Trip Reports

• Time of Year: Holiday Season
• Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
• Resort: Yacht & Beach Club Resort
• Accommodations: Standard Room
• Ages Represented in Group: Adult
• WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
• Comments: Joe and his two friends stayed at the Beach Club and had a great trip -- three adults, without families, as a group of friends. It's an unusual story for that reason, but the trip was a great one!

I've seen a lot of trip reports for families, but very few for adults sans families, so I figured I'd post one for our trip. This was taken by three guys: me (27), Tom (28) and Rob (32), from 12/8 to 12/15 (last week).

The brief summary was that a good time was had by all, although there were a few bumps along the way. We immensely enjoyed the Beach Club, which has a *wonderful* location right next to Epcot. We all ended up with Premium Annual Passes (PAP's), so we're expecting to go back soon, since there are still some things we'd like to do.

Sunday 12/8

Our flight bookings were separate so Rob drove up for a 6:45am flight, leaving Tom and me to go for the 8:15am (we aren't morning people by choice). Pretty uneventful flight, arriving in Orlando shortly after noon and catching up with Rob, who waited there for us. We weren't planning on leaving Disney at all during the week, so we had decided to grab a Mears shuttle when we got down there. Big mistake. The line for the shuttle was longer than any line we waited in for any of the theme parks. Fortunately, we found a Towncar for hire who was willing to go for the same price as the shuttle, and off we went without delay.

We arrived at the Beach Club and tried to log in (expecting to be unable to get into a room since it was only about 1:30) only to find that the computers were down. Apparently, the Magic Kingdom and all of the Resorts had some sort of crash, which meant that we would have to try again later, although they did write our information down. On the second attempt we got our first taste of the peeve that would annoy us through the rest of the trip: altough all of our names were attached to the reservation, only one name was ON the thing. I had made it under my name, but it was secured under Tom's credit card, so without telling us, they had switched the name on the reservation. Therefore, they couldn't find it (I assume that had the computers been up this wouldn't have happened, but it was merely a harbinger of things to come in that arena).

While waiting for a room, we explored Stormalong Bay for a bit and headed into Beaches and Cream for lunch. Cool place, friendly server, and great burgers to start us off. The other two went for dessert while I vegged (I should note here that this was somewhat of a working vacation for me, and in preparation for the trip I had worked late into the night on Saturday and packed after that, skipping the sleep part of the evening. By B&C, a good meal was enough to send me into torpor).

Now, back to the desk to get our keys and up to the room. Since it was three unrelated adults, we had requested a room with 2 queens and a daybed. It was a nice room, garden view (which also turned out to be an Epcot view for IllumiNations), and I immediately went comatose for a couple of hours while they got the luggage and explored the room for a while. I vaguely remember them telling me about the Epcot view, but the afternoon's a blur.

Then, about 7pm, up and back to the Front Desk where the computers were working again, allowing us to pick up our resort ID's. All three of them had Tom's name on them, but the Front Desk guy assured us that as long as we each signed the back of our own card, we'd be fine. Yeah, well, we believed him. Rob had 4 days of a 5DWH left, and so elected to pick up a new 5D, while Tom and I wanted the PAP's. The hotel put the 5D on Rob's ID, sending Tom and me over to the Epcot International Gateway to get the PAP's. Our first pleasant surprise was that it was so close. Our room was on the far end of the BC, which meant that it was a shorter walk to Epcot itself than to the boat to Epcot!

Picked up the PAP's and back to the hotel to catch the bus to Pleasure Island. Arrived around 8:30 or so and ate at the Fireworks Factory. Off to thumb through the clubs, ending up at the Adventurer's Club (Rob knew all of the shows and made us catch some of the cooler ones). Bought a Tacky Mug-er, Tiki Mug. 11:00 and I was fading fast: still recovering from my no-sleep night, so back to the room and into bed.

Monday 12/9

It was a vacation, after all, so the alarms were set for 9:30. I woke up at 8:00, ran through the morning rituals and started work on the computer until they were up and ready. Off to MGM for the first day since I had never been there before, with a Priority Seating at Akershus later. Missed the boat and fed the birds. Got there about 11:00. Did Tower of Terror (Rob bought a shirt, and we sent it back to the room. He had to convince them that it was okay, though, since his name was different than the one on the room, natch), Animation Tour, lunch, Great Movie Ride, Star Tours (finding a couple of cool shirts that we might want to buy later) and Muppets. Muppets made my eyes hurt and the right side lens seemed darker to all of us. I left them to go do more work back at the hotel while they took in the Backstage Tour and the Behind the Scenes 101 Dalmations thing. I worked for a while, but had a headache so bad that I couldn't see straight and collapsed for a while. We think that the Muppets did it, since the 3D was off. They returned to the room about 6:30, rousing me from my nap (headache fading, finally) just in time to rush over to Norway for dinner at 6:45. Pity we didn't look at the Epcot maps, because we ended up going the LONG way around the lagoon to get there. Fortunately, late wasn't a problem. Akershus was excellent, and Maya, our server, was the best one we had all week! After dinner, out to watch Holiday IllumiNations, then over to Future World (Rob wanted to fill out a complement form for Maya) where we hit Guest Relations and then watch the fountain for 25 minutes. Cool fountain. We loved that fountain. We spent more time that week in that little fountain plaza than anywhere else other than the room. Out to the Epcot buses, where we found out that you couldn't catch a bus from there to PI, so back to the hotel (had to shanghai another bus to take us to the BC) to drop Tom off and head to PI. Floated a bit, caught the New Year's thing (lame show: a guy with a mike, a few canned video clips and then a countdown to a few small fireworks and confetti cannons. Rob said that there used to be a dance production. No more...), then back to the Adventurer's Club to watch the end of the world and another show or two. Rob started fading away, so back to the BC and bed.

Tuesday 12/10

Up again at 8:30, I work until Rob gets up and Tom tells us that he got little sleep due to snoring (normally none of us are snorers, but something in the room is making it so), so he slept in while Rob and I headed over to Epcot at about 10:45 or so. We proved this day how little you can do in Epcot if you really try. Entering through the International Gateway, we didn't even make it past the first country, stopping when we saw England's Father Christmas, whom we watched give his story. While we were there we browsed (we all bought stuff there later, but not then). Walking by Canada, we picked up some chestnuts and spent 20 minutes or so kinda munching and feeding the birds. Then we wandered over to Future World and watched the fountain for a while. It was playing music from The Rocketeer and something else that Rob liked, so we watched it a couple of times, and then caught the Ep-Bots' show (very very cute!!). Over to Guest Relations to call Tom, making plans for lunch at Marrakesh at 2:15. Then into Spaceship Earth, and out into the AT&T playground. Putzed about there for a while. Found the Storyteller Phones and stayed in there calling people and amusing them with the sound effects until we realized that it was already 2:00. Hanging up, it was off to Morocco (thankfully, perfect timing on the boat meant less walking) and Marrakesh for a delicious lunch. Back on the boat to Future World, we watched the fountain again, giving Tom a chance to see the Ep-Bots, and then it was off to Journey into Imagination, where we hit Honey I Shrunk the Audience (although I was very leery of the 3D thing after the Muppet Incident). Then I was back to work while they did the rest of Imagination, Spaceship Earth and Innoventions (and the fountain).

Now, I was supposed to get a FedEx package with some important materials in it, and when I got back to the room, lo and behold there's no package. Sure enough, I call down and there's not a package for the room. I give them my name ("but you're not the one staying there!") and they go look for it again, finally finding it. I tell them that I will get a fax later, and ask again to make sure that it will get there.

Work, work. Then back to Epcot. I page Rob from the Storyteller Phone in AT&T-land and then call mom and dad to make odd sound effects in their ears. Rob and Tom turn up, and it's one more call before we head out. We take in Body Wars and Cranium Command, then head off (now late) to the Coral Reef for dinner. While I enjoyed the dinner (especially the dessert I had), I was dog-tired, so we headed back to the room. Bed for me, laundry for Tom, a little computer time for Rob. The fax showed up after I fell asleep.

Wednesday 12/11

Up at 7:00, I worked for a short while, but got stir-crazy around 8:45 or so, and so took off to explore the lagoon near the Y&BC. Saw Goofy's breakfast, then walked over to the Dolphin and Swan, and down the Boardwalk. It was very nice. Back to the room around 9:45, everyone up and ready by 10:30 and we're off to the Magic Kingdom. Long monorail ride, transfer to the resort monorail (slower, but less line, and we are resort guests, after all), then into the MK. First stop over at the Welcome Center for our GoH badges, then the movie and the preview of Animal Kingdom. Wow. I'm looking forward to it. The Tree of Life looks to be cool, not to mention the rest!

On the way out we picked up our lithos, only to be told that they couldn't be shipped back to our hotel (which, BTW, was a great feature when it worked), but we could buy something and get it shipped with our purchases. Argh. Scammed. But we all DID want some 25th stuff, so we all picked stuff out and then went up to the register where we found that yes, they could ship the posters, too, but they would probably get smushed enroute. Dang. Sent our stuff on, and took a locker for the posters (lesson: if you want one of the lithos, get it on your way OUT of the park, not in the morning when you get there!). About this time, Tom found the coin presses, and thought they were cool. I told him about what I knew from radp, and the Hunt began.

A little more shopping on Main Street led us to Tomorrowland where we hit Alien Encounter (with the first real line we'd had to wait in). Hungry, we decided to grab a bite, heading over to the Crystal Palace for the buffet. Were quite surprised to find Tigger, Pooh and Eeyore running around (yeah, we didn't see the big sign saying "A Buffet with Character" until we left the place). Then over to the Haunted House, and a blast through Fantasyland. Tom hadn't seen Small World before, so on the theory that everyone should be subjected to it at least once in their lifetime, we hit that, then Peter Pan, then took a picture of the butt of the castle (the non-pink stuff on the back) and stopped to look at the 20k leagues lagoon. Then Mr. Toad (both sides), the Tea Party and a hit through Toonland. I'd never been there before, but it was cool. We tried forever to find the bathrooms, finally locating them in the Garage, then took the Barnstormer (it's no longer than 30 seconds' worth of ride, but it IS a roller coaster) before heading back into Tomorrowland. I should have headed back to work at this point, but it was an awfully long way to go to get to the room, so I figured I'd make it up tomorrow. After so much walking we went for the TTA for a bit of leisure time, and then Carousel of Progress and the Rockets. Space Mountain was closed, so it was over to the Timekeeper. Now back by SM (still closed), we decided to go hit Frontierland for the remaining hour or so that the park was open. As we were getting in line for the sky buckets, SM opened. Back to SM (which now, BTW, has FedEx logos everywhere), through miles of corridor to the line, then again for the other side. By this time, enough people knew it was open to make us decide against another trip. It would have been more than 10 minutes in line, and that would have been way too long! :-)

Back toward Main Street, narrowly avoided a berserker stroller in the Plaza Pavilion, then some shopping. Rob staked out a place for fireworks watching while Tom and I shopped. Out for the fireworks, then off to the monorail. Back into Epcot and over to Norway to catch the boat ride and then to France for dinner at Chefs de France, which was able to seat us without a Priority Seating. IllumiNations went off while we were inside. Back at the BC, Tom and I head out to the DVM to try and find earplugs for him to help him sleep better while Rob did laundry and soaked in the hot tub. No luck on the plugs. Over to Adventurer's Club for a while, then back home to bed. I went right to sleep, but they both stayed up late.

Thursday 12/12

Up at 8:30, I felt really guilty about skipping work in the afternoon on the previous day, so I just kept working until about 2:30pm. Around noon, they woke up and went about the daily rituals, deciding to go to B&C for lunch, along with a failed attempt to find the Y&BC's coin presses. When they got back, we headed toward Epcot after deciding to go to Artist's Point for dinner (after reading about it on radp, I just HAD to go). Rob also decided to upgrade his 5D to a PAP, so we headed to the International Gateway to do so. While technically possible to upgrade the thing, Rob's 5D was on a Resort ID, which meant that the machine would not spit out a new card, so the ticket people couldn't issue him a PAP. Furthermore, the reason we came over to the Gateway on the first night was because the hotel couldn't issue a PAP! While Ani, the ticket attendant, took the time (1 hour!) to work through the apparent impossibility to give Rob his upgrade, Tom and I went to Alfredo's for my lunch (I'd been dying to go ever since we'd gotten to WDW, but since we can get Italian food near home they didn't want to waste a meal there. Since they had already eaten, I got my chance). Mmmmmmm. Good food.

Rob went shopping in Norway while Tom and I sat in the Comfy Chairs. Next came a stop through Mexico, where I found a very nice vest that I liked and bought a few gifts. Then it was over to Future World, where we poked around Test Track's area, then tooled through Horizons and Ellen's Energy Adventure and Innoventions. By then, it was time to head back by the hotel to freshen up, then catch the bus for PI for a transfer to the Wilderness Lodge. This was by far the longest trip we took while on WDW property. A little under an hour to get from point A to point B! It was definitely worth it, though. Getting there at 9:57, they seated us at the last minute, and we had an excellent meal. The place is great, and everything on the menu looked fabulous. I love fresh blackberries, and they were in no short supply!! Johnny, our waiter was #2 to Maya (back in Norway) in cool servers of the week, and we had a great meal followed by a leisurly tour of the WL, where we found the Pocahontas quarter press. Another hour back to the BC (with TWO drive-bys of the TTC for no apparent reason!), and lights out.

Friday 12/13

Up at 8:45, worked until they woke up and got ready. Today we decided to split up, since Tom and I wanted to play miniature golf while Rob wanted to shop. Off Rob went while I worked, and Tom finally woke up just as I was going stir-crazy again. I wandered the Y&BC while he performed the morning rituals, and met him at B&C for lunch. Right outside B&C's arcade were the coin presses, so I showed them to him (we're still not sure how they missed them). During lunch, the family next to us ordered the Kitchen Sink. This is a $16 dessert, and the server made a production number of delivering it to the table. It was massive, with candy bars, cookies, sprinkles and bits of sweets sticking out on all sides, and the family took before and after pictures to commemorate the event. After lunch, we asked how to get to the Fantasia Gardens, and were told to "go past to Dolphin and Swan". Well, that wasn't helpful, so we asked in the Dolphin where to go. "Go out the lobby entrance and across the street," guest relations told us. WRONG. Back to guest relations, different woman tells us "out past the pool, over toward the Swan, then cross the street. You can't miss it." Sure. Right. Went toward the pool area inside, only to find ourselves in a construction zone with no exits other than fire exits that trip alarms. Back to the lobby, out by the pool, near the Swan, and finally, we did find it! An hour of wandering. BTW, the Dolphin and Swan are both tacky IMO.

Fantasia Gardens was first. Light, airy, and a fun putt-putt experience, Tom beat me by 1 stroke (but only because I messed up on #18!!). The family of 5 from Australia in front of us was fun to watch because the little ones had problems with some of the holes while dad just tooled away. We decided that we'd meet Rob at the Indy Stunt show at 5:45 and paged him with the info, then went on to Fantasia Fairways. This one is serious, and tough. I learned really quickly to chip with a putter, which seemed to solve most of the problems quite well. The guys behind us thought so, too. I won by 7 strokes.

Over to MGM, and went to the Indy theater only to discover that there was NO 5:45 IJ show, due to a cheerleading competition. We waited for a while, but Rob was late (mebbe not coming), so we jumped over to Monster Sound Show for the last show. Then we went to the Star Tours store to buy the shirts we had marked earlier in the week (well, we had to go through Star Tours to get there, because it would have been WRONG, after all, to enter the store through the exit! :-)), and back to the boat, where we found Rob in line, and to the hotel. Tom and Rob were tired, so I headed into Epcot alone and hit The Living Seas, where I was envious (I was going to do the DiveQuest program, but didn't really have the money this trip), then The Land and the Imagination stuff. Back through Illuminations to the room, where we struck out for dinner on the Boardwalk. Found the coin press. It was broken. All food places (well except maybe ESPN) go to bar-only at 11:00. A cast member directed us to "Chubby Checker's" in the basement of the Dolphin, which turned out to be "Tubbi's Buffeteria," NOT the kind of food we had in mind.

So it was a bus ride from the Dolphin to PI to check out Planet Hollywood. Food wasn't bad, although some bad news I had about work put us all in a quiet mood. No more PI, so home we went. Sleep beckoned me right away.

Saturday 12/14

Our last full day, and I wanted to hit the MK. Up at 8:00, did some work until they woke up. Rob wanted more sleep, Tom wanted to do park stuff, so we left Rob (noting that we'd page him between 4 and 5) and headed to the monorail through Epcot. Transferring to the resort monorail, we hit the Grand Floridian to gawk and get the quarter press. Nice hotel. Pretty. Then on to the MK. It was school trip day for Royal Pines School (wherever that is), and hundreds of children in purple shirts were invading. It was also generally busier than Wed (no surprise there). Up Main Street, we stopped for pastry and coffee for Tom. I got a photo taken by a cast member with a camera, then into Adventureland for a tour of the Swiss Family House. Onward, we were walking by the Tiki room when Tom asked "what's in there?" Of course, I had to show him. Unfortunately, it had been so long since I had been there that I forgot where to sit, and we ended up under Jose. Ah well. Off toward the Pirates, where the line was sticking out of the building, making it a skip.

Into Frontierland, we found that the lines for the Mountains were way too long, so we headed over to Tom Sawyer Island and played there for a while. Back to the MK, we still thought that the lines for the Mountains were ridiculous (far too many purple children standing around), so we headed back to the Pirates. The line was still just inside the building, but I had to do it. 25 minutes later, we headed toward Fantasyland, because I wanted to see myself glow (I was wearing white that day) on Peter Pan. Rather oblivious to the rope barriers, we walked on, later realizing that Remember the Magic was setting up. Well, the PP line was long so we just hit the skybuckets to Tomorrowland. Lines all over the place were getting long, so we took the TTA while we decided to just bag the MK and head somewhere else. On the way out, though, we passed an opening in the crowd right by Main Street, so I stopped to watch the parade. I'm glad I did, because it was a very well-done production. Picked up my picture, and we left the MK.

Out to the Contemporary, we stopped for the coin press there (I guessed Mickey would be there, and I was right), and grabbed a quick bite. Back on the monorail, we headed to Epcot and the Living Seas (the manatees had gone to bed the first time I visited, so I wanted to see them). Finally, we went back to the room to page Rob and have him call us. By now, it was approaching 6, and we were late in paging him. No big deal, though. He was in England and just walked back. We decided on Bistro de Paris for dinner and made our arrangements. Also called for the car to pick us up at 5:30pm the next day, and decided to end our trip by getting the Kitchen Sink at B&C. We then wandered over to the American Adventure, then toward the BdP for yet another excellent meal. Caught a wonderful view of Illuminations, and then went up and watched the fountain for about 25 minutes. Back to the room, and goodnight.

Sunday 12/15

This is it, last day. Boo hoo. Up at 7:45, I did the morning routine and arranged to meet them at the fountain in Epcot at 12:30, and I headed out. Went to MGM (missed the boat, fed the birds, what else is new?), and wandered the stores for a while. Tom wanted to catch the IJ show, too, so I couldn't go see it now, so I wandered back towards the Backlot Tour, passing the Hit Men and stopping to listen for a while. Turned out to be just in time for a Hunchback show, so I decided to check it out. Wow. I had forgotten how much I enjoy live shows! Too bad it was the last day, or I'd have tried to catch a repeat of Hunchback (the girl next to me had to be taken out by daddy for a crying fit right at the part where they compressed the plot and I missed half of the movie in 15 seconds) and BatB, too. But I shopped a bit more, then headed back to the boat, catching a little improv on Hollywood Blvd. on my way. Over to Epcot, met them at the fountain and watched it for 45 minutes. Then to the Land for Food Rocks and lunch. Split with Rob to meet again at B&C at 4:45 for the Kitchen Sink, and Tom and I went to MGM and caught the IJ stunt show. Neat. Back to B&C, Tom wimped out on the Sink, so we all got burgers and I got a shake to go. Met the same waitress who served us the previous Sunday and chatted a while, which was a nice little bookend for the week. Then it was time to go meet the car. Back to the airport, and away we go.

Lots of fun, and we've got to go again soon (if nothing else, because we bought PAP's! :-)). The main problems were with the delivery of things to the room, since the hotel seemed to have problems with the idea that people with names different from that on the credit card might be staying in the room, too. But it was a great time in what is IMO the best location in the park for someone to stay.

Hope you enjoyed the report!

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