Contemporary Bay Lake Villa vs. Beach Club Villa?

[Jlynn3036]

My family stayed at AKL for 6 nights this past spring. We are early risers and would be at the parks for open and take our break after lunch. We found the buses from AKL to be as efficient as buses could be. The rides werent bad at all. Only one time we waited for about 15 minutes and that was because the bus was just pulling out as we were walking up. On average we waited about 5 minutes for busing. My 6 yo loved AKL. It was gorgeous and tons to do and see at the resort.

 

[westlakemom]

Hi all -- new the forum, appreciate your help in advance. We've been to Disney World once before, two years ago when our kids were only 4 and 2. We stayed in a main resort pool view room at Beach Club last time and LOVED the resort, we would absolutely go back -- our only complaint was the bus ride to Magic Kingdom felt very long (we had several long waits). So we are considering a monorail resort this time around.

Planning a trip for April 2019 and looking at 1 bedroom villas at Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary or Beach Club Villas -- does anyone here have experience at the villas at either/both of these? Is being on the monorail (or walkable) to MK really that much better? The pool at Contemporary looks pretty disappointing compared to Beach Club. How long is the walk from Bay Lake Tower to the main Contemporary resort building?

Any other pros or cons to one vs. the other would be greatly appreciated??

Side question: our first choice is a 1 bedroom suite at Polynesian, which are fully booked right now. Do these ever open up? If so, what's the best way to snag one in case someone else cancels their reservation?

Thanks!!

We just got back from WDW, we stayed at the Beach Club Resort and we took Lyft & Uber (which ever was cheapest & closer) to The Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney Springs...so easy peasy!!! No wait, dropped us off right up front and every driver has parking passes to drive right in. Do not use the Lyft Minnie vans they are incredibly expensive for no apparent reason. Just use regular Lyft or Uber. We will never rent a car again or take any Disney transportation! FYI most rides were under 8$ and they have car seats for the kids!!!

 

[sfbntpc]

We have only used the buses once in our last 4 stays at Disney. Since we stay on the resort, we drive to all the parks. When we stay at a non monorail resort, we splurge on a Minnie Van to the park and back (I’m not sure we will be doing that anymore with rising prices). Btw, we have only stayed at the Beach Club once, but it is still our favorite out of all the DVC hotels we have been to.