Our Complimentary Beach Club Concierge stay--just back!

[Ladyhawke10]

OK,
I'll start off by saying that this was a hotel that wasn't at the top of my deluxe list...I'd never stayed there and much preferred the look of the Boardwalk or the prices of the Swan and Dolphin for the same location.
Two years ago my son and I booked a room at the Yacht club and were given a handicapped room. It would have been fine except that he was two and needed a bathtub. They gave us a different room but it took all day because they were booked, and the room we were moving into didn't end up being ready until much after check-in time...so to make a long story short, we were given a comp future stay at the Yacht or Beach club.

I chose to return to the Beach club after going on a driving trip to Cape Cod and falling in love with it. This alone made the theming more meaningful to us and it was very fun to notice all the Massachusetts related accents (and think of that gorgeous, patriotic area). Thanks to the DIS boards I came armed with a lot of must-do things and we tried to get them all in!
I know I just posted a glowing report for the POFQ, but I am finally getting a chance to post about the Beach club, where we stayed after.

No problems at any point, once again. I had no idea what kind of room we were going to get because it was comp--I told my mom it could turn out to be a view of the parking lot (or on the first floor over the canal where the alligator lives--just kidding ) or the Nantucket Suite. It turned out to be somewhere on the upper end...it was a concierge room on the fifth floor. The view was of another wing of the hotel, but if you leaned forward on the balcony (we were on the fifth floor so it was a dormer type) you could see that gorgeous Crescent lake view at night in front of the Boardwalk. Wow! All I can say is that next time I'd splurge on a waterfront view. It's beautiful.
Our view actually lit up at night because we soon realized that we could see the Epcot fireworks over the other building, about as good as one can see them from the Boardwalk Inn's concierge room. It was fun...we'd see our neighbors out there looking from their balconies as well...and at midnight on our second night, they tested a new Epcot fireworks show so we saw the higher firewords from that one, too! Our mousekeepers made towel animals every day and during turndown service. We'd only had this once before, long ago (at WL concierge) so it was a lovely surprise.

Stormalong Bay was a blast. The resort itself was very uncrowded (the week before Thanksgiving week). I was surprised as reports on here described heavy crowds during the first two weeks of Nov (veteran's, various events). Well, they all went home!!! I had a new appreciation for Stormalong Bay, as during our YC visit it was packed, and I think I once described the chronic issue of knees touching in jacuzzi going on . Well, we were in the jacuzzi by ourselves everytime! Sometimes we'd start in the main one then walk over to the BC quiet pool jacuzzi. The weather was very warm and the days were beautiful. We swam at least a couple hours a day in SAB given how fun it was to be in it when it was so uncrowded. My five year old LOVED the small pirate slide and needed to go on that daily.

We ate at Beaches and Cream (though I was constantly full as it was from concierge snacks and espresso...) The burger was better than I thought it would be and the huge fudge sundae outstanding (sorry, I just couldn't begin to think about eating a kitchen sink at that point!). We had a lot of fun there and even just walking around the resort. We liked to relax in the solarium and I fell in love with the look of the Villas (especially that neat lobby in there). We tried to look for the alligator in the canal but never saw it.

Going to Epcot was lots of fun and we spent most of our park time there (we actually only split one day bwt MK and AK because the bus ride seemed so long--though we had a GREAT bus driver one night going home from MK--he was like a stand up comedian and had everybody laughing throughout the whole trip!). My son loved the Norway Viking ship to play on and we went on all our favorite Epcot rides...Norway, the energy Dinosaur ride, the communications ride in the globe (my personal favorite--so relaxing!!). Very wonderful to walk home from Illuminations to our pretty hotel. We met visitors from England while waiting for Illuminations to start in dining area of the Rose and Crown which was a lot of fun, and listened to the pseudo-Beatles band perform.

Now I'm hooked on the Beach club! We enjoyed concierge though I'm not sure it would normally be worth the extra money--I toured the Yacht Club's concierge area (almost identical to Beach club's) and the BWI (a bigger eating area, same offerings). I had fun visiting the BWI since we love the decor there so much. Our BC stay will only make it more difficult to decide on hotels in the future . Because we also loved Port Orleans so much, I'm guessing next trip we'll probably start at POFQ again and then spend a couple days at one of our favorite deluxes, which are now the BC, BWI, GF and AKL. (sigh) So much

 

[Terry S]

Thanks for the report. Beach Club is our favorite resort! What type of offerings did they have at the lounge?

 

[Ladyhawke10]

Let's see...
Offerings:
Breakfast--fruit (whole apples, bananas and oranges) and cut up fruit (cantelope/ honeydew/ pineapple)
croissants, bagels, bread (toasters available), english muffins, small blueberry muffins
various boxed cereals
milk and juices (cranberry, apple and orange)
that awesome espresso/ cappucino/ latte machine w/ hazelnut and vanilla syrup available for use
regular drip coffee (and decaf)
yogurt

Mid morning through early afternoon--
pretzels, bags of white cheddar popcorn, sodas, water, lemonade (on tap), espresso machine (I drank hazelnut cappucinos all day long! ), gummy worms and peanut butter/ jellly sandwiches, goldfish crackers, chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies (homemade and very good)

Evening appetizers--
water (in a glass Vittel bottle), one hot dish from either Cape May or Yachtman's Steakhouse which included offerings pot roast soup (from Yachtsman), grilled salmon, bean soup (Cape May), rigatoni w/ mozzarella, chicken rice soup, chicken wings, bleu cheese and bacon risotto
a big cheese plate--often time two or three with a large selection of cheeses
fruit plate (grapes, etc)
hummus dip and pita
sourdough toast breads for soups or dips
ranch dip
cut up peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (the smucker's kind--sometimes grape jelly, sometimes strawberry) with gummy worms
cold crudites (carrots, celery) for dipping
marinated mushrooms and artichoke hearts and stuffed olives

Late evening desserts and cordials--
a large selection of mini desserts (eclairs, pecan pie tarts, truffles, opera type little cakes, hazelnut canneloni)
homemade cookies (sugar, chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin)
lots of cordials available
whole milk

 

[Terry S]

Wow, sounds like a lot! We stayed at the GF concierge a few months ago and they didn't have an espresso machine? But, they did have Baileys so I had a Baileys and coffee every night. That was nice!!

 

[scoutsmom99]

Thanks for the great review I want to try either YC or BC during my September 05 trip, but I have always been leaning towards BC (not sure why) now all I have to do is save some $$$ for the stay!

 

[emmabelle]

I'm impressed with how much you remembered from the food selections. Glad you had fun. I love the cape too, even though it's only an hour and half from my house, I haven't been since 1999. I guess I better go again.

 

[Misti]

Did the concierge lounge seem crowded to you during your visit? I've heard of times where the lounge is packed with guests during peak times, often with no seating left.

Thanks!

 

[Ladyhawke10]

No, the lounge was never crowded to the point where there were no seats. That wouldn't surprise me though because the lounge was much smaller than I expected it would be (BWI's is twice the size). There were a few occasions at dinner time when the offerings were just put out and the lounge would be pretty full, but most would get their plates and head back to their rooms. My son liked to sit on the children's chairs near the TV (which always had Disney cartoons playing) and he was usually the only kid sitting there.

 

[Misti]

No, the lounge was never crowded to the point where there were no seats. That wouldn't surprise me though because the lounge was much smaller than I expected it would be (BWI's is twice the size).

Thanks! I agree about the size. It even seems much smaller than the YC Lounge.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

I really enjoyed reading your report, Ladyhawke10! We love the Beach Club, too...for many of the same reasons you described in your report.

THANKS for the details!

 

[Epcotkids]

Are you a DVC member?

 

[Ladyhawke10]

No, I am not a DVC member (someday...)

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Just curious how many free nights you received at BC concierge? Thanks!

 

[Ladyhawke10]

We had three free nights. Once in a lifetime thing, I'm sure!

 

[Ladyhawke10]

I explained this in another post but I think it might have been a mistake that we were offered the free nights. The CM in special reservations had left the hotel by the time that we redeemed them and other CMs seemed surprised that we'd gotten the offer. I had a letter from the original CM, so it was honored without a problem. Who knows, maybe they just liked us Disney is good about honoring their word and their guests, IMHO.