WBI’s very late Yacht Club – Food & Wine Report

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

WBI’s very late Yacht Club – Food & Wine Report

Hey everybody!

Yeah you read that right, a Food and Wine report, I’m behind. I’ve been slacking a lot lately on here but things have been pretty hectic at work and with our wedding that I haven’t had a chance. I also wasn’t able to make it to the Fort for Halloween, sorry we missed everyone but I’m looking forward to reading some trip reports.

I am getting ready for a couple more Disney trips though so I wanted to post a quick report from our last trip on October 7th. It was another weekend trip, specifically to go to the Food & Wine Festival, and since we only wanted to do the F&W we splurged on a room at the Yacht Club (with a passholder rate) so we could walk in and out of Epcot anytime we wanted. I have to admit it was great! Truly a deluxe resort, although there were a few things that weren’t the greatest which I’ll get too. For now on with the report:

We once again left home after work and raced the three hours up to Disney with no problems. Only this time we hit rain as we got close, bad rain, as in my cheap butt paid for valet parking because it was raining so hard. Lol At the front gate they took my name handed me my parking pass for the dash and radioed me up to the front desk, I didn’t’ know why but when we walked up I found out why. We were greeted by name and escorted to a waiting front desk castmember, no line! Check-in was smooth and we were directed to our room on the first floor. Now here’s a complaint, the resort is huge! We walked and walked and turned and turned, by the time we got to our room we were almost to the Dolphin resort, I couldn’t’ believe how long those hallways were.

Here are my first pictures of our room:

I believe this folded out into a bed:

Check out the detail:

This was waiting for us too.

After checking out all the details of our room and view, we got ready and tried to take a few self pictures in the mirror, they came out kind of cool:

At this point the rain had died down so we walked into Epcot for the F&W, we hit Ireland first thing and it started raining so we ate under an umbrella. Sorry no pictures of food it was too much trouble in the rain. The Fisherman’s pie and Mead were good but I didn’t care for the cheeses. Then we hit Canada for some cheese soup and sausage it was great! Next came Hawaii, I liked the pork slider, but the Tuna was great, and the longboard beer. By now the rain had stopped again but it was almost 9pm. So we grabbed a snakebite from the Rose and Crown and found a spot on the bridge by France and watched Illuminations.

When Illuminations ended we walked to the Boardwalk to go to our favorite, Jellyrolls! Here's a picture of the view from the front door and one of us while paying to go in.

Jellyrolls is a dueling piano bar and a lot of fun, we grabbed some seats, ordered drinks and free popcorn and stayed for a few hours singing along and enjoying the show. If you've never been the piano player have been there for a long time, I recognize two that have been there at least 5 years, they know almost every song, and can play some real funny ones, like Kermit's Rainbow song, or the Mario Brothers music, trust me its good. When we finally had enough we walked back to our room, which we found was really closer by, really close!

Next up an early wet Saturday morning, where should we go for rope drop???

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

On with the show ... :popcorn:

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Ok I'm going to try and knock this entire report out tonight, all 186 pictures. As I mentioned in TCD's report I'm getting married on Saturday and I'm leaving on Wednesday to head up there so, I better hurry up. Good news though, on the way home from the wedding we're staying the night at Disney, so I should be ready for another trip report the week after Thanksgiving.

On with the report.

Saturday morning:

Saturday morning we woke up to rain, lots of rain, but we got up early and decided since it was raining we would get ponchos (yes we are pro-poncho) and go to Magic Kingdom for rope drop at 9am, which we have never done together, and then be back at Epcot in time for the World Showcase to open. We headed to the Yacht Club store to buy ponchos but were denied it didn’t open for another hour. We had to walk over to the Beachclub since their store opened an hour earlier, it was a madhouse there, and the store is also only store to buy food for all the DVC people and only counter service for the resort open that early. That was another complaint only one counter service for breakfast and it was small and had a huge line. We bought some ponchos and headed to the Beachclub bus stop, which we learned is covered from the rain, but the Yacht Club’s is not, good to know. After about 15 minutes a bus arrived and we made our way to MK, we were there in plenty of time for rope drop and were early enough we got to wait under the train tracks, I don’t think they did the pre-opening show because of the rain.

Pro-Poncho:

Here's what we saw once we got in:

No crowds woohoo!

The rain was keeping people away. We quickly walked to Space Mountain, and rode with no wait. Then Buzz Light year. Check out our scores, I got 576,300!!!

Then CP made me stop for breakfast, we ate at the Main Street Bakery for the first time and it was really good!

Then we headed back in the rain to Pirates and again no wait, are you starting to see a trend?

We didn’t feel like riding Splash or Thunder Mountain in the rain so we headed over to Haunted Mansion.

How about this quality picture inside the HM, haha.

Then we did some looking around and decided we were satisfied with our MK morning so we headed out.

We decided to take a chance on the monorail again since we were going to Epcot. It actually worked out really well this time and it was nice to take the scenic ride.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

On with the show ... :popcorn:

Wow you were quick Ed!

Hold on I'm going to try and roll through this one!

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Once in Epcot we stopped at Mousegear to buy an umbrella so we could eat our food under it in the rain. We hit quite a few countries eating and drinking our way around when we realized it was only about 11:30am, as we worked our way around the rain got worse. Some countries didn’t open, some only took cash. By the time we got to Belgium the line was long and the rain was hard so we decided it was time for a break and we walked to our room.

BUT as we walked by our resort pool, you may have heard of it Stormalong Bay! I was able to talk CP into going, so we got in our swim suits and headed back in the rain to try out the pool.

Our first stop was the water slide, it was big and freezing cold but we did it anyway. Honestly though the seams hurt my back. Then we made our way around the sand bottom pool, it was pretty cool, and very empty, there was only one other kid in the entire pool and a few ducks. We finally found a hot tub to warm up but they weren’t hot enough so we gave up and headed to the spa for the indoor hot tub. Ahh

Next we got cleaned up and decided to go to the resort bar to watch football and have a drink but it appeared to stop raining so we happily walked back to Epcot! This time we left the ponchos and bought a second umbrella so we would both have one. Wouldn’t you know it, by the time we got to France it was pouring again, we didn’t do a thing, instead we turned around and walked right back to the Yacht Club. We discovered the Crew's Cup lounge.

It was nice and had college football on, so was perfect in my book. We hung out there a while and watched the first quarter of the LSU - Florida game.

Then we headed back to the room where the CP napped as I watched LSU beat up on Florida!

By the time the game was over it was around 7 or 8pm and was raining steadily, neither one of us felt like going back in the rain. So we started trying to get a dinner reservation for our resort, not luck, then for any resort. This is when I learned something, you can only make a reservation for 2 hours in advance, and they don’t allow you to make a reservation for 1 hour away. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t get a reservation for 8:30 but I soon figured it out. We also tried to walk up to all the restaurants at the Yacht & Beach Club but they wouldn’t even take your name until 9pm or something. We soon found that the rain changed a lot of people’s plans. So we headed to our new found bar the Compass Lounge, we luckily were able to get a table! Score! The menu was actually really good for a Disney bar and we I had a pretty good burger and fries and CP had some really good Lobster sliders.

After we let another family have our table and we went exploring our resort, we found the Beach Club Villas.

We also found this TV area for the DVC members, it had old Disney cartoons playing so I sat and watched for a while!

Then we headed to Beaches and Cream, it was latest enough there was no longer a wait and we able to get a table to share an ice cream.

At this point we didn’t know what to do so we headed to our room. We did make a reservation for breakfast the next morning, we figured it would still be raining and we wanted to make sure we could sit down somewhere. We made it for 7 or 7:30am pretty early at the Crown Grill in the Yacht Club.

Coming up next Sunday morning...

[Total Joker ... TJ 203]

:suspense:

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

I'm already to Sunday morning!

Sunday

This was our last day, which is always depressing, but today we made the most of it, we woke up early and made it to our breakfast reservation right on time. We were one of the first people there, we didn’t plan on getting the buffet but we checked it out and figured out that it was only a couple dollars more than ordering food, we were sold and boy were we happy. The food was super fresh and hot, probably because it was so early, it was one of the better breakfast buffets we’ve done, no characters but great food and nice and quiet. Did I mention that it only cost $16 a person! That included drinks, I know in the real world that’s a lot but for all you can eat at Disney I thought it was a steal. I also had coffee, juice and soda (I couldn’t decide) so that was almost my money’s worth right there, lol

After breakfast we went to the room and requested late check-out. Score 1pm! As you can see it was still raining. This is the view from our room again.

That's the Boardwalk through the trees:

The Dolphin resort is on the other side of these trees in the picture below:

Here's my CP

We put on the ponchos and grabbed umbrellas and headed to Epcot, we just missed rope drop but still walked onto Soarin!

Waiting to board.

I love this guy! Lol

Some pictures of how Soarin works, looked interesting to me...

Then we road Living with the Land, it looked like they changed the gardens, no more hanging pumpkins. Here are a few pictures.

Next we continue in Epcot.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

:suspense:

Hey Joker thanks for following along!

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Sunday funday continued.

On our way to ride Finding Nemo:

After we walked around the aquariums enjoying being out of the rain.

We got to see them feed the fish.

And we saw the dolphins play:

Then we rode Spaceship Earth for old times’ sake.

I thought this was funny for some reason.

By this point we started working our way to the world showcase. Here’s the cranberry bog.

Luckily we ate early enough that we were able to start sampling the F&W again.

We worked our way around the world, notice the rain started to let up a little.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

I'm on a roll now.

Here we are continuing to walk and eat around the world showcase and F&W.

This is one of our many trash can pictures, we set the camera on a trashcan with the timer on, it works pretty good.

A nice man took this one for us:

The timer and fence took this one for us, I think it came out better. :)

Then we headed back to the room to officially check out. I snapped a ton of pictures on the way.

This is some crazy woman:

This is the end of the Yacht Club where our room was way over there:

I think I'm at my limit, more to come...

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Still going, we're walking from the International Gateway at Epcot to our resort here's some things we saw along the way:

That's Jellyrolls off in the distance.

How about this beach volley ball pool, I mean court.

Don’t you think they have a pretty nice campfire area? That actually looks like a real campfire.

And outdoor games, shouldn’t the Fort have this kind of stuff??

I think that's the limit again...

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Here's some picture looking around the Yacht Club:

Here's a secret side door so you don't have to wind your way through the long hallways:

Here's some more shots of our balcony.

While packing up I called to have my truck brought up. (Fancy huh?)

By the time we walked out front the truck was there, but the valet parked so the doors were in the rain, wtf? I wasn’t going to wait for them to move it so we just got loaded up in the rain. Funny thing was we didn’t drive far; we drove to the self-parking and parked, lol. Then we walked right back in and went back to the F&W, only this time we walked through the convention center. Check out these massive halls and paintings:

Then we stumbled upon this cool little bar shaped like a boat.

Then we worked our way to the Beach Club and into Epcot.

I guess we worked our way to Canada; we really like it for some reason, watching the show makes us really want to go there.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Here we go again still in Canada:

We continued eating around the world. Its a little more crowded now that the rain almost stopped.

Sorry I don't have more details of what we did at this point, but as you can probably tell I didn't keep track of everything we tried, we did use the passport for the F&W but there's been plenty of reports about the food anyway. Ok more Epcot pictures:

In Italy we saw these ladies, but they must have just finished performing.

In Italy we stopped and watched a juggler for a while.

Here's my attempt at an artsy picture:

And here's my last picture:

And that's it! Man that has to be some kind of record for that amount of pictures.

Hopefully that wasn't too boring for everyone. We had a great time doing everything, even with all the rain. It shows you that even if it pours the entire weekend you can still have fun.

Thanks for reading along everyone, and be looking for my next report after I get back from my wedding and honeymoon!

WBI

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Nice!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Wow! That was a whirlwind trip report. Great pics...looks like a very nice time even with the rain.

Best of luck with the wedding, and have a fabulous honeymoon! Real happy for you guys...nothing like Fiends in love! This is the most sentimental love story since Trevor and Bruce. :heart:

[Total Joker ... TJ 203]

Awesome report and Pictures!!! Congrats!!

[Lou... 3,118]

This is the most sentimental love story since Trevor and Bruce.

Now that's funny.

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

:bravo: WBI!

Now we need a Trevor & Bruce Unrequited Love TR :facepalm:

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Wonderful Report. I have never seen the Epcot deluxe resorts before so, I really appreciated all the pictures you took.

Best Wishes to you and the CP! Not that I am rushing you or anything, but looking at the pictures of the two of you I could not help but think how blessed your children will be to have parents who seem to be able to find fun and joy even in the rain. :heartsmiley:

[stefa70 205]

This is the most sentimental love story since Trevor and Bruce. :heart:

Now we need a Trevor & Bruce Unrequited Love TR :facepalm:

:rofl2: That's too funny!! Lisa & I are working on a fall trip so the boys can be reunited. I promise to include their love story in that trip report. :rofl2:

See what happens when I go to bed early! Great job WBI! You got a lot of great pictures and I appreciate your "artsy" shot. :)

Best of luck with the wedding, you guys are a great looking couple...even wet and soggy in ponchos!

[Discamper 394]

Great trip report unlike TCD's reports you got yours done in about an hour. Thank you for sharing the pics of the Yacht Club i have never stayed there. I have stayed at the Boardwalk villas and they wer vary nice.

[anolefan 8]

I love this guy! Lol

Everyone loves Puddy!

I loved your report! I had to edit this post since I didn't realize it was completed before I quoted this picture.

And, congratulations on the big victory Saturday. Although it was a boring game for fans of offense, it was a great battle!

I hope you have a wonderful wedding!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I have to agree with Todd/Discamper on this- it is great to read a trip report in one sitting.

Great job, Nick.

You and the CP are the second cutest Fiend couple of all time (after Trevor and Bruce, of course).

I wish you all the best with your wedding, and I look forward to another trip report from you.

TCD

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Thanks! I enjoyed your super quick, but very detailed TR! Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! I believe I understood that you are getting married in Seaside? It is a pretty place. We live between panama city and tallahassee, so you'll be up in our neck of the woods!

[Lou... 3,118]

Sorry, still not falling for the hoax.

I don't think Nick and the Camping Princess are real. Just look at the two models that whoever is trying to pass themselves off as Nick got to portray them in the TRs. I mean lets get real, nobody looks that good.

Ok, Nick, I'll play along for now. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I hope it's all you and CP hope it will be.