50 Years, 9 Nights, 5 Beds and 1 Big Fat Mistake

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

Fiend meet ups are the best!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

The Fiend meet-up looks like it was a lot of fun.

 

We've never been to Beaches & Cream, but that ice cream looks very tempting

[red...Susan 37]

Beaches and cream is the only place I eat ice cream. It is not on my usual diet.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

You went on a cruise, then to WDW with an amazing view, and then got to hang with fiends.   :thewave1:

 

I still think the big mistake was the ice cream.  I am foreseeing disaster striking while you are out for a walk.

[HappyRedhead......Betsy 16]

The meeting looked like fun.  I'm glad you enjoyed it!

 

Beaches and Cream is on my list of fun for the next trip.  We accidentally "found" the boardwalk on our last trip.  I had heard of it, but didn't really know much about it.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Fiend meet ups are the best!

 

Yep!  It was one of the highlights of my trip. 

 

The Fiend meet-up looks like it was a lot of fun.

 

We've never been to Beaches & Cream, but that ice cream looks very tempting

 

It is very good ice cream....not "icy", nice and creamy.  I believe I saw a no sugar added vanilla on the menu but am not positive. 

 

 

Beaches and cream is the only place I eat ice cream. It is not on my usual diet.

 

I like that plan!  Sounds good to me. 

 

You went on a cruise, then to WDW with an amazing view, and then got to hang with fiends.   :thewave1:

 

I still think the big mistake was the ice cream.  I am foreseeing disaster striking while you are out for a walk.

 

Disaster?  As in "where's the bathroom??"   :panic:

 

We shall see....

 

The meeting looked like fun.  I'm glad you enjoyed it!

 

Beaches and Cream is on my list of fun for the next trip.  We accidentally "found" the boardwalk on our last trip.  I had heard of it, but didn't really know much about it.

 

Beaches and Cream is a lot of fun. 

 

Here's the deal too if you are just looking for ice cream. 

 

They accept ADR's here.  If you want to eat a meal, or want to get the kitchen sink, you must have an ADR (or try walk in but the wait can be long) and sit in the restaurant. 

 

But if you just want to get some ice cream....a cup or cone, a sundae, malt or milkshake or a sandwich between two chocolate chip cookies (more to come on that), they have a walk up counter with pretty quick service.  There are tables outside overlooking the pool area too.  So you don't have to plan 180 days in advance to get ice cream here. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

It is very good ice cream....not "icy", nice and creamy.  I believe I saw a no sugar added vanilla on the menu but am not positive. 

 

 

Thank you for the info, but to me vanilla ice cream is disgusting.  I'll stick with the no sugar added Raspberry Sorbet at the MK ice cream parlor.

[dvccamper 32]

The Yacht Club, what a great surprise for your girls!! So glad to see you had such a fun time. And I did not see the direction the big mistake was going. Yikes!

[Lou... 3,118]

My only complaint is that it was too short.  But when families are on vacation, just getting their schedules to line up at all is an accomplishment.  I would love to spend a camping weekend with Dan and his family some day....we'd probably talk all weekend and never run out of things to say.  And it's always great visiting with Lou.  Wish we could do it more often.

 

It's always fun meeting up with the DIT family.

How did that knucklehead ever manage to have such great kids? And INC, well, what can I  say? It's obvious that he had something on her parents.

 

It is difficult to arrange a get-together with 3 parties, especially when they're at 3 different locations, but we did.

It was short but nice.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

The Yacht Club, what a great surprise for your girls!! So glad to see you had such a fun time. And I did not see the direction the big mistake was going. Yikes!

 

I haven't disclosed the big mistake yet.  Did you think I meant that I actually had the runs?   :rofl2:   No....that's not it.  

 

It's always fun meeting up with the DIT family.

How did that knucklehead ever manage to have such great kids? And INC, well, what can I  say? It's obvious that he had something on her parents.

 

It is difficult to arrange a get-together with 3 parties, especially when they're at 3 different locations, but we did.

It was short but nice.

 

I managed to marry INC and have great kids using the same skills of deception and blackmail that you used to snag Gail apparently.  Not that I'd know for sure, as you always conveniently leave Gail at home whenever I'm around.  

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

The ice cream looks yummy!

 

I've never made it over to the boardwalk. I need to change that. 

 

Hoping this isn't leading to a poo-plosion. 

[ajcjmom 8]

I have finally caught up. Great photos! It looks like everyone had a great time.

 

I dragged my Dad, his girlfriend and DH to Beaches and Cream for my birthday.

We had lunch and I wanted a chocolate shake instead of cake. It was really good.

Made the mistake of wearing my Happy Birthday pin - was sung to and presented with a balloon.

Gave the balloon to a little girl at MK.

[Beckers 1,136]

Big fat mistake, the 5+ lbs everyone gains on vacation?

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Big mistake. I'm going back to my original guess. Ice cream. But I don't think it have you the runs but it had the opposite affect.

Great fiend get together. And with dinner. Incredible.

I know how hard it can be to meet up with just one. We were at Disney for two weeks in June and Lou finally tracked me down. I mean was able to drive to our hotel, AKL

The day we checked out. Thankfully we had a late flight and visited for an hour or two.

[LONE-STAR 370]

You didn't get the Mickey mouse sink?

[DaveInTN 3,247]

The ice cream looks yummy!

 

I've never made it over to the boardwalk. I need to change that. 

 

Hoping this isn't leading to a poo-plosion. 

 

It was definitely yummy.  And the Boardwalk is worth a visit for sure.  

 

And no....there will be no bodily function issues in this report.  

 

I have finally caught up. Great photos! It looks like everyone had a great time.

 

I dragged my Dad, his girlfriend and DH to Beaches and Cream for my birthday.

We had lunch and I wanted a chocolate shake instead of cake. It was really good.

Made the mistake of wearing my Happy Birthday pin - was sung to and presented with a balloon.

Gave the balloon to a little girl at MK.

 

I bet their shakes are good!  

 

Big fat mistake, the 5+ lbs everyone gains on vacation?

 

Nope.  I actually lost weight on this trip.  

 

Big mistake. I'm going back to my original guess. Ice cream. But I don't think it have you the runs but it had the opposite affect.

Great fiend get together. And with dinner. Incredible.

I know how hard it can be to meet up with just one. We were at Disney for two weeks in June and Lou finally tracked me down. I mean was able to drive to our hotel, AKL

The day we checked out. Thankfully we had a late flight and visited for an hour or two.

 

Nope, no issues from the ice cream.  You don't have to worry about that.  

 

I'm so glad we were able to work out the meeting.  It was easy for us, as we weren't doing parks and were staying close by.  But I appreciate Dan and his family taking time out of a park day to see us.  

 

You didn't get the Mickey mouse sink?

 

Nope.  Seemed like a rip off to me.  

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I really have no desire to eat anything served in Mickey's pants.

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I really have no desire to eat anything served in Mickey's pants.

 

Do the tag fairies read trip reports?

[Beckers 1,136]

Do the tag fairies read trip reports?

They do check their pms and accept suggestions. Not that I've ever done that before.....

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Yes you have.  ROFL

[Beckers 1,136]

Yes you have. ROFL

No idea what you are talking about :)

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Do the tag fairies read trip reports?

I didn't think that one through long long.  LOL

[Hotmamac aka Misty 11]

My two favorite pictures are not the one of Anna swimming with her tongue out and the one of Anna and Lou.  :heart:  :heart:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

They do check their pms and accept suggestions. Not that I've ever done that before.....

Yes you have.  ROFL

No idea what you are talking about :)

 

I don't think I want to know what you two are talking about.  

 

I didn't think that one through long long.  LOL

 

Oh, I think you thought about it in great detail.  LOL.  

 

My two favorite pictures are not the one of Anna swimming with her tongue out and the one of Anna and Lou.  :heart:  :heart:

 

I like those too!  

[DaveInTN 3,247]

So after getting the girls settled into the room, INC and I went for a stroll to walk off some ice cream.  

 

We left the Yacht Club and walked toward the Swan and Dolphin resorts.  It was dusk, and the hotels were lit up beautifully.  Lou had recommended we check them out as they are beautifully done up, and I'd have to agree.  

 

 

 

 

 

The lighting is very pretty....with colors that change.

 

 

 

Here's the walkway between the Swan and the Dolphin.

 

 

I know people have reported that the interiors of these hotels are very dated....we didn't go inside, so I can't comment on that.  But at least at night, they are beautiful hotels to take a stroll around.  

 

One feature of these hotels that always interests me is the design of the "blacked out" areas on each building.  You can see it in the shots above, but this picture I lifted from the disneyfoodblog shows it on the Dolphin quite prominently. 

 

 

I think we discussed something about this several years ago, but it still cracks me up as one of the most ridiculous rumors ever about Disney World.  

 

Have you ever heard the rumor that those black areas represent where the monorail will someday go through the buildings, like it does with the Contemporary?  

 

Oh yes, there are discussions online about how the designers were told to leave an area on each hotel that could easily be removed so that the monorails could someday be extended through these buildings, presumably on their way to Hollywood Studios.  

 

Here's an interesting story debunking this rumor.  It states that this rumor has been fueled by some Friendship Boat pilots over the years.

 

http://www.yesterland.com/monoraillegends.html

 

Have any of you heard these tales while riding the Friendship Boats?

 

While that rumor isn't true, apparently there is at least one existing Disney resort that does not have monorail service (and likely never will) but was designed with a monorail easement as part of its plans.  Anyone know which resort that is?

 

Ok, let's move along on our walk around Crescent Lake.  

 

Here is the bridge connecting the S&D to the Boardwalk.  This bridge carries us over the canal that extends to Hollywood Studios.

 

 

Walking along the Boardwalk is always enjoyable in the evening.  There is usually some sort of entertainment to watch.  Tonight there was a juggler.  

 

 

 

 

You don't encounter all that many jugglers in your life, and yet we had seen two in one week.  

 

Continuing on, we passed the Boardwalk Bakery.  We had last visited here in October 2010 when we were celebrating Gwen's 13th birthday and I had ordered a Mickey head cake from here.  I knew it had been remodeled since then and wanted to check it out....plus I wanted to see if they sold any warm, ooey and gooey cinnamon rolls.  

 

They did have cinnamon rolls!  Only they didn't look very warm, ooey or gooey.  

 

 

They looked pretty good.  Just not good enough.  So we passed.  

 

We strolled further and enjoyed the view looking across the lake toward the Yacht and Beach Clubs.

 

 

SELFIE ALERT!!

 

 

And another shot looking back towards the Bakery.

 

 

We continued on and soon we were crossing the bridge closest to the WS entrance into Epcot.  It happened to be 9:00, because soon enough the sky erupted.

 

 

I didn't take any more fireworks shots this night.  But don't despair if you are a fan of fireworks pictures.  I had one more night here, and I just may have gotten some more shots that I'll post later.  

 

We wandered back toward our room at this point and decided to close out our evening with some sitting on the balcony.  Illuminations was STILL going on when we got back to the room, so we watched what we could see.  

 

Have I mentioned that I loved this balcony view?

 

 

You'll notice the glow over Epcot and the smoke in the air from Illuminations.  I think they were at the point where the globe is spinning....that part goes on for quite some time and if you are watching from outside the park there isn't much to see.  

 

So that was our first evening at the Yacht Club.  We had another complete day and evening to enjoy coming up....including a breakfast ADR at a restaurant we'd never dined at before.  Any guesses?