Just returned from an 8 night stay at the Beach Club Resort from April 1-9. We had a fantastic time. Thought some of you may be interested in our experience and hopefully I can answer a few questions along the way. I'll try to be brief with my comments (and will most likely fail)
Pros:
Online check in. I got a text as soon as my plane landed that told us our room was ready and we could go straight to our room. I didn't have to stop at the front desk at all. In fact, I never saw the front desk for the the length of our stay. I used Touring Plans to request a room and we got the room we requested. Had a standard view room, but we could see the SAB pool and had a great view of the Hollywood Studios fireworks at night.
Room itself. We had 2 queens and a fold down couch. It worked out great for the 4 of us since my kids definitely did not want to share a bed. The room was beautiful and spacious. Full balcony with 2 chairs and decent view. Refrigerator was nice to have.
SAB. The pool, lazy river, slide, etc. were all fantastic. Kids (13 and 11) loved it and so did mom and dad. Best pool area in Disney!
Location, location, location. 5 minute walk to Epcot was awesome, especially since there are so many great restaurants and we ate 4 of our 8 dinners in Epcot (Teppan Edo, Coral Reef, Tutto Italia, Rose and Crown). 20 minute walk to Hollywood Studios. Anytime you don't have to rely on transportation is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. See below.
Beaches and Cream. We had the chocolate lovers kitchen sink. YUM! The 4 of us finished the entire thing. Amazing. Probably didn't need to eat the rest of the week but, of course, we did!
Sunken Treasure. I had to have one of these after reading all about them on this board. It was good. I'm more of a beer guy, but I enjoyed it. I can see why it is so popular.
Cons:
There were those who complained of a fishy smell in the lobby. I didn't really notice it there, but it was pervasive in the halls around our room. We were in room 3707 which is 2 floors above the Cape May Cafe. Definitely smelled like seafood. It didn't bother me much, but I wanted to confirm that the smell is present.
Disney transportation from the Beach Club. I'm a "get there before the parks open" kind of guy and on both of the days we went to the Magic Kingdom we had a difficult time getting on a bus. One of the days, we had breakfast reservations at 8:10 at Be Our Guest (park opened at 9) and had to wait for more than a half hour at the bus stop. I called the night before and was told that there was a "breakfast bus" that runs early. Not true. We were at the bus stop around 7:00 and the bus didn't come until 7:35. It was a regular Magic Kingdom bus that starts running 90 minutes before the park opens. We pretty much had to sprint through the park to make it to Be Our Guest by 8:15. The other day we went to MK, the buses were filling up at the Yacht Club and not stopping at the Beach Club. There was a cast member at the Beach Club bus stop ordering more buses, but it took more than an half hour to get a bus to the beach club. As any Disney veteran knows, those extra minutes in the morning can make a big difference on how easy it is to get into the park. There were a lot of frustrated people waiting for the bus. It may be worth walking to the Yacht Club bus stop early in the morning for Magic Kingdom buses if you want to make sure to get there ahead of the pack.
We used Uber to get to Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. I highly recommend that. It was $6 and well worth it. We took the buses back from those parks since we were not in a rush. Uber rocks! I would definitely use Uber to go to Disney Springs or Wide World of Sports, too.
General Beach Club Comments:
The Beach Club is fantastic. We have stayed at the Polynesian and Animal Kingdom Lodge in the past and both were also excellent. The proximity to Epcot and the great dining options there was, in my opinion, the thing that set the Beach Club apart from those resorts. The pool was also the best we have seen.
The Beach Club Marketplace had plenty of options for making eating breakfast in the room easy. Having a fridge in the room was great to keep milk for breakfast and fruit fresh.
We watched a movie on the beach one night (Alice in Wonderland). It was a nice option to have, but we only stayed for about 30 minutes.
The beach area is very nice if you just want to relax on the beach and there were plenty of chairs. We probably could have done more of that.
General Disney Comments:
Fast Pass + was, in general, worked well for us. The fast pass kiosks were a pain, though. So many people had ZERO idea how they worked and the lines for the kiosk were painful. Disney fixed the app so you don't have to use the kiosks anymore. That's a great thing. We had a fast pass for Splash Mountain at 10:30 AM and the family in front of us scanned their bands and they wouldn't work. The guy said "your fast passes are for 9:55 PM, not AM. Ouch! I felt bad for that family and was surprised the guy didn't just let them go ahead.
The service everywhere was great. I didn't come across any surly cast members and didn't notice any negative changes since our last visit 6 years ago.
The Be Our Guest breakfast is awesome if you can get reservations before 8:15. We ate our breakfast and then were able to line up for the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and got to ride it before the rest of the park rushed in. That alone was a huge perk and the breakfast itself was excellent.
We got to watch the very first show of the new Star Wars show at Hollywood Studios. It was kind of neat to see. The Star Wars fireworks were awesome. Better than Illuminations if you ask me.
I have tons of other general comments about our experience and Disney World in general. I did a TON of research before our trip and I think it paid off. Thanks to all of you on this board for helping me out in our journey.