Poly or Beach Club

[Sara_H]

My husband and I are planning a week at Disney which will be a first for our kids (ages 9 and 7 at time of travel). They've been to MK but only a day at a time. We are trying to decide between Poly and Beach Club. We like the idea of being on the monorail but also like the idea of being able to walk to EPCOT. We are going in January (after MLK and race weekend). We are having a hard time finding someone with Poly points to rent at a price we are willing to pay as of now. We do think the Beach Club looks really nice and those points are easier to find. Thoughts? Has anybody stayed at both? Have a preference? I'm a planner and worried that if we wait until the 7 month mark that all the studios at both Poly and BC will be gone. TIA!

 

[ziravan]

I own both and both are great resorts.

Poly has more space and it's a 3 min walk to the Epcot monorail (and MK) in fact, it's closer to the TTC monorails than the Poly monorail.

BCV has the totally awesome Storm aLong Bay pool. But. January.

You can't go wrong with either.

 

[Boardwalk529]

I have stayed at both and go back and forth as to which is my favorite.

I LOVE the tropics so I really love walking the grounds of the Polynesian. I think the Polynesian also has better counter service options for a quick meal. The rooms are also larger there.

The Beach Club just has a great homey feel to it. The pool is also awesome, and it's great being able to walk to the boardwalk. I love that at night there is something to do after you get back from the parks. While the Polynesian is very quiet then, the Beach Club is more bustling at night in the Beaches and Cream/arcade area. I love getting some ice cream and sitting by the pool at the end of the day.

 

[Castillo Mom]

It's a tough decision. You really can't go wrong with either, it just comes down to personal taste I think. BCV might have the edge as far as kids are concerned due to SAB and Beaches & Cream. My boys loved it there our first stay in WDW. Now they're adults and, although BC is our first love, they lean more towards PVB due to the theming and great bars in the area.

 

[Amw1064]

Both my favorites as well. Did a 3 day trip in December at Beach Club and then another 3 day trip in January at Polynesian. Fortunately the weather was warm both weekends. Pool is definitely better at Beach Club and you can rent the surrey bikes and go around the boardwalk. My daughter is 14 now and her new thing is renting the little speedboats. She preferred the lake by Polynesian for that. Tough decision but you can't go wrong either way. We love Beaches & Creme at BC but they have dole whips at Polynesian.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Poly has Dole Whip place, and we like Kona for breakfast. For a January stay, I would prefer Poly.

 

[Disn3yVision]

Poly if you can get it, but the kids would love the pool at SAB!

 

[Shellyred8]

Perhaps try a split stay? 1/2 the trip at Poly and the rest at BCV? Then you get to experience both!

 

[jerseyduke]

Either way you win.

Poly: Easier access to MK. I love the grounds at the poly. Dole Whip. Very good pool. DVC rooms are close to TTC so easy access to Epcot Monorail
BCV: Walk to Epcot, Boat to HS. Personally, I do not think so much of the grounds (I actually like to walk around a lot at the poly with all the plants, etc..not that I dislike the grounds at BC). Beaches and Cream. Probably the best pool on property.

Win-Win either way. If you are having trouble finding points to rent at the Poly at the price you want, go with the Beach Club. It is different, but not a down grade in any way, just a lateral move.

 

[drusba]

In making the decision, you should not assume that you are going to have much pool time in January. You can have a string of warm enough days, but you can also have a string of quite cold days, and the majority of time the day time temperatures are above 60 but below 70. Thus, I would not choose Beach Club in Jan because of SAB. It does have other advantages, including walking to Epcot, walking or taking a boat to Studios, an excellent buffet restaurant, Cape May, and easy access to several restaurants and stores at the Epcot Resorts and to Boardwalk nightlife.

I have not stayed at Poly DVC but have stayed there before its DVC was added. You get easy access via monorail to MK (or as a pleasant pace-changer, take the boat) and Epcot. The studios are much larger than BCV, although a lot of that extra space is devoted to the bathroom area. O'Hana's is a very good restaurant. The main store is excellent,and if you want to do the Luau, you are right there.

My personal view is that it is a toss up since both are very good. As to getting a room via rental be aware of the following. For the last half of January 2017, both were open at 7 months out. Poly actually remained open for all such dates for at least two weeks beyond 7 months out

 

[charminnie]

My decision would be based on which park do you think you will be spending more time at? If it is MK, then i think you would be better at Poly. With your kids ages I am thinking they will want to go to MK more than Epcot. Plus i don't think you will get much pool time in January at the Beach club.

 

[CaliAdventurer]

I couldn't make that decision either so decided on a split stay for Spring Break.

 

[DenLo]

Will the kids stay together when at the pool? If not, it could be very difficult to keep an eye on both kids as SAB is a very large pool and even the slide entrance is outside the pool area. One parent cannot do it alone.

The Poly has two nice pools. The feature pool has a nice water play area too. If you want a studio PVB definitely has a larger one.

 

[Sara_H]

We decided to go with Beach Club.

Liked the idea of being able to walk to EPCOT. And if the weather is warm enough we can take advantage of the pool.

 

[aleh021]

We decided to go with Beach Club.

Liked the idea of being able to walk to EPCOT. And if the weather is warm enough we can take advantage of the pool.

Either choice is great! Beach Club is awesome and being able to be in Epcot within 5 minutes is great!

 

[buzzrelly]

Take whichever you can get and know that either way, you can't go wrong. I think at your kid's ages, I'd give the slight edge to PVB because of the proximity to the MK, but BC is amazing as well. Don't overthink it.

 

[Noles2002]

So we are planning our next trip to Disney for spring of next year. We are going to rent DVC points for our stay this time. I thought I had narrowed it down to Beach Club, but my husband has been quite vocal that he wants to stay at the Poly this time around. (He never chirps in his 2 cents and always gives me my way, unless it really matters to him..so I was considering switching) He feels being in proximity to MK with 3 children under 9 is key right now since that will be our main park. I agree too. But as I was going through some post regarding the Poly I came across one that concerned me a little.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/grand-floridian-vs-polynesian-august-stay.3520125/

Many people are complaining the Poly pool is CRAZY overcrowded and tons of non-guests are entering. One person called it "people soup" Through some more research I found a lot of people complaining about this and mainly it is because they aren't scanning MB to enter the pool. I know when we stayed at the AOA last year, we had to scan our MB to enter. Now most of these posts are over a year old, so I'm wondering if people are still finding this to be a problem? We definitely plan to have some pool time while we're there, but would hate to find we are standing shoulder to shoulder with someone while doing so! I understand that pools will be crowded, but allowing non guests to swim is a whole other issue and leads to even more crowding. TIA!

 

[wdwlver]

Stayed at Poly last August. We had to scan our bands whenever we entered pool area. We didn't find pools to be too crowded although the lava pool is always very busy in summer. Oasis pool was much less crowded.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

All the feature pools are pretty crazy when it's warm or hot out.

 

[Noles2002]

I guess I'm more interested if they are not requiring MB for entry. Even at AOA they required it, I would think at a Deluxe resort this would also be required. I was shocked when I searched this and found A LOT of people complaining that MB were not required for entry which definitely led to excess of crowding. I know some people sneak in by walking in behind someone, but many resort guests said the gate didn't even have a lock and a MB not required to open it. But like I also said, these are year old posts, these issues could definitely have been resolved by now and that's what I'm more curios about.