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

[Allie322]

Cheryl,
We just returned last week from YC. You won't be disappointed! You won't have a problem using SAB if your room isn't ready. Whenever you go to SAB, you have to show your resort ID (Room Key..which you will receive if your room is ready or not); you will then get a wristband and you'll be all set. Your DD will love the pool! My two DDs (8 & 10) couldn't get enough of it. The slide is "just right"...big enough to be fun, not so big that it's scary. We loved floating around the lazy river portion of the pool on a noodle. You can rent tubes for $3/hour or $10/day, or buy a noodle for $4. We rented a tube but found it kind of a drag to lug around so we bought a noodle and when we checked out, we gave it to a little girl at the pool.
All rooms above the first floor have a nice balcony with 2 chairs and a small table. DH and I really enjoyed sitting on the balcony at night when the kids had gone to bed.
This was our first stay at YC, having stayed at POR and ASMu and offsite several times. We won't stay anywhere else! We are thoroughly hooked!

Allie

 

[karensi]

Just booked BC,water view, for Oct. (not concierge). From reading this thread I have made a note to myself to call and request a Boardwalk view and a full balcony. Does anyone have any other suggestions, such as room #'s, or anything else we may want to request. Just DH and myself, smoking or non-smoking doesn't really make a difference to us. Should we ask for one or the other for a better chance of a better room? How about floor #'s?? Alot of questions, but I know this is the place to come to ,to get the answers Thanks in advance all you BC lovers

 

[grumpyandbashful]

Posted this question as a new thread, but maybe some of you experts here can help me!
We are trying to decide between AKL concierge or YC/BC over
Christmas (Dec. 19-26). We have an AP rate ressie at each and I'm trying to decide which to keep. We stayed at AKL concierge last summer and loved it, but I might rather be near Epcot at Christmastime!!

I asked about standard view concierge rooms at BC and YC and was told they only accomodate 4 (there are 5 of us, kids are 15, 13, 11). Was told we would have to reserve a waterview concierge room to accomodate 5. Has this always been the case? Waterview concierge rate is too steep for us, even with AP discount.

If we do go with a standard room at BC, are there any nice quiet garden views available, or do the old rooms that faced the woods now only see the BC Villas? Would we have better luck getting a nice garden view (and maybe a larger room - we will have to have an Aerobed on the floor as is) at the YC??

Any help would be appreciated -

 

[disneyholic family]

we just stayed at the YC concierge in a waterview room....
there was no daybed in it....
the new configuration after the renovation replaced the daybed with a large desk which we found to be extremely convenient for my husbands laptop...

 

[DisneyaHolic23]

GrumpyandBashful -
My husband, daughter, and I just stayed at both the Beach Club concierge and the AKL concierge a couple of weeks ago. Since you have stayed AKL, you know how nice that is. I absolutely loved it (my husband, however, didn't like the spice - curry, I think - that they put on everything, so although he loved the lodge, the food in the lounge was not his favorite!). That being said, I would choose Beach Club at Christmastime. My reason for the decision is that AKL is so far away from everything, and at Christmastime it is so crowded that location will be key. Being able to walk to both Epcot and MGM (if necessary) is a huge bonus.
I don't know about your other questions. I do know that I paid for a garden view room, and had a decent view of the water, since we were perpendicular to the water over a courtyard. I thought it was a great view!

 

[Mimi70]

Originally posted by disneyholic family
we just stayed at the YC concierge in a waterview room....
the new configuration after the renovation replaced the daybed with a large desk which we found to be extremely convenient for my husbands laptop...

disneyholic family,

Did you, by chance, take pictures of your newly renovated room, and if so, could you provide a link to those pictures? The suspense has been eating at me about how massive the renovations have been!!! Thanks in advance!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YC RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I'll be staying in a Beach Club Standard Room, request the two queens & daybed and a full balcony. What else do I need to ask for?

Thanks.

 

[laurjess]

Just want to thank this thread for helping me plan a great trip. Just came back form the BC Villas. Amazing place for a family (esp. young kids). Weather was great (learned to navigate around the rain). Lines were extremely manageable. If anyone has questions just post them.
Request rooms that are _01-_34. They are close to the elevators and breezeway to BC.

 

[disneyholic family]

Mimi70..
when we were there, only the concierge rooms had been renovated...that is, only that floor was finished....
i think they were working on the next floor down at the time...
as for the renovation.....the coloring is all exactly the same as it was before....in fact, i'm pretty sure it's the very same carpeting, wallpaper and tiles......just all brand new.....
they gutted the rooms and put in new everything.....but they retained the exact color scheme....
the only change was in the furniture.....instead of that tall piece of furniture that held the tv set before, now they have a low one that the tv sits on top of (the mini bar is still inside that one)....
the daybed used to be next to it....now instead of the day bed there's a large desk with an oval table underneath that can be slid out for dining......
and where the round table used to be there's now a chair and footrest...

sorry....i didn't take pictures.....

but basically, unless you're like us and have been at the YC a zillion times, you might not notice the difference, since the color scheme is the same....

we liked the new configuration much better than the old....but we never used the daybed....
the desk was very convenient for us, since my husband works while we travel....normally he has to put his laptop on the little bedside table.....this was much nicer for him....

but the nicest thing of all was how clean and new everything was....we stayed at the BC concierge the weekend before and were shocked at how old and shabby the hallway was.....so we were very pleased to see how nice and clean and new the YC concierge was...

but then again, we've always been partial to the YC over the BC....i like polished wood and navy blue.....

 

[disneyholic family]

to clarify, if you're not staying in the YC concierge and you're staying at the YC any time soon, you might want to specify a renovated room....
as i mentioned, when we were there in july, only the concierge floor was finished.....
the renovations were being down from the top down....that is, they started on the top floor (concierge) and were moving down the building floor by floor...
they told me that once the YC was completed, they would begin work on the BC in the opposite direction....starting from the bottom up.....i think the BC is scheduled to begin work in october...

unrelated, the nicest change of all at the BC/YC was the introduction of armbands at stormalong bay.....you have to wear an armband to use the pool (that is, they put a wristband on you when you come into the pool area for the first time)...
no more intruders from other resorts.....(which used to irritate the heck out of me)...
the pool wasn't overrun the way it used to be when they only used a handstamp.....great improvement that was LONG overdue....also....DVC guests can no longer use SAB...only those staying in the BCvillas can use it.....DVC guests in other resorts can't anymore (another welcome change for those of us who come to the YC/BC just for SAB)....

 

[jabrown40]

Just got back from WDW today - We stayed in BC room 3503 - this was a great room. I had requested a lake view (specified I did not want a pool view) on the 3rd floor, because it is nonsmoking. I sent my fax 4 days before with these requests, and mentioned that this was a special trip for us. The day of our trip, I called about 8:30 in the morning, and asked if the room had been assigned. It had been, and the CM informed me that the room did face the pool view. I told her I specifically requested a lake view, and would she please send my assignment back to the room controller. She said she would. I called again after we landed in Orlando, and sure enough, I had been moved to our lake view room. It was a wonderful room, was all the way on the end of the hotel, and we slipped right down the stairs and were on the path to Epcot or the Boardwalk. We had a large enough balcony to pull our room chairs out, and faced the Boardwalk and Lagoon. I would definitely recommend BC over AKL. We took a trip over to the AKL and did not like the lobby at all, and thought the Savannah area was rather drab. There were absolutely no animals in the area. The lobby was extremely dark, all in dark browns, and there was a burning smell present. I think the BC would do a much better job of Christmas decorations, the pool area was great, (and yes we did have to wear those wristbands, and they were checking) and the proximity to Epcot, Boardwalk and MGM can't be beat. By the way, our room had 2 queen beds and a sofa, I suppose a small 11 yr old could fit.

 

[Bobrow]

JABrown,
Thanks for the report. We leave in 3 days for BC. How was the crowd in general at WDW? How about the hotel specifically? We are staying on the concierge floor,can't wait!

 

[disneyholic family]

Bobrow..
BC concierge is very nice...we stayed there in july...
the hallway is in need of repair (it's kind of shabby these days) but the room itself was in good shape...
and the concierge room was very nice with a generous selection of food...
note that you can ask for soft drinks in the concierge room...
go up to that little kitchen window by where the water and juices are and ask for a coke/sprite/diet/etc....they'll give you a can of whatever you asked for....
they don't usually put them out so you have to know to ask for it...
(if there's noone in the kitchen then ask one of the CMs just outside of the room at the desks....)

 

[jabrown40]

I wish I was going back already bobrow! I thought the parks were fairly quiet, and I expect this will decrease for you even more as more kids go back to school this week. We had very little waiting in the parks - I would definitely use the fastpass system for those big rides, but overall, Epcot was very quiet - no waits for Earth, Body Tours, used a lot of the stuff at Wonders of Life, in the past this building was always too crowded. MGM, we grabbed a Fastpass for Rockn roller coaster, then stood in line for 45 minutes for TOT. As soon as TOT was finished, it was time to go on RRC, so two rides in that time was okay. Walked on to most everything else. Animal Kingdom was quiet - 15 min wait for Kiliminjaro safari, so we got a Fastpass. NO wait for Tough to be a Bug - saw the movie, then went back to the safari. The Magic Kiingdom was the only busy park. We had an Enight on the 13th, only about 3000 tickets sold according to a CM. Walked on to everything, so we didn't spend much time fighting the crowds during the day, just waited for enight. My kids are 14 and 16, so we skipped everything in Fantasyland. We have also been there about 8 times, so they pick and choose a little more. Again, the new wristband system seems to keep Stormalong bay for the guests of the hotel, and there was plenty of room in the pool, and I did find a chair everytime. Oh, we also went to Typhoon Lagoon one morning, got there about 1030, and there was minimal waiting for the slides - between 5-15 min. The boys went on humungakowabunga twice, because the line was so short. Hope this helps.

 

[Bobrow]

Sounds great. Glad to hear crowds weren't bad,and your right they will probably even be less next week. My 7 yr old broke his leg last week so we will alter our plans alittle to accomadate him(not much though,his cast is waterproof). I know some of the rides have seperate entrances for wheelchairs but others don't and sitting in a sticky wheelchair with a cast can't be too fun. I should have some interesting reports to tell when I get back!

 

[djanssen]

Just had a very nice stay at the Yacht Club but have one question - why don't they have a convenient way to refill the mugs. HH's closes early and dealing with the lines at B&C is a pain. This thread is too big to go all the way through but I was curious if anyone else has complained about this. FWIW this was my first visit on-site to the YC/BC and I was amazed at how small B&C was - they should eliminate some of the arcade next door and at least double the seating capacity of B&C - and add a self-serve soda fountain there!

What do you YC/BC experts think about that idea?

 

[disneyholic family]

you won't believe this, but in the close to 20 times we've stayed at the YC/BC, we've never even been inside B&C...

 

[djanssen]

I do find that hard to believe. We were inside several times in 4 days mostly because it seemed like that was where we had to go for what we wanted at the time. We got ice cream there once - filled mugs there more than once (standing in line for 15-20 minutes a couple times) and we got breakfast there twice. I could understand you not using the mugs and some people prefer a hot sit-down breakfast but I can't believe you have never tried the ice cream.

 

[disneyholic family]

well there was one time that we all were in the mood for a big hot fudge sundae, which i assume they have...
so we went over to it,.....up to the CM stationed outside....and asked her for a table for 4....
she siad it would be a half hour wait or something like that...
well....ice cream's great and all that, but not that great...
so we walked away....
and so we've never been inside....

 

[josierac]

Originally posted by Mimi70


disneyholic family,

Did you, by chance, take pictures of your newly renovated room, and if so, could you provide a link to those pictures? The suspense has been eating at me about how massive the renovations have been!!! Thanks in advance!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YC RULES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures that I took of the YC renovated rooms on the concierge level. This was the week of August 18
YC concierge renovated room pictures