Category — p. News and Changes

Yesterday I published an updated version of my review of Disney’s Beach Club Resort, based on my most recent stays there in November and December.

The biggest difference is that the floor plan and photo tour now reflect the newly refurbed rooms.

These rooms were already quite livable, but the fixtures, fittings and coverings were pretty beat up.

The refurb has made all fresh, and also made some minor improvements in livability–e.g. centralizing the drawers more, and adding more power points.

I do think, as noted in the new review, that these rooms have lost some of their charm–although we did like the new Mickey and Minnie print enough for it to have made its way onto our Christmas Card, along with puppy Belle:

Most of the rest of the changes to the review were structural, although I did add some new photos.

More specifically,

The Beach Club overview page has some added content summarizing other pages in the review that makes it work better as one page introduction to the resort, so that many won’t need to delve any deeper into the review. I’ve been doing this with my updated reviews lately to help save people time.

The overview page has also of course the updated floor plan and a photo or two of the new rooms, plus a bit of a comparison to the old rooms.

The second page, a photo tour of a Beach Club room, now has all new images of a refurbed room.

The third page that summarizes Accommodations and Theming at the Beach Club is mostly the same as the old page, other than the obvious changes from the refurb.

Incidentally, for somewhat comic reasons I was “stuck” with an upgrade to a one-bedroom suite in November, and have not added photos from that trip to the Accommodations page yet, as I was already far enough behind on reporting on the refurb to the standard rooms that I wanted to get this new review out.

Most of those one bedroom suite photos will get added to the Accommodations page later–or perhaps I’ll do a photo tour of the suite…but here’s a couple to whet your appetite until then:

The sitting room in a one bedroom suite:

The couch side of the king bedroom in a one bedroom suite:

The bed side of the king bedroom in a one bedroom suite:

I’ve lately been separating out dining from the “Amenities” page–just as last year I separated out main pools–both for improved findability.

So there’s a new Dining at the Beach Club page, mostly similar to before, but with

–Updated reviews from the 2016 edition of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, and

–Some new Cape May Cafe images from my January 2015 dinner there with my dad and sister.  (The blurry but gleeful older guy delighted with the crab legs is my dad!)

The Amenities at the Beach Club page is pretty much the same, except it now excludes dining, and the page on Stormalong Bay, the Beach Club’s main pool is also pretty much unchanged.

The updated review of Disney’s Beach Club Resort begins here! Check it out, and let me know if it is helpful–and what you think of the new look of the rooms!!!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

Yesterday Disney World released a new discount for 2016.  Great news for those of you who booked your eligible vacations with Kelly B–she’s already saved you folk $2,509.49 by applying the new deal to your reservations!

Ummm, that’s in total, not for each of you…

Kelly is the dedicated team member for travel agent inquiries from the readers of this site.

One of the services she provides is to check existing reservations she is helping with when new discounts come out.  She can also sign you up with a new reservation into yesterday’s deals!

Want her to set up your Disney World trip?  Then contact her at 980-429-4499 or kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD ROOM RATE DEAL ANNOUNCED

Disney World announced this morning a room rate deal that extends into June 2016, with savings of 10% to 30%.

Other special offers are also available, and a good travel agent (like Kelly B, contact her at 980-429-4499 or kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com) can help you sort this out.

The room rate deal is available for stays between 3/15/16 – 6/11/16, and needs to be booked by 3/31/16.

Value Resort Savings (Little Mermaid Rooms at Art of Animation are excluded)

• For stays March 15, 2016 – April 13, 2016: 15% off, except 10% at All-Star Movies
• For stays April 14 to June 11, 2016: 20% off

Moderate Resort Savings: (Port Orleans French Quarter is excluded)

• For stays March 15, 2016 – April 13, 2016: 20% off
• For stays April 14 to June 11 2016: 30% off the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, 25% off the other  included moderates

Deluxe Resort Savings 

For travel 3/15 to 4/13/2016:

• 15% off at Beach Club, Contemporary, Grand Floridian and Animal Kingdom Savanna View
• 25% off of the rest

For travel 4/14 through 6/11/16:

• 20% off at Beach Club, Contemporary, and Animal Kingdom Savanna View
• 30% off of the rest

DVC Savings 

• Excluded: the Villas at the Grand Floridian, Bay Lake Tower, the Bungalows at Polynesian Bungalows & Villas

For travel 3/15 to 4/13/2016:

• 15% off: Beach Club Villas, the Villas at Wilderness Lodge,  and Animal Kingdom Jambo House Villas and Kidani Village villas
• 25% off: the rest

For travel 4/14 to 6/11/2016:

• 20% off: Beach Club Villas, the Villas at Wilderness Lodge,  and Animal Kingdom Jambo House Villas and Kidani Village villas
• 30% off: the rest

Recently it’s been at times hard for people to actually find rooms in these Disney World deals, so it’ll work best for those with flexible dates and flexible targeted resort hotels.

You can find reviews of all the Disney World room options here. (I’ve stayed in them all…)

BOOKING THE DISNEY WORLD ROOM RATE DEAL

As noted above, Kelly B can book this deal for you. Contact her at 980-429-4499 or kellyb@destinationsinflorida.com.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

Still need some presents–for someone else, or perhaps yourself?

Then I have just the things for you–and the best part is that these are all created by friends of mine in the Disney community!

FROM STEVE BELL – “WALT DISNEY WORLD FOR MILITARY FAMILIES”

Steve’s Military Disney Tips has always been the go-to site for military families looking to make the most out of their Disney World vacations.

But like every other website (especially mine), finding exactly what you need to know, in the right order, sometimes isn’t as easy as you’d like it to be.

So the great news is that Steve has published a Disney World guidebook for military families.

With entire chapters devoted to the 2016 salute, to Shades of Green, and to other deals and perks available to military families, I can’t recommend it enough!!

It’s available as a PDF–probably the most convenient format–here, and on Amazon.com here.

FROM THE WDW MAGAZINE TEAM AND CARL TRENT – “THE BEST OF WDW – VOLUME 1”

Carl writes Dad’s Guide to WDW and leads the team behind WDW Magazine, which I am proud to be a part of.

Carl works with some of the best Disney World photographers around, and the result is a stunning picture book, The Best of WDW.

I love my copy–and you will love yours, too! It’s available here.

KAT LOGAN WOLFE’S “GET DOWN TO DISNESS” PLANNING CALENDAR

Kat leads the Wednesday night Disney World Q&A sessions that happen several times a month on her site Get Down to Disness. I join in as many of these I can.

Kat also offers a fun 14 day planning calendar that you use can pull together all your park, dining and other Disney World plans into one simple spot, the Get Down to Disness® Daily Agenda Book.

Learn more about it here.

FROM THE WDW MAGAZINE TEAM AND CARL TRENT – DISNEY WORLD WALL CALENDAR

The same team behind The Best of WDW also offers a Disney World Wall Calendar.

Loaded with great photos, it also offers planning tips, tidbits of history, and even little stickers you can use to highlight your own plans.

The calendar is available here.

JOSH HUMPHREY’S “THE EASY GUIDE TO YOUR FIRST WALT DISNEY WORLD VISIT”

Josh runs easyWDW, far and away the best Disney World park planning site out there, with in particular the best advice on future crowds and which parks to avoid which days, and lots of other great and hilarious stuff.

He also co-authors (with some schlub) the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever offered, The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit.

Great for your first or fourteenth visit, The easy Guide is simultaneously the most up-to-date, thoughtful, judicious, easy to use, and shortest guide to Disney World you can find!

Josh’s book is available as a paperback or Kindle book here, and as a PDF here.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

REFURB SCHEDULE FOR THE CABINS AT FORT WILDERNESS

Updated as of April 22, 2016

• Loop 2800 is closed for refurb, and expected to re-open in early March
• Cabins have been removed from Loop 2100, and it’s expected that this loop will be convered to premium campsites
• All other loops are done

UPDATE ON THE FORT WILDERNESS CABIN REFURBISHMENT

Disney is in the midst of refurbing the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, a refurb that mostly significantly improves the livability of these cute buildings.

As of the end of January 2016, the refurb of Cabins in loops 2200, 2300, 2400 and 2600 was complete.

The hope is to complete the refurb in the rest of the Fort Wilderness Cabin loops, except 2100, by the end of April.

For the moment, loop 2100 is being held out of the refurb as Disney considers whether to leave this loop as cabins, convert it to campsites–perhaps pull through–or even try something more mysterious.

The map above has a red box around the Cabin loops (1100, 1200 and 1700 are NOT cabin loops but rather artifacts of my lousy powerpoint skills) so you can see how the position of 2100, at the top left of the box, might make it intriguing as campsites.

I’ve published a complete photo tour and updated floor plan of these renovated Cabins that begins here, but here’s the key changes of the refurb:

CHANGES TO THE BACK BEDROOM AT THE REFURBED CABINS AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

The bed in the back bedroom is now a queen rather than a full bed, and the wall to wall carpet here is gone, replaced by the same wooden floors elsewhere in the cabin.

The bunk beds are unchanged–still 66 inches by 36 inches, and sleeping a little shorter than 66 inches because of the framing.

CHANGES TO THE KITCHEN AT THE REFURBED CABINS AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

In the kitchen, the oven is gone, the stove is now just two burners, and the appliances and sink have moved around a bit.

Instead of a separate oven and microwave, there’s now an object that claims to be a bit of both–a full microwave, with oven-ish capabilities.

Above is the labeling of the microwave’s ovenly charm. The last line promises a reference guide, which I could not find in our cabin.

This letter from Disney notes some diminished capabilities in the ovenabilty of the microwave, but is a bit vague.  Perhaps it can no longer make the sideline throw…

In late January 2016 I went all Pillsbury Bake-Off on this oven, to figure out what it can really do and what the “limited cooking/baking capability” noted in the letter really means. A report on the results of my putting the new Fort Wilderness oven through its paces is here.

This was our fourth stay in the Cabins, and we’ve never used more than two burners at once, nor have we used the oven for anything other than frozen pizza. So if you are like us, you will find that the kitchen refurb just makes it a little easier to work at the sink, which used to be in the corner.

If however, you are a heavy oven or burner user, then book loop 2100 to get the un-refurbed kitchens there.

CHANGES TO THE LIVING ROOM AT THE REFURBED CABINS AT DISNEY’S FORT WILDERNESS RESORT

The big change in the living room is that the full-sized Murphy bed is gone, and has been replaced by a queen-sized sofa bed.

The space where the Murphy bed used to be now holds the TV and a set of much-needed dresser drawers. The couch has moved to the other side of the room, and the cute little kids table has been replaced with an easy chair.

The queen sized sofa bed has a 5 inch deep cushion, and is quite comfortable. Its position on the side wall means that unlike the old Murphy bed, access is easy on both sides.

So this refurb, frankly, is mostly positive.  The two full beds (in the back and Murphy beds) are now queens; the living room bed is more accessible, and so is the kitchen sink.

The loss of two burners and the oven diminishment will matter to some, but not others.

A full photo tour of the refurbed cabins and updated floor plan begins here!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

Josh (of easyWDW.com) and I, co-authors of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, will be doing a roaming meet and greet and book signing, and probably a giveaway too, Tuesday December 15.

We’ll be at the Animal Kingdom near Restaurantosaurus from 3.30 to 4.30p, then the Magic Kingdom in Tomorrowland Terrace from 5.30 to 6.30p,  then at Epcot near Yorkshire Fish in UK from around 7.45 to 8.15 or 8.30p.

Josh has helpful images of exactly where we will be here.

See you then!!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!