May7-14 Beach Club Concierge Level - Comments#1

[Mr_Increddieble]

5th year in a row enjoying this same week.
Family of 4 plus extended family.
DH - Me
DW
DS - 15 ( special needs loves him some Disney)
DD - 7

1.- May 7th at Epcot (Mother's Day weekend) was packed. Those crowd predicting web sites were way off.
2.- The grounds throughout The World were beautiful especially, of course, Epcot for the F&G Festival. It's easy to take for granted. Disney charges a lot but they also spend it. It's evident evrywhere you look. You take a picture and then put the camera in your pocket and then a minute later find a reason to take it out again.
3.- The pepperoni pizza at Via Napoli is very good. The sauce and cheese are good put the crust is excellent.
4.- With a special needs son I use the handicap stall in all the bathrooms. I don't know how many we used, maybe 15 or 20, but they were all clean. I kept expecting to walk into a messy stall but it never happened.
5.- We were fortunate and got bumped to the 5th floor, Club Level. We enjoyed stopping in the lounge for refreshments before and after we went to the parks. What a joy. It was especially convenient since our dining res's were at odd hours but my son needs to eat on a schedule. We actually had 4 quick service meals left over and we used them after checkout at DTD Wolfgang Puck Express.
6.- The Club Level service was excellent. The staff was cordial and always available to provide whatever we needed.
7.- DHS could use some upgrading. The Great Movie Ride and the Little Mermaid for example. One trip there is enough.
8.- There is not a standard procedure in the Hotel for disposing of dirty diapers (if it's a blowout that can't be flushed, for example). In fact we saw some diapers outside room doors. What were they expecting?
9.- In the parks other members of our large group had strollers and the entrance area of rides were far from the exit areas and so we often had to backtrack to get the strollers where they were left. a bit of a pain.
10.- When we were in the queue for Soarin' we met a nice family and chatted with them. They asked about our son and took a moment with him. Then we were talking amongst ourselves my brother noticed that the other famaily's father put his hand on my son's shoulder, closed his eyes and said a quick prayer. (I tear up just typing that).
11.- We got to enjoy the Pixar special day at Epcot on Friday the 13th. The tent area was awesome. We got pictures with all the characters. However, some of the advertised items were not available or present while we were there. For example, Wall-e was not there. Then Woody, Bullseye, and Jessie were stationed at the America Pavilion and were supposed to be there from 11am-630pm continuous (not counting breaks) but when we got there at 245pm they said they were taking a break until 400pm. Then when we came back at 600pm they stopped the line (though it was not a long one). So a little false advertising there. Sadly, we never got pictures with them.
12.- 5 years during this week and we only got rained on for a total of 3 hrs. 1 hour this year on Friday nite the 13th. Pretty awesome. It was unseasonbly warm though. 5 days in the 90's.

More observations later.

[MinnieMommie]

Thanks for your observations and comments. Good to hear you had mostly rain free weather. I look forward to reading more.

[mouseketeer mom]

How wonderful you got bumped up to club level. What a treat!
Isn't it amazing the moments we can find with virtual strangers? I love the story with the mans hand on your son's shoulder and the prayer. Beautiful.
Thanks for the comments. I enjoyed your observations!

[jimsgal05]

Oh wowo glad you were bummed up to CL..just so you know If you get the GScard they can put a tag on th stroller so it is considered a Wheelchair.. they did that for my daugther ..this made it so much easier when rideing her stoller wasn't left with the other it was left with the wheelchairs at the end of the ride or when you board ,no back tracking.

Glad you had a good and the kids had one as well

[yjgirl32]

What a great upgrade! Thanks for sharing.

[faline]

Congrats on your upgrade!

We were there for part of the same time and, in fact, spent Mother's Day in Epcot. The weather certainly was terrific!

[princessgirls]

Thanks for sharing your trip. So nice you got that upgrade.

Sounds like your family had a wonderful trip!

Julie

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

I teared up just reading about the man praying for your son...

[BrerGnat]

Thanks for posting about your experience. We stayed CL at the Beach Club last year with our two special needs sons and really thought the staff was amazing at going above and beyond to address any needs we had. They are a great group of people. So cool that you were upgraded!

I agree about the diaper situation. I can't believe that, even in WDW, they don't at least offer larger trash cans with a lid, upon request, to dispose of diapers. We were conscious of that when our kids were still in diapers/pull ups, and always brought full sized trash bags as well as smaller plastic bags to put diapers in. I hate those tiny cans in the rooms...worthless, and seeing dirty diapers in the hallways is pretty gross.

Seems like you had a pretty fantastic vacation! Thanks again for sharing.

[CanadaLovesDisney]

Thanks for sharing!! Hope you are able to go again soon!

[emerzmom]

Thanks for sharing.

[KylesMom]

May 7th at Epcot (Mother's Day weekend) was packed. Those crowd predicting web sites were way off.

Been hearing that a lot lately - seems that attendance continues to be UP.

While it was crowded, it sounds like you had a truly wonderful trip. Love the upgrade to CL and the fact that you enjoyed some great weather - again.

my brother noticed that the other family's father put his hand on my son's shoulder, closed his eyes and said a quick prayer

Aren't those random experiences with CMs or other guests that you meet at Disney the best?

Looking forward to more of your observations!

[Suz36]

Woohoo on the upgrade! We've only stayed CL once at AKL, and it was a great experience.

[Momto3littlemice]

Thanks for the report. What an upgrade! And, I completely agree about DHS. This year on little mermaid I found myself wishing I were somewhere else!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!