My mini review: We went over Thanksgiving, so it was busy but not horrible. First stay at the Beach Club, although we have been to the YC several years ago. For comparison, we love GF. Usually stay there as a first choice, WL second. I thought the BC was ok, didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. Loved the walking distance to Epcot though. Room was ok, clean. Beds were not as good as GF. We actually had to move rooms due to some issues we had with noisy neighbors and the mattresses were well worn in both rooms and not the quality we expected for a deluxe. I am a mattress critic, if I get a bad one I literally cannot walk the parks the next day, so I’m posting this in case it helps someone else make a decision on where to stay.
Never used the pool, but I can confirm that they were checking people to get in and out of the gates, as we passed through there a few times.
We do not typically take the buses and didn’t take them this time either, so I can’t give a review on them, but we did take the boat back and forth to HS and that wasn’t even that bad for a busy time of year. Even at closing time, we only had to wait for the second boat after the first one filled. They can fit a crazy amount of people, it reminded me of clown cars. We kept saying there was no way all of these people were going to fit, but they kept piling in.
Saw the new gondola construction and was not impressed. Looks to me like the peaceful walk from the BC to Epcot will be gone once they open and I don’t think I would want to stay in that area after that happens because of the increased crowds at the back gate. Takes away the value of the hotels in that area in my opinion.
We also ate dinner at Beaches and Cream. Was not overly impressed with the food, like a Friendly’s. CMs were very nice, all of them and went out of their way to be helpful.
