August 30, 2023 • 29 mins
On this week's episode, we share a unique personal experience and great stories from our recent staycation at Disney's Beach Club. Dive into our chat about amenities, age considerations, and the importance of magic bands at Disney's Beach Club.
We review a standard hotel room as well as a DVC 1-bedroom villa at Disney's Beach Club. We even give you a pro tip for viewing Epcot's night time show outside of the parks. If you're planning a trip to Disney World, don't miss our insights on the pool area, Beaches and Cream and other resort amenities. Join us, as we unwrap the treasures Disney's Beach Club Resort.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey friends, what's up?
I'm Elizabeth.
I'm Sarah.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of
the TQ Room.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
We are sailing through some reviews.
We are reviewing all of thethings, all the things.
Last couple of weeks, elizabethreviewed contemporary Bomb.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Boom.
Also, I feel like review.
I just gave Sarah a reallyfunny look.
I feel like reviewing somethingis just a very classy way of
saying we're judging it.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I know we're just going to judge it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, this is our judgment Exactly what we're
doing.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Wow, I need to pray about this.
I know we are very judgmental.
But we are, I mean we're veryjudgmental about Disney.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yes, that is what we're judgmental about?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yes, well, because you know, I was thinking about
it.
I was like people are spendingso much money to go to Walt
Disney World Before I go and doanything that I don't really
know about.
You know as much about skiingor as much about Europe, you're
going to review it.
I have to look at all thereviews.
I have to look it up becauseit's so much money to do all the
things.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, and there are so many.
There's a girl that I follow.
Her name is Megan Stokes.
She's from Charleston, shelives in Charleston, she's two
kids, pregnant with a third, andshe obviously Instagram
influencers.
They pay you to go on all thesetrips and do all of these
things, which is great.
I'm here for it.
But she, like she just took herdaughter to New York City and
(01:32):
did all of these things with herdaughter and I'm like that's
what I need, because I or theywent to the Bahamas and this is
I mean she lays it out for you.
This is what we did, because, toyour point, you're spending a
lot of money and Disney can getreally overwhelming, really fast
.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And let me say you'll hear this in my review make
sure that you're gettingmultiple reviews.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Multiple.
Okay, specifically Sarah's andthen mine.
Yes, that's it.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Like you need to go, just like you would get a second
or third quote on somethingthat you would purchase.
You're gonna, you're gonna makesure that you do a couple of
reviews.
Don't do what I did, which Idid one review for one and, you
know, said we can do it.
So for this week we're going totalk about the stay that I had
(02:23):
at Disney's Beach Club.
We did a staycation this yearfor our family at I mean, I say
a staycation because we live inFlorida.
We went down to Disney andstayed at Disney's Beach Club.
We did not do the parks.
We decided.
I've always said I don't reallywant to pay to stay at the
Yatten Beach Club if we're doingparks, right, because you're at
(02:48):
the parks for most of the dayand then you miss out on all the
amenities and what there is atthe Yatten Beach Club.
So I said, for the price, Iwant to make sure that we're not
doing the parks if we ever stayhere.
Well, in the summer there's noway Lawton is going into the
parks, Right?
When did you go?
Not a chance.
We went July 6th through the9th, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So after 4th of July, what is that a Thursday?
Was that a Thursday?
Yeah, Thursday through SundayOkay.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
So that's planning-wise for after 4th of
July, because I thought thecrowds would be kind of lower
and not that it would matter,because we're not going to the
parks, but I just thought maybethe hotel, the pool, everything
would be not as packed.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
So it was lovely, was it not, as packed.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
It was busy.
It is a big pool.
You've stayed there before?
Yes, so you know, but you knowthere was not any.
You could do a walk-up waitlistfor beaches and cream, but it
was, and you could get alast-minute reservation at Aylen
Compass, which I really like.
We've done lunch there before.
(03:54):
There's not, like you know,there's not a character meal.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, it's a nice.
It's a nice, legit restaurant.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
But it was.
It was.
There was a good amount ofpeople there, but it wasn't like
.
This is too overwhelming,there's too many people.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
So we went how old was the oldest?
Held was the youngest becauseyour sister was there.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So my sister was just there for the day.
So we my sister and her familywere with us for a week and then
they were flying out of Orlando.
Okay, the day we checked in, sowe All drove down there and
then we just kind of did A goodboardwalk stuff during the day
and they drove over.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I was thinking about the pool, because there was a
big age Great and a big age gap.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, yeah.
So we were thinking about doingtrying to get them like a guest
pass or something, but theysaid you know, there were too
many people at the resort sothey weren't doing guest passes
that day.
Okay, I think it really.
It's probably very rare at thatpool that they're going to do
that because they do.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You have to have a risk.
I mean you have to go in, youhave to show that you're staying
at that resort.
And then you have to have awristband.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yes, yes, they check you for your wristband every day
and not a magic band.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
They give you like a paper wristband to put on to get
to have access to the pool deck.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yes, yep so, and they have different colors for
different days.
So you do, you cannot just poolhop, like a lot of people do.
They will go from pool to pooland I think that it's totally
legit Till to Disney for peopleto do that.
I know, I know a lot of peoplewho do it and they even said, oh
, you can go to the pool At theRiviera, yeah, the Caribbean
(05:28):
Beach, but ours, you have to bea guest staying here.
Okay, so they I mean even theDisney people told us that, yeah
, sister and them, even thoughthey were not staying at a
resort, that we could take themto the pool somewhere else, but
they just couldn't do stormalong Bay, okay.
So storm along Bay is, it'sbasically a mini water park.
It is, you know, two, you knowvery large pools.
(05:49):
One, they're both beach or sandbottom pools.
One of them has sand like abeach area that the kids can
play in the sand, and then theyhave a big water slide.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's a very fun place to be a lazy river.
Have a lazy river which does itconnect the pools connect.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
The pools do connect, like there's bridges.
I think that I don't think thatthe Sand bottom with the sand
like the beach area on top, Idon't think that connect.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, I think that's a separate one.
Yes, because that's like thekid area there's not a splash
pad.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, so the pools were Great.
We really loved them.
We spent not all day at thepool, you know every day that we
were there, but we spent a goodamount of time each day.
Okay, we went with some friendswho live in Orlando, our
friends Matthew and Rachel right, two daughters and they had a
(06:42):
so we both stayed at the beachclub.
The beach club was underrenovation for some of the like
in the lobby and stuff Okay, soit wasn't the best experience
with the lobby and then alsokind of like their marketplace
area right the yacht clubs ismuch nicer and you know it's.
(07:03):
It's bigger and it has more.
You know for food options andeverything, but the beach club
was still great, it's it justwas under construction and they
are connected.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
These buildings are connected.
You can walk from one, from thebeach club to the yacht club,
both on the inside and on theoutside.
Yes, so it's not that it was aninconvenience to go to the
yacht club, it just was a longerwalk, it's just a longer walk.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, so I originally had a room for the yacht club
and I wanted to change it to thebeach club just because I
thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I mean, I've been to the yacht club so folks are
graves.
She is not bougie enough forthe yacht club?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I'm not, I just am not.
And they sell a littlepullitzer in the marketplace at
the yacht club.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I'm like this is not my vibe.
This is where ElizabethBrannock needs to be.
Yes, this is where ScottBrannock needs to be.
Is what she means by that?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I mean I was bringing my kids.
I was like I want to be at thebeach club.
It's just more of like a beachy.
But you know Lawton, who youknow, he went over the yacht
club.
He's like, oh, it's nice overhere.
I'm like I know you know youwould like it over here more,
but here I am at the beach club,you're welcome.
I know we're at the beach cluband this is where I wanted to
stay.
So our friends, matthew andRachel and their girls they
(08:10):
actually had they were at theDVC rooms at the beach club.
Okay, so they had a one bedroom,so we had access to a kitchen,
which was lovely, so nice.
So Matthew is like he's like achef and a baker, like he does
all the things.
Like he, yes, he did all thegrocery shopping and he like
makes pancakes and does all thisstuff, and so we were fully
(08:32):
stocked, not on a vacation.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Oh my gosh.
Wait, did they do DVC throughthe rental points or did they do
book it online?
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
they booked it online with with points.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Okay, so it was great to have access to a kitchen.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So they had the one bedroom villa.
What kind of a room did y'allhave?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
We had just a regular hotel style room, so we had two
queen beds and then a couchthat converted into a twin.
It wasn't a fold down, you know, like under the TV, like we've
seen before.
It was a couch that converted.
Yeah, so it was great.
Lawton loves to unpack clothes,so the you know, the thing
under the TV was not a bed, itwas actually drawers.
(09:11):
So we unpacked all our stuffand it was.
There was a bathroom with awater closet and a shower that
had you know the sink was on theoutside.
Yeah, the sink was on theoutside, so two doors, and then
it was snug, though I wasexpecting contemporary room,
(09:34):
size?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Wait, did you have a porch?
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Do we have a porch?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Like a balcony.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Gosh, I can't remember, because we it was so
hot we never went outside.
We did have, we did.
We did have a porch.
We did go outside, like we didhave a sliding glass door and we
could go out there andeverything.
But it was yes, okay, now I'mremembering we did have a
balcony.
We were on the second or thirdfloor and it looked over into
this garden area that was inbetween our building and the DVC
(10:04):
building.
Okay, so we requested to bereally close to DVC building,
just because that's whereMatthew and Rachel were staying,
and so we stayed there and,close to them, had a balcony.
We're able to I put some stuffout there to dry, remember.
So there were a couple, butnobody was sitting out there for
very long.
It was so hot.
(10:25):
But the room was snug.
I did expect it to be the sizeof the contemporary and it
wasn't.
But it was fine.
We can all sleep there.
We didn't spend a lot of timein the room except for just
resting in the, you know, earlyafternoon we'd rest and then
we'd go back out.
So the stay was great, the roomwas great.
I would say we are only knock.
(10:47):
My only knock was that our roomwas really close to the
elevator so I could hear theelevator going up and down and
then people coming off.
But as soon as I got the soundmachine going, everything it was
fine and that's just what it is.
You're staying at a hotel,you're not at your house.
You're not gonna sleep as wellat a hotel, but it was lovely.
(11:11):
It was really prettytemperature-wise, everything you
experienced in your room at thecontemporary.
It just made me so sad becauseit was like the opposite, like
the temperature was great, itwas not hard to adjust.
I mean, the room was reallynice.
The building was great eventhough it was under construction
(11:31):
.
But we did really like it.
We enjoyed being able to go anddo a staycation, enjoy the
boardwalk we would like walkover to.
We walked over to the boardwalkarea and did some snacks over
there.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Did you do jelly rolls?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
We did not do jelly rolls.
We did not do jelly rolls, butwe went to the restaurant that
is right by the Abra Cadabra.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What is that called Are?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
you talking about Flying Fish?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, it wasn't Flying Fish.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
It was connected, so oh yes, there's like a pizza
place.
It's like a pizza place.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
No, it's an Italian restaurant.
I need you to look it upbecause it does connect to the
Abra Cadabra.
So it's the restaurant.
We went to the Abra Cadabra andthen Flying Fish.
We went on a date, a doubledate.
Westlin stayed in the hotelwith the kids.
They had like a living roomstyle at their hotel, so the
(12:30):
kids we did the pool all day andthen got them set up for dinner
.
They watched a movie and haddinner, while we walked over to
the boardwalk and had dinner ata restaurant over there.
I think it's called TrattoriaAl Forno, now that I'm
remembering it Okay, like Icould have pronounced that yeah
(12:50):
it was Italian food.
Yep, you're right.
Okay, it used to be that theyhad a character meal for
breakfast.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
They have it to go.
They have it to go.
Area there too.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yes, I have never really read reviews on that
before, but we kind of had alast minute.
We were waiting to see how thekids would do if we could leave
them.
And they did great.
They were like, okay, we arehappy to be here, Westlin
babysat.
So we were like we were justtrying to figure out what could
we get for a last minutereservation.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
We have made it to the other side.
I know it was great Westlinactually has our kids at the
park right now.
I mean we've made it to theother side.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yes, yes, it's great.
So we went to Trattoria AlForno.
I had never been there before.
I like Italian food, but it'snot like my favorite, so I was
willing to just kind of go andsee how it was.
It was so good, was it good?
It was so good.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Was it like Olive Garden good, or was it like
really good?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
No, it was really good.
Okay, it was, you know, it wasnot like.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
What did you get?
Do you remember?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I don't remember what I got.
I think I got like a flatbread.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yes, so you did not get unlimited breadsticks, I
didn't.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I know, but they do bring out bread, which was
delicious.
Rachel got this, I think shrimpand scallop like linguine meal,
oh yum it was so good we wereall taking the bread and like
dipping our bread and the sauce.
It was so good.
Hers was very good.
Lawton and Matthew got lasagna.
Okay, and it was lasagna thatwas like rolled up.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Oh, yeah, it was really good.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
We got ice cream for dessert or gelato for dessert.
They brought out the wrong kindof gelato for Matthew and
Rachel, so they just brought outlike the right kind.
So we had three different kinds, I think.
We had like a chocolate chipand then a chocolate, and then
we wanted pistachio.
The pistachio was not as goodas we thought it was.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
First, of all that's because that's a weird flavor,
but we like it Lawton reallylikes it oh Lawton that is gross
.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
But they were both like this isn't good.
Why are you guys eating that?
If I was there, I would havesaid, yeah, duh.
But the other ones were really,really good and we were going
to go over to Aber Cadabre andhave a drink afterwards but we
were so full we were like let'sjust skip it and we'll just kind
of walk around.
Yeah, but Trattoria for now.
I think I thought it was great.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So, looking at here, they have a walk up, they have a
walk up waitlist Area thing too, so that's nice.
If you're staying in that area,you could get it to go and then
you could just go eat it.
I mean, they have like, don'tthey have like picnic tables and
stuff all out there, or you cantake it back to your hotel room
.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah, they have some some tables outside that you can
go to.
Yeah the thing that we did thefirst day that we were there,
when my sister was still therewe walked over there on the
boardwalk and got to go lunch.
There's a deli right next door,okay, and but they don't really
have a lot of seating.
Okay, it was very hot outside.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Okay, so you did not rent the bikes is what you're
telling me.
I did not rent the bikes.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
There were people that had the Surrey bikes.
People are crazy.
It was crazy Pro tip.
Aber Cadabar is not open duringthe day.
Okay, it opens up for maybeeven later than that, but it's a
bar, so it's not open duringthe day.
I saw someone I was trying toscout out seats for us to eat
our lunch that was in the shadebecause we were just getting
(16:12):
counter service you know delisandwiches and I was like, okay,
I'm going to run out, I'm goingto see where we can sit,
because I knew everybody wasgoing to break down.
It was so hot I needed to findit in the shade.
I found us some tables rightoutside of Aber Cadabar and I
had looked because I thoughtmaybe it was open during the day
and I was like, maybe we canjust get a drink and eat our
lunch in here, I'll see, becauseI didn't think that they served
(16:34):
food during the day.
So I go I, you know, try toopen it some.
And I see that it's not open.
I was like, go up, bummer, sitdown outside.
And then I see this guy walk into the Aber Cadabar.
I was like what in the world?
And I go in there just to kindof like you know.
Look around, he is eating lunchwith his family in there, Wait.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
how come you couldn't open the door?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I think that you have to kind of pull on it a little
bit more.
And it was, but I just I wasn'ttrying to, like, you know,
because I didn't know if theywere open.
So I just, you know, tried alittle bit and it wouldn't.
I just didn't pull hard enough.
Anyway, I walk in there.
He's eating lunch with hisfamily and I was like, oh, this
is a good idea.
He's like we have done thisevery day.
We go and get our lunch fromsomewhere on the boardwalk and
(17:15):
then we chill out in here.
It was cold.
Nobody was in there.
They were like we just clean upafter ourselves.
I am obsessed.
Do you know the place where wesat to get drinks?
That's where they were sittingand they ate their lunch there.
Nobody was in there, it wascold, it was restful, so amazing
.
So I was like, okay.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And this the vibe in there is.
It's like think like dark,maroons, plum purples, like deep
colors, and I know that sounds.
The windows are all tinted,there's a film on them, so it's
a little bit darker in there.
So all I can think is likecoming in there, sitting in
there, and it's not like brightin area, it's kind of like I
mean not dark, like it's justlike the mood changes.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
So you like immediately.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Like your kids are like coming down.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yes, it was great.
So we had six kids with us andfour adults and they had left.
You know they were, they were.
My family was still in linegetting their food.
They had left and then, oncethey were done, I sat down and
my family started just likecoming in and we just sat there
for like 30 minutes and eightinside it was Was there were
there?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Disney employees.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
They were kind of coming in and out, yeah but they
didn't.
They didn't bother you and wewere.
I think the general kind ofnotion was clean up after
yourself yeah, and we did.
We were like we're going toclean up after ourselves, but it
was so hot outside they're notturning people away to not sit
inside, like they weren't open.
You know, we did buy somethingfrom somewhere else and bring it
(18:44):
over, but Tratoria Alfornoright next door.
You could walk through overthere and they were open, but
you know we couldn't.
Someone could have gotten to gofrom Tratoria Alforno and then
brought it over and ate in theAbercadabra.
But it was great, it was, itwas a lifesaver.
I love that, yeah.
So we did that that first day.
The next day we went toTratoria Alforno, had a great
(19:06):
dinner and you did a pool duringthe day while you were there
pool during the day while wewere there.
It was great.
You know the it was not a muchof as much of a pain as I
thought it would be with thewristbands, because I thought
like, okay, everybody has tohave their magic band, everybody
has to be ready.
Like, you really just have tohave the adults magic bands and
(19:26):
they can see, on the reservationthat you know you have how many
people.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
So can I ask you this question and this is something,
if you're listening to this andyou have a variety of ages.
That's why I asked thatquestion to Sarah at the
beginning of this Because thepool is huge, yes, Um in like.
I mean you can stand on oneside of the pool and you cannot
see the other side of the pool,and so they I mean.
(19:53):
Correct me if I'm wrong, butwhen you come in and they get
you wristband, they find you aseat.
They did not for us.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
They didn't Okay, it was just, you walk in and you
find your own, okay, so?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I don't know if that was a COVID thing or if they do
it only on certain timesdepending on the crowd level,
but I have been.
Both times when I have been,they found us a seat.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So if you have a 10 year old and a two year old, you
just need to be aware that Ifyou're gonna be the splash paddy
, that's not the right word.
The smaller pool with the beach.
The smaller pool area and youwanna be able to watch your 10
year old go down the slide,you're gonna be on totally
(20:35):
opposite ends of the pool,totally opposite ends.
So if you are a person who likesto sit out of the pool and let
your kids play in the pool, butyou want eyes on your kids be,
know that you're gonna bewanting to get into the pool.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yes, so we had.
Our ages were 11, nine and nine, seven and seven.
Basically, like their two girlsare basically the same age as
our two girls, okay, and soeverybody can swim really well.
Matthew and Rachel have a poolat their house so their kids can
swim really well.
But to do the slide you do haveto walk out.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
That's what I was gonna say.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And it's in the common public area of where you
would walk, you know, to Epcot.
And so you have to cross thelittle cross, you know,
boardwalk or the sidewalk on theboardwalk.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
And Disney does, and they have cast members, cause
there's a smaller slide overthere too.
There's a big slide and there'sa smaller slide.
Disney has cast members overthere.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And so keep that in mind.
But to Sarah's point you, if Iwould not let my kids just walk
across without me, Even Wesleyan, I walked with her, you know
she's 11.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Now if her older cousin Ethan, if he was there,
he's 13.
Or if the drapers were thereand the draper.
You know like I would let thethree of them go and walk across
, but I wasn't gonna let her goby herself Well, and I would not
let, like a Lorianne and a Reed, go by themselves, so keep that
in mind.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Also, disney, all Disney resorts have life vests.
So if your child is notcomfortable swimming and they
need a flotation device, disneyhas those and there's no charge
for them.
You can just use them, but atStorm Along Bay they have the
tubes for the Lazy River.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yes, now those are hot commodity.
You've got to kind of wait itout or swim.
We would swim around the LazyRiver and then just grab one and
grab one when people got out.
The life vests are availablefor anyone.
Even if you're like Sydney andyou don't want to get your hair
and face wet and you just kindof want to float along in the
pool, you can also use vest.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Could you wear it, Because that's what she did.
I like to put like whenever wego and we're like in whenever we
take the boat and we likesandbar hop, if you will.
I like to wear it like a diaper, so it like floats you up.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That's what she wanted.
We went for a night swim andshe didn't really want to get
like all the way in and she'slike, can I just have a life
vest?
I was like that's a great idea.
I wish they had my size too.
It's like it just floats.
I love that idea.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I know.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
So she just kind of enjoyed floating around during
that time.
I love that, yeah.
So we did get to pick our seatevery day.
We chose to have a seat next towhen we were with our friends.
We chose to have seats next tothe beach area.
Cause that's where the youngergirls wanted to play the most,
so we could kind of watch themor, like you know, get in if we
(23:32):
wanted to.
And then, when it was just ourfamily, we had one day with just
our family there and we did thepool and we did more of the
activities that were going onwhen they had some lifeguards.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I was going to say they didn't like games with the
kids and it is.
That's the thing about Disneypools, the contemporary.
I don't think that they had it.
I didn't even see an area.
You know that normally theylike store all their stuff in
one area, the Disney pools, theydo that, they do games and then
they have prizes and it's supercute and super fun.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
So yeah, it was great .
They had like a littlevolleyball kind of net that you
could play volleyball with somebeach volleyball.
Our family did that for a whileand then they did some of the
games.
We did the pool, the slide, sowe did that a lot and then we
came back, like in the evening,and did a night swim after
having a rest.
(24:25):
One of the most fun things wedid that I really liked was so
two things that Disney just getsso overwhelming.
Even if you're on a staycation,you need some just downtime.
Right, you know, doing the poolall day, you just need some
downtime.
Maybe you don't want itnecessarily in your room, but we
(24:46):
did take some downtime in ourroom.
One of the places that we liketo go were this living room
style area where they had somegames.
They had a TV.
Yes, we were playing, like youknow, we had checkers and we had
a couple other games.
We just like chilled out inthere.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
You know I love a lobby card game.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I know, it was just great.
We just sat there and chilledout for a while and then after
that we went over to Beaches andCream and did to go ice cream
and the serving size for thoseare really big, they're massive.
So we were able to just getlike two ice creams and share
amongst five of us in our family.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Also, what I forget about Disney properties is they
have arcades at pretty muchevery single Disney property
Everywhere.
Yes, which is my kids love anarcade.
Yes, they.
When we were at Beaches andCream.
It's like Beaches and Cream thearcade and then the bathroom,
yes.
So we obviously walked by itand Laura Ann was like, ooh,
this is a good arcade.
(25:44):
Yes, I'm like this is my kids.
Yeah, yeah, scott Brannock isso proud.
Yes, yes, but yeah, I love that.
So what I appreciate about thisjourney that you went on is you
got to enjoy the resort as theresort.
Yes, which I feel like issomething that is hard.
(26:06):
Like my kids, I wish that Icould convince my kids to do
that.
I wish I could convince myhusband to do that.
I know he probably would If Itold him we were staying at the
beach club.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
He'd be like done yeah, because it really is very
nice and you can just treat itlike it is going to a resort,
just to enjoy the pool.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Don't you wish that they had that, like in St
Augustine?
I know, I know it would be niceIf you could do that.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I mean, they have it at Hilton Head and they have it
at, but that's not helping me.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
It's not in St Augustine, I know, I know.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
The Euro Beach.
The thing we did after that Iloved after we did like our
little lobby games.
So at every deluxe resortyou're going to have like a
lobby area with like just like aquiet space where you can just
chill out.
There was a lady there who,like had her laptop open and,
you know, was doing work andeverything.
We chilled there.
(26:58):
We got ice cream and then wedid it in time for the fireworks
, for the nighttime show forEpcot.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I didn't know, you liked fireworks.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Obviously, I, you know, made sure to schedule
everything around, trying tomake sure people were on board
with seeing the nighttime showat the end of the day.
So we got ice cream.
We walked over to the bridgethat connects the Yacht and
Beach Club area to the boardwalkarea Okay.
And there were a handful ofpeople there.
That bridge was so good.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
For the fireworks.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
For the fireworks.
We went up there five minutes,10 minutes before it started,
and sat there ate our ice cream.
We were just like kind of onthe ground sitting down and then
, once it started, we stood upand it was a great place.
We could hear the music.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
You have good pictures of it.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, and it was great because we just walked
right over.
So much of Disney is just thewalking, the transportation, all
that stuff.
Everything we did was rightthere.
We walked over to the bridgeyou know it was a five minute
walk to see the nighttime showand then we just walked right
back to our room to like go tobed.
When we went on a date, youknow, with our friends, we just
(28:07):
walked right over to theboardwalk it was like a seven
minute walk over to whereTrattoria O'Farno was, had a
date and then walked back.
It was lovely.
It was lovely.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Love that.
I do love the beach, the yacht,I love the boardwalk area.
I just love the.
It's convenient, it's great, Ilove it, it's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
So I would say 10 out of 10, if you're looking to go
to Disney but maybe not to theparks, or if you're just looking
at a nice hotel to go to andenjoy a resort experience.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Oh yeah, and you're within two hours of it.
I think it's great, yes.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
And I would say, kind of like you said last week how
you loved enjoying the parks inthe afternoon evening, I, if our
, you know, vacation budgetwould allow it for some time,
and it was a good deal we wouldtotally stay at the Yachton
Beach Club doing parks just inthe afternoon, enjoying the pool
in the morning, eating lunch,resting for a little bit at our
(29:05):
hotel room and then going intothe parks afterwards, or vice
versa.
If it's not like blazing hotoutside, it's it was.
It was really great, we reallyliked it.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, I love that.
So Yachton Beach Club highlyrecommend, highly recommend.
Next week I do want to give ourreview on two restaurants that
we went to.
Oh okay and um, trattoriaFlorida was great, but we went
to the character meal for CapeMay Cafe at Beach Club.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
I've never been.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
And then we got um Ayl and Compass to go, so I want
to go over that next week, butthat was Yachton Beach Club for
us.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
All right, yay, thanks, friends.
All right, we'll talk to younext time.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Bye, bye.
It was such a great day today.
Hey friends, what's up?
I'm Elizabeth.
I'm Sarah.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of
the TQ Room.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
We are sailing through some reviews.
We are reviewing all of thethings, all the things.
Last couple of weeks, elizabethreviewed contemporary Bomb.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Boom.
Also, I feel like review.
I just gave Sarah a reallyfunny look.
I feel like reviewing somethingis just a very classy way of
saying we're judging it.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I know we're just going to judge it.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, this is our judgment Exactly what we're
doing.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Wow, I need to pray about this.
I know we are very judgmental.
But we are, I mean we're veryjudgmental about Disney.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Yes, that is what we're judgmental about?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yes, well, because you know, I was thinking about
it.
I was like people are spendingso much money to go to Walt
Disney World Before I go and doanything that I don't really
know about.
You know as much about skiingor as much about Europe, you're
going to review it.
I have to look at all thereviews.
I have to look it up becauseit's so much money to do all the
things.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, and there are so many.
There's a girl that I follow.
Her name is Megan Stokes.
She's from Charleston, shelives in Charleston, she's two
kids, pregnant with a third, andshe obviously Instagram
influencers.
They pay you to go on all thesetrips and do all of these
things, which is great.
I'm here for it.
But she, like she just took herdaughter to New York City and
(01:32):
did all of these things with herdaughter and I'm like that's
what I need, because I or theywent to the Bahamas and this is
I mean she lays it out for you.
This is what we did, because, toyour point, you're spending a
lot of money and Disney can getreally overwhelming, really fast
.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And let me say you'll hear this in my review make
sure that you're gettingmultiple reviews.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Multiple.
Okay, specifically Sarah's andthen mine.
Yes, that's it.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Like you need to go, just like you would get a second
or third quote on somethingthat you would purchase.
You're gonna, you're gonna makesure that you do a couple of
reviews.
Don't do what I did, which Idid one review for one and, you
know, said we can do it.
So for this week we're going totalk about the stay that I had
(02:23):
at Disney's Beach Club.
We did a staycation this yearfor our family at I mean, I say
a staycation because we live inFlorida.
We went down to Disney andstayed at Disney's Beach Club.
We did not do the parks.
We decided.
I've always said I don't reallywant to pay to stay at the
Yatten Beach Club if we're doingparks, right, because you're at
(02:48):
the parks for most of the dayand then you miss out on all the
amenities and what there is atthe Yatten Beach Club.
So I said, for the price, Iwant to make sure that we're not
doing the parks if we ever stayhere.
Well, in the summer there's noway Lawton is going into the
parks, Right?
When did you go?
Not a chance.
We went July 6th through the9th, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So after 4th of July, what is that a Thursday?
Was that a Thursday?
Yeah, Thursday through SundayOkay.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
So that's planning-wise for after 4th of
July, because I thought thecrowds would be kind of lower
and not that it would matter,because we're not going to the
parks, but I just thought maybethe hotel, the pool, everything
would be not as packed.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
So it was lovely, was it not, as packed.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
It was busy.
It is a big pool.
You've stayed there before?
Yes, so you know, but you knowthere was not any.
You could do a walk-up waitlistfor beaches and cream, but it
was, and you could get alast-minute reservation at Aylen
Compass, which I really like.
We've done lunch there before.
(03:54):
There's not, like you know,there's not a character meal.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yeah, it's a nice.
It's a nice, legit restaurant.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
But it was.
It was.
There was a good amount ofpeople there, but it wasn't like
.
This is too overwhelming,there's too many people.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
So we went how old was the oldest?
Held was the youngest becauseyour sister was there.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So my sister was just there for the day.
So we my sister and her familywere with us for a week and then
they were flying out of Orlando.
Okay, the day we checked in, sowe All drove down there and
then we just kind of did A goodboardwalk stuff during the day
and they drove over.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
I was thinking about the pool, because there was a
big age Great and a big age gap.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yeah, yeah.
So we were thinking about doingtrying to get them like a guest
pass or something, but theysaid you know, there were too
many people at the resort sothey weren't doing guest passes
that day.
Okay, I think it really.
It's probably very rare at thatpool that they're going to do
that because they do.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
You have to have a risk.
I mean you have to go in, youhave to show that you're staying
at that resort.
And then you have to have awristband.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yes, yes, they check you for your wristband every day
and not a magic band.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
They give you like a paper wristband to put on to get
to have access to the pool deck.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yes, yep so, and they have different colors for
different days.
So you do, you cannot just poolhop, like a lot of people do.
They will go from pool to pooland I think that it's totally
legit Till to Disney for peopleto do that.
I know, I know a lot of peoplewho do it and they even said, oh
, you can go to the pool At theRiviera, yeah, the Caribbean
(05:28):
Beach, but ours, you have to bea guest staying here.
Okay, so they I mean even theDisney people told us that, yeah
, sister and them, even thoughthey were not staying at a
resort, that we could take themto the pool somewhere else, but
they just couldn't do stormalong Bay, okay.
So storm along Bay is, it'sbasically a mini water park.
It is, you know, two, you knowvery large pools.
(05:49):
One, they're both beach or sandbottom pools.
One of them has sand like abeach area that the kids can
play in the sand, and then theyhave a big water slide.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's a very fun place to be a lazy river.
Have a lazy river which does itconnect the pools connect.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
The pools do connect, like there's bridges.
I think that I don't think thatthe Sand bottom with the sand
like the beach area on top, Idon't think that connect.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, I think that's a separate one.
Yes, because that's like thekid area there's not a splash
pad.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, so the pools were Great.
We really loved them.
We spent not all day at thepool, you know every day that we
were there, but we spent a goodamount of time each day.
Okay, we went with some friendswho live in Orlando, our
friends Matthew and Rachel right, two daughters and they had a
(06:42):
so we both stayed at the beachclub.
The beach club was underrenovation for some of the like
in the lobby and stuff Okay, soit wasn't the best experience
with the lobby and then alsokind of like their marketplace
area right the yacht clubs ismuch nicer and you know it's.
(07:03):
It's bigger and it has more.
You know for food options andeverything, but the beach club
was still great, it's it justwas under construction and they
are connected.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
These buildings are connected.
You can walk from one, from thebeach club to the yacht club,
both on the inside and on theoutside.
Yes, so it's not that it was aninconvenience to go to the
yacht club, it just was a longerwalk, it's just a longer walk.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, so I originally had a room for the yacht club
and I wanted to change it to thebeach club just because I
thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I mean, I've been to the yacht club so folks are
graves.
She is not bougie enough forthe yacht club?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I'm not, I just am not.
And they sell a littlepullitzer in the marketplace at
the yacht club.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I'm like this is not my vibe.
This is where ElizabethBrannock needs to be.
Yes, this is where ScottBrannock needs to be.
Is what she means by that?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I mean I was bringing my kids.
I was like I want to be at thebeach club.
It's just more of like a beachy.
But you know Lawton, who youknow, he went over the yacht
club.
He's like, oh, it's nice overhere.
I'm like I know you know youwould like it over here more,
but here I am at the beach club,you're welcome.
I know we're at the beach cluband this is where I wanted to
stay.
So our friends, matthew andRachel and their girls they
(08:10):
actually had they were at theDVC rooms at the beach club.
Okay, so they had a one bedroom,so we had access to a kitchen,
which was lovely, so nice.
So Matthew is like he's like achef and a baker, like he does
all the things.
Like he, yes, he did all thegrocery shopping and he like
makes pancakes and does all thisstuff, and so we were fully
(08:32):
stocked, not on a vacation.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Oh my gosh.
Wait, did they do DVC throughthe rental points or did they do
book it online?
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
they booked it online with with points.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Okay, so it was great to have access to a kitchen.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So they had the one bedroom villa.
What kind of a room did y'allhave?
Speaker 1 (08:49):
We had just a regular hotel style room, so we had two
queen beds and then a couchthat converted into a twin.
It wasn't a fold down, you know, like under the TV, like we've
seen before.
It was a couch that converted.
Yeah, so it was great.
Lawton loves to unpack clothes,so the you know, the thing
under the TV was not a bed, itwas actually drawers.
(09:11):
So we unpacked all our stuffand it was.
There was a bathroom with awater closet and a shower that
had you know the sink was on theoutside.
Yeah, the sink was on theoutside, so two doors, and then
it was snug, though I wasexpecting contemporary room,
(09:34):
size?
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Wait, did you have a porch?
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Do we have a porch?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Like a balcony.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Gosh, I can't remember, because we it was so
hot we never went outside.
We did have, we did.
We did have a porch.
We did go outside, like we didhave a sliding glass door and we
could go out there andeverything.
But it was yes, okay, now I'mremembering we did have a
balcony.
We were on the second or thirdfloor and it looked over into
this garden area that was inbetween our building and the DVC
(10:04):
building.
Okay, so we requested to bereally close to DVC building,
just because that's whereMatthew and Rachel were staying,
and so we stayed there and,close to them, had a balcony.
We're able to I put some stuffout there to dry, remember.
So there were a couple, butnobody was sitting out there for
very long.
It was so hot.
(10:25):
But the room was snug.
I did expect it to be the sizeof the contemporary and it
wasn't.
But it was fine.
We can all sleep there.
We didn't spend a lot of timein the room except for just
resting in the, you know, earlyafternoon we'd rest and then
we'd go back out.
So the stay was great, the roomwas great.
I would say we are only knock.
(10:47):
My only knock was that our roomwas really close to the
elevator so I could hear theelevator going up and down and
then people coming off.
But as soon as I got the soundmachine going, everything it was
fine and that's just what it is.
You're staying at a hotel,you're not at your house.
You're not gonna sleep as wellat a hotel, but it was lovely.
(11:11):
It was really prettytemperature-wise, everything you
experienced in your room at thecontemporary.
It just made me so sad becauseit was like the opposite, like
the temperature was great, itwas not hard to adjust.
I mean, the room was reallynice.
The building was great eventhough it was under construction
(11:31):
.
But we did really like it.
We enjoyed being able to go anddo a staycation, enjoy the
boardwalk we would like walkover to.
We walked over to the boardwalkarea and did some snacks over
there.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Did you do jelly rolls?
Speaker 1 (11:50):
We did not do jelly rolls.
We did not do jelly rolls, butwe went to the restaurant that
is right by the Abra Cadabra.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What is that called Are?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
you talking about Flying Fish?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
No, it wasn't Flying Fish.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
It was connected, so oh yes, there's like a pizza
place.
It's like a pizza place.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
No, it's an Italian restaurant.
I need you to look it upbecause it does connect to the
Abra Cadabra.
So it's the restaurant.
We went to the Abra Cadabra andthen Flying Fish.
We went on a date, a doubledate.
Westlin stayed in the hotelwith the kids.
They had like a living roomstyle at their hotel, so the
(12:30):
kids we did the pool all day andthen got them set up for dinner
.
They watched a movie and haddinner, while we walked over to
the boardwalk and had dinner ata restaurant over there.
I think it's called TrattoriaAl Forno, now that I'm
remembering it Okay, like Icould have pronounced that yeah
(12:50):
it was Italian food.
Yep, you're right.
Okay, it used to be that theyhad a character meal for
breakfast.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
They have it to go.
They have it to go.
Area there too.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Yes, I have never really read reviews on that
before, but we kind of had alast minute.
We were waiting to see how thekids would do if we could leave
them.
And they did great.
They were like, okay, we arehappy to be here, Westlin
babysat.
So we were like we were justtrying to figure out what could
we get for a last minutereservation.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
We have made it to the other side.
I know it was great Westlinactually has our kids at the
park right now.
I mean we've made it to theother side.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yes, yes, it's great.
So we went to Trattoria AlForno.
I had never been there before.
I like Italian food, but it'snot like my favorite, so I was
willing to just kind of go andsee how it was.
It was so good, was it good?
It was so good.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Was it like Olive Garden good, or was it like
really good?
Speaker 1 (13:46):
No, it was really good.
Okay, it was, you know, it wasnot like.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
What did you get?
Do you remember?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
I don't remember what I got.
I think I got like a flatbread.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yes, so you did not get unlimited breadsticks, I
didn't.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I know, but they do bring out bread, which was
delicious.
Rachel got this, I think shrimpand scallop like linguine meal,
oh yum it was so good we wereall taking the bread and like
dipping our bread and the sauce.
It was so good.
Hers was very good.
Lawton and Matthew got lasagna.
Okay, and it was lasagna thatwas like rolled up.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Oh, yeah, it was really good.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
We got ice cream for dessert or gelato for dessert.
They brought out the wrong kindof gelato for Matthew and
Rachel, so they just brought outlike the right kind.
So we had three different kinds, I think.
We had like a chocolate chipand then a chocolate, and then
we wanted pistachio.
The pistachio was not as goodas we thought it was.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
First, of all that's because that's a weird flavor,
but we like it Lawton reallylikes it oh Lawton that is gross
.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
But they were both like this isn't good.
Why are you guys eating that?
If I was there, I would havesaid, yeah, duh.
But the other ones were really,really good and we were going
to go over to Aber Cadabre andhave a drink afterwards but we
were so full we were like let'sjust skip it and we'll just kind
of walk around.
Yeah, but Trattoria for now.
I think I thought it was great.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So, looking at here, they have a walk up, they have a
walk up waitlist Area thing too, so that's nice.
If you're staying in that area,you could get it to go and then
you could just go eat it.
I mean, they have like, don'tthey have like picnic tables and
stuff all out there, or you cantake it back to your hotel room
.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah, they have some some tables outside that you can
go to.
Yeah the thing that we did thefirst day that we were there,
when my sister was still therewe walked over there on the
boardwalk and got to go lunch.
There's a deli right next door,okay, and but they don't really
have a lot of seating.
Okay, it was very hot outside.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Okay, so you did not rent the bikes is what you're
telling me.
I did not rent the bikes.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
There were people that had the Surrey bikes.
People are crazy.
It was crazy Pro tip.
Aber Cadabar is not open duringthe day.
Okay, it opens up for maybeeven later than that, but it's a
bar, so it's not open duringthe day.
I saw someone I was trying toscout out seats for us to eat
our lunch that was in the shadebecause we were just getting
(16:12):
counter service you know delisandwiches and I was like, okay,
I'm going to run out, I'm goingto see where we can sit,
because I knew everybody wasgoing to break down.
It was so hot I needed to findit in the shade.
I found us some tables rightoutside of Aber Cadabar and I
had looked because I thoughtmaybe it was open during the day
and I was like, maybe we canjust get a drink and eat our
lunch in here, I'll see, becauseI didn't think that they served
(16:34):
food during the day.
So I go I, you know, try toopen it some.
And I see that it's not open.
I was like, go up, bummer, sitdown outside.
And then I see this guy walk into the Aber Cadabar.
I was like what in the world?
And I go in there just to kindof like you know.
Look around, he is eating lunchwith his family in there, Wait.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
how come you couldn't open the door?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
I think that you have to kind of pull on it a little
bit more.
And it was, but I just I wasn'ttrying to, like, you know,
because I didn't know if theywere open.
So I just, you know, tried alittle bit and it wouldn't.
I just didn't pull hard enough.
Anyway, I walk in there.
He's eating lunch with hisfamily and I was like, oh, this
is a good idea.
He's like we have done thisevery day.
We go and get our lunch fromsomewhere on the boardwalk and
(17:15):
then we chill out in here.
It was cold.
Nobody was in there.
They were like we just clean upafter ourselves.
I am obsessed.
Do you know the place where wesat to get drinks?
That's where they were sittingand they ate their lunch there.
Nobody was in there, it wascold, it was restful, so amazing
.
So I was like, okay.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
And this the vibe in there is.
It's like think like dark,maroons, plum purples, like deep
colors, and I know that sounds.
The windows are all tinted,there's a film on them, so it's
a little bit darker in there.
So all I can think is likecoming in there, sitting in
there, and it's not like brightin area, it's kind of like I
mean not dark, like it's justlike the mood changes.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
So you like immediately.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Like your kids are like coming down.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Yes, it was great.
So we had six kids with us andfour adults and they had left.
You know they were, they were.
My family was still in linegetting their food.
They had left and then, oncethey were done, I sat down and
my family started just likecoming in and we just sat there
for like 30 minutes and eightinside it was Was there were
there?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Disney employees.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
They were kind of coming in and out, yeah but they
didn't.
They didn't bother you and wewere.
I think the general kind ofnotion was clean up after
yourself yeah, and we did.
We were like we're going toclean up after ourselves, but it
was so hot outside they're notturning people away to not sit
inside, like they weren't open.
You know, we did buy somethingfrom somewhere else and bring it
(18:44):
over, but Tratoria Alfornoright next door.
You could walk through overthere and they were open, but
you know we couldn't.
Someone could have gotten to gofrom Tratoria Alforno and then
brought it over and ate in theAbercadabra.
But it was great, it was, itwas a lifesaver.
I love that, yeah.
So we did that that first day.
The next day we went toTratoria Alforno, had a great
(19:06):
dinner and you did a pool duringthe day while you were there
pool during the day while wewere there.
It was great.
You know the it was not a muchof as much of a pain as I
thought it would be with thewristbands, because I thought
like, okay, everybody has tohave their magic band, everybody
has to be ready.
Like, you really just have tohave the adults magic bands and
(19:26):
they can see, on the reservationthat you know you have how many
people.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
So can I ask you this question and this is something,
if you're listening to this andyou have a variety of ages.
That's why I asked thatquestion to Sarah at the
beginning of this Because thepool is huge, yes, Um in like.
I mean you can stand on oneside of the pool and you cannot
see the other side of the pool,and so they I mean.
(19:53):
Correct me if I'm wrong, butwhen you come in and they get
you wristband, they find you aseat.
They did not for us.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
They didn't Okay, it was just, you walk in and you
find your own, okay, so?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
I don't know if that was a COVID thing or if they do
it only on certain timesdepending on the crowd level,
but I have been.
Both times when I have been,they found us a seat.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So if you have a 10 year old and a two year old, you
just need to be aware that Ifyou're gonna be the splash paddy
, that's not the right word.
The smaller pool with the beach.
The smaller pool area and youwanna be able to watch your 10
year old go down the slide,you're gonna be on totally
(20:35):
opposite ends of the pool,totally opposite ends.
So if you are a person who likesto sit out of the pool and let
your kids play in the pool, butyou want eyes on your kids be,
know that you're gonna bewanting to get into the pool.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yes, so we had.
Our ages were 11, nine and nine, seven and seven.
Basically, like their two girlsare basically the same age as
our two girls, okay, and soeverybody can swim really well.
Matthew and Rachel have a poolat their house so their kids can
swim really well.
But to do the slide you do haveto walk out.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
That's what I was gonna say.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
And it's in the common public area of where you
would walk, you know, to Epcot.
And so you have to cross thelittle cross, you know,
boardwalk or the sidewalk on theboardwalk.
Yes.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
And Disney does, and they have cast members, cause
there's a smaller slide overthere too.
There's a big slide and there'sa smaller slide.
Disney has cast members overthere.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
And so keep that in mind.
But to Sarah's point you, if Iwould not let my kids just walk
across without me, Even Wesleyan, I walked with her, you know
she's 11.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Now if her older cousin Ethan, if he was there,
he's 13.
Or if the drapers were thereand the draper.
You know like I would let thethree of them go and walk across
, but I wasn't gonna let her goby herself Well, and I would not
let, like a Lorianne and a Reed, go by themselves, so keep that
in mind.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Also, disney, all Disney resorts have life vests.
So if your child is notcomfortable swimming and they
need a flotation device, disneyhas those and there's no charge
for them.
You can just use them, but atStorm Along Bay they have the
tubes for the Lazy River.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yes, now those are hot commodity.
You've got to kind of wait itout or swim.
We would swim around the LazyRiver and then just grab one and
grab one when people got out.
The life vests are availablefor anyone.
Even if you're like Sydney andyou don't want to get your hair
and face wet and you just kindof want to float along in the
pool, you can also use vest.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Could you wear it, Because that's what she did.
I like to put like whenever wego and we're like in whenever we
take the boat and we likesandbar hop, if you will.
I like to wear it like a diaper, so it like floats you up.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
That's what she wanted.
We went for a night swim andshe didn't really want to get
like all the way in and she'slike, can I just have a life
vest?
I was like that's a great idea.
I wish they had my size too.
It's like it just floats.
I love that idea.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
I know.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
So she just kind of enjoyed floating around during
that time.
I love that, yeah.
So we did get to pick our seatevery day.
We chose to have a seat next towhen we were with our friends.
We chose to have seats next tothe beach area.
Cause that's where the youngergirls wanted to play the most,
so we could kind of watch themor, like you know, get in if we
(23:32):
wanted to.
And then, when it was just ourfamily, we had one day with just
our family there and we did thepool and we did more of the
activities that were going onwhen they had some lifeguards.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
I was going to say they didn't like games with the
kids and it is.
That's the thing about Disneypools, the contemporary.
I don't think that they had it.
I didn't even see an area.
You know that normally theylike store all their stuff in
one area, the Disney pools, theydo that, they do games and then
they have prizes and it's supercute and super fun.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
So yeah, it was great .
They had like a littlevolleyball kind of net that you
could play volleyball with somebeach volleyball.
Our family did that for a whileand then they did some of the
games.
We did the pool, the slide, sowe did that a lot and then we
came back, like in the evening,and did a night swim after
having a rest.
(24:25):
One of the most fun things wedid that I really liked was so
two things that Disney just getsso overwhelming.
Even if you're on a staycation,you need some just downtime.
Right, you know, doing the poolall day, you just need some
downtime.
Maybe you don't want itnecessarily in your room, but we
(24:46):
did take some downtime in ourroom.
One of the places that we liketo go were this living room
style area where they had somegames.
They had a TV.
Yes, we were playing, like youknow, we had checkers and we had
a couple other games.
We just like chilled out inthere.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
You know I love a lobby card game.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I know, it was just great.
We just sat there and chilledout for a while and then after
that we went over to Beaches andCream and did to go ice cream
and the serving size for thoseare really big, they're massive.
So we were able to just getlike two ice creams and share
amongst five of us in our family.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Also, what I forget about Disney properties is they
have arcades at pretty muchevery single Disney property
Everywhere.
Yes, which is my kids love anarcade.
Yes, they.
When we were at Beaches andCream.
It's like Beaches and Cream thearcade and then the bathroom,
yes.
So we obviously walked by itand Laura Ann was like, ooh,
this is a good arcade.
(25:44):
Yes, I'm like this is my kids.
Yeah, yeah, scott Brannock isso proud.
Yes, yes, but yeah, I love that.
So what I appreciate about thisjourney that you went on is you
got to enjoy the resort as theresort.
Yes, which I feel like issomething that is hard.
(26:06):
Like my kids, I wish that Icould convince my kids to do
that.
I wish I could convince myhusband to do that.
I know he probably would If Itold him we were staying at the
beach club.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
He'd be like done yeah, because it really is very
nice and you can just treat itlike it is going to a resort,
just to enjoy the pool.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Don't you wish that they had that, like in St
Augustine?
I know, I know it would be niceIf you could do that.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
I mean, they have it at Hilton Head and they have it
at, but that's not helping me.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
It's not in St Augustine, I know, I know.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
The Euro Beach.
The thing we did after that Iloved after we did like our
little lobby games.
So at every deluxe resortyou're going to have like a
lobby area with like just like aquiet space where you can just
chill out.
There was a lady there who,like had her laptop open and,
you know, was doing work andeverything.
We chilled there.
(26:58):
We got ice cream and then wedid it in time for the fireworks
, for the nighttime show forEpcot.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I didn't know, you liked fireworks.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Obviously, I, you know, made sure to schedule
everything around, trying tomake sure people were on board
with seeing the nighttime showat the end of the day.
So we got ice cream.
We walked over to the bridgethat connects the Yacht and
Beach Club area to the boardwalkarea Okay.
And there were a handful ofpeople there.
That bridge was so good.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
For the fireworks.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
For the fireworks.
We went up there five minutes,10 minutes before it started,
and sat there ate our ice cream.
We were just like kind of onthe ground sitting down and then
, once it started, we stood upand it was a great place.
We could hear the music.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
You have good pictures of it.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, and it was great because we just walked
right over.
So much of Disney is just thewalking, the transportation, all
that stuff.
Everything we did was rightthere.
We walked over to the bridgeyou know it was a five minute
walk to see the nighttime showand then we just walked right
back to our room to like go tobed.
When we went on a date, youknow, with our friends, we just
(28:07):
walked right over to theboardwalk it was like a seven
minute walk over to whereTrattoria O'Farno was, had a
date and then walked back.
It was lovely.
It was lovely.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Love that.
I do love the beach, the yacht,I love the boardwalk area.
I just love the.
It's convenient, it's great, Ilove it, it's my favorite.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
So I would say 10 out of 10, if you're looking to go
to Disney but maybe not to theparks, or if you're just looking
at a nice hotel to go to andenjoy a resort experience.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Oh yeah, and you're within two hours of it.
I think it's great, yes.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
And I would say, kind of like you said last week how
you loved enjoying the parks inthe afternoon evening, I, if our
, you know, vacation budgetwould allow it for some time,
and it was a good deal we wouldtotally stay at the Yachton
Beach Club doing parks just inthe afternoon, enjoying the pool
in the morning, eating lunch,resting for a little bit at our
(29:05):
hotel room and then going intothe parks afterwards, or vice
versa.
If it's not like blazing hotoutside, it's it was.
It was really great, we reallyliked it.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, I love that.
So Yachton Beach Club highlyrecommend, highly recommend.
Next week I do want to give ourreview on two restaurants that
we went to.
Oh okay and um, trattoriaFlorida was great, but we went
to the character meal for CapeMay Cafe at Beach Club.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
I've never been.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
And then we got um Ayl and Compass to go, so I want
to go over that next week, butthat was Yachton Beach Club for
us.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
All right, yay, thanks, friends.
All right, we'll talk to younext time.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Bye, bye.
It was such a great day today.
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