I wanted to post our trip report now that I am back and settled and can reflect. We stayed at Beach Club Villas 6/16-6/22/23.
Accommodations: We have been coming to WDW since about 2012 and have stayed at Wilderness Lodge (love), Polynesian (love but not as much as WL) and Beach Club both hotel and villas. The long story goes... we have a family of 5 (myself, my husband and 3 teen boys). I have always wanted to do a Halloween trip so I had planned a trip for last October and decided that we wanted to try either a value or moderate resort to save money but we also wanted space. I initially booked All Star Music because we are a musical family and I thought the suite would be spacious and fun. But, I somehow panicked and thought we would not love it as much as our previous deluxe stays so I compromised and booked Port Orleans Riverside. I was pretty content with that for a while thinking that New Orleans would be a fun Halloween theme and the boat to Disney Springs would be convenient. The room had a 5th sleeper but I was not looking forward to being in one room with 3 large teen boys. I panicked again after my husband said he really valued convenience to the parks. A room at Boardwalk Inn popped up and I switched again finally happy that even though we would be squished, we were back in a Deluxe, it seemed like a really fun Halloween hotel, it was super convenient AND I had always wanted to try BW. Sooo, as we Disney fanatics do, I spent a ton of time researching, booking ADR's, fantasizing about the stay and the hotel, watching videos.. I was hooked. Fast forward to our trip.. we arrive at Boardwalk and we are told our room is not ready even though it is 5pm. Then a manager comes out to tell me that there was something wrong with some of the rooms and they don't have a room for us at Boardwalk but they can move us to SS Treehouse Villas. I was crushed. Although the spacious accommodations would have been nice, I knew this switch would have changed the whole trip. I must have seemed desperate to stay in the Crescent Lake area because they were able to somehow get one last Beach Club room. I knew nothing about Beach Club other than it was a New England theme and being that we are from the Boston area, that did not really appeal to me. Turned out we got a standard room with 2 queen beds and they brought in a rollaway. It was pretty tight. But we ended up really loving the convenience of walking to EPCOT, the restaurants and Storm Along Bay of course. We got back and I immediately planned our June trip which we just got back from and this time rented DVC points to stay on the villas side. Loved the villa lobby but did not love our room. It was a standard studio, super small (even though only 2 of the teens came this time) and we were not lucky enough to get a refurbished room on the 4th or 5th floor. I put in a request to Touring Plans a few weeks prior and we got basically opposite what I asked for... 2nd floor, room facing the street. And the rooms definitely need some work. Also, we arrived really late on 6/16 because my kids had to take their final exams and needed to finish their school day. I really think I would have had a much better shot at getting a more desirable room or the room that I requested had we checked in earlier. Who knows. Anyway our days went like this:
6/16: Arrived at Beach Club Villas at 11:15pm. Boys were starving and Marketplace closes at 11 and we were too tired to walk anywhere else which was a bit of a bummer but they survived lol.
6/17: Breakfast: Cape May Cafe- good buffet, a little pricey. My kids are outgrowing character meals but the characters were great and all of the smaller kids seemed to be having a blast. AK- arrival 11am. I bought a LL for the boys for Flight of Passage (I opted out because I get pretty motion sick). I wandered over to Satu'li Canteen and got a kids order of Cheeseburger Steamed Pod. It was perfect to just have one as a snack and it was relaxing to sit in the outdoor area especially since it was pouring rain. I tried to get on the walk up list for Nomad Lounge but there was no availability. I did not buy Genie+ for our AK day but we did seem to get on most of the rides with no problem. We had a late lunch at Yak & Yeti which was great and headed back to the resort around 6. I bought Park Hopper passes really thinking that we would go to EPCOT most nights after spending days in the park but honestly, due to the heat etc., we were zapped by the evening. Getting old haha. The kids went swimming and my husband and I got really good drinks and apps at Martha's Vineyard. We just enjoyed spending time at the resort and soaking everything in.
6/18: I was able to snag a cabana 60 days out this day and what a treat! We got Cabana 4 and it was perfect. We have never had an entire pool/rest day and I highly recommend it and will do at least one rest day on future trips. Anyway, it's a very well appointed cabana with lounge chairs, couches, a TV, fridge (stocked with sodas and water), a safe, lots of towels. There is also a dedicated cabana host and a server who checked on us multiple times a day and brought us lunch from Hurricane Hannah's. It was really lovely. We stayed all day from 10-6 and did not want to leave (and I am not even a big pool person). Dinner: Sebastian's Bistro- we took the Skyliner and got off at Riviera. We walked around the resort and then easily walked over to Caribbean Beach and had a nice dinner. Loved the family style service and the food was excellent for the price. Especially the bread pudding dessert. We then were able to see the EPCOT fireworks from outside the restaurant and then hopped back on the Skyliner at Caribbean Beach. It was a wonderful day.
6/19: Epcot- we chose this as our Epcot day because of the extended evening hours for Deluxe resort guests. We decided to have breakfast at the crepe restaurant (it was OK but one and done for us) in France followed by riding Remy (there was a relatively short wait) and then we headed over to the American pavilion to do the American Adventure which we really enjoyed and it was cool! We then just kind of slowly enjoyed Japan and finally Mexico where we rode 3 Caballeros. Cute ride. We had a LL for Guardians so we rode that next. I took a lot of dramamine for this one but still felt shaky after. I still love it but not sure if I can handle riding it again. But the boys love everything about it. We then went back to the resort for a mid-afternoon pool break. This was really a treat and one of the reasons why BW or BC are such great resorts. It really make a difference. We headed back for dinner at Biergarten which was one of our favorite meals of the whole trip. Not only was the buffet food delicious but the entertainment was great.. such great Disney theming. It was really nice to enjoy so many rides in the evening but also there was a long downpour and we were stuck outside under an umbrella haha. And impressive lightning and thunder! Overall, a fun and exciting night.
6/20: Hollywood Studios-- our family cannot get up and out until late so we usually cannot arrive to the parks until at least 10. This day I did Genie+ which was really helpful. We rode Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster before our lunch at Backyard BBQ in Toy Story Land. We loved this restaurant. The food was delicious and the theming was adorable. The server was really entertaining and overall we just had a great experience. My plan was to take another midday break but since we did not arrive until relatively late, we stuck it out and it was rough. We really felt the heat this day and loved going on the rides but found ourselves making multiple trips over to the Walt Disney exhibit just to get indoors somewhere. We had dinner at Sci- Fi Diner which we love and it's cool but our dinner was already late and they sat us 45 minutes after our reservation. We were exhausted after that. We were able to do ROR and then we went back and crashed.
6/21: We had breakfast at Trattoria at the Boardwalk and splurged and took a Minnie Van to MK. Every time I think our kids our outgrowing MK, we end up still loving it more than the other parks. It really is just so magical. We were delighted to ride the train around the park. We loved all our old classics like Pirates and Space Mountain but also took the time to do the shows like Carousel of Progress, Enchanted Tiki Room and the Bear Jamboree. I loved getting my favorite Dole Whip at Aloha Isle and we had a blast on Tron. I actually got on a virtual queue but it was before we were able to arrive so I had to buy a LL for that which felt like a waste but our fault. Also, I had an ADR at Skipper Canteen but the boys were not in the mood to be adventurous so we switched last minute to our old reliable Liberty Tree Tavern. I wanted to try new snacks but I think next trip I actually won't plan daily ADR's because we are not big eaters and did not have a lot of room for snacks. I really wanted to try the Cheeseburger spring rolls but the line was super long and I was full. Oh well next time. We stayed until midnight because of the extra evening hours for Deluxe guests and we were beat (in a good way). One negative, next time I'm not sure we will stay until the end of the MK night because the bus lines to the resorts were crazy long. We did not get back to the resort until 1:30am.
6/22: Day of departure. I had an ADR for Ale & Compass but everyone slept in and we just could not eat anymore. We had so much great food but we were done.
It was a truly magical trip. The only thing that I would like to change for future stays is I am kind of over standard rooms for our family with big kids. So... I finally pulled the trigger and bought a DVC resale contract.. Boardwalk Villas is our new home and we will have at least one extra bedroom and won't be shut out again! So excited!
If you have read this far, thank you for reading my Disney Saga (lol) and happy to answer any questions.
Accommodations: We have been coming to WDW since about 2012 and have stayed at Wilderness Lodge (love), Polynesian (love but not as much as WL) and Beach Club both hotel and villas. The long story goes... we have a family of 5 (myself, my husband and 3 teen boys). I have always wanted to do a Halloween trip so I had planned a trip for last October and decided that we wanted to try either a value or moderate resort to save money but we also wanted space. I initially booked All Star Music because we are a musical family and I thought the suite would be spacious and fun. But, I somehow panicked and thought we would not love it as much as our previous deluxe stays so I compromised and booked Port Orleans Riverside. I was pretty content with that for a while thinking that New Orleans would be a fun Halloween theme and the boat to Disney Springs would be convenient. The room had a 5th sleeper but I was not looking forward to being in one room with 3 large teen boys. I panicked again after my husband said he really valued convenience to the parks. A room at Boardwalk Inn popped up and I switched again finally happy that even though we would be squished, we were back in a Deluxe, it seemed like a really fun Halloween hotel, it was super convenient AND I had always wanted to try BW. Sooo, as we Disney fanatics do, I spent a ton of time researching, booking ADR's, fantasizing about the stay and the hotel, watching videos.. I was hooked. Fast forward to our trip.. we arrive at Boardwalk and we are told our room is not ready even though it is 5pm. Then a manager comes out to tell me that there was something wrong with some of the rooms and they don't have a room for us at Boardwalk but they can move us to SS Treehouse Villas. I was crushed. Although the spacious accommodations would have been nice, I knew this switch would have changed the whole trip. I must have seemed desperate to stay in the Crescent Lake area because they were able to somehow get one last Beach Club room. I knew nothing about Beach Club other than it was a New England theme and being that we are from the Boston area, that did not really appeal to me. Turned out we got a standard room with 2 queen beds and they brought in a rollaway. It was pretty tight. But we ended up really loving the convenience of walking to EPCOT, the restaurants and Storm Along Bay of course. We got back and I immediately planned our June trip which we just got back from and this time rented DVC points to stay on the villas side. Loved the villa lobby but did not love our room. It was a standard studio, super small (even though only 2 of the teens came this time) and we were not lucky enough to get a refurbished room on the 4th or 5th floor. I put in a request to Touring Plans a few weeks prior and we got basically opposite what I asked for... 2nd floor, room facing the street. And the rooms definitely need some work. Also, we arrived really late on 6/16 because my kids had to take their final exams and needed to finish their school day. I really think I would have had a much better shot at getting a more desirable room or the room that I requested had we checked in earlier. Who knows. Anyway our days went like this:
6/16: Arrived at Beach Club Villas at 11:15pm. Boys were starving and Marketplace closes at 11 and we were too tired to walk anywhere else which was a bit of a bummer but they survived lol.
6/17: Breakfast: Cape May Cafe- good buffet, a little pricey. My kids are outgrowing character meals but the characters were great and all of the smaller kids seemed to be having a blast. AK- arrival 11am. I bought a LL for the boys for Flight of Passage (I opted out because I get pretty motion sick). I wandered over to Satu'li Canteen and got a kids order of Cheeseburger Steamed Pod. It was perfect to just have one as a snack and it was relaxing to sit in the outdoor area especially since it was pouring rain. I tried to get on the walk up list for Nomad Lounge but there was no availability. I did not buy Genie+ for our AK day but we did seem to get on most of the rides with no problem. We had a late lunch at Yak & Yeti which was great and headed back to the resort around 6. I bought Park Hopper passes really thinking that we would go to EPCOT most nights after spending days in the park but honestly, due to the heat etc., we were zapped by the evening. Getting old haha. The kids went swimming and my husband and I got really good drinks and apps at Martha's Vineyard. We just enjoyed spending time at the resort and soaking everything in.
6/18: I was able to snag a cabana 60 days out this day and what a treat! We got Cabana 4 and it was perfect. We have never had an entire pool/rest day and I highly recommend it and will do at least one rest day on future trips. Anyway, it's a very well appointed cabana with lounge chairs, couches, a TV, fridge (stocked with sodas and water), a safe, lots of towels. There is also a dedicated cabana host and a server who checked on us multiple times a day and brought us lunch from Hurricane Hannah's. It was really lovely. We stayed all day from 10-6 and did not want to leave (and I am not even a big pool person). Dinner: Sebastian's Bistro- we took the Skyliner and got off at Riviera. We walked around the resort and then easily walked over to Caribbean Beach and had a nice dinner. Loved the family style service and the food was excellent for the price. Especially the bread pudding dessert. We then were able to see the EPCOT fireworks from outside the restaurant and then hopped back on the Skyliner at Caribbean Beach. It was a wonderful day.
6/19: Epcot- we chose this as our Epcot day because of the extended evening hours for Deluxe resort guests. We decided to have breakfast at the crepe restaurant (it was OK but one and done for us) in France followed by riding Remy (there was a relatively short wait) and then we headed over to the American pavilion to do the American Adventure which we really enjoyed and it was cool! We then just kind of slowly enjoyed Japan and finally Mexico where we rode 3 Caballeros. Cute ride. We had a LL for Guardians so we rode that next. I took a lot of dramamine for this one but still felt shaky after. I still love it but not sure if I can handle riding it again. But the boys love everything about it. We then went back to the resort for a mid-afternoon pool break. This was really a treat and one of the reasons why BW or BC are such great resorts. It really make a difference. We headed back for dinner at Biergarten which was one of our favorite meals of the whole trip. Not only was the buffet food delicious but the entertainment was great.. such great Disney theming. It was really nice to enjoy so many rides in the evening but also there was a long downpour and we were stuck outside under an umbrella haha. And impressive lightning and thunder! Overall, a fun and exciting night.
6/20: Hollywood Studios-- our family cannot get up and out until late so we usually cannot arrive to the parks until at least 10. This day I did Genie+ which was really helpful. We rode Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster before our lunch at Backyard BBQ in Toy Story Land. We loved this restaurant. The food was delicious and the theming was adorable. The server was really entertaining and overall we just had a great experience. My plan was to take another midday break but since we did not arrive until relatively late, we stuck it out and it was rough. We really felt the heat this day and loved going on the rides but found ourselves making multiple trips over to the Walt Disney exhibit just to get indoors somewhere. We had dinner at Sci- Fi Diner which we love and it's cool but our dinner was already late and they sat us 45 minutes after our reservation. We were exhausted after that. We were able to do ROR and then we went back and crashed.
6/21: We had breakfast at Trattoria at the Boardwalk and splurged and took a Minnie Van to MK. Every time I think our kids our outgrowing MK, we end up still loving it more than the other parks. It really is just so magical. We were delighted to ride the train around the park. We loved all our old classics like Pirates and Space Mountain but also took the time to do the shows like Carousel of Progress, Enchanted Tiki Room and the Bear Jamboree. I loved getting my favorite Dole Whip at Aloha Isle and we had a blast on Tron. I actually got on a virtual queue but it was before we were able to arrive so I had to buy a LL for that which felt like a waste but our fault. Also, I had an ADR at Skipper Canteen but the boys were not in the mood to be adventurous so we switched last minute to our old reliable Liberty Tree Tavern. I wanted to try new snacks but I think next trip I actually won't plan daily ADR's because we are not big eaters and did not have a lot of room for snacks. I really wanted to try the Cheeseburger spring rolls but the line was super long and I was full. Oh well next time. We stayed until midnight because of the extra evening hours for Deluxe guests and we were beat (in a good way). One negative, next time I'm not sure we will stay until the end of the MK night because the bus lines to the resorts were crazy long. We did not get back to the resort until 1:30am.
6/22: Day of departure. I had an ADR for Ale & Compass but everyone slept in and we just could not eat anymore. We had so much great food but we were done.
It was a truly magical trip. The only thing that I would like to change for future stays is I am kind of over standard rooms for our family with big kids. So... I finally pulled the trigger and bought a DVC resale contract.. Boardwalk Villas is our new home and we will have at least one extra bedroom and won't be shut out again! So excited!
If you have read this far, thank you for reading my Disney Saga (lol) and happy to answer any questions.
I imagine you will be even more excited for the next trip! 
