Disney’s Beach Club Resort

On my recent trip to Disney World, I stayed at the Beach Club Resort.  The reason I picked this resort was 100% location.  My in-laws were staying at the Yacht Club and I wanted to be as close to them as possible without paying Yacht Club prices.  Lucky for me, the Beach Club and Yacht Club are basically connected (and the Beach Club is about $100 cheaper per night)!  Win!

Our room had two queen beds, a sofa, flat screen tv, refrigerator, and a balcony with the view below.

The bathroom had double marble sinks, a hairdryer, make-up mirror and grapefruit scented toiletries.

Since it is the DISNEY Beach Club there are lots of cute little details that are beach themed, including this lamp below.

The exterior is a New-England style blue that I love.  This is the back entrance that we were constantly in and out of.

It enters into the lobby that continues the beachy theme.

As I said, being close to the in-laws was my reason for choosing the Beach Club, but its location is a great one!  You can walk out the door and be at the back entrance of Epcot in 10 minutes (walking).  Or you can take a boat from the light house dock below and go to Epcot, Disney’s Boardwalk, the Swan & Dolphin hotel or Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  Of course, there is always the bus transportation that leaves from the front of the hotel to virtually anywhere on the Disney property.

Standing on the dock you have great views of the Boardwalk and both the Beach and Yacht Clubs.  It really is a pretty area.  There is a little beach area, but you aren’t allowed to swim in the water.  They have a fabulous pool area (not just the one above: a WAY bigger one with slides and sand) for swimming.

I love writing about my travels, but I have discovered one drawback: I look at things with a more critical eye.  This is not a drawback for my readers because I give true honest reviews, but it is for me.  Why?  Well, I used to go on trips or to restaurants and not make mental notes of the bad stuff.  I like to be positive and happy.  But now I take notice of all that bad stuff and even hold on to it so I can tell you about it.  Last time I went to the Beach Club I wasn’t writing about the experience and I can’t remember one negative thing.  This time, however, I noticed several things.  I feel like I should give you the entire picture, so if you aren’t into the negative, stop reading. 🙂

Last summer when we went on our Wild West Road Trip, we stayed in some pretty interesting hotels.  I saw lots of the above on that trip.  HOWEVER, we were paying less than $100 a night for those rooms.  The Beach Club was costing me $500 a night!  This is not the kind of thing I expect to see in a $500 a night hotel room!  Top left: the bathroom door from inside the bathroom.  Obviously there had been some water damage.  Top right: the top of the dresser had nicks and scratches in it.  Bottom right: the bathtub had some mold issues.  Bottom left: the safe was ridiculously small.  I put this little piece of paper in there to show how tiny.  I ended up not even using it because I couldn’t fit what I wanted in it.

I also noticed some things outside of the room.  First pic: this was the carpet in the hallway.  SO dirty!  Second pic: big black scratches on the wall in the hallway.  Top right: it seemed like the cleaning supplies were in the hallway throughout the day.  Bottom right: the carpet was buckling in several places in the hallways.  Very easy to trip over.

So would I stay at the Beach Club again?  If I needed to be close to family, then yes.  But if I was going on my own I would probably try a different Disney resort that was less expensive.

I feel like I had to tell you about all that, but I can’t end the post with all that yuck. I just have to tell you how much I LOVE Disney!  I absolutely love it!  I could go there every year and have the best time.  It truly is a magical place!  Okay, I feel so much better now.  😉