This is the *NEW* Yacht & Beach Club Question & Answer Forum. Yea...we're still here.

[DisneyBride'03]

Thanks for those photos!! Ava is going to love that kiddie pool!

 

[TxRabbit]

DisneyBride'03: you have inspired me to write a review of SAB with the younger set in mind...I hope you don't find me long winded ...I am known as quite the talker in the family and I tend to write the same way. Please forgive in advance.

SAB has to be the most fantastic pool I have ever been to for toddlers, young children, and any not super strong swimmers. My DS is 6, knows how to float, but hates to get his face wet. He isn't super tall so he easily gets tired in pools where he can't touch the bottom. We had the best time at SAB!

The kiddie pool is huge. It is a self contained pool and does not connect to any other pool. The main section of the pool is divided down the middle by a large sand bar. For the most part, it is 2' deep throughout. There is 0 degree entry around the sandbar, of course, and in another area which I will highlight later. I think that it gets to 3' deep toward the Hurricane Hannah's side. There are stairs on either side of the sand bar.

The bottom of the pool is entirely covered in sand. It is beyond description how this gives footing for young grippy toes and a no slip surface to walk through. Also, this surface is a no snag, no scratch, no bang up surface that is easy on feet, swimwear, hands, knees, etc. The sand is a large grain. It is relatively easy to wash off your skin, but it will get stuck in your suit and hair, and require more thorough cleaning later. The sand also can make for some frustrating castle building, because it doesn't retain moisture. However, this trait will also keep the kids busy for HOURS making new creations. This is the best of the beach world. Nice clean water, nice sand, and no kelp, seaweed, or fish.

And, like all of the SAB pool areas, there is a sort of step down from the pool deck to the water level. This is a fantastic way to cool off hot feet as you walk around the pool. Although you would need to be careful to keep your balance.

early am

early evening

early evening alternative view

The really little pool and playground is even closer to Yacht Club side. This is a one foot deep pool with sprinklers in it. The playground is next to this pool. There is a tremendous amount of seating over here.

There is a great cove area toward the lake side of the kiddie pool area. This is another 0 point entry area. We were hanging out here late one evening looking up at the moon with the sillouettes of the palm trees against the night sky...ahhh.

There is a kiddie slide on the back side of the big ship slide. The pool is a little cooler than the other pool, I think because of the circulating water from the slide entry. The pool is about 3' deep throughout.

Any questions?

 

[liltoot]

jmsadams Thanks for the info and pics on the pool. Great job!

 

[bytheblood]

jmsadams Thanks for the info and pics on the pool. Great job!

Ditto!!

 

[Dusted]

Aaaahh. My fix!!!

We loved SAB last Sept. My DD3 loved the kiddie slide!!! My DH and I decided we could do without island trips as long as SAB was around. My toes in the sand with a drink and disney atmosphere.... Heaven!

Thanks so much for the pix and for continuing efforts to keep this thread up to date. BC will always be my first love!!

 

[Marshay]

Thanks Jmsadam for the pics! We leave in 19 days for BCV, our first time at SAB. My DD2 will love the pool.

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

The photos are great, we will be spending a lot of time there I can see! My boys are water babies!!! I wouldn't mind seeing Pirates of the Caribbean on the outdoor screen, my idea of heaven.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

jmsadams.............What a great and terrific addition to this thread...those photos are amazing....thanks so much for posting!!! How could anyone not want to stay at YC/BC after seeing those photos????

Thanks for all the info as well....I guess I should start packing since I leave first thing Friday morning......

 

[Colleen27]

You guys gave a fantastic trip.

We did! The kids have a new favorite Disney resort by far, to the point of DS asking if we can postpone our January trip until summer to stay there again.

We all loved the Beach Club. We had a great room, on the top floor facing the villas with a view of SSE through the trees, and SAB was even better than I expected. I'm working on a trip report to share a few of the 320 pictures I took over the 4 days we were there. The link is in my sig if anyone wants to check it out.

Thanks for all the great info and tips about the BC. It really is a lovely resort, and I can't wait to go back someday.

 

[libinatorsmom]

WHAT AN AWESOME POST... I am sooo excited about our trip to BC Resort... WOO HOO and hearing about the great pools for little ones makes it all better... our daughter will be 4 on the trip and I was worried about the pool areas being to old for her...

 

[TxRabbit]

Do you ever just feel like writing? I need to watch myself in this mood or I really will just run off at the mouth...

Anyway...one thing that really frustrated me before leaving was not being able to get the scoop on the Beach Club Marketplace. There was a decided lack of info out there IMO and so I am filling in a perceived blank.

The Beach Club Marketplace is the gift shop on the BC side. Not only does it function as a place to buy t-shirts, bags, robes, toiletries, toys, Crocs, magnets, bottle opener, household items, strollers (I know, crazy), etc etc, but it also functions as a mini grocery store and limited counter service food. I think that the BCV has an influence on the stock at the store because there are things for sale that you just can't use if you are staying at BC, like frozen pizza and other frozen entrees.

Here are the refridgerated offerings:

Having the Lunchables was a great deal for my DS. One snack credit, and quite frankly, much better than some of the CS offerings for lunch for kids. If I had know there would be brick cheese available, I would have packed a decent knife. The flat things that you can't see so well on the top shelf above the cheese and Lunchables are packages of presliced deli meat, I remember I saw salami.

Here are some of the dry goods:

same thing, different angle

I didn't take pictures of the dry goods over by the Gelato side, but there were bread products, including sliced bread and bagels, and there were chips, not Family Size, but still the large, multi serving bags of chips. And yes, those big huge bags of chips were one snack credit.

There were also donuts, prepackaged bowls of cereal, whole fruit, candy, nuts, and other prepackaged snacks. Sorry, no pic of those either.

Here's the dessert case:

I'm going to post this...next up...the counter service side of the Marketplace.

 

[TxRabbit]

I didn't check it out for breakfast, so I have no coverage of breakfast offerings. For lunch, you have your choice of build-your-own-salad or a premade, saran wrapped sandwich.

Here's the salad options:

Here are the sandwiches:

I actually have individual pics of the turkey and mozzerella sandwich and the roast beef and brie sandwich, because we purchased those to take with us to the airport. (An excellent idea BTW). But I haven't uploaded them yet. Although the sandwiches are premade, they are made fresh daily. The meat is good quality lunch meat and the rolls they were served on were fine, a crusty crust and soft inside.

The roast beef was tender and well seasoned. The brie was YUM YUM. And that sandwich also had carmelized onions on it. The turkey was deli sliced quality, not pressed together prepackaged quality. The mozzerella was spongy and fresh, not like the string cheese kind. It was a bummer that we didn't check out the packet area, where the mustard, etc., utensils, napkins, etc. would be...so we had no condiments on the sandwiches. So, a little dry, but not too bad because of the cheese. As a CS credit, you get a choice of dessert, the predipped, sprinkled rice crispy treats were one (and the one we picked) and a drink (we got bottled water). We also grabbed a big bag of chips to share (snack credit). Great airport meal, especially if you get there 2 HOURS before departure.

On to the Gelato...(copied from my dining review...)

First we had gone over to Beaches and Cream to see about getting some ice cream. Poor, poor selection for a snack credit. I had heard RAVES about the Gelato in the Marketplace so I steered the family over there. DH wasn't thrilled with the thought because he was picturing an Italian ice type thing. No no no. It isn't ice cream, it isn't sorbet, it isn't sherbert. But it IS a frozen dessert that is not heavy or thick and yet soooo creamy. Okay, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Stracciatella is a kind of chocolate chip. I asked how the flavors rotate and the CM said that they keep the same flavors for one month and then they generally switch out one or two at a time, and keep those for a month, etc.

DS had chocolate. DH had stracciatella. I had mango. They were all FANTASTIC. We went back for more on different days. The large size does qualify for a snack credit. I wish it were a bigger large size.

And on to the seating arrangements...people have complained about lack of seating here and that you can't call this place a CS restaurant. And, no, there is not a lot of indoor seating...

Two table height tables...

Two bar height tables...(oh look...some of the single sized chips, prepackaged bowls of cereal, and whole fruit.)

BUT...if you walk out these doors ...

And cross that hallway, then you will find a covered outside patio...

So there is SOME seating here.

I hope my love for BC is coming across...I can completely understand the lack of info about it...I think that when you stay there, you generally just have SO MUCH FUN that you aren't taking pictures and bothering to notice the details...well, we had a very relaxing trip...one afternoon my DH and DS were too tired to do much besides lay in bed and watch tv...ahhhhhhhhh....Vaaaaaacaaaation...so I wondered around and just explored the resort and took a lot of pictures!!! Hope you enjoy my attempts to update and add some info.

 

[TxRabbit]

DH and I are heading to the BC on 9/5. We were thinking of renting a car since we hate waiting for the bus, but we'd rather walk. How far is the walk to MGM and Epcot? Is there internet access at BC?

Thanks.

I understand hating to wait for the bus...but I have to say, we did not experience bad bus service. There 8/19 to 8/25, we took the buses to DTD and MK. No AK this trip. We never waited longer than 10 minutes for the bus and often we saw it at the bus stop and hurried to it to walk right on, or it arrived literally right after we did.

Granted the bus to DTD is something of a pain, ugh, you go to TL, then DTD marketplace, then DTD west side, then TL AGAIN, then YC, and then BC. I think one morning, we even stopped at BI to pick up people there. But we went to DTD on 3 different days...and it really wasn't that bad...and we only stopped at BI the one time.

The MK bus was fast. So no probs there AT ALL.

We actually ended up having to wait for buses at BI, Poly, and FW on our trip and by far the WORST was Poly. We waited over 20 minutes. Both BI and Poly have one bus stop bay for all the buses, and I think I noticed the same at YC...but BC has three different bus stop bays, one for each route, which made waiting for the bus much more pleasant. And they were covered.

The walk to Epcot is about 5 to 10 minutes depending on how energetic or tired you are. We always took the path under the bridge, which saved the walk up and over the hill, thanks to the suggestion of someone somewhere on this board. On the way home, we always wanted to get into a/c as fast as possible and would cut through the quiet pool area to get into the building!

We didn't walk to MGM. We saved DS6 legs for walking in the park. The boat wasn't too bad. It was waiting for us on the dock outbound. The return trip however, was a little bit of a wait. Somewhere around 15-18 minutes. The boat route is Epcot, BI, YC/BC, Swan/Dolphin, MGM and then back again in the reverse order. I think there are two boats operating going in opposite directions. The boat is quite slow because it travels largely through a no wake zone. If you are fit and feeling energetic, you could probably beat the boat...but after seeing the distance, it was worth the wait for our family.

Renting a car is a personal choice. But my 0.02 is that the transportation was not so much of a hassle that I would deal with having the rental, parking, etc. Hope this helps in your decision making process.

 

[Red Wings Fan]

I agree with Jeannie...

I stayed at the Yacht Club as well as offsite during our recent trip (8/17 - 8/26) and would say the bus service, while not outstanding, was very good with minimal waits. The walk to Epcot was very manageable even in the heat (walked through the BC to stay in the AC as long as possible) and the ride to MK was smooth and easy.

One of my major concerns with the car is the cost is getting outrageous. On top of the extra tram/boat/monorail ride (we spent all but 2 days @ MK). It just wasn't the same.

Tony

 

[Red Wings Fan]

Jeannie:

BTW, very nice idea on the marketplace pics.

 

[tortoni]

We are just back from 9 wonderful days at the Beach Club. SAB was terrific and the amenities and service were great. Best of all is wonderful Teena, who greets you in the lobby with a big smile and all the info and good cheer you could want.

Any questions, fire away.

Jeanne--great info on the Marketplace. I will add that we had the Riptide Salad and it was more than enough for two. Also, on the seating, there is a solarium just a few feet away from the Marketplace, toward the lobby, where there are plenty of tables and chairs to enjoy whatever goodies you are eating.

 

[kldmom2000]

We are just back from 9 wonderful days at the Beach Club. SAB was terrific and the amenities and service were great. Best of all is wonderful Teena, who greets you in the lobby with a big smile and all the info and good cheer you could want.

Any questions, fire away.

Jeanne--great info on the Marketplace. I will add that we had the Riptide Salad and it was more than enough for two. Also, on the seating, there is a solarium just a few feet away from the Marketplace, toward the lobby, where there are plenty of tables and chairs to enjoy whatever goodies you are eating.

We just got back also from 7 nights at the YC (August 17-24).... we had the BEST Disney trip YET! It was unbelievable!!!! We got an upgrade from standard to concierge (Regatta club!!!) It was our first ever upgrade in 8 trips to the YC/BC!!!!!! We also got 2 other dreams at the Animal Kingdom
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1561203 (I tell about it in that link )

We spent a lot of time at the resort as we always do... love Stormalong Bay! It's impossible to get our girls out of that pool!!!! My 7 yr old celebrated her bday there a week late and we had the most magical time....

We too loved Teena!!! She's awesome!

DD loved to trade pins with Art

I really LOVED the chicken flatbread sandwich at Hurricane Hanna's.... ordered it 2 different days... Yummo!

Our server @ Cape May Cafe (I'm blanking on her name) was soooo sweet

At some point when I'm done with laundry and finished school shopping for my DD's, I'll write my trip report hopefully!

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

Wait a minute! There is a walkway under a bridge to Epcot from the BC? Where is that? We only saw the "up and over" walkway, but it wasn't bad.

 

[TxRabbit]

Wait a minute! There is a walkway under a bridge to Epcot from the BC? Where is that? We only saw the "up and over" walkway, but it wasn't bad.

Just veer toward the water side as you head toward the bridge...the pathway is much more narrow and might be easily missed...but it is much more level, which is helpful on tired legs.

If anyone is interested, I haven't done my trip report, but I am working on my dining report, which includes the Yacht Club Galley for lunch and breakfast and the Cape May Cafe character breakfast. Here it is

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1562382

 

[TxRabbit]

I totally agree about Teena. She is a wonderful, warm lady.