2011 Yacht & Beach Club FAQ, Part II

[YCFAN]

Just wanted to add that those prices that I quoted on the cakes were prices BEFORE the discount so the actual prices of the cakes were $160 and $100.

The Yacht and Beach Chefs really do a great job.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Hello All!!! I will be at the BC July 26-Aug2...I am curious if anyone here uses the Sandcastle Club???? I did once 3 years ago and my daughter was BORED...but there were only 2 other kids there. I have also used Kids Night Out but they are a lot more expense.

OK so here are my two question....

1) Any thoughts on Private In room sitting for dd 9 and ds6? or Should I do Sandcastle Club. We want to venture to Jelly Rolls....So much Fun!!!

2) We are staying CL this year...Are there any advantages? I am really not sure other than paying more and having snacks thru out the day.


Thanks all!!!!!! I am getttttttinnnnnggg so excited!!!

My kids love the Sandcastle Club! Last year we had it booked for one night - the kids were 9, 11 and 12. They liked it so much they ended up doing it two more nights. I have it booked for two nights this trip.

There are some other advantages to CL - they will arrange all your dining reservations, things like Illuminations Cruises, Tours, Spa appointments etc.
They have dvd players in the CL rooms and you can borrow dvds from the cl desk. You will have a private check in and the cl cms are there to assist you from 7 am to 10 pm.

 

[natebenma]

Here is another pirate-themed cake prepared by YC/BC private dining for the EchoQueen family. Original posting is a couple of threads back (maybe 2010 FAQ Part II).

I am keeping a collection of "cake photos" from YC/BC private dining only for just such an occasion when posters have questions, but so far all I have are YCFans, this one and the white chocolate mickey, so if anyone else has other pictures you want to share post them here!

 

[natebenma]

My kids love the Sandcastle Club! Last year we had it booked for one night - the kids were 9, 11 and 12. They liked it so much they ended up doing it two more nights. I have it booked for two nights this trip.

There are some other advantages to CL - they will arrange all your dining reservations, things like Illuminations Cruises, Tours, Spa appointments etc.
They have dvd players in the CL rooms and you can borrow dvds from the cl desk. You will have a private check in and the cl cms are there to assist you from 7 am to 10 pm.

One of the things we really loved about CL was that any packages you purchased in the parks were delivered right to your room (not to the resort gift shop).

 

[stepdisney]

I had been very, very excited about our choice of YC this year. I've wanted to stay Epcot for some time now. I'm so excited about SAB but have recently stumbled upon 2 SAB threads, 1 that spoke about the lazy river and both had quite few negative reports about the pool being over crowded and hard to navigate. I came running back here... So, Is the pool over crowded? What time would be a good time to swim i.e. is mid-day going to be unbearable? Also, the pool is massive. Is it hard to navigate? Are there sudden drops in pool depths? Also, I'm hearing conflicting reports on the currents of the lazy river portion. Is it hard to navigate now that I know that your feet can't touch bottom. Will my 10-year-old have a hard time on the lazy river? Thanks for your help...

 

[TeenaS]

I had been very, very excited about our choice of YC this year. I've wanted to stay Epcot for some time now. I'm so excited about SAB but have recently stumbled upon 2 SAB threads, 1 that spoke about the lazy river and both had quite few negative reports about the pool being over crowded and hard to navigate. I came running back here... So, Is the pool over crowded? What time would be a good time to swim i.e. is mid-day going to be unbearable? Also, the pool is massive. Is it hard to navigate? Are there sudden drops in pool depths? Also, I'm hearing conflicting reports on the currents of the lazy river portion. Is it hard to navigate now that I know that your feet can't touch bottom. Will my 10-year-old have a hard time on the lazy river? Thanks for your help...

The pool is massive and has many winding turns and sections. Yes, there are some areas that are much deeper than others. The lazy river is it's own little piece of the pool ... separate from the rest of it. It is very deep, I believe 9-10 feet in most places.

I don't find it overcrowded because (1) it is so huge and (2) they are very diligent in keeping out everybody that is not staying at the resort. You can't even take relatives or friends in.

 

[scottmel]

I too read stories of shortages of chairs, crowdedness, etc. The last two Junes we experienced NONE of this. Chairs readily available, pool not what I would call over crowded, etc. We are headed back this August but it was fantastic both times we experienced it. We loved it so much we are only doing 2.5 parkd days this trip! We want SAB time!

 

[pixarmom]

I too read stories of shortages of chairs, crowdedness, etc. The last two Junes we experienced NONE of this. Chairs readily available, pool not what I would call over crowded, etc. We are headed back this August but it was fantastic both times we experienced it. We loved it so much we are only doing 2.5 parkd days this trip! We want SAB time!

I agree!!! A few additional thoughts regarding SAB:

While there are several different areas with different depths, the kiddie areas are entirely detached from the deeper sections. I took a photo of one kiddie area in February (I think Dee has it on the first page) to demonstrate the complete separation of these areas. So there is no risk of floating from the zero depth area or the kiddie slide area into the deeper lazy river. (Actually, even our pre-teens don't use the lazy river - they prefer the other areas of the pool.)

Like Teena said, SAB is so large that it has never seemed crowded to us. Our most recent BC stays were February 2011, July 2010 and March 2010, and we'll be back in August. Even in the middle of the summer, in the middle of the afternoon, we didn't think it was crowded. And we spent at least a couple hours at SAB in the afternoons last July (to avoid crowded, hot parks.) We don't use the lounge chairs because we're usually in the pool, so that's not an issue for us. And because of the size, SAB seems less crowded to me than other resort pools (see list below.)

Most of the circumstances described in the negative reports do not apply to us. For guests who want to sit in one spot and see the entire pool, SAB is not a good fit - even I can admit that! If you want to be in the pool and tag along with your kids, it's great fun. If you don't want to be in the pool but say, "OK kids, stay in this area and I'm sitting here on the side - tell me when you want to go somewhere else and we'll move," that will work too. (I've done that when our pre-teens swim in some crazy cold temps at night - it may be too cold for me to get in, but I just refill my mug with coffee and move around to different areas of the pool with them. They swim, slide, splash, chat with me - love it!)

But I think that's the trade-off - more features and more swim areas means you can't sit in one spot and see the entire pool. Our second favorite pool is now the Kidani pool, and it's the same situation there. You can't see everything Kidani has to offer from one spot, but it's a lot of fun!!!

 

[stepdisney]

The pool is massive and has many winding turns and sections. Yes, there are some areas that are much deeper than others. The lazy river is it's own little piece of the pool ... separate from the rest of it. It is very deep, I believe 9-10 feet in most places.

I don't find it overcrowded because (1) it is so huge and (2) they are very diligent in keeping out everybody that is not staying at the resort. You can't even take relatives or friends in.

Thanks for the help. A few more questions. Are the sections separated so that you can't drift into the super deep section? Will you be pulled into the current of the lazy river from another area or are the changes in depth gradual? Is there a section that stays 4/5 feet? Also, do you have to bring your key and receive an armband every day, every time you leave and come back, at check-in that you keep on the entire time?

I too read stories of shortages of chairs, crowdedness, etc. The last two Junes we experienced NONE of this. Chairs readily available, pool not what I would call over crowded, etc. We are headed back this August but it was fantastic both times we experienced it. We loved it so much we are only doing 2.5 parkd days this trip! We want SAB time!

So glad to know that most of what I am reading is "hype." We only have 5 day hoppers so we can go into Epcot for dinner each night and to catch all of the firework shows at least once. We have scheduled 2 resort days. We hear that YC/BC is a lot lot an all-inclusive resort. We need relaxation. Looking forward to movies on the beach and toasting marshmallows. My DH has a looong commute daily to DC and gets up super early to ride the metro. He needs to relax.

 

[stepdisney]

I agree!!! A few additional thoughts regarding SAB:

While there are several different areas with different depths, the kiddie areas are entirely detached from the deeper sections. I took a photo of one kiddie area in February (I think Dee has it on the first page) to demonstrate the complete separation of these areas. So there is no risk of floating from the zero depth area or the kiddie slide area into the deeper lazy river. (Actually, even our pre-teens don't use the lazy river - they prefer the other areas of the pool.)

Like Teena said, SAB is so large that it has never seemed crowded to us. Our most recent BC stays were February 2011, July 2010 and March 2010, and we'll be back in August. Even in the middle of the summer, in the middle of the afternoon, we didn't think it was crowded. And we spent at least a couple hours at SAB in the afternoons last July (to avoid crowded, hot parks.) We don't use the lounge chairs because we're usually in the pool, so that's not an issue for us. And because of the size, SAB seems less crowded to me than other resort pools (see list below.)

Most of the circumstances described in the negative reports do not apply to us. For guests who want to sit in one spot and see the entire pool, SAB is not a good fit - even I can admit that! If you want to be in the pool and tag along with your kids, it's great fun. If you don't want to be in the pool but say, "OK kids, stay in this area and I'm sitting here on the side - tell me when you want to go somewhere else and we'll move," that will work too. (I've done that when our pre-teens swim in some crazy cold temps at night - it may be too cold for me to get in, but I just refill my mug with coffee and move around to different areas of the pool with them. They swim, slide, splash, chat with me - love it!)

But I think that's the trade-off - more features and more swim areas means you can't sit in one spot and see the entire pool. Our second favorite pool is now the Kidani pool, and it's the same situation there. You can't see everything Kidani has to offer from one spot, but it's a lot of fun!!!

Whew! Thanks for the help. You've answered the questions I had. We LOVE Kidani's pool too! So far, it has been our favorite. I am assuming that there are red ropes letting you know when the pool gets deeper.

 

[goodferry]

We were just there in June. We did have to have our cards with us everytime we went to the pool. I bought a waterproof thing that hangs around your neck and kept everyones keys in it.
The lazy river is seperate from the rest of the pool, you actually have to make a concious decision to get in, you can't be pulled in from another section. There is an area of the pool that is not as deep and stays pretty steady in depth from the area where the slide dumps into up to where you get out to get into the lazy river or go across the bridge that goes over it, hope this makes sense.
We had no trouble finding chairs at all and found the lines at the poolside quick service place very reasonable. The Poly pool is FAR more crowded IMHO

 

[rlahansler]

Here is another pirate-themed cake prepared by YC/BC private dining for the EchoQueen family. Original posting is a couple of threads back (maybe 2010 FAQ Part II).

I am keeping a collection of "cake photos" from YC/BC private dining only for just such an occasion when posters have questions, but so far all I have are YCFans, this one and the white chocolate mickey, so if anyone else has other pictures you want to share post them here!

The Disney cakes look awesome. Having my daughters Communion party this Saturday and wish Disney could do one of their wonderful cakes for her party. Instead we are having Jewel make a cake with her Communion picture on it ( not too exciting). Praying we get warm weather as we have a pool and the kids love swimming. Our summer so far has been rain, rain rain and not too hot either. Fingers crossed!!!

 

[TeenaS]

Thanks for the help. A few more questions. Are the sections separated so that you can't drift into the super deep section? Will you be pulled into the current of the lazy river from another area or are the changes in depth gradual? Is there a section that stays 4/5 feet? Also, do you have to bring your key and receive an armband every day, every time you leave and come back, at check-in that you keep on the entire time?
:

The lazy river (real deep) is it's own pool, separate from everything else at SAB. You have to exit the rest of SAB to get into the lazy river.

 

[Marlton Mom]

I had been very, very excited about our choice of YC this year. I've wanted to stay Epcot for some time now. I'm so excited about SAB but have recently stumbled upon 2 SAB threads, 1 that spoke about the lazy river and both had quite few negative reports about the pool being over crowded and hard to navigate. SNIP!

I was there from June 10 to the 20th of this year and I was in the pool during the most crowded times of the day. Due to it's large size it did not appear to be crowded at all during peak demand. It was so hot out that people were definitely using the pool, but again the demand was never greater that the capacity.

Thanks for the help. A few more questions. Are the sections separated so that you can't drift into the super deep section? Will you be pulled into the current of the lazy river from another area or are the changes in depth gradual? Is there a section that stays 4/5 feet? Also, do you have to bring your key and receive an armband every day, every time you leave and come back, at check-in that you keep on the entire time?

So glad to know that most of what I am reading is "hype." We only have 5 day hoppers so we can go into Epcot for dinner each night and to catch all of the firework shows at least once. We have scheduled 2 resort days. We hear that YC/BC is a lot lot an all-inclusive resort. We need relaxation. Looking forward to movies on the beach and toasting marshmallows. My DH has a looong commute daily to DC and gets up super early to ride the metro. He needs to relax.

While we were walking around the pool you could feel for the most part where it was getting deeper and then more shallow so there were no surprises as far as the depth is concerned. It does get deep to the point where in some locations it is over your head, but you are walking down into them.

The pool entry stairways that take you from the lazy river section to the main pool area where the activities are held do have steep/deep drop offs but they are clearly labeled so, if you are paying attention to the depth signs on the pool tile, you will know what to expect and you can anticipate the depth of the water in those locations.

As far as checking for ID, we were checked every time we entered the pool! The Lifeguard very carefully checked the data on our card to make sure that we were current guests of the resort and then they issued wrist bands in that day's color.

If you did not remove your wrist band you could go back to the pool area with out showing your resort ID. If you removed your wrist band for some reason you would have to show your ID again before being allowed to return to the pool.

~ MM

 

[Sue M]

For those of you that have booked with Aug AP rate before, what has been the availability? Do they usually have GV booking category?
I'm not so patiently waiting for late Aug AP rates to come out .

We are currently booked with 35% room discount with DDP, so I've had to add 1 day park tickets. Wanting to get AP rate so I can switch to AP + DDP pkg

I hope they come out by Monday

 

[TeenaS]

Bob and I just booked the Beach Club for three nights for our anniversary (32 years). We arrive 8/2 for three nights. Our anniversary is 8/4.

We made dinner reservations for each night already and got what we wanted.

We are super excited!!!

SAB here we come.

 

[bellebookworm9]

But I think that's the trade-off - more features and more swim areas means you can't sit in one spot and see the entire pool. Our second favorite pool is now the Kidani pool, and it's the same situation there. You can't see everything Kidani has to offer from one spot, but it's a lot of fun!!!

Whew! Thanks for the help. You've answered the questions I had. We LOVE Kidani's pool too! So far, it has been our favorite. I am assuming that there are red ropes letting you know when the pool gets deeper.

I'm glad to hear that you all rank Kidani's pool second! When we stayed there, I was absolutely in with it! The slide was just fantastic, we liked the zero entry, and the kids area was pretty cool too, although we looked around there only briefly. I guess I'm correct in thinking only SAB could top it!

Bob and I just booked the Beach Club for three nights for our anniversary (32 years). We arrive 8/2 for three nights. Our anniversary is 8/4.

We made dinner reservations for each night already and got what we wanted.

We are super excited!!!

SAB here we come.

Congratulations on 32 years! That is exciting that you got the ADRs you wanted.

 

[pixarmom]

Bob and I just booked the Beach Club for three nights for our anniversary (32 years). We arrive 8/2 for three nights. Our anniversary is 8/4.

We made dinner reservations for each night already and got what we wanted.

We are super excited!!!

SAB here we come.

Yay! Happy Anniversary to you and Bob! We'd love to hear your dining choices - although I'm guessing Cape May is somewhere in there!

 

[Tinkerbell's mama]

Bob and I just booked the Beach Club for three nights for our anniversary (32 years). We arrive 8/2 for three nights. Our anniversary is 8/4.

We made dinner reservations for each night already and got what we wanted.

We are super excited!!!

SAB here we come.

Congratulations! 32 years sounds wonderful.

I am so happy for you that you got all your ADR's for what you wanted. We are still trying to get the one we want for our 15th Anniversary.

Enjoy the SAB and do lots RELAXING!!

 

[TeenaS]

Yay! Happy Anniversary to you and Bob! We'd love to hear your dining choices - although I'm guessing Cape May is somewhere in there!

Cape May
Teppan Edo
Italy (old one, not the new pizza one)