imagineers. I didn’t feel World of Disney had its usual superb selection of stock. We found barely any books and then we saw a lot of Eeyore merchandise in Pooh Corner, which WoD didn’t have. The Art of Disney was a find though. I didn’t expect it to have such a good selection of scrapbook material.

DD is a magical, albeit expensive, place to be at night during the Christmas season, with carols being performed by local choirs. A nice Disney touch.

The weather today was sunny and a lot warmer than yesterday, with temperatures in the high 60’s.
The best thing today was taking the behind the scenes tour at Sea World.
The worst thing today was having to walk halfway round Sea World to get to Wild Arctic, just because of the building work there.
The funniest thing today was being told we were like celebrities for getting into the CRT breakfast.
Today I tried the water slide into Stormalong Bay
And the result was it terrified me, but I might try it again!
The most magical moment was seeing the baby manatee.

Pedometer: 5.3 miles (I need to check this, as it feels like we walked a lot further!)

Next: CRT breakfast, a claim to fame and what my Fairy Godmother told me!

[ 02-02-2003, 04:40 PM: Message edited by: chezp ]

[chezp]

Day 3 – Wednesday 18 December, part one

Guest services had sorted out our Mickey wake up call last night for 6 a.m. – the first time we’ve ever had one. Why so early when we’re on vacation? Because today is the day for breakfast at CRT and we were advised to get the Character Bus from the BC at 7.05 a.m.

We were the only ones to board the bus and it stops at a total of five resorts (Swan, Dolphin, Yacht and Beach Club and the Boardwalk). As we drove along, we saw cranes at work on the Tower of Terror, not something you see every day and something which I’m sure would have stopped soon afterwards. Already I was glad we’d had such an early wake up call.

We were the first ones at the turnstiles at 7.20 a.m. and when we were finally let in at 8 a.m. (by which time there must have been at least fifty people waiting), DH and I have the proud distinction of saying that we were the first two people to enter MK that day! Now that doesn’t happen often. It’s certainly never happened to us before! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

The breakfast at CRT was good, but not the best. I booked it, not because I’m a huge fan of the Princesses, but more for the experience and because it was such a hard ticket to obtain, so I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. We had Aurora, Cinderella (her outfit was amazing), Belle, Snow White and Mary Poppins and they were all attentive, but did move very quickly from table to table. I got the feeling that we were on a conveyor belt, especially as we were one of the first tables to be seen. We’d seen all the Princesses within fifteen minutes and that was just as our food was arriving, so it got pretty cold by the time we got round to it. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

I was a bit annoyed that they had bacon in the potato casserole, meaning I couldn’t have it and I was even more annoyed to see our server offering extra helpings to other families with children, but not to us. Of course, we couldn’t reflect that in the tip, as 15% was included in the bill, which arrived very early during the bill, almost insultingly early. I do like to be near to finishing to eating, before I’d presented with the check.

Don’t get me wrong – the castle was a great setting and we had a lovely window view over Fantasyland, but I just felt it’s got so popular, that it’s become a bit less magical and you are herded through very quickly and not allowed to linger and enjoy it. This feeling was later re-enforced in our vacation when we did the Princess Storybook breakfast, but more of that when we get to 26 December.

Cindy’s Me DH
Food 8 7.5
Atmosphere 9 8.5
Service 7 7
Value for money 6 6

Average: 7.38

Downstairs, we saw the Fairy Godmother. It was the first time I’d been called a Princess in a long time and I told her that as well! She proved to be my Fairy Godmother, telling me all about the deals on Eeyore plushes at the Disney Store! Trouble is she didn’t seem too keen to grant my other wish – to pay for our vacation! Well, you don’t get if you don’t ask…


My Fairy Godmother tips me off about the Eeyore bargains at the DIsney Store!

As we’d had the window seat at CRT, we knew that Fantasyland was pretty deserted, so we headed straight for Winnie the Pooh and walked right on. Now, being an Eeyore fan, I love this ride and insisted on riding a second time immediately afterwards, but DH declined the offer, so I went round on my own and videoed the whole ride. My only criticism of this ride is that it’s just over too quickly. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Next we did Buzz Lightyear. I managed 47,000, pathetic when compared to DH’s 75,000, although that wasn’t that great either. I was ahead of him, until around halfway through, when I scored 900 points and he scored 40,000. What was going on? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

Next it was a quick ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. After Space Mountain was broken down on a previous trip on the TTA and was all lit up (very scary), I always live in hope it will happen again, but not this trip.

By this point, DH had got the character bug, so we headed down to Main Street to catch some. We couldn’t believe how many there were. Everywhere we looked, we saw another character and there were some we’d never seen on our previous visits, like Peter Pan and Wendy.

We then caught Cinderella’s Surprise Celebration, an excellent show, full of singing, dancing and characters and well worth seeing.


Cinderella's Surprise Celebration

From there, it was over to Adventureland and Pirates of the Caribbean. Now those of you who watched my “should I or not?” debate over Splash Mountain will understand the next part of my trip report. I had said to DH before POTC that I would do SM, but as I came up to the ride, I started to change my mind. I was persuaded to go and queue for it, with the assurance I could bail out and then I was at the last chance exit before I knew it. What should I do? Try it or back out? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

Next: the big Splash Mountain decision and our most expensive purchase of the vacation!

[ 02-02-2003, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: chezp ]

[Brant]

Enjoying your report lots! Great to hear that DH caught the "character bug." Hope to hear lots more about that!

[tikibird]

Great installments - I particularly enjoyed hearing about Sea World.

Now you got me wondering if you did SM, and what WAS that purchase? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Next, please.....

[Teddysmom]

Great trip report Cheryl. You have a great writing style, and all the cliff-hangers. I can't wait for your next installment. [img]graemlins/ears.gif[/img]

[chezp]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys! I thought I should warn you - you probably won't get the next installment until Monday, as I'll be writing some more up over the weekend... Sorry about that!