PRICE:
Frommer's Exceptional

This property re-creates the grand turn-of-the-20th-century Victorian seaside resorts of Cape Cod and has a more casual ambience than its sister, the Yacht Club (detailed later in this chapter), with which it shares restaurants, shops, and numerous recreational activities. Striped and floral wicker furnishings, seashells, and beach umbrellas adorn the hotel's casual interior. The Beach Club is close enough to Epcot to allow you to walk to the park, though most guests prefer to take the ferry (the parks are workout enough!). The shipwreck at Stormalong Bay (a huge free-form swimming pool and water park that sprawls over 3 acres) invites you to explore its decks, climb around, and slide into the water waiting below. It includes a stretch of sandy beach, sand-bottom pools, whirlpools, and water slides (including a toddler slide, so no one misses out). Room views range from the pool (more expensive) to the parking lot. Some rooms have balconies. Note: Both the Beach Club and Yacht Club offer the chance to charter a reproduction of a 1930s mahogany runabout to cruise Crescent Lake or see Epcot's IllumiNations fireworks display (from $275 plus tax for up to six people for a 45-min. cruise to catch the fireworks). Daytime cruises ($80 for 30 min.) are available departing at 2:30pm and 5:30pm (tel. 407/824-2621). Facilities: 2 restaurants; grill; 4 lounges; 3-acre pool and play area; 2 outdoor heated pools; kids' pool; 2 lighted tennis courts; health club; jogging trail; volleyball; croquet; Jacuzzi; watercraft rental; fishing; playground; supervised children's program; video arcade; WDW Transportation System; transportation to non-Disney theme parks for a fee; business center; limited Wi-Fi access (fee); salon; 24-hr. room service; babysitting; laundry service; valet; concierge-level rooms The Beach Club's Baby Sister -- Disney's Beach Club Villas (tel. 407/934-7639 or 407/934-2175; www.disneyworld.com) make up a resort inspired by Cape May seaside homes of the early 20th century with clapboard exteriors and intricate white wood trim. The 280-room resort, opened in July 2002, is a member of the Disney Vacation Club that rents studios and 1- and 2-bedroom villas ($325-$490 studios, $435-$1,140 villas) to mainstream guests when their owners are not staying on the property. Amenities are shared with the Yacht Club and Beach Club resorts, with the exception of the Villa's quiet pool -- which is only accessible to villa guests. It, too, is close to Epcot's International Gateway.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Walt Disney World & Orlando 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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