Tell me all about the Beach Club!

[Rustysmom]

We just found out that the trip that we won will be at the Beach Club! We're going in early November.

I don't know much about the Beach Club though. I know it's near Epcot, which is great because we love Epcot. So, tell me all about it!

 

[TJA]

BC is our favorite resort. You will LOVE the entire atmosphere there. BC, YC, BWI form a loop around the water where the boats run between Epcot and MGM. You are a 5-minute walk away from the Boardwalk which has fun entertainment, restaurants, bakery, shopping. You can rent surrey bikes and bike around the water (it's beautiful.....). You are a 5 minute walk away from the Epcot international gateway where you'll enter Epcot park at the back entrance, which is really awesome because you can walk to the Epcot countries for dinner every night if you want, then stay and watch Illuminations, then while everyone is heading to the front of the park to catch their bus/monorail, you can just casually stroll back to BC with no hassles. And the night doesn't have to end there -- you can go right on the Boardwalk and have a drink or late-night snack. There is also Beaches and Cream right at BC and that is a great place for ice cream or burgers. There is a character breakfast right at BC. And the pool is probably the best pool on Disney grounds. If you have children, they will love the sandy-bottom pool area. Also, you can walk or boat to MGM from BC. It's about a 20-25minute walk. We personally enjoy the walk, but many people think it's too long. If our girls are in the stroller and we're fast-walking, we can make it to MGM in 17 minutes.

 

[Rustysmom]

Cool, I didn't realize that we could walk to MGM too! I'd rather walk than take the stroller on the bus. I think my kids will love Beaches and Cream too.
Thanks!

 

[kapoof]

it is a very nice resort, with a great location. be careful staying there..you will become very spoiled and it will be hard to stay anywhere else!

 

[TJA]

Cool, I didn't realize that we could walk to MGM too! I'd rather walk than take the stroller on the bus. I think my kids will love Beaches and Cream too.
Thanks!

Yes, same here, we'd rather walk, boat, monorail than put our double stroller on the bus. You can also take the boat to MGM if you don't want to walk. Another trick we do is go on some rides/attractions in Epcot and then hop on the monorail over to MK. If we have extra time on our hands, sometimes we even monorail back to Epcot and then walk through Epcot to get back to BC. It's a good way to let the girls nap in the stroller without having to wake them to load a bus. I forgot to say last post congratulations on winning the trip to BC. It's a fabulous resort and as the previous poster said, you will become very spoiled. We have a hard time staying anywhere else.

 

[wlfans]

TJA

Couple of questions. What do you think about the dining options at BC/YC with regards to breakfast foods? Second, we're going to rent a stroller. I assume at the EPCOT gateway you can get them there, correct?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[AurorasDad]

We love the BW Bakery! There's fresh pastries after a 5 minute walk!

 

[peyjax]

The Beach Club is amazing! SAB the view the close proximaty to MGM and having Epcot connected to your room (not really, it just feels like it). It just can't be beat. Well maybe it can,i just have personally experienced anything better yet. The food in the marketplace is good. It is very casual and quick. The egg sandwiches are good, but don't expect a full service breakfast (pancakes,eggs and bacon etc) For that you need to go to the cape may breakfast which is very good and not very crowded. I am sure you will have a ball, especially since it is all free! How did you win the trip?

 

[Rustysmom]

We won it on a radio station here in NY, back in February.

Thanks everyone. It sounds wonderful and yes, I think we will be spoiled after this. That's ok though, because it might be 10 more years before we can get back to Disney.

 

[Maria311]

The Yacht Club Galley also has a great breakfast buffet. No characters but it's also less expensive.

 

[mrmagicmph]

If you're going to be at the Beach Club, whatever you do, MAKE the time to meet & talk to Art, the Greeter at the Beach Club, or as my wife & I think of him, the Grand Admiral of the Beach Club. Trust me, you will NOT regret it & you'll feel like you've spent your time WELL! For more information, see the thread about Art here: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1454184

Enjoy the Magic!!

 

[Tink901]

If you're going to be at the Beach Club, whatever you do, MAKE the time to meet & talk to Art, the Greeter at the Beach Club, or as my wife & I think of him, the Grand Admiral of the Beach Club. Trust me, you will NOT regret it & you'll feel like you've spent your time WELL! For more information, see the thread about Art here: http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1454184

Enjoy the Magic!!

I have to AGREE with mrmagicmph. Art is the most humble man you will ever meet. I cannot ever go without seeing Art - no trip is the same without him. He has become one of my best friends over the years. Art is normally off on Sunday & Monday - his usual work schedule is Tues - Sat 8-3 or 4pm. If you see him, please add pictures or comments to the link posted.

 

[logan115]

Really should be sleeping now as I need to get up in about 5 hrs to start getting everyone ready for a 615 AM flight POP for the weekend, BCV Sun-Fri.

Will let you know how it goes, but we're sure it'll ROCK

 

[Rustysmom]

I saw a picture of Art on some website when I was looking for info about the Beach Club, and I can't wait to meet him, and I'll definitely post pictures when we come back.

 

[jimmiej]

BC was awesome! Here's what I wrote on our trip report from July '06:

Beach Club Villas:

We rented DVC points from a family in Massachusetts (Thanks Holly!). Renting points worked wonderfully. It enabled us to stay at one of Disney’s nicest resorts for about 60% of rack rate.

We requested non-smoking, top floor, and pool view. We got ALL our requests. The only drawback to our room was it was handicapped. When taking a shower, water ran out into the bathroom-not a big deal though; also, not a lot of bathroom shelf space. Very close to the elevator, HUGE balcony overlooking quiet pool, no noise issues at all.

The walk to the Marketplace (gift shop/snack bar), lobby, Stormalong Bay was very quick and easy. This is a beautiful hotel! We bought refillable mugs and used them at least twice a day. Not a huge selection of drinks though. No frozen coke like we had at Contemporary in ‘04. The Marketplace was always crowded. Nice but small selection of Disney items and the food was good.

Stormalong Bay (main pool) has to be seen and experienced to be believed! We mostly enjoyed the float-around pool. On day two, we bought a couple of “noodles” ($3/each) and they worked great. About half of this pool is eight feet deep, so if you’re not a great swimmer, you need something to keep you afloat. They also rent tubes, but these seemed too bulky for this pool. One day, there were some rowdy teens in this pool, but every other time, it was relaxing. I will say, it was difficult (but not impossible) to find an unused lounge chair each afternoon.

The best part of staying here was the quick walk over to the International Gateway at Epcot (and back). Beach Club is THE closest Disney hotel to Epcot. There is a side entrance/walkway that will take you right to the BCV’s entrance, instead of walking around through the Beach Club entrance. Overall, our hotel stay was a 9.5 out of 10.

 

[Rustysmom]

The pool sounds great! I don't swim, so I'll be the one needing the noodles to hold onto for dear life! That or a tube, and it's great that they rent them.

 

[tiggersmom2]

I always tell everyone this and I swear this info should have its own sticky...lol:

The Beach Club does have some rooms with DOUBLE beds. Be absolutely sure you request queen beds on your ressie or you could get stuck with tiny beds!!!!!

 

[Rustysmom]

Could we ask for queen beds when we check in? I don't think I can do anything with my reservation because Disney is the one who made it.

If you think double beds are tiny, my DH and I sleep in a FULL size bed! Good thing he's really skinny.

 

[maxiesmom]

If you are taking your children, you will need some sort of plan to watch them at the pool. SAB is huge, you cannot see the whole pool area from any one spot. And to get on the waterslide you have to go away from the main pool area and cross a sidewalk.

Also, don't make the mistake that we did of thinking you could spend you whole day at the parks and come back to swim in SAB. They close the whole thing down each night. I'm sure the time varies, but in October in was 10pm.

All that aside, you are in a great location. It was so nice to be able to walk in to the World Showcase for dinner. Or to catch Illuminations.

Have a great trip!

 

[TJA]

TJA

Couple of questions. What do you think about the dining options at BC/YC with regards to breakfast foods? Second, we're going to rent a stroller. I assume at the EPCOT gateway you can get them there, correct?

Thanks,
Dave

We go to the character breakfast at Cape May in BC quite a few mornings. We enjoy the food variety there and our girls love the character interaction. There is also Marketplace in BC which sells over-the-counter breakfast items like sandwiches. We've had egg and cheese croisants and liked them just fine. You can also scoot over to YC at the YC Galley for a breakfast buffet or I believe you can also order off the menu (or at least you could at one time). So I believe there are plenty of breakfast options at BC/YC. We also bring cereal for our room and our girls eat right in our room some mornings.
In case anyone isn't aware, there is a list of the menu items on this site:
http://www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

We always take a stroller from home, so I cannot help with renting one. Perhaps post the question on the Disney for Families section. I'm sure there will be lots of people who can help.