2014/2015 Beach and Yacht Club FAQ, Friends & Fun, Sept 2014-Mayl 2015

[HockeyMomR]

Speaking of Pool closings and maintenance: Since Ninja Mom is living in the frigid confines of the great white north and also has a pool, This is the letter that Ninja Mom sends out to all family members and neighborhood interlopers when her pool at home is closed:

Dear free loaders,
As the days get shorter and the nights get longer it is time for me to do the annual maintenance on the pool... all by myself... because none of you will get off your keisters and help me. To that end I am putting up official notice That the pool will be closed until I am good and ready to open it again... which after last years epic battles with it, namely the great PH battle, the misbehaving pool vacuum and the surprise snake in the skimmer, will open when I am good and ready for it, well that and I get a refill on my Prozac prescription.

Yeah sure the snake turned out to be rubber and my cardiologist said there was no permanent damage to my heart, but if I EVER catch the 4 year old who forgot their life like reptilian toy there will be a beating of unknown dimensions on the soles of their little size 5 feet.

So please collect all your belongings, your ratty pool towels, your broken goggles, your cracked supersoakers, your used bandaids, half of a pair of flop flops (who wears only one???) and beat feet out of my yard for the foreseeable future.

Signed, the Mistress of the deep (end of the pool).
PS. The only hurricane policy I have is that they should be served chilled in tall glasses with little paper umbrellas on them.

NM - I'll take a hurricane once the weather warms!

 

[JanetMom]

I did see that you tried to message me.

If you don't mind emailing me, you can contact me at beachclubdee at yahoo. That is a good way to reach me.

Thanks! Ben not only broke a leg, he lost 2 legs (and 2 arms, too) as the Black Knight.

Opening night was fabulous!!! I am so proud of our production and the very talented cast!

We had a sold out house last night and we have a sellout tonight, but we are watching the weather since we have a big storm arriving today.

Congratulations Ben and the whole crew on a sold out house!

Hope the weather respects the art of Spamalot and the show goes on.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Ninja and Janetmom thanks for the laughs today

Only going to have a few minutes here and there to post over the weekend- 3 (hopefully) performances of Spamalot this weekend, weather cooperating! My son Ben is the Black Knight and the killer rabbit.

Anyway, wanted to give a heads up about a probably Disney ticket price increase and some other changes in mid-February. I haven't seen amounts but this is the report from WDW news today

Disney theme park ticket price increase


.

Thanks for the heads up

I did see that you tried to message me.

If you don't mind emailing me, you can contact me at beachclubdee at yahoo. That is a good way to reach me.

Thanks! Ben not only broke a leg, he lost 2 legs (and 2 arms, too) as the Black Knight.

Opening night was fabulous!!! I am so proud of our production and the very talented cast!

We had a sold out house last night and we have a sellout tonight, but we are watching the weather since we have a big storm arriving today.

Congratulations on the great opening show Fingers and toes crossed for you that the weather behaves -stay warm

 

[UrsulaTheSeaWitch]

Does anyone very familiar with the Beach Club know if there are a lot of standard view rooms on the 4th floor?
I'm staying in March, and really my only request would be to try to get a refurbished room. Although if there are limited standard views available to begin with on the 4th floor, that might seem to be a waste of time.

Also, I think I read a few pages back someone said there were no standard view rooms on the ground floor? Does anyone know this to be true?

Thanks

 

[Retro Magic]

If I'm staying in a studio villa at the end of April....what can I expect? Hopefully the room is nice. Assuming it is not renovated by the time i visit. I have never stayed in the villas before. I requested a ground floor.

Not worried about the pool. I'm sure at that time of year they wouldn't be closing it.

 

[Spoisal]

Does anyone very familiar with the Beach Club know if there are a lot of standard view rooms on the 4th floor?
I'm staying in March, and really my only request would be to try to get a refurbished room. Although if there are limited standard views available to begin with on the 4th floor, that might seem to be a waste of time.

Also, I think I read a few pages back someone said there were no standard view rooms on the ground floor? Does anyone know this to be true?

Thanks

I would be interested in this as well! In fact, I would be interested to also know what the breakdown is for the different room types. Of the approximately 540 rooms at the BC, how many are Standard View, how many are Garden View, how many are Water View, and how many are Club?

 

[Hopefully]

If I'm staying in a studio villa at the end of April....what can I expect? Hopefully the room is nice. Assuming it is not renovated by the time i visit. I have never stayed in the villas before. I requested a ground floor.

Not worried about the pool. I'm sure at that time of year they wouldn't be closing it.

It is unlikely that a first floor Villa studio will be renovated by the end of April. I don't believe they have even announced a start date yet, and they usually start at the top and work there way down floors.
In a studio you will only have 1 Queen bed and a Double sleep sofa. There is a small kitchenette with an bar sink, microwave, under counter fridge, toaster and coffee maker. They are not the same "deluxe" décor of the Beach Club itself, but rather they are patterned after a late century beach area. Lots of folks think the theme is outdated and do not like it. I love it.
Good Luck

 

[natebenma]

Does anyone very familiar with the Beach Club know if there are a lot of standard view rooms on the 4th floor?
I'm staying in March, and really my only request would be to try to get a refurbished room. Although if there are limited standard views available to begin with on the 4th floor, that might seem to be a waste of time.

Also, I think I read a few pages back someone said there were no standard view rooms on the ground floor? Does anyone know this to be true?

Thanks

There are definitely standard rooms on the 4th floor overlooking the back parking lot and I'm guessing some that overlook rooftops, but I have no idea how many or what the percentage of SV rooms there are on that floor. Do you have other requests (full balcony?). Put them in priority order of what you would like.

I think that is true about the first floor- there would not be any rooms overlooking rooftops, and the first floor space by the parking lot is mostly taken up by the lobby.

I would be interested in this as well! In fact, I would be interested to also know what the breakdown is for the different room types. Of the approximately 540 rooms at the BC, how many are Standard View, how many are Garden View, how many are Water View, and how many are Club?

I don't have the breakdown for the number of each type of room view on each floor. I do have the view breakdown for club level rooms, but I won't be able to access that info until tomorrow.

 

[Spoisal]

I don't have the breakdown for the number of each type of room view on each floor. I do have the view breakdown for club level rooms, but I won't be able to access that info until tomorrow.

okay, thank you!

 

[natebenma]

For the folks who are at the Yacht or Beach Club right now. If you get a chance could you check on the progress of the pool rehab. Someone reported to me that they overheard discussion that the pool slide could be opening in the next day or so.

Thanks!

 

[Ninja Mom]

What is the likelihood of requests being honored? I've requested a full balcony but would also like an upper floor ( have not requested the upper floor yet because I feel greedy asking for too much dde0a). Should I call and add that request or is it really a "why bother" situation? So if anybody knows how often requests are honored or how they do ( first come first serve, etc.) I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Here is the deal with room requests... You can ask but they are not guaranteed. That being said, by all means make a request. It is advised that you DO NOT do advanced online check in. The best way to make a room request is to call Disney and have the operator note your request on your reservation.

Now when you get to the resort and check in you can ask the CM doing the check in if you were assigned to the requested room type. It's a 50/50 chance that the CM will be able to tell if the room has the thing that you requested.

So off you go to inspect the room that you were assigned. If you should find that the room is not satisfactory for any reason then you must go right back down to the check in desk and ask to speak with a manager. Explain nicely what is wrong with the room that you were originally assigned and ask if they can help you get assigned a room that meets your requests.


The key here is to do this at the desk and not on the phone
and
ask to speak with a manager.

When you CALL on the phone your call is sent OFF SITE to a CALL CENTER, which is the black hole of Disney Customer service. The people who are in the absolute best position to help you right away are the live ones behind the desk AT THE RESORT

So it is worth it to make that trip.

Remember to ask to speak with a manager and if you should find their attitude to be poor or their helpfulness lacking then Copy down their name and city and the time of your encounter and send that information along with a description of what happened to the manager of the hotel.

Her contact information is:
Mim Flynn, General Manager
Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts
1800 EPCOT Resort Boulevard
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

The email address for general guest services is: wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com

Another useful idea is that if you are speaking to a manager that is not helpful then come back to the front desk later and ask to speak with a different manager. I always phrase this by saying "I'd like to speak to a manager but not (for example) 'ImaCrankypants from Toronto', I need to speak with someone different."

I have a "sticky notes" app in my phone that I use to make notes on all the CM's that are naughty or exceptionally nice. Then when I get home a shoot off an email to guest services giving them that feedback. They LOOOOVE it when they get a nice letter about their wonderful CM's! and I know that the managers will be made aware when there is a problem with a CM.

I also use that sticky note app in my phone to make a note of my room number or even where Nannette left the car if we are on the loose in Orlando.

So there is yet another Ninja Mom novella on how to get what you need at a Disney resort. Good luck with your request and have a great trip!

~NM

 

[Ninja Mom]

I would be interested in this as well! In fact, I would be interested to also know what the breakdown is for the different room types. Of the approximately 540 rooms at the BC, how many are Standard View, how many are Garden View, how many are Water View, and how many are Club?

I've never seen that statistic posted anywhere. I think it's elusive. There is an ancient and incorrect map of the resort floating around somewhere but changes have been made over time so it doesn't reflect the current room situation.

~NM

 

[Retro Magic]

It is unlikely that a first floor Villa studio will be renovated by the end of April. I don't believe they have even announced a start date yet, and they usually start at the top and work there way down floors.
In a studio you will only have 1 Queen bed and a Double sleep sofa. There is a small kitchenette with an bar sink, microwave, under counter fridge, toaster and coffee maker. They are not the same "deluxe" décor of the Beach Club itself, but rather they are patterned after a late century beach area. Lots of folks think the theme is outdated and do not like it. I love it.
Good Luck

Thanks!

I just took a look at this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfNYRwnXjzc and if this is what I end of with, I will be very happy

Sure it's not amazing, but it's still very nice and appropriately themed. The refurbishment should look great.

 

[Abow75]

Here is the deal with room requests... You can ask but they are not guaranteed. That being said, by all means make a request. It is advised that you DO NOT do advanced online check in. The best way to make a room request is to call Disney and have the operator note your request on your reservation. Now when you get to the resort and check in you can ask the CM doing the check in if you were assigned to the requested room type. It's a 50/50 chance that the CM will be able to tell if the room has the thing that you requested. So off you go to inspect the room that you were assigned. If you should find that the room is not satisfactory for any reason then you must go right back down to the check in desk and ask to speak with a manager. Explain nicely what is wrong with the room that you were originally assigned and ask if they can help you get assigned a room that meets your requests. The key here is to do this at the desk and not on the phone and ask to speak with a manager. When you CALL on the phone your call is sent OFF SITE to a CALL CENTER, which is the black hole of Disney Customer service. The people who are in the absolute best position to help you right away are the live ones behind the desk AT THE RESORT So it is worth it to make that trip. Remember to ask to speak with a manager and if you should find their attitude to be poor or their helpfulness lacking then Copy down their name and city and the time of your encounter and send that information along with a description of what happened to the manager of the hotel. Her contact information is: Mim Flynn, General Manager Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts 1800 EPCOT Resort Boulevard Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830 The email address for general guest services is: wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com Another useful idea is that if you are speaking to a manager that is not helpful then come back to the front desk later and ask to speak with a different manager. I always phrase this by saying "I'd like to speak to a manager but not (for example) 'ImaCrankypants from Toronto', I need to speak with someone different." I have a "sticky notes" app in my phone that I use to make notes on all the CM's that are naughty or exceptionally nice. Then when I get home a shoot off an email to guest services giving them that feedback. They LOOOOVE it when they get a nice letter about their wonderful CM's! and I know that the managers will be made aware when there is a problem with a CM. I also use that sticky note app in my phone to make a note of my room number or even where Nannette left the car if we are on the loose in Orlando. So there is yet another Ninja Mom novella on how to get what you need at a Disney resort. Good luck with your request and have a great trip! ~NM

Thank you!! Maybe I'll try making the request!

 

[Miked0292]

For the folks who are at the Yacht or Beach Club right now. If you get a chance could you check on the progress of the pool rehab. Someone reported to me that they overheard discussion that the pool slide could be opening in the next day or so.

Thanks!

I could in 2 weeks possibly

 

[sarbah77]

For the folks who are at the Yacht or Beach Club right now. If you get a chance could you check on the progress of the pool rehab. Someone reported to me that they overheard discussion that the pool slide could be opening in the next day or so.

Thanks!

You got it! Walked by last night but I wasn't looking for that.

I think we got an upgrade¿ we paid for GV but we are overlooking a quiet pool.

I will say not a single request was honored - gazebo, king, near lobby. And we have a connecting room with very loud neighbors. They decided to yell at their son late last night, keeping my husband up. Annnnd they just started again so I think we need to talk to concierge!

Edit: room changed!

 

[HockeyMomR]

You got it! Walked by last night but I wasn't looking for that.

I think we got an upgrade¿ we paid for GV but we are overlooking a quiet pool.

I will say not a single request was honored - gazebo, king, near lobby. And we have a connecting room with very loud neighbors. They decided to yell at their son late last night, keeping my husband up. Annnnd they just started again so I think we need to talk to concierge!

Edit: room changed!

I just wanted to say on the room change. We have found Y&BC to be very accommodating with room issues if concerns are kindly expressed. Hope your new room is more to your liking and with quieter neighbors.

Rebecca

 

[deezeealum]

Sitting at Hurricane Hannah's right now and the slide is open!

 

[sarbah77]

Sitting at Hurricane Hannah's right now and the slide is open!

Was just going to post the same. There is something, blocked off but we were able to walk around pretty much the whole thing. I want to hop in the pool but I just can't... Not quite warm enough!

Both rooms have been in good shape so far and the concierge staff has been quite helpful. We are taking a late afternoon break before going back for our evening Fastpasses at Epcot so we sat outside Beaches and Cream in the sun for a bit.

 

[Hopefully]

Thanks!

I just took a look at this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfNYRwnXjzc and if this is what I end of with, I will be very happy

Sure it's not amazing, but it's still very nice and appropriately themed. The refurbishment should look great.

Yes, that is exactly what you should expect!!! We love it. That would be a "water view" room overlooking a canal. Not all balconies are that large, but all BCV studios to have full balconies.