2014 Beach & Yacht Club FAQ, Friends & Fun *DO NOT POST HERE- FIND NEW THREAD*

[DawnMaree]

Don't you come to WDW every year? Ever think of coming like 11-1/2 months apart so you could get an annual pass and save?

Someday I might. Unfortunately, my husband's job and my unwillingness to take the kids out of school makes it very hard to plan a vacation less than 12 months. Buying a new home last summer put a damper on the vacation then too, but worth it. I'm hoping that now that we are 8 hours away, we will be able to come more often. I don't need my husband every time then.

 

[cocoabean1]

Don't you come to WDW every year? Ever think of coming like 11-1/2 months apart so you could get an annual pass and save?

This is how we do it. We buy AP's and come twice within the 1 year time frame. We buy the Tables in Wonderland card when we get at Disney. The clock starts ticking for the TIW card from the date that you purchase it NOT from first use.

We take advantage of the resort discounts and free parking at the parks.

During the course of the year I buy both AP's (one at a time as I can afford them) using my Disney Visa (have to get those points). We use what ever reward points I get for the year for "free" food. Any way to save money is my motto!!!!

I also agree with CL- I find that it takes maybe 30 minutes to eat breakfast CL instead of at least 60 minutes at the restaurant plus the amount of time it takes to get to the restaurant. So you could be looking at 2 hours!!
I'd rather spend more time in the parks. Nothing beats getting a snack at the end of the day from the CL lounge. Time to unwind.

 

[kimmy85]

Happy Friday everyone!

I have a quick question for anyone who might have stayed in a BCV studio. Are the any differences in space/room size/layout or amenities between a dedicated studio versus a lock off studio?

Is the only noticeable difference the connecting door in the lock off?

Thank you for your help!

 

[lucyddr]

We are taking our twins to Disney for the first time in late August. We booked the Yacht Club last night for 8 nights. The babies will be 20 months old at the time of the trip.

I've searched high and low, but can't figure out if Yacht or Beach Club has a playground! Can anyone tell me if they do and if so, do you have pictures? We plan to spend lots of pool time (thus our resort choice), but would like a land playground at times too.

Thanks! We've stayed in all of the moderates, most of the Values, and Animal Kingdom Lodge a few times. This will be our first Yacht Club stay and I'm super excited!

 

[JediBonas]

We are taking our twins to Disney for the first time in late August. We booked the Yacht Club last night for 8 nights. The babies will be 20 months old at the time of the trip.

I've searched high and low, but can't figure out if Yacht or Beach Club has a playground! Can anyone tell me if they do and if so, do you have pictures? We plan to spend lots of pool time (thus our resort choice), but would like a land playground at times too.

Thanks! We've stayed in all of the moderates, most of the Values, and Animal Kingdom Lodge a few times. This will be our first Yacht Club stay and I'm super excited!

Have fun! We stayed at YC last year with our twins (23 months) and are doing BC this year. No playground, but I'm sure they'll love Stormalong bay .

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

No playground at YC/BC but there is one over at the beach beside the swan and dolphin that is open to anyone to use

 

[kayjaybe]

We're staying at the Beach Club in a few weeks. First time to that resort. If I make a room request when we get there, any thoughts on location? (We stayed at Poly last time and requested a longhouse, which was easier to do. This resort seems so big, I'm not sure what would be best.)

Kids ages 9 & 12. We'll use the pool a fair amount and walk to Epcot for some meals while we are there.

We just have a standard room - did not pay for upgraded view or anything.

Anywhere I should request NOT to be placed?
Thanks!

 

[dansdad]

We're staying at the Beach Club in a few weeks. First time to that resort. If I make a room request when we get there, any thoughts on location? (We stayed at Poly last time and requested a longhouse, which was easier to do. This resort seems so big, I'm not sure what would be best.)

Kids ages 9 & 12. We'll use the pool a fair amount and walk to Epcot for some meals while we are there.

We just have a standard room - did not pay for upgraded view or anything.

Anywhere I should request NOT to be placed?
Thanks!

I would not wait until you get there to make a room request. Rooms are assigned 2-3 days prior to your arrival. It's best to call the main reservations line and add any requests to your reservation.

Also it's best to describe what you want in your request such as "close to lobby and upper floor", "lower floor close to pool", etc. It all depends on what you want.

 

[YCFAN]

A co-worker of mine just returned from WDW and he immediately wanted to tell me about the "soft opening" of Be Our Guest restaurant and how it isn't fully functional yet and that they are still working on it to open it up to all guests. I said he was probably talking about fastpass+ for lunch and he insisted the restaurant is not open yet.

After arguing for a few minutes I just let it go. You just can't tell some people anyrhing.

 

[Scott MC]

We're staying at the Beach Club in a few weeks. First time to that resort. If I make a room request when we get there, any thoughts on location? (We stayed at Poly last time and requested a longhouse, which was easier to do. This resort seems so big, I'm not sure what would be best.)

Kids ages 9 & 12. We'll use the pool a fair amount and walk to Epcot for some meals while we are there.

We just have a standard room - did not pay for upgraded view or anything.

Anywhere I should request NOT to be placed?
Thanks!

Despite what many say, I don't find BC to be a big resort at all. Many (on Trip Advisor, Yelp etc.) complain about long winding hallways and what not. I don't see the big deal. Whereas all standard views are similar, and I really don't think the resort is that big, I'd focus more on whether or not a balcony matters to you, and whether a daybed matters to you. You could say "Full balcony, and a daybed please." Or you could say, "Ground floor, close to lobby, and a daybed please." It really depends on what is important to you. Personally, I love the BC lobby but it's kinda noisy. I'd never ask to be near it! I have a standard view for a few nights this August, and it's only 2 of us. I like a balcony, and we have a thing against staying on the ground floor of any resort/hotel, so my request will be "Upper floor, full balcony if possible please."
When you get to BC (Oh happy day!), as you're being checked-in, just politely ask if your room requests were met. It gets the conversation going with the CM checking you in, and you get an opportunity to be more specific about what you want. We've always found that if our requests haven't exactly been met by room assigners, that the front-desk check-in staff always tries to make our requests happen.
Good luck!

 

[HBGdancermom]

This is us. When we've stayed CL, we don't bother with any dining plan. We'd have a nice breakfast in the lounge, eat a QS in the parks (or at the hotel if we weren't venturing out that day), have a few appetizers at night. We're not big eaters for dinner. If anyone wanted a bit more than the appetizers, we'd order a pizza or something like that (if we didn't have an ADR somewhere). My son was upset last time we went to Disney because we weren't going to visit the "place with the cheerios." We were renting DVC points that trip. We have a great room discount for this trip, so we're staying CL. And he hasn't a clue we're even going.

Love it! When are you going and when are you telling him?

A co-worker of mine just returned from WDW and he immediately wanted to tell me about the "soft opening" of Be Our Guest restaurant and how it isn't fully functional yet and that they are still working on it to open it up to all guests. I said he was probably talking about fastpass+ for lunch and he insisted the restaurant is not open yet.

After arguing for a few minutes I just let it go. You just can't tell some people anyrhing.

 

[Best Aunt]

Happy Friday everyone!

I have a quick question for anyone who might have stayed in a BCV studio. Are the any differences in space/room size/layout or amenities between a dedicated studio versus a lock off studio?

Is the only noticeable difference the connecting door in the lock off?

Thank you for your help!

I don't know the answer to your question, but I want to make sure you know that when you make a reservation for a studio, "dedicated studio" and "lock-off studio" are not two separate booking categories. You reserve a studio, period. I suppose you could request one type or another just like you can request a certain room location, but it would just be a request and not the reservation itself.

According to DVCNews.com, BCV has 36 dedicated studios and 74 lockoffs.

 

[tarak]

So happy for you!!! When are you telling your son?

Love it! When are you going and when are you telling him?

I'm not sure when we're going to tell him. My oldest thinks we should wait until we're getting on the plane to go there. Our flight leaves at 8:30, so we'd be getting up pretty early on a Sunday morning. Not sure he'd be thrilled or flip out a bit. I was thinking of having a scavenger hunt that weekend and the last clue would take him to our magic bands. We had a set from our last trip, so he'll definitely know where we're going. My only hope is he isn't mad that we're not going to the beach. I think Stormalong Bay will help with any disappointment, though.

 

[BandontheRun]

Hi all, I've been a lurker up until now and just wanted to share our travel dates. We'll be at YC GV from June 19-30. I am getting super excited, especially now that we're less than 60 days out! We had originally planned on BC, but we were able to get a 35% discount with the summer offer for YC and only 25% for BC, so that was a no-brainer. This thread has been very informative and a lot of fun to read, and a great outlet for when my DH gets sick of me talking about WDW. Thanks!

Great! Could I ask how much the rooms were with/without the discount ?

 

[happymomof1]

I'm not sure when we're going to tell him. My oldest thinks we should wait until we're getting on the plane to go there. Our flight leaves at 8:30, so we'd be getting up pretty early on a Sunday morning. Not sure he'd be thrilled or flip out a bit. I was thinking of having a scavenger hunt that weekend and the last clue would take him to our magic bands. We had a set from our last trip, so he'll definitely know where we're going. My only hope is he isn't mad that we're not going to the beach. I think Stormalong Bay will help with any disappointment, though.

tarak, Stormalong Bay IS a beach! (only better--no sharks or waves to contend with ) Your little one will love it! I vote for telling the night before! We surprised our DS, now 10 going on 11, a few different times from ages 4-7 and all 3 times he loved it, but looking back, he says he wished he knew a lil beforehand, just so he could enjoy being excited. And, yes, we did tell him this ear of our upcoming trip this summer, YC/GF CL split stay and he is BEYOND excited! Have fun planning and looking forward to your vacation! It will be magical!

 

[BandontheRun]

We will be at BCV/SAB from August 14-20. How crowded will the water parks be? Would anyone recommend just using SAB due to the crowds?

 

[TeenaS]

Any time during the summer or spring break the water parks are crowded. However, if you are there when the park opens, you can do all the slides with hardly any line time at all. Then when the crowds come, we hit the wave pool and lazy river.

 

[cantwaitvaca09]

Thank you all very much for your posts. I will not be getting the deluxe dinning plan after reading all of this.

My girls are 6 & 9. I know I want to take them to lunch in the castle while DH goes golfing and we thought about doing Hoopdee Do. But maybe we won't.
This is our last WDW trip, we vacation once every 3 year and DH said next time we have to do something other than WDW

We have stayed at French Q. and CBR. I am so very excited to stay at Beach Club.

I have not booked yet, because booking is not open yet. How do I get a room discount?

I feel that there are 100 more questions I need to ask about staying at BC and CL but I just don't know what they are yet. LOL

Is the service you get as a CL guest really worth it?

 

[cgulls]

What would a AAA rate at yacht club Feb. 2015 be do you think?

As of last week there wasn't a AAA rate available for feb 2015. But in the past, for me, that rate was 10% off rack.

 

[natebenma]

Thank you all very much for your posts. I will not be getting the deluxe dinning plan after reading all of this.

My girls are 6 & 9. I know I want to take them to lunch in the castle while DH goes golfing and we thought about doing Hoopdee Do. But maybe we won't.
This is our last WDW trip, we vacation once every 3 year and DH said next time we have to do something other than WDW

We have stayed at French Q. and CBR. I am so very excited to stay at Beach Club.

I have not booked yet, because booking is not open yet. How do I get a room discount?

I feel that there are 100 more questions I need to ask about staying at BC and CL but I just don't know what they are yet. LOL

Is the service you get as a CL guest really worth it?

Discount Info

What time of year are you thinking of going?

There are different discounts offered during the year-

if you have a Disney Visa, there are a few offers throughout the year

if you don't, the same discount is usually offered to the general public several days after Visa holders are eligible

there are specialized Disney travel agents who have packages that are good deals

"pins" or discount offers by email or snail mail from Disney Destinations are randomly sent to potential guests, but there doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason about who receives these

Bouncebacks are discounts you can use WHILE AT DISNEY to book your next vacation, which is not something you can use for this trip, but if you are planning to return within the next year, it is someone to look into during your trip.

There is a whole subforum on discounts here on the resorts forum of the DIS, and that may be a good place to start, based on the time of year you are thinking of traveling.

Here is a link that has some helpful information about when to expect info, and a good suggestion to go to Mousesavers to see what has been offered for discounts historically.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3212492

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Club Level

If you haven't had a chance to look at Post 12 on the first page of this thread, I suggest that as a great place to start

Post 12: Club Level Info

There is a lot of information, pictures and some detailed reviews of club level. There are also directions about how to find a blog post "What is Club Level and Do I Want it" unfortunately, I am not allowed to provide the direct link to this post which seems to be what you are looking for.

Hope this helps.