Just back from our first trip to the Beach Club. I have some mixed feelings about our stay.
I requested a room with a full balcony and a rollaway bed. We ended up on the first floor so we had a patio instead of a balcony. I was torn between staying with that room or asking to be moved. I decided to stay but should have asked to move. I couldn't really enjoy the patio because there were lots of lizards and always bugs and bees in the flowers around the patio. I missed sitting outside enjoying my morning coffee.
The room was large with a view of the lake and boardwalk. The master had a king bed and couch and the sitting room had a daybed. Both rooms had a flatscreen tv. The furniture was a little worn with a lot of scratches on the coffee table and night table. There was plenty of dresser and closet space. My rollaway bed wasn't there when we arrived so I called housekeeping to ask for one. This was the only time I've ever been less than happy with the attitude of a Disney employee. She said she would do what she could but I would have to pay $15 each night for the bed. I said fine but I was told the bed was complimentary. She told me I should talk to the concierge if that's what I was told.
We went out to explore the resort and get a bite to eat and when we returned, still no bed. I went up to the club and asked them to make a call. A few minutes later the bed was delivered.
SAB was great we would go and spend time there and then go over to the quiet pool for some family swim time.
We had dinner at the Captain's Grille and Cape May. Lunch at Beaches and Cream. We loved the Captain's Grille. It wasn't crowded, the food was great and the waitress was wonderful. Cape May has always been one or our favorites and still is. Beaches and Cream was also a lot of fun.
You can't beat the Beach Club location. We walked over to Epcot and Hollywood Studios and went over to the Boardwalk a few times. We also had dinner at Todd English Bluezoo and walked over there.
I was very pleased with the bus service. We took buses to DTD, AK and MK and back. Never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus.
Now for my biggest disappointment, the Club. We've stayed club level at the Boardwalk and Wilderness Lodge. Both of those clubs were much better than the Beach Club. The morning and mid day snack offerings were very similar between the 3 resorts. However, the Beach Club was really lacking for evening and desert offerings. They only had 2 hot offerings each night, nothing was ever labeled, no cast member in lounge to identify foods and not very plentiful. The hot items were always some kind of fried puff, usually a little over fried and greasy. One night there weren't any plates so there was a group of people waiting for the plates to come. Finally someone went out to the desk to asked for the plates. Another night we had to wait because the hot puffs had run out. Desert was always some kind of chocolate or fruit parfait, and brownies or cupcakes. Not much of a selection.
When we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge last year they had 2 hot dishes as well as one or 2 kinds of puff and sometimes they even had sushi. The club level cast members were very friendly and would walk around the club talking to the guests. They had a different kind of cobbler each night as well as brownies, cupcakes, and parfaits. The food was much more plentiful.
I would like to see the Beach Club improve on the Club and also update some of the furniture and carpet. The hallway leading to our room had spots around the windows that looked like someone dropped bleach.
Overall we enjoyed our stay at the Beach Club. SAB is definitely the best pool and it's nice to have so many places to eat from casual to fine dining. The walks to Hollywood Studios and Epcot were very pleasant.
It literally takes him about 7 mins to fully pack and his very small suitcase it stocked and prepared for any emergency. And he does it right before we walk out the door
CR opened up a few days and we can now get our entire stay under the convention rate, so we just extended our stay over there (instead of moving to YC after convention at CR).
