Poly or BC or split? 1st trip in April/May

[Trrrrrracy]

Polynesian (Studio) or Beach Club (1 br villa) or split stay April 27-May 4.

Which is better for a 7 night stay with 5 & 9 yo daughters?

Proximity to parks: we like to be close to home at the end of the day. Youngest can get overstimulated. The kids love socializing and spending time at the pool, though they aren’t super confident swimmers. I worry a little bit about the size of BC’s pool, but it also looks like Epcot and Boardwalk have so many fun things to explore close by! On the other hand, watching the MK fireworks at Poly seems amazing

Size of rooms: The 1 br villa option at Beach Club has a separate bedroom (booking DVC through a friend), which is a game changer for parental sanity. This is why I think we will stay at BC for at least half the trip.

Dining: prob worth mentioning 5 yo has food allergies and I have not yet made dining plans bc all of the options are a little overwhelming!

Theming: Polynesian’s theming and location seems chill and magical and very “Disney” - but I could be wrong! Will I be able to find that vibe at BC too?

Split stay: worth the hassle of moving?

I’m sure there are other things I missed! Is it worth a split stay and smaller room for a couple nights at Poly, or is it best to just spend all 7 at Beach Club?

Thanks for helping me plan my family’s first Disney trip!!

 

[SLThomas318]

So we love split stays and do them for all of our trips. We love splitting a magic kingdom resort with an epcot resort. Plenty of other people will chime in on how much they hate split stays… it really comes down to personal preference. We plan park days around having easier/more convenient transportation and our kids enjoy having 2 different resorts/pools to explore. We love Poly. We enjoyed Beach Club too, but said we wouldn’t go back till our boys were more confident swimmers. It is almost impossible to keep an eye on them in that pool without being with them… they have to exit the pool area to do the large slide. The sandy area is fun, but at 4 and 6 my boys got bored and wanted to keep doing the slide.

 

[Trrrrrracy]

This is great advice! What’s your favorite Epcot resort for your split stays with the less confident swimmers? I liked that BC is 5 mins from epcot!

 

[SLThomas318]

We prefer Boardwalk… we enjoy walking to the parks and Boardwalk is great for walking to Epcot and Hollywood. We walked back to Beach Club from Hollywood and it was a hike. The pool was perfect… they enjoyed the slide and we could sit on a lounger and watch them the whole time. The layout of the 1 bedrooms between the 2 properties are identical. Both properties could use a refresh (Boardwalk is starting now I believe, not sure on timeline for DVC side) compared to Poly which was just renovated.

 

[jppeek]

Poly split with beach club has been 2 of our last five trips (grand Floridian and beach club were other 3) and in our eyes is worth hassle of moving. Convenience of being close to parks is so nice.

I will say the first time we switched wasn’t the smoothest though, but we have learned some tricks that make it go much better knowing we won’t have a room for a while. Biggest thing is a nice lunch reservation at a place that you can chill at for a bit. We have done space 220 last two trips and it was a great break.

We do beach club over boardwalk because we don’t typically close down Hollywood studios, we finish night at epcot and the walk from epcot using back path is very short. I walked with a friend over to a bar at boardwalk one night and I really felt those extra steps lol (though the bar was awesome and worth the walk!) However walk to Hollywood is a bit of a hike from BC like SL mentioned.

Pool at beach club is amazing, however can get super crowded and my little guy does find it a bit overwhelming. It’s not his fav pool, he prefers the poly (and Gf) more. I really like the pool, and the lazy River but could see how some would not be fans.

Poly studios are bigger than average studios so they are fairly roomie, especially bathroom setup.

Food wise you have all the restaurants on the monorail to choose from at poly, on-site is a great bar with trader sams, Kona has one of the best breakfast I’ve had, and Ohana is a fun experience (though I miss pre covid Ohana)

beach club or boardwalk probably has better dinning options in my opinion though (bringing all the great epcot dinning in). And abracadabra at boardwalk was a fun bar.

Disney is amazing with allergies, they will literally create anything to accommodate you. So I wouldn’t stress over that at all. I’ve been with a pregnant sister in law who couldn’t eat anything and a cousin who is allergic to practically everything and both left happy and full from every meal!

No matter what though you can’t go wrong and it will be an amazing trip!

 

[Apiary]

They’re both great resorts. We did a split between a poly lake view studio and a BC 1 bdrm and it was great. I don’t know what it would be like managing moving day with kids, but for us we just threw our luggage in the car and went to a park. Both rooms had been recently refurbished with the pullout couch replaced with a Murphy bed.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Split it. That’s my favorite split actually, Disney will even transfer the luggage for you. Access to 3 parks with no buses is great. I know Poly has the monorail to EP but that is not a short ride and you can end up packed in there first thing in the morning. Much nicer to stroll from BC to IG. And it’s kinda nice to get a fully refreshed room part way through the trip!

 

[dmetcalfrn]

Poly/BC is our favorite split stay. Usually the only bus ride for us is to AK. Our kids love the sand bottom pool at BC and the slide. DD has food allergies and one of her favorites is Beaches and Cream. We usually have a meal there and get ice cream daily, We have had great experiences with her food allergies there and it is actually one of the only places that she can get scooped cream due to cross contamination.

 

[Marthasor]

Poly/BC is a fantastic split - my only word of caution is the pull-out sofa is not terribly comfortable. We very much prefer the new murphy bed options in some of the other DVC villas. If your daughters will be ok on a sleeper sofa, then it should be fine. I would agree with PP above that the Boardwalk pool is much more manageable than the BC/YC pool - you can sit on the pool deck and see the entire pool, plus see your children as they go up and wait for the slide. Boardwalk is a slightly longer walk to EP (and is closer to the DHS path), so I don't think there is a terrible drawback in terms of location of the resort. For a 7-night trip, I don't think splitting is too much of a hassle. We typically pack up on moving day, have our luggage transferred (or hop in a lyft/uber and transfer ourselves) and then go to a park until our room is ready. I wouldn't split a shorter trip, personally, but a 3/4 split is lovely, IMHO.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Storm Along Bay is a great pool for people who want to spend a lot of time at the pool. Kids of all ages love the shallow, sand bottom kids pool. There are life vests available, too. With Hurricane Hanna adjacent to the pool, food is easily available. There are CMs walking around to take your order. This is very appealing to us.

A villa is very nice with a family. You have a full kitchen which is perfect for having breakfast in the room and storing and heating leftovers. I like having a real 12-cup coffee pot instead of K-cups.

It is easier to travel to MK from the Epcot resorts than it is to travel to Epcot from the MK resorts. I hate taking two monorails to get to Epcot. It is a very quick walk to the International Gateway and to the Skyliner from the Epcot resorts.

 

[DianaMB333]

Split it if you can plan your park days around them… especially the return at night… or if you think you will stay at the pool some days..

BC walk to Epcot is wonderful early entry and coming back at night.. or just to stroll/bike around the boardwalk

I have gone with 5yr old and she loved the beach area and pool.. but she didn’t enjoy much Epcot or HS at nights as much as MK…

Both are beautiful resorts!

 

[Brett Wyman]

We use to hate splits. But after the Skyliner opened we really like an Epcot resort for our HS/Epcot days. And then a Monorail Resort(or Wilderness Lodge) for our MK days. Animal Kingdom can really be done from either.

With Epcot especially we find we love to just pop back in after dinner in the evening.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

My only complaint would be around a split stay currently is Disney won’t link your reservations so when it comes to making reservations your limited to the length of your first stay and not the total stay.

Also, we stay at Poly and BWV in February and liked the theming of Poly, but the walk to the rooms outside is very dependent on the weather. We were there when it was cool and rainy and not pleasant honestly.

I don’t know if I would ever stay at the Poly again honestly.

 

[Dis Dragon]

Just as an FYI, there are only 3 nights available in a 1Bdrm at BC (4/28-4/30). Nothing the beginning of May, Poly is slim pickings the beginning of May as well. (hope you already booked it)

Also for my 2 cents, BC is our favorite. The pool is great, it is a very large pool but you can stay in one area and keep yours kids there pretty easily. The main pool area is separate from the lazy river and the sand area.

 

[Dis Dragon]

There is a 1 BDRM at Boardwalk still out there for your exact dates....

 

[Trrrrrracy]

Oh no! When we were looking to book last week they were available! This is sad

 

[DaniPoppins]

I agree with everyone and give a definite thumbs-up for the split stay! We do it almost every trip! Half at a MK resort and half at an Epcot resort. Your daughters will LOVE Stormalong Bay at BC. It is my daughter's favorite place to stay! DVC availability can be tough these days, but keep looking and snag what you want as soon as you see it!!

 

[RoseGold]

Poly is a construction zone with the huge DVC tower going up. I wouldn't want to be staying anywhere near it, especially how much those rooms cost. I was there a couple weeks ago, and it's already a huge mess. The walking path to GF is already routed across the major road.

Poly DVC is on the other side, so should be OK. But if you are booking cash, you could be right on a huge construction project.