Just back from BC--great trip!

[Misti]

I just returned yesterday from my stay at the Beach Club. Now I have post-WDW depression!

We had the most incredible weather--sunshine, low-mid 70's (even touched 80 a few days) and cool, comfortable nights in the mid 50's.

We stayed in a concierge room located near the quiet pool. The concierge staff was absolutely wonderful--so genuinely friendly and helpful! Check-in went smoothly, although our room wasn't ready until after 3PM. Not a big deal, we arrived at 9AM to sunny skies and just sat at the pool all day while we waited for our room. Having a rental car was convenient b/c we just kept our luggage in the trunk, took what we needed to change at the pool, and didn't have to worry about luggage storage.

The Concierge Lounge was a nice convenience but I wouldn't recommend it if you are doing it just for the snacks/food. With the $$ we paid for concierge, we could have easily just bought snacks, drinks, etc on our own and still saved money. We did this for the convenience and service of concierge and for that it was worth every penny! There are hour breaks throughout the day that the lounge itself is closed. Here are the times:

Sunrise Starters: 7AM-10:30AM
Assorted fresh fruit, cereal, donuts, croissants, bagels, coffee, juices

Seaside Snacks: 11:30AM-4PM
Fruit, cookies, nuts, pretzels and bags of popcorn, water, iced tea, lemonade

Twilight Treasures: 5PM-7PM
One hot appetizer each night (clams, mussels, rigatoni, beef tips) and one hot soup (tomato, clam chowder, chicken noodle, beef), vegetables and cheese, pita bread and hummus, uncrustables and gummi worms, beer, wine soft drinks, water

Regatta Delights 8PM-10PM
Assorted "finger" sized desserts (fruit tart, raspberry mousse cake, puff pastries, cannoli), uncrustables and gummi worms, krispie treats, cordials and soft drinks

There is a cappuccino/espresso machine available during all of these times.

The lounge itself was always packed with guests. For the 5PM start, people usually waited outside for the doors to open. You can tell some people were really trying to "get their money's worth". Guests were overloading two and three plates at a time with appetizers trying to make a meal out of it I suppose. Many parents were letting the kids run wild through the lounge. So, kids would pick up something from a plate, change their mind and put it back on the plate and the parents weren't around to stop them. It seems like the food items would sometimes run out, especially during the evening desserts. We went in twice after Illuminations (around 9:30PM) and there were only a few desserts left.

Half of SAB was still down for rehab, including the slide. Not a big deal to us but I heard many guests complaining about it. It seems many of them were caught by surprise at the rehab. This made the quiet pool much less quiet. I know it isn't an "adult" resort and I expect kids to be everywhere but I would have thought that parents would respect the "quiet" part of the quiet pool. Kids were screaming marco polo games and throwing balls around in the pool alot of the time we were there. So, it was far from a quiet pool. Same thing goes for the evening. The pool is open until midnight and kids were playing and screaming until 11PM many nights. I'm a heavy sleeper so it wasn't a big deal. But, I saw other people opening their balcony doors looking rather annoyed.

Beaches and Cream was a nightmare. Ever since this place opened, it hasn't met the capacity of the resort. I'm still surprised that this place hasn't been renovated to extend capacity. You'd think this would have been a priority for Disney at some point--the resort has been open now almost 15 years! In the middle of the day, I waited 27 minutes for a milkshake in the carryout line. It's been like that for years so I wasn't surprised.

We had a wonderful stay and found the staff to be warm, friendly and accomodating.

If anyone has questions, just let me know!

 

[jjohnson]

Thanks for the report. I just switched our reservation back to BC from Poly the other day. We're you on the 5th floor? We reserved the deluxe room so it
will be on floors 1-4 on the corner of the quiet pool. I'm wondering how much of a "hike" it is to get to concierge, bus stop & SAB. Also do you remember what brand of beer was available?

 

[BCV23]

Glad you had a great trip. Sad to read about the unsupervised kids in the lounge. Yuck!

You know I don't think WDW ever calls them "quiet" pools. They just usually are since most kids go to the feature pools...when they are open. But noise until 11:00 just isn't considerate.

Did you notice if the BC resort shop was open again yet? There are rumors on the DVC board that it will have a quick food area. I so agree that B&C is inadequate for Y&BC.

 

[Misti]

Thanks for the report. I just switched our reservation back to BC from Poly the other day. We're you on the 5th floor? We reserved the deluxe room so it
will be on floors 1-4 on the corner of the quiet pool. I'm wondering how much of a "hike" it is to get to concierge, bus stop & SAB. Also do you remember what brand of beer was available?

We had the Deluxe room booked, too. That wing of the resort only goes up to the 4th floor. So, you have to walk to the lobby-area elevator to get up to the 5th floor. It is a bit of a haul, to be honest. But, I like being near the quiet pool and closer to Epcot so it was worth it to us. I can't remember the brand of beer, sorry! I took lots of pix of the room and I'll put them in my yahoo album in the next few days.

 

[Misti]

Glad you had a great trip. Sad to read about the unsupervised kids in the lounge. Yuck!

You know I don't think WDW ever calls them "quiet" pools. They just usually are since most kids go to the feature pools...when they are open. But noise until 11:00 just isn't considerate.

Did you notice if the BC resort shop was open again yet? There are rumors on the DVC board that it will have a quick food area. I so agree that B&C is inadequate for Y&BC.

I'm pretty sure it was called the "Quiet Pool". I think there was a small wood sign with it--can't recall for sure though.

The BC shop is no where near being done. They had the door ajar one day and it was just metal framing everywhere. A quick food area would be a great idea!

 

[jjohnson]

We had the Deluxe room booked, too. That wing of the resort only goes up to the 4th floor. So, you have to walk to the lobby-area elevator to get up to the 5th floor. It is a bit of a haul, to be honest. But, I like being near the quiet pool and closer to Epcot so it was worth it to us. I can't remember the brand of beer, sorry! I took lots of pix of the room and I'll put them in my yahoo album in the next few days.

Can't wait to see them. What was your room #? Would you book the deluxe room again? DH really wants the larger room.

 

[BCV23]

The BC shop is no where near being done. They had the door ajar one day and it was just metal framing everywhere. A quick food area would be a great idea!

Did it look as if it was being expanded at all? Or too hard to tell? Thanks for the update.

 

[Misti]

Did it look as if it was being expanded at all? Or too hard to tell? Thanks for the update.

Kind of hard to tell--it looked liked the same space though.

 

[Misti]

Can't wait to see them. What was your room #? Would you book the deluxe room again? DH really wants the larger room.

I would book it again. I loved the room!

 

[travlnman1]

We just stayed at BC concierge level last month.
The beer they served was Bud, Heinekin, and bud light (i think that was it)
We didn't experience the kids running amuck like you did probably because it was January and not too crowded.
The lounge staff was so incredibly nice.
I'd say we have a better over all experience than you.
Our only glitch was...
When we walked in the front door of the BC we were so excited to be there.
We walked in and turned left.
There was a desk that had a sgn on it "concierge"
"Perfect" i thought. Just where I needed to be be heading,
I walked toward the desk.
"HI' I said.
"May I help you?" the CM asked from behind the desk.
"YES!! We're checking in" I happily said.
The CM said "OH, you need to go around the corner to check in"
Now, I know I wasn't wearing my pearls and didn't have my Juicy Coutour jump suit on and left my Louis Vittion at home, but Geeze...I didn't look THAT bad!!
I said "Your sign says concierge. Are you not concierge check-in?"
"OH..well..yes..we are. Whats your name..etc, etc, etc"

I was just perturbed that he assumed that we weren't concierge.