Hi Jen! Just wanted to chime in on the transportation/location issue because that's a huge factor for us. I absolutely agree with this point regarding transportation. Now, I spent all my childhood WDW trips at the Poly and I absolutely love it. But the Epcot resorts rank higher overall for many reasons, and transportation is high on that list. For our family, walking is the best option - and the ability to walk to two parks from BC/YC is huge. No waiting for anything - including the monorail. Even if the monorail doesn't break down or experience delays, you still have to wait for it and (unless you're at Poly) wait to transfer from the Epcot monorail to the resorts monorail. We find that this takes quite a bit of time. The walk out of DHS or Epcot back to the room just cannot be beat!
Next year, we're staying a night at Poly (nostalgia!), we're trying GF and CR for the first time (bucket list!) and then we're ending our trip at BC and BWI. We're ending at the Epcot resorts based on the "best for last" theory.
If you did it over again, would you choose CL at CR or book a regular tower bay view room?
)
So now that we're back (and finally rested enough!) from our weekend away, I thought I'd share a little bit of perspective for those who might be thinking about Yacht Club vs. one of the MK properties.
We stayed CL Lagoon View in Sept 2011 at YC and just returned from Contemporary Resort Feb 2012 CL Bay Lake View.
Off the bat, I wanted to point out something that a few of the guide books all seem to say is wrong. The YC rooms are NOT DARK. I don't know where they got that from, really. The Contemporary (which I was expecting to be extra bright ) was light....when the curtains were open. Other than that, the dark tones allowed much less light to get through. (Also on the record, I did like the rooms, just not nearly as much as YC).
The other big difference I noticed? The Club Level Lounges. Contemporary was AWESOME for fireworks viewing. Our first night was spent on the balcony in the lounge watching them practically alone while they piped in the music. (Well, my DH was watching, I was bawling because Disney does that to me
Also, the YC CL rooms seemed to be much quieter. I was lucky enough to be on the far side of the Contemporary AWAY from Chef Mickey's....but I still heard the monorail voice every morning starting at 7AM, through my door, on the 12th floor!
This brings up another key point- Transportation. I found it MUCH easier to get to/from all the parks at the YC. You'd think being on the Monorail makes things super quick. It doesn't. At all. If you plan on spending a lot of time in Epcot / DHS.... I'd go YC. I had no idea how good I had it at YC until staying at CR.
Needless to say I'm really glad I had the opportunity to experience a totally different (and very nice, do not get me wrong!) resort with Contemporary, but so far, YC is winning! (Go ahead, tell me you didn't read that with a Charlie Sheen voice...)
This coming October, we'll be spending our time between YC / BWI / and (I just added while my DH was still in love with all things Disney....it lasts at least a few weeks after we return....) GF.
Hope that helps someone with their planning. Again, just my opinions based on our stay - nothing else.
Hope everyone is staying warm!
Jen
There must be some sort of fun CM rivalry going on....
And, I can now say (I've been waiting for this):
MY MICKEY PUSHPIN IS COMPLETELY ENCOMPASSED BY SPACESHIP EARTH.
It's the little things...
I thought you would call it the dark side because BC was your home
I totally bought the last two just because you east coasters are always talking about them....I had to stick them in the freezer cause I have a darn chocolate pecan pie setting on the counter right now, but I couldn't pass them up.
When I stayed and waited for her I would sit in the little waiting area or outside on a bench with my Ipad where i would catch up on the Disboards! 
So happy to be with people that understand... I was talking with someone today who told me her former boss was at a meeting and started talking about how much she HATES Disney. She said that she wouldn't go there as a child even when her parents went, that she would NEVER bring her children there, and that anyone who went to Disney were ignorant morons. She said this in front of a staff member who had been saving for her family's trip for a year and she KNEW it. Anyway, people who say nonsense like that are ignorant morons!!!! 
This woman is nasty in all areas. I think she needs a bit of magic! LOLHonestly I don't remember how far it is. It's down a road where its not really developed yet... passed the campgrounds. I also went different ways each time back to the hotel so it could be closer than I think it was to YC/BC. Magnolia/Palm was really very pretty though. The pro shop at Osprey was much nicer. Can you tell the golf was for DD and not me... I had not a bit of interest in that part of the trip
~Nannette
I booked!!
:happiness:
So now that we're back (and finally rested enough!) from our weekend away, I thought I'd share a little bit of perspective for those who might be thinking about Yacht Club vs. one of the MK properties.
We stayed CL Lagoon View in Sept 2011 at YC and just returned from Contemporary Resort Feb 2012 CL Bay Lake View.
Off the bat, I wanted to point out something that a few of the guide books all seem to say is wrong. The YC rooms are NOT DARK. I don't know where they got that from, really. The Contemporary (which I was expecting to be extra bright ) was light....when the curtains were open. Other than that, the dark tones allowed much less light to get through. (Also on the record, I did like the rooms, just not nearly as much as YC).
The other big difference I noticed? The Club Level Lounges. Contemporary was AWESOME for fireworks viewing. Our first night was spent on the balcony in the lounge watching them practically alone while they piped in the music. (Well, my DH was watching, I was bawling because Disney does that to me
Also, the YC CL rooms seemed to be much quieter. I was lucky enough to be on the far side of the Contemporary AWAY from Chef Mickey's....but I still heard the monorail voice every morning starting at 7AM, through my door, on the 12th floor!
This brings up another key point- Transportation. I found it MUCH easier to get to/from all the parks at the YC. You'd think being on the Monorail makes things super quick. It doesn't. At all. If you plan on spending a lot of time in Epcot / DHS.... I'd go YC. I had no idea how good I had it at YC until staying at CR.
Needless to say I'm really glad I had the opportunity to experience a totally different (and very nice, do not get me wrong!) resort with Contemporary, but so far, YC is winning! (Go ahead, tell me you didn't read that with a Charlie Sheen voice...)
This coming October, we'll be spending our time between YC / BWI / and (I just added while my DH was still in love with all things Disney....it lasts at least a few weeks after we return....) GF.
Hope that helps someone with their planning. Again, just my opinions based on our stay - nothing else.
Hope everyone is staying warm!
Jen
And, I can now say (I've been waiting for this):
MY MICKEY PUSHPIN IS COMPLETELY ENCOMPASSED BY SPACESHIP EARTH.
It's the little things...
You're there while we are!!! We are 7/15-7/25!!!
