You Get a Suite! You Get a Suite! Everybody Gets a Suite! December 2023 Trip Report! (RL Update/Question 6/4!)

[VAtink]

I love the gingerbread display at the BC. I still have lots of pictures of it from my last Thanksgiving trip. Thanks for reminding me of this so I can put it on my list for my (possible) Thanksgiving trip this year.

I think the gingerbread display at the BC was our favorite of all of them. Grand Floridian was gorgeous, but the one at the BC was just so cool! I can't wait to go back for another holiday trip to see it again!

 

[VAtink]

They don't have anything special for the afternoon snacks, anyway.

HA! Very true, so not missing much with the lack of pictures!

We stayed at the BC in December, too. I've never seen Duck Tales, but that didn't really matter. The carousel is always amazing. I liked last year's carousel more than this one.

We loved the carousel, it was so amazing. I can't wait to go back in December to see it again!

We always preferred the BC over the YC. One time they switched us to the YC when we arrived at the BC. They claimed that there was something wrong with the BC room. Anyway - we were pretty angry about the change. It doesn't seem to matter too much now, though. I like the YC rooms better than the BC, but will take whatever is cheaper.

Yeah, we used to be solidly BC people, wouldn't even think about staying at the YC. But then one year I think the YC was cheaper so we booked it instead and ended up loving it, and now are full on YC people.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Yeah, we used to be solidly BC people, wouldn't even think about staying at the YC. But then one year I think the YC was cheaper so we booked it instead and ended up loving it, and now are full on YC people.

I like the YC room better than the BC room. The YC shower is amazing. We had a room with the shower only once. The tub/shower is fine too. I love a wand shower head. BC has the old shower heads. They didn't upgrade them when they did the refurb.

I like the Admiral pool. It is much better than the really boring BC quiet pool. And it is nice to have a balcony. We'll be at the YC in Sept.

 

[VAtink]

I like the YC room better than the BC room. The YC shower is amazing. We had a room with the shower only once. The tub/shower is fine too. I love a wand shower head. BC has the old shower heads. They didn't upgrade them when they did the refurb.

That's a really good point, I forgot about the YC showers, plus we love having the barn door to separate the sink area from the main room. Did they add that door to the BC? We stayed in the suite our last trip there after the renovations, so I have no idea if that barn door was added.

I like the Admiral pool. It is much better than the really boring BC quiet pool. And it is nice to have a balcony. We'll be at the YC in Sept.

It's funny, we've used the Admiral pool many times, but I don't think we've ever used the quiet pool at the BC! I think I saw that our September trips overlap a bit, although I think we'll be at the Contemporary during that time.

 

[VAtink]

Quick RL update! Just booked the flights for our September trip, and I decided to add a night for myself at the start of the trip! The flight down on our original check-in day was later than I wanted, for some odd reason they got rid of the early flights, so I figured I might as well just fly down a day early to get the most out of that first day. My mom is still flying down on Saturday as originally planned, but her flight is super early so she should get there pretty early.

We've also been discussing our January trip, and are now thinking of switching from YC to BW and upgrading to club level, and adding a night (this has become our MO, we seem to add nights to every trip! ). Originally I was hoping to upgrade to club at the YC, but it looks like the renovations are starting there and there is no availability, and we've done enough trips at hotels going through refurb we don't really want to deal with it again (although Disney did make up for it by giving us a free trip, so I guess we can't really complain!). Right now it's still very much up in the air, but I'm hoping discounts will come out that drop the price a bit since right now that's like $2k more which is way more than we're willing to pay to upgrade. Fingers crossed for some good discounts!

I love having multiple trips coming up, we're big planners, I swear planning for the trip is *almost* as fun as the trip itself, so having multiple trips to plan is just way too much fun! Since we have so many trips planned, we're also planning on doing some stuff we've never done before like the mosaic making.

Anyways, that's all for the update today, hope everyone is having a good weekend!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Did they add that door to the BC?

They did not add a barn door to the BC. They made very few changes to the room when they did the refurb.

I don't think we've ever used the quiet pool at the BC!

We cut through the BC quiet pool area all the time to get to the Skyliner or International Gateway.

I think we'll be at the Contemporary during that time.

Will this be your first time staying at the Contemporary?

 

[SimplyGoofy]

After our recent visits to the Beach and Yacht Club, I do love the upscale vibe of the Yacht Club more than the lighthearted Beach Club. That said, I can see why kids would be more excited for the Beach Club theming!

I agree that planning trips is almost as much (and sometimes more) fun than the trip itself. There are so many possibilities when planning!

 

[Paulaparm]

I feel the same way about planning. It’s part of the trip!

 

[VAtink]

They did not add a barn door to the BC. They made very few changes to the room when they did the refurb.

Ah, that's too bad, we love that barn door!

We cut through the BC quiet pool area all the time to get to the Skyliner or International Gateway.

What a great idea! We've always just gone through the winding hallways there, but I bet cutting through the pool saved some time!

Will this be your first time staying at the Contemporary?

It will be! We haven't stayed at a monorail resort since 2000, so we're super excited to be back in that area for a few nights!

 

[VAtink]

After our recent visits to the Beach and Yacht Club, I do love the upscale vibe of the Yacht Club more than the lighthearted Beach Club. That said, I can see why kids would be more excited for the Beach Club theming!

Yeah, the YC just seems calmer to us, which we like more these days. Plus we like a basically guaranteed full balcony!

I agree that planning trips is almost as much (and sometimes more) fun than the trip itself. There are so many possibilities when planning!

Isn't it? We have so much fun planning, by the time we go we'll have like 10-15 tabs on our spreadsheet with various iterations of the trip during the planning. It's just so much fun!

 

[VAtink]

I feel the same way about planning. It’s part of the trip!

It really is! I love spending time on the weekend figuring out plans with my mom, we have so much fun going through everything we want to do!

 

[VAtink]

Hello everyone, I need to crowdsource some recommendations. So I'll be heading down to Disney a day early for our Sept/Oct trip, and I'm struggling on where to stay.

Originally I was going to stay at the airport hotel and then fetch my mom the following morning and we'd head to the Contemporary together. The main reason for doing this is my mom isn't comfortable doing rideshare on her own, and doesn't want to waste time taking a bus that'll stop at a bunch of other resorts. We talked about hiring a car for her, but she wasn't a fan. But then, I realized that she's starting her stay in club level, so we can just book a Minnie Van to pick her up, and she was 100% on board with that, yay!

Now that I can actually go to Disney a day early (and because we have APs now it makes sense so I can get into the park and not worry about buying a ticket), I'm having trouble figuring out where to stay! At first I was thinking the Swalphin, but as my mom reminding me, I much prefer actual Disney resorts (they have me spoiled). The downside of Disney resorts is the cost, but there are still a few available with the AP discount for the night that after all the resort fees with the Swalphin are not much more. So here are my current choices:

1. Boardwalk Villas Deluxe Studio - resort or garden view available, difference in price is only $3. Love being able to walk to Epcot to start getting some F&W food.
2. AKL Savanna View - cheaper, but have to bus everywhere, but it is such a stunning resort.
3. Coronado Tower Standard view - The cheapest which is nice, actually cheaper than Swalphin, but still have to bus.
4. Bay Lake tower Deluxe Studio Standard view - most expensive, but has the advantage at being at the Contemporary where I'd be moving the next day

I am so torn, I think I'm leaning towards Bay Lake Tower or the Boardwalk Villas, mostly for the convenience to the parks, but for only one night is it worth it? Especially since I won't be getting in until probably 3-4 PM.

Any suggestions/recommendations?

 

[KPeterso]

Hello everyone, I need to crowdsource some recommendations. So I'll be heading down to Disney a day early for our Sept/Oct trip, and I'm struggling on where to stay.

Originally I was going to stay at the airport hotel and then fetch my mom the following morning and we'd head to the Contemporary together. The main reason for doing this is my mom isn't comfortable doing rideshare on her own, and doesn't want to waste time taking a bus that'll stop at a bunch of other resorts. We talked about hiring a car for her, but she wasn't a fan. But then, I realized that she's starting her stay in club level, so we can just book a Minnie Van to pick her up, and she was 100% on board with that, yay!

Now that I can actually go to Disney a day early (and because we have APs now it makes sense so I can get into the park and not worry about buying a ticket), I'm having trouble figuring out where to stay! At first I was thinking the Swalphin, but as my mom reminding me, I much prefer actual Disney resorts (they have me spoiled). The downside of Disney resorts is the cost, but there are still a few available with the AP discount for the night that after all the resort fees with the Swalphin are not much more. So here are my current choices:

1. Boardwalk Villas Deluxe Studio - resort or garden view available, difference in price is only $3. Love being able to walk to Epcot to start getting some F&W food.
2. AKL Savanna View - cheaper, but have to bus everywhere, but it is such a stunning resort.
3. Coronado Tower Standard view - The cheapest which is nice, actually cheaper than Swalphin, but still have to bus.
4. Bay Lake tower Deluxe Studio Standard view - most expensive, but has the advantage at being at the Contemporary where I'd be moving the next day

I am so torn, I think I'm leaning towards Bay Lake Tower or the Boardwalk Villas, mostly for the convenience to the parks, but for only one night is it worth it? Especially since I won't be getting in until probably 3-4 PM.

Any suggestions/recommendations?

So when I have gone a night before my trip was to start, I would often stay at a value for the night to save money. Disney will move the bags so that was never a worry to me. But of your choices, I would choose either BWV or AKL, but that is because those are my favorite resorts. I do not like BLT at all. I find the studios ridiculously small (was tight with 2 people and would bug me as a single too) and we had the worst transportation nightmares there.

 

[2xcited2sleep]

I would do Boardwalk, take advantage of that AP and walk into EPCOT for dinner. OR... a monorail crawl could be a fun dinner with a very short morning commute. If wanting to have some park time, I'd narrow it down to these two. I didn't realize club level could book Minnie Van from airport -- that's awesome!!!

 

[hpygrll]

Oh that is so tricky - I'm leaning towards Boardwalk because location, location, location. But Bay Lake is great and it would be an easy move the next day........But either way - how fun!!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

I vote for the Boardwalk because of the location. I hate trying to get to Epcot from a monorail resort. And you'll have plenty of time to enjoy the good things about the CR when you stay there with your mom.