Disney’s Beach Club Resort is one of the deluxe resorts at Walt Disney World located near the Boardwalk between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. While it shares certain amenities with the Yacht Club, it is its own hotel, and often one people consider as an alternative to the Yacht Club or BoardWalk Inn. In this review, we discuss everything you need to know about Beach Club, from booking to our room to restaurants and recreation!
Important Note: Disney has announced that from January 2025 through June 2025 (not 2024), Stormalong Bay, the feature pool at Yacht Club and Beach Club will be closed. We do not recommend staying at these hotels during this time, and recommend you instead consider Boardwalk Inn.
The Basics & Booking Disney’s Beach Club Resort
The Beach Club Resort is a deluxe level hotel at Walt Disney World in the Epcot Resorts Area. Deluxe resorts are Disney’s best hotels. If you’re considering Beach Club, you may want to read some of our other posts. We have a ranking of the best Disney World deluxe resorts. We also have a guide to all the hotels of Walt Disney World.
And here are our reviews of all the deluxe resorts (links open in new tabs):
Review of Disney’s Beach Club Resort (you are here)
And if you’d like to see where this resort falls overall, check out our complete Disney World hotel rankings.
We booked our Club Level Garden View room through our choice go-to travel agent, Lauren Quirk of Travel With Character LLC. We paid $446.80 per night on an Annual Passholder offer rate. The rack rate for the room was $687 per night, which meant our offer rate was about 35% off.
Rack rates for standard rooms at Beach Club in 2024 range from $568 to $1043 per night. Between standard offers and maybe discounted prices at Expedia or Priceline, there may be times when rates get down to around $475.
Staying at Beach Club, you get the perks of any Disney stay. You’ll have access to free transportation to and from the parks and Disney Springs. You’ll also have access to Early Theme Park Entry and the ability to book your individual Lightning Lanes at 7AM (as opposed to when the parks open). Beach Club is a deluxe hotel, so guests have access to Extended Evening Hours, granting these guests extra time in select parks on select nights.
Beach Club’s biggest perk is its location, which leaves you within walking distance of Epcot (7 minutes), several resorts, the Boardwalk, and Hollywood Studios (20 minutes or 12 by boat). If you have a trip specifically focused on these two parks (common during Epcot festivals or just for groups without young kids), Beach Club is a particularly good option.
Yacht Club and Beach Club
If you’ve read our Yacht Club review, you’ll notice several sections of this review are similar or identical to that review. Because the resorts are connected and share a pool, there is a lot of overlap in the two experience.
Regardless, the rooms and theming are distinct, and we cover the restaurants separately (even though you could easily walk to the other hotel’s restaurants if you wanted).
Arrival and Check-In at Beach Club
Since Disney has ended their Magical Express shuttle service from Orlando International Airport you’ll have to find your own way from the airport.
Disney has pushed people toward online check-in recently. If you’re going to the front desk, you might be lucky and get greeted by a Cast Member before you’re even through the door, but these days I wouldn’t count on those special touches.
If your room isn’t ready via online check-in, you might be able to get bumped up the list by visiting the desk. Usually we’ll arrive at a resort, eat lunch, and then swing by the desk if there’s no line. If we can get a room, great, otherwise we drop off our bags with bells services and go to a park.
If you’re staying club level, they’ll place a call upstairs, and escort you up to the Stone Harbor Club Lounge, Beach Club’s Club Level lounge, where we completed check-in. Our room wasn’t ready yet given our 11:30AM arrival.
Beach Club Grounds and Theming
Beach Club and Yacht Club, while they are separate resorts, are connected and share a pool (this isn’t a downside in our experience, more below). For this review, we’re going to talk exclusively about Beach Club’s offerings.
As we emphasize repeatedly, all of Yacht Club, Beach Club, BoardWalk Inn, and the Swan & Dolphin are within walking distance. One loop around the Boardwalk, which takes you past all those hotels, is 0.8 miles.
While the Boardwalk doesn’t compare to Disney Springs, the variety of bars and restaurants at your fingertips, plus the proximity to Epcot, make Beach Club especially worth consideration for adults visiting Disney World, which is no doubt why the area is home to two of Disney’s conference centers.
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Beach Club consists of two buildings. The first is the Beach Club Resort building, attached to the Yacht Club Resort building on one end. The other is the Disney Vacation Club property, Beach Club Villas.
We won’t talk about Beach Club Villas at all in the review, but we will say that if you’re interested in booking them, you should look into renting Disney Vacation Club (DVC) points.
Since everything is in one building over five floors, no room is really far from the amenities. It’s about a two-minute walk from the farthest end to the feature pool.
Beach Club is marketed as a New England-style resort hotel. Really, I think it might be accurate to describe the theme as “sea” or “beach and sea.” The detailing throughout focuses mostly on things like starfish, seahorses, shells, and sand.
When we get to the rooms, I’ll mention that I find them sort of “beach minimalist” in theme. That’s how I feel about the resort as a whole. I don’t think it’s good or bad, but it really doesn’t scream any theming at me. It’s “nice” with a few “fun” touches, but nothing over the top.
The feature pool at Beach Club is Stormalong Bay, the pool shared with Yacht Club and widely regarded by experts as the best pool on Disney property. Stormalong Bay features a (small) lazy river, a sand-bottom zone, and a water slide. The villas and the regular hotel both have smaller quiet pools.
We don’t want to belabor this point, but Stormalong Bay is one of the biggest reasons to stay at Beach Club (or Yacht Club), and it makes the hotel particularly good for planning a Disney World no parks day.
With a few great restaurants nearby, the pool area is a great relaxation spot. If you’re not a pool person, then obviously this shouldn’t impact your decision, but it is a major highlight of the hotel.
Our Beach Club Room
Note: The Beach Club rooms are in the midst of a refurbishment, expected to be done by the end of 2023. We hope to stay in these new rooms and review them soon. Here’s a look at the new rooms over on Disney Food Blog.
The Beach Club rooms last underwent major work in 2015/2016. We’ll start with a video, and throughout this section there are galleries that can be navigated using the arrows on either side.
Overall the rooms speak for themselves, with sort of a muted, “beach-minimalist” design. We had two queen beds, king beds are also available.
The Beach Club rooms most recently got substantial work that was short of a floor to ceiling remodel I’d say functionally they’re a step above some of the older rooms, but they’re still short of the new rooms that have become standard at most Disney resorts (including neighboring Yacht Club).
The renovations clearly show, as there are numerous small, modern features we appreciated, like prevalent outlets and a Keurig machine.
The bathrooms still have the “old” design of a shower curtain and swinging door, neither of which I’m a big fan of. The newer rooms, like those found at Yacht Club, have a sliding bathroom door (creates more space) and a sliding shower door (less gross, I think).
Our garden view overlooked the entrance, which gave us peeks of the Boardwalk and Stormalong Bay pool. We’re not experts of the views from these rooms. There are some good views of the Boardwalk available, and I’m sure with the right angle you could catch some of the fireworks over at Epcot. Personally I’d rather, you know, walk the three minutes to the park.
While I’m not excited about the Beach Club rooms, I still think they have a lot of good qualities. You can see from the above photos that they’re overall quite pleasant. In any case, I don’t think they’ll be the factor that brings you to the hotel or keeps you away.
Location & Transportation at Beach Club
Beach Club has one of the best locations on property. Along with Yacht Club, BoardWalk Inn, and the Swan & Dolphin, this is one of the few hotels from which you can actually walk to two theme parks—Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
Epcot’s World Showcase is about a four-minute walk from the Beach Club lobby. Hollywood Studios is about a 22-minute walk from the Beach Club lobby. The Hollywood Studios walk isn’t particularly scenic, but it’s nonetheless a great option.
Keep in mind that when visiting Epcot, you’ll be using a different entrance than other guests. the World Showcase entrance is between the U.K. and France pavilions. We briefly discuss this in our Epcot Rope Drop Strategy.
Besides the two parks, you can also walk to all those other hotels and any other spots along the Boardwalk, which has restaurants like Flying Fish and ESPN Club, as well as a pretty good bar in AbracadaBar.
Besides walking, you can take a boat to Hollywood Studios (approximately 12-minute trip, running every 15 minutes) and Epcot (about 5-7 minute trip).
For the most part, we stopped using the boats years ago (we walk), but we occasionally ride them just to keep tabs on them. Generally, they’re more reliable than buses because they run on constant loops, but nothing is ever as reliable as the walking path.
Realistically, you’ll always prefer to walk to and from Epcot, at it would take you just as long to walk to the boat dock as to walk to Epcot. Hollywood Studios is a bit of a different story.
It makes sense to take the boat to Hollywood Studios and walk back, particularly if you’re at the park when it closes. The line for the boat gets quite long when the park closes, though we’ve often seen it long during the day as well:
To reach Magic Kingdom, you’ll have to rely on bus transport (15 - 20 minutes). Keep in mind that although you can walk to Epcot, you use a different entrance than the main entrance, so it isn’t practical to walk to Epcot and take the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
And, as always, to Animal Kingdom (15 min), Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, and Disney Springs you’ll rely on bus. Bus times are available in the app and are posted at the bus stop outside the hotel.
Keep in mind that if you’re flexible, you can always hop on a bus for BoardWalk or Yacht Club and walk back to Beach Club from there. Swan & Dolphin are a bit of a longer walk, but still doable. This won’t always save you time, but particularly in the middle of the day (when bus transport is at its worst), if you see a bus to Yacht Club or BoardWalk, hop on it.
We always recommend you also consider using Uber at Walt Disney World when you’re in a hurry. There’s also Minnie Vans, the more expensive but “Disney official” option.
If you’re bringing your car to Disney World (or renting one), you’ll have free parking at the resort and at the theme parks.
Finally, the Epcot Skyliner station is right next to Beach Club. This would allow you pretty quick visits to Caribbean Beach, Riviera Resort, Pop Century, and Art of Animation if you had cause to visit those places.
Theoretically you could walk to that station and then take the 20-minute trip to Hollywood Studios. It’s a bit awkward to go so “out of the way”, but it could be your fastest option, depending on your walking speed.
Food and Dining at Beach Club
From Beach Club you can easily walk to all the restaurants of Yacht Club, the Boardwalk, the Swan & Dolphin hotels, and Epcot. This means you’re not constrained to just the restaurants we mention here.
Quick Service Food at Beach Club
Like Yacht Club, Beach Club has one small quick service shop in its main store and the shared pool bar, Hurricane Hanna’s. We’ll spare you our rants on the poor state of deluxe resort quick service, assuming you’ve read it elsewhere.
The Beach Club Marketplace is the Beach Club’s store in addition to offering a very limited selection of quick service food. The Marketplace is usually open a bit after the parks close, between 10PM and Midnight.
Hurricane Hanna’s Waterside Bar & Grill is the pool bar (and grill) at Yacht Club and Beach Club. It has an okay lunch menu, which includes burgers, a buffalo chicken wrap, and a vegetarian quinoa wrap. Hanna’s closes earlier than Market, usually around 8PM to 9PM, which can make it useless if you’re hungry after coming home from a park.
Table Service Restaurants at Beach Club
Beach Club has three table service restaurants. We’ll provide brief overviews of them and link to reviews we trust. Our limited experiences with them (and our limited food knowledge generally) don’t qualify us to really speak to their quality.
Cape May Cafe is a buffet featuring a character breakfast and a (non-character) seafood buffet for dinner. As a buffet, it is casual attire and requires one table service credit for those on the Disney dining plan. Reservations are recommended. Here’s a breakfast review from Disney Tourist Blog. Here’s a dinner review from TouringPlans.
Technically located in Yacht Club, Yachtsman Steakhouse is the signature table service restaurant at Yacht & Beach Club, requiring two table service credits. It’s open only for dinner.
If you walk from Beach Club past Cape May Cafe, outside, and over to Yacht Club, the first spot inside Yacht Club you’ll pass is the Yachtsman. Reservations are highly recommended. Here’s a review from Ziggy.
Beaches & Cream is a fun little soda-shop themed spot right on the border of Yacht Club and Beach Club, off the Stormalong Bay pool.
It’s most known for its legendary “Kitchen Sink” dessert—an ice cream sundae designed to serve four—but it also serves burgers, sandwiches, and a variety of alcoholic ice cream floats. In the past, it didn’t take reservations but now does, mostly because it has very limited seating. Here is a review from Disney Food Blog.
Bars at Beach Club
Besides Hurricane Hanna’s which is a combo pool bar-quick service stop, there are two bars at Beach Club. Martha’s Vineyard is a lounge as the far end of Beach Club, almost by the exit over to Yacht Club. It’s marketed as an east-coast winery style spot, but it’s mostly a typical Disney hotel bar.
We include Crew’s Cup as a Beach Club bar only because we included Yachtsman as a Beach Club restaurant. Crew’s Cup Lounge is the bar attached to the Yachtsman Steakhouse It’s actually easy to miss if you’re not eating at Yachtsman, as the sole hall-facing door is a bit hidden.
If you’re looking for bars, you can do a lot better a few steps outside of Beach Club. The Boardwalk is perfect for a bar crawl, and gems like AbracadaBar and the dueling piano bar, Jellyrolls, are a good reason to step outside your resort if you’re looking for a drink.
Recreation at Beach Club Resort
Like every Disney hotel, Beach Club maintains a schedule of daily activities for those who don’t want to spend every second at the parks.
Around Crescent Lake, you’ll also find boating activities, surrey bike rentals, and carnival games. Fantasia Gardens Mini Golf is also about a 15-minute walk away, on the other side of Swan & Dolphin.
Shopping at Beach Club
We previously mentioned Beach Club Marketplace as a quick service option, but it’s also the store at Beach Club. As with all Disney’s hotel stores, it offers basic travel essentials as well as a limited selection of hotel-branded items.
Disney’s Beach Club Resort — Conclusions
Beach Club is one of the Disney resorts we have a long history with, but nowadays it doesn’t really stand out to us in either a good or bad way.
If you’re considering Beach Club, the first step is to make sure the location is “worth it” to you. The Boardwalk area makes the nearby hotels particularly appealing to adults, and families with older kids may the proximity to Epcot and Hollywood Studios valuable.
If you have younger kids and will mostly be focused on Magic Kingdom, you might want to pay a bit more for a monorail resort. If you can’t do that, reconsider whether the location premium here is really worth it for you—it might be worth looking at Gran Destino Tower or Port Orleans French Quarter, for example.
If you’ve settled on this location, the choice comes down to Yacht Club vs. Beach Club vs. Boardwalk. That link covers that debate in more depth, but let’s quickly review. (Sidenote: Marriott operated Swan & Dolphin are also in this area, and are worth considering, but we’re pushing them aside for a moment as they aren’t Disney-operated hotels.)
We think Yacht Club has the best rooms of these three hotels and would always pick it if given the chance. The brighter, softer (but slightly older) Beach Club rooms may appeal to you.
You could split hairs on Yacht Club / Beach Club by theme and design, but they’re so similar and just steps apart, so it seems unlikely your decision will come all the way down to that.
Boardwalk has slightly more whimsy, but it typically has higher prices and you’ll be losing access to the awesome Stormalong Bay (the Yacht & Beach Club pool).
Overall, we aren’t itching to return to Beach Club, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a very solid option.
All Your Other Disney World Planning Questions Answered
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Know what to ride with our guides to: Magic Kingdom rides, Hollywood Studios rides, Epcot rides, and Animal Kingdom rides! Plus learn about the water parks with our guide to Blizzard Beach and our guide to Typhoon Lagoon! And for some some fun prep, check out our Ranking of Every Ride at Walt Disney World.
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