Although I did online check-in, I went to the front desk when I arrived at 10am to see if my room was ready yet. I was told it would be a while before they had the room ready for us, so they escorted me to the fifth floor to the Club Level lounge, the Stone Harbor Club (You need to be staying in a Club Level room, or in a room with Club Level access to enjoy the Stone Harbor Club). Before gaining access to the club, I sat down with one of the cast members and finished checking in. We went over the details of our stay, and since I had already made my fastpass+ and dining reservations, there wasn't much he needed to help me with. I was given a phone number to call, and a phone number to text if I needed anything from them during my stay. The members of my party who were over 21 were given a sparkling punch, and the kids were offered non-alcoholic versions.
Inside the lounge, there was a continental breakfast set up with pastries, fruits, yogurt, cereals, and 2 hot dishes, cheesy grits and hot oatmeal (with all the fixins). There was orange juice, milk, water, and a self serve coffee machine that allowed you to make coffee, lattes, espresso, etc. There were a few tv's set up, along with 2 kid sized tables and chairs.
Once we were done checking out the lounge, we decided to explore the resort. Disney's Beach Club Resort is by far one of the most beautiful resorts on Walt Disney World property. It is a Deluxe Resort hotel, themed to resemble seaside resort cottages in New England's early 20th century. The location of the hotel is one of the reasons why I chose to stay for this trip. Our main purpose of this mini vacation was to not only utilize the amazing pool, Stormalong Bay, but to have easy access to Epcot so that we could visit the International Food & Wine Festival. Not only is Epcot only a 10 minute walk from the Beach Club, you can also walk to the Boardwalk, the Swan & the Dolphin resorts in the same short amount of time. If you are not big on walking, you can always take the ferry to any of those resorts, as well as to Disney's Hollywood Studios. With all of that at our fingertips, we wound up over at the Yacht Club for lunch. We planned on grabbing what we thought would be a "quick lunch" at the Captain's Grill. I was not overly impressed with the meal. The service was slow, they forgot to bring us our appetizer, and the food was just okay. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't amazing, and I've come to expect amazing food from the Disney restaurants.
By the time we were done with lunch, we headed back over to the Beach Club to check if our room was ready. It was! We headed upstairs and our friendly cast member escorted us to our room. The room was beautiful, with 2 Queen Beds, a desk with chair, a dresser, mini-fridge, TV, and DVD player. The only problem was, it wasn't big enough for my party of 6 (My mom came with us, so we had 3 adults and 3 kids). We were supposed to be in one of the rooms with a pull out sofa. They quickly picked up the phone to work things out. I was offered either this room, with a rollaway cot, or a different room, with the pull out sofa, but on a different floor (still with club level access). I opted for the different room. We wound up on the first floor, facing the Boardwalk, with a fantastic view.
I will admit, we took full advantage of the free food and drink at Club Level and spent a good portion of the day going back up to the lounge to see what offerings there were. Breakfast is from 7am-10:30am, Snacks, including house-made potato chips, cookies, trail mix, and pretzels are served 11:30am-4:00pm, Hors d'oeuvres and Wine are served 5pm-7pm, and Desserts and Cordials from 8pm-10pm. Although the wine and beer are not out until 5pm, we were told that all we needed to do was ask and they would bring us anything we needed.
Day 2 - We got up early and headed out to the Magic Kingdom to see the Welcome Show.
We did a few rides and then checked in for our breakfast reservation at The Crystal Palace. We were celebrating my oldest daughter's 17th Birthday, so our table had some special Mickey confetti sprinkled on it when we were seated. Before we even got a chance to order drinks, Winnie the Pooh was playing peek-a-boo with my 2 year old. The breakfast buffet included hot and cold offerings, an omelette station, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, Mickey waffles, and plenty of other things to choose from. The characters made their rounds and came to see us, take photos, and sign autographs through the course of the meal. At the end of breakfast, the brought out a birthday cupcake and a card (signed by Winnie and his friends) for my daughter.
After breakfast we finished out our fastpass+ reservations and headed out of the park. We stopped into the Fire House to pick up a pack of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom (a fun interactive game that is totally free) cards. As we were leaving, we decided to pop into the Harmony Barber Shop to see if they had time to give my son a quick hair cut. Sure enough, they took him right away. At first he was a little squirmy, but once they gave him some spinning toys, and a TON of Mickey stickers to distract him, he was a trooper.
Now it was time for that amazing pool! Once we got back to the resort, we were changed and ready to hop in the pool in no time. Stormalong Bay is the most coveted pool on Disney property. You need to show your Magicband when entering the gated area, and you are given a wristband to keep on while you are at the pool. The kids spent a few hours playing in the sand, making sand castles, splashing in the water. We went around the lazy river, and down the slide a few times too.
It started to drizzle and we took it as a que to get the kids out of the pool and dried off.
After getting a snack from the club, we roasted a few marshmallows and headed to Epcot. We strolled around World Showcase and sampled a few of the different offerings at the International Food & Wine Festival. We grabbed a spot in Canada and watched Illuminations. Although the park was open of Extra Magic Hours, we decided to get back to the room and get some sleep..it had been a long day...and thanks to my little one it was a long night too.
Day 3- Although I was up until 2am, strolling the Boardwalk, trying to get my son to go back to sleep, I was up bright and early to get the most out of our day. My mom and I took the little kids upstairs for a quick breakfast, then headed over to Hollywood Studios on the ferry. We rode Toy Story Midway Mania, The Great Movie Ride, and did a little shopping. While we were off having fun, my oldest and my husband were packing up our room and getting ready for check out. It was time to go meet up with them and go to lunch.
We had reservations at Sanaa. Located at Animal Kingdom Lodge, the restaurant has become one of my personal favorite "hidden gems". We checked in for our lunch reservation and asked for a window seat. They told us it would be about a 10-15 minute wait, and I was happy to wait. We could watch the animals from the viewing area while we waited for our table.
Our table had an amazing view, and was totally worth the wait. We ordered the bread service, that includes different pita and naan breads with a selection of dips and spreads. It's fantastic. Everyone ordered something different for lunch, and everyone loved it! My husband did think the serving size was a bit too small for the steak. The "milk and cookies" dessert on the kids menu was a big hit with my little ones.
After lunch we headed over to Animal Kingdom and rode the Kilimanjaro Safari. Because it was the middle of the day, there wasn't too much activity, but we did get to see some giraffes, zebras, and even some baby warthogs. I always recommend doing the safari first thing in the morning, when the animals are more active. During a light rain is always a good time too..but you will get wet.
After the safari, we wandered the park a little more and saw the baby gorillas too.
We stopped at Disney Springs to do some "quick" shopping and use up our remaining dining plan credits. One of our family favorites is Wolfgang Puck Express. It counts as a quick service entitlement, but it is very close to a sit down experience. You order your meal at the counter, but then you bring your order number to your table and the food is delivered to you. Your server will continue to get you anything you need from that point.
After a little more shopping, it was time to head home. The best part about living in Central Florida, is that I'm only 45 minutes away from any of the Disney attractions.
I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Disney's Beach Club resort, in fact, I tried to extend my stay when we checked out, but the resort was fully booked for the weekend.
After breakfast we finished out our fastpass+ reservations and headed out of the park. We stopped into the Fire House to pick up a pack of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom (a fun interactive game that is totally free) cards. As we were leaving, we decided to pop into the Harmony Barber Shop to see if they had time to give my son a quick hair cut. Sure enough, they took him right away. At first he was a little squirmy, but once they gave him some spinning toys, and a TON of Mickey stickers to distract him, he was a trooper.
Now it was time for that amazing pool! Once we got back to the resort, we were changed and ready to hop in the pool in no time. Stormalong Bay is the most coveted pool on Disney property. You need to show your Magicband when entering the gated area, and you are given a wristband to keep on while you are at the pool. The kids spent a few hours playing in the sand, making sand castles, splashing in the water. We went around the lazy river, and down the slide a few times too.
It started to drizzle and we took it as a que to get the kids out of the pool and dried off.
After getting a snack from the club, we roasted a few marshmallows and headed to Epcot. We strolled around World Showcase and sampled a few of the different offerings at the International Food & Wine Festival. We grabbed a spot in Canada and watched Illuminations. Although the park was open of Extra Magic Hours, we decided to get back to the room and get some sleep..it had been a long day...and thanks to my little one it was a long night too.
Day 3- Although I was up until 2am, strolling the Boardwalk, trying to get my son to go back to sleep, I was up bright and early to get the most out of our day. My mom and I took the little kids upstairs for a quick breakfast, then headed over to Hollywood Studios on the ferry. We rode Toy Story Midway Mania, The Great Movie Ride, and did a little shopping. While we were off having fun, my oldest and my husband were packing up our room and getting ready for check out. It was time to go meet up with them and go to lunch.
We had reservations at Sanaa. Located at Animal Kingdom Lodge, the restaurant has become one of my personal favorite "hidden gems". We checked in for our lunch reservation and asked for a window seat. They told us it would be about a 10-15 minute wait, and I was happy to wait. We could watch the animals from the viewing area while we waited for our table.
Our table had an amazing view, and was totally worth the wait. We ordered the bread service, that includes different pita and naan breads with a selection of dips and spreads. It's fantastic. Everyone ordered something different for lunch, and everyone loved it! My husband did think the serving size was a bit too small for the steak. The "milk and cookies" dessert on the kids menu was a big hit with my little ones.
After lunch we headed over to Animal Kingdom and rode the Kilimanjaro Safari. Because it was the middle of the day, there wasn't too much activity, but we did get to see some giraffes, zebras, and even some baby warthogs. I always recommend doing the safari first thing in the morning, when the animals are more active. During a light rain is always a good time too..but you will get wet.
After the safari, we wandered the park a little more and saw the baby gorillas too.
We stopped at Disney Springs to do some "quick" shopping and use up our remaining dining plan credits. One of our family favorites is Wolfgang Puck Express. It counts as a quick service entitlement, but it is very close to a sit down experience. You order your meal at the counter, but then you bring your order number to your table and the food is delivered to you. Your server will continue to get you anything you need from that point.
After a little more shopping, it was time to head home. The best part about living in Central Florida, is that I'm only 45 minutes away from any of the Disney attractions.
I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at Disney's Beach Club resort, in fact, I tried to extend my stay when we checked out, but the resort was fully booked for the weekend.
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