Trip Reports

• Time of Year: Holiday Season
• Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
• Resort: Beach Club Resort
• Accommodations: Standard Room
• Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
• WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
• Comments: Laura and her family stayed at the Beach Club Resort and took advantage of many of the holiday goings-on at WDW during their trip. Midsized in length, but full of detail and useful information...

After many months of planning, organizing, researching, reading r.a.d. and Prodigy postings, in addition to pumping my AOL friends for additional hints and tips, our once-in-a-lifetime, (i.e., annual December) trip to WDW was almost here! The weeks leading up to our trip were filled with holiday shopping and wrapping. In addition to my duties as PTA Vice President (five mandatory meetings per month, along with lots of paperwork), I took on the job of building our school's first Annual Haunted House for Halloween, hosted my son's CLASS Halloween party, had my nieces 8th birthday party to shop for and attend, had Thanksgiving Dinner at my house, put my Christmas tree and decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving, hosted my son's second grade Holiday Party, my gifts were purchased, wrapped and hidden by December 1st, and sorted, ironed and packed our clothing for our trip. (BTW, I also would be hosting our family's Christmas celebration at my house this year, in addition to a New Year's Eve party for friends and family. WHEW!!!! - I'm tired before we even started this trip!)

While I haven't chronicled each and every attraction we visited, let me say that we really did just about everything. Two things I personally will not do - Grand Prix Race Cars (MK) and the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular (MGM). Other things we skipped were the Tropical Serenade (Tiki Birds) & Mickey's Starland (Danny said it was for "babies"). Snow White's Adventures was not open, nor was Alien Encounter, the Adventureland Verandah Restaurant, Mike Fink Keelboats at the MK. Horizons was closed at Epcot, as was the Odyssey Restaurant. Everything was open at MGM.

Friday, December 9th - The weather in NY has been extremely mild lately, and today was no different. I started the day by sending our son off to school for a half day and dropping Max (almost 1 year old Lab Retriever) off at the Doggie Hotel (I know this sounds funny, but I almost didn't want to go because of leaving the pup for so long - however, as soon as the hairballs settled in the car, I got over it). Our trip started with friends driving us to LaGuardia Airport (NYC) for our 5:57 pm flight to MCO. Once again, we arrived too early (I hate that!!!!), so we had our son Danny (age 7 1/2 and in the second grade) begin the school work the teacher sent along. He would be missing five, full days of classes. Coupled with our early arrival, and the fact that the flight was delayed 45 minutes and the 2 1/2 hour flight to Orlando -- he was able to complete just about all of his assignments! Hurray!!! now there'll be no fighting over schoolwork at WDW!!!!! Surprisingly, we arrived at MCO ON TIME (8:41pm) I hurried over to the Budget RAC location while my husband (AL) and Danny waited for the luggage (one piece of which had a small sidetrip to Atlanta). I did this simply because of (1) the long, long lines I remembered from my last two December trips and (2) I was trying to avoid arriving at the Beach Club after 11pm! I took the fact that I was the only person on line an excellent omen! But, it would have helped if I'd remembered to transfer my DRIVER'S LICENSE to my vacation fanny pack! So, I had to wait for Al anyway - oh well, I tried! (At this point, I also wondered, after all these months of planning, lists and organizing, what else I had forgotten!). NOTE: After politely declining all the extra insurance on the rent a car, (which everyone knows you need not buy if you are covered by your own insurance policy or a credit card's rider), the rental agent asked my husband to sign an affidavit stating that we'll be responsible for the ENTIRE COST of the vehicle should it be totaled in an accident or stolen. Even though I tried to persuade him otherwise - he panicked and signed - exactly what they wanted him to do. Beware of this! Make sure you bring any and all paperwork regarding your coverage with you so you'll be able to refer to it at the counter!

We got into our rented Ford Taurus and began our ride to WDW - since it was 9:30 there was hardly any traffic on the road and we pulled into the Beach Club just before 10pm. We cashed in our Traveler's Cheques, put tons of money on account and were in our Lagoon/Pool View room on the Fifth floor (MKC $179/night) (with a large balcony) by 10:30 pm. I found the Beach Club's room to be pretty and spacious -- even though the room we had, due to the building's roof layout, did not have the space for a daybed. I believe you lose about 9 sq. feet due to this. For the three of us, it didn't make any difference at all. I like the rooms here, but I still can't figure out why you would need a phone in the toilet/shower area! Nice touches are the hair dryer, magnifying mirror, free daily newspaper, and constant replenishment of toiletries. Our maid also did a superb job of keeping us neat and tidy during our stay. I called housekeeping, asked for a zillion hangers, ironing board & iron - and began unpacking. While I ironed these clothes that seemed to have wrestled with each other in the suitcases, my husband made a run to the supermarket to pick up essentials for the week. We called it a night at 11:30 pm.

Saturday, December 10th - I woke early & got our complimentary coffee from downstairs. After having a quick breakfast of cereal, juice and milk in our room - try as we might we STILL didn't make early opening at the Magic Kingdom. (I've got a pair of slowpokes with me.) We parked at the Poly, and took the monorail over to the MK, arriving around 8:30 am. We used a day from our old passport to enter the park. After "doing" IASWA and Peter's Pan's Flight we waited at the ropes between Fantasyland and Liberty Square for the 9am drop, and were one of the first on Splash Mountain - we were able to ride twice in a row - and never got soaked! It was only about 9:30am by now - and my son's feet were "bothering" him. Great. We tired ourselves out at the MK - (Alien Encounter was not opened) and headed back to the Beach Club around 3pm. It was about 85 degrees and sunny, so Danny and Al headed to Stormalong Bay until it closed around 6pm, and I wandered around the Yacht & Beach Club. This was our first stay here (always staying at the Poly) - so I just wandered in and out of everywhere! After purchasing our Five Day Super Duper Passes with a MKC discount, I joined the guys at the pool and had to pry them out! My son just loved this pool!! As a matter of fact, the two phrases we were to hear most during this trip would turn out to be "My feet are bothering me" and "Can we go back to the hotel and swim in Stormalong Bay now"! Great.

After doing the "pool" thing, we headed over to Epcot for dinner. At this point, I'd like to comment on the importance of having dining reservations. We've never found it a problem (past Decembers) to arrive at any WDW restaurant (early, of course) and be seated. IMHO, I believe the WDW-DINE phenomenon has caused many people to panic, and they in turn make two or three different ressies - all over the World! After speaking with a few managers of restaurants (Brown Derby, Cape May Cafe and Narcoosee's) they are operating at about a 40% "no show" rate! However, the reservationists at WDW-DINE lines will not OVERBOOK to compensate for this! So, you'll find yourself sitting at half empty restaurants! If you don't have a ressies, I'd recommend checking with the door later rather than earlier! While they'll hold ressies early, they seem to ease up as the night wears on! That said, we had an excellent dinner at Rose & Crown Dining Pub (our first here - we've decided to try a few places that we, for whatever reason, have skipped in years' past). Some of the restaurants at Epcot were still running their "early bird" specials - and we found them to be great deals! Rose & Crown was one of them. Walked over to Germany so Al could buy some souvenirs for himself - picked up an Epcot Passport for Danny and walked back through the International Gateway to the Beach Club and sleep. I really loved being able to walk to Epcot!

Sunday, December 11th - Headed downstairs to the Character Bfast at the Cape May Cafe. It is POURING outside - but we went ahead with our plans on visiting Sea World anyway. We arrived just prior to their 9am opening and donned our ponchos! We're glad we went - we seemed to be the only ones around until about noon time when the sky began to clear! Enjoyed an EXCELLENT lunch at Mango Joe's and headed over to the Shamu Theater for the show. Danny and I sat in the Splash Zone and Al the Chicken sat up in the Mezz. After two small splashes that didn't quite reach us - I removed the poncho hood from my head! MISTAKE!!! Shamu must have seen me do this, because two seconds later I was drenched (and just after having semi-dried out from the rain, too)! Danny had cleverly ducked totally into his poncho, avoiding every drop of icy, freezing water! (Since this rainstorm seemed to usher in colder air - I froze the rest of the day! From this point on during our 9 days in Florida - the sun and warmth made infrequent appearances. Mornings brought a damp fog and temps in the high 40's/low 50's - after the fog just BARELY burned off, the highs were in the 60's. If the sun managed to peek out, you could immediately feel the difference with the temperatures rising quickly.) One of the highlights of Seaworld for us was the 'pre-show' mime they have at the Seymour & Clyde Hotel show! This guy was GREAT!! Try not to miss him - take a seat early and sit back and watch his antics! We finished touring about 4:30 pm - freshened up and had the best dinner of our trip at Narcoosee's! This is my favorite restaurant on property! I even finally tried that "alligator spread" - Al liked it, I didn't. Walked around the Grand Floridian. I was looking forward to seeing their rose, burgundy & cream colored "poinsettia" tree - but there was a different tree this year. It seemed rather "plain" to me. Oh, well. Took the monorail over to the Poly and the Contemporary to just "walk around" and check out the Christmas decorations. I have to say I really prefer the *grounds* and landscaping of the Poly over any of the other on-property hotels. And, I know the room I usually ask for at the Poly (garden view, Bora Bora) is definitely more spacious than the rooms at the Y&BC. Oh, well.

Monday, December 12th - I was first to rise (again) and went downstairs to Beaches & Cream for some bagels & donuts. We were at the Friendship dock at 7:16 am - and we just missed the first boat to MGM! The next boat got us to the entrance at about 7:55 . We got in line to have our picture taken - and found out that with the passes we purchased we wouldn't need to have pictures done. Hmmm. I must have missed this piece of info on the bb. (More on this later). We hurried down Sunset Blvd to Tower of Terror and no line! We were not disappointed!! It was Al and Danny's favorite of the whole trip! For the most part, we followed the touring plans in Bob Sehlinger's book and found he was correct about the VOTLM - we tried three times to avoid waiting on this LONG line - each time we just missed being let in. We finally broke down and arrived 1/2 hour before showtime, waited and got a seat. We had a fast food lunch at the Commissary (good soup, salad & sandwiches) and found a seat on the curb on Hollywood Blvd. for the 1pm Aladdin's Royal Caravan. This was the first time we've been able to see the Parade, and we're also lucky enough to have a camel "spit" on us! We toured the park until our dinner reservation at the Brown Derby (5:45pm). Now, we were told the last Friendship returned to the Y&BC at 7pm - and assumed we'd have plenty of time! WRONG! We rushed ourselves so much, (sort of panicked that we'd have to take a bus to the T&TC and THEN a bus to Y&BC) that we signed someone else's dinner check (of course, it was much larger than ours, too) True to Disney form, when we called Guest Services at the Y&BC, they took care of everything! As a matter of fact, they just removed the larger charge from our bill and didn't bother to search for our lower one! We ended up making the Friendship back. (Later in the week, Kenny Empting informed us that Transportation Services would have just "driven" us back to the Y&BC if we had missed the last boat - we "rushed" for nothing!) Great.

Tuesday, December 13th - VERRRRY CHILLLLY outside today. But, Al talked me into not carrying jackets. He was SURE we were in Florida. We were at International Gateway at exactly 7:20 am - and they opened the gates at 7:30 am. Hopped on the double decker bus for the 1 1/2 minute ride to the other side of the Lagoon. Our first stop was Spaceship Earth - I liked some of the new "scenes", but I miss Walter's voice. Then, we "did" Land and hurried over to HISTA. This is Disney at it's best! I won't spoil the surprise for anyone, just be sure not to miss this one! After touring Futureworld (Living Seas, Wonders of Life, World of Energy) we determined that it was getting VERY crowded (lots of tour groups - easy to avoid by looking for those "flags") we headed over to World Showcase and had an early lunch at the Yakitori House in Japan. Our dinner ressie was later this evening, around 7:30 - so Al and Danny had a little waffle type snack at the Kringela Bakery in Norway! This was Danny's favorite "meal". But, his feet are still "bothering" him. Great. My son was in his element at our dinner at the Biergarten - he was able to hold court at the table! He's VERY outgoing and really enjoyed talking to his new "adult friends" from Pennsylvania and North Carolina. He forgot about his feet here! VBG!

Wednesday, December 14th - Had a quick breakfast in the room and I reluctantly left WDW property to visit Universal Studios (Danny just HAD to go to Nick Studios). I'll admit that I really enjoyed myself! We followed Bob S's touring plan EXACTLY here, and we saw EVERYTHING by 3pm! Since we didn't have a dinner reservation anywhere, and it was SO early, we headed over to the Wilderness Lodge and had an early (5:15 pm) dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe. By 5:30, the place was packed! This, BTW, was Al's favorite meal! It certainly was an excellent value, too. I don't think many people realized, though, that your menu was "personalized" with your family's name! Too many people were leaving them behind. A word about the Wilderness Lodge - IMHO I feel that Disney has finally got the ambiance in relation to price PERFECT with this beautiful resort! It is every bit as "themed" as the other more expensive resorts on property - and it's price is right! I could have walked around here for a long time, but I was meeting up with some *P friends at Beaches and Cream around 8:30 pm, so we headed back to the Beach Club.

I arrived at Beaches and Cream around 8:00 - Al and Danny played air hockey and video games while I constantly looked over the shoulder of the person seating folks/taking names at B&C. I didn't recognize any, so I finally settled on writing "*P" all over my coffee cup, in hopes that someone would see it! I met Kenny and Vicki Empting and their beautiful family of girls first - with Mary Moy and her lovely daughter Jenn showing up shortly thereafter. We chatted for a while, and then joined Kenny & his family at their table. Bill Rubin, his wife and their little cuties popped in quickly, then headed over to Epcot to see Illuminations. Around 9ish, Karen Cangero and her hubby arrived, and we all had a nice get together! It certainly was nice meeting all of you! As it turns out Mary and I live in the same town here on Long Island - It's a Small World, After All - isn't it! We all let each other know about the "Planet Hollywood Rumors" we had all heard . More about PH later. After ice cream and chatting, we called it a night around 10 pm.

Thursday, December 15th - I could tell my "guys" were getting bushed as I was finding it harder and harder to get them up in the AM. So, today we had a late breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley's buffet and I headed over to Epcot to pick up are Candlelight Dinner and Processional tickets at the front gate (along with my badge that would entitle me to 20% off for the whole day). I finished up some shopping and returned back to the room around 3 pm, enough time for a nap for Mom!

By now, the rumors regarding who was coming to the Y&BC for the Planet Hollywood opening were becoming a reality: we awoke in the morning to everything being washed, spitpolished, rearranged, redecorated and replanted for these PH VIP's. Additional Christmas decorations and poinsettia plans were strategically placed around the resort. Castmembers (particularly bell services and valet parking staff) were now more formally dressed in the admiral-type uniforms. An additional desk, fax machines, and telephones were placed at the formerly-empty concierge area on our floor - along with the opening of the Hospitality Room on our floor. We the addition of the two "Planet Hollywood" concierges, and Disney security types strategically placed in and walking up and down the hallway, and the throngs of people waiting in the Beach Club's lobby at all hours, we felt bombarded! It turns out that Bruce Willis and Demi Moore stayed at one end of our floor, and Jean Claude VanDamme (and his entourage) stayed right next to us! Also at the hotel were rumored to be Roseanne (whatever her last name is today), Arnold Swarzzenager (SP???) and his wife Maria Shriver, Cindy Crawford, Patrick Swayze and Michael Eisner himself! Oh, and I forgot to mentioned that earlier in the week I road the elevator with Margaret Cho (ABC's "All American Girl & host of Dick Clark's Rockin New Year's Eve this year). It turns out these were not rumors, but reality.

After napping and freshening up, we headed over to Bistro de Paris for our 6:15 reservation. This was the one restaurant were my husband and my opinions differed greatly - he felt it was EXTREMELY overpriced with exasperatingly slow service (slow enough that we had to skip our pre-paid dessert in order that we not miss the 7:45 showing of the Candlelight) and mediocre food. While it wasn't my favorite, I liked the food, ambiance and service (although being from Long Island (NYC) we're used to service ALONG with efficiency!) I also didn't feel the pricing was any different than the same type of restaurant here on Long Island. This was, however, our most expensive meal, since the price fixe package didn't include soup or an appetizer - we ended up adding an additional $18.34 to our already spent $83.58 - Grand Total $102.92. It did, however, come with reserved seating at the Candlelight (& the Epcot shopping discount too).

Our showing of the Candlelight was narrated by Robert Urich - he did a good job, even signing along with the choirs! This was a very moving, well-planned performance that you should put on your list of "don't misses" if you visit before the Xmas holidays! If you didn't have reserved seating for this show, I can see how difficult it would have been to get in. The lines for the general public were extremely long - one on each side of the American Gardens Theatre that stretched forever! We stayed for the showing of Holiday Illuminations, which I felt was much shorter than the regular version. and exited at the International Gateway (love the IG!!!!!)

Friday, December 16th - Activity is stepping up at the Beach Club, with security types swarming around and the lobby full of autograph hounds! After a quick breakfast, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. We road Splash Mountain, and this time, lulled into a false sense of security from our other rides on SM, I rode in the front row by myself. I was drenched! (I also became a little crabby at this point, since Florida is still not the "heat lamp" we anticipated). But, I got over it quickly and headed over to the Lion King Show - GREAT! Everyone was singing along! Headed over to Tomorrowland - Alien Encounter was open for Castmember previews ONLY! Drats! Enjoyed the new Transportarium, but you could feel that Robin William's was "holding back". He can get quite crazy, and IMHO felt he toned his schtick down some for Disney. There had been barricades at the former Tomorrowland Terrace, but today it was open for business as "Starlight Ray's Cosmic Cafe". We entered, and had the rotisserie chicken. It was only after we were throwing away our garbage did we realize that there were three serving counters here, each serving different types of food! So, check all three menus before ordering. Caught the 3pm Mickey Mania parade - no problem finding a good spot on Main Street 10 minutes before the parade. We headed back to the room and some swimming for Dan, since the sun has finally made an appearance!!!!! And, to all my AOL friends, I was wrong!!! Remember I told you my husband would look at me as if I had a green head if I said I wanted to buy a Brick???? He liked the idea when I took him over to show him the Walk Around the World! Needless to say, we are the proud owners of our own family Brick at WDW! Dinner that night was at the Cafe May Cafe's Clambake - it was OK! While we were eating, the sky opened up! It sure is true what they say -- If you don't like the weather in Florida, wait 10 minutes! Even though it was pouring, we took a chance and headed over to the Village Marketplace in hopes of catching a performance of The Glory and Pageantry of Christmas. The show was being held up due to the rain, so I shopped (as usual) and we all suddenly felt very tired and headed back to the room.

Saturday, December 17th - Our last full day at WDW - we decided to take one last look around EVERYWHERE - and we wanted to catch the 3pm Very Merry Christmas Parade at the MK (first time it was being shown) AND Spectromagic was running at 9pm - the only time we'd be able to catch it during our stay. We had a later than usual breakfast at YC Galley (the buffet here is only $9.95/pp as opposed to Cape May Cafe's $14.95/pp character buffet). We headed over to MGM to ride Tower of Terror once more and took a short walk around. After Danny had his fill of catching "geckos" in the vegetation outside Sid Cayuga's Shop, we took the Friendship back to the Y&BC, then the bus to the MK. We arrived just before 2pm - to find the place MOBBED! There wasn't a space to watch the VMCParade on Main Street. We ended up in Liberty Square, sort of in the "second row". What a difference from watching the Mickey Mania parade the day before! The MK was absolutely packed with people! If anyone is interested, they DID make it snow during the VMCParade on Main Street. It felt like very fine, soapflakes puffed with air - that's the best way I can describe it. Once again, we checked Alien Encounter to find it not yet open. Due to my extreme lack of patience with crowds (the reason I go to WDW in early December), we left the Magic Kingdom and did not return for Spectro later on. Back at the Beach Club, things were totally ZOOish. Tonight's grand opening party at PH was causing us to have to push and shove through crowds to get to the elevators!

I headed over to Epcot, leaving the guys behind. Today, as part of Epcot's Artists Around the World,, Kristi Jensen Pierro (Dept. 56 creator of Snowbabies figurines) was signing pieces at the Port of Entry shop. I picked up two small ornaments to purchase and then I saw it -- it was a limited edition Mickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice in Fantasia posing with one of Pierro's Snowbabies characters! It is only being sold at WDW (limited to 4,000 pieces - so far only 400 have been made), and the artist told us it's the first figurine that Mickey's been in with non-Disney character (can anyone else confirm?). So, of course I put back to two small ornaments and purchased this piece. It is really lovely. Since we originally though we'd be at the MK, we didn't have a reservation for dinner. The only available ressie was for China - I personally felt the food was very good BUT, living on LI in the land of SUPREMELY EXCELLENT, CHEAP Chinese food, I felt this was our most expensive meal - $74.35 for two adults, one child. Oh, and keep in mind - none of our meal prices include alcohol - we both don't drink at all. My husband stopped at a little pushcart for one of those "waffles & red bean paste cakes" (near Japan, I think) and we headed back to some much needed sleep. Around 3:45 am, we were awakened to Jean Claude VanDamme returning from the Planet Hollywood party - seems they just couldn't get enough partying! After a half an hour of door slamming, laughing, and goofing around, they finally settled down. Jeesh!

Sunday, December 18th - I'm sad that this is our last day - but both my guys are tired and ready to go home! I really believe little kids don't like to be away from home for long periods of time - they seem to really miss their "stuff" and normal, everyday routines. We had an early breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley again, but this time was JUST a little different - just after we began eating - Michael Eisner himself was seated just across from us! He had his signature baseball cap on, and wished us a "good morning" and asked if we were having a good time!! I couldn't believe this! We shook his hand, while my son was "pretending" (all of a sudden) to be shy. Mr. Eisner then ordered his breakfast. This was a special treat (at least to me!) and an excellent highlight to our last day at WDW! On the walk back to our room, a small crowd had gathered outside the window to the Health Club - they were watching "Arnold S" work out!!!! Our flight back to LaGuardia wasn't until 2 pm - so we checked out of the Beach Club and drove over to the All Star to take a look around. We also stopped along the way for a peek at Blizzard Beach - this is going to be one HUGE water park! I couldn't believe how tall the mountains were! We then headed over to the International Drive area - and couldn't believe the changes. It was very "honky tonk" here, and many, many signs were not in English! After filling up the rental car with gas, we headed over to the airport in plenty of time for our 2pm flight home. As soon as we touched down in NY, we headed home, picked up Christmas gifts and headed over to my mother-in-law's house for her Christmas celebration!

Some random items - Security. We used every form of transportation on property - the motor boat launches between hotels, buses, Friendships, etc. and not once were we asked for resort i.d. I really feel WDW is extremely lax about this and could do a better job. UPDATE: I've been told that some kind of "parking sticker" system may be instituted for resort guests only. It seems many off-site, day guests are using hotel parking lots to (1) avoid the $5/parking fee and (2) for their own convenience (especially at the monorail resorts and the Y&BC). This is a pet-peeve of mine (as most of you already know) and I'm all for discouraging people from trying to get something that they haven't paid for. Crowds: were definitely larger over the weekends AND I felt the parks were more crowded this December as compared to year's past. I think the Jolly Holidays Packages, coupled with all the spectacular Christmas shows have drawn additional people to sample WDW at this time of year - the secret seems to be out! Tour Groups: I had been warned by other people's trip reports. and I really tried to be sympathetic to these non-English speaking groups (I at first felt they had been thrust into a situation where NOTHING is in their language, and if an attraction wasn't clearly "entertainment" they'd become bored) - by the end of a few days I was losing my patience with them. They seemed to have no regard for anyone, constantly talking during performances, pushing their way (or they tried to - Al's a really big guy to the front and not waiting their turn for anything. However, as a new touring strategy, just watch out for the triangular flags their leader carries and head in a different direction! Pictures on Passports: quite a few castmembers told us that the picture-taking for admission media was "taking way too long" and will be discontinued shortly. For now, if you purchase your tickets on property, you will not have to wait and have your picture taken. Any other means of purchase (at this time) require the photo. Castmembers: Although I've heard otherwise from recent tripgoers, I found each and everyone to be their usual smiling selves! I remain impressed!

This trip turned our to be just spectacular and I can't wait for our next!!!!!

I'd like to thank everyone for their help and also for taking the time to read this! I just hope it wasn't too boring. I hope it made sense, as I am truly not a writer. (Please overlook spelling errors - thanks for reading!)

Laura Stirling

Laura237@aol.com

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