Category — d. Where to Stay at Walt Disney World

This is the second page of this review of Disney’s Beach Club Villas. For the first page of this material, click here.

MORE ON DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

Disney’s Beach Club Villas is one of 7 official Disney Vacation Club resorts at Walt Disney World.

However, I count them as nine, because two of the resorts–Saratoga Springs and the Animal Kingdom Villas–have two very different areas.

In order of their appropriateness for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World, they are:

1. The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
2. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Jambo House
3. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas–Kidani Village
4. Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
5. Disney’s Beach Club Villas
6. Disney’s Boardwalk Villas
7. Disney’s Old Key West Resort
8. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, main resort
9. Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, Treehouse Villas area.

Disney’s Beach Club Villas comes in 5th on the list. These resorts are available to anyone to reserve through the regular Walt Disney World website or the resort reservations phone number at 407-939-7675.

They also are available to the general public at great discounts through renting points from a Disney Vacation Club member.

All Disney Vacation Club resorts have studio rooms, One-Bedroom Villas, and Two-Bedroom Villas.

Most have Grand Villas as well.

Disney’s Beach Club Villas does not have Grand Villas. The other three room types are covered on this page.

STUDIOS AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

At Disney’s Beach Club Villas, Studios sleep four and have a microwave and mini fridge.

The microwave is one of several ways Studios are different from regular rooms at the Beach Club.

• A second distinction is that the second bed is a full fold-out couch, rather than a queen.
• A third is that these rooms sleep one fewer person, and have one less sleeping space, than Beach Club rooms with two queens and a convertible couch (some Beach Club rooms don’t have the couch).
• The studios are about 30 square feet smaller than standard rooms at the Beach Club, and they feel even smaller than this, as the bath area of the studios (because of the choice of where to put the closet) is larger than that at in the standard Beach Club rooms.

These studios go for about the same price as regular standard Beach Club rooms.  I don’t see how the microwave makes up for the smaller living space and smaller second bed, so I can’t recommend these rooms over the Beach Club itself for first time family visitors.

ONE-BEDROOM VILLAS AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

One-Bedroom Villas at the Beach Club have a master bedroom with a king bed.

They have as well a full kitchen/dining/ living space, a washer/dryer, and sleep 4 in about twice the space of a studio.

The two additional sleeping spots are on a good-sized but thin fold-out couch in the living room space.

The bath is shared, with access to it from both sleeping spaces. The kids don’t need to enter the master bedroom to get to this bath.

One-Bedroom Villas are among the most comfortable ways to stay at Walt Disney World.

Depending on the price season, these villas are only around 40% more expensive than a standard Beach Club room, for twice the space.

The additional space, full kitchens, and living and dining furniture are hard to beat, even though if you are following one of this site’s itineraries you won’t be in your room much to enjoy them!

They aren’t for everyone…but the value is there if you can afford it and your family fits.

TWO-BEDROOM VILLAS AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS

Two-Bedroom Villas add a second bedroom with a queen and a large 2 person sleeper sofa, and another balcony, to the amenities of a One-Bedroom, and sleep 8.

Two-Bedroom Villas can be either cramped or comfortable, depending both on how you use them and what you are comparing them to.

Like almost all DVC Two-Bedroom Villas, in Disney’s Beach Club Villas Two-Bedrooms there isn’t enough seating space in either the living room or in the dining spaces for all the people these rooms will fit. (Old Key West Resort and the Treehouse Villas are exceptions.)

The living room chairs will seat four to five people, with two more chairs available at the kitchen’s breakfast bar.

The dining table will seat at most five, taking the two chairs from the breakfast bar and adding them to the three spaces the table comes with.

So if you are filling a two bedroom with 8 people, things can get awkward, especially compared to the ease with which One-Bedroom Villas fit the people they can sleep.

These space and circulation issues are part of the reason why these rooms are only about 50-75% more expensive than One Bedroom Villas, even though they have double the sleeping capacity.

On the other hand, depending on the price season, a Two-Bedroom is around the same price as two standard Beach Club Inn rooms, but provides 50% more space, and, compared to those rooms, all that extra kitchen/dining/living space and furniture.

If your family’s sleeping needs will fit in the bedrooms–that is, if you don’t need to use the fold-out bed in the living space–Two-Bedrooms are a particularly comfortable option.

(To each of the capacity figures above, you can add one more kid under 3 at time of check in who sleeps in a crib.)

This review will continue next week.

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OVERVIEW: DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB VILLAS FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS

Disney’s Beach Club Villas (a Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) resort, and one of the Epcot resorts,) is a wonderful place for returning visitors to Walt Disney World to stay, and could easily become one of my personal favorites among the DVC resorts.

For typical first-time visitors, I don’t recommend the Disney Vacation Club resorts.

That said, these “DVC” resorts can be a great choice for first time visitors with large families, needing extra sleeping spaces, or looking for a more comfortable place to stay.

Among the Disney Vacation Club resorts, Disney’s Beach Club Villas ranks fifth overall for first-time visitors, and is particularly strong for charm, compactness, convenience to Epcot, and access to the great pool Stormalong Bay.

THE BEACH CLUB VILLAS AND THE DISNEY VACATION CLUB RESORTS

[Read more →]

THE PIRATE-THEMED ROOMS AT CARIBBEAN BEACH

Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort is this site’s top-rated moderate resort for first-time family visitors to Walt Disney World.

It gets that position because it has a little more kid appeal than the other moderate resorts.

For example, it’s the only moderate where all the rooms have Disney theming. Most rooms at the sprawling and often inconvenient resort are decorated with a light Finding Nemo theme, but a subset in its Trinidad South section have pirate theming.

This pirate theming is pretty cool, but, given the inconvenience of Trinidad South, is not worth the extra $30 a night it costs (pre-tax, Fall Season 2012).

Moreover, by building these rooms, Disney may have put itself at the end of a gang-plank on the question of adding queen beds to Caribbean Beach. [Read more →]

This post on the Epcot resorts is one in a series about personal favorites. See lower on the page for more about this series.

FAVORITE EPCOT RESORT: DISNEY’S BOARDWALK INN

This site’s ranking of the deluxe resorts at Walt Disney World for first time visitors puts Disney’s Polynesian Resort first, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge second, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge third.

Among the Epcot resorts, all three come in last on the list of recommendations for first-timers, with Disney’s Beach Club Resort ranked best among them, Disney’s BoardWalk Inn ranked last, and the Yacht Club in between.

My personal favorite among these, however, is the one ranked last: the BoardWalk Inn.  Why?  Well, give me a minute, and I’ll tell you. [Read more →]

This post on the monorail resorts is one in a series about personal favorites. See lower on the page for more about this series.

FAVORITE MONORAIL RESORT: DISNEY’S CONTEMPORARY RESORT

This site’s ranking of the deluxe resorts at Walt Disney World for first time visitors puts Disney’s Polynesian Resort first, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge second, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge third.

I’ve posted previously that my overall personal favorite deluxe resort is far and away the Wilderness Lodge, with the Animal Kingdom Lodge my second favorite.

But among the monorail resorts–the three deluxe hotels linked by monorail to the Magic Kingdom–my personal favorite is Disney’s Contemporary Resort.

Why?  Well, keep reading…

[Read more →]

This is the third page of this material on deluxe resorts; for the first page, click here.

DINING AT DISNEY WORLD’S DELUXE RESORTS

One of the best features of the deluxe resorts is the often wonderful dining venues at them.

Some of these dining venues are better for adults than for kids; moreover, for every resort other than the Animal Kingdom Lodge it’s also worth thinking about options at other nearby deluxe resorts. (The Animal Kingdom Lodge has no nearby resorts.)  Sheer variety also has its virtues.

See the image for some distinctions based on these points.

A few comments:

• The monorail resorts–the Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian–are just a short monorail ride from each other, so the great options at the Grand Floridian and Contemporary in particular are easily accessible from each of these hotels.
• The two resort meals included in this site’s itineraries are Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary and the Hoop Dee Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness.  The next best resort meal for kids is the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge (this meal used to be in the itineraries, but I took it out a few years ago as part of a simplification exercise).  The Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary are linked to each other and to Fort Wilderness by boat, so these resorts get an extra kick on the kids meals ranking.
• The Epcot Resorts–the Yacht Club, Beach Club, and BoardWalk Inn–are a short walk from each other and from the BoardWalk.  Those who have with park hopper tickets and enough days on their tickets also have easy access from these hotels to all the dining options at Epcot.
• The Animal Kingdom Lodge has three great options, but is isolated from other resorts.

For more on dining at Walt Disney World, see this.

THE FUTURE OF THE DELUXE RESORTS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

In the near term, there’s a couple of interesting developments.

• While not a Disney Resort, the Four Seasons is building a hotel on grounds–between Fort Wilderness and Port Orleans Riverside.  It’ll be interesting to see what impact, if any, the Four Seasons has on the Grand Floridian, and whether it creates the option of adding to the kid appeal there.
• A Disney Vacation Club offering is being built for the Grand Floridian.  This will leave only the Polynesian among the monorail resorts without a DVC option.  Rumors have emerged that the Polynesian will be rebuilt from the ground up.  If I were doing this, I’d first move the Magic Kingdom ferry dock a little to the east, reclaim this land and much of the east side of the Polynesian for DVC rooms, and once this is up and running take down and redo the Great Ceremonial Hall and the west side of the Polynesian.

Longer term, there’s plenty of buildable space at Walt Disney World for more deluxe resorts–among other places, both north and west of the Contemporary, west of the Wilderness Lodge (on the monorail) and east nearer Fort WIlderness,  and north of the Yacht and Beach Clubs.

However, other than the developments and possibilities noted above, I wouldn’t expect to see a new deluxe except in the context of a fifth gate and/or Disney World’s 50th anniversary.

DISTINCTIONS AMONG THE DISNEY WORLD DELUXE RESORTS

Disney’s Polynesian Resort. Only resort with both own resort monorail stop and in easy walking distance of TTC and its Epcot monorail. Only deluxe with no hot tub. Only deluxe with no fitness center–guests are allowed to share the one at the Grand Floridian. One of only a few deluxes with no spa services. Strong kid appeal

Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Only resort from which you can walk to and from the Magic Kingdom. One of only two deluxes with no on-site child care programs. One of only a few deluxes with no spa services. At high end of room sizes.

Disney’s BoardWalk Inn and Villas. Greatest variety of dining options. However, breakfast–especially for kids–is awkward. One of only two deluxes with no beach or marina. One of only two deluxes with no on-site child care. In middle range of room size.

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and Villas. Only resort with close up views of many types of wild animals. (All resorts offer views of lizards.) Only deluxe with no transportation options other than buses. Only deluxe not on a lake. One of only two deluxes without a beach or marina. One of only two deluxes whose standard rooms sleep only 4. One of only a few deluxes without spa services. Stunning kid appeal.

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and Disney’s Beach Club Resort. Best pool (shared) at Walt Disney World. Wide variety of dining options. In the middle of room sizes among deluxes.

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MORE ON WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• For where to stay, see this
  • For your next best choices, in order, see this
  • For picking your resort based on appeal to kids, see this
  • For picking your resort based on convenience, see this
  • For where not to stay, see this

• For what you get in each resort price category, see this
  • For Walt Disney World resort price seasons, see this
  • For resort reviews, see this
  • For the value resorts, see this
  • For the moderate resorts, see this
  • For the deluxe resorts, see this
  • For suites at the deluxe resorts, see this
  • For the Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) Resorts, see this

• For a (geeky) overview of comparative room size, see this

• Large families should look at this, and also at
  • Large Families Looking for Value Pricing at Walt Disney World
  • Large Families Looking for Deluxe Accommodations at Disney World
  • Beds and Sleeping Spaces at the Walt Disney World Resorts
  • Renting Disney Vacation Club Points
  • Suites at Walt Disney World

• Military/DOD families should look at this

• Tightwads should look at this

• Families seeking the most comfortable place to stay should see this