Disney's YACHT & BEACH CLUB RESORTS Information & Questions

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

I literally just moved our 8 nights around at GF to add some at YC last week before I found this out, It’ll be frustrating if they do start early as the date it’s rumored to close is the date we move over to GF talk about down to the line.

 

[natebenma]

Disney just called to cancel our 12/4 Illuminations Cruise
They are refunding and holding a free dessert party for those impacted, including free admission to Epcot.

Sorry to hear this but thank you for letting us know.

I hope the dessert party is wonderful for your group.

We are staying at Yacht Club 12/20-12/24..I have to laugh a little as we have always stayed at Magic Kingdom Resorts and I finally booked an Epcot Resort just in time for the boats to go out of service. We did book our tickets separately, so I could switch hotels...I would probably have to switch very soon, though. Am I reading the posts on the board correctly that IG will more than likely be closed, too?

At this point we have not seen anything official from Disney, so we don't know.

Some of the speculation we have heard is that the IG will remain open for foot traffic, or there will possibly be access via a tunnel route.

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

It would make sense if they did build some sort of tunnel that would offer protection to guests passing through, really it wouldn’t necessarily need to be a fully enclosed tunnel, I Beams or something similar erected overhead to catch the cables as they may have slack or worse yet deflect a cable that may completely drop from loss of control or failure, this type of apparatus is common when installing overhead power lines over roadways. Doing this over the water is harder without the use of costly cranes, thus closing the waterway, and possibly leaving the walkway open.

 

[Busymom1015]

We got home from YC on Sunday! One of the Minnie Van drivers told us the International Gateway will be undergoing a large renovation before the gondola is complete to make it larger to accommodate the extra people entering through it. He didn’t say when but it sounds like when they do it, it will be closed for at least a few weeks.

 

[focusondisney]

We got home from YC on Sunday! One of the Minnie Van drivers told us the International Gateway will be undergoing a large renovation before the gondola is complete to make it larger to accommodate the extra people entering through it. He didn’t say when but it sounds like when they do it, it will be closed for at least a few weeks.

Hmmm, I wonder if Minnie van drivers get better information than the bus drivers do?


But if it is true, I am glad to hear Disney is going to address one of the concerns we have all had about how they will handle the increased crowds with the limited security & entrance points they have now. I am sorry for guests who will be impacted by this tho. I hate having to walk from the back of the world Showcase to the bus stops. Walking out the IG is a huge benefit. It would be great if Disney compensated guests in some way for the inconvenience. But I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

 

[ninafeliz]

I don't have any inside info, so this is just my $0.02, but here goes. I just can't believe they will completely close the ability to enter through the international gateway. There are 7 resorts that use that entrance pretty much exclusively, and I can't see them charging what they charge and taking away the ability to enter Epcot from the back. That's pretty much the main perk of that resort area. I can see them stopping the boats (particularly since they did that before), but not closing the entrance all together. I hope I'm not proven wrong.

We have a stay at the BCV Oct 24-29, and I have to admit I'm glad it's before this will matter. Because even though I said I can't believe they will do it, I don't need one more thing to stress over or think about!

 

[Best Aunt]

If they close International gateway, I wonder if it will impact the Boardwalk restaurants. I question whether people at Epcot would go to the front of the park to get a Boardwalk bus.

 

[ninafeliz]

If they close International gateway, I wonder if it will impact the Boardwalk restaurants. I question whether people at Epcot would go to the front of the park to get a Boardwalk bus.

I think it would impact them quite a bit. Unless people didn't realize and booked anyway, I don't think people would leave Epcot to eat at the BW if they couldn't just walk there. However, I still think the restaurants would still be pretty much booked between people at all of the BW area resorts and those that weren't planning on walking from Epcot (or didn't realize and did't want to have to pay a no show fee or argue it).

 

[focusondisney]

If they close International gateway, I wonder if it will impact the Boardwalk restaurants. I question whether people at Epcot would go to the front of the park to get a Boardwalk bus.

The restaurants at all the resorts actually. Lots of people post about booking Beaches & Cream, Cape May Cafe etc in their Epcot days. Most of them would probably have no idea about a International Gateway closure until they went there to leave for their ADR. Can you imagine that mess? They will have to go to the main entrance & wait for a bus? Can you imagine how late many people will be to their ADRs? Do we really think Disney will notify everyone with an ADR at an Epcot resort that the IG will be closed?

 

[PolyRob]

What about CP packages at the resorts like Ale & Compass? Definitely an inconvenience! I have a YC/GF split booked with intentions of walking back and forth between the resort and both DHS and Epcot multiple times during that timeframe. This will be a major letdown if there are no boats or walking!

 

[QueenElinor]

How hard is it to change room reservations at YC over a busy time- in my case Memorial Day weekend? The dates are a good guess, but I won't know them exactly until about two months before the trip. We have five nights reserved from May 22-27, garden view. We may need to shift them one or two days in either direction or possibly add days. Thanks!

 

[RachelTori]

How hard is it to change room reservations at YC over a busy time- in my case Memorial Day weekend? The dates are a good guess, but I won't know them exactly until about two months before the trip. We have five nights reserved from May 22-27, garden view. We may need to shift them one or two days in either direction or possibly add days. Thanks!

I would suggest making the reservation for the entire length of possible days. It’s much easy to call Disney and drop days off your reservation than it is to try to add days or shift the days.

 

[Best Aunt]

I would suggest making the reservation for the entire length of possible days. It’s much easy to call Disney and drop days off your reservation than it is to try to add days or shift the days.

My understanding is that this has not worked in the past few years, although I haven't paid attention to what the issue is.

Sometimes when you make a reservation, you are taking advantage of a special deal, but the deal has particular rules and dropping days means you no longer meet the rules. You might have to be there a certain number of days, or on certain days. Maybe that was it.

 

[RachelTori]

My understanding is that this has not worked in the past few years, although I haven't paid attention to what the issue is.

Sometimes when you make a reservation, you are taking advantage of a special deal, but the deal has particular rules and dropping days means you no longer meet the rules. You might have to be there a certain number of days, or on certain days. Maybe that was it.

I guess it would depend on how the booking was made. I’m always “room only”, usually with an AP rate, and have never had any issues — and I routinely drop days from my reservation. But good point: it might not work in all instances, especially packages.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I don't have any inside info, so this is just my $0.02, but here goes. I just can't believe they will completely close the ability to enter through the international gateway. There are 7 resorts that use that entrance pretty much exclusively, and I can't see them charging what they charge and taking away the ability to enter Epcot from the back. That's pretty much the main perk of that resort area. I can see them stopping the boats (particularly since they did that before), but not closing the entrance all together. I hope I'm not proven wrong.

I agree with you that it doesn't seem likely that Disney would close the entire International Gateway entrance. Disney is very good at building walls to hide construction, and it wouldn't be hard to build a nice construction tunnel like they build in major urban areas to protect pedestrians during construction. They could easily put in the cables and everything that would need for the gondola system during the rumored Nov-Dec construction and then address the International Gateway at a later date. If the gondolas aren't going to be finished for almost a year then there is no reason to expand the International Gateway this far in advance. At least, that is what I think they should do.

 

[ninafeliz]

How hard is it to change room reservations at YC over a busy time- in my case Memorial Day weekend? The dates are a good guess, but I won't know them exactly until about two months before the trip. We have five nights reserved from May 22-27, garden view. We may need to shift them one or two days in either direction or possibly add days. Thanks!

I would suggest making the reservation for the entire length of possible days. It’s much easy to call Disney and drop days off your reservation than it is to try to add days or shift the days.

My understanding is that this has not worked in the past few years, although I haven't paid attention to what the issue is.

Sometimes when you make a reservation, you are taking advantage of a special deal, but the deal has particular rules and dropping days means you no longer meet the rules. You might have to be there a certain number of days, or on certain days. Maybe that was it.

Starting a few years ago now Disney started making it more difficult to just drop or add days to a reservation. Now, instead of simply dropping or adding the days, the new dates you want to book have to be available in their system under the discount you want to use. The days you are dropping don't count. For example, if you have Oct 21-27 booked and want to change it to the 21-16, Disney has to have the 21-26th available under the discount (or rack rate if that is the case) you want to use prior to you dropping your dates. Same for adding. If the days you want to add are available, but the entire time including the added days isn't available, they might not be able to give you the longer stay unless you want a second reservation for the added days. I have heard some people have luck getting guest services involved and overriding this, but that the reservation CM cannot do this. It is supposedly to avoid rogue single nights or short openings they have trouble booking. It makes it a lot harder to change dates after you have booked, and I personally hate it. Did I explain that well enough? It can be hard to figure out, because it feels like the days ARE available, since you already have them, you just want to drop a night or 2. But they don't look at it that way.

 

[Best Aunt]

Starting a few years ago now Disney started making it more difficult to just drop or add days to a reservation. Now, instead of simply dropping or adding the days, the new dates you want to book have to be available in their system under the discount you want to use. The days you are dropping don't count. For example, if you have Oct 21-27 booked and want to change it to the 21-16, Disney has to have the 21-26th available under the discount (or rack rate if that is the case) you want to use prior to you dropping your dates. Same for adding. If the days you want to add are available, but the entire time including the added days isn't available, they might not be able to give you the longer stay unless you want a second reservation for the added days. I have heard some people have luck getting guest services involved and overriding this, but that the reservation CM cannot do this. It is supposedly to avoid rogue single nights or short openings they have trouble booking. It makes it a lot harder to change dates after you have booked, and I personally hate it. Did I explain that well enough? It can be hard to figure out, because it feels like the days ARE available, since you already have them, you just want to drop a night or 2. But they don't look at it that way.

So basically, if I booked the 1st through the 7th, and I want to drop the 6th, they are only supposed to do it if they have availability (like somebody else could book) for the 1st through the 6th at my rate. They ignore the fact that I already have the 1st through 6th booked as part of my longer reservation.

 

[ninafeliz]

So basically, if I booked the 1st through the 7th, and I want to drop the 6th, they are only supposed to do it if they have availability (like somebody else could book) for the 1st through the 6th at my rate. They ignore the fact that I already have the 1st through 6th booked as part of my longer reservation.

Correct. I don't like it, but I don't think it's supposed to be good for the customer, it's supposed to help hotels maximize bookings and minimize single days or short stretches mid week (for example) that would then be hard to fill. If you mess around with the booking site, quite frequently you can find availability for a long stay, say Friday-the next Sunday, but if you put in Friday-Monday it shows no availability. So you know there is a room, but they won't let you book it. It's infuriating when it happens to you. I've read quite a bit about it on here, and people get quite defensive of Disney saying all hotels do it, they have to do it so they don't have too many open rooms, blah, blah, blah. Regardless, it made it harder for those of us who sometimes don't know the EXACT dates we can take vacation like 6 mos-1 yr+ out. Quite frankly, I'm so amazed at how many people do know that far out. My DH doesn't even get his call schedule for the next year until late summer the year before, so that's really the soonest we could book a January vacation with any certainty. By then you're behind the eight ball, already in your 180 days for ADRs. It's crazy!

 

[tjmw2727]

So basically, if I booked the 1st through the 7th, and I want to drop the 6th, they are only supposed to do it if they have availability (like somebody else could book) for the 1st through the 6th at my rate. They ignore the fact that I already have the 1st through 6th booked as part of my longer reservation.

Yes - this was me yesterday!

Not the YC/BC but I have a 6 night reservation coming up with an AP rate and my older dd just found out she has to come home a day early. We decided if possible we would drop the last night and all come home together. I couldn't change on the website or find a similar room with a discount on my own so I called. The CM couldn't change it either because there wasn't the correct "block" available but she did put me on hold and ask a supervisor if there were any other options since it was a Saturday I was trying to drop and those are easier to re-book.

She was eventually able to drop the night for me as a "one time exception" but she did make it clear that this wasn't the norm.

Edited to be clear - My reservation was a room only, not a package

 

[lhall7]

I had a similar experience. I was trying to book YC for March 23-28 under the Visa discount but not available. 3/23-27 and 3/24-3/28 was available though. I called to see if there was anything the phone CM could do, but no luck. She did say something like "if you decide you want to book for 7 days, but only can stay 5 days then Disney would have to honor that discount". I questioned her further on this because I knew about the new policy and she accused me of "fishing" and "she couldn't help me". I was soooo mad!!! She was the one that brought it up. I was just trying to clarify. I will say though that we have had to leave Disney early on several occasions and we have been allowed to check out early without being charged for the extra nights. This has happened at several resorts and has never been an issue.