In our last post, we reviewed the Lake View Studio Villas at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort in Orlando, Florida. In today’s post, we describe our experience staying at a DVC family favorite – the Beach Club Resort! Here, we discuss the many reasons why we loved staying in a one-bedroom villa at Disney’s Vacation Club – Beach Club Villas (DVC BCV). And no, it was not only because of the awesome pool and slide!
Why stay at DVC’s Beach Club Villas?
One of the primary reasons to stay at the DVC BCV is due to highly rated pool — Stormalong Bay — often noted as the best pool among all of the Disney-owned resorts.
Another reason is the incredibly easy access (walking distance) to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
From the Disney Vacation Club website:
Leisure, elegance and romance converge at Disney’s Beach Club Villas, a charming New England-style Resort hotel. During your stay, enjoy the outstanding amenities, recreation and dining available at Disney’s Beach Club Resort and the adjacent Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. Best of all, this Resort hotel is conveniently located within walking distance of Epcot and a boat ride away from Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
From the YourFirstVisit website:
Among the Disney Vacation Club resorts, Disney’s Beach Club Villas ranks sixth overall for first-time visitors, and is particularly strong for charm, compactness, convenience to Epcot, and access to the great pool Stormalong Bay.
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The check-in experience at DVC BCV
As mentioned in the previous posts, we enjoy the convenience of renting a car whenever we travel to Walt Disney World, preferring the ease of transportation to the parks, and the ability of grocery shopping at the local Target or Publix.
A security gate guards the entrance to the Beach Club Villa’s grounds. When arriving by car, visitors present a photo ID at the gate. We always love hearing “Welcome Home” after the guard confirms our reservation.
There is a temporary parking lot for visitors that opted out of the online check-in process at DVC BCV.
Otherwise, BCV guests can check-in online 60 days prior to arrive. Guests receive a text with the room number when the room is ready. There are no room keys, as the magic bands that were shipped prior to the trip provide access to rooms (and the parks, with purchased theme park admission). It’s a such pleasure, to simply locate and enter the villa, upon arrival to the resort.
Parking is very easy at the Beach Club Villas (BCV), and close to the villas.
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Our stay started with a bit of a misadventure!
During our first visit, we decided to check in at the main lobby. Also, we wanted to attain our bands for the DVC party at Magic Kingdom that evening.
After checking in and receiving our bands, we set out, to find our room.
That’s when the wheels fell off.
No, not literally.
Well, almost.
We could not make any sense of the maps or exterior corridors.
At one point, I just had to plop myself down, to rest.
We re-grouped, and finally found our one bedroom villa.
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DVC BCV floor plans
The Beach Club Villas offer four different room types:
- Deluxe Studio
- One-bedroom villa
- Two-bedroom lock-off villa
- Two-bedroom dedicated villa
Here are the floor plans for the different types of villas (taken from the DVC website):
The One-Bedroom Villa at DVC BCV
All one-bedroom villas include the following amenities:
- Washer and dryer
- Iron and ironing board
- Portable crib
- Private porch or balcony
- Wireless Internet access
- Flat screen television(s)
- Blu-ray™ player
One bedroom villa kitchen, dining and living areas
Although significantly smaller than the Grand Floridian One-Bedroom Villa, the kitchen, dining and living areas of the Beach Club Villas are well designed, and function quite nicely.
As mentioned, while other vacationers have stated that they don’t like to cook while on vacation, we enjoy the ease and convenience of a full-sized kitchen for preparing breakfast, lunch (to go), and re-heating any left-overs from prior dinners.
The full equipped kitchen has the following amenities:
- Dishwasher
- Dishes, glasses and utensils
- Pots and pans
- Refrigerator
- Stove and oven
- Coffee maker
- Microwave
- Toaster
We continued our typical routine of visiting Target on our first day, where we picked up enough groceries for the upcoming week. It is so enjoyable, to be able to prepare morning coffee, and then breakfast, before showering, dressing, and heading out to the parks.
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Here are some additional photos of the entry, kitchen and dining areas, from our one-bedroom villa:
There is a good amount of seating within the living area, as well as a large dresser, with ample drawer space.
DVC BCV one bedroom villa sleeping areas
The one-bedroom villa has a king-size bed in the master bedroom, as well as a queen-size sleeper sofa, sleeping a total of four adults.
All villas have the following additional amenities:
- In-room safe
- Voicemail
- Alarm clock
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The split bathroom
Unlike our home resort of AKV Kidani village, the DVC BCV one bedroom villa has the equivalent of one full bathroom. However, the split bathroom design functions quite well.
The tub and vanity area are directly adjacent to the master bedroom (and accessible to the main living areas):
While the large walk-in shower, second vanity, and private water closet with toilet are also directly accessible from the main living areas:
The view at DVC BCV
DVC-BCV does not have any view classifications, so there are not any point (or cash) differences for room views. However, there are distinct room view requests upon checking in online, including:
- Courtyard view
- Garden View
- Pool View
- Canal View
- Woods View
Additional requests include:
- Large Balcony
- Connecting Rooms
- Ground Floor
- Upper Floor
- Lower Floor
- Near Elevator
- Baby Gate (guaranteed)
Here is the view from our third floor one bedroom villa — gorgeous!
As can be seen from the photographs, these DVC BCV balconies do not have privacy screens. Fortunately, not a soul was to be seen, for our entire stay! We were able to enjoy coffee, smoothies, and a good amount of peaceful enjoyment from our balcony. Heavenly.
Dining at DVC BCV
Beach Club’s main quick service (with very limited menu options) is located in the back of the Marketplace, just off of the lobby.
Hurricane Hanna’s Waterside Bar & Grill is another quick service option, located just outside the resort, along Stormalong Bay. We enjoyed our first lunch there (but forgot to take any photos).
There are two table service restaurants at the Beach Club.
Beaches and Cream is a fun, ’50’s-style, ultra-casual table service restaurant that also has a counter service and a walk-up window.
A well-known, $34 sundae is “The Famous Kitchen Sink,” which includes scoops of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, coffee, and mint chocolate chip ice cream, no less than an entire can of whip cream, “smothered in every topping we have!”
Cape May Cafe is Beach Club Resort’s buffet restaurant.
Breakfast is served from 7:30 AM — 11:00 AM, and costs $36 for adults, $21 for children.
Dinner is serviced from 5:00 PM — 9:00 PM, and costs $48 for adults, $27 for children.
We enjoyed the character breakfast buffet, with Goofy, Minnie, and Donald Duck walking around in fun beach attire.
All together, we really enjoyed the various dining options at the Beach Club resort.
The grounds, including a boat ride around Crescent Lake
The Villas at Disney’s Beach Club Villas are located in the upper right section of map. From the villas, a relatively short walk takes visitors to the shops, dining, pools, and boat launch to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Stormalong Bay is the pool complex shared by Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, with the reputation as the best pool at any of the Disney-owned hotels.
There are five areas, including three large pools, a fun bar & grille, and an amazing slide.
The slide is designed as a shipwreck on a beach. There are two separate staircases that ascend the shipwreck. One staircase is for a smaller slide that splashes down in a small pool near the beach. The other staircase ascends to the mast, for a thrill ride that splashes into Stormalong Bay pool.
Here is a photo of the shipwreck from the lake:
We did not photograph the pool areas during our trip, so we refer the reader to some excellent websites that are listed in the infographic at the end of this post. Next time, we will bring our GoPro!
SEE ALSO: Lessons learned from severe sunburn
Final thoughts about DVC BCV
Disney’s Beach Club Resort has so much to offer. We loved the deluxe one bedroom villa, walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, Stormalong Bay — including the incredible pool slide — fairly compact layout with easy parking, and numerous amenities found around Crescent Lake. Boating on the lake, and being able to walk over to the Boardwalk were highlights of our visit. While we would most likely not pay cash room rates, we are happy to use our DVC points to stay in a one bedroom villa at the Beach Club Resort.
That’s all, dear blog readers. I hope that you enjoyed this blog post!
Have you stayed at the Beach Club Resort — either in the main resort, or the villas? Please feel free to send me an email with your experience!
In the meantime, I leave you, with this handy info-graphic for my favorite Disney planning websites:
Denise Dixon, PhD
Health psychologist
Dr Dixon is a licensed psychologist practicing in New York State. Her contagious enthusiasm for sharing the science of health & behavior has earned her the nickname of “Dr. Smiles.” Dr Dixon also finds joy in motherhood; travel; outdoor sports; singing; piano; and cooking delicious (vegan) meals.
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