Beach Club Resort - 20 Month Refurb

[StarWarsGirl]

Any word on if the lobby or Cape May Cafe will be affected? I also hope they don't change the lobby music loop and the Green clover and aloe scent.

Last time I was there, it was not the lovely green clover scent. It was more like a perfume. Couldn't sit in there for more than 20 minutes without getting a headache. Not as bad as over at BLT, but still

 

[ford91exploder]

Say what? "Orlando International Airport, which saw arrivals increase by 4.2% in August, has approved an expansion plan that could see annual fliers reach 45 million by 2020, while tourism figures suggest overall Florida visitor numbers are set to reach a high of 100million by the end of the year." for example. I'm unsure of where you got the impression that anyone had a bad summer?

Check out @ParentsOf4 posts on WDW occupancy other than DVC Basically Disney was running far behind the Orlando area as a whole for regular hotel rooms only DVC occupancy saved the average numbers.

One wonders can the inflated price have anything to do with this...nah can't be that.

 

[flyerjab]

We stayed in the Beach Club in the summer of 2013 and I was incredibly underwhelmed. The lobby is comparable to those in the moderate category, the room did nothing for me and a balcony that barely fits one person?!?! Totally unacceptable. Out of all of the deluxes this is the one that needs the most work. I know it is adjacent to EPCOT and it does have Stormalong Bay, but that is where the moniker "deluxe" stops for me.

I've also heard that the club level used to be small enough to fit inside a walkin closet. This resort (and the Yacht Club) needs an overhaul desperately.

In fact, the employees in both the Yacht and Beach Club need refresher training. I would never say they that they are unhelpful, but they never seem to go out of their way. Having stayed in all of the deluxes now, the MK deluxes and the Boardwalk employees just seem to try so much harder. There is something wrong, unfortunately, at the Yacht and Beach Club.

 

[Father Robinson]

Last time I was there, it was not the lovely green clover scent. It was more like a perfume. Couldn't sit in there for more than 20 minutes without getting a headache. Not as bad as over at BLT, but still

Can I ask when you stayed there last? We were there in June and the lobby scent was still gc&a.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Can I ask when you stayed there last? We were there in June and the lobby scent was still gc&a.

August. For 12 days there after four at BLT. It's been that way for two August trips now. I didn't go over there when I was there in June, but I noticed that it was different when I went in January (gingerbread). So they change it up seasonally. The perfume smell is awful, though.

 

[Father Robinson]

August. For 12 days there after four at BLT. It's been that way for two August trips now. I didn't go over there when I was there in June, but I noticed that it was different when I went in January (gingerbread). So they change it up seasonally. The perfume smell is awful, though.

I just spoke with engineering at the beach club. The man said the only smell they have in stock is green clover and aloe oil. At Christmas time he said it switches to gingerbread, but that's the only change.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

We stayed in the Beach Club in the summer of 2013 and I was incredibly underwhelmed. The lobby is comparable to those in the moderate category, the room did nothing for me and a balcony that barely fits one person?!?! Totally unacceptable. Out of all of the deluxes this is the one that needs the most work. I know it is adjacent to EPCOT and it does have Stormalong Bay, but that is where the moniker "deluxe" stops for me.

I've also heard that the club level used to be small enough to fit inside a walkin closet. This resort (and the Yacht Club) needs an overhaul desperately.

In fact, the employees in both the Yacht and Beach Club need refresher training. I would never say they that they are unhelpful, but they never seem to go out of their way. Having stayed in all of the deluxes now, the MK deluxes and the Boardwalk employees just seem to try so much harder. There is something wrong, unfortunately, at the Yacht and Beach Club.

Agree 100%. Especially with the part about the CMs. Minus a few CMs in Beach Club Marketplace and one manager who is wonderful (and who we ask for if we have a problem), they aren't particularly helpful. There is one CM in Marketplace who knows me by name and is always excited when we return. She's always exceptionally helpful. But she and the manager are the exception rather than the rule.

The balconies at the Villas are normal sized, but you are correct that some in the regular hotel rooms are very small. We stay there because of Stormalong Bay. Otherwise, we'd stay at our other home resort, BWV.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I just spoke with engineering at the beach club. The man said the only smell they have in stock is green clover and aloe oil. At Christmas time he said it switches to gingerbread, but that's the only change.

I believe you; however, we did have to report it last August (2013) since I couldn't walk through the lobby without wheezing ,and we were told that yes they had changed the scent (the manager was kind enough to reduce it for the duration of our visit). I noticed the same scent in August. Whether they removed that scent completely or whether the engineer was mistaken is another question.

 

[NoChesterHester]

I really don't understand the negativity about the ex Beach club. To each their own I guess.

The design is classic and far more authentic to its theme than the Poly or the Grand Floridian. The corridors all have natural light, a subtle feature that vastly improves the experience. The detailing and bracket work is exquisite. The food options are very good. The pool is the best on property. The location is the closest to a theme park entrance in Florida.

I look forward to seeing the refreshed finishes.

 

[mjs805]

Have you seen the finished sections of the poly? If you're basing a refurb soley on the fountain removal, then I urge you to step away from the tunnel vision. Based on the bits and pieces that are slowly coming out from behind construction walls, the poly refurb is an upgrade. Will there be anything in the lobby to compare to the fountain, no, but the rest of the resort, including the entrance to the GCH will not disappoint. Add many of you seem to believe, Disney has not lost their quality touch, you just think they have because the changes have not been what you think they should have been.

I'm really curious to know what you've seen so far at the Poly that you see as an upgrade. I have been following Tikiman's Facebook page and I have been almost completely underwhelmed. Captain Cooks looks like they did a nice job, but hardly an "upgrade", unless travel posters thrill you. The upstairs gift shop had all of the personality taken out of it and looks like a generic shop you see at the exits to the parks. The pineapple lanai has to be one of the blandest locations I've seen at the Poly in the 40 years I've been going there. The sign out front looks nice, but I can't get too excited about something I will drive by once or twice during my stay. I'm a DVC member and I'm not happy about the bungalows. They are destroying the site lines and the feel of the beach area. I'm sure there are many nice things to come and I'm still hopeful that I will be wowed at some point, but so far, I'm just not seeing it. I hope you are right about the front of the GCH.

I don't think that Disney has lost their quality touch, I just think that they take the cheap way out more often than not. They are fully capable of making amazing changes, they just choose not to in the name of the almighty dollar.

 

[mp2bill]

If it's announced it is probably happening, I'm guessing and only guessing it's a De-Furbishment like what's happening at WL where the theming is being removed from the rooms in favor of the new "One Resort" color scheme where everything is off white or beige and is no longer themed to a single resort in order to allow 'Economy of Scale' in purchasing.

Blech

WHAT!? This is the first I'm hearing of this!

 

[articos]

I haven't heard/read/seen any information... to support what you're suggesting.

It's not to say an entire resort refurbishment is 'completely out of the question'... but there's been no rumors or rumblings to suggest it in the immediate future. Could Cape May close for a brief refurbishment? Absolutely... SAB? Certainly and they have before (in sections that is.) The Market Place? Always a possibility.

I've known about the room/hallways refurbishment since early Summer... and as mentioned earlier... it has already started... not 'Winter' as you've suggested in another post.

The last time the BC rooms were refurbished... was 2008. This is WAY OVER DUE... the bathrooms especially are well past 'worn'. As far as 'most of us' knew... this is expected to be complete room overhaul.

Apologies if my post is coming off as 'agressive' or an 'attack'... not my intention. Just trying to understand what information you have as it seems to be new information me.

Didn't take your comment as aggressive at all. Entire resort meaning the entire building, not the specific spaces. The lobby has some areas to be addressed as part of the hallways/general spaces, as well as (I'm told) other areas like the public bathrooms which have some problems. Cape May and Market Place are not included in this and will be addressed on their normal refurb schedule, but they are generally refreshed more than the rooms/general spaces and not as much in need. The rooms and hallways have the greatest need. SAB is not included in this, but has its own refurbishment schedule. I'm glad to hear the rooms have been taken offline and the upper floor has started. I had only been told it was a winter timeline. As you say, this IS way overdue and is a complete overhaul - the scope of this work has not been done at this resort prior - it is essentially taking the rooms to the walls.

Also, to clarify for other posts I'm seeing, this is not changing things - the theming isn't changing, the music isn't changing. It's just a well-overdue refurbishment, mostly to the rooms and hallways/general public spaces.

 

[articos]

I think we are in agreement here. We are founding members at BLT in addition to being long term at other DVC properties and I'm appalled at the downgrade in construction and furnishing quality at the new resorts and some of the so called re-furbs which truthfully must be called de-furbs because while new they have been several steps down in quality.

The part which angers me is these are paid for by our member fees which supposedly are used to maintain properties in an as-built condition which includes refurbishments.

With the WL as the most recent and glaring case I really think we as owners are going to need to sue for misuse of our member fees at some point in the not too distant future

Note I'm not surprised that HHI refurbishment was done to the standards we historically have seen from Disney, It is not part of TDO and their value dimunition field.

This IS a TDO problem the TDO culture is all about cutting corners and spending as little as possible while charging as much as possible.

HHI is completely different management, and is a much smaller machine to run. Therefore...

If I signed a contract and put forth money towards a resort I was told would be maintained in a certain way and then wasn't, I'd be p!ssed off as well. I can understand where you're coming from.

 

[ford91exploder]

I will preface this by saying that I haven't viewed the areas of the Poly that came out of the refurb, however I have seen the stripped down DVC building for the Grand Floridian. I sincerely hope that isn't the new normal.

The new GF DVC rooms are wearing very badly after only a year the furniture is scratching badly, tile chipping and the paint is dirty looks like the used a cheap flat paint instead of a durable semigloss.

TDO should be ashamed to have rooms in their so called flagship resort look that bad. I'm fortunate not to be an owner there with the insane point costs.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

I agree wholeheartedly. But that is the reality of Disney and many (most) others, unfortunately. When a new resort is planned, a ton of money is allocated to that project. Designers are allocated to the project for a year or more. For a refurb, the budgets come from different places, and they are only what is necessary. And the people working on them may have multiple projects on their plate at once. Nature of the beast. I do agree the Poly has not been held to the standard it should be when it comes to the changes made there. There are others who think the same within WDI as well, and there is a desire to rectify the problem in future refurbishments to come (which is starting with the current work being done).

The problem is that there needs to be an immensely larger effort to rectify the Polynesian's problems than just a "desire" within WDI. WDI doesn't seem to have a ton of power unless a powerful figure like Lasseter or someone like him steps in to use political leverage to get their way. It also seems that many imagineers who have spoken out against the bean counters regarding maintaining quality and thematic integrity have either been duly ignored or even neutralized (kind of like what happened with Tony Baxter and the old guard). At least at WDW.

There are two massive problems with the Polynesian alterations (without getting into any of the smaller thematic details which would be much easier and less expensive to fix). One being the DVC buildings currently under construction, they both look poor and bland in of themselves (and clash with the Polynesian's theme much like the Grand Floridian DVC building clashes awfully with the original) and negatively impact the view of the lagoon area as a whole. The second problem is of course what they are doing to the lobby, particularly the removal of the gorgeous and classic water feature. Disney i'm certain has to be well aware that the feedback for the lobby changes has been pretty much unanimously negative. This is even on their strictly policed Parks Blog, when it was initially announced there, not one single positive message about the lobby changes in the entire lot (and one can only imagine the absurd amount of unseen deleted posts as well).

I cannot fathom them rectifying either of these problems. Least of all the DVC buildings (at the very least they could have themed them better even if they have to stay), but even the lobby I expect to never be restored to its beauty. If you know of plans otherwise however...

Last time I visited the Epcot resorts area, Beach Club could definitely use some help. And this was back in 2012 so it's probably far worse now. Lot of the wood on the outside was either peeling paint or even outright rotting. The lobby area and giftshop inside weren't as bad thankfully, but i can imagine that the rooms are a mess at this point.

And someone desperately needs to allocate some funds to work on Grand Floridian's trim lighting outside. It's embarrassing with so many lights not working (as it has been for years now). LED's cannot come soon enough for it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

The new GF DVC rooms are wearing very badly after only a year the furniture is scratching badly, tile chipping and the paint is dirty looks like the used a cheap flat paint instead of a durable semigloss.

TDO should be ashamed to have rooms in their so called flagship resort look that bad. I'm fortunate not to be an owner there with the insane point costs.

That's a shame. I was speaking about the exterior, didn't know about the interior.

 

[JimJam]

We are staying here in november. From what I have been hearing (CM's), the refurb will be happening to every room, and will happen one floor at a time. While the 5th floor is closed, the solarium will serve as the concierge "dining room" per se. That's all i know for now.....

 

[bndxsupnetcr]

LOTS of work getting the product in the Epcot Collection back up to current industry standards.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

LOTS of work getting the product in the Epcot Collection back up to current industry standards.

I'm a bit lost as to how repairing physical damage (damage that should never have been allowed to accumulate in the first place and wouldn't have been allowed to do so 20 years ago) to a deluxe resort has to do with bringing it up to "current industry standards". Good maintenance is not a "current" thing, it's quite an old concept actually and unfortunately becoming increasingly scarce particularly at WDW.

I'm happy they're finally refurbishing this hotel to fix the damage (very happy if they manage to avoid slashing important thematic elements while they're at it, not holding my breath), but it's really just bringing the hotel back up to Disney's standards from 1994 and prior before the budget mutilation began with park management. Again this is assuming they don't use this opportunity to remove a number of important thematic elements in the construction process (a very unsafe assumption to make sadly as I fully expect them to cut away as much as possible given the current trend for Disney hotels).

And another important question is whether they will KEEP the hotel in a proper state after this major work is done. THAT would be adhering to proper Disney standards. Fix things as they occur, don't wait years if not decades before you address things and let the horrid mess pile on like the stench and filth of an overflowing garbage can. Main Street for instance JUST got a ton of work done to the facades (another project that took way too long before anything was done) and there's already a rather alarming number of trim lighting out along the tops of the buildings. Even a mind boggling quantity of the new LED's recently installed along the top of the Crystal Palace are already out. Properly manufactured LED's are rated to last decades, not months...

And this is what it has come to, Disney actually conducting basic and proper maintenance has become so rare and precious that it's now huge news and warrants getting a big thread (one i'd imagine will continue to grow) when it happens. I don't know which part is more sad (in different ways). The one side of the discussion that cheers as if this is some rare event that needs to be praised to death (which it is now sadly, 20 years ago this sort of thing was just considered standard routine expected by default from Disney goers), or the other side that is (rightfully) terrified that they'll find a way to dumb the resort down while work is done.

 

[llrain]

Not sure if this schedule is true or not, If it is Disney has a major problem on its hand. The beach club refurb is safe(unless it is delayed) inside its dates mentioned below but the Yacht Club is where you are going to have major issues with timing.
That will be during Gartner, the single biggest Disney convention booked. They take up all the epcot resort area resorts and kill capacity inside them.
Bad move if you do this Disney, it may force gartner to not return in 2015. One resort out of commission may sound like, "Ah sure they could just move or take over another resort" but you don't realize, they literally take over all 5 resorts over there, swan, dolphin, boardwalk, yacht and beach. Loosing space at even one of them is extremely determental. Should be interesting to see what Gartner decides

Beach Club will have a rolling 250 rooms out of order through late Summer 2015 and the Yacht Club will start after that and also go 250 rooms at a time. Boardwalk Inn will also have 200 rooms out of order in 2016. Add to that the Swan will have 600 rooms completed by end of this year and in 2015 they will do the remaining 150 in that building and take 750 rooms out at the Dolphin for renovation. LOTS of work getting the product in the Epcot Collection back up to current industry standards.