January-2007
06-16-2007, 03:56 PM
We stayed at the Beach Club a few weeks ago for 8 nights. The Beach Club Villas to be precise. The resort was nice. Pretty compact, as opposed to, say, Old Key West.
The view
Our view was of Spaceship Earth, and that was awesome to go sit out on the balcony and stare at Spaceship Earth and I believe the Land at all hours of the night and day. Sometimes we would get home really late from the Evening Extra Magic Hours so I actually got to see exactly when they turn off the ligths on the "Epcot" sign and it's 2AM. We could see Spaceship Earth in January when we stayed at Pop Century, but this was a much closer view, so it was kind of surreal. As always, we enjoy watching the fireworks from strange places other than in the parks, and our first night we watched Illuminations for a while from the balcony. There were some trees in the way so some of the fireworks weren't so clear, but it was still neat, and we could hear music playing from Epcot.
The dining
I have already written up my Dining Reviews, but if anyone didn't catch them, we weren't impressed with the Marketplace or the Cape May Breakfast, but we really liked the Cape May Dinner. As others have reported, the resort specific mugs are no where to be found. Well, unless you look in the hands of many patrons, guests who bring back their old mugs to use and use again, but to purchase? Nope, sorry, out of luck. They offered the Year of a Million Dreams 2007 mugs which were the car cup holder size. There were three different colored handles to choose from, blue, silver, and black. The soda fountains stations were usually a mess and there were often large puddles of water on the ground from people filling up their mugs directly from swimming in the pool. I will say one thing though, their choice of hot tea bags was amazing. DH tried a different tea every day. That was a huge perk. Their straws were different, too. They were individually wrapped in paper wrappers and they were bendable straws. Nicer straws.
The pool
The pool. That's what a lot of people think of when they think of the Beach Club. It's nice, but I don't see what the big deal is about it. I would personally rather look out on Bay Lake, but maybe that's just me. We saw at least 3 pools there, but only swam in Stormalong Bay. It's a bit of a walk from the villas, but there are lots of other people walking around in their bathing suits, so we didn't feel too out of place doing the same. We went swimming twice. The first time we had to get the wristband, and the second time we asked someone at the towel station where those people were, and she said they went home for the day, so we didn't need wristbands. They had signs up telling people not to leave your stuff at an unoccupied chair, but what else are you supposed to do with your stuff while you're swimming?
The pool was pretty consistently busy. I rode the slide once, DH three times. It was so tall! I bet it's a kid's paradise. The sand on the bottom of the pool was more like little bitty rocks than sand, and apparently it was imported from Arizona. It felt really nice and didn't make the water in the pool sandy at all, it pretty much always sank right to the bottom. I forgot my goggles at home so we bought a pair the second time we went to the pool. There was a store right there selling swim stuff and it wasn't too overpriced all things considered. We saw lots of ducks in the pool, it was so cute watching them swim to the edge, get up on the ground, walk to the next pool, and jump in. There were little water falls and rock formations that reminded me of the Canada pavillion.
The lazy river has a really strong current and is really deep! Next time we stay here I want to buy some innertubes or something before we leave so we can just relax in there instead of what we did do, was just kind of.. well.. I clung to my husband and then to the edge, trying not to be run over by little children and their feet. It's pretty small, but had there been innertubes readily available I think we might have enjoyed it a bit more. DH liked it because it was deep. The rest of the pools were really shallow. And crowded. We couldn't really swim at all because it was so crowded. It was different than I thought it was going to be, but aren't all things usually that way?
You can get your refillable mug refilled at Hurricane Hannah's right there at the pool, but we never went there or even brought our mugs to the pool. They rent lockers and there are restrooms there too. And the towels are provided at the pool, you don't have to bring the room towels.
Overall I thought the pool was nice, I think DH liked it more than me, but I still don't think it's a mini waterpark by any stretch of the imagination. I was glad we were able to take advantage of it, and will in the future, but I wouldn't stay there just for the pool.
The "let's relax here" places
One day we decided to play cards for a change of pace. We went to the Solarium where there's a hallway just full of tables and comfy chairs and couches. It's a little out of the way so we got some piece and quiet and had some fun. Funny thing happened here that day- there was a CM who kept walking by on his way to delivering balloons to different rooms. Must have walked by at least 4 times, it was like a running gag. We were near the Marketplace so enjoyed lots of drinks in our refillable mugs while we played, so it was a nice repast before a late night in the parks.
When you get into the villa part of the resort there's a room with a tv and some couches in it. We played some more cards in here another night and watched "Who's Line is it Anyway?" and it was so surreal when there was a commercial about winning a trip to Walt Disney World, and we were like: we're here!!! This was on Friday night when it rained, we decided to stay at the resort instead of acting like human sponges at the Magic Kingdom Evening Extra Magic Hours. It was another nice quiet spot to relax in. See, I did try to fit in some relaxing for DH, even if he was exhausted by the end of our trip, I tried!
The balcony, that's a nice place to relax. I think I spent more time on the balcony than anyone, I really enjoyed it. I would eat breakfast out here occasionally or just sit and take it all in while DH was in the shower or getting ready. The view was great, as mentioned above, so it definately added to the appeal of the balcony. We could hear music playing sometimes, and I swear it was from the World Showcase.
The transportation
Walking to Epcot was I think the single best thing about staying at this resort. It was also a pitfall. You have to exit through the back of the park, and after the fireworks when everybody is pushing towards the front of the park, it can be a pain in the you know what to walk against the grain to get to the back of the park to exit. Other than that though, it was great. DH liked this so much, not having to take a bus. I hated having to walk near the pool and beach on the way though because every single time I ended up with sand in my crocs and it was so uncomfortable. Small price to pay.
The boat to MGM was great. We always got a seat. I loved being able to bypass the crowds leaving MGM and head to the boat dock where there were so much less people and the atmosphere was not pure chaos. I think the boat drivers must hate Evening Extra Magic Hours though, because whenever we went to those we closed the parks and when we got on the boat from MGM to go back to the resort the boat driver looked like he was dragged out of bed to do this, he was not a happy camper. It was nice to not have to bus everywhere and I for one liked the boat. By the way, there is no bus from the Beach Club to MGM. We thought there would be, but there is not, there is only the boat. At check in I asked about walking there, and the CM got really aggressive in telling us not to even try, it was too hot, to long, etc. Since we couldn't get clear directions and the boat was just so easy, we didn't end up trying to walk to MGM in the end. But we could have, I know we could have. We saw people walking from the Boardwalk as we were in the boat.
The bus transportation at the Beach Club. Where to start? There is a covered area with benches and all the areas have labels above them stating where that bus will be heading. I do not like the set up because it becomes a mob scene when the bus shows up. We much much much prefer the set up at Pop Century where you get in line and then everyone waits their turn to board the bus instead of all crowding together pushing and shoving to make it on board. The Magic Kingdom bus was always the busiest and many times people were left behind. This bus only ran from the Yacht Club to the Beach Club to the Magic Kingdom. The Downtown Disney bus stopped at the Swan, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club, the Beach Club, and the Boardwalk. We did not go to the Animal Kingdom so I cannot comment on that bus.
One morning we went to the bus stop and found a large crowd waiting for the Magic Kingdom bus so we tried something new which was a lot of fun. We walked to Epcot and did a little speed walking from the International Gateway to the main entrance to the Monorail. This was so much fun! No crowds because it was relatively early in the morning. This was to get to a breakfast at 'Ohana. We got to sit in the front of the Monorail, then we walked from the TTC to the Polynesian resort. This was such a lovely walk! We will definately go this way again! We made it on time and got to avoid the crowds, what could be better?
Continued below.............
The view
Our view was of Spaceship Earth, and that was awesome to go sit out on the balcony and stare at Spaceship Earth and I believe the Land at all hours of the night and day. Sometimes we would get home really late from the Evening Extra Magic Hours so I actually got to see exactly when they turn off the ligths on the "Epcot" sign and it's 2AM. We could see Spaceship Earth in January when we stayed at Pop Century, but this was a much closer view, so it was kind of surreal. As always, we enjoy watching the fireworks from strange places other than in the parks, and our first night we watched Illuminations for a while from the balcony. There were some trees in the way so some of the fireworks weren't so clear, but it was still neat, and we could hear music playing from Epcot.
The dining
I have already written up my Dining Reviews, but if anyone didn't catch them, we weren't impressed with the Marketplace or the Cape May Breakfast, but we really liked the Cape May Dinner. As others have reported, the resort specific mugs are no where to be found. Well, unless you look in the hands of many patrons, guests who bring back their old mugs to use and use again, but to purchase? Nope, sorry, out of luck. They offered the Year of a Million Dreams 2007 mugs which were the car cup holder size. There were three different colored handles to choose from, blue, silver, and black. The soda fountains stations were usually a mess and there were often large puddles of water on the ground from people filling up their mugs directly from swimming in the pool. I will say one thing though, their choice of hot tea bags was amazing. DH tried a different tea every day. That was a huge perk. Their straws were different, too. They were individually wrapped in paper wrappers and they were bendable straws. Nicer straws.
The pool
The pool. That's what a lot of people think of when they think of the Beach Club. It's nice, but I don't see what the big deal is about it. I would personally rather look out on Bay Lake, but maybe that's just me. We saw at least 3 pools there, but only swam in Stormalong Bay. It's a bit of a walk from the villas, but there are lots of other people walking around in their bathing suits, so we didn't feel too out of place doing the same. We went swimming twice. The first time we had to get the wristband, and the second time we asked someone at the towel station where those people were, and she said they went home for the day, so we didn't need wristbands. They had signs up telling people not to leave your stuff at an unoccupied chair, but what else are you supposed to do with your stuff while you're swimming?
The pool was pretty consistently busy. I rode the slide once, DH three times. It was so tall! I bet it's a kid's paradise. The sand on the bottom of the pool was more like little bitty rocks than sand, and apparently it was imported from Arizona. It felt really nice and didn't make the water in the pool sandy at all, it pretty much always sank right to the bottom. I forgot my goggles at home so we bought a pair the second time we went to the pool. There was a store right there selling swim stuff and it wasn't too overpriced all things considered. We saw lots of ducks in the pool, it was so cute watching them swim to the edge, get up on the ground, walk to the next pool, and jump in. There were little water falls and rock formations that reminded me of the Canada pavillion.
The lazy river has a really strong current and is really deep! Next time we stay here I want to buy some innertubes or something before we leave so we can just relax in there instead of what we did do, was just kind of.. well.. I clung to my husband and then to the edge, trying not to be run over by little children and their feet. It's pretty small, but had there been innertubes readily available I think we might have enjoyed it a bit more. DH liked it because it was deep. The rest of the pools were really shallow. And crowded. We couldn't really swim at all because it was so crowded. It was different than I thought it was going to be, but aren't all things usually that way?
You can get your refillable mug refilled at Hurricane Hannah's right there at the pool, but we never went there or even brought our mugs to the pool. They rent lockers and there are restrooms there too. And the towels are provided at the pool, you don't have to bring the room towels.
Overall I thought the pool was nice, I think DH liked it more than me, but I still don't think it's a mini waterpark by any stretch of the imagination. I was glad we were able to take advantage of it, and will in the future, but I wouldn't stay there just for the pool.
The "let's relax here" places
One day we decided to play cards for a change of pace. We went to the Solarium where there's a hallway just full of tables and comfy chairs and couches. It's a little out of the way so we got some piece and quiet and had some fun. Funny thing happened here that day- there was a CM who kept walking by on his way to delivering balloons to different rooms. Must have walked by at least 4 times, it was like a running gag. We were near the Marketplace so enjoyed lots of drinks in our refillable mugs while we played, so it was a nice repast before a late night in the parks.
When you get into the villa part of the resort there's a room with a tv and some couches in it. We played some more cards in here another night and watched "Who's Line is it Anyway?" and it was so surreal when there was a commercial about winning a trip to Walt Disney World, and we were like: we're here!!! This was on Friday night when it rained, we decided to stay at the resort instead of acting like human sponges at the Magic Kingdom Evening Extra Magic Hours. It was another nice quiet spot to relax in. See, I did try to fit in some relaxing for DH, even if he was exhausted by the end of our trip, I tried!
The balcony, that's a nice place to relax. I think I spent more time on the balcony than anyone, I really enjoyed it. I would eat breakfast out here occasionally or just sit and take it all in while DH was in the shower or getting ready. The view was great, as mentioned above, so it definately added to the appeal of the balcony. We could hear music playing sometimes, and I swear it was from the World Showcase.
The transportation
Walking to Epcot was I think the single best thing about staying at this resort. It was also a pitfall. You have to exit through the back of the park, and after the fireworks when everybody is pushing towards the front of the park, it can be a pain in the you know what to walk against the grain to get to the back of the park to exit. Other than that though, it was great. DH liked this so much, not having to take a bus. I hated having to walk near the pool and beach on the way though because every single time I ended up with sand in my crocs and it was so uncomfortable. Small price to pay.
The boat to MGM was great. We always got a seat. I loved being able to bypass the crowds leaving MGM and head to the boat dock where there were so much less people and the atmosphere was not pure chaos. I think the boat drivers must hate Evening Extra Magic Hours though, because whenever we went to those we closed the parks and when we got on the boat from MGM to go back to the resort the boat driver looked like he was dragged out of bed to do this, he was not a happy camper. It was nice to not have to bus everywhere and I for one liked the boat. By the way, there is no bus from the Beach Club to MGM. We thought there would be, but there is not, there is only the boat. At check in I asked about walking there, and the CM got really aggressive in telling us not to even try, it was too hot, to long, etc. Since we couldn't get clear directions and the boat was just so easy, we didn't end up trying to walk to MGM in the end. But we could have, I know we could have. We saw people walking from the Boardwalk as we were in the boat.
The bus transportation at the Beach Club. Where to start? There is a covered area with benches and all the areas have labels above them stating where that bus will be heading. I do not like the set up because it becomes a mob scene when the bus shows up. We much much much prefer the set up at Pop Century where you get in line and then everyone waits their turn to board the bus instead of all crowding together pushing and shoving to make it on board. The Magic Kingdom bus was always the busiest and many times people were left behind. This bus only ran from the Yacht Club to the Beach Club to the Magic Kingdom. The Downtown Disney bus stopped at the Swan, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club, the Beach Club, and the Boardwalk. We did not go to the Animal Kingdom so I cannot comment on that bus.
One morning we went to the bus stop and found a large crowd waiting for the Magic Kingdom bus so we tried something new which was a lot of fun. We walked to Epcot and did a little speed walking from the International Gateway to the main entrance to the Monorail. This was so much fun! No crowds because it was relatively early in the morning. This was to get to a breakfast at 'Ohana. We got to sit in the front of the Monorail, then we walked from the TTC to the Polynesian resort. This was such a lovely walk! We will definately go this way again! We made it on time and got to avoid the crowds, what could be better?
Continued below.............