Hi everyone!
Just returned from a FL trip, and I was able to sneak over to the Beach Club for about an hour on Thursday night. It was dark by time we arrived (approx. 8:45pm), but some of the night photos came out pretty well. I'm uploading them onto my Yahoo site right now. The uploads are going SLOW, so I might have to finish the job tomorrow.
BCV photos 6-20-02
Unfortunately, the doors did not open for me, so I could only get outside photos. I'm trying to add descriptions, so you will know what you are looking at. There are several pictures of the building itself from many different angles. I also took some of the rooms through the windows as well as the public areas from the windows near the main door.
There are still mini-fences or walls along all the walkways leading to the BCV, EXCEPT if you walk all the way around the building - there is a walkway near the service entrance off of Epcot Resorts Blvd. that was not blocked. I did not hop any fences to get close to the building.
A couple of general thoughts:
- The building looks great at night!
- The vegetation between the BCV and the parking lot has really filled in nicely. I'll bet from most rooms, you won't even notice that the lot is there. It'll be most visible from the rooms at the very far end of the building. However, it will also be a very short walk from these rooms to your car.
- As we all know, Epcot Resort's Blvd. is pretty close to the villas along the back of the building. However, after 9pm, there were barely any cars driving by. It was quiet enough to hear the Epcot background music playing in the distance. The Illuminations fireworks will be LOUD from this side of the building, so don't plan on going to bed until after 9:20pm.
- The rooms facing the area of natural undergrowth (kind of facing toward Crescent Lake, or the area sometimes called "the jungle") will also hear some noise - the insects were chirping like crazy out there. Is it like that at VWL?
- Much of the first floor of the wing that extends toward World Showcase was taken up by service facilities for the villas (laundry, garbage, etc.). You probably won't be able to see anything from the rooms above the service areas, but you might hear some noise, especially from the 2nd floor.
- Stormalong bay had posted hours of 9am to 11pm. It was not crowded at 9pm on Thursday, but it had also just stopped raining. The slide was closed.
- The wait for a table at Beaches and Cream was 15-20 minutes at 8:50pm. They now have pagers to alert you when your table is ready (I don't remember that from back in November). The wait at 9:30pm (post-Illuminations) looked longer based on the number of people that were waiting around. They are still using the same refillable mugs (same one that I bought in 9/00).
- There was some BCV stuff in the store - a yellow tee shirt (not very attractive) and a nice hat. Also some newer general BC stuff that looked nice. Didn't notice any pins for BCV, but didn't really look, either.
- The DVC sales desk in the lobby was still open at 9:30pm. I don't remember it being open late into the evening on our recent trips.
- Anyone know what they are going the use the "Solarium" for? It's the room built off the front of the BC building, just left of the main entrance as you face the doors. I took some pictures of the hallway leading into it from the lobby. The entrance is across from the store, near the entrace to the walkway to the BCV.
That's all for now. Any questions?
Just returned from a FL trip, and I was able to sneak over to the Beach Club for about an hour on Thursday night. It was dark by time we arrived (approx. 8:45pm), but some of the night photos came out pretty well. I'm uploading them onto my Yahoo site right now. The uploads are going SLOW, so I might have to finish the job tomorrow.
BCV photos 6-20-02
Unfortunately, the doors did not open for me, so I could only get outside photos. I'm trying to add descriptions, so you will know what you are looking at. There are several pictures of the building itself from many different angles. I also took some of the rooms through the windows as well as the public areas from the windows near the main door.
There are still mini-fences or walls along all the walkways leading to the BCV, EXCEPT if you walk all the way around the building - there is a walkway near the service entrance off of Epcot Resorts Blvd. that was not blocked. I did not hop any fences to get close to the building.
A couple of general thoughts:
- The building looks great at night!
- The vegetation between the BCV and the parking lot has really filled in nicely. I'll bet from most rooms, you won't even notice that the lot is there. It'll be most visible from the rooms at the very far end of the building. However, it will also be a very short walk from these rooms to your car.
- As we all know, Epcot Resort's Blvd. is pretty close to the villas along the back of the building. However, after 9pm, there were barely any cars driving by. It was quiet enough to hear the Epcot background music playing in the distance. The Illuminations fireworks will be LOUD from this side of the building, so don't plan on going to bed until after 9:20pm.
- The rooms facing the area of natural undergrowth (kind of facing toward Crescent Lake, or the area sometimes called "the jungle") will also hear some noise - the insects were chirping like crazy out there. Is it like that at VWL?
- Much of the first floor of the wing that extends toward World Showcase was taken up by service facilities for the villas (laundry, garbage, etc.). You probably won't be able to see anything from the rooms above the service areas, but you might hear some noise, especially from the 2nd floor.
- Stormalong bay had posted hours of 9am to 11pm. It was not crowded at 9pm on Thursday, but it had also just stopped raining. The slide was closed.
- The wait for a table at Beaches and Cream was 15-20 minutes at 8:50pm. They now have pagers to alert you when your table is ready (I don't remember that from back in November). The wait at 9:30pm (post-Illuminations) looked longer based on the number of people that were waiting around. They are still using the same refillable mugs (same one that I bought in 9/00).
- There was some BCV stuff in the store - a yellow tee shirt (not very attractive) and a nice hat. Also some newer general BC stuff that looked nice. Didn't notice any pins for BCV, but didn't really look, either.
- The DVC sales desk in the lobby was still open at 9:30pm. I don't remember it being open late into the evening on our recent trips.
- Anyone know what they are going the use the "Solarium" for? It's the room built off the front of the BC building, just left of the main entrance as you face the doors. I took some pictures of the hallway leading into it from the lobby. The entrance is across from the store, near the entrace to the walkway to the BCV.
That's all for now. Any questions?
