Pre Trip report - 21 Nights @ Beach Club with DDP

[julesy1]

Hello!

Longtime lurker and avid fan of dining reports I decided to write a pre-trip report to share our dining plans for our upcoming stay in November/December 2018.

We are a family of 3 from Scotland, myself, DH, and DD (4). This is our second trip to WDW - last year we stayed onsite at Animal Kingdom Lodge for 2 weeks with the DDP and LOVED THE FOOD! I was so surprised by how amazing the food was it's all i talk about to my friends and they think I'm a little bit crazy

This year we decided to splurge on a 3 week trip... as this is the last year before our DD starts school we have decided to take a longer than average holiday as a treat. We loved staying in a Deluxe hotel last year and visited most of the other ones on our dining travels over the course of our 2017 trip. I fell in love with the location of the Yacht & Beach Club so decided to book the Beach club as have read online it's atmosphere & decor is slightly more family friendly! (Will report back!) I can't wait to go for a swim in Stormalong Bay weather permitting!

We have booked our hotel direct with Disney when the free dining offer was released last year (before our 2017 trip.. but don't tell my DH as he didn't know!) and I cannot fault their customer service so far.

We then added on flights in January during the BA sale and got our flights for less than £1,100 return for all 3 of us. Very pleased with this bargain!

We are flying indirect from Edinburgh via Gatwick. We did look at the Dublin route however the flight doesn't arrive until nearly 8pm at MCO so any benefits in pre-clearance are offset by a later flight time. (Am now 100% guaranteed to be delayed on our BA flight!).

We are not hiring a car, as we had one last year and used it 5 times. which for £400 for 2 weeks is ridiculous! Disney transport and Uber/Lyft will be our saviours.

Now onto the very reason why you are all here... our dining plans will be coming up in our next post! During our stay I am hoping I will be able to do a daily update and then a full food report when we get home! Fingers crossed, however with a 4 year old in tow I can't promise I will always manage!

Any questions let me know.. Happy reading!

[MrsBC]

You will love the Beach Club, and the whole Crescent Lake area - it's definitely our happy place! There are some pics in my trip reports from some of our trips to Y&BC.

[Sweets]

Ooooh I'm looking forward to seeing your plans!

[clubhouse]

Can’t wait to read your plans! We are thinking of the Beach Club for next summer - great location so can’t wait to read your report!

[julesy1]

I am writing this after a day in the sun and have a G&T in hand so apologies if there are any errors! Our ADRs are as follows.. these are bound to change and there were a couple i haven't yet booked but hoping to get closer to the time (as last year our plans changed around how we were all feeling and the weather!).

Breakfast @ Crystal Palace on our first full day 25/11
This will be our first visit here, we did a variety of character meals last year but DD was only 3 and wasn't particularly a Winnie the Pooh fan. However this year she is looking forward to meeting them! No doubt we will be up at the crack of dawn with jet lag so a few in room nibbles from our Garden Grocer order will be had before heading out to MK to start the magic!

Lunch @ Sci Fi Diner 26/11 (not yet booked - backup dinner at Cape May Cafe)
For some reason I couldn't get lunch @ Sci fi diner booked - not sure what was going on but we hope to visit here for an early lunch on our first day at HS. This will be our first trip to this restaurant and I am excited by the theming! In case we can't get a reservation we have a back up dinner booked at Cape May Cafe that evening (eating here again later in the trip so not bothered if have to cancel this one)

Garden Grill Breakfast 27/11 - pre park opening reservation
Another new restaurant for us - not sure about the rotation as I suffer quite badly from motion sickness but willing to give it a try as food looks amazing on other's blogs.

Lunch at Chef Art Smith's Homecoming 28/11
What more can I saw apart from FRIED CHICKEN! I am very excited about this after having read all the rave reviews. Also the cocktails look amazing...

Our favourite from last year - Dinner @ Yachtsman 29/11
I expect we will visit here more than once this trip due to the length of our stay. We ate an outstanding meal here last year, service was amazing (William) and they looked after us and our daughter brilliantly. Being from Northern Scotland I am partial to a rare steak and the fillet here was one of the best I have ever had... can't wait. Oh and that onion bread is to die for. Worth the visit for that alone.

Dinner @ Skipper Canteen 30/11
Again another first time visit for us - my husband is an adventurous eater so is excited about trying the whole fried fish. I love asian flavours so we felt the style of food here suited us. Hopefully something will be suitable for DD - she's going through a fussy stage which I am hoping she grows out of before our trip!

Lunch @ Yak & Yeti 1/12
A favourite from last year and of course being avid Dibb readers we now have a Landry card with credit to use here so planning on paying OOP. We visited last year on a whim (no ADR) and enjoyed the food - although the air conditioning was fierce so am bringing a jumper on this day!

Dinner @ Via Napoli 2/12
Pizza is my favourite and I love Italy so I have high hopes of this restaurant. We have booked a few world showcase Epcot reservations due to our hotel location. We may pay OOP for this if we share a pizza as seems like a poor use of credit.

Dinner @ Mama Melrose - Fantasmic package 3/12
Main reason for booking this was to get the seats for fantasmic which are in the middle! We ate here last year and food was average but service was great. DD's favourite food is spaghetti so figured it was a safe choice.

To be continued...

[julesy1]

See a spelling mistake.. must have been autocorrect... Obviously I meant Fantasmic Dining package..

[julesy1]

Into the second week..

Breakfast at Tusker House 4/12
A return visit for us and mainly because we will be trying to recreate the amazing breakfasts from Boma that we had last year and the food here is very similar. We visiting Tusker House as our first ADR last year and I was very nervous to see our DD's reaction to the characters but needless to say she loved them..

Dinner @ Raglan Road 5/12
Going to ask for a seat near the stage so our DD can see the dancing! An ADR we cancelled whilst we were there last year so lets hope we make it in December...

Dinner at Sanaa 6/12
Are you even a foodie if you don't love the bread service at Sanaa? So this is a return visit for us. I wasn't feeling my best when we visited here last year so am hoping I can try the mains as DH's looked amazing... but who's kidding we're both just there for those dips...

Be Our Guest Breakfast 7/12
Planning a day of QS food on this day - starting with a Be Our Guest Breakfast. We ate lunch here last year and even though the food was only ok I think its a good use of a credit so decided to give breakfast a chance to redeem itself... (maybe if the food is hot we will enjoy it more than last year..!)

Hoping to have lunch somewhere in MK using snacks and perhaps a QS meal to share then onto Disney Springs for a Blaze Pizza...

Dinner @ Cape May Cafe 8/12
This might be our second visit of the trip depending on how day 3 goes re getting Sci Fi booked. However we love to spend a few days in the resort chilling by the pool (December weather may put an end to that) and in our room. Our DD needs some rest and down time with all the excitement that the parks bring so a buffet meal in the hotel suits us perfectly. Last year we ate at Boma 3 times in 2 weeks and loved every visit due to the variety, any views on if Cape May is the same quality?

9/12 - the day of Two ADRs

Trattoria al Forno Breakfast
One for our Rapunzel loving DD (I LOVE Flynn so any excuse..) We enjoyed the food a lot here last year and ordering breakfast rather than a buffet makes a nice change of pace in an otherwise hectic schedule.

Spice Road Table Dinner
A bit of a curve ball here - not sure if we will keep this or swap for another venue. I do love the idea of the tapas style food served here especially after already having eaten a TS meal earlier in the day. I fancied an Epcot reservation where we can see illuminations so chose here as a base. Also makes for a swift exit via International Gateway afterwards.. any tips on alternative dinner venues?

Grand Floridian Cafe 10/12
I fancied an early morning breakfast on the monorail loop so we can have quick access to the MK. I tossed a coin between here and Kona Cafe - would be interested to hear your views on which is better suited based on your experiences? We will get a minnie van there from our resort as we are not planning on hiring a car.

That's all I have time for tonight however I hope you have all enjoyed reading about our plans so far. For information we are planning a couple of trips offsite so will be eating at the Cheesecake Factory and perhaps a few others during our 3 weeks.

All hints and tips appreciated as this is only our 2nd trip so I am still learning.

3rd week to follow tomorrow. Thanks for taking the time to read

[kev007]

Hi

We stayed at the Beach Club in 2016 and really loved it there, at the end of September we are going to the Yacht Club. We're on the DDP and have booked most of our reservations now, very exciting! Looking forward to reading more

Kev

[theCMG]

Welcome, looking forward to the trip

[julesy1]

Good evening!

Thanks for all the lovely comments - looking forward to reading all the other dining reports in the run up to our trip!

Onto our last few meals week, these are the ones that are most likely to change as I expect our plans to be quite fluid after the first couple of weeks of excitement! So stay tuned for any updates

Hoop dee doo revue 11/12
This will be our first time visiting Fort Wilderness and we thought our DD might enjoy the show. We've booked the first sitting at 4.30pm as hoping it will be the most family friendly. I am looking forward to the fried chicken and white wine sangria! Where about do you get seated with the category 2 seating on the DDP?

Akershus princess breakfast 12/12 - not yet booked
I was pretty busy at work on our ADR day and forgot to log on and couldn't get breakfast at Akershus. However last year we got lucky with a reservation the night before so hoping to be able to do this again. We LOVED the buffet selection here last year (handmade cream cheese & smoked salmon bagels anyone?) This was also our most expensive meal of the trip in 2017 at over $150 for the 3 of us - which was more than our yachtsman bill which was 6 credits in total. So i think this is good use of 1 credit meal... As an aside we haven't yet eaten in the castle as we are saving this for a trip in 2019 with my mum for her 65th birthday (more about that trip in a few months...!)

Dinner @ Beaches & Cream 13/12
Planning a mostly offsite day - perhaps universal if we fancy it so we figured a resort dinner would suit. We visited here last year and this place was what made me fall in love with the resort. Can't wait to have the No way jose again!

Late lunch @ Liberty Tree tavern 14/12
in anticipation of purchase of MVMCP tickets using our free $200 gift cardl we have booked a late lunch at Liberty Tree. We haven't been here before and if I'm honest the two family style meals we ate last year for dinner were pretty poor. (O'hana I'm looking at you with your rushed service and luke warm food...) Hoping Liberty Tree can change my mind. Oh and the dessert looks amazing

Last day breakfast @ Cape May cafe 15/12
Before flying home its tradition to eat a character meal right? So we are sampling the offering in the hotel. Hoping to get a late check out so we can have a lazy morning after the xmas party whilst finishing packing and enjoy the resort atmosphere before the magical express picks us up and takes us back to MCO..

So thats it for us based on current plans. I do like to chop and change reservations whilst we are there as nothing ever goes to plan so expect some random additions.

All advice and opinions welcome. I do feel like we have too many bookings - so may add in a couple more signatures to leave some free days for QS/offsite meals.

Happy planning everyone! Will update in a few weeks once fast passes are available as this may change our plans again.