Yacht Club vs. Poly - which would you choose?

[unbroken chain]

I can get either the Poly or Yacht Club with a AAA discount during my preferred dates. I have 3 teen/pre-teen children. I might fly and go without a car, or I might drive. Not sure yet. Two children love to swim, one doesn't. We have been to the Poly once and loved it. Which would you choose and why?

1. I hear the Stormalong Bay pool is really great. Poly pool is nice, but had no hot tub and didn't seem too heated in December. On the map, it looks like Stormalong Bay is in 3 parts. Is the Yacht Club part as good as the Beach Club part? Is it easy to get from one to the other?

2. I really like being on the monorail. The kids can go off by themselves. However, we are at an age where Epcot is more fun than MK, though we will go to both and maybe only one day at each anyway. We can walk to Epcot very easily from Yacht Club, right? How long is the boat ride to MGM?

3. I am only paying for the cheapest view room. The garden view rooms from Poly are GREAT! Our last room at Poly was just steps from the pool. But the website says that most standard view Yacht Club rooms are parking lot view. So how crummy are the Yacht Club standard views?

4. Poly rooms have been upgraded and have new large TVs, etc. Have the Yacht Club rooms been upgraded?

5. The Christmas decorations weren't much to speak of at Poly last year. What about Yacht Club? Any better, or are they cutting back everywhere?

All views appreciated!! Thanks.

 

[simonkodousek]

The question I would ask myself if I was choosing between YC and Poly is: are we going to spend more time at Epcot or MK? If it was Epcot I would pick YC, if MK I would pick Poly.

 

[candleonwater]

For me that would be a toss up, and I think the Poly would win. We tend to spend most of our time at MK and EPCOT so it's the most convenient to BOTH parks. From the Poly we walk to TTC so that we only have to get on one monorail to EPCOT. I just wish there was a path to walk to MK from there.

YC is more convenient to EPCOT, and we tend to go through EPCOT whenever possible when traveling from the BC to MK.

The pool is definitely a win for the YC, but we really like having Captain Cooks at the Poly for a quick bite to eat. That would be the one thing we miss the most when at BC.

For our up coming trip I would have booked the Poly if it had been available, but we'll be at YC instead.

 

[dixipixi]

I can get either the Poly or Yacht Club with a AAA discount during my preferred dates. I have 3 teen/pre-teen children. I might fly and go without a car, or I might drive. Not sure yet. Two children love to swim, one doesn't. We have been to the Poly once and loved it. Which would you choose and why?

1. I hear the Stormalong Bay pool is really great. Poly pool is nice, but had no hot tub and didn't seem too heated in December. On the map, it looks like Stormalong Bay is in 3 parts. Is the Yacht Club part as good as the Beach Club part? Is it easy to get from one to the other?

2. I really like being on the monorail. The kids can go off by themselves. However, we are at an age where Epcot is more fun than MK, though we will go to both and maybe only one day at each anyway. We can walk to Epcot very easily from Yacht Club, right? How long is the boat ride to MGM?

3. I am only paying for the cheapest view room. The garden view rooms from Poly are GREAT! Our last room at Poly was just steps from the pool. But the website says that most standard view Yacht Club rooms are parking lot view. So how crummy are the Yacht Club standard views?

4. Poly rooms have been upgraded and have new large TVs, etc. Have the Yacht Club rooms been upgraded?

5. The Christmas decorations weren't much to speak of at Poly last year. What about Yacht Club? Any better, or are they cutting back everywhere?

All views appreciated!! Thanks.

We LOVE the YC!!! But we are planning on staying at the Poly next February. I am really looking forward to the Poly. We're taking my mom and she has always wanted to stay there, plus she prefers the monorail hotels. To answer your questions:
1.Our teen boys loved SAB. They still talk about that pool. DH and I enjoyed the quiet pool and the hot tub over there was almost always vacant.

2.Yes, you can walk to Epcot very easily. It only took us about 5 minutes. The boat ride to the Studios is not very long, you can also walk over there, it was about a 20 minute walk if I remember correctly.

3.We had a room right above the marina with a beautiful view of the Boardwalk and Epcot. Loved sitting on our own balcony watching Illuminations! But I would not hesitate to stay in another room. The parking lot is not right next to the building and there are lots of trees and bushes, so it's not so bad.

4.Sorry, but I don't know. They weren't when we were there, but that was over a year ago. I don't think they have been remodeled.

5.We've never been at Christmas, but the pictures of the YC decorations look beautiful. The Boardwalk and Beach Club look nice as well and you're just a short walk from both of those.

Hope some of this helps. Have a fantastic trip!!!!

 

[kirbsam]

tvs at yacht club suck compared to the ones at refurbished poly.

 

[Pennyguy23]

I would pick Ploy but we are DVC members so we stay at DVC properties. So BCV is pretty much like staying at YC with the amenites. We stayed the last July and LOVED the Ploy. But we loved the BC/YC also. So really like the posts said, are you going to MK or Epcot more often. But I still think I would go with Poly.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Personally I would go with the Polynesian because I find the Yacht Club to be to boring, where as there is always something going on at the Polynesian.

 

[WooHoo2U]

POLY, ITS THE BEST!! (IMHO)

 

[cinderlexa's mom]

We've stayed in a standard room at both the Poly and YC.

While both are very nice, clean and upscale (for Disney), we preferred the Poly because of the "magic" feel. YC is nice but we wanted to move--it was the same as staying at "any old resort". Not very Disney.

 

[bleeps]

We, too, have stayed at both Poly and YC and we love both for different reasons. For our upcoming trip, though, we're going back to YC and here's why:

The ability to walk, not just to EPCOT (which is fabulous) but also over to Boardwalk (where we'd get breakfast at the bakery and sit out on the Boardwalk itself -- wonderful!) and to BC. We'll always love MK and the monorail resorts, but we do spend more time at Epcot now and love all that we can walk to (quickly and easily) from YC. Someone will probably correct me if I'm wrong, but I want to say that the boat to MGM takes about 10 minutes -- depends on whether the boat stops at BW or not (I can't remember, but I want to say that either going to or coming back from MGM, you go first to BW and then to YC).

The pool at YC wins hands-down. Don't let the map fool you -- it is just one, big, huge pool area and it is all perfectly accessible from YC.

We had a "plain old" view at YC (didn't pay extra for view) -- included some parking lot and some green/garden area -- and could have cared less. This resort was so much quieter, it was worth it, and we didn't spend time sitting and looking out the window. The room and view were not remotely "crummy" in our opinion. One problem we had at Poly was that people would flock to the beach at fireworks time and make a lot of noise....

Christmas at YC is spectacular -- we were there last December. You will NOT be disappointed in the decorations, and yes, we stopped by Poly and were truly disappointed in how little they had done.

We also like that YC is "contained." I could get up in the am before the rest of the family, go downstairs (stay inside!) and get coffees, milks, fruit, bagels, breakfast pastries) at the little galley downstairs and bring them back up to the room, or could run down to the gift shop for something, or to pick up photos or whatever. The spread-out arrangement at Poly, where you have to leave your building and walk back to GCH made it difficult or impossible to do those things (meaning that we'd wait until we were all going to or coming from GCH) easily (esp. in rain, etc.).

Not saying that we won't always love Poly for its own charms, but these are why our next trip will be to YC.

 

[tiggersmyguy]

We have stayed at both Poly and YC and YC wins hands down! There is the wonderful boardwalk area to explore and lots and dining options. Plus, walking into Epcot is just wonderful. My DD17 and DD13 also loved the YC better, not stuffy at all.

 

[mericletwins]

I would definitely go with the YC. Pool, Boardwalk area, walking to Epcot and boat/walk to MGM. If you had little kids, maybe I would go with the Poly instead, but, having said that, we have little kids and stay at the BC.

 

[TwingleMum]

I have stayed at both resorts and really enjoy both but I would pick the YC.

First: You have stayed at the Poly a couple of times. I'd give an EPCOT/MGM resort a chance.

Second: most teens prefer EPCOT/MGM over MK. YC is a quick walk to EPCOT (@ 5mins to Worldshowcase) We would walk over some evenings just to look at all the Christmas Decorations or listen to the Santas and get dessert in all the different countries. You can take a relaxing boat ride to either EPCOT/MGM.

Third: The decorations at the YC and BC are amazing. The christmas train layout at YC or chocolate carousel at BC. Its a short walk to the BW and all the activities there.

Fourth: MK is a bus ride away. And you don't share with anyother resort. BC/YC/BCV have their own bus. So transportation was fab to MK,AKL and DTD.

Fifth: the marketplace at BC has great sandwichs and gelatto

Sixth and not last: SAB!!! My kids love SAB so much they don't want to leave to go to the parks They love hanging out at SAB and having lunch at Beaches & Cream. I love having umbrella drinks from Hurricane Hannahs at SAB while they kids play.

I really think you should try YC the poly will always be there for your next trip. Give it a try.