Beach Club?

Sara_H

999 ghosts with room for 1 more...
Joined
Mar 11, 2015
We are looking and renting points at the Beach Club? Our first choice was the Poly but I don't think we will be able to find affordable points. Anyway, what is it like at Beach Club? The pool looks amazing! I also like the fact that you can walk to EPCOT. How are the buses? Crowded? Not too bad? Even though you can walk to EPCOT and take a boat to Hollywood Studios, are the buses still an option for those, at least for Hollywood?

Anything else I should know or consider?

Thanks!
 
I'd be surprised that you couldn't find points for PVB that aren't priced the same as BCV, although PVB studios do require more points.

There are no buses to either DHS or Epcot - it's walking for boats. Walking to Epcot makes more sense as it's almost as far to the boat dock as it is to just walk from the Villas. Other park buses are typical to any other deluxe for crowding and frequency.
 
So far all of the Poly points I've seen are $16 or $17 per point. I've found some BCV for $15.
 
When are you looking at going? - ie month, not specific. I'm wondering if the 7 month window would be an option when you could get points for less.
 


We are looking at January 2018 so the 11 month window. I'm a planner and not sure I want to risk waiting until the 7 month window and risking not getting a resort that I want...even though I know typically January isn't a super busy time.
 
So long as you clear marathon and MLK, January is mostly doable.

PVB tends to rent at 7 months, so those points are often cheaper since you can rent PVB at 7 months using Saratoga points.
 
Realize that targeting January, you are targeting VERY unpredictable weather. That great pool at BCV might not be all that great. (You could get a good pool week, or it could not break 60 all week)
I love The Beach Club, I just would not make the pool my deciding factor for a January trip. I would consider the other features, such as proximity to Parks etc more for a January Trip.

One other January warning...since it is slow, you tend to have more rehabs going on. Splash Mtn and the river rapids at AK tend to need rehabs a lot (the water does them in). I would not be surprised if one or both is closed in Jan of 2018...I do not know how important that is...just throwing it out there. Otherwise as AB said, avoid MLK and the marathon, and the crowds should be fine.
 


Yes the weather in January is not always warm but it will be warmer than home. :-) We do not plan on spending a ton of time at the resort but we still want a nice resort. Just want to make sure that we make the right decision for our family. Still torn between waiting and hoping for Poly or booking BCV and having it all set (not that BCV is not a good option in any way) it is just that the Poly is an icon. However, this is not a one-time trip necessarily so we could always choose to stay at either resort on another trip. This is just our first full week at Disney for our family and want to make sure we choose correctly. We are looking at January 20-27 so after MLK and race weekend. The goal is to enjoy the week at a not super busy or super hot time. We've been to MK as a family but always in summer and that is just too hot to spend a full week at the parks.
 
If you use Davids (www.dvcrequest.com) if would be 1712 for BCV and 1888 for PVB, so a difference of 176$

You are already in the 11 Month window of your dates..see which, if either, you can get. Where will the bulk of your time be spent? If it is at MK, shot for the Poly. Otherwise shoot for the BC.

Really, you can not choose "incorrectly".

You are likely to pay 2$ less per point if you book inside 7 months. Poly is 118 points for the dates you stated. That would be a difference of 236$ if you waited and gambled. I would pay the extra 236 if you really wanted PVB, and not wait.
 
I fully understand that this is 1st world problem to have? :-) And it is Disney so no matter what we choose, it should be fine.

As for where we will spend the bulk of our time, I'm unsure. My kids have only ever been to MK so we plan to explore all the parks and my son LOVES Star Wars so some time will be spent at HS (too bad the construction won't be done yet). With that being said, I'm sure we will be at MK more than once but we don't necessarily mind the buses; we stayed at AKV for a few days last summer and I didn't mind the ride (maybe because it was air conditioned :-))

Is there anything not good about Poly or Beach Club?
 
Poly studios are bigger, but due to the "sleeps 5" have virtually no storage space.
Poly has the split bathrooms, tub/toilet/sink in one, and a shower stall and sink in the other. BCV to the best of my recollection has only a single bathroom in a studio.
Poly rooms can be on the louder side from one room to the next, due to lack of soundproofing between rooms
Not all Poly rooms have balconies.

Both have pools that are on the more popular side. I like the grounds of the Poly better, but that is just me.

Poly DVC rooms are close to the Transportation and Ticket Center, so you can walk str8 to the EPCOT monorail, so they both have pretty easy access to 2 different parks (Poly to MK and EPCOT, BCV to Epcot and DHS)
 
Be aware that Poly is easy to get at 7 months out for the time you want. BCV also has a very good chance of being open at 7 months out. Thus, if you want to take a fairly low risk waiting, you could likely spend less at 7 months out since at that time the points from any resort can be used to reserve those rooms.

As noted above, you should not assume you will be able to to get any significant pool time during that time in January when making the choice. You can get some high 70's during the day in Jan but you can also get some low 50's, and those two can easily be consecutive days. More often what you have is mid 60s.. We have been the week you are going about four times and had a total of about 7 days out of the 4 weeks when it was actually warm enough for the pool.

BCV's advantages include walking to Epcot and Studios (or a boat to either), easy access to over two dozen restaurants at the two parks and the Epcot resorts; an excellent seafood buffet, Cape May, at the BC, which also has a character breakfast, and easy access to Boardwalk night life. Poly's advantages include the much larger studio, easy monorail access to both MK and Epcot, and monorail access to rerstaurants at all the MK resorts. It also has a very good restaurant in O'Hana's, which has a character breakfast, and if you want to do the Luau, it is there.

The bus to MK and AK for BCV stops at YC first and then BC and it can sometimes get crowded during rush times.The Poly buses to Studios and AK also have two stops, Poly and GF, and thus you have the same type of two resort delay and risk of overcrowding during rush times.
 
TBH I do not think it a matter of choice to rent PVB via a broker right now. The brokers are trying to fill their backlog of October-December requests right now. PVB will be a wait with a request today, period. David's isn't even accepting more home resort PVB requests through year-end.

I think PVB would be booked at 7 months. Sure, maybe they clear all the prior requests and the points come in 7.5 months out...
 
I've been to BCV twice in January. I'd suggest you avoid marathon weekend. BCV is pretty popular that weekend, and we're among the many who see why.
 
I like BCV and stay there frequently. The studios there have some very poor room views if that is important to you. I also think the whole BC/BW bus transportation is subpar. There are so many great things about staying there though that these issues have never stopped me from booking.
 

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