Just completed a fabulous WDW post-hurricane trip at the Beach Club.
There is really ONE reason to stay at the Beach Club currently … location, location, location. The 4 minute walk to International Gateway Epcot is amazing. Short walk to the dock for a boat ride to HS is amazing. Short walk to the bus stops, mostly in air conditioning is amazing.
That’s about it. This was not a “deluxe” experience.
For what Disney charges for these rooms, they are waiting way to long to do refurbishments. The place needs some TLC. The Market Place is completely inadequate as a food service option. Breakfast was quite bad.
Staffing, and Mouse-keeping, CM’s are all amazing.
You wouldn’t count SAB as a reason? Curious as to why. I know some people do find it too big, especially those with little kids.
But it’s my number 1 reason, and why I won’t consider the Boardwalk despite the location being the same. I just couldn’t bear to be so close to SAB and not be able to swim there.
Storm Along Bay is very cool. So in our 9 days, we spent maybe 90 minutes there. Probably another 60 minutes in another “quiet pool” for the quiet. As a percentage of time, quite small. But I do get what you are saying. Pools are not a factor in how we vacation.
SAB was not relaxing at all for my family. Our 4 children all went in different directions and it was so massive that we had to keep moving around to find everyone. The kids really weren’t that impressed either. We spent little time in the pool. I agree with your review. I was very excited to stay here for the first time last year and was pretty disappointed. Great location though.
We stayed at BC eight years ago with three kids ages 5,5, and 4. We loved the location and loved SAB even though the kids were not strong swimmers at the time. The zero depth sand-bottom pool was a hit. As was the small slide.
We are staying there again this trip (now with 13,13,12, and 5yo). Very much looking forward to SAB for our midday breaks, on days we take one.
I agree the rooms were nothing to write home about - even eight years ago. But if a hotel room is clean and functional, I’m usually pretty happy. We won’t be spending much time in our room.
I’d love to stay YC/BC and experience SAB and Crescent Lake as a guest (not just a visitor). But I just can’t get over the lack of a robust QS location. I fear it will always be the big stumbling block that directs us to other resort options.
The QS at the YC is much better. Not been since it was all redone, but reports suggest it’s still good. Plus you have the Ale and Compass Lounge - or whatever the new name is.
And next trip I must try the options at the Swan/Dolphin. Many say they have some of the best options in WDW.
We have been stopping at Hurricane Hanna’s for QS our last trip at both BC and YC. BC is our favorite resort on property. The smell of the lobby, SAB, walk to Epcot and boat are all wins in our books. But that’s why it’s great that there are so many options. What is one person’s cup of tea may not be someone else’s!
Like tline35, we too just returned from a wonderful stay at the Beach Club that was delayed a week (in our case due) to Dorian. This was our 3rd stay at the BC, once before at the vacation club Villas, and once in the main resort building. I agree completely with T tline35, but would add one caveat … BC DVC villas are even less desirable IMHO. We booked our original stay 2 weeks ago thru MVT at the GF, but since MVT did not have any agency exclusive rates at the GF the week after Dorian, we settled on the BC for roughly the same cost to avoid cancelling or delaying even longer. What I failed to notice was that the re-booking was reserved at the Villas this time, not the main resort. My bad. After checking in, I re-read the email from MVT and plainly saw that we were suppose to be in the Villas. How embarrassing to discover that so late in the process. But our Villa room was was out on the west end by the parking lot. The room seemed smaller that we remembered, and it “felt” stale, it you know what I mean. So I asked the front desk if they could at least relocate us closer to the main building. They did. To my amazement we got a corner room on the fourth floor in the main resort itself overlooking the front entrance. And refunded us $50 a night as it was cheaper than staying in the Villa. I was stunned. The corner room was huge too. We simply got lucky. When my wife walked in she said, “This is better than the GF!” It wasn’t, but don’t tell her I said that … … as we’ve stayed at the GF once before. I walked back down to the front desk and personally thanked the case member for making the room change. It salvaged our vacation. To each his own, but in the future I’d rather stay offsite than stay at one of the BC Villas.
I was prompted by my credit card company about a new charge to my credit card by Disney this morning. I didn’t recognize it so I called Disney and asked. OMG, what a run around!! It seems they put thru the resort parking fee to my card, but decided after I checked out that I was not entitled to a room refund as I mentioned in my post previously. So why did you show the refund on my folio statement that Disney emailed me over the weekend, I asked ? The front desk made a mistake giving you that refund, was the answer. But since it is on your folio statement we will go ahead and honor the room refund. And if I had not called to check, were you going to simply bill me for the parking and not let me know that no refund was coming, I asked? The CM I was speaking with evaded answering that question.
WDW is not so magical as they would have you believe.
I was not that impressed with BC either after a stay. I am in complete agreement on the Marketplace being a sad excuse. Small, barely any seating and the merchandise area is pretty small too when comparing it to other Deluxe resorts. Character breakfast buffet was ok. Yachtsman is a solid steak house option. But other than being convenient to EPCOT and HS, not much different than staying at the Boardwalk really. It is m least favorite deluxe option we have stayed at and we have done Poly, GF and Contemporary.
Wow …I cant’t even believe they did that
If the refund was already on the folio
Last year I did a long trip
6 days at BLT
6 days at BCV
6 days at FW
well apparently I booked wrong so I had to go to the front and add the last day
and while i was waiting on the couch this woman came out with her ipad asked some questions
and said she added it …I saw emails coming in on my phone but never read them until i got home a few days later -apparently she did not charge the card and they just wanted my permission
so I can not believe the would deviate from a printed copy
and i was
We’ve been to WDW a bunch. More than we should in all honesty. But its a wonderful escape from reality. Unfortunately what I’ve come to learn in all those trips is that Disney can also be incredibly difficult to deal with when you have a problem.
To close the loop, refunds came thru okay. I was too harsh in my criticism. It was an innocent mistake. Ended up being a data entry error into the wrong system…
… as we’ve stayed at the GF once before. I walked back down to the front desk and personally thanked the case member for making the room change. It salvaged our vacation. To each his own, but in the future I’d rather stay offsite than stay at one of the BC Villas.
Isn’t life wonderful !!