Well, we have been back home for about a week and I still haven't removed my magic band...and it doesn't even open the front door of our house or work at the Wendy's down the street...huge complaint to Disney coming up!!! I mean, seriously, I can't use my Magic Band off property? Come on...smh. Make a note of that,
@ninjamom and add to your list!
We had a fabulous trip and have satisfied our WDW fix for another five years. Next summer we will get back to
Disneyland at the tail end of the 60th anniversary celebration and probably the Tokyo parks again in 2017...but holding out hope we will be able to visit Disneyland Paris for the first time. Anyways...the Beach Club was wonderful, despite all the work going on...it didn't distract us one bit from enjoying all the amenities. At check-in the bellhop quickly helped me unpack the car putting everything on a cart and handing me a ticket with a phone number to call once we were satisfied with our room location. We met the concierge in the lobby, but first...the smell of the lobby...wow!! I've read it about on here, but once that blessed fragrance penetrates your nasal cavity you are instantly transported to vacation bliss!! We were ready to begin our adventure! We were whisked up to the fifth floor by a wonderful cast member who spoke fluent Japanese (she was Filipino, but spent most of her life in Japan) and so she talked with my wife for a bit and we reminisced together about the parks in Tokyo, too!
Check-in was smooth and fun! We were given the choice of alcoholic or non-alcoholic refreshments and enjoyed them and my daughter received her happy birthday button that was all blinged up with Mickey heads and glitter...it was nice! The kids went to lounge and got some food (it was around 4:30 when we checked in so the appetizers were out...bacon wrapped scallops...yum!) while we checked in. They went over our itinerary with us and asked if we needed any additional reservations, but we were all set. They did schedule us a fourth fast pass for June 7th...our EPCOT day...over at MK to ride Pirates before it closed down for the summer. We didn't really need the FP+ for Pirates, but it was a nice gesture on their part to reserve it for us! They also provided the texting service so we could schedule reservations for dining and FP+ via text. That turned out to be the greatest benefit in terms of time saved during our vacation. We made quite a few changes to our itinerary over the course of our stay (cancelled some dining, made new ones for the Spirit of Aloha dinner show, numerous FP+ changes...all via text). The service is available every day from 7am - 10pm.
Brittany met us on the 5th floor and personally escorted us to our room, 5652 which was literally a 5 second walk from the lounge!!! It is definitely the closest room to the concierge area and the lounge! We got all of our room requests: close to lounge, daybed and full balcony. The room overlooked the solarium and the courtyard between BC and BCV...we also had a decent view of Spaceship Earth and the crane building the second theater for Soarin'! LOL!! It was perfect for a SV room. Brittany asked if everything was to our liking and when we said yes, she called the bellhop for us and our luggage arrived two minutes later. We unpacked everything into the drawers and closet (we felt there was ample space for all five of us even for a 13 night stay), freshened up a bit and decided to stroll around the resort before our Beaches 'n Cream reservation that night. We found the laundry room by the quiet pool, the "secret exit" by 1501, checked out the solarium, marketplace and peeked inside the Sandcastle club. Then we walked over to Cape May Café to sneak a peek at the buffet we’d enjoy a couple nights later…it looked great and tasted even better!! Highly recommend everyone visit there for dinner, not to be missed! We headed over to our reservation and got a great look at the pool, arcade and fitness center. We were finally here!! It was all so wonderful and the atmosphere was very relaxing. Everyone on this forum hypes up YC/BC so well and we were not disappointed! Had a great dinner with equal parts burgers and ice cream then headed back to our room to change and then enjoy the pool until it closed. We got a couple hours of swim time enjoying the waterslide, lazy river and some beach ball volleyball! We even hung out at the beach for a bit and watch some scenes of Big Hero 6! By the time we got back to our room the super comfy beds were very inviting and we had a great night’s sleep!
Well, that was check-in day and our first experience of the Beach Club…I’ll save the rest of the details for the trip report my daughter and I working on…the title of which will probably be something like, “The Dapper Dans need a fourth? Well, I sing bass!!”…a memory I’ll never forget!!
Here are some other Beach Club highlights: Loved the quick walk over to the Boardwalk and the jogging trails between HS and EPCOT; Transportation was very convenient whether we used the boats or walked. We had a car and we used it a few times, but the busses were wonderful…EXCEPT…we had to wait 45 minutes for an MK bus one day, and wouldn’t you know it was the day we had our Keys to the Kingdom Tour with our just turned 16 year old. Luckily we gave ourselves 1 hour and 15 minutes and made it just in time! Looking back, we should’ve just drove and took the ferry from the TTC. Oh well…live and learn. Construction was apparent on the second floor and the area next to Solarium and the Marketplace, but was hardly distracting and the noise was kept to a minimum even during the day. We spent a couple afternoons in our room to escape the heat and you could hear it, but it wasn’t too bad…some hammering and power tools was all we could make out. The laundry facilities were nice and clean. There are vending machines for detergent and fabric softener ($1.00 each)…wash cycle and drying cycle were $2.50 a load I believe and all payable via credit card at a central kiosk inside. The pool, well, its SAB…need I say more! I didn’t know there was a pool table on the second floor above Hurricane Hannah’s, but there is…out on the open air deck up there…that was nice! SAB is just a wonderful place to spend a few hours relaxing…the games are a lot of fun! My son and I enjoyed some of the trivia games in the pool by the volleyball net...”name that TV show based on the theme song” and “Disney name that tune”. Good times.
Well, it was a wonderful trip…we caught the last Star Wars Weekends and the first couple days of Frozen Summer Fun. Let me just say that the fireworks displays for both of these events were life changing. Boy does HS know how to put on a show! Wishes and Illuminations are great, but wow…SWW and Frozen are amazing!!
The Partner’s Statue in the hub was covered at the beginning of our trip, but our second to last day it was uncovered and the hub area was really starting to take shape…it’s very open with lots of grass areas to sit on. The areas to the left and right of the castle as you are looking from main street still have screens up and the moat between the castle and tomorrowland is still being worked on.
Any questions just ask away!!! In summary…if you are thinking about staying at the Beach Club…stop thinking…and just book it!! It’s great!