We just got back from 8 nights at the YC, I'll try to do a quick review of the hotel portion of our trip. Overall it was a great trip - we loved Stormalong Bay, the rain and storms always happened at good times for our schedule, and we had no big family fights
! We booked a standard club level room.
We arrived around 1:30 PM on Saturday May 14 on the Magical express. We walked into the lobby and someone with an ipad asked us our name and was walking over to the check in desk. I mentioned that we were club level and I thought we checked in upstairs, and it turned out that our reservation had not yet popped up on his Ipad or I assume he would have then taken us up without my prompting. he took us over to the elevator and up to the 5th floor to check in, then he got my DH and I glasses of wine and our sons milk. Check in was smooth but for some reason took forever. Me paying with gift cards for the gas points didn't help, but they were $500 each so it's not like I had tons of them. The lady checking us in was very friendly.
Our room was ready, room 5150, and when we got in it I realized we had been upgraded to a garden view room. Later on I checked
MDE and it did say YC CL GV then. We looked at the gazebo, and if we looked left we could see the lake and the Boardwalk. The room also had a daybed, which I had requested. So as far as requests went, it was perfect. I had requested 1. Private Balcony 2. Daybed 3. View of something other than the front entrance or service areas. I used touring plans fax, emailed IPO, and called reservations with the same requests. The location of the room was perfect. It was only 2 doors down from the lounge, but the club level CMs and a hall were between the lounge and us so it wasn't like sound or foot traffic was an issue. We made multiple trips to the lounge each day, and it was super easy from this room. The desk CMs would say something pleasant every time we passed. You definitely couldn't do something devious from this room, you passed them every time you left
.
My thoughts on the room itself, just in random order as they come to me.
1. I thought it looked great for being due for a renovation. The only thing I noticed that was overly worn was the bathroom door knob - for some reason it was all beat up.
2. Great drawer space. We like to totally unpack, and usually don't have enough drawers for us all (GF, I'm thinking of you!
). Here we totally unpacked everything and even put some non clothing in drawers and had 2 empty drawers. That's amazing for the way we use a room.
3. The room seemed big enough, and I liked having the daybed, but I did notice it was smaller than the CR, GF, and Poly. Just less room by the balcony to hang out.
4. Even though the room looked good for being due for rehab, I noticed some things that I assume the rehab will remedy. The safe was tiny and in the wall like the moderates with an actual key, not like the larger safes that I have been used to in the MK resorts. There were no USB ports for charging. The heat/AC did not have a thermostat, we had to use AC until we were cold and then switch to heat until we were hot. There didn't seem to be any middle ground - just like in the office at work! Also, the carpet goes all the way to the door and bathroom sinks. In the renovated rooms at other resorts it's usually (fake) hardwood or tile in that area.
5. The outlet on the desk didn't work, but they did fix it on our 3rd day after a text and a stop at the desk.
6. I liked the was the daybed was just a big couch with huge removable throw pillows instead of the ones that you have to actually open up.
7. Lots of counter space in the bathroom. Around the sinks, a shelf elevated above the sinks, and shelving below the sinks.
8. The actual bathroom, with the toilet and tub, was tiny. They engineered the door perfectly so it just missed the toilet when it opened and closed. But it worked fine.
9. Our fridge was smaller than some other resorts, but it worked well It even froze a lot of our drinks, we had to be careful where we put them. But I love cold drinks, so I didn't turn it down, just avoided packing them around the freezer area.
10. I miss the alarm clock a lot. I meant to ask for one, but just never got around to it. It's much easier and more convenient to glance at a clock than find a phone and hit the home button. I also hated waking up at night and not knowing if it was just about time to get up or still early without actually having to reach for the phone.
Thoughts on CL and the lounge, again in random order.
1. I hate how it closes for an hour between services, except between appetizers and desserts. It seemed like we always wanted something or had a little time to kill between 10:30-11:30 or 4:00-5:00. I don't understand why the MK resorts can keep the lounge areas open and just change out the food, but the Epcot resorts can't. They said it was to clean, but the CR, Poly, and RPC manage to do it with the lounge open. Our room was being cleaned once when we came back from the pool, and since the lounge was closed so we had to go down to the lobby in our wet suits and coverups while she finished. We also couldn't grab a diet coke if we got back after 10 and hadn't remembered to keep extras in the fridge. It was just a nuisance. They could easily rope off the food area and keep the seating open, just like at other resorts. Or put a permanent way to close off the food area, like at the WL.
2. It seems odd that they couldn't have managed to put the lounge somewhere with a view. The balcony looks at the front entrance, while the other side of the building has a beautiful view of crescent lake with some minor fireworks views.
3. We definitely felt like this Club level lounge/area is the most sedate/stuffy of all them that we have stayed at. People seemed more dressed up in general, it was quieter with possibly less children, and just seemed less inviting and comfortable, and more like your grandmothers formal living room. We very rarely sat in the lounge, we took everything to our room. When we stay at the Poly, RPC, or WL we often choose to eat in the lounge, just because we liked the atmosphere. Here not as much. It's likely that it's just a personal thing, but my husband noticed as soon as we checked in and stated that it is his least favorite lounge (we have stayed CL at Poly, CR atrium, GF RPC, and WL). I agreed with him, but not quite as vehemently. I think part of it is that it just goes with the theming of the resort.
4. I thought the food selection was very good. 3 wonderful salads, 2 hot apps, and a plated option for the 5-7, plus veggies, cheese, crackers, apples and caramel, buns and peanut butter with jelly. Breakfast included hard boiled eggs, meet/cheese, grits, oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, muffins, pastry, bagels. Snacks were nothing special, but I do like their home made chips, and the kids ate their weight in Swedish fish. I have no idea how anyone can eat more than a few bites of the apps and still eat a TS dinner - I can't. If we are at the lounge for appetizers, we really don't eat dinner and just have a shack somewhere. When I book both dinner is a waste.
5. My DH and both sons have a gluten allergy. They did have options, and a couple of times the regular options were just naturally GF. I thought they did pretty good with the GF options, but it was kind of hit or miss depending on who you asked. They aren't consistent. I would go down in the morning and they would bring me 2 toasted bagels with non contaminated cream cheese and 2 donuts. My DH went down and they gave him 1 un-toasted bagel and he had told them it was for 3 people
But when I went and spoke with them they did bring more out, so maybe he just didn't communicate with them well. So overall, our feeling with being GF in the lounge is that it was adequate, but they did not go above and beyond like we found they have at the Poly and WL in the past. Passable, but didn't knock our socks off. My DH is looking to be wowed when we stay CL, not have passable service. The chefs did come out and talk with me at each dinner service we were there for, and of the 3 chefs 2 were very good and one not as much. As a summary for being GF in the lounge I thought it was good, but I do not have to eat GF. My DH, who does have to eat GF, thought it was just ok.
6. The lounge CMs were fine. We didn't find any that we thought were amazing, but they were also not rude or surly. They were pleasant.
7. We did get some of the feeling that some people were regulars and the staff would hang around talking to them. We saw a few people get off the elevators to check in and get big hugs from the CMs. In a way I don't mind and think it's nice, but in a way I feel like it makes everyone else feel kind of like second class citizens or the poor redheaded stepchildren.
8. I didn't really mind that they serve the wine, but I also much prefer when they don't. This is our second experience with the staffed bar area, the first was at the CR over Christmas. One girl gave very small wine servings, but for the most part they gave a nice full glass and didn't make me feel weird for getting 2 glasses at a time, or going back for more. The would not put it in a to go cup for us, which we found odd, because we learned to ask for it in a to go cup from the CMs at the WL and Poly. They said they couldn't, but we could just immediately pour it into a to go cup ourselves to take to the pool.
The Resort:
1. I liked the theming better than I thought I would. Honestly I prefer the BC theming, but booked the YC because I wanted a guaranteed balcony. I wasn't willing to chance it with the BC. So while I still prefer the more laid back atmosphere that goes with the BC theming, the YC was better than I had expected with the cool navy and white and more sedate lobby, etc. That goes along with the feeling in the lounge I expect.
2. Stormalong Bay is an awesome pool! It is worth the hype it gets. The sandy area is great for kids, and I even liked just hanging out there while they played. I also love that there is an actual deep area (the lazy river). In the 8 ft section I had to actually work to touch the bottom. It's been a while since I was in a pool that got that deep. The slide isn't as exciting as it looks, but it's still a lot of fun for a hotel pool slide, and it's a cool idea to slide over the walkway. We didn't have trouble getting seats, but the one day we did go at 1:00 PM we took the last children's small life vest that was there at the time, and we did have to look around a little to get 2 lounge chairs together and nothing in the shade.
3. I love the poolside servers for Hurricane Hanna's. So convenient, and much better than going over and standing in line. Particularly as we would have had to wait for gluten free food, but with the server we could just wait on our lounger or even in the pool and keep an eye out.
4. Hurricane Hannas was very good, particularly with GF food. I don't really expect that from a pool bar. We also liked the ice cream at Beaches and Cream. We got the Kitchen Sink once, and the much ore manageable mini Mickey Pants to go.
5. Watching The Force Awakens on the beach Saturday night was a lot of fun. Such a nice way to end the trip. We had a similar last night watching Big Hero 6 from the Poly last August, so we may have started a tradition.
6. I loved walking to both Epcot and DHS. We went over just for the Star Wars fireworks one night, because they were so amazing the first time we saw them. I actually wish we could have spent more time at Epcot and DHS, but with 2 little kids we still had to do the MK, and we did DAK to make the trip more educational since my son missed a week of kindergarten for the trip
. I did miss being close to the MK (we usually stay on the monorail), but the trade off is almost equal given no transportation at all for 2 parks. When the kids get older and DHS is all finished I think the Epcot resorts will be more popular with us. I know some people have good bus experiences, but for us time is fun when on vacation and we took cabs to DHS and to the CR to get to the MK instead of busses, unless getting there is part of the fun like one time we walked through Epcot to get to the MK.
I kind of felt in a quandry this trip - I wanted to spend a lot of time at the resort given the amazing pool with the very hot weather and the Boardwalk being so close, but because we have APs and could walk to 2 parks I felt like we should spend more time in the parks. It is a good dilemma to have, I guess. I need more hours in the vacation day - it all went so fast!! There is a lot we just never did that we had wanted to do - rent a surrey, rent a boat, go to Disney Quest before it closes, see more of Disney Springs. Being so close to Epcot I though we would just pop over more, but it just didn't work out that way. But we had a wonderful trip, I hope to come back to the YC or BC in the future. Our only planned trip at this time is to the Poly in August with the magical deal.
Well, I guess this didn't end up being such a quick review!
Sorry about that, I hope maybe some people read to the end and get some helpful info from it. I also apologize for any typos or grammar issues that I missed! If anyone does have any questions I would be happy to answer them. I also took tons of pictures, but I have no idea how to post pictures here. I don't think any of them are of things that aren't well documented elsewhere on the thread, anyway. Except perhaps the room view - maybe I'll be able to figure out how to post that from my phone - I have the view in the photo album on the phone
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