Taylor WDW Trip Report

[TamiTaylor]

So I have been horribly late on posting my trip report from our anniversary trip in June. We came home from that trip and started some house renovation projects and are trying to possibly get our house on the market and Eric started a new coaching job!

[TamiTaylor]

We went the last week of June. We stayed at Yacht Club which was a new resort to us.

Arrival-
Flights were great and Magical Express was pretty easy. We did wait longer for Magical Express on this trip than we did at Christmas Week this passed Christmas. In case you are wondering, order of our ME was, Caribbean Beach, Boardwalk, Beach Club, and then Yacht Club. We were the last pickup for our return ME to MCO.


We had a awesome room with a huge balcony that had views of the Boardwalk and Epcot. However, when we got to the room it only had a King Bed. I called and our options were to move rooms to ground level or to have them bring up a rollaway bed. We went with the rollaway bed. J loved the bed. It was a decent twin sized bed.

After dealing we the bed we went to get celebration buttons from the front desk. We got a little Pixie Dust and the hotel manager gave us some extra passes for our Magic Kingdom day that was the next day. Super nice.

We had dinner at Beaches and Cream and then went swimming.

[redheadk]

Fun! Bummer about the bed but I'm glad it worked out!

What did y'all get for dessert at Beaches & Cream?

[krystee]

Our last trip was Yacht Club, and we loved it! We were torn between YC (or BC) and Wilderness for our next trip, and went with Wilderness only because we plan to do MK a lot. Beaches and Cream is the best!

[mmmomof2]

A king is better than a queen and probably gave you more floor space even with the roll away.

I stayed at the Yacht Club once and thought our room was HUGE!

[TamiTaylor]

Jul 22, 2019 19:36:52 GMT -5 redheadk said:

Fun! Bummer about the bed but I'm glad it worked out!

What did y'all get for dessert at Beaches & Cream?

We got one the milkshakes with the cupcake on to. J was angling for the Kitchen Sink.

[TamiTaylor]

Day 1 MK

We took a Minnie Van over to MK for our PPO BOG breakfast. We always split and meal and J gets a kids breakfast.

Rides:
I think we managed to ride every ride we wanted to had minimal waits. I can’t even remember the order now. We went back to the resort to swim and then went to Epcot for a snacky dinner. Caught the Guardians of the Galaxy Show. Loved it. We rode Frozen and walked back to the hotel


Day 2: Epcot
PPO at Garden Grill which is always my favorite. We were able to ride Soarin before the park opened. Went over to Test track and ride that then the boys did Mission Space. We had a FP for Spaceship Earth but it was down. J was kind over all of already and actually asked to go back to the hotel room. We were back at Yacht Club by 11:30 and grabbed some lunch there. Took naps and then went swimming that afternoon. For dinner we were going to go back to Epcot but decided to checkout the Boardwalk and walked up to ESPN Club for dinner. Food was pretty ok. It’s like a Hard Rock but sports. After that we got ice cream from Ample Hills and watched a magic show on the Boardwalk.

Day 3: Animal Kingdom
We finally made our way back to AK on this trip is J was y’all enough to ride everything. We able to RD Navi River since we had a FP for FOP later. We rode it twice before it got crowded. Next we did Dinosaur, and J loved it. Had FP for Safari, FOP, and Expedition Everest. J did not like Everest which was shocking because he loves Rollercoasters. He LOVED FOP! We left around 2-3pm and went back to resort to nap. Went to Disney Springs this night and ate at DLuxe Burger. Mobile order y’all!

Day 4: Magic Kingdom - This was our actually 10th anniversary day
Another PPP BOG reservation. We always preorder and can normally go to the left and finalize our order and head straight to a table. However this day they were sending Preorders to right with day of orders. Like a group of Preorders and a group of Day of alternating. We did all the rides we wanted to and had zero waits. Took a break and went back to the hotel. Came back for dinner at BOG (our tradition for the last meal at Disney)and we did Sorcerer of the Magic Kingdom for the first time and J loved it. We are definitely over BOG dinner. I don’t mind the cost per say but not for what you are getting with the price fixed menu. I miss the charcuterie board app and the strip steak with pomme frites. While I love the French Onion soup, the filet was very small and not my favorite this time. Also, let’s be honest for dessert I’m only here for The Grey Stuff. I know you still get The Grey stuff in the dessert trio, I just don’t care for the rest of options in the trio. I want the Grey Stuff cupcake, which is The Master’s Cupcake that you can only get at Breakfast or Lunch.

Departure Day:
J had breakfast at the hotel. Went to Disney Springs for some shopping and had an amazing lunch at Homecoming. We went right at 11:30 and walked up without reservations. This was my favorite meal of the trip.



Overall experience:
IMHO SUPER CROWDED like not much difference between this trip and our Christmas week trip. Obviously Christmas was busier but not by much. And it was super hot and I am from TX and used to heat and humidity. We have decided that we will probably stick to Christmas Break or Spring Break for now unless we get a good deal to go again in the summer. We are actually going again this Christmas and staying at Yacht Club again for that trip since I got a good deal on it. I loved the pool. I think for a summer trip you can’t go wrong with Yacht Club or Beach Club. However my favorite hotel is still the Poly.

[nsl]

I felt the same way about BOG dinner, TamiTaylor. Fun experience, but the prix fixe was too much in terms of both quantity/quality of food and price. I'd do lunch there again, but not dinner.

[TamiTaylor]

Jul 23, 2019 18:32:45 GMT -5 nsl said:

I felt the same way about BOG dinner, TamiTaylor. Fun experience, but the prix fixe was too much in terms of both quantity/quality of food and price. I'd do lunch there again, but not dinner.

Yes. J ordered a steak for the kids meal but I cannot imagine if my kid only ate the Mac and cheese for dinner. $36 for some mac n cheese is insane.

We will either move our last night dinner for Skipper Canteen or even Ohana.

[nsl]

Jul 23, 2019 18:40:06 GMT -5 TamiTaylor said:

Jul 23, 2019 18:32:45 GMT -5 nsl said:

I felt the same way about BOG dinner, TamiTaylor . Fun experience, but the prix fixe was too much in terms of both quantity/quality of food and price. I'd do lunch there again, but not dinner.

Yes. J ordered a steak for the kids meal but I cannot imagine if my kid only ate the Mac and cheese for dinner. $36 for some mac n cheese is insane.

We will either move our last night dinner for Skipper Canteen or even Ohana.

Yeah, we paid for DS 2 to eat mac and cheese, and for DS 1 (eleven!  Disney adult!) to eat two bites of the tortellini before getting his own bowl of $50+ macaroni.  Never again.

[jaycee]

So what is your strategy for having minimal and zero waits when it is so busy? Looks like you go to the parks very early. I’m impressed you got a PPO BOG twice!

[TamiTaylor]

Jul 24, 2019 8:22:16 GMT -5 jaycee said:

So what is your strategy for having minimal and zero waits when it is so busy? Looks like you go to the parks very early. I’m impressed you got a PPO BOG twice!

We rope drop and I schedule my fastpasses early in the day. After the 3 are done I just work MDE to pickup new ones. We ride what we can get fastpasses for. I am constantly refreshing MDE for Fastpasses.

We went to Magic Kingdom Christmas Day and the longest line we waited I was the line for waffles at Sleepy Hollow.

[PatBenatar]

Thanks for sharing!
We are doing dinner at Homecoming when we go. What did you get there?

Any word on when they are closing Beaches and Cream? We arrive August 25th. I thought they pushed the date.

[TamiTaylor]

Jul 24, 2019 9:21:58 GMT -5 PatBenatar said:

Thanks for sharing!
We are doing dinner at Homecoming when we go. What did you get there?

Any word on when they are closing Beaches and Cream? We arrive August 25th. I thought they pushed the date.

I got the country club but with fried chicken instead of grilled chicken. Everyone I have seen about Beaches and Cream is that it will take reservations through August 25th.

[covergirl82]

Love trip reports! We are planning to go to ESPN Club for dinner on arrival day, so I appreciate knowing what to expect.

We have never done PPO breakfasts, but I think we might end up doing those on our next trip as a way to get on some rides early or get closer to the front of the line for some popular rides it will be tough to get FPs for (FOP, anything in Galaxy's Edge). Are there any strategies for ADR time to get (that provide enough time to be seated, order, and eat), that would make it so we can be closer to the front of the lines?

[abs]

We went over 4th of July and felt the crowds were much lower than our last trip at thanksgiving BUT the heat was brutal. We just couldn’t do as much because by 11 we were hot and grumpy. We are taking a break for awhile but agree that we will stick with thanksgiving or spring break. This Texan is used to the heat but I don’t want to vacation on the surface of the sun since I already live there.

[TamiTaylor]

Jul 24, 2019 10:08:22 GMT -5 covergirl82 said:

Love trip reports! We are planning to go to ESPN Club for dinner on arrival day, so I appreciate knowing what to expect.

We have never done PPO breakfasts, but I think we might end up doing those on our next trip as a way to get on some rides early or get closer to the front of the line for some popular rides it will be tough to get FPs for (FOP, anything in Galaxy's Edge). Are there any strategies for ADR time to get (that provide enough time to be seated, order, and eat), that would make it so we can be closer to the front of the lines?

Honestly I wouldn’t do an PPO ADR for HS or AK. At AK Tusker House is in Africa and gives zero advantage to FOP in Pandora. At HS, as of right now there is not a TS restaurant in Toy Story Land or GE that would be serving breakfast. AK and HS open “earlier” than their listed park opening time. So I would just get there early and line up to wait.

[covergirl82]

Jul 24, 2019 11:19:46 GMT -5 TamiTaylor said:

Jul 24, 2019 10:08:22 GMT -5 covergirl82 said:

Love trip reports! We are planning to go to ESPN Club for dinner on arrival day, so I appreciate knowing what to expect.

We have never done PPO breakfasts, but I think we might end up doing those on our next trip as a way to get on some rides early or get closer to the front of the line for some popular rides it will be tough to get FPs for (FOP, anything in Galaxy's Edge). Are there any strategies for ADR time to get (that provide enough time to be seated, order, and eat), that would make it so we can be closer to the front of the lines?

Honestly I wouldn’t do an PPO ADR for HS or AK. At AK Tusker House is in Africa and gives zero advantage to FOP in Pandora. At HS, as of right now there is not a TS restaurant in Toy Story Land or GE that would be serving breakfast. AK and HS open “earlier” than their listed park opening time. So I would just get there early and line up to wait.

Very helpful!  Thank you, TamiTaylor!

[callie7]

We are staying at The Yacht Club 8/12-17 with our 7 year old. Is there a lot of shade near the pool?

[TamiTaylor]

Jul 28, 2019 11:17:01 GMT -5 callie7 said:

We are staying at The Yacht Club 8/12-17 with our 7 year old. Is there a lot of shade near the pool?

Depending on time of day there is some shade. I would aim for a section of chairs that kind of wedges out directly in front of the access that is in front of Beaches and Cream.

[callie7]

Jul 28, 2019 13:57:56 GMT -5 TamiTaylor said:

Jul 28, 2019 11:17:01 GMT -5 callie7 said:

We are staying at The Yacht Club 8/12-17 with our 7 year old. Is there a lot of shade near the pool?

Depending on time of day there is some shade. I would aim for a section of chairs that kind of wedges out directly in front of the access that is in front of Beaches and Cream.

Great tip, thank you!