We just returned from a 3 night stay, 4/16/17-4/19/17, and I have to say it was the worst Club Level/resort experience we have ever had. From arrival to departure it was an absolute waste of money. Upon arrival we were not personally greeted, which is expected when staying concierge, so we made our way to the lobby check-in where our first cast member encounter was bordering on downright rude. Our understanding was that our check-in was to take place with the club staff and when this was mentioned we received a flat, annoyed look and were told “no, I will do it then someone will come get you.” So, we proceeded to endure the agonizing process during which we advised that if our room was not ready we had bags that would need to be stored. Sure enough, once check-in was completed, we were told to wait and he would “get someone.” We again stated that we needed to store bags and were huffily pointed down the lobby and told “drop off your stuff then come back and I will get someone.” So, right off the bat we were questioning our resort decision but figured it could only get better….boy, were we wrong. We dropped our bags, returned to the check-in counter only to find it completely deserted. Granted it was quite early in the morning but to find absolutely no one there, knowing we could not proceed any further without an escort was mind boggling. Finally a nice young man came out and asked if we had been helped. We relayed our adventure so far and he kindly apologized and proceeded to escort us to the 5th floor where we were left in the hands of cast member Ryan. I can honestly say, in the 3 nights/4 days we were there, he was the only shining light we had. Seeing we were frustrated at our treatment so far, he went above and beyond to turn the situation around and was an absolute pleasure to deal with. We had noted on our reservation that we were celebrating our 15th anniversary so Ryan gave us our buttons and warm congratulations and that is where the celebration ended. For the remainder of the time we were there we did not receive recognition form another cast member! Absolutely nothing! Now we are seasoned Disney veterans and understand that any sort of extra for celebrations are completely random and not to be expected but a simple verbal acknowledgement from the cast members should be second nature to them. Very disappointing to say the least. Once we were situated we went to the Regatta lounge for breakfast. I have to say, this is the strangest and most unwelcoming lounge we have yet to encounter. The layout is odd as you have to cross through the food station to get plates, the soda fridge is crammed in by the coffee maker which is right by the door so you are inevitably having to cut through the middle of a line just to get in the room and the seating is akin to a small break room. There are no comfy chairs or couches, no room to relax and the staff seems less than thrilled to be there. The food selections are counter service at best with the breakfast and mid-day snack selections being exactly the same every day. The kicker to this place is that it closes 3 times a day, actually closes with no access to guests! So, if you come back from the parks for a break and want to grab a drink or a snack but don’t time it right you are out of luck because there is no entry and the cast members will not even answer the door! For the amount of money guests pay to use the Regatta club this is absolutely unacceptable! When we asked about this strange process we were simply told “yeah, we close between services.” We stayed in room 5192 and it was nothing to write home about. No nautical feel, beds were hard, pillows were marshmallow soft and there was no comfortable place to relax. Considering how uninviting the “lounge” was, it would have been nice to have at least had a comfortable room to relax in but not dice. Only upside was that the shower was good. Mousekeeping was adequate, at best, and never once did we get a towel character or any type of extra. Of the 2 concierge desks, more often than not, 1 was empty and the solitary cast member that was present, regardless of who it was, just seemed bothered. It was strange to not even receive a “hello” or “have fun” from them when leaving or returning. I mean, the desks are right off the elevators so it’s not like they don’t see you! One day we did return to an absolute war taking place between a guest and the staff over missing pants. Apparently he had a very important dinner at the Yachtsman Steak House that evening so he had sent his dress pants out to be pressed early that morning with a guarantee that they would be back in time. Well, it was after 4p and he did not have his pants nor did anyone know anything about it. Seems he had gotten the brushoff and shuffle one too many times and he lost it….understandably so. To cap off the stay, on the morning we checked out we were surprised to see 4 cast members in the concierge area. Alas, only one was actually working, but didn’t speak, while the other 3 were gathered in a huddle looking at the computer with one of the ladies filing her nails. They looked up but didn’t utter a sound. Fitting ending to a dismal stay. Overall, we were thoroughly disappointed in the Yacht Club. From cast members to rooms to concierge we feel like our money was not well spent. After years of staying at the Boardwalk and never having anything but exemplary service, whether in a standard room or Club Level, we now know for a truly magical and relaxing vacation, Yacht Club is off the list. Shame, as it is a beautiful resort.
Getting excited about our upcoming stay at the Yacht Club. We have always stayed there and get Lagoon/Pool View, Club Level. Yes we pay more but it is so much worthwhile. From the second we pull up to the gate until we get in the car to come home, we get that "extra special" treatment. The entire staff from bellman to Vp of events, is so courteous and genuinely friendly. The rooms are super clean and fresh looking. Transportation to any park us easy. Restaurants are very good and breakfast with Goofy at Cape May at the Beach Club is walking distance right next door. Seems like a more adult clientele staying there which suits us. Worth the price and can't wait for this Friday May 2nd to be going to our home away from home. A big 2 thumbs up!! :-) :-)
For starters we are a family of 4 with 2 boys, ages 4, and 6 months. This is our second trip to Disney with our 4 year old. We stayed for 5 nights and 6 days at the Yacht Club. 3 of those nights were paid for by me, and the remaining 2 were on a Disney Resort credit that we received after our last stay at the Wilderness Lodge 2 years ago. Most of our issues during our last stay were as a result of construction going on at the Wilderness Lodge. (Im sure that review is still buried in my profile if your really interested) For whatever reason Disney was unable to join the resort credit reservation with our other reservation and this caused some minor problems during our stay. This also caused us to receive 2 sets of magic bands and 2 sets of magical express tickets with one end open on each reservation. We arrived fairly early on Monday and went inside to check in. I was immedaitely impressed with the decor and cleanleness of the lobby. The scent that they are pumping through the lobby was fresh and not overwhelming. The staff was very attentive and helpful. While waiting to check in I was brought over to the Concierge desk by an employee to expedite the check in as there was a line at the regular check in desk. The guy who checked us in (Mike) was extremely nice and very creative. He was, however new to that resort and didn’t know where anything was which made the total check in time approximately 30 mins. We had pre requested a ground floor room during the online check in and were told one was available. When the check in was over we were told that the room we had been assigned was ready for us however it had not updated in their system so our magic bands would not work to let us in the room yet. We were then told to call the front desk after 15 minutes to check on the status of our magic bands / room keys. We were then let in by a bell hop. Approximately 15 mins later I called the front desk to see if “Their system had updated” and the person on the other end of the phone had no idea what I was talking about. They tried to figure it out but I was inevitably transferred to another person who I had to explain the story to again. The room itself appeared to be clean and well maintained and besides a gigantic dead mosquito on one of the beds. We didn’t see any issues until we pulled back the curtains and walked outside. When we went outside on the patio we immediately noticed that we were directly in front of the adult pool which was under construction. I’m not sure why Disney chose to overlook this detail with our reservations. We were staying on a resort credit that was given to us largely in part to a massive amount of construction that was going on during our last stay. And here we were again with a nice fresh view of some lovely construction. I then called the front desk and asked for another room. I was told that one was ready and we were moved to room 1085. Upon switching rooms we found our new view to be exceptional as it had lovely views of the courtyard and water. The room was clearly an older one as the carpet was worn, the AC unit controls appeared to be from the 70’s. We also noticed a strange musty smell in the room which I chalked up to the ac being off and the room sitting unoccupied for a while. We then laid our kids down for naps and waited for our luggage to arrive. 3 hours later our luggage had still not arrived and I called the bell hops. They then advised me that our luggage had been sent to our first room and was waiting in there. They then advised that they would go an retrieve it for us. This again was a lack of attention to detail on Disney’s part and I wasn’t all that happy that our luggage had been sitting in a room that someone else could have had access to for at least 2 hours. After a few minutes in the new room I noticed that one of the light fixtures above one of the beds was missing its knob, exposing the plastic. Due to the design of the room this was very noticeable and quite frankly unacceptable for a $420 dollar a night hotel. I then mentioned this to a the bell hop that brought us our luggage and was advised that it was going to be taken care of. When we returned that evening the knob was still missing. The next morning I walked to the front desk and spoke to a manager who advised me that he was going to take care of it right away. This didn’t happen, and that evening when we returned to the room the knob was still missing. I then returned to the front desk and spoke with another manager for the now third time. A few minutes later a maintenance guy showed up and fixed the knob. In addition to the knob I also noticed that the room had significant rust on some of the metal fixtures in the bathroom and a bunch of tangled wiring from lamps and other items in the room, visible on the floors between the furniture. The fridge was also unplugged and I had to move the entertainment stand to plug it in. There was also visible trash in the mulch directly in front of our patio to include a wine cork, a cigarette butt, and several small pieces of white paper. Again a significant lack of attention to detail on Disney’s part. When we went out to hit the parks the following day I noticed some water damage in the ceiling outside of our room. There also appeared to be mold growing on the ceiling as a result. I then noticed it was in multiple sections of the ceiling as we walked down the hallway. This is, point blank, UNACCEPTABLE. I can deal with having to plug in a fridge or some rust on a fixture in central florida but water damage and mold? Really Disney. For $420 a night??? (See attached pictures) During the remainder of our stay things didn’t get much better in regards to the hotel. The room continued to smell musty and got so bad that we had to open the patio door to get fresh air in the room on a daily basis. When the maid came in to clean the room not much cleaning was done as the carpet was never vacuumed and some of the glasses we got one day had a nasty looking white spuge on them which I hope was undissolved dishwashing detergent. Also the maid forgot to replenish our ice bucket liner and I had to call and request one. During the end of our paid stay we received phone messages and a letter advising us to please come to the front desk and arrange our Magical Express Transportation. I had to go the front desk once again, to make sure they understood that we had 2 reservations and that we were not leaving and wanted to stay in the same room. This was finally addressed but almost everyone I spoke with appeared unfamiliar with a Disney resort credit and was unclear how to proceed. Furthermore once we had checked out of our first reservation and into our second I received a phone message asking me to come to the front desk and provide them with a credit card for the second reservation. I had already done this online and they also had my card from our first reservation. Yet another lack of attention to detail. However I’m glad that I didn’t respond to this request as when we went to check out on our last day there they handed me a bill for $202 Dollars. When asked what this was for the clerk couldn’t explain it and had to go in the back to check with a manager. She then returned to tell me that it was the taxes and fees for our last 2 nights. I then explained to her that those nights were on a Disney resort credit and that there should not have been a bill for anything. I then had to provide the letter I received from Disney in regards to the resort credit. Thank the lord I didn’t provide them with another credit card and they weren’t smart enough to use the one from my first reservation or this amount would have been charged to my card. Another huge lack of attention to detail and yet another issue I and to deal with while on vacation. I was finally told that the charges would be taken care of. My final complaint about this resort comes from the convention center located in the middle of the Yacht and Beach Clubs. I understand that convention business has to be a huge source of revenue for Disney but the last thing I want to see on vacation is a bunch of suits clogging up the front lobby discussing business deals throughout the entire day. This place was so busy with conventions that I don’t think there were many other families staying there at all. I’m not quite sure why Disney can’t have a separate lobby / meeting area for these convention guests and coordinate their room assignments to be in the same area and away from the families who are trying to enjoy some of the so called “magic”. To sum it all up we had a good time enjoying the parks and other attractions at Disney. This resorts pool is amazing and is easily its greatest feature. The grounds of the resort are also maintained very well and a pleasure to look at however, I can not get over the lack of attention to detail on Disney’s part regarding the rooms and reservations I paid a significant amount of money to stay for the 3 nights that I paid for, a dining plan, 5 days of park tickets, and countless other items that were purchased at the resort and parks. The experience we had with the rooms was unreal and I can’t believe that this level of negligence exists at a so called Disney "Deluxe" Resort. I expected a magical experience and what I really got was anything but. No folded towels in the room after day 1, no anything consistent with a $420 dollar a night room at Disney World. I'm not an unreasonable person this is just poor, poor management and service at a place that is supposed to be known for its level of service. What a shame.
Before I stayed here it had always been my favourite resort. It looked beautiful inside and outside! I couldn't believe our luck when we stayed here, it's very pricy but it's totally worth it!! When we arrived we where in awe of home amazing and beautiful the lobby was. The check in staff where friendly and when we checked in we had been upgraded to a garden view room! When we got to our room it was perfect! A billion times better than how I thought the room gonna be. The layout, the design, the colours -everything was perfect! Even the view from our patio was perfect -we could see stormalong bay, crescent lake and of a night we could see the fireworks from EPCOT.I love everything about this resort, some people will moan about it not having a food court but it's only a 2-3 minute walk tops to the Beach Club marketplace where you can get a variety of food and also at the Yacht Club the Captains Grille is one of the best buffets on property and every time I've been it's never been crowded or loud. Also it's just a short walk or boat ride to the Boardwalk and it's within walking distance to EPCOT and DHS. At night there is a campfire and movies on the beach.Although a lot of people think because the Yacht Club is boring because it's grey in all honesty it's the complete opposite -I sat in the Beach Club lobby and it was so loud with kids screaming and crying, where as at the Yacht Club you got none of that! It's so serene and peaceful!Likes:The Cast MembersThe atmosphere and whole hotel in generalThe poolsThe views at hotel and around it. The closeness to EPCOT, DHS, the boardwalk and the Beach Club marketplace The hotel shop has a lot of stuff they don't have in the parksThe bus stops at the Yacht Club first so your kinda guaranteed a seat lolNegatives:None!I was a huge fan of the Yacht Club before I ever stayed there and after staying there I'm now hooked lol. If anyone wants or needs additional information then you can always message me :)
I had a work conference here last year. I couldn't recommend the Yacht Club enough! The rooms are amazing (my view was of trees/garden area but it was still lovely), clean, wonderful. The smell in this hotel is amazing! I don't know what they pump into the lobby but I love it! So many food options and Stormalong Bay is great. So nice to be able to walk to two parks and the Boardwalk. Its quite expensive but you are paying for convenience!
This resort is the best resort on the entire Disney property! The service is the best and they treat us just like family. Every time you walk through the door they tell you "Welcome Home". To me it is these little things that makes this resort very special. The pool here is amazing. We love to just sit and relax in the lazy river. This place can be a little on the pricey side but it is completely worth the price. Everything about this resort is worth a 10! Probably the best part about this resort though is that you can walk to Epcot and take a boat to Hollywood Studios...I mean who doesn't like that!
The YC is the only resort my family likes to stay at. We have stayed on the club level the past 6 stays and standard rooms the 4 prior to that. Since we stay for a week at a time we have come to know the staff and they us. The mousekeeping is always wonderful and the lounge staff as well. Granted it is more costly to stay there but the family that we have come to love there is great. We arrive with hugs and leave with the same. It is upsetting to read poor reviews of "our resort", but I guess eventually someone will have a bad experience now and then but I would suggest giving it another try. It is just an added bonus that EPCOT and HS are so close.
Call me jaded, but the club level at this resort is not worth the price. While we all know that Disney has scaled back its decorations and has instituted cost cutting measures, the customer experience at least during our stay has significantly been impacted. Christmas Decorations have been scaled back. Thin walls allowed irate family arguments interrupt our sleep, "high speed internet access" @10Mb/half duplex LAN connection which was an additional $9.95 a day had a higher latency and lower throughput than my phone. We had reservations at both GF (which we've stayed several times before before in Sugar Loaf building) and YC, but on a whim decided to try YC. In spite of having reservations a month out, no YC email or postcard ever arrived for ADR assistance but we did get numerous GF ones. We did all of our ADRs via the Web including the coveted Cinderella Dining. While on property I can't fault the concierge greeter, bell service, or Mousekeeping as they were excellent. When we checked in of course it was early in the day so we did the park the bags, get the room keys and head to the park routine. Normally how this would operate is they (the concierge) would either text or call your phone when the room was ready, but after 4pm we were getting tired and no such event had occurred so we schlepped back to YC Club level and got our room assignment then. The baseboards and corners needed paint and repair (looks like bumper cars ran down the hall...but after seeing the riding vacuum cleaner I suspect I found one culprit) Bus service was not an issue, never more than 15 minutes wait to or from to the Magic Kingdom. AK I don't know as we only enjoy Flame tree there so we skipped it this visit. Boat service was fine to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
As with almost all the resorts in the Epcot resort area, it's only a short walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. This is a much more relaxing resort than Beach club as it does not cater to families like they do but has the same Nautical theme. Some things about Beach Club are better but Yacht Club more than makes up for it and I think it's the better of the two. If only it was a DVC resort :)
amazing. i like beach club better, this is second. great food and pool, reminds me of marthas vinard and nantuct beautiful
Mousekeeping is terrible. Everything else is perfect
The Yacht Club is an awesome resort with the greatest staff! We stayed at the YC April 27th -May 6th, 2007. From check in to check out we had great service and wonderful experiences with all the CMs we came in contact with. I think we used most of the services available too. The concierge staff is awesome, the mousekeeper that had us even showed my grandma how to make towel animals! On our last day, management, concierge and EMTs flooded our room because my son fell in the tub and busted his chin. They were all great! Even though it was chaotic with so many people in the room, they all stayed very calm so it was easy to give all the appropriate info to each person who needed it.
The Yacht Club has wonderful amenities - StormAlong Bay, the Boat Launch to Ep/Boardwalk/DS, the Marina. The restaurants are great, and its sister resort, the Beach Club, has the Sandcastle Kids club and a character breakfast. The lobby is beautiful, as are the rooms. What's not to like?
Recently stayed at the Yacht Club for a conference and I thought the YC was a great place to stay. The service was excellent, the rooms were average but clean and I have to say all the CM's were friendly and helpful. The location is great, you can either walk to MGM or Epcot or take a transport boat. The boats were a little slow and you have to stop at either the boardwalk and/or Swan/Dolphin before you arrive at the parks. I thought the bus service to MK was fine. Did not have to wait long, and compared to my experience with the busses at All Stars, the Yacht club was much better. The pool was loads of fun. The pirate ship slide was a blast. The one thing about the pool area was the lack of available chairs. We went a few times and had difficlulty finding chairs without towels allready on them. Plus if you want to have a drink (which by the way was very expensive, two drinks were about 15.oo) you can't sit near the pool or on the edge with your drink. So with the lack of chairs it's hard to watch your kids in the pool and relax with a beverage. All in all, I really liked the YC. Compared to all stars, carribean beach and the boardwalk, I thought the YC was a better overall Disney Resort.
Favorite resort at WDW. Sure, it has great service, since it is a deluxe resort, and the great pool. But it is my favorite beacuse the location cannot be beat. Two of the four parks are walkable and with all the other resorts nearby, you are really right in the middle of the magic at all times. Just a great place.
Stayed for 8 days in Oct. 2002. The staff is just wonderful. We had a great time. I feel the best part of the Yacht Club Resort is its proxity to all of WDW, especially, Epcot, Boardwalk, & MGM. The restaurants on location are top-notch too.
My husband and I stayed at the Yacht Club Sept 28-Oct.7, 2002 and absolutely loved it. When we first checked in, we were on the 3rd floor, in a room that was not renovated. I asked if they could move us and they did so w/out any hesitation, our room was 1036, which overlooked the private pool. You can't beat the YC for it's location to Epcot, MGM and the Boardwalk. The buses did stop at the BC, Swan & Dolphin and I think one other hotel, but I'm not sure which one. Sometimes it seemed forever to get anywhere, but all and all the buses weren't too bad. The amenities, such as fitness room, steam room, pool, etc...were wonderful. There were many jacuzzi areas where you could relax after a long day at the parks. There is another jacuzzi in the fitness center that was empty the entire time we were there! I don't think you will go wrong choosing this resort, it's beautiful!
We have stayed at Monorail deluxe resorts before, but they were booked for our trip this time. The reservation taker highly recommended the Yacht Club, especially emphasizing the pool for the kids. Indeed, the pool was great and I couldn't get the kids out of it to go to the parks! Walking to Epcot was wonderful, a great way to sneak over and catch the fireworks without the usual hassle. Boatride to MGM was slow but enjoyable. Room service personnel were gracious and housekeeping did a great job. Now onto the reasons why we won't be staying here again. The check-in and valet service were not up to Disney par. We had to call twice to get our luggage picked up to depart, and when we got to the front our car still wasn't there! We are not normally people who care about such silly things, but when you are paying as much as you pay to stay at this resort you expect at least adequate service (and at the Polynesian have always gotten above and beyond service.)The main reason we will never stay here again is the bus system. We gave the buses several chances to perform and they failed each time! We even missed the hour early opening for resort guests at the Magic Kingdom because the bus was 45 minutes late and took 45 minutes to get to the Magic Kingdom! We timed our trip from Downtown Disney to the return to the Yacht Club and it took an hour and 10 minutes. Unbelieveable but true. There was better bus service at the All Star Resorts when we stayed there. If you are looking just to relax at a good hotel, stay at the Yacht. If you will be visiting any park other than Epcot or MGM, forget this hote.
I visited the Yacht Club in Sept of 2002. I originally had reservations for a Savannah view room on the concierge floor at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but changed my reservations to this location because I had stayed at the YC before and it was a very enjoyable stay and also due to the fact that the AK lodge does not offer savannah view smoking optional rooms. I switch from the AK lodge to a water view concierge room at the Yacht Club. There were no problems at check-in and the rooms were as I remembered, very nice, worth the price tag for just the room?,...not really but with all of the extra amenities it usually makes it worth it. Unfortunately, on this trip it was not the case. The concierge staff was very helpful and myself and my travel partner received excellent service from them. Now with the bad. Bus service from this location leaves a lot to be desired and I mean A LOT. It was AWFUL. I find it very inconvenient that the Yacht and Beach Club bus stops at the Boardwalk as well and sometimes even the Swan and Dolphin. One day, we waited and hour for a bus to the Magic Kingdom, we actually had to have a bus driver that was going to Downtown Disney radio a bus in. I was really disappointed, I have experienced better bus service at the moderate resorts. The real problem came at check out when guest services charged us for an extra 2 nights. At first, I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. We would just go down to the desk and have it taken care of, boy was I mistaken. First off they acted like we didn't know what we were talking about. They basically tried every thing they could to keep the extra $1000 that was charged. Finally after an hour and a half of waiting for them to make supposed phone calls, they tried tell us that we had to pay that. After a much heated debate with the staff and the hotel manager, they finally realized that they had made a mistake. Keep in mind it was very obvious what had happened. It almost seemed like they were trying to scam us out of our money. Without hardly any apology, which is very un-disney-like, they credited the $1000 back to my card. The worst part is that the credit on that card will not be available for 10 days because of their mistake and we didn't even receive and apology from the guest services staff for their mistake. Needless to say, I would never recommend this location to anyone traveling to WDW. After what I encountered on this trip to Disney, which was my 22nd I might add, I am going to Universal Orlando next time where I feel my money will be much better spent.
We've now stayed at the Yacht Club 3 times and will keep going back. Although not connected with monorail service, you can't beat the location and it's proximity to both Epcot and Disney Studios. In addition, you are walking distance to the both of these parks and to the Boardwalk. The swimming pool covers a great deal of land mass, but we've found it very difficult to find chairs to use. Oftentimes it appears that people "reserve" their chairs early in the morning by putting books or sandels on them and come back 6 hours later to claim their seats. The rooms are standard size Disney rooms with no real noticeable difference between those in other resorts. They have many childrens activities mostly in and around the pool area. The nautical theme is prevelent throughout the resort and most noticeable on the outside with a lighthouse and large shipwreck doubling as a water slide. The restaurants are good especially Yachtmans Steakhouse if you're into beef which I love. They also have one of the best snack bar open 24 hours a day serving breakfast items, snacks, and several large ice cream treats. For the adults, there is an evening reception with a small bar setup only for a few hours each evening. The area is small and it's not a place you would go to meet others. It is great if your looking for a casual place to go and just relax for awhile. There is also a snack bar with adult beverages at Hurrican Hannahs grill. Unfortunately, because it's the only bar in the area, it is quite busy at all times, and standing in line for 30 minutes to get your order is not at all unusual. If your interested in exotic drinks Hurrican Hannahs has a great selection to choose from. The real appeal is the location and activities available within walking distance. We've also stayed at the Grand Floridian and Boardwalk and feel the Yacht Club is about equal to the GF but not nearly as pretentious, and much better than the Boardwalk. I believe it has a very broad appeal to families with children of any age as well as adults.
EASY TO GET TO MGM OR EPCOT COUNTRIES BY BOAT. ROOM WAS SMALL BUT WELL FURNISHED.POOL AREA AT BEACH CLUB WAS AWESOME.COULD SEE FIREWORKS FROM OUR ROOM.