Stormalong Bay and Visitors Policy

[Nicsmom]

I'll be staying at the Yacht Club this month. My dad, who lives in FL, will be visiting me at the hotel for a few hours. Will he be able to go into the pool with me? Does anyone know the policy? Thank you!

 

[BrianD]

The policy is that you have to be staying at the resort to use the pool. When you enter the pool area, you have to show your room key, and they will give you a wrist band.

 

[Traveliz]

You can ask at the hotel - they often allow visitors as exceptions.

Liz

 

[angelina]

We were staying at the BC 3 weeks ago. Some days they checked our room keys, and some days they didn't. I think it depended on what time of day you came in.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We've been there the past two years (late June - middle of July) they always checked our IDs and gave us wristbands!

 

[Tissa]

If it is just one person then check with the front desk.

 

[Geoff_M]

As others have stated, the best thing to do is to ask the hotel management when you are there. However, the one pool you are most likely to be told "no" when you ask if you can have guests swim there too is SAB. But that isn't a given.

 

[ducklite]

If it is just one person then check with the front desk.

The front desk has ZERO authority to grant permission to use the pool. Only teh lifeguards/recreation staff can do this. It's their water, their responsibility. Period. The front desk can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge, it doesn't mean they have the authority to do so.

The written policy is that only registered hotel guests are allowed at SAB. They turn away a lot more than they let in. Ssince the fence went up six or seven years ago, the only time I wasn't asked for my room card was on a February morning when it was about 40 degrees out and only penguins would have enjoyed the water.

Anne

 

[Nicsmom]

Thanks for the info!! What if I went to one of the quiet pools? Are they as strict and have the same issues?

 

[DMRick]

In another discussion about this, a worker said the front desk knows the possibility of how many would be using the pool on any given day, and she had suggested we ask there.So, we've asked at the front desk at the Disney hotels and been told yes (and we have done the same at non Disney hotels). They have wrist bands they can give out, if they judge the pool won't be too crowded.
I also have asked/talked with lifeguards because of what I read on this board (and was told by one, that that is why it's better to go directly to Disney, since unofficial boards often have unofficial info), who have acted like I had two heads when I asked them. So now I ask at the front desk. Their signs, their rules, and they (or the hotel manager) have the ability to either go by their rules, or bend them, depending on crowd levels.

 

[madalex]

Thanks for the info!! What if I went to one of the quiet pools? Are they as strict and have the same issues?

They will not be as strict at the YC quiet pool. There will be no one there checking IDs or handing out wristbands. I don't even know if the "no pool hopping" rule applies to the quiet pools.

I have stayed at YC a dozen times over the last 10 years and visited the quiet pool a couple times on each time. There are rarely more than 5 - 8 people there at any one time.

 

[LK03]

When DH and I stayed at BC they didn't check for IDs and this was in the middle of May. We were in the pool when we noticed this woman giving out things and we were jealous, lol. We swam up to her and asked her what they were giving out and she said the bracelets and without checking our IDs gave us bracelets while we stayed in the pool.

 

[grimley1968]

The policy is that only registered guests of BC and YC (and the villas) are allowed to use Stormalong Bay.

Having said that, we stayed at BC in September of 2004, and were never given a wristband a single time, even though we swam almost every day. We never saw anyone else wearing wristbands, either. The fence was up, but we never saw anyone get stopped at the gate and asked if they were guests at BC or YC. The main effect of the fence at the time, it seemed to me, was to frustrate paying guests of BC/YC who could not easily walk from their rooms to the pool because of this fence. I suppose it discouraged faint-hearted pool hoppers, but they could have easily walked in the pool area via the same route resort guests came through, with not one check of resort ID.

 

[mickaholic4077]

The morning of the day he is scheduled to come and visit you,I would go down to the front desk and tell them that my father is going to join us for a couple of days and put him on the reservation. However,if you already have two adults on the ressie,don't do this if you don't want to pay the extra adult in the room fee.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The morning of the day he is scheduled to come and visit you,I would go down to the front desk and tell them that my father is going to join us for a couple of days and put him on the reservation. However,if you already have two adults on the ressie,don't do this if you don't want to pay the extra adult in the room fee.

Plus if you are on the dining plan, you may have to add him to the plan as well.

 

[everylastbreath]

I was under the assumption that if you stayed at the Boardwalk Villas you could also use the Beach Club, Even the Disney Video mentions it. am I wrong?

 

[maxiesmom]

We were never checked for room keys last October either. The only day I though we were being watched was check in day, and I was walking around the pool with my niece, fully clothed. I wonder if they thought we were just going to dive in with our clothes on?

 

[Schmeck]

We had to show our room keys every day that we went to SAB - but that was in August...

I don't think the Boardwalk guests get to use SAB, unless DVC has it's own rules?

 

[CarolAnnC]

I was under the assumption that if you stayed at the Boardwalk Villas you could also use the Beach Club, Even the Disney Video mentions it. am I wrong?

Pool Hopping for DVC members, though allowed at most resorts, is not available for Stormalong Bay. Unless you are a member staying at the Beach Club Villas in which case you may also use Stormalong Bay. There is no privilege for BWV guests to use Stormalong Bay.

 

[DMRick]

The policy is that only registered guests of BC and YC (and the villas) are allowed to use Stormalong Bay..

I agree that that is the rule. And as we all know, there are lots of policies/rules that Disney has in place, and they can decide if they want to enforce them or heck, even encourage the breaking of them . Sometimes they encourage policies to be broken, by sprinkling pixie dust..such as allowing a guest to have company in the pool, or giving a room upgrade, or in one instance that happened to us, we were given a day pass for a hotel room, at no cost..just because a doorman heard us say that our plane wouldn't be leaving until late...and it wasn't even the hotel we had originally stayed at. Hotel managers make choices and decisions all the time that are different from the "rules". And because Disney owns the place and has given certain people authority to make decisons that might not reflect the rules/policies..sometimes those rules/policies are changed and an exception is made.
In this world there are lots of rules/policies/laws. Almost all of them have reasons why exceptions are made..and in this case, well it's up to Disney to decide if they want to make an exception (no matter what any of us think on this board)..after all, it is their place.

So I stand by my original answer. Ask at the front desk of the resort you will be staying at.