Review: Disney’s Beach Club Resort

OVERVIEW: DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB RESORT

Our most recent stay (our fourth, in April 2014) confirms that Disney’s Beach Club Resort, one of the Epcot resorts, is the sixth best deluxe resort at Walt Disney World for first time family visitors.

You can have a wonderful visit at any Walt Disney World resort hotel.

However, this site recommends that first time visitors to Walt Disney World who can afford it should stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, a deluxe resort, and that those who can’t should stay at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, a value resort.

(It also suggests that first time visitors should avoid the moderate resorts, while noting that these resorts are wonderful for visits after the first. See this for why.)

Compared to other Walt Disney World owned and operated resorts, the deluxe resorts are distinguished by having (on average) the most amenities, nicest views, best dining options, best transport options, largest rooms, best service, and highest prices.

Among the deluxe resorts, Disney’s Beach Club Resort has a lot of positives.

It stands out for sharing with the Yacht Club Resort the best pool on property, sharing with the Yacht Club and the BoardWalk Inn convenient access to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and also sharing with these resorts a short walk to dozens of table service dining options located in these resorts, at the Swan and Dolphin, on the BoardWalk, and in Epcot.

(For Disney’s Beach Club Villas, which share services and location with the Beach Club, see this.)

(See this for much more on resort distinctions by price class–value, moderate, deluxe, etc.)

Standard rooms at Disney’s Beach Club Resort are sized in the middle of the deluxe resorts.

They are larger than those at the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, but smaller than those at Disney’s Polynesian Resort and the other monorail resorts.

Most of these rooms sleep five–two each in two queens, and another in convertible sofa. Some rooms have just the two queens, and rooms with one king bed are also available.

You can add to this capacity of five a child younger than three who sleeps in a crib.

DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB RESORT

Resorts are ranked on this site for first time visitors based first on their kid appeal, and then on their convenience.

On this basis, Disney’s Beach Club Resort is the sixth-best deluxe resort for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.

Kid Appeal.

• Three of the deluxe resorts–the Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Polynesian Resort, in that order–have spectacular kid appeal. The Beach Club has comparatively little architectural  kid appeal
• None of the moderates do.
• All of the value resorts–Disney’s All-Star Sports, All-Star Music, and All-Star Movies, its Pop Century Resort, and its Art of Animation Resort–have strong kid appeal.

The kid appeal of the Beach Club Resort, such as it is, comes from its pool, not its design, architecture, or theme.

Stormalong Bay, the pool that the Beach Club and Yacht Club share, is the most fun and kid-appealing pool at Walt Disney World.  

Otherwise, nothing about the design or architecture of the Beach Club shouts out that it was built for kids.

Convenience. Disney’s Beach Club Resort is the sixth-most convenient of all the Walt Disney World resorts in carrying out the itineraries for first-time family visitors on this site.

All of the Epcot resorts are convenient to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Epcot is a short walk from the Beach Club, and the Studios are a longer walk or a boat ride away.  (Epcot can also be accessed by boat, but the boat dock is almost as long a walk from the Beach Club as is Epcot itself.)

The other two parks are accessed by buses, which are shared with some of the other Epcot resorts.

Best places to stay. This site suggests that first time visitors stay in standard rooms, not preferred rooms.

This is because they won’t be spending much time in their rooms.

The single exception is visitors to the Animal Kingdom Lodge, who should always pay for savanna views.

On the map (click it to enlarge it), the Yacht Club Resort is on the left, The Beach Club is center-right, and the Beach Club Villas are at the top right.  The walkway to Epcot is at the far right, and the boat dock shared by the Beach and Yacht Clubs is at the center in the lake.

The room areas of the Beach Club–at the right in the map–are in a long, narrow building with only two elevator banks, one central, and one on the (right) Epcot side.

As a result, rooms on the Yacht Club side of the Beach Club–center left on the map–can be a hike away from the elevators.

Epcot-side rooms are not only better served with elevators, but also have the shortest walk to Epcot.

The other issue with the Beach Club is that many of its rooms have tiny and largely useless balconies, with room only for a couple of people to stand, and no seating space.

See the image above, where the first and second floors have full width patios/decks, the third floor rooms show the tiny small balconies, and the fourth floor room have small balconies.

This results in a charming, nicely modulated facade, especially compared to that of sister resort the Yacht Club. (See the Yacht Club image below.)

The Yacht Club’s full balconies are integrated into the long, plain vistas of its facade in such a way that its architecture is at best boring and in some ways reminds me of a parking garage.

That said, I’d take a full balcony over charming design any day of the week. In fact, diminishing livability to improve looks is almost the definition of bad architecture.

Full balconies give you another space–and hence a place to separate and retreat–which can be critical to keeping the peace in your family.

So you should ask for a room with a full balcony, as close to Epcot as possible.

The current online check in form lets you select a large balcony.

BEST FOR:

Any first time family visitors who can afford it, but can’t get into or don’t want to stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort.

WORST FOR:

Families seeking the highest degree of kid appeal. Families too large to fit its 5 person rooms. See this for more on large families at Walt Disney World.

PHOTO TOUR OF A BEACH CLUB ROOM

This review continues here.

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