There are some restaurants that have a certain buzz in the Disney community. One of those is Beaches and Cream, a tiny soda fountain and burger joint that has earned legend status.
Retro Menu
If you are a Disney foodie nerd you must make a pilgrimage to Beaches and Cream to have a burger and a “No Way Jose” once before you die. It’s mandatory. Lucky for us it’s located right in the Beach Club resort where we were spending our last night in the World. Was it the spiritually fulfilling experience that one would hope for? Well sort of…
I’ve written a full review of our lunch at Beaches and Cream for the Disney Food Blog, that you can read HERE. …I’ll wait.
The concoction that Beaches and Cream is most famous for is the Kitchen Sink. This is an obnoxiously huge ice cream sundae served in a bowl fashioned to look like an actual sink.
The Famous Kitchen Sink
The idea of this is novel I guess, but the thought of all those melty Ingredients combining into a gloppy mess gives me pause.
Those with delicate constitutions, look away!
Blegh!
Here can see the construction of the Kitchen sink. The young man in the video was actually our waiter.
Right next door is the Beach Club’s Sister resort the Yacht Club. It’s really nice, but I don’t find it as warm or appealing. It is crosses the line of fancy over to feeling uptight. However, I wouldn’t refuse a night there…
Yacht Club
It’s definitely the sort of place that Thurston Howell III would stay.
Lovey!!!!!
Both resorts look out to Crescent bay across to the Boardwalk. This area is fashioned after an idealized 1930s Atlantic City boardwalk.
Boardwalk Area
A closer view
This is a great place to just stroll around. There are restaurants, shops and Baked goodies to be had. You can also rent a surrey bike and do a loop, but that seems too much like work to me. At night there are entertainers like jugglers and magicians roaming around for your amusement. The best part is that you don’t need a park ticket to go over to the Boardwalk, it’s free! We had Dinner over there once on a previous trip, but I feel like we’ve never spent enough time just hanging out. The case to go back is building…
The Yacht and Beach Club also share a beach. Most of the deluxe resorts have some kind of beach area. They are very inviting, with the soft sand under your toes and comfy lounge chairs to recline in, but the thing is, you CANNOT go in the water! We don’t need to get into details, but there are many creepy things in the lakes that you do not want to run in to. Suffice it to say, we should all take the advice of a crabby, albeit sage Disney podcast host who ends every show with the tag line “Stay Out of the Damn Lakes!”
Yacht and Beach Club Beach Area
Careful there, duckies!
Now that I’ve warned you about the “Damn Lakes”… here’s a tip. Anyone can visit and hang out at these deluxe resorts, you don’t have to be staying there. With the exception of the swimming pools, the public areas like the beaches are accessible to anyone. I’ve never done it, but a lot of people like to go to the Polynesian resort beach to hang out in the hammocks and watch the fire works show or the electric water pageant.
Polynesian Resort Beach- Man, do I want a drink in a pineapple right now!
After our lunch we checked on our luggage. It was now officially lost. The hotel manager was just about beside himself and ready to drive over to Pop Century to see what was what but I wasn’t too concerned. It was almost our last day and we had our necessities with us, so headed on our way to spend the evening at Hollywood Studios.
Dock leading to the boat launch
Another pleasant boat ride.
Dusk at Hollywood Studios
It was pretty late in the day, but we still had a few good hours to spend at the Studios. You might be wondering if it’s worth it to use up a park ticket for such a short visit. The answer to that is, it depends. If you are only able to visit Disney World for a day or two then you would want to make the most of the cost of your tickets by spending full days in the parks. But with Disney park tickets, the longer you stay less it costs. After just three days, the cost of each subsequent day is just a few dollars. If we had decided to just continue to hang at the pool we wouldn’t stand to lose anymore cash than the cost of a movie ticket.
Sunset at sunset!
It’s nice to have the opportunity to revisit a park after you’ve gotten the most popular rides under your belt. Some really great attractions can get lost in the shuffle of roller coasters and 3D simulators.
The Animation Academy is something that you actually have to seek out. There are no exterior signs or lights to draw you in or squeals of delight heard as you walk by, but this drawing class is a fantastic little find.
Animation Academy Classroom
The classroom is hidden away in the Animation Courtyard. Once inside you’ll find rows of adorable Mickey shaped light up desks equipped with paper and pencils.
Meghan lookin' cocky.
Once all are seated, the instructor welcomes everyone and reveals the Disney character you are about to draw. I always hope for Mickey but to no avail. This class, we drew Woody from Toy Story. Over the years we’ve done Goofy, the Genie from Alladin and Rapunzel. The animator takes you through step by step, and before you know it you have a pretty darn good represention of a Disney character.
Meghan's looks just like Woody
Mine looks like some guy dressed as Woody
There are very few attractions or activities at Walt Disney World where you can obtain a level of personal satisfaction AND collect a free souvenir along the way. Here’s another tip just for you. After the class, you exit into a gift shop. Ask the cast member at the register for an elastic and a bag so you can roll up your artwork and get it back to your room in one piece.
For the rest of the evening we roamed around and tried to hit our favorites one more time.
The Tower of Terror is even more impressive at night!
We got to ride Rockin’ Roller Coaster again using our super secret single rider method, but the park turned out to be packed. This kinda made sense because it had been raining for the previous two days straight so everyone was out trying to make up for lost time.
Rockin' Roller Coaster
When it’s shoulder to shoulder like this it can be a challenge to remain in your happy place. That’s when you just have to change your objective. We grabbed a snack and a beer and planted it for a while and watched the suckers…uh folks standing in a two hour line for the next showing of Fantasmic.
After nosing through the shops and bathing in the neon, we moseyed back to the resort where we were reunited with our luggage! This would be our *sniff* last night at Disney, but don’t get tissues out yet. We have one more day to take in as much Epcot as physically possible before departing.
G'night Stormalong Bay
Next Up: My photo-packed, mad dash around the World!