Photo Tour of a Refurbed Room at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

By Dave Shute

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, see this.)

In late 2017, Disney’s Yacht Club resort completed a much-needed room refurb, and I had the chance to stay in a refurbed room in early November.

A complete photo tour follows, but for those familiar with the former rooms here, here’s the key points:

• The rooms are much more livable than before
• Yacht Club rooms were never very interesting, and have gotten even less so
• A gulf has emerged between Beach Club rooms and Yacht Club rooms.  In the past they were largely identical other than balconies, color schemes and decorations. Now, after each of their recent refurbs, while they continue to have the same basic characteristics in terms of size, capacity, bath layout and such, the Yacht Club rooms are better on almost every other dimension

STANDARD ROOMS AT DISNEY’S YACHT CLUB RESORT

Standard rooms at the Yacht Club sleep either four or five–four on two queens, and the fifth on a fold-down sofa bed, if present.

The floor plan shows a five person room. Four person rooms have an easy chair where the desk is, and move the desk to where the couch is.  The connecting door, if present, is between the dresser and closet in either room type.

At the entry, the bath area is on one side…

…and the coffee area, mini-fridge, and closet on the other.

The coffee maker is a Keurig–unusual in Disney World rooms–and underneath it is a good-sized drawer.

Below both, and behind a door, is the same sort of glass-fronted mini-fridge that’s been common in recently refurbed Disney World rooms.

Beyond these is the re-done closet. Note the nice paneling and the shelves above and below on the right side.

Inside the doors you’ll find more structured storage. Older Disney rooms have just a long blank closet with a long clothes rod and a shelf above.  This is much more helpful.

The safe is quite large–my book is 6×9 inches, and you could fit a more than a dozen.  In fact, you probably should.

The other side of the room contains the divided bath. The sink area, which used to be open to the room, now has a sliding barn door that can limit the effect of light and noise in here on the rest of the room.

Inside you’ll find double sinks and, new with this refurb, a make-up mirror.

The hair dryer.

Storage underneath the sinks.

The tub and toilet are in their own separate space, now closed off by a pocket door rather than a swinging door. I’m not a fan of the new sliding shower doors which replace the old curtain. They make it too hard to bathe kids.

The two heads of the rainfall shower make it much more usable.

The toiletries.

Back in the room, on one side you’ll find two queen beds.

The bed side from the back. In four person rooms, you’ll find an easy chair where the desk is, and the desk is moved to the TV side of the room, where the couch is in five person rooms.

A closer view of one of the queens. Note that, consistent with recent trends in hotels–especially higher end hotels–these beds are high off the floor. At about 30 inches they may be as much as six inches taller than you are used to, and are about three inches higher than the beds in the Beach Club. Shorter folk and those with any number of disabilities may have difficulty getting into them.

New in this refurb is a set of (?halogen) pencil reading lights. There are four in total, one on each side of each queen. They come on when you pull them out of their slot in the headboard, and you can aim them.

The additional bulb-style reading lights on the walls are each controlled by a single switch per bed, so both of a bed’s wall-mounted lights will light up when that switch is thrown.  The pencil lights provide more control and more light.

There’s a small bedside shelf with a power point for four devices (two plug, two USB) between the near bed and the bath wall.

In addition between the two beds is a more traditional bedside table. I believe the design of this table is meant to recall the steamer trunks that used to be taken on transatlantic cruises.  We’ll see other gestures towards this design concept in the dresser. Also, if you scan up above, you’ll see a similar theming to the mini-fridge enclosure.

The table has another 4 device power point and three small storage drawers, with one big enough for your most important books.

The undersides of the bed are now open…

…creating a handy place to shove your luggage.

The desk includes 8 power points…

…and underneath is is a rolling table, handy for eating or playing games.

The TV side of the room has the connecting door (if present), dresser, TV, and a couch in five person rooms. In four person rooms, the desk is moved to this side.

The TV side from the back.

The TV is 54 inches–much bigger than that in the Beach Club rooms.

The dresser includes nine drawers and a cabinet.  There’s plenty of storage in these rooms, even for five people. There’s a four-device power point at either end of the dresser.

The couch…

…folds down into a bed, which I measured as 33″ by 75.”  The high sides at the ends make it sleep a little shorter than this.  The cushion is firm but thin, and so the bed  is best suited to kids, the uncomplaining, or those whose complaints are safely ignored.

Above the couch is this art. The Mickey head and reference to Disney World’s 1971 opening is one of three subtle gestures in the room to Disney theming.

The second is in this art on the wall between the beds and the bath…

…and the third is in this curtain that separates the balcony from the room.

Look closely at what at first seems a map of the constellations of the night sky, and you will see some constellations hitherto unknown to mankind.

Almost all Yacht Club rooms have full-width balconies, unlike the Beach Club, which combines regular balconies, small balconies and uselessly tiny ones.

This balcony difference was traditionally the largest difference between Yacht Club and Beach Club rooms. But after the 2015 Beach Club room refurb and 2017 Yacht Club room refurb, more differences have emerged, as the Yacht Club rooms now have…

• Keurig coffee makers
• Wooden floors
• More structured closet storage
• Larger safe
• Barn-door closure to the sink area
• A make-up mirror
• Pocket door access to the bath
• Dual shower heads
• Sliding shower doors
• Under-bed storage
• Halogen individual reading lights
• Larger TVs

…most of which most people would consider improvements in livability over the Beach Club rooms.

My co-author Josh has a review of this same room here, with better photos.

DINING AT DISNEY’S YACHT CLUB RESORT

This review continues here!

PAGES IN THIS REVIEW OF DISNEY’S YACHT CLUB RESORT

• Overview and summary of Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
• Accommodations and Theming at the Yacht Club
• A photo tour of a Yacht Club room
• Dining at the Yacht Club
• Amenities at the Yacht Club
• Stormalong Bay, the Yacht Club’s main pool

OTHER KEY PAGES FOR WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD

• Where to stay–the Basics
• Where first-timers should stay
• Reviews of all the Disney World resorts, based on my 160+ stays in them

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