Save the Art! - Jan 2024 Trip Report

[Araminta18]

Hello! Welcome to my trip report! I know y'all are probably sick of me, since I *just* finished my December 2023 trip report (and was posting a LOT near the end there), but I like doing trip reports because it helps me re-live/remember all the fun details. Because we got annual passes last year though, we leave on another trip next week (8 days!!) to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, and I really want to at least start this trip report before we go next week. So, diving right in!

The details:
who: me and my husband Trevor
when: Sunday, Jan 14 through Thursday Jan 18th
where: Beach Club!

Introductions:
I'm Tiffany, I'll be your ghost host for this trip report. I'm 36 and while I'm a librarian by education, I currently do federal records management, since records management is where the pay is, and I gotta pay for Disney! Favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty, but I also love Mary Poppins and Beauty and the Beast and Rapunzel. Favorite ride: I can never pick just one -- Haunted Mansion, Rise of the Resistance, Tower of Terror, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind...I can't pick! But I also love the food and the theming -- the music and all the attention to detail just makes me happy.

My traveling companion is my husband Trevor. He's 38 and loves Star Wars, but has grown to love Disney--his favorite characters are Boba Fett, Vader and Stormtroopers, and on the non-Star Wars side, Grumpy. His favorite rides used to be Haunted Mansion and Star Tours--he doesn't really like coasters or thrill rides, but I did get him to try Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain and last January I got him to try Rockin Roller Coaster and Everest, so he's now ridden all the coasters at Disney. Woot!



Ok, let's get started! Why go back to Disney after just finishing up our Disney at Christmas trip? Well, I love Disney art, and am a huge Broadway fan, so Festival of the Arts is right up my alley. I've been trying to do a FARTS trip for several years now, but each time we plan it, we end up going with other people who have never been to Disney. Which isn't a bad thing, but it did change the trip a bit as we showed them the various parks vs focusing just on the festival at Epcot. So I was very excited for this trip: staying at Beach Club to be close to Epcot, and focusing on the art and the food booths and the Broadway singer concerts. Woohoo! I'd made a spreadsheet with all the artists that I wanted to meet and their signing schedules, and had booked a couple dining packages to make sure we had good seats for the concerts, and then cause it's unimaginable to do a Disney trip without seeing the castle, we'd booked the Magic Kingdom After Hours for Monday Jan 15th.

Then finally we were on our way! As is now our way, we had booked noonish flights so we didn't have to get up early. Woohoo!

(Also, I am going to apologize in advance - I got burned by the whole imgur pictures not embedding thing, so now I just embed my pictures directly in the posts, but there's a limit of 10 and if you are at all familiar with any of my previous trip reports, I include a LOT of photos. a LOT. So there will be a LOT of posts...sorry!)

 

[Araminta18]

Table of Contents

Departure Day! - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 1)
Room Tour! - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 2)
Our First FARTS Food Booth and Artist Meet and Greet! - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 3)
Maybe the F in FARTS should also stand for Food? - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 4)
Non-Food Booth Food! - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 5)

 

[Araminta18]

Departure Day! - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 1)​

Our flight was scheduled for 1:15, out of DC's National airport. So just like we did in December, we packed up mostly the night/day before, and then slept in, did the last little bit of packing, and by 11 am, we were in an uber heading to the airport!

We got there at 11:30, dropped our bags, and then enjoyed our TSA precheck which had us through security within 5 minutes. Love TSA precheck so much! It makes it so much less stressful - don't know why we didn't do it before!

Airport selfie!

The weather apps were saying there would be a small storm between 10 and 2 pm, and with our plane scheduled to leave at 1:15, I was just a little bit worried. Especially when I saw these clouds rolling in:

I think the harsh cutoff line of the clouds is cool.

We boarded on time, and Trevor managed to get the good exit row seat with all the legroom - woohoo! I went for the window seat behind him, vs the middle seat next to him which despite being an exit row has no extra legroom.



BUT. Right at the end of boarding, I was asked by a flight attendant to move out of my seat for "a family". I assumed it was for a parent and child, so I moved next to Trevor, which would have been fine except I'm a big person (working on losing weight!) and the guy on the aisle seat was larger than me, and was spreading out. So I had to scooch over as much as I could and keep my arm crossed across my chest.

It was super uncomfortable, and I was pretty irritated when it turned out that the family was a couple. Who had just showed up too late to get seats together. *sigh* Honestly, it was the most uncomfortable flight I've ever spent, and not even for a good reason. Next time they ask me to move I'm gonna ask if it's for a child!

Anyways. Rant over, sorry I'm a horrible person! We took off at 1:35, only 20 min late - woohoo! - and by 3:45 we were on the ground in Orlando!

We got off pretty quickly, and because I'd tried a new thing where we took only carry-ons, we didn't have to wait for our luggage! We did a quick stop at the Universal store in the airport to pick up a lanyard that one of Trevor's co-workers wanted, and then called for an uber. We were in the uber by 4:15 - not too bad for needing to deplane and everything. Also the weather was amazing - not too hot, not too cold...just perfect!

Now, instead of heading to the hotel, we were heading to the outlets! With just our carryons, I figured we could swing it. And we did - it was a little inconvenient, but not too bad. Unfortunately there wasn't a ton of good stuff there - we ended up getting a couple pins and then there was a dress that I'd wanted at full price but didn't get, so you know, half off meant I had to snatch it up! But I wasn't sure of sizing so had to buy it and try it on in the bathroom 'cause if it didn't fit we didn't want to have to come back. But it fit! Yay! (picture at the end )

After a little less than an hour, we were back in the uber and heading to Beach Club.

Some day I'll get a good picture of this sign, but that day is not today.

We got dropped off at 5:45.

Fun car out front of Beach Club.

There was a bit of a line to check in:

But we wanted to check in at the desk to pay off our balance with the gift cards and make sure all the magic bands were activated, as well as pick up the package we'd ordered from amazon that we'd had delivered to the front desk, so we just hung out and waited, enjoying the decorations.

Hi there Huey Dewey and Louis!

To the credit of the hotel they brought out more CMs and soon we were checking in. The CM was super helpful - she did give me a bit of a hard time about wearing a Boardwalk tshirt to the Beach Club, but all in good fun. She got us checked in, gave us our room number, and then went into the back to get our package. We're old now and like to bring humidifiers with us to hotel rooms otherwise we get super dried out, but we didn't realize the one we had was broken so we ordered one to be delivered to Beach Club. While we were waiting, I was looking the room up on touring plans, and was getting very excited! See, we'd originally booked a water view room, but it was still a bit expensive even with our AP discount. And then looking into what counts as a water view room made me a bit worried - water view also includes pool view, and while I'm willing to pay a premium to look at the lagoon, I'm not willing to pay it to look at one of the quiet pools. So 7 days before we changed to a resort view room, because it seemed like most of the water view rooms were pool view, and we tend to not have great luck so I was like meh, might as well change and pay less. BUT. It looked like we had been given a water view room - and not just water view, but the of the lagoon, not the pool! Course, we wouldn't know for sure til we got there. Thankfully, the CM came back pretty quickly with our package (I don't think we were even charged a fee, honestly) and we were on our way to room number 2565.

The corridors of Beach Club were a bit windy and confusing, on this first try. But we soon arrived, and opened the door to see:

The longest hallway in a room I've ever seen!!

And that's the picture limit...

 

[Araminta18]

Room Tour! - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 2)​

Ok, so the hallway was super long. The closet was in the hallway (on the right), and then there was the bathroom.

Notice the toiletries on the sink! We don't get shampoo/conditioner to take home anymore, but at least we still get lotion!

Sink, and then the separate tub/toilet.


And...the room itself!

It was a corner room, and was indeed a lagoon view!!!
There were trees, but we could see the lagoon straight out that front window. Sorry for the reflection.

BUT. the best part?!

GIANT BALCONY! It looked out straight onto the resort/courtyard:

But all you had to do was turn slightly to the left and there was the lagoon!

Such a lovely view. And honestly guys the balcony was so big - huge!

We were pretty dang excited. A king bed, a corner room, a water view, and a huge balcony? I think we've used up all our Disney luck for forever, but man, it was an awesome room (and the awesome-ness isn't done yet, but that's for a later post. ) (also check out @StarWarsMomofGirls! TR - seems like late winter early spring is the time to go to get awesome rooms at the Epcot resorts!)

Back in the room they had fun Beach Club art:

I like this, but honestly I took the picture because I thought it was funny that the picture/painting/whatever included the towel return booths and the life jackets!

Also on the bed they had left a towel Mickey and this super cute Snow White card!

I've seen the Dumbo card before but I don't think I've ever seen the Snow White version. I love it!

Anyways, we were pretty ecstatic with the room, but it was only 6:15 - Epcot didn't close til 9, so it was time to head into the park! There were artists signing tonight that I wanted to meet - it wasn't crucial because they were signing a few more days too, but I had FOMO, and Trevor wanted food. And also I'm a fan of buying stuff I want as soon as I can in case it sells out, and the art prints at FARTS do sell out. So...off to Epcot we went!

 

[jrmint427]

Welcome to my trip report! I know y'all are probably sick of me, since I *just* finished my December 2023 trip report (and was posting a LOT near the end there), but I like doing trip reports because it helps me re-live/remember all the fun details.

I’m so excited you’re starting this!! Love your reports and pictures

It was a corner room, and was indeed a lagoon view!!!

That is so exciting!! I can’t wait to read all about FARTS, this is going to make me want to go for that festival!!

 

[cassidy57]

Yahoo another trip report!!! These trip reports keep me going in between my trips!!!!!!!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Hooray for another Tiffany trip report! I’m impressed you’re kicking this off with another trip just around the corner.

That’s such a bummer about your flight - I would’ve been annoyed, too. I agree that I’m happy to adapt for children, but good grief, adults can sit separately.

But wow, you banked karma points from that flight that paid off for your room! That’s an amazing balcony for the Beach Club, not to mention your view and corner room!

 

[Noreen411]

Hi. Looking forward to hearing all about your trip. Totally agree that writing the report is like reliving the trip
Happy Anniversary.

 

[ambula603]

What a beautiful room! I cannot wait to stay at the Beach Club someday! We have always done Boardwalk but BC is so dreamy!

We have also never been during FARTS so I am here for this trip report to live through you!

 

[Araminta18]

I’m so excited you’re starting this!! Love your reports and pictures

That is so exciting!! I can’t wait to read all about FARTS, this is going to make me want to go for that festival!!

Thanks for reading!! FARTS is amazing...you should!

Yahoo another trip report!!! These trip reports keep me going in between my trips!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading!!

Hooray for another Tiffany trip report! I’m impressed you’re kicking this off with another trip just around the corner.

That’s such a bummer about your flight - I would’ve been annoyed, too. I agree that I’m happy to adapt for children, but good grief, adults can sit separately.

But wow, you banked karma points from that flight that paid off for your room! That’s an amazing balcony for the Beach Club, not to mention your view and corner room!

Thanks for reading! Ooh that's a good perspective...I didn't think of that That must have been it, cause that room was awesome.

Hi. Looking forward to hearing all about your trip. Totally agree that writing the report is like reliving the trip
Happy Anniversary.

Thanks for reading! And thanks for the anniversary wishes

What a beautiful room! I cannot wait to stay at the Beach Club someday! We have always done Boardwalk but BC is so dreamy!

We have also never been during FARTS so I am here for this trip report to live through you!

Same! We've always done Boardwalk but we had a fantastic couple days at Beach Club this time - I hope you get to try it!

 

[Araminta18]

Our First FARTS Food Booth and Artist Meet and Greet! - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 3)​

Our room was right next to the stairs, and they dumped us out right outside - amazing!

Look at that pretty view. Hi there Boardwalk!

Just a couple minutes later we were tapping into Epcot - guys the walk was literally like 4 minutes. AMAZING. I couldn't have asked for a better room, or room location.

So: the plan! An artist I follow on instagram was doing a signing in France (but really in a booth between France and Morocco), and I wasn't sure how the lines would be, so the plan was I would head over, buy prints, and get in line, while Trevor stopped at the France food booth and got food. Divide and conquer!

Not gonna lie I was a bit worried that even with this only being the 2nd day of the festival that there would be things sold out (FARTS has a habit of art selling out), but they had the prints I wanted - and so many other pretty ones. Yay! So I got the prints and then hopped in line to meet the artist. Look at the pretty view I had while waiting!

Then Trevor showed up with food:

The two salmon dishes: Saumon Fumé Mousse et Aspic, Blini et Fromage de Chevre: Salmon mousse, smoked salmon, dill, and flaxseed biscuit, served cold and Vol-au-Vent de Saumon et Epinards, Sauce Chardonnay: Puff pastry with salmon and spinach and a chardonnay-shallot sauce, served warm.

I didn't try them because salmon, gross. But Trevor said they were both good. He's not a huge fan of cold fish flavor generally, but he was glad he tried them.

But the good food was the brie! Crème de Brie en Petit Pain: Warm creamy brie in a house-made bread bowl

Brie in a bread bowl...you can't go wrong with that! It was smaller than I would have liked but it was still delightful.

The line for the artist was just the right length - we finished the brie and then it was my turn!

The artist is Steve Thompson - he does Disney ornaments as well as prints and such. This year he did 3 pieces: one about Tarzan, one about Atlantis, and one about Treasure Planet. I wanted all of them! But they only had them in big sizes, and since we're running out of wall space, I limited myself to 1, and of course that one had to be Tarzan. Cause Tarzan is awesome! It was super fun to meet him and chat a bit - he was super nice. A great start to the Festival.

Next up, looking at more art! I wanted to buy the prints tonight so that I could be sure to have them for signings as the week went on. And just cause I love looking at Disney art:


Aren't those cute? Love them. Too big, didn't buy them, but super cute.

They also had these really fun letter pieces:

Mary Poppins!

Robin Hood!

And a movie you almost never hear about anymore - the Great Mouse Detective! I ended up buying prints of both the Robin Hood piece and the Great Mouse Detective. The artist was coming later in the week.

 

[VAtink]

Yay, a new trip report! Can't wait to read more.

Your room at the BC is beautiful! It's also right across the courtyard from the room we were in back in December, another one that had a massive balcony. Those big balconies are awesome!

Oh, and happy anniversary!

 

[blabbermouth]

I'm joining in. Sorry about the uncomfortable flight, a bit annoying to be moved for a non-child!

That room is amazing though! Agree, very long hallway. That is funny about the art details, and I don't understand the reasoning for it to be split in two? Maybe I'm just old.

Nice art piece you chose, glad you got one!

Definitely can't go wrong with brie in bread.

 

[MouseMamaToMany]

Longtime lurker and fan joining in. You are off to a great start! So sorry for the uncomfy flight. I bet it was so frustrating to be moved for a pair of late grown-ups! Sheesh!

 

[Araminta18]

Maybe the F in FARTS should also stand for Food? - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 4)​

A couple more art pictures - I'd apologize but really if you don't like Disney art this is not the trip report for you.

Ok the glare here is a bit harsh, but it's the hearse being driven away from the Haunted Mansion. Trevor and I dithered on this one for a bit but ended up buying it, cause it's not really a thing you see very often in the Disney art I usually see in the parks. And Trevor liked it (vs being ambivalent) so that tipped it over the edge.

This one is by the same artist as the hearse - isn't it cool?

Faaaancy Cinderella's slipper!

We bought a bunch (haul at the end ), and then kept moving on. We ran into a Star Wars booth so of course we/Trevor had to stop and look around.

Trevor's a big Darth Vader/dark side fan. Which I think is funny cause Trevor is the nicest, sweetest guy but man he loves the dark side.


While Trevor was looking around at the Star Wars art, I went to get some food from the Japan booth! And ran into quiiiiiiite the line.

Luckily it went by pretty quickly. And I got some fun shots of the lagoon.


I ended up waiting only about 8 minutes, which wasn't too bad. And the weather was nice, so I didn't mind. I ordered the Wagyu bun and the Ichigo Mochi, and then Trevor came up to me right as I was ordering and was like "wait didn't you want the blueberry drink too?" and he was right but I'd forgotten so luckily I was able to order that right then too.

The Japan booth was hopping - I got the food without much waiting. Yay! First up:
Wagyu Bun: Steamed bun filled with American wagyu beef served with green shiso sauce

This was bigger than I thought it would be (as it should be for $9.75!), and it was really good. I think I like the cheeseburger pods slightly better but I would definitely get this again.

Next: Ichigo Mochi – Daifuku: Daifuku mochi filled with fresh strawberry, sweet azuki bean paste, and white chocolate served with strawberry cream and the blueberry drink: Murasaki Blueberry Drink: Sweet blueberry and cream

This was really pretty, and the creme and the strawberries and strawberry jam were all good, especially putting the creme on the strawberry. But the mochi! This was the first time I'd ever had bean paste and it tasted like beans! It was on the savory side and you could definitely taste the beans, so that was weird to me. I didn't love it. But the dish overall was really pretty. The blueberry drink was sweet and creamy, and not as bland as you'd think. Overall a good booth, despite the beans in the sweet dish. Also did you like my classic trash can shot?

(As a note, I'm trying something different this trip report - I usually try to take notes in the notes app on my phone, but I never remember to write stuff down like I wish I would have. This time, I tried using the voice memos to take notes instead - pulled it up and just verbally took notes. We'll see how it goes! )

At this point it was about 7:45, and while we could try and do a few more booths, we had a dinner reservation at 9:25 (you'll have to guess where!). And we were a bit tired, so we decided to head back towards the International Gateway, looking at some more art.

It's a Kingdom Hearts piece! Another one that almost has no presence in the parks, so it was super neat to see. Yet another reason I like FARTS - you get these pieces about the rarer franchises. I got super in to Kingdom Hearts during the pandemic so this made me super happy to see.

 

[Araminta18]

Non-Food Booth Food! - Sun Jan 14, 2024 (part 5)​

As we headed out, we ran into a photographer so of course we stopped. In the parks for more than an hour and no photos yet?! Is this even one of my trip reports?

I like the photographers on that bridge by France.

We walked back to our room and discovered to our delight that not only could we exit by the stairs/door right by our room, but we could enter that way as well! Yay! That meant we were back in our room super quickly and could drop our purchases off - SO convenient. I have this weird tic where I hate being inefficient in walking, so having to walk past our room to go in via the lobby and then essentially walk back to our room would have been aggravating - being able to enter right by our room was AMAZING.

Anyways. We dropped off all the purchases (yay art! ) and then caught the Friendship boat over to the Boardwalk. It was only 8:20, but we figured we'd try checking in early and if they could seat us great. If not, we'd look at the gift shop and poke around the Boardwalk. When we checked in they said they'd do their best, so off we went to wander the Boardwalk. I really like the Boardwalk gift shop, so we looked around in there a bit, and then we ran into some Boardwalk performers!

It was three of them - the Boardwalk Bouncers - doing tricks with jump ropes, which was really interesting. I took some fun clips:

They were amazing - so much skill with the jump roping and tricks. I was in awe.

Conveniently enough, right as they finished we got the text from the restaurant saying they had a table for us (at like 8:45). Yay! Where were we eating? Flying Fish! We had a great meal here on our trip back in 2018, so we figured for our first night we'd head there again. Off to a good start, with getting seated early.

First up? seaweed bread and salted butter.

I think the butter also had seaweed on it?

The bread had chunks of potatoes in it? It was a bit odd. Not bad, just...odd. But then I prefer rolls vs slices of bread at restaurants.

For drinks, I got a virgin pomegranate martini:

Good, but a bit tart for me.

Trevor got a virgin blood orange thing.

This was good too, but I don't really remember anything more.

Then for entrees, I got the steak: Char-crusted New York Strip: mille-feuille potato gratin, haricot vert, bearnaise sauce

This was as good as you'd expect - good steak, great flavor. The mille-feuille potato thing was interesting, but i thought it would be crispy all the way through and it wasn't. The crispy bits were good.

Trevor got the snapper: Potato-wrapped Red Snapper: Leek Fondue, Cassis-Red Wine reduction

Apparently we were interested in potatoes tonight! Trevor liked this too, but I wasn't willing to try it cause fish, but I was also intrigued by the idea of potato-wrapped snapper.

And then halfway through Trevor got a new drink:

A virgin cucumber collins. This was...interesting. Basically it was like drinking a cucumber, but with some lime and a hint of sweetness. This would be excellent in summer when it was hot, but was just ok on a slightly cold night like tonight. And you better make sure you like cucumber.

Overall it was a great meal. Some misses but definitely interesting, even the misses. If you haven't been, highly recommend!

We left a bit after 10 pm, and had a nice leisurely ride back to Beach Club on the Friendship boats, and were back in our room very quickly. Which honestly is just so nice, to be back in your room quickly without having to deal with a bus or anything.

Back in the room we unpacked and got all settled in. Tomorrow? (and I know you'll be surprised to hear this) Epcot!

Fun with Metrics:
Steps walked: 10,051 steps (3.9 miles)
Ride count: 0 (unless you count the Fake-o-Rail at MCO?)
Savings due to AP discount: $92.10 (I told you I bought a lot of art...this also includes dinner discount at the Flying Fish)

 

[Araminta18]

Yay, a new trip report! Can't wait to read more.

Your room at the BC is beautiful! It's also right across the courtyard from the room we were in back in December, another one that had a massive balcony. Those big balconies are awesome!

Oh, and happy anniversary!

Thanks for reading! Those big balconies are awesome - we loved it. and thank you!

I'm joining in. Sorry about the uncomfortable flight, a bit annoying to be moved for a non-child!

That room is amazing though! Agree, very long hallway. That is funny about the art details, and I don't understand the reasoning for it to be split in two? Maybe I'm just old.

Nice art piece you chose, glad you got one!

Definitely can't go wrong with brie in bread.

Thanks for reading! Good point about splitting it in two - I have no idea. *shrugs*

Longtime lurker and fan joining in. You are off to a great start! So sorry for the uncomfy flight. I bet it was so frustrating to be moved for a pair of late grown-ups! Sheesh!

Thanks for reading! Yea, that's basically how I felt - Sheesh indeed!

 

[jrmint427]

Just a couple minutes later we were tapping into Epcot - guys the walk was literally like 4 minutes. AMAZING. I couldn't have asked for a better room, or room location.

You definitely cannot beat that for an awesome location!

Brie in a bread bowl...you can't go wrong with that!

Nope you can’t, that sounds amazing.

It was three of them - the Boardwalk Bouncers - doing tricks with jump ropes, which was really interesting.

We saw them in 2022, a really talented act!! I love all the art and the food, looks like your trip was off to a great start.

 

[valleygirl]

I was there at the same time and wish I had run into you since I love your trip reports! Can't wait to read about this trip.

 

[lindseyanne]

Joining in after lurking on your last trip report!