Welcome to Day 7 ~ Friday August 22nd
Hi everyone and tonight I am writing you from the concierge lounge at the beautiful Beach Club Resort, enjoying a slice of carrot cake and a double baileys
This morning I awoke to an Aerosmith wake up call at the Hard Rock Hotel and was soon up packing. I decided to let Noel sleep as she gets in my way when she tries to "help" me with packing and such. By 9:30am I was all ready and woke up Noel for her shower - I called the bellman and he was up a moment later to take our bags and hold them until our Towncar arrived to transfer us to the beach club.
I decided to do express check out and the bill was slipped under my door sometime during the night, I checked it over and everything seemed right. The express envelope has another Hard Rock touch with the wording "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave" lol
I also noticed the do not disturb sign you hang on the door says "I hear you knocking, but you can't come in" The Hard Rock definately has some unique theming. It was now just before 10:00am and we headed to the dreaded lounge for breakfast. Wonders of Wonders, the lounge is deserted save one lonely staff member who is vacuuming, whats up with that? - instantly I realize, there is no food, wahhh, breakfast is only served until 10:00am.
Oh well... I decide to go down to the sunset grill for some eggs benedict but before that - I do need to speak with this vacuuming staff member. you see, I have left over dinner vouchers that are about to expire (Sept 7) and as I can't use them I want them sent over to the Royal Pacific for my buddy SuAnne who is checking in tomorrow. Well the concierge person reluctantly turns off her vacuum when she notices me waiting and says "yes?" I ask her if she could please send this envelope over to the Royal Pacific today or tomorrow morning.. she looks at me like I have 2 heads and says "We don't do that" So I ask her, 'well do you think you could check with the front desk?" so she sighs and then calls down and they tell her of course they will have it dropped off at the RPR.. so she takes it from me and tells me it will get done. We shall see!
The sunset grill is a wonderful change from the overcrowded Club Lounge fare. I order the eggs benedict and Noel orders a waffle. Here they brew starbucks coffee and it is very good. We both enjoy our breakfasts at a window seat that looks out towards the pool. Noel is busy with the little activity book that has the menu on one side, we do a crossword puzzle and play tic tac toe (and I rule!)
Wow the time flies quickly and it is time to go meet our towncar in front of the hotel, when we get there I see this white stretch Limo parked and I think "oh no - please don't be for us"
The driver and I meet eyes and he mouths my name... yikes, it is for us! Noel's eyes pretty well bulge out of her head as she gets inside, there is neon lights and fibre optic ceiling panels, a bar with ice and sodas and a TV which is playing Monster's INC. Noel is in heaven!
Our drive to the Beach Club was so much fun, I was playing with the gadgets and switches at my seat and made the panel go up between us and the driver LOL...he probably thought I was a snob.
On the drive it started spitting and big black clouds were again rolling in, but we didn't care - we were so enjoying ourselves in this big limosine.
When we arrived at the Beach Club the Bell Man opened the door for us and I tipped "Georgio" our driver $20.00. The bellman took our luggage and gave me a claim check. The concierge planner Amy had mailed me a card to access the 5th floor so we were going to go straight up but suddenly I saw "Art the Greeter" he said hello to us and I shook his hand and told him I have seen photos of him on the internet and everyone loves him... he grinned from ear to ear.
After chatting with Art we took the elevator to the 5th floor, my first sense of the Beach CLub was that is was smaller than I imagined. On the internet the lobby looks massive with towering ceilings but in reality is is quite small and cosy. The elevators are a bit run down and could use a refurbishing but when they opened on 5, I just loved the reception area colours, carpets, fabrics, furniture.... it is so quaint and charming with an elegant feel. It was so nice to be here and out of the Hard Rock atmosphere - we are not cool enough to be staying there - this was definately more of what we like.
Josh was at his desk and greeted us, we sat down to check in and he told Noel she could go get a snack or a drink if she liked. The check in went quick and our room was ready even though it was barely 12:15pm - he gave us all our info and key cards and we were off down the hall to find our room... walking, walking, walking, huffing, puffing and walking... it was a long way down! I would have been happier with a room closer to the elevators but I was not going to complain, after all this one was ready for us right now.
When we entered the room it was suddenly like Christmas - I don't know where to start, but, I had bought a Pal Mickey & a badge of honor as a welcome gift for Noel... these were sitting up on the bed together which I expected, however, Noel had squealed in delight when she saw the bunch of helium balloons on the table along with several wrapped gifts - these were not from me.
In addition to the wrapped presents there was a plate of tuxedo chocolate covered strawberries, they were huge - like the size of an egg each... in the middle of the plate there was a large white chocolate mickey mouse statue and beside that there was a chocolate portrait of the Beach Club and a card from Minnie & Mickey with their photo in front of the Beach Club. Please don'get mad at me... I don't know why this stuff is here, why we received it.. I have no idea - but of course we were thrilled.
Noel opened her presents, the first was a Princess Stencilling kit, the second was a cool wooden checkers set with Yacht Club/Beach Club embossed on it. The present addressed to me was a picture frame and is beautiful. There was also some snickers and milkyway bars and a cinderella pin for Noel.
We opened Pal Mickey and he started talking right away but he was a little confused - for some reason he thinks we are in the Magic Kingdom when we are actually in our room. He was saying "See that creepy house on the right up there - thats the Haunted Mansion".. then he said the parade was starting soon LOL.. Noel said "Mickey's drunk"
I should tell you something about the room, it is about the same size as our room at Hard Rock except has a really big entrance way and bathroom area. The furniture is beautiful white painted wood and their are sea shell & sea horse accents everywhere... I just love the decor and colours.
Our balcony is full with 2 chairs and a table and we overlook some roof area of the floor below us, Stormalong Bay, the Crescent Lake, Swan and Dolphin Hotel and the big shipwreck slide is right out in front of us. I have absolutely fallen in love with this hotel.
We already had our bathing suits on under our clothes (because we thought our room would not be ready) so we decided to head to the pool. We stopped by the concierge lounge to have a look and wow... what a spread, there was a huge basket of fresh baked cookies, a plate of iced cup cakes, a whole fruit flan, a whole cheesecake, a big jar of gummi worms, across on the other side there was veggies and dip, popcorn, crackers & salsa and chips... this is more like it - and this is just afternoon snacks.. unfortunately I was full from the eggs benedict and did not want a thing.
We had a hard time adjusting to the pool - I know it supposed to be the best on property but it is a little confusing and extremely deep.. some spots were 8 feet, others 5 feet.. but I am only 5 2" and having a novice swimmer hanging onto me for dear life was exhausting... we finally found a shallow spot and hung out there for a while but Noel kept asking why the Beach CLub couldn't have a nice pool like the Hard Rock lol...
We stayed at the pool till about 3pm and then Noel said she wasn't feeling well... she looked a little pale under her new freckles and her head was hot so I took her back to the room and gave her a dose of tylenol. She got in bed with her little DVD player and I went a picked her up some chicken noodle soup and a grilled cheese from Beaches and Cream. After eating she had a little sleep and I sat on the balcony and watched the lightning from the approaching storm... wow what a show - it got closer and closer and then the booms from the thunder shook the building and woke up Noel who was feeling better. She joined me on the balcony to watch the lightning - wow some of the strikes were very close and suddenly everyone was ordered out of the pool below us.
Just then a large crow came and sat on our railing, he was unafraid and stared me right in the eye for a while... even when we approached him, he stayed put. Noel had the bright idea to feed him some crackers that had come with her soup so she brought them out and he took a cracker right from my hand as gentle as could be. Noel threw some cracker crumbs down and the next thing we had 20 crows with us fighting over crumbs - it was so much fun.
The rain arrived suddenly and with a fury... all the birds abandoned us and for the next several hours it poured and poured buckets... at 6pm Noel was starving and recovered so we dropped by the lounge - I am so impressed with the offerings here. First of all a large pan of skewered beef teriyaki, chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, crackers, cheeses - about 6 kinds, veggies, fruit, dips, hummus, breads etc... it was great, we helped ourselves and Noel went to sit with the kids to watch Land Before Time and I read USA today.. outside the window the rain was pouring down and I started to worry about our illuminations cruise on Breathless tonight.
After Noel's movie we had the concierge check on the status of the cruise and it was still going... we needed to buy more ponchos - I had left the sea world ones behind at the hard rock (they were all torn and mangled) we bought new Disney ones at the gift shop and headed over for the dock in front of the yacht club. There were several people gathered for their cruises and we soon met our captain "Angelo" however, a fellow named Steve stole the show.. he and Noel hit it off and they were joking with each other, Steve kept turning her poncho around so the hood covered her face and kidding her. Noel was disappointed that Angelo, not Steve was our captain.
We went out for a little cruise first down past the boardwalk to MGM then headed back to our spot for illuminations just under the bridge. There is no rain under there so it was quite pleasant and the show soon started. kids are funny sometimes, I thought Noel would be thrilled about going on the fireworks cruise - but when I told her tonight she complained bitterly - just wanting to hang out in the room and not go out in the rain.. once she got to the dock however, she started having a great time. But sitting here on this $200.00 excursion to see the fireworks I glanced over to see Noel's expression of awe and wonder and do you know what she was doing?
She had spotted a little lizard on the cement wall beside us and was playing with it.. duh, she was not even looking at the fireworks LOL... oh well, live an learn.
Captain Angelo got us safely back to the YC marina and we walked to the BC. The lounge is now serving desserts so I had Noel get a table and I went and picked up my lap top so I could continue my report for today. The lounge is quite small, probably smaller then at Hard Rock, but not overcrowded so far and the quality of food is outstanding.. our room is a bit of a walk but I am very happy with it.
We are heading back to the room now - I have arranged for pillow gifts of DVD's - hopefully, tonights will be there.
Thanx for reading about our first day at the Beach Club... until tomorrow ~ Good Night!
Hi everyone and tonight I am writing you from the concierge lounge at the beautiful Beach Club Resort, enjoying a slice of carrot cake and a double baileys
This morning I awoke to an Aerosmith wake up call at the Hard Rock Hotel and was soon up packing. I decided to let Noel sleep as she gets in my way when she tries to "help" me with packing and such. By 9:30am I was all ready and woke up Noel for her shower - I called the bellman and he was up a moment later to take our bags and hold them until our Towncar arrived to transfer us to the beach club.
I decided to do express check out and the bill was slipped under my door sometime during the night, I checked it over and everything seemed right. The express envelope has another Hard Rock touch with the wording "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave" lol
I also noticed the do not disturb sign you hang on the door says "I hear you knocking, but you can't come in" The Hard Rock definately has some unique theming. It was now just before 10:00am and we headed to the dreaded lounge for breakfast. Wonders of Wonders, the lounge is deserted save one lonely staff member who is vacuuming, whats up with that? - instantly I realize, there is no food, wahhh, breakfast is only served until 10:00am.
Oh well... I decide to go down to the sunset grill for some eggs benedict but before that - I do need to speak with this vacuuming staff member. you see, I have left over dinner vouchers that are about to expire (Sept 7) and as I can't use them I want them sent over to the Royal Pacific for my buddy SuAnne who is checking in tomorrow. Well the concierge person reluctantly turns off her vacuum when she notices me waiting and says "yes?" I ask her if she could please send this envelope over to the Royal Pacific today or tomorrow morning.. she looks at me like I have 2 heads and says "We don't do that" So I ask her, 'well do you think you could check with the front desk?" so she sighs and then calls down and they tell her of course they will have it dropped off at the RPR.. so she takes it from me and tells me it will get done. We shall see!
The sunset grill is a wonderful change from the overcrowded Club Lounge fare. I order the eggs benedict and Noel orders a waffle. Here they brew starbucks coffee and it is very good. We both enjoy our breakfasts at a window seat that looks out towards the pool. Noel is busy with the little activity book that has the menu on one side, we do a crossword puzzle and play tic tac toe (and I rule!)
Wow the time flies quickly and it is time to go meet our towncar in front of the hotel, when we get there I see this white stretch Limo parked and I think "oh no - please don't be for us"
The driver and I meet eyes and he mouths my name... yikes, it is for us! Noel's eyes pretty well bulge out of her head as she gets inside, there is neon lights and fibre optic ceiling panels, a bar with ice and sodas and a TV which is playing Monster's INC. Noel is in heaven!
Our drive to the Beach Club was so much fun, I was playing with the gadgets and switches at my seat and made the panel go up between us and the driver LOL...he probably thought I was a snob.
On the drive it started spitting and big black clouds were again rolling in, but we didn't care - we were so enjoying ourselves in this big limosine.
When we arrived at the Beach Club the Bell Man opened the door for us and I tipped "Georgio" our driver $20.00. The bellman took our luggage and gave me a claim check. The concierge planner Amy had mailed me a card to access the 5th floor so we were going to go straight up but suddenly I saw "Art the Greeter" he said hello to us and I shook his hand and told him I have seen photos of him on the internet and everyone loves him... he grinned from ear to ear.
After chatting with Art we took the elevator to the 5th floor, my first sense of the Beach CLub was that is was smaller than I imagined. On the internet the lobby looks massive with towering ceilings but in reality is is quite small and cosy. The elevators are a bit run down and could use a refurbishing but when they opened on 5, I just loved the reception area colours, carpets, fabrics, furniture.... it is so quaint and charming with an elegant feel. It was so nice to be here and out of the Hard Rock atmosphere - we are not cool enough to be staying there - this was definately more of what we like.
Josh was at his desk and greeted us, we sat down to check in and he told Noel she could go get a snack or a drink if she liked. The check in went quick and our room was ready even though it was barely 12:15pm - he gave us all our info and key cards and we were off down the hall to find our room... walking, walking, walking, huffing, puffing and walking... it was a long way down! I would have been happier with a room closer to the elevators but I was not going to complain, after all this one was ready for us right now.
When we entered the room it was suddenly like Christmas - I don't know where to start, but, I had bought a Pal Mickey & a badge of honor as a welcome gift for Noel... these were sitting up on the bed together which I expected, however, Noel had squealed in delight when she saw the bunch of helium balloons on the table along with several wrapped gifts - these were not from me.
In addition to the wrapped presents there was a plate of tuxedo chocolate covered strawberries, they were huge - like the size of an egg each... in the middle of the plate there was a large white chocolate mickey mouse statue and beside that there was a chocolate portrait of the Beach Club and a card from Minnie & Mickey with their photo in front of the Beach Club. Please don'get mad at me... I don't know why this stuff is here, why we received it.. I have no idea - but of course we were thrilled.
Noel opened her presents, the first was a Princess Stencilling kit, the second was a cool wooden checkers set with Yacht Club/Beach Club embossed on it. The present addressed to me was a picture frame and is beautiful. There was also some snickers and milkyway bars and a cinderella pin for Noel.
We opened Pal Mickey and he started talking right away but he was a little confused - for some reason he thinks we are in the Magic Kingdom when we are actually in our room. He was saying "See that creepy house on the right up there - thats the Haunted Mansion".. then he said the parade was starting soon LOL.. Noel said "Mickey's drunk"
I should tell you something about the room, it is about the same size as our room at Hard Rock except has a really big entrance way and bathroom area. The furniture is beautiful white painted wood and their are sea shell & sea horse accents everywhere... I just love the decor and colours.
Our balcony is full with 2 chairs and a table and we overlook some roof area of the floor below us, Stormalong Bay, the Crescent Lake, Swan and Dolphin Hotel and the big shipwreck slide is right out in front of us. I have absolutely fallen in love with this hotel.
We already had our bathing suits on under our clothes (because we thought our room would not be ready) so we decided to head to the pool. We stopped by the concierge lounge to have a look and wow... what a spread, there was a huge basket of fresh baked cookies, a plate of iced cup cakes, a whole fruit flan, a whole cheesecake, a big jar of gummi worms, across on the other side there was veggies and dip, popcorn, crackers & salsa and chips... this is more like it - and this is just afternoon snacks.. unfortunately I was full from the eggs benedict and did not want a thing.
We had a hard time adjusting to the pool - I know it supposed to be the best on property but it is a little confusing and extremely deep.. some spots were 8 feet, others 5 feet.. but I am only 5 2" and having a novice swimmer hanging onto me for dear life was exhausting... we finally found a shallow spot and hung out there for a while but Noel kept asking why the Beach CLub couldn't have a nice pool like the Hard Rock lol...
We stayed at the pool till about 3pm and then Noel said she wasn't feeling well... she looked a little pale under her new freckles and her head was hot so I took her back to the room and gave her a dose of tylenol. She got in bed with her little DVD player and I went a picked her up some chicken noodle soup and a grilled cheese from Beaches and Cream. After eating she had a little sleep and I sat on the balcony and watched the lightning from the approaching storm... wow what a show - it got closer and closer and then the booms from the thunder shook the building and woke up Noel who was feeling better. She joined me on the balcony to watch the lightning - wow some of the strikes were very close and suddenly everyone was ordered out of the pool below us.
Just then a large crow came and sat on our railing, he was unafraid and stared me right in the eye for a while... even when we approached him, he stayed put. Noel had the bright idea to feed him some crackers that had come with her soup so she brought them out and he took a cracker right from my hand as gentle as could be. Noel threw some cracker crumbs down and the next thing we had 20 crows with us fighting over crumbs - it was so much fun.
The rain arrived suddenly and with a fury... all the birds abandoned us and for the next several hours it poured and poured buckets... at 6pm Noel was starving and recovered so we dropped by the lounge - I am so impressed with the offerings here. First of all a large pan of skewered beef teriyaki, chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, crackers, cheeses - about 6 kinds, veggies, fruit, dips, hummus, breads etc... it was great, we helped ourselves and Noel went to sit with the kids to watch Land Before Time and I read USA today.. outside the window the rain was pouring down and I started to worry about our illuminations cruise on Breathless tonight.
After Noel's movie we had the concierge check on the status of the cruise and it was still going... we needed to buy more ponchos - I had left the sea world ones behind at the hard rock (they were all torn and mangled) we bought new Disney ones at the gift shop and headed over for the dock in front of the yacht club. There were several people gathered for their cruises and we soon met our captain "Angelo" however, a fellow named Steve stole the show.. he and Noel hit it off and they were joking with each other, Steve kept turning her poncho around so the hood covered her face and kidding her. Noel was disappointed that Angelo, not Steve was our captain.
We went out for a little cruise first down past the boardwalk to MGM then headed back to our spot for illuminations just under the bridge. There is no rain under there
so it was quite pleasant and the show soon started. kids are funny sometimes, I thought Noel would be thrilled about going on the fireworks cruise - but when I told her tonight she complained bitterly - just wanting to hang out in the room and not go out in the rain.. once she got to the dock however, she started having a great time. But sitting here on this $200.00 excursion to see the fireworks I glanced over to see Noel's expression of awe and wonder and do you know what she was doing? She had spotted a little lizard on the cement wall beside us and was playing with it.. duh, she was not even looking at the fireworks LOL... oh well, live an learn.
Captain Angelo got us safely back to the YC marina and we walked to the BC. The lounge is now serving desserts so I had Noel get a table and I went and picked up my lap top so I could continue my report for today. The lounge is quite small, probably smaller then at Hard Rock, but not overcrowded so far and the quality of food is outstanding.. our room is a bit of a walk but I am very happy with it.
We are heading back to the room now - I have arranged for pillow gifts of DVD's - hopefully, tonights will be there.
Thanx for reading about our first day at the Beach Club... until tomorrow ~ Good Night!
).
