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Okay next trip a ways away but I am trying to put together a budget. And for some reason in our thinking we had totally forgotten about the hotels around Epcot. We were thinking Beach Club or Boardwalk, leaning BC.
Tell us about the resort, pros cons, how long does it really take to walk to EC and DS. How close is the food to most of the rooms (mug refills)? Transport time to other parks? We hear the pool is killer.
As always thanks!
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Disney Vacation Specialist Magical Memories Travel Chelsey
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I've never actually stayed at any of the Epcot resorts, though I did stay at Dolphin once.
Being in the Crescent Lake area is awesome if you are a fan of either Epcot or DHS. Actually walking to Epcot from Yacht & Beach, or from Boardwalk, is about equal to the walk from Epcot's front gate to the beginning of World Showcase, maybe even a little shorter. It generally takes me about 3-5 minutes.
I've taken buses from the Epcot resorts to other parks, and found them to be quicker than the Value resorts, but not as quick as self-driving.
There are numerous food options around Crescent Lake, including Flying Fish, but the best options are just inside Epcot's gates in World Showcase. Dunno where you get mugs filled at Y&BC or Boardwalk.
The pool at Y&BC is called Stormalong Bay, and it is killer. It's more like a small water park than a hotel pool; it's so popular that it's one of the few WDW resort pools that's actually fenced in, and you have to show room ID to get in, otherwise it would be mobbed with people from other resorts all the time. And DVC members, who are allowed to pool-hop almost everywhere on WDW property, are not allowed to pool-hop to SAB.
If you can afford it, any of the Epcot resorts is worth a stay.
Of course, you could also stay at a Moderate or Value for half the price, and stay twice as long...
We love the BC and have stayed there numerous times. Short walk to Epcot. Can walk to DHS or take the boat. Rooms are good sized. The pool is to die for! Only main complaint would be sharing buses from places like DTD and some parks where it seems like you're stopping at BC/YC/BWI, and Swan/Dolphin. Maybe they've improved that since the last time we stayed there.
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Haven't stayed at the B.C. and it does seem to have an edge over the Y.C. side. We've stayed at the Y.C. twice and have enjoyed both stays. One thing that sold us on the Y.C. over the B.C. is the balconies. Y.C. rooms have full balconies, at the B.C. there are only a few. If a balcony is something you enjoy, you might take that into consideration. The pool is great but gets crowded in the afternoon. We had trouble finding seats let alone decent ones. Access to Epcot is good as well as access to the Boardwalk and D.H.S. By staying at the B.C. you take off some of the walking time to Epcot vs. the Y.C. but it never really made a big deal to us. Y.C. is a bit closer to the boat transportation. It's a great area and you'll enjoy it.
We Beach Club. It is about a 5 minute walk to the back entrance to Epcot which is AWESOME for restaurant choices (we love many of the Epcot eateries). The walking distance might be slightly longer based on your room location, but not much.
We have always taken the boat to HS--that takes about 15 minutes. I've heard that it is within walking distance, but with all of the walking in the parks, my family never wanted to brave the hike over there.
You can get drink refills right in the pool area, or you can go to a couple of places in the resort. The were no better or worse than when we went to Wilderness Lodge (at least for us based on our room locations).
we stayed at BC on our last (first) trip, and LOVED it. to answer your questions:
pros: beautiful lobby, many dining options, proximity to epcot and the boardwalk, guy in the lobby who tells you to have a magical day, self-service drink machine in gift shop, pool, rocking chairs, pool bar, multiple inside bars, public rooms (esp. the solarium), quiet pool with jacuzzi...i could go on.
cons: i honestly am trying to come up with cons here...um...it is expensive and so i can't stay there again for a long time? oh--and if you like counter service, food court type dining, there's really none of that...anywhere. aside from a counter serving a few hot items in the gift shop. but we don't do CS, so that was more of a pro than a con, at least for us.
time to EC: we had a first floor room on the epcot side directly next to a side exit. from INSIDE of our room, it was LESS than a five minute walk to the turnstiles at the WS side of epcot. i am not exaggerating. we left our room at 3:45 and had to sit there and wait for our 'after 4pm' tickets to be valid. it was literally like staying IN epcot, it was that close.
time to DHS: we didn't go there, so i can't comment on that. sorry!
food to rooms: the shop was right off of the lobby--you had to pass it to get to any of the rooms, and from our room it was less than a minute's stroll. remember, it is all inside. cape may cafe is on the other side of the lobby, but still, we're talking in dozens of feet, not thousands. and, of cuorse, room service is the best option of all.
transport time to other parks: ok, this part should have been in 'cons'. it took freaking forever to get to and from AK and MK. the bus stops at the swan, the dolphin, and the yacht club before going returning to BC (though i walked from the YC stop, as the hotels are connected, and walking was faster), and it seeemed like that was true in both directions. it took us over an hour to get back from DTD. that was a bit annoying. still--we loved it there!
we stayed at BC on our last (first) trip, and LOVED it. to answer your questions:
pros: beautiful lobby, many dining options, proximity to epcot and the boardwalk, guy in the lobby who tells you to have a magical day, self-service drink machine in gift shop, pool, rocking chairs, pool bar, multiple inside bars, public rooms (esp. the solarium), quiet pool with jacuzzi...i could go on.
cons: i honestly am trying to come up with cons here...um...it is expensive and so i can't stay there again for a long time? oh--and if you like counter service, food court type dining, there's really none of that...anywhere. aside from a counter serving a few hot items in the gift shop. but we don't do CS, so that was more of a pro than a con, at least for us.
t4ime to EC: we had a first floor room on the epcot side directly next to a side exit. from INSIDE of our room, it was LESS than a five minute walk to the turnstiles at the WS side of epcot. i am not exaggerating. we left our room at 3:45 and had to sit there and wait for our 'after 4pm' tickets to be valid. it was literally like staying IN epcot, it was that close.
time to DHS: we didn't go there, so i can't comment on that. sorry!
food to rooms: the shop was right off of the lobby--you had to pass it to get to any of the rooms, and from our room it was less than a minute's stroll. remember, it is all inside. cape may cafe is on the other side of the lobby, but still, we're talking in dozens of feet, not thousands. and, of cuorse, room service is the best option of all.
transport time to other parks: ok, this part should have been in 'cons'. it took freaking forever to get to and from AK and MK. the bus stops at the swan, the dolphin, and the yacht club before going returning to BC (though i walked from the YC stop, as the hotels are connected, and walking was faster), and it seeemed like that was true in both directions. it took us over an hour to get back from DTD. that was a bit annoying. still--we loved it there!
Everything she said. My last trip report extolls the virtues of beach club. We too had a first floor epcot side and even with three kids we were through the epcot gats in 5 minutes.the walk to dhs was 15ish minutes. We only walked back but the boat ride there was a slow 25 minutes. The busstops to downtown were awful. But it would not be a reason for me not to return to bc. We love epcot...we loved it even more when we could come and go
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We've stayed at BWI, BWV, Swan, and YC.
It takes about 20 minutes to walk to DHS from Swan and BWI/BWV and a bit longer from the YC/BC. The Epcot walk for BC is about 10 minutes, 15 minutes from the others. We rarely take the boat when staying around Epcot. Only when it's raining or our feet are killing.
You'll share buses with other resorts. BW shares with Swan and Dolphin usually...and sometimes even with YC and BC. BC and YC always share.
Mug refills are not all that convenient for any of the resorts. We used our mugs a lot at BWV in August 2008 when it was 100 degrees out. We refilled at Boardwalk Bakery and the Sweets shop (they give you a paper cup filled with your drink for you to add to your mug). We did not use mugs during our trip to YC or BWI.
You'll love the Boardwalk area. Any of the resorts will be nice.
Okay next trip a ways away but I am trying to put together a budget. And for some reason in our thinking we had totally forgotten about the hotels around Epcot. We were thinking Beach Club or Boardwalk, leaning BC.
Tell us about the resort, pros cons, how long does it really take to walk to EC and DS. How close is the food to most of the rooms (mug refills)? Transport time to other parks? We hear the pool is killer.
As always thanks!
Boardwalk: Keister Coaster pool, dining outside of the resort building (on the boardwalk). 15 minutes walk to DHS, 10 minute walk to EC.
Beach Club: Stormalong Bay pool, dining inside the resort building. 5 minute walk to Epcot, 15 minute walk to DHS.
Both resorts take about 20 minutes to get to AK and MK.
The mug-refill stations are more convenient than at value or moderate resorts, simply because the resorts themselves are not as spread-out as the values and moderates are.
We love the Beach Club and we really enjoyed our stay at the BoardWalk. Depending where you're staying at the Beach Club, it takes about five or 10 minutes to walk to the International Gateway.
We've stayed at BWI about a dozen times - one year, it was 3 times!!
WE love it!
Pros - location, service, atmosphere, wonderful CMs, the Boardwalk itself (surrey bikes, the entertainment outside, fishing, etc.)
Cons - bus sharing, no counter service (we don't use it except for snacks usually anyway), and for some - it's a large building, so the hallways are long. However, you're not outside.
We've stayed at BC, and the easy walk to Epcot can't be beat. The only thing that surprised us was that the walk from our room to the pool/restaurants/gift shop/bus stop was just as long as our walk to Epcot, something you don't have at resorts with a bunch of freestanding buildings and multiple bus stops. DH stayed at Boardwalk while there on business last year and also had a long walk to his room. If I stayed there again, I would request a more centrally located room.
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Yay, love the feedback, keep it coming. Honestly not surprised about the bus sharing, we were a bit annoyed that WL shared with FWL, always seemed we had to go out of the way to get to a park. We don't mind walking, especially with the kids, most of the time it was more of an pain to take them out of the stroller when they were asleep to get them onto a shuttle at the end of the day.
I do know the cost is up there but we love being more centrally located in the parks and the little bit of extra room in the hotel room. I will also hopefully be able to score on a promo.
The final piece of our puzzle will be both sides of extended family coming...we're trying for everyone parents, siblings. the works. I have priced a variety of resorts both on and off property so they can see what they need to save. Everyone will stay where they want as our family has exceeded the sharing capability...well not really but I think we just need time to ourselves after a day in the parks with everyone.
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Disney Vacation Specialist Magical Memories Travel Chelsey
We are more of a "laid back" family. I We felt a wee bit out of place waiting at the GF for our dinner at 1900. I was initially concerned that the deluxe resorts in general would feel too stuffy. I could not believe how warm, kind, and welcoming the CM's at BC were! When we did venture into YC territory, they seemed a bit more "proper" (stand-off-ish). We walked past the BW propety and it did not call to us. The BC pool is amazing. I have zero interest in trying any of the other Epcot area resorts. We had a discount and went during value season, but even if that were not the case, I would scrimp where I could to stay at BC... (Although my family is SET on trying the Poly next time....aaahhhhh....)
Thanks for asking this question. I'm thinking about a BC/YC stay too in Aug. Split with POR.
We just got back from WDW a couple of weeks ago. While there we walked around Cresent Lake and walked around each resort BC, YC & BW. We walked from DHS, around the lake. I'm leaning toward BC/YC. Liked the solarium, grab & go and pool at BC/YC. Also closeness to Epcot entrance. So leaning toward that. Just don't like that not all rooms have balconies at BC.
Like to hear peoples experience staying at these resorts.
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Beach Club. It is about a 5 minute walk to the back entrance to Epcot which is AWESOME for restaurant choices (we love many of the Epcot eateries). The walking distance might be slightly longer based on your room location, but not much.
oh--and if you like counter service, food court type dining, there's really none of that...anywhere. aside from a counter serving a few hot items in the gift shop. but we don't do CS, so that was more of a pro than a con, at least for us. 
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