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

[Wood Nymph]

I have heard but have not tried it out that Hurricane Hannah's (where you order hamburgers, etc.) does not take Tables in Wonderland but someone told me they used it at the bar next to Hannah's and they had a drink and food and they did use Tables there and they took it. This is all hearsay of course.

Thanks, Teena. We'll check it out and report back later.

 

[danceteachermom]

Dee, I booked fast passes for a school group of 50 for this past January. It took a long time to get everyone on my friends and Family list to do this. Make sure this is done and that everyone has their ticket linked correctly.

Anyway, when I tried to book all 50 at one it was so slow and simply just got stuck many times. But then I switched to groups of 10 and chose times that overlapped. So one group may be 10:05 - 11:05 and another's window starts at 10:05 and another at 10:10. In each case we had an overlap of at least half an hour. The system responded to this much better.

Good luck! I have planned 8 school trips to Disney. Fun stuff.

Nancy

 

[kreckl]

Can someone please report about the weather there the past few days? Headed there soon and the forecast looks like rain everyday- but its said that for almost a week already! Thank you

 

[danceteachermom]

We just got back from vacation yesterday...figured I would post a review before heading back to a busy work week tomorrow. Here are a few thoughts. We stayed at the Yacht Club April 3-11.

Online Check-In: Loved it! Received our room number on the bus. Even busy Easter week we got all our requests. Room was ready at noon when we arrived too!

What we liked: The location was great...being able to walk to EPCOT, other resorts, and Hollywood Studios was awesome and probably the best feature of the resort. We felt our room was fine...comfortable, spacious (except for the tiny bathroom) and in decent condition. The pool was lovely. We had very good bus/boat luck. One night we had room service for dinner and it was delicious. We used the Sandcastle Club one night for our seven year old and he gives it a thumbs up.

We were very disappointed in the pool chair situation. Relaxing by the pool every afternoon is a huge priority on our vacation. I already posted on this a few pages back so I will not rehash a lot. But in addition to no policing by CM's we found so many people just rude. They would get up to leave and just leave towels all over chairs that they were done with. On three days we got to SAB when it opened, we easily got chairs at 9 AM but on the rest it was an issue finding chairs every day...for this reason primarily we will probably not stay there again. Same problem with beach chairs at night for the movie...just not enough. College program CMs less than helpful on issues too.

Overall we did not feel that the YC was worth the increased expense over moderates like Coronado and POFQ. We missed having a food court. The BC Marketplace was not enough and wait times at Hurricane Hannah's were long...food mediocre.

Our kids loved the pool the first few days but after that the intrigue wore off a bit.

That being said we had a WONDERFUL vacation and we will have very fond memories of our trip. It was so nice to walk into EPCOT at night. Loved tne smell of tne resort and the theming. Grounds were beautiful.

Our room was fine but I can see why they are next to be refurbished. Some wear and tear but still nice. We had a garden view...that was really a woods view. We got our requested daybed but it was so hard and cold our son would not sleep there....fortunately his teenage sister made due sharing. Then I felt bad all week that we had one but did not use it.

We discovered as a family that our hearts belong at Wilderness Lodge. So if we can swing it we will be back at VWL next spring break. If not probably the Coronado. But we would love to try a different EPCOT resort sometime. The Swan and Dolphin look cool...

 

[danceteachermom]

Can someone please report about the weather there the past few days? Headed there soon and the forecast looks like rain everyday- but its said that for almost a week already! Thank you

We were there April 3-11...chance of rain all but three days. Actual rain just one day for about two hours. Mostly sunny all week.

 

[Hi Pluto]

We got back home to Delaware last night after driving for two days, traffic was horrible. I also seem to be suffering from Leaving Disney Depression. Our first trip to the BC was outstanding. Beautiful new room on the 4th floor with a balcony and daybed and the best view ever in my opinion! We had room 4567, just perfection! Not sure when we'll be back again, this was our first trip to Disney in 7 years, but we are definitely not waiting that long! My husband was even looking at the bounce back offer and he was the one who was reluctant about this trip. When we do come back (hopefully in a year or two) we will be back to the BC. My kids, myself, and my husband were so impressed, no other resort will do! (Well, maybe GF, haha, but not on teachers salaries!) thanks everyone for all of your help and hopefully I'll be planning our next visit to BC soon.

I've got the teacher salary struggle too. I work almost every single Friday afternoon and Saturday from 7:30-3:00pm doing detention duty for the extra money to save up for Beach Club (at least for a split stay, hopefully). Every time those middle/high schoolers start testing my patience I remind myself that I'm doing this for Disney.

~Cari~

 

[izzy1070]

We are checking into the Beach Club Tuesday for 3 days!!!

We are in disney because of a work conference for my husband and staying at the swan hotel. On Tuesday we were supposed to switch to Coronado but after a little bit of persuasion I convinced him that we needed to stay at beach club!!!!!

 

[MelanieRI]

Hello! We'll be coming back to the YC this summer. Just booked a AP rate for Poly 7/6 - 7/11, offsite 1 nite to visit family and then to the YC for 7/12 - 7/17! Have to end our stay at the YC since it's my favorite and I feel the most relaxed there. I'm looking forward to seeing the Frozen fireworks from SAB, movie night with Epcot fireworks, etc. So, please add me to the Be Our Guest List!

 

[natebenma]

Dee, I booked fast passes for a school group of 50 for this past January. It took a long time to get everyone on my friends and Family list to do this. Make sure this is done and that everyone has their ticket linked correctly.

Anyway, when I tried to book all 50 at one it was so slow and simply just got stuck many times. But then I switched to groups of 10 and chose times that overlapped. So one group may be 10:05 - 11:05 and another's window starts at 10:05 and another at 10:10. In each case we had an overlap of at least half an hour. The system responded to this much better.

Good luck! I have planned 8 school trips to Disney. Fun stuff.

Nancy

Hi Nancy- thanks for your input!

I am making all of the groups, and linking all of the tickets, so I know it will be done correctly!!!

Fortunately, we won't be making the FP reservation for all 150 people for the same times. We will have 13 groups of between 5 and 21 people and the FP will be made for each of those groups independently. Plus, two of the days the girls will be in different parks from the boys, so it will just be half of the group trying for FP for the same attractions. My group is 12 boys and 5 chaperones and that will be the first group attempting to book FP!!!

I am on ticket-watch, hoping they arrive this week!!!



PS- thanks for your thorough and honest review of your stay- I'll address that when I catch up on the thread.

 

[TeenaS]

Can someone please report about the weather there the past few days? Headed there soon and the forecast looks like rain everyday- but its said that for almost a week already! Thank you

That means it is going to rain somewhere in the area of WDW for five minutes or five hours sometime during the day. Yesterday it rained early in the morning at the BC (7AM) and then when I left at 5:30, no other rain. However, it had rained where I lived during the day. It's not unusual for it to pour in Magic Kingdom and the sun is out in Epcot. Just always take your ponchos at the parks and you'll be prepared.

 

[Katesdad]

We just got back from vacation yesterday...figured I would post a review before heading back to a busy work week tomorrow. Here are a few thoughts. We stayed at the Yacht Club April 3-11.......{snip}............Overall we did not feel that the YC was worth the increased expense over moderates like Coronado and POFQ. We missed having a food court. The BC Marketplace was not enough and wait times at Hurricane Hannah's were long...food mediocre....{snip}.....We discovered as a family that our hearts belong at Wilderness Lodge. So if we can swing it we will be back at VWL next spring break. If not probably the Coronado. But we would love to try a different EPCOT resort sometime. The Swan and Dolphin look cool...

Thanks, really appreciated the review. I hope you had a relaxing vacation and did everything you wanted to at the parks. One day I hope to stay again at the WL but since we spend most of our time in Epcot we find the YC/BC to darn convenient to not use. It sounds like you didn't let the issues affect your enjoyment of the vacation. Again, thanks for the full report.

Katesdad

 

[Wood Nymph]

We discovered as a family that our hearts belong at Wilderness Lodge. So if we can swing it we will be back at VWL next spring break. If not probably the Coronado. But we would love to try a different EPCOT resort sometime. The Swan and Dolphin look cool...

Thank you for giving us your reviews. The Wilderness Lodge has become a favorite resort for us, too. We love that it feels like we are somewhere else besides Florida when we stay there. It doesn't feel like you are in WDW when you are there. And we love the location and "beachy" feel of the YC/BC. We like them both.

 

[Offsides]

At this time next week we will be at the airport waiting to board our flight!! Can't wait to be at BC again!! I can't believe vacation is only a week away. Soon excited

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Teena - we'll be at BC August 20-31. Any chance you'll be back by then?

 

[cgulls]

DD10 and I will be traveling lightly. One medium-sized suitcase each. And I have a feeling we'll be buying more gifts and paraphernalia than will fit in our bags on our return flight. I assume the best way to get that stuff home is to ship it. What's the best way to ship from the Beach Club? Do I need to use the business center at the YC? Can the front desk or main lobby concierge desk help me ship stuff? I'll need to get boxes and packing material, too. Thanks for any help.

 

[Disney before Sally]

You can ship home from each place of purchase.

 

[jlundeen]

DD10 and I will be traveling lightly. One medium-sized suitcase each. And I have a feeling we'll be buying more gifts and paraphernalia than will fit in our bags on our return flight. I assume the best way to get that stuff home is to ship it. What's the best way to ship from the Beach Club? Do I need to use the business center at the YC? Can the front desk or main lobby concierge desk help me ship stuff? I'll need to get boxes and packing material, too. Thanks for any help.

One thing we always do when we go to Disney is to bring a bigger suitcase then we think we'll need, and fill the empty space going down with snacks, wine, etc. Then, because that is not coming back home with us, we can pack souvenirs...another thing we have done in the past is to pack a smaller suitcase inside the big one, and pay the bag fee for the return trip...can't be that much more and might even been less than shipping fees.

My last visit, I misjudged how much room my newly purchased stuff would take coming home, and actually had to BUY an additional suitcase in the gift shop - duh! Not cheap! But the very nice baggage check-in guy let me check it without charging me for it!

On our trip this fall we'll be using our frequent flyer miles and flying first class....at least 2 - possibly 3 - checked bags for free...plus, we can hold our depression at bay on the way home with free wine and drinks on the 3 hour flight...the saddest 3 hours of the journey!!!

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Hey Dee - got my Beaches and Cream ADR! It will be an early dinner on our last day before the dreaded Magical Express pick up.

 

[Hopefully]

I have heard but have not tried it out that Hurricane Hannah's (where you order hamburgers, etc.) does not take Tables in Wonderland but someone told me they used it at the bar next to Hannah's and they had a drink and food and they did use Tables there and they took it. This is all hearsay of course.

Also, I told someone I'd check about the Villas and as of today renovations have not started at the Villas.

Thanks for checking on the Villas refurb for me Teena!!!
I think you newly booked cruise sounds terrific
Enjoy

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Hi Nancy- thanks for your input!

I am making all of the groups, and linking all of the tickets, so I know it will be done correctly!!!

Fortunately, we won't be making the FP reservation for all 150 people for the same times. We will have 13 groups of between 5 and 21 people and the FP will be made for each of those groups independently. Plus, two of the days the girls will be in different parks from the boys, so it will just be half of the group trying for FP for the same attractions. My group is 12 boys and 5 chaperones and that will be the first group attempting to book FP!!!

I am on ticket-watch, hoping they arrive this week!!!



PS- thanks for your thorough and honest review of your stay- I'll address that when I catch up on the thread.

My DH is chaperoning a trip for approx. 300 students & the teacher who set up the trip was told they couldn't use FP+.