I woke up at 9:00 this morning and hung out around the house. Mom and dad were sitting out by the pool so I took the laptop over to the kitchen table and typed up my trip report from the day before. It had been a long day so it took me a good two hours to get it all typed up. When I was done I started getting ready. I took a shower at 11:00 and got ready as fast as possible. We wanted to head out to the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World and I wanted to get there by the early afternoon. I was done getting ready by 12:00 and we left for Disney property at 12:15.
We drove down to Disney property and headed towards the Magic Kingdom. While the drive to Disney had taken a long time since the house was a lot farther to the attractions than the owners had originally told us, we found the resort in no time. We pulled into the parking lot at 1:30 and drove up to the parking booth. The man at the booth asked us what we needed, and when dad said that we were having lunch at the resort he asked us at which restaurant we were eating. All I could think of were Chef Mickey's and the California Grill, both of which weren't open at the time. So I opened my window and told him that we were going to walk around and just see what we could find, and he gave us a three hour parking pass. Smooth, real smooth.
We parked and walked into the front entrance of the Contemporary Resort. It was packed down there on the first floor; there were people everywhere waiting to check in. There were a ton of kids sitting on their suitcases so it looked like it was a group from a camp or school. We walked around the first floor and then went up to the second floor. There really wasn't much up there except for a few seating areas and nice pieces of contemporary artwork. Mom and I ran into the bathroom while dad sat in one of the seating areas. We then walked around the corner to another nice area that overlooked the pool and Bay Lake. As we were over there my mom's Aunt Barbie, who lives in California, called and they talked for a while. We hadn't heard from her in ages so it was weird that she called while we were away/ I spent the time taking some pictures of the area.
We then turned another corner and took the big escalator up to the fourth floor. The escalator was huge but very narrow. Only one person could stand on each step. When we got up to the fourth floor I was blown away. The view out over Bay Lake, the pool and beach was gorgeous! There were a few chairs looking out over the large window so we sat for a few minutes, taking in the scene and taking a few pictures. We then walked around the lobby before going into the Bay View Gifts shop. I was going to get a photo album but I decided to wait until later on. While we were looking around we got a call from Mike, who hadn't wanted to come to the resort and was now just hanging out by the pool with the dog. He said that Oreo was shaking and that she wouldn't stop until he let her outside. She was fine, though, just neurotic. She shakes until she gets what she wants. She's quite the spoiled brat, haha!
When we knew that Oreo was OK we continued looking around the store. Mom picked out a brown ankle bracelet for only $2.50 and while she was paying dad and I went back out into the lobby to a pin trading cart. Some of the pins were really cute but they were all over $10 which is ridiculous for a pin. When mom met us we went across the lobby to the Fantasia gift shop. They had a lot of toys and Disney-related souvenirs which were cute. Dad and I took pictures in some hats. I took a picture in a princess crown and dad took a hysterical picture in a Nemo hat. I was cracking up! When we were done in there we walked around the fourth floor to the restaurants. First we passed the Concourse Steakhouse which I never realized was so opened to the rest of the lobby. It's supposed to be a nice restaurant but all you could hear were kids running around and screaming. I don't think I would eat there. Right across from the Concourse Steakhouse was the Outer Rim bar which was empty. A few feet away was Chef Mickey's, home to both the character breakfast and dinner with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale.
We wanted to take a monorail ride around the Magic Kingdom loop but we couldn't get to the monorail from the restaurant's side of the lobby, so we made our way back to the center of the lobby. We walked through a small cove where there were a few contemporary and really unique pieces of modern artwork. Also in the area were a few pressed penny machines so mom got a pressed penny with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and goofy in an old-fashioned car. We then walked over to the big escalator that would bring us up to the monorail platform. There were already three people in the first car so I wanted to wait for the next monorail so we could sit in the front, but we didn't bother. We walked towards the back of the monorail and sat in one of the last cars.
The trip around the loop was great. The view of the Magic Kingdom, Polynesian Resort, Grand Floridian and Ticket and Transportation Center was awesome. I loved how the monorail announcement correlated to wherever we were going. On our way to the Grand Floridian we were told all about the Wedding Pavilion, and when we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom we were told about the newly renovated "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. There was a man sitting across from us who we talked to about the heat wave out west and he also told us that he had lost a hundred and thirty pounds in eight months. Wow!
When we got back to the Contemporary we got off and went back down to the fourth floor. Mom wanted coffee so we went over to the Outer Rim Bar but they only had beer and mixed drinks. We were told that there was a nice coffee bar on the first floor so we hopped into the elevator and headed down there. We walked over to the Contemporary Grounds coffee bar and mom got a coffee. I took a bunch of Contemporary Resort napkins and stirrers that were really cute. After mom got her coffee we walked back to the car, taking pictures of Cinderella's Castle and Space Mountain on the way. I never realized how close the Contemporary Resort was to the Magic Kingdom; there was even a walking path.
On our way back to the house we stopped at Publix. Mom wanted to get Ritz Crackers, a few cookies and cakes, and chocolate syrup. We parked and went inside, and it was really nice! There was a fountain, an entire winery, and a fresh bakery. You don't see that in Brooklyn! We walked around and picked out a fresh carrot cake and key lime pie, Ritz crackers, a jug of Publix chocolate milk, onion dip, butter cookies and Oreo Dunk 'Em cookies. As we were leaving some guy who worked there walked into mom and then asked where we were from. When we said New York he said, "Go Red Sox!" I don't think so. Can you say Yankees... and nine games ahead?!
We were back at the house by 3:30, and we all just hung out. I hadn't eaten breakfast so I had some Smart Start Cereal and a piece of Carrot Cake for lunch. Then I watched the Disney Channel in my room while Michael played video games and mom and dad sat out by the pool, and then we all watched TV in the living room. At 4:30 I started getting ready to leave. We wanted to leave at 5:00 for the Beach Club Resort. I fixed my makeup and hair, and everyone else changed from sitting outside, and we were out the door by 5:00. We drove back over to Disney property and were driving through the gates by 5:40. We then got completely lost... we headed towards Epcot and saw the turn for the Boardwalk Villas but we missed the turn for the Beach Club so we just kept driving. When we got all the way to the other end of Disney property, near Downtown Disney, we realized that we had gone too far so we went back towards Epcot and the Boardwalk Villas and we finally found the turn.
We got to the Beach Club parking gates by 6:00 and we were ushered right through. We parked all the way on the left side of the lot, in front of the Beach Club Villas. We walked over the bridge that led to the quiet pool and the view of the small lagoon was really pretty. There were a lot of birds and turtles in there. We continued walking around the outside of the villas and we wanted to go in, but the villas require a key card to get into the indoor corridors. We kept walking and eventually got to the main back entrance to the Beach Club Villas and went inside. We were greeted by a nice sitting area where I took a picture of mom and dad. We went through the Villas lobby and walked out the front entrance to the pathway between the Beach Club and the Beach Club Villas. I saw a Disney Vacation Club statue that featured Ariel who is one of my absolute favorite Disney characters so I had to take a picture! Mom came in the picture, too. We then continued walking to the entrance of the Beach Club and headed inside.
I absolutely love the Beach Club! While the Contemporary Resort was nice, the Beach club really blew me away. I had loved it on our last trip and I loved it just as much this time. The lobby and entire resort were way more crowded than they had been when we were there last year, but the resort was still great and had such a fun atmosphere. We walked past the Beach Club Marketplace and the Cape May Café, which smelled amazing since it was in the midst of the nightly clam bake. We then went out the back and over to Beaches and Cream. T he restaurant is unbelievably small and always crowded so we just wished for the best. The guy at the podium gave us a pager and said there would be a twenty-minute wait. It was only ten after six so we didn't think that was too bad. Dad and Mike got a seat by the pool while mom and I ran to the bathroom and then walked through the arcade. The arcade overlooks Beaches and Cream so we looked inside and saw that it was really crowded. Oh well, we would just wait. We went back outside to sit with dad and Mike and we all just hung out. Storm-Along Bay, the Beach club's gigantic pool complex, was packed and there were people running around everywhere. It was definitely a fun atmosphere.
At 6:30 our pager went off and we were ushered into the restaurant. There was a booth and two tables open and we ran over to the booth. The booths here are huge while the tables are ridiculously small. We had sat at a table last year and everything was very crowded so we wanted to make sure we got a booth! We took our seats before our waitress came over to get the drink orders. I got a diet cherry Coke, mom got a diet Coke, dad got a vanilla Coke and Mike got a Sprite. Dad didn't want the extra sugar in the vanilla syrup, though, so he switched with mom and it tasked just like cream soda. My cherry coke was better, though. It was delicious!
We then ordered, and our food came out only ten minutes later. I got the turkey sandwich with thinly sliced roast turkey topped with lettuce, tomato, and a pickle served on a multi-grain bun with fries, and mom got the chicken sandwich with grilled chicken topped with lettuce, tomato, and a pickle served on a multi-grain bun with fries and we shared them both. Both of the sandwiches were absolutely delicious, but the grilled chicken sandwich was a little better than the turkey sandwich. Dad got the roast beef sub with au jus and topped with provolone cheese, grilled onions and peppers with fries, and Michael got a Vegetable Wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carrots and broccoli with fries. We all loved our food but Mike definitely loved his the most. While I love Beaches and Cream for their ice cream and for the atmosphere, I could take or leave the food. Mike's still raving about his vegetable wrap, though, two months later! While we were eating our waitress brought us refills before we even had to ask. How's that or service?! We were all saving our drinks since we didn't know there were free refills so we didn't actually need them but it was a nice touch.
When we were done eating we were all really full, but you can't go to Beaches and Cream without getting ice cream! Mom and I decided to share the Fudge Mud Slide which consisted of a gooey chewy brownie, hot fudge, three scoops of vanilla ice cream, Oreo cookies, whipped cream and a cherry. Dad and Mike shared the No Way Jose which was a "peanut butter and hot fudge delight" with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, peanut butter, peanut butter chips, chocolate morsels, whipped cream and a cherry. These sundaes were huge! Absolutely humongous; none of us could even finish half of them. They were delicious, though. I don't think you could find a better ice cream parlor! The bill came to $80 which wasn't bad for all the food we got.
When we were done eating we went out back to the pool. We wanted to walk around but Mike wanted to head out so we just went over to the Beach Club Marketplace to look around and see if they had themed napkins. They didn't, so we left. We wanted to walk around a little more so we stopped in the bathroom and then walked through a few of the corridors. When we were going to leave we went the wrong way and wound up by the beach at the back of the Beach Club. We walked around and took some pictures of the gorgeous view across to the Boardwalk. There was an empty swing on the beach so mom and I sat on it for a while and then spent ten minutes trying to get all of the sand out of our sandals!
We then walked up to the back entrance to the Beach Club and went back through the lobby, and this time we left the right way. We walked through the Solarium and then back through the front of the resort and over to the Beach Club Villas. The quiet pool was a little more crowded now than it had been when we first arrived, but it was still a nice, quiet area. As we crossed the bridge we looked down and saw two more huge turtles swimming around. I took some pictures and then we walked back to the car. We were on our way to the house by 8:00. The drive back to the house was uneventful. Mike and I took some stupid pictures as we took in the scenery. I hated how far back into Poinciana the Crescent Lakes Resort was. Last year Emerald Island had been ten minutes from Disney, but this time we were a good forty minutes away. The home's website had said ten minutes which was very misleading. The only good thing about it was that the area was very peaceful and quiet, so we were able to really get away from it all after a long day of chaos at the parks and resorts.
When we got back to the house we all went online to check our mail, and at 9:00 we watched "Last Comic Standing." I still don't think the people this season are as good as the people in the past three seasons, but whatever. I thought they were all pretty funny tonight so it was entertaining. It was over at 10:00 and I was exhausted! We watched the news and I was surprised to hear that all over town tourists were being attacked, beaten with clubs and having their cars stolen. We heard about more murders and hideous crimes here than we do at home in New York City. Florida definitely wasn't as safe and relaxing as we had thought. Thank God we never witnessed anything like that. At 11:00 I read some of "The Great Gatsby" in bed before falling asleep at midnight.
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