- First opened: July, 2002
- Opening sale price: $84
- Current sale price (direct): $225
- Average sale price (resale): $145 – $160
- Contract Expires: 2042
- Number of rooms: 208
- Dining Options (click links to view menus for each dining location)
- Beaches and Cream (Counter & Table Service)
- Cape May Cafe (Buffet/Character Breakfast)
- Beach Club Marketplace (Counter Service)
Disney Vacation Club’s Beach Club Villas is arguably the most popular DVC resort at Walt Disney World. I say ‘arguably’ because – well, this is DVC we’re talking about and DVC members are fiercely loyal to their home resorts. However, even the most loyal DVC’ers will have to admit, this is a VERY popular resort. It has two things going for it that no other resort does – it’s proximity to Epcot (via the International Gateway) and Stormalong Bay – the winding, sand-bottom pool.
As you can hear in the show above, our check-in experience was a bit unusual. Turns out we had been ‘flagged’, meaning that Disney was aware we were there. We did render our opinion on the room for this resort, but we do so with the caveat that they knew we were there. We did not receive any consideration or comps from Disney (this was a cash reservation, not using points) and we paid the same rate as anyone else. Our room was flawless, but that’s what you’d expect when Disney knows a blogger is coming. In fairness, the vast majority of comments that I’ve seen on-line regarding the Beach Club Villas are very positive.
Dining options at Beach Club Villas include Beaches and Cream, a table service ice cream and sandwich shop, Cape May Cafe – a buffet-style restaurant that has character breakfasts each morning and a standard dinner buffet service each night. There is also a quick service option inside the Beach Club marketplace. Cape May Cafe is an unusual choice for me, as I don’t eat seafood, but each time I’ve had dinner there, there has been plenty of really good, non-seafood items available. The dinner buffet will run between $48 and $52 for adults, and $26 and $30 for children. The breakfast character buffet will run about $35-$40 per adult and about $20-$22 per child – making it one of the more reasonable character meals at WDW (the food is also above average).
Ratings:
Overall Rating: 1-10 – 8.5* – Room was in excellent condition (recently refurbed), great service from DVC concierge, proximity to Epcot can’t be beat.
- Check-in experience (10%) – 7.5 – Given that Jackie’s Magic Band didn’t work when she got to the room, and she had to call IT to fix it, we took some points off. The fact that a manager came to the room is not reflected in this score, because that was because they knew we were there. I don’t believe the same thing would have happened for another guest.
- Overall condition of the room (50%) – 9 – The room was stunning, and while I’m sure the room we were assigned was considered by the resort in advance unless they replaced every stick of furniture in the place I find it difficult to believe that any room we were assigned would have been too much different. That, combined with the near-universal praise for the rooms at BCV and the fact that they all underwent a complete rehab in the last few years all factored into the ratings.
- Friendliness of cast (20%) – 8 – We interacted with several cast members throughout the resort (who would not have been aware of our presence) and they were very good. Lots of friendly smiles, helpful information, and generally great customer service.
- Amenities/Common areas (20%) – 8 –
We were there for the ribbon cutting ceremony and stayed there for three nights starting July 1, 2002. I would have traded our OKW points for BCV if it weren’t for my wife’s love of our home resort. The only negative that o have heard about BCV is the location of the circuit breaker panel. It seems that the rooms were wired in such a way that several villas share the same circuit breaker panel. If a guest pops a breaker in one villa, maintenance has to go to a neighboring room to reset it. A small inconvenience in an otherwise excellent resort. We have stayed there several times since 2002 and have enjoyed every visit.
Great review. Love the Yacht and Beach Club. I agree with Fiasco I would rather go to the Flying Fish for seafood.
We have always had great experiences at Beach beginning with our first stay in May,1990. We stayed in Concierge Level for $89 per night. We originally had a reservation for 2-queen beds and Disney messed up the reservation and had 4 of us staying in a King Room. Doh! The Concierge level was Great!
We have been DVC Members since 1998 and 2 years ago we finally stayed at BCV and the whole trip was terrific. We learned to use the back path to go to Epcot instead of going through lobby. It was much faster. My only complaint was the removed the ceiling fans during the remodel. The HVAC Thermostat turns off with no movement at night. Without the ceiling fan, it got pretty hot waking me up.
Pete…..I noticed you included the check in experience and did not include the checkout experience. I would love to see you include the checkout experience as well. We have had problems especially when using points with housekeeping knocking on our door at 8 a.m. even though we had the Room Occupied placard out. We drive to WDW so we usually like to sleep in a bit and get on the road mid morning. The first time it seemed like a mistake I went back to bed then we got a hang up call at 9 am. We finally realized they were harassing us so we would get up and leave. This has happened to us too many times. I have written to DVC and spoke with Ken Potrock at one of the Member Nightsmabout the matter. I am starting to wonder if the DVC Members are getting this treatment or are Cash Reservations getting the 8 am get out knock on the door as well? The next time I get that knock at 8 am on the checkout day the video is being posted on the Disney and DVC Instagram account!
This is great to see – love the pictures as well. I’ve never had the chance to stay here so I appreciate this. It does look as though you may have left out something at that last bullet point?
“Amenities/Common areas (20%) – 8 –” unless you didnt want to offer any other commentary and i’m totally misunderstanding. Just love the extra info! Thank you!
Love the “7 resorts in 7 weeks” reviews! Thank you for the in depth look at each resort. We’ve been lucky enough to stay at almost every DVC resort as members but have loved learning something new with each review!
Absolutely love this resort. Of course, It’s my home resort. My family is just as comfortable hanging out at the pool all day as going into the parks. And of course dinner can be anywhere in World Showcase or the boardwalk in a few minutes walk. The Crew Cup lounge also can not be beaten for a great dinner and relaxing evening when the ADRs are all gone!
Joined 2002 this is my DVC home resort. Was told first choice for rooms when making my reservation. We stayed there in 2003 have never been able to get in again. Seems to be the only one we can’t make it to. Have been going every year since very disappointing. Saratoga is where we get put most of the time shameful. So when told this was our home resort and have first choice here when we make reservations was obviously not true !!