2011 Beach & Yacht Club FAQ

[graceesmom]

Hello everyone.. Has anybody stayed at both the beach club and the poly? I am booked at the beach club but I am so undecided and don't know which one I would like. I am driving myself CRAZY!! Can anyone compare and if so, which one do you like best?thanks so much!!

I have stayed at the Poly twice (Oct. 09 and Oct. 10) and the Beach Club once (July 10). We are booked again for the Beach Club next month.

I like them both. The Poly has such a nice theme and the lobby is so nice and I love being greeted with lei's and Aloha.

However, I prefer the room at the Beach Club and the pool at the beach club.

Here's my comparison breakdown:

Rooms: Poly vs. Beach Club?
Beach Club --Why? Double sinks at BC and sink area is in separate area from shower/toilet. Poly has single sink inside the bathroom.

Location: Poly vs. Beach Club
Poly takes a slim lead. Why? So close to MK and monorail service to MK and Epcot our two favorite parks. However, we do enjoy walking to Epcot and HS from Beach Club and planning dinners at all the Epcot restaurants when we stay at Beach Club.

Pools: Poly vs. Beach Club
Beach Club wins. Why? Well Stormalong Bay is an amazing one of a kind pool. Plus the Poly has no hot tub/jacuzzi's and there is very little seating by the main pool at the Poly.

Restaurant Choices close by? Poly vs. Beach Club
This is a tie. If you consider only resort dining, then Poly wins with easy access to all monorail resort restaurants. But if you have hoppers, you can dine at all the Epcot restaurants.

Feel free to PM me any other questions.

 

[TeenaS]

Not happy to hear that. We aren't staying CL but are a family of five just the same and definitely would need the daybed and would prefer that to a rollaway. Is everyone in your family over age two?

It can happen. Unfortunately if they oversell us in five sleepers, then somebody will get a rollaway. It doesn't happen that often but it definitely can happen. If you are there during a time when we are not full (the whole resort) and you ask to be moved to a room with a daybed instead of a rollaway (personally I think the rollaway is more comfortable than the old daybeds -- the new ones are great though) and if there is no room available that day or maybe the next day, you could ask them to be moved to a five sleeper with a daybed on a different floor but with concierge lounge access. Can't guarantee it will happen, but it's something that's possible IF we are not sold out.

Keep in mind this could happen at any of the deluxe resorts that sleep five. Not all the rooms have daybeds in them. If a resort gets oversold in the five sleeper category, then daybeds are provided. It doesn't happen alot ... but it can happen anywhere. For all the people that it happens to, there are thousands that it doesn't happen to.

 

[Dobie]

Don't know if you can call but there is a National & Alamo car rental desk located at the Swan if you want to do 'in person' rental. Just a short walk over.

I reserved a car with them online a year ago. Super easy!

 

[starstruck93]

Good luck to our half marathon runners this weekend! And Welcome Home Teena!

Anyone else joining us in February?

mmross
cjk
wirki, Jan. 31-Feb. 5, BCV
chimo2u, Feb. 5-10, BC CL
pixarmom, Feb. 7-13, BC
eeyoreland, Feb. 11-13, BC
JenLittle, Feb. 12-17, BC
Milmore104, Feb. 23-25
haleofafamily, Feb. 24 – Mar. 1, BCV and running her 1st ½ marathon!!
Ban26ana, Feb. 25-28 and running her 1st 1/2 marathon!
Melvin1790, Feb.26-Mar. 3, BC CL

Who's going in March?

BCV23, beginning of March!
Pocahantas, Mar. 4-8, BCV
woodleygrrl, Mar. 4-13, ?
prettyjeepgirl, Mar. 6-12
bzzelady, Mar. 9-13, BC
mtmbyck, Mar. 10-12, BCV
lymah, Mar. 10-15, BC
pfsedita Mar. 11-16, BC
LilGMom, Mar. 12-18,
The Hanslers (rlahansler), Mar. 19-27, BCV
E&BMom, Mar. 21-27, BC
MinnieFan4ever, Mar. 23-?, YC
TigrLvsPooh, Mar. 26 - Apr. 2, BC CL

I'll be at BCV March 3-10th Thanks! April
Also... I looked at the map so I could figure out what room I wanted to request. I picked courtyard, upper level because I want to be near the cafe and the bus stop. Does anyone have an opinion on room location in the Villas? TIA for your help! April

 

[BCV23]

We're headed there next weekend and wondering if we'll be able to get the new mugs!

Thanks!

Old style at the Marketplace this morning.

See you tomorrow!

It was great seeing you today, Teena. I hope everything goes very well this week at Mayo Clinic.

If possible can you take a pic of the new balcony furniture? .....would love to see it and be able to show DH.

Have a fantastic time ...........I wish I was there, so tired of the winter

Thanks about the fantastic time. It is so nice to feel the warmth and see the lovely blooming flowers.

I will try to take some pictures but I'm a horrible photographer and not good at posting photos. Last time I tried, I accidentally made all my photos public until a friend warned me. It won't be for nearly two weeks at the earliest. I hope by then someone else has helped you.

New balcony furniture....hooray. Love the balcony sitting. Hope you are having a wonderful trip!

Today we walked to Epcot and I noticed that the BC has identical new balcony/patio furniture.

We are having fun, thanks.

Hi all

Hoping someone can help as we have our first stay at BCV in May.

What drinks are at the station for the refillable mugs? Mostly interested if they have proper Hot Cocoa or the packets? Would handy to know which sodas are available too.

Thanks

It is not from packets but rather from a machine. Not the same as homemade but my children always enjoyed it when they were young.

A shout out to Simone in the BC Marketplace. She went above and beyond to help me this morning. Disney magic is alive and well.

 

[DrMomof3]

Hello everyone.. Has anybody stayed at both the beach club and the poly? I am booked at the beach club but I am so undecided and don't know which one I would like. I am driving myself CRAZY!! Can anyone compare and if so, which one do you like best?thanks so much!!

We've stayed both and love both. The good news is you can't go wrong!
We liked staying at the BC in the summer when we knew we'd want lots of pool time. Although the Poly pool is nice, it's much smaller than SAB.
My kids are young so the monorail access at the Poly is great (until the monorail broke down on our recent trip but that's another story!). We could keep the kids in the strollers on the monorail rather than folding everything up and carrying it on the bus. However, you can't beat the short walk to Epcot from BC. And the walk/boat ride to DHS is also really easy.

Amanda

 

[pixarmom]

BCV23, thanks so much for the updates! Hope you are having a wonderful time! And welcome home, Dee! Can't wait for the Barcelo trip report!

Anyone else joining us in February?

mmross
cjk
wirki, Jan. 31-Feb. 5, BCV
chimo2u, Feb. 5-10, BC CL
pixarmom, Feb. 7-13, BC
eeyoreland, Feb. 11-13, BC
JenLittle, Feb. 12-17, BC
Milmore104, Feb. 23-25
haleofafamily, Feb. 24 – Mar. 1, BCV and running her 1st ½ marathon!!
Ban26ana, Feb. 25-28 and running her 1st 1/2 marathon!
Melvin1790, Feb.26-Mar. 3, BC CL

Who's going in March?

BCV23, beginning of March!
starstruck93, Mar. 3-10, BCV
woodleygrrl, Mar. 4-13, ?
bzzelady, Mar. 9-13, BC
mtmbyck, Mar. 10-12, BCV
lymah, Mar. 10-15, BC
pfsedita Mar. 11-16, BC
LilGMom, Mar. 12-18,
The Hanslers (rlahansler), Mar. 19-27, BCV
E&BMom, Mar. 21-27, BC
MinnieFan4ever, Mar. 23-?, YC
TigrLvsPooh, Mar. 26 - Apr. 2, BC CL

 

[pixarmom]

Woo hoo for Toy Story 3's Academy Award!!!

 

[PittPantherfan]

I was feeling pretty confident about all of our plans about staying in a Garden View CL in May for a family of 5 until I read Jenlittle's comments. I immediately got a huge dose of anxiety and a sickening feeling in my stomach. Then I read on and got another jolt by someone else who did not get a day bed for a family of 5 either.

It seems that you can't be 100% sure of anything. All of the research and planning can go for not. It really is a shame that people end up on the wrong end of stick just because Disney overbooks so Disney can have a reduced risk of an empty room and reduced risk of lost revenue.

If you are not an all-American family of 5, in my opinion, you have limited selections at Disney as it is. Being in a room with 2 adults and 3 children is tight already but to have to squeeze a rollaway in too, would seem to be unbearable. I think it is ironic that they won't let a family of 5 stay in a room designated for 4 people and have a young child in a sleeping bag for fire codes but they will let you put another piece of furniture in a room that probably is about the same square footage as rooms that are designated for 4 and be OK with fire code.

I have read somewhere that people recommend calling the room assigner 9 days before check in to confirm that you room requests are on your reservation. Is this practice appropriate?

I was only going to have a "full balcony" request on my reservation but now I guess I need to decide whether to put "day bed" as well. I know that it is recommended to have only one request so I guess I will need to decide to which is more important. We are Irish but have no luck, so if someone gets stuck with the rollaway - it will be us!

Sorry for the slight rant but I do feel better now that I have typed it!

 

[WDWKOOK]

All the CL waterview rooms you can see the lake. However, the ones down by SAB, you see SAB first, then past SAB, you can see the lake.

There are no maps out there that show the new room categories (as of 1/1/11) that I know of.

Thank you for answering my question.

Just to clarify, there are both CL AND non-CL lake view rooms that DON'T overlook SAB? Would one book a water view room and add the request "Not overlooking SAB"? Or is there a more precise way to phrase this for the room assigner?

 

[TeenaS]

Thank you for answering my question.

Just to clarify, there are both CL AND non-CL lake view rooms that DON'T overlook SAB? Would one book a water view room and add the request "Not overlooking SAB"? Or is there a more precise way to phrase this for the room assigner?

Yes, there are both CL and non CL water view rooms that do not overlook SAB. Some of the non CL water view rooms overlook the quiet pool. None of the CL water view rooms look over the quiet pool.

You can request anything you want and "not overlooking SAB" would be fine. As far as CL water view rooms, that eliminates about half of the rooms. Just remember, requests are not guaranteed.

 

[TeenaS]

I was feeling pretty confident about all of our plans about staying in a Garden View CL in May for a family of 5 until I read Jenlittle's comments. I immediately got a huge dose of anxiety and a sickening feeling in my stomach. Then I read on and got another jolt by someone else who did not get a day bed for a family of 5 either.

It seems that you can't be 100% sure of anything. All of the research and planning can go for not. It really is a shame that people end up on the wrong end of stick just because Disney overbooks so Disney can have a reduced risk of an empty room and reduced risk of lost revenue.

If you are not an all-American family of 5, in my opinion, you have limited selections at Disney as it is. Being in a room with 2 adults and 3 children is tight already but to have to squeeze a rollaway in too, would seem to be unbearable. I think it is ironic that they won't let a family of 5 stay in a room designated for 4 people and have a young child in a sleeping bag for fire codes but they will let you put another piece of furniture in a room that probably is about the same square footage as rooms that are designated for 4 and be OK with fire code.

I have read somewhere that people recommend calling the room assigner 9 days before check in to confirm that you room requests are on your reservation. Is this practice appropriate?

I was only going to have a "full balcony" request on my reservation but now I guess I need to decide whether to put "day bed" as well. I know that it is recommended to have only one request so I guess I will need to decide to which is more important. We are Irish but have no luck, so if someone gets stuck with the rollaway - it will be us!

Sorry for the slight rant but I do feel better now that I have typed it!

You can certainly call or send an email to the room assignor. However, no matter how the room assignor assigns rooms, the day of check-in comes and "rooms ready" takes over and tries to get people into ready rooms so people that are assigned a room 2 or 9 days before can lose the room they are assigned and it can be given to someone who arrives early. The resort wants people in rooms that are ready as soon as possible. It's a goal!! The new reservation system too does most of the room assigning and if your request isn't put into the system correctly, the computer can't read it and won't give you what you requested. Lastly, if there aren't enough five sleepers because they overbooked the five sleepers, there's little that can be done. But please believe me, it doesn't happen that often. Yes, there are two instances on this thread. But if we did a poll here and asked everybody with five in their family how many times they stayed at the Y&B and how many of those times they got a daybed, I think you'll find the percentage is probably around 95-99%.

Now I'm going to tell you what I would do. I'm talking here as a regular guest, not a cast member!! If I had five in my family and booked a CL room and did not get a five sleeper, I'd walk back to the CL concierge CMs and tell them I booked a five sleeper and I did not get a daybed. I would tell them a rollaway is not acceptable (if I had a room that one did not fit into comfortably). If they could not find me a five sleeper that day, I would ask to speak to one of the managers. If the manager can't find me a five sleeper that same day, then I would say I would accept a five sleeper on another floor with elevator access to the fifth floor for the lounge and CL concierge CMs of course. If that wasn't available, then I would absolutely demand to be put in a room that would FIT a rollaway (and there are plenty that will fit a rollaway comfortably). I would take the manager into the room and ask them if they would stay in that small room with 3 children and a rollaway with suitcases and ask them how they are suppose to move around. Honestly, there are rooms that have two queens in them on the other floors that would fit a rollaway real easily. The managers will do everything in their power to fix the situation. It is rare that we are totally sold out for more than a few days and even in sell out days, people are checking out and new people are coming in. Worse case scenario, they will find you something acceptable the next day.

Again, this is not something that happens commonly. We would never have families of five come back and stay with us if it were to happen a lot.

One way to guarantee a huge room with a nice view and a daybed is to book one of the deluxe rooms which is actually cheaper than a CL water view room. Personally, if I had three children, that's the only room I would book at the Beach Club or any other deluxe resort!!!!

 

[eelkmj01]

I have 2 questions. 1 for Teena S. and another in general.

Teena, we have a BCV reservation for October and we requested a 5th floor room with an Epcot view. I know since this is F&W this resort will be very popular. Do you know what the chances are of having a request like this fulfilled? We would much rather have a higher floor and the view would just be a bonus.

My other question is about DISplaying your love for the DIS at your resort. I thought I saw a thread once where folks from the DIS would put something on their room door or in their room window that was the color green to represent being a member of the DIS. Am I correct about this? TIA!!!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

BCV 23 - Hope you are enjoying the nice, warm weather and having a fantastic time!

To everyone who is worried about not getting a day bed, keep in mind there are some rooms with 2 queen beds that DO fit a rollaway just fine. When we did our Grand Gathering my mom share a room with my 3 oldest ds's. Although there were only four in a room they definitely needed a rollaway! The rollaway fit just fine and there was plenty of room.

The funny thing is that I would love to book a waterview CL room but they won't let a family of 5 book it even if though we would be willing to use the rollaway!

Teena - unfortunately Disney caught on and the deluxe cl room is now more expensive than the wv cl room. It was nice while it lasted - I know we LOVED the deluxe cl room!!!! Keeping you in my prayers.

 

[donmil723]

Does BC have the new refillable mugs out yet? We are only going to be there a couple of days before our cruise and I wasn't going to purchase any but the new ones would really be nice to take along on our cruise. Thanks!

 

[pixarmom]

But please believe me, it doesn't happen that often. Yes, there are two instances on this thread. But if we did a poll here and asked everybody with five in their family how many times they stayed at the Y&B and how many of those times they got a daybed, I think you'll find the percentage is probably around 95-99%.

Just wanted to add that we're a family of five and we've stayed at BC three times over the past 12 months. Without a request on our reservations, we've had a daybed 100% of the time! (Our experience before then doesn't count because we were technically a family of four until our youngest turned three years old.) I've only been reading these boards for a couple years (and posting for a year and a half or so) but it seems very rare that a family of five doesn't get the daybed.

 

[doccoc2002]

Just wanted to add that we're a family of five and we've stayed at BC three times over the past 12 months. Without a request on our reservations, we've had a daybed 100% of the time! (Our experience before then doesn't count because we were technically a family of four until our youngest turned three years old.) I've only been reading these boards for a couple years (and posting for a year and a half or so) but it seems very rare that a family of five doesn't get the daybed.

How often did you get a daybed, if requested, before your LO turned 3. Our DD will be 2 so we will be a family of "4" this trip until next year. I requested a daybed and we will be fine withourt one...she'll sleep with her sisters or us if need be, but a daybed would be great! We have tried P-n-P at other resorts but it gets in the way. So maybe a rollaway bed...anyone have pictures of these??
TIA

 

[yolie912]

I have stayed at the Poly twice (Oct. 09 and Oct. 10) and the Beach Club once (July 10). We are booked again for the Beach Club next month.

I like them both. The Poly has such a nice theme and the lobby is so nice and I love being greeted with lei's and Aloha.

However, I prefer the room at the Beach Club and the pool at the beach club.

Here's my comparison breakdown:

Rooms: Poly vs. Beach Club?
Beach Club --Why? Double sinks at BC and sink area is in separate area from shower/toilet. Poly has single sink inside the bathroom.

Location: Poly vs. Beach Club
Poly takes a slim lead. Why? So close to MK and monorail service to MK and Epcot our two favorite parks. However, we do enjoy walking to Epcot and HS from Beach Club and planning dinners at all the Epcot restaurants when we stay at Beach Club.

Pools: Poly vs. Beach Club
Beach Club wins. Why? Well Stormalong Bay is an amazing one of a kind pool. Plus the Poly has no hot tub/jacuzzi's and there is very little seating by the main pool at the Poly.

Restaurant Choices close by? Poly vs. Beach Club
This is a tie. If you consider only resort dining, then Poly wins with easy access to all monorail resort restaurants. But if you have hoppers, you can dine at all the Epcot restaurants.

Feel free to PM me any other questions.

Wow, THANKS so much! Your review made me happy with my choice. I was so worried. Now I am a happy camper....=)

 

[Elise79]

It is not from packets but rather from a machine. Not the same as homemade but my children always enjoyed it when they were young.

Thanks just what I wanted to hear

 

[pixarmom]

How often did you get a daybed, if requested, before your LO turned 3. Our DD will be 2 so we will be a family of "4" this trip until next year. I requested a daybed and we will be fine withourt one...she'll sleep with her sisters or us if need be, but a daybed would be great! We have tried P-n-P at other resorts but it gets in the way. So maybe a rollaway bed...anyone have pictures of these??
TIA

With fewer than five at BC, we didn't request a daybed, either. And I can't recall whether we got one - it was a long time ago with multiple stays at other WDW resorts in between!