It’s taken me forever, but I’ve finally uploaded and sorted through ALL of the pics from our amazing week in Disney. We stayed at the Yacht Club Resort and loved every second of it.
The Yacht Club was just meticulously manicured and so well appointed. I have read reviews that it is stuffy and not as kid friendly as other resorts and I have to say neither of those is true. We booked the resort for about half off of normal rates through a bounce back offer. I would jump at the chance to stay here again.
I did online check-in and had our room number texted to me when it was ready. With our Magic Bands, we skipped the front desk and headed straight to the room on arrival. It was SO nice! Our room seemed larger than most of the others we’ve stayed in. It had two queen beds and an extra twin bed that the littles alternated using, sleeping five total.
The view from our room was just amazing. We had the doors open whenever we were in there and used the grassy lawn and boardwalk as an extension of our “living” space. The littles loved throwing the football out here and playing cornhole on the boardwalk outside of the Bayside Marina. Honey and I adored sitting here with a book and just soaking it all in. We also had a good view of Illuminations from Epcot right from our patio!
I would not stay in a deluxe resort if I didn’t have time to enjoy it all! Over the course of the week we were there, we ate in all the restaurants and enjoyed nearly all of the amenities.
Stormalong Bay is hands down the most incredible pool in Disney! It is shared between the Beach Club and Yacht Club and they are very strict about only allowing resort guests in. There is a (very) lazy river, volleyball, awesome slide, three hot tubs AND sandy bottom zero entry pools!!!!
Stormalong Bay is now offering cabana rentals, which is wonderful! Learn more here:
There is plenty of seating on the sandy beaches!
The fun, fast and TALL waterslide is water park worthy! I can’t count how many times the four of us did it!
There is also a quiet pool at Yacht Club that was quite close to our room. We only dipped our toes in one morning while our room was being cleaned because, let’s face it, it couldn’t hold a candle to Stormalong Bay :-)
I think we covered all of the onsite dining at Yacht Club (and some Beach Club) during our stay. We also walked into Epcot almost daily for a light meal or snack. I will say that there is no quick serve at Yacht Club and the one at Beach Club was the worst of the worst, in my opinion. It was VERY limited and not very good. Hurricane Hanna’s at Stormalong Bay has a small but decent menu. Our problem there was that the hours are limited. But, if you don’t mind taking a lovely walk or boat around the Boardwalk or into Epcot, there are more wonderful choices than anywhere else. Something to consider.
We had a lively dinner at Beaches & Cream. I’d definitely recommend going, and would also recommend having a reservation. It was SUPER yummy and we all enjoyed our food (burgers, chili and grilled cheese). The highlight is absolutely the Kitchen Sink ice cream dessert to share between four people! In addition to the restaurant area, there is also a walk up ice cream counter.
Honey LOVES to send the littles to the kid’s club (I think every deluxe resort has one) for a night on longer trips so that we can do a Disney date night. And who am I to say no to that?! So, while the littles lived it up in the Sandcastle Club, we had an amazing night out at the Crews Cup Lounge and dinner at the Yachtsman Steakhouse.
We had our standard Disney lounge cocktail order of two Moscow Mules.
Our meal at Yachtsman was verrrrry good! The bread was super yummy, the steaks were perfection and I loved the truffle mac & cheese.
We walked over to Cape May Cafe for the character breakfast one morning, with Donald, Goofy and Minnie. The buffet food was VERY good in comparison to most of the others. We loved the crepe station and chorizo sausage eggs in particular.
The littles ventured off on a Pirate Adventure Cruise one morning, so Honey and I enjoyed a lovely, quiet and lingering breakfast for two at Captain’s Grill. The lemon ricotta pancakes were out of this world. I’m still thinking about them! Honey was very happy with the buffet.
One of the highlights of our stay at Yacht Club was renting two mini water mice from Bayside Marina. You have to be 12 to drive and they seat up to two people. This was such a fun location to rent them because of all there is to see around Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk, Swan & Dolphin AND Hollywood Studios. We tooled right alongside the Friendship Boats and loved getting up close and personal to Hollywood Studios.
Like all Disney resorts, Yacht Club had a bonfire and movie under the stars each night! We always try to see at least one during our stay. This one was particularly lovely on the sandy beach with all the lights in the background.
You really cannot beat the location of the Yacht Club. It is a 5 minute walk or boat ride into Epcot via a (special entrance called International Gateway between Paris and Great Britain, and a 5 minute boat ride to Hollywood Studios. There are loads of restaurants and recreation between the Yacht Club, Beach Club and Boardwalk. It’s just really an outstanding location!
I was beyond excited when the littles begged to get a Surrey bike because that just so happens to be on my 40×41 list!!!! They were not old enough to pedal (seriously?), but that didn’t damper our fun in the least.
There is so much to do on the Boardwalk! We loved walking over for food. And margaritas.
“Look Mommy, a hidden Mickey!” LOL
All in all, it was an amazing week calling this place home.
I sure hope to be back! Stay tuned over the next week for the full trip report.
xoxo
Everything Disney | Walt Disney World | Disney Resort Reviews
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