Hi all, we have a 9 day trip that combines 5.5 days at Club Med Sandpiper with 4 days (3 full days, 2 half days) at WDW. I thought I would do a joint trip report for both since I thought this kind of trip might be interesting to others. Our specific trip is with a large group of lgbt families that take over a different all-inclusive resort each year. This year an add-on option was Disney World, which is how I got involved with all this Lines madness in the first place.
Day 1 (Saturday, July 14) and Day 2 (Sunday, July 15)
Flew out of Rochester MN at 5:30 AM, changed at O’Hare (dear god, huge airport with a tight connection. I RAN at least a mile pushing a double stroller). Then flew into West Palm Beach. Nice airport but very confusing what we were supposed to do next. Found out airport restricts people coming in from busses to organize groups—strange. Eventually we found our people and our bus to the resort (all transfers were included).
We swam, then went to orientation and dinner. There is the most amazing chocolate bread at all Club Meds. It comes in both white chocolate and dark and I could eat it and nothing else.
Resort impressions: Club Med is really lovely. Our room is older and the shower area is a little gross, but the room is big and has a nice balcony. I slipped getting into the bathtub and hurt my elbow. They apologized and gave us a rubber bath mat to go inside the bathtub—they seemed very relieved I didn’t want anything else. We have a queen sized bed, two daybeds, and a crib. We could have gotten a smaller room but thought kiddo 2 might need a bed rather than a crib so got the nicer room. Turns out he is still in the crib but we appreciate the space. Club Med provides the crib (pack’nplay) and bedding, a stroller for our use, a baby bathtub, and access to a room stocked with formula, milk, yogurt, fruit, and cereal 24/7.
Our previous all-inclusive were on ocean beaches and this is on a river, so meh on beach swimming. Still, there is a nice regular pool, a lap pool, an adult only pool and hot tub, a kid pool with slides, and a baby wading pool. There is a toddler playground and a bigger playground, along with basketball courts, tennis courts, a trapeze, kayaks, paddle birds, sailboats, and more. That’s all included. Renting jet skis or motorboats costs extra. My 6 year old is off at the kids club now doing theater camp, circus camp, and pool time. Kids club is included for kids 4 and up, but costs extra for 0-3. I am in the room with our two year old who is napping. We tried napping out in a cabana (there are many and just first come first serve) but he kept popping up to say hello to passers-by. He seems thrilled to see so many same-sex families; he keeps commenting that the people “match” like his parents. Adorably, he said, “hi two peoples!” to several of the couples we passed. We love feeling included and relaxed on these trips, but they are at least as much about helping our kids see that there are other families like ours. Every family here is lgbtq, and there are hundreds of us.
What else? There is a very nice daycare facility for the little kids, but it does cost extra. $45 for 4 hours, $90 for 8. I assume we will do it at some point but it is tough to spend more money than we are already paying this trip. There is also a pajama club for all kids, 7-11pm for $35. Way cheaper than Disney prices but still adds up quickly.
Our group organizes some activities but Club Med also puts on its own. I attended aqua gym, run by Club Med, but our group was having a panel discussion about foster care and adopting from foster care. Tonight there is a queer comic for the adults and some sort of supervised kids superhero party. Basically this is glorious and I would be so sad to leave Thursday except we’ll be headed to WDW!
A few more notes: food is good. All buffet except for one sit down restaurant (reservations required but cost included). Food is decently labeled with ingredients but staff happy to give more info. No dedicated gluten free cooking area but food without gluten included. My wife is allergic to melon and they made her a special sangria without melon after she asked about the regular sangria and found out she couldn’t have it. I am not a big drinker but have enjoyed the non-alcoholic smoothies and frozen lemonade so far. When we got off the bus they handed us champagne (and sparkling water with lime for the kids). So there’s that.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back with more updates.
