Welcome back again
- you made it...I hoped you would!
Amidst all the stuff happening in the World right now, posting another day has been difficult.
A longer explanation as to how I got to this point can be read by clicking here.
Stay safe and hope you enjoy sharing the rest of our 2019 trip.
If you missed Day 10 -
you can read it by clicking here
If you missed anything that went before the whole index and links to all of the previous shenanigans is just a click here away.
Welcome to DAY 11
Saturday 3rd August 2019
Well, as they say, all good things come to an end – as I woke, then all of us woke and turned over and made a silent sleep protest – this was not going to be a good end!
As on site stays go, we have usually only ever managed 5 or 6 days previously and here we are after ten amazing nights and 11 days onsite still yearning for more.
It would be easy to write a complete essay about staying in the Yacht Club, but what I can’t do is ignore the incredible experience that we have enjoyed from the very first minute we walked into this place until this exact moment in time.
So, what is it about the Yacht Club then…?
We all added to this list whilst avoiding getting out of bed and avoiding dealing with the inevitable!
This are the exact notes typed whilst we were all still in bed
“Walking into Epcot
The range of exceptional food within walking distance.
The atmosphere in the hotel
The comfort of the bedrooms and beds
Never waiting more than 10 minutes for a Disney bus.
Beaches and Cream Ice Cream
Hidden Mickeys on the Iced water dispenser
The smell of the place – more Maple and whisky Candles needed!
The sand on the bottom of the swimming pool and the most amazing slide too.
The Friendship Boat to Hollywood Studios
The helpful cast members at reception.
Superb WiFi in room and around the pools”
In fact, the only thing I think we all were disappointed by was the Yachtsman’s Steakhouse – but I whinged about that in Day 7 !
To avoid this turning into an advert for the hotel, this has been the most incredible experience and I think we are all still in awe of the fact that the swimming pool here does not get enough time due to the proximity of so many other distractions, that are theme park related !
I’m sure anyone reading this will have their own view, but this was as close to perfection in any hotel and certainly onsite Disney stay that we have ever experienced.
Anyway – back to absolute reality – we needed to actually get out of bed!
Our final on site day meant for final bag packing and recognising that we would be pushing the check out time to the limit , due to our breakfast reservation - a 10 am meeting with Minnie at Cape May Cafe.
We were seated by 10-20 and having sat in the lobby of the Beach Club, you recognise what a busy place this is!
The stroller parking zone showed it too.
We had stayed in the beach club in 2016 and It certainly did not seem quite as busy as it did today.
Breakfast at Cap May was good, with a really attentive server.
A whole range of buffet with Mickey and Minnie waffles, with omelettes made to order and a whole load of usual buffet fare.
For long time readers, you will sense the growing years of the boys and will possibly understand that character dining and meet and greets are no longer what they were.
Gone are the auto graph books and any character meets are generally a selfie opportunity to send back to friends via social media, not a revered moment for parents as they once were.
I shared this on the GB Mickey Waffle podcast March show – so sharing these photos now possibly sum up the moments that will never happen again and why memories really are made in certain photographs
However, this morning we were treated to the joy and sheer shaking excitement that the young lad on the table next to us was enjoying- with his mum, dad and baby sister.
I think we all took our joy from his laughter with the characters and also his determination to try to make them laugh with him.
This was such a lovely moment that just allowed all of us to roll back a few years and then recall that this was us, once upon a time.
Truly magical to watch and a heartfelt privilege to share. We all looked and just had a special moment – we all knew our time of doing this had passed but the boys recognised that this was once them and they then began their own reminisce of so many different occasions over the years that they still remembered.
The very fact we all recall the feeling, the anticipation and then the moment is testament to why we still do these character things - even when the children grow older!
Ok, the reaction is different- it was also different from the 18 month child on the next table who was petrified!
To be honest we all enjoyed rolling back a few years and the meet and greet part became even better when we had one as we were finished eating and just about to be on our way.
Quality meet and greet and a great breakfast, with a server who really did her best to ensure we got the most out of the whole morning. Our discussion on the way back to the room did however rank this below the evening meal experience at Cape May, which was a surprise to me as I had considered the evening buffet as a slightly selfish – no not shell-fish choice!
I was the only one who enjoys fish but the whole evening experience in here was really held in high regard by everyone, even without characters.
We packed up the car and instead of heading out of the hotel – we just parked it up again.
We had a plan for today and we were determined to enjoy the last of the what had been all around us .
We just soaked up the pool and as fate would have it, we met once more with the family we had shared a meal at Teppan Edo and our late MK night too. They had been less successful in their evening there and meeting them today was such a great reminder of a night that will be long remembered.
We enjoyed a final chat, and then soaked up some sunshine and enjoyed the pools for one last time.
With one eye on the time we just enjoyed the morning and took a few photos as a lasting visual memory and momento of such an outstanding stay ,magnificent does not even do it all justice.
We used the rather nice toilet block near Beaches and Cream, to shower and change and get ready for the next part of today – only the wet swimming stuff got put in the car as we once more boarded the Disney Bus to Animal Kingdom.
Not this one though!
True to form, as we arrived the clouds burst and once more we were caught up in some rain that we hoped would not linger too long.
As a result we opted out of the Safari, just to give ourselves a bit of time to see the rain go and we then grabbed the chance to ride Everest again, a quick Fast pass line helped and we forgot just how seldom we seem to ride this all together now, Selfie needed!
We were thankful that we did, as we had been in a split between the ride photo and had not anticipated the loss of what could have been a great family ride photo – handy to think about if you are desperate for a ride pic together.
No sign of that flippin' eagle again
From there we mooched and ended up indulging the drummer in the family a treat to take home, and to also bring back into the park in future visits , when staying off site – that cheap popcorn will be our only dining plan option once we are offsite!
The range of popcorn buckets available this year has been huge, Toy Story Alien, Steamboat Mickey amongst others! We/ no sorry I was so tempted to purchase more, yet as I look back now the one bought today has a drumming reason why we still see it – the others would be in a cupboard with refillable mugs and not seen again.
Still far too good to use for popcorn at home though!
We headed past the building that had seen the most amazing amount of building work in the last 10 days, this will become the AK venue for Club 33 and in such a beautiful part of the park too.
If you were to track our journey, you will know where we were headed – one last time perhaps and once again I will simply enthuse about Flight of Passage – there really is a missed photo opportunity on this ride, a bit like the Harry Potter stuff at Universal, if you had a pic before the ride I’m sure we would buy it at least once and download it every time if was included on the photopass package of magic!
Our shoes turned to stone, we all knew what was about to happen and we all had such mixed feelings about it.
I would add that we would usually have an air of excitement having shared the same hotel room for more than a couple of nights, yet the journey to the bus and then on the bus was a quiet one.
We all were lost in our own thoughts and I have to admit they were one of elation as to how much we had achieved tinged with an awareness as to how tired we all were.
For 11 days and 10 nights we had achieved so much, it was so memorable and it was so special.
The final bus ride back into The Yacht Club was noted and acknowledged by us all a team hug as we got off the bus and this was the natural moving on point of the holiday.
I went for the car whilst I entrusted our final snack credits in the hands of my three fellow travellers.
Expecting copious Goofy candy to enjoy in the next part of the holiday – I was met with three people holding 6 cartons of Häagen-Dazs ice cream – wow! They really had cleaned the shop out of ice cream and maxed out the value of the snack credits. Great work!
The rest of the evening went quickly and looked a bit like this
Journey to Lake Wilson Preserve
Take photos - will share them in the next couple of trip report days
Trip to Publix for food and essentials
Pool
Sleep!
Not really the end of the adventure, simply the start of the next part of it.
The villa was once more something else, we had been a bit more risky than usual in booking this, but with British owners and paying in pounds it certainly helped keep costs down. The villas we stayed in previously were all booked – even when we booked this many months in advance.
From first looks we had come up trumps!
See you real soon for Day 12- Just click here
Thanks for reading