Disney's Yacht Club Resort Review
On our trip to Disney in December, we decided to stay at the Yacht Club. We originally booked the Beach Club, and we even considered The Boardwalk at one point. We eventually changed our reservation so that we could stay at the Yacht Club. Our reasoning was for the discount. I did some research and found that with an Annual Passholder discount, it would be a larger discount at Yacht Club vs Beach Club. Our main goal was to simply stay connected to Epcot, so we were entirely ok with this change. Luckily, it did pay off in the end, and we were able to score a great discount!
We arrived at our resort around 8:45 pm (we visited Brad's grandparents as soon as we got into town before heading to the hotel). We had received our room number in an email and text earlier in the day. As with any Disney hotel, you enter through a gate. The guard told us of our parking options: self parking to the right, or valet straight ahead. Valet costs $25/day, however. We opted for self parking. The parking lot was SO tiny. It was actually smaller than any lot I've seen. Now there is also the chance that since it was dark, there were parts of the lot I did not see!
Once we were parked, we unloaded a few things to take with us on our first trip up to our room. Our main concern was to bring Melody's bag along with our cold things. They did have a bellhop that could deliver your luggage, but Emily and Justin had a bad experience with it earlier in the night, so we opted not to use it. Plus since it was already so late, I hated to waste any time waiting on luggage since we needed to get ready for bed!
We had no trouble finding or getting in our room. The location was ideal when it came to the elevator and marketplace. Our room number was 4126. We were on the 4th floor. As soon as we got off the elevator, we were straight down the hallway. Our room was maybe ten doors down. Below is a quick video of our room as soon as we entered.
As soon as you walk in, there is a long hallway leading you to the actual beds.
On the right, is a coffee setup along with a cabinet that houses the refrigerator. One of the problems we had our first night was actually with our fridge. The door would not close all the way (notice the light on in the fridge? when closed, the light is off). This presented a big problem because we had a few items that had to be kept cold including medicine for Melody. When mousekeeping brought up Melody's pack and play, I told her about the problem. She found a solution to shutting the door...pull the fridge out of the cabinet, then you can lift the door enough to shut it. Well that solution would not suffice. The last thing I need is to forget and ruin Melody's milk and medicine. She also claimed they were too busy and didn't want to exchange it. Brad went downstairs to the front desk and told them. Within 30 minutes, they replaced the entire fridge.
Continuing on the right side, there were 2 doors that were to the closet. The door on the right contained a shelf on the very top. Below the shelf was an area to hang your clothes. It was also lit. You also found the luggage rack in this closet. I could never get it to stay, so I actually moved it to the corner of our room. The floor wasn't level in the closet, so it kept falling out. There was a full length mirror attached to the door as well. The door on the left contained multiple shelves and a small area to hang clothes. It was also lit.
The last door along this wall only covered part of the cabinets. There were shelves above and below the door that were exposed. We used the higher shelves for food and lower ones for shoes. The door covered the safe along with the iron and ironing board.
On the left side of the hallway you will find the restroom area. You enter through a large open door. In here you will find double sinks, plenty of towels, and complimentary toiletries. We found that we had plenty of space on the sinks for all of our toiletries plus cleaning supplies for Melody's cups. There was even storage space under the sink that we used too. There is a large sliding door that will cover this area if you need privacy. This was really helpful at night when we put Melody down for bed, but we still needed to shower or wash cups.
From the sink room there is a door that leads to the bath and toilet. We were super happy to see that we had a bathtub as opposed to a walk-in shower. I had seen where a lot of people had showers with the new renovated rooms, so we actually brought an inflatable bathtub for Melody as a backup. [Remember we ran into the shower problem at our last stay at Opryland!] The only negative to our bathtub was that we had trouble keeping the glass doors completely shut. They would both slide to the middle and wouldn't stay where you slid them originally. This was a very minor problem, however. I loved the renovated showers otherwise. And a side note, I loved the shampoo and conditioner that they now supply you. It is by far my favorite, and I am considering buying the full size bottles when my mom and I return later this month!
Continuing into the actual sleeping area, we had two queen size beds. From what I have read, some rooms also have king size beds. Each bed contained 4 super comfy pillows, and there are reading lights that fold out of the headboard on each side of the bed. They had USB outlets scattered throughout the room which made phone, watch, and iPad charging much easier. There was one nightstand in the middle of the two beds that contained a phone and a little bit of storage. Beside the bed on the far end was a small desk with a lamp and chair.
Across from the beds was a larger dresser that had 9 drawers (6 larger ones and 3 smaller ones) and one cabinet. The cabinet contained sheets for the fold out bed. There was a TV above the dresser and more USB outlets. Then we had a couch that would fold out into a bed. We never used the bed feature, but having the couch was really nice when we would come back to the room for breaks. Not all rooms have a couch, however. Emily and Justin had a table with chairs instead. I personally think I liked having the couch more though.
The last thing was our balcony. There was a sliding glass door that led to the outside. The balcony contained a small table and two chairs. A few mornings I ate my cereal on the balcony, and a few afternoons I would come outside and rest here. Unfortunately I didn't get any daytime pictures! However, I did get a picture of our view in the evening. I expected a garden view, but it was really a parking lot view. We were right above the bus station, so you could hear (and see) the buses for all the hours that they would run.
Another "problem" we ran into on our first night was that we did not have a "Privacy" sign. Normally on a Disney vacation, we do not need that sign. However, since we spent such a long day driving, we had planned to sleep in. I really didn't want to risk mousekeeping knocking at 8 am, and Melody deciding to sleep in. So I had to make my own sign using paper and a pen provided by Disney. Luckily I had ribbon and scissors with me to use to attach the stroller tag to the stroller, so I used that to attach to the door. By the next evening, Disney provided us with their privacy sign. Of course, there are now rumors that they will be doing away with the signs altogether. While I understand the reasoning, I would like for there to be a way to say not come in before 10 am, or something similar, so that they do not disturb you while kids are sleeping. Maybe they will find a way.
Beyond the room, there were so many other great things about this resort. The main reason we stayed here was for the great access to Epcot. It was really amazing to not have to take a bus to Epcot (or Hollywood Studios). The best thing for Melody is to keep moving. If you stop and make her sit, she isn't super happy. So being able to let her walk all the way to Epcot from our room was really nice and super convenient. We never used the boats or went to Hollywood Studios, but I am certain it would have been much easier than taking a bus! It was exceptionally nice since we spent time at Epcot almost every day. The walk wasn't very long, and it gave Melody time to burn some energy.
The bus stop itself wasn't awful at the Yacht Club. It was a relatively short walk from the lobby. There were multiple benches and a screen that listed the expected arrival time. The arrival times were not always listed for each park nor was it always accurate. But it was nice to have when we would meet Emily and Justin at the bus stop. We were able to relay back and forth how much time the opposite couple had to get to the bus stop [haha!].
Another positive about the bus stop at Yacht Club is that it picks up [and drops off] first. It is combined with the Beach Club, so this was really nice to get on first because we were usually guaranteed a seat. Getting off first wasn't that big of a deal because we were usually fighting people to get off who were staying on for the Beach Club, but I guess it did get us to our room quicker.
A negative about the bus stop at the Beach Club is that it is a bit of a walk from the hotel lobby. One day we decided to use their bus stop because we were exploring the resorts. It wasn't an awful walk by any means, but it wasn't as close as the one at Yacht Club. If I am ranking the two resorts based on the bus stops, I would pick Yacht Club every day, ha!
However, the buses in general were exceptionally slow for our resort. It didn't matter where we were going or coming from, it took forever for us to get a bus. I have stayed at MANY Disney resorts and never had problems like we did. There were multiple times we were at a park and a bus for Animal Kingdom or some other resort would arrive twice [maybe even three times] before our bus would show up. It was ridiculous! We waited more than 30 minutes on average for a bus.
Even with the waits, the girls would find some entertainment in just sitting and talking or walking around us!
Since we were staying at Christmas, both of the lobbies at the Beach and Yacht Club were decorated in Christmas decor. It was all very nice. We loved the general decor of both hotels, but the Christmas decor added something special to our visit. Melody was fascinated by the train set at the Yacht Club!
The shopping and restaurants at both resorts were really convenient. At the Yacht Club, we bought a few snacks and refilled our drinks at the Marketplace. With only having two drink machines, I fully expected to have lots of crowds, but we did not run into any at all. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the Marketplace, but I did snag one of the yummy looking chocolate croissants. I never bought one, but I considered it multiple times. I just knew I would never be able to finish it all!
The marketplace at the Beach Club had a larger milk that we used a snack credit on when Melody ran out of what we bought her at Publix. I highly recommend going there if you need anything larger than a single serving. They have larger coolers filled with a lot more options. The milk was over twice the size and was able to last us 3 days in our room. And it was a snack credit just like the single serving was at the Yacht Club. Much better deal!!
We did eat at both Cape May Cafe [dinner] and Beaches and Cream [dessert]. I won't elaborate on either since I already posted about it, but the food itself was good at both. On my next trip, I hope to eat real food at Beaches and Cream!
That pretty much covers what all we experienced at both Yacht and Beach Club. Unfortunately we did not get to spend any time at the pool. The time we spent relaxing in our room, we didn't want to change and do anything, ha! I hope to experience it in the future though. I would highly recommend staying at either resort. We personally loved the Yacht Club. If we stay again through Disney (not DVC) I would stay at Yacht Club just because we can get a bigger discount usually. The easy access to Epcot [and Hollywood Studios] really can't be beat. We spend some time almost every day at Epcot, so getting to just walk over whenever we want instead of waiting on a bus is worth it to me. However, I will stay at other resorts too. I think it solely depends on what you can afford and if the money is really worth it for you.
