GRAND FLORIDIAN VS BEACH/YACHT CLUB

[WDWOswald]

I'm trying to decide between a split stay at beach and yacht club (2 nights at beach club and 5 nights at yacht club both in a garden view room) or 7 nights at the Grand Floridian lagoon view.

We will be going to Epcot and Magic Kingdom the same amount of time during our trip, and also visiting Hollywood studios and animal kingdom once.

I feel like the Grand Floridian, as the "crown jewel" of all Disney Resorts, might be the ultimate vacation. However, there's the walk to Epcot from the yacht/beach club and I love the boardwalk resort area.

I also love that we can get our 3 year old back and forth to magic kingdom very quickly at the Grand Floridian, vs needing to drive and park and take the monorail to MK if staying at yacht/beach club.

It's a really hard decision, the Grand Floridan would cost about $600 more than Yacht/Beach club. I don't mind paying up though. Or I could save a few hundred dollars staying at animal kingdom lodge in a pool view room.

Decisions... Decisions...

 

[hakepb]

If you are still bringing a stroller, I might lean GF because you can monorail to MK and Epcot without folding up the stroller.

Without a stroller I might more strongly consider the YC/BC.

 

[megs1313]

With a 3yo, I'd skip the split stay and go for the GF. It's a really tough call, though, for sure!

 

[WildGinger]

I would do a split stay between Beach Club (3 nights ) and Grand Floridian (4 nights). Plan your Epcot and HS days at Beach Club and MK/AK, etc at the GF!

 

[Lisann]

I'm a fan of staying put, and GF is my favorite resort. This is a tough call. Although, I don't know why you would split between BC and YC, they are literally next door to each other. I don't see the benefit of splitting between these two resorts.

I think the ease of GF will fit the bill. Bottom line, you can't go wrong because you will be at Disney!!

 

[jecon]

GF for sure. The ease of the monorail with a little one is worth it.

 

[buzznina]

We love GF, but would not recommend taking the monorail to Epcot. Every time we did it, it took over an hour Better off walking to the TTC and catching the monorail there. We actually wished they had a bus option. We have been going since our 1st DD was 6 month old and really have no issues with them and strollers from any of the resorts we stayed at, value on up.

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Another vote for GF! With a three year old, you will enjoy the guaranteed balcony to relax while the little one is sleeping. Also think the less hectic kiddie water play area at GF would be a plus

 

[mickeynut1]

Another vote for the GF. We've never stayed at the YC but have stayed at the BC and while we had a nice stay, we prefer the GF. We also find there to be more of a variety of dining options around the monorail vs the Epcot resorts.

 

[Amcd33]

I have stayed at both resorts with small kids in a stroller...

Grand Floridian:
Pros: Beautiful resort. Hearing the Magic Kingdom train from our balcony was priceless.
-very peaceful
-great for kids. I don't understand the people who say it is not kid friendly. All three of mine loved this resort over AKL, which we have also stayed at.
-splash pad is wonderful and easy to keep track of my small kids


Cons:
Monorail. It has been on a modified schedule, and we had to use another mode of transportation a few times. It broke down twice while we were there. Both times we walked all the way from Conch Key to the monorail to find it was broken down, and then we had to walk all the way back to wait for a boat to get to MK. Also, to get to the monorail in GF's main building, you have to take stairs or an elevator to the second floor. The one elevator for non-main building guests fits one stroller, so there was often a line during busy times. We would sometimes have to carry the double stroller up the stairs to save time. This was a bit frustrating because we paying for the convenience of the monorail, and the inconsistency made it inconvenient multiple times. We had an impressive discount for this room, but if I had been paying more than $400, I would be pretty upset about these inconsistencies.
-you have to collapse your stroller for the GF to MK boat.

Beach Club:
Pros: one main building which was great when it rained
-walkable to Epcot and HS
-the shallow sand pool my kids LOVED. Even my 10 yr old stayed in the sand pool most of the time. It is a bigger pool area, so we just planted ourselves somewhere and stayed in that area. The 7 and 10 yr olds could roam if they wanted and the little stayed where we planted.

-the boardwalk is beautiful at night and after the kiddos were asleep, one of the us could relax at the boardwalk or walk to the IG and stroll through the countries


Cons:
-The winding halls to our room were a bit claustrophobic for me. We never had to wait for an elevator though.

- the views. We got the cheapest view room at GF and The balcony overlooked the water and the boat docks. Our standard view room at BC overlooked a roof.

-The busses. They consistently took longer than 20 minutes. We are rope drop people, and there were a few mornings when there wasn't even a CM out there to call in a bus if we waited past 30 min. Quite a few frustrated people. (This was the end of Jan/beginning of Feb). When my kids are melting, waiting for a bus is much more torturous than walking somewhere.
Here is what we did to rectify the bus situation: On Day Two, we bought the express transportation for the week. When we left a park, we would take the express transportation to Epcot and walk back to the resort. Epcot closed later than the other parks every night, so we would always hop on Test Track single rider or do a very short wait on Soarin' on our way back to the resort. Stopping for a Croissant doughnut was routine too. We did MK three days and this still worked out best for us. We would just finish up in tomorrowland, walk to the express bus stop next to Buzz a few minutes before it was scheduled to leave, hop on and be at Spaceship Earth in 15 min. Knowing the bus schedule was priceless for us. We also park hopped much more this trip because of this. The express bus was SO convenient, we easily did the four park challenge with three kids. I never would have attempted that without the express bus. We just walked back to the resort after the fourth park. I didn't miss the monorail once on this trip. The express bus was worth every penny.

All of this to say, having a toddler and stroller didn't make a big difference between the two resorts especially if the monorail is on a modified schedule and if it's still breaking down. I would choose the resort you love. My kids would tell you to pick the Beach Club because of the sand pool, but they really loved both of them.

 

[WDWOswald]

I'm a fan of staying put, and GF is my favorite resort. This is a tough call. Although, I don't know why you would split between BC and YC, they are literally next door to each other. I don't see the benefit of splitting between these two resorts.

I think the ease of GF will fit the bill. Bottom line, you can't go wrong because you will be at Disney!!

I'm doing the split stay because neither are available for the whole week.

 

[Sue M]

With neither BC or YC being avail for entire week, I'd do either GF for all 7 days or split YC 3 days & GF 4 days. The best of both worlds and plan your park days according.