Hey everyone, it's Jacqueline --and Adam --for Pixie Dust PhD. On our fall 2021 trip down to
Walt Disney World we did a split stay across three different Disney Vacation Club resorts;
those were Beach Club Villas, BoardWalk Villas, and Bay Lake Tower. In today's video we'll go
ahead and compare and contrast between those and let you know what we think so stay tuned!
Getting to some basic facts. So for square footage Beach Club Villas and BoardWalk Villas are nearly
identical; I think officially they're one square foot different--this is just for the studios by
the way, we stayed in studios. And then over at Bay Lake Tower that studio is actually measurably
smaller; it's one of the smallest options on DVC property for Walt Disney World. Beach Club
and BoardWalk both sleep five, Bay Lake Tower only sleeps four. Again, that is in that studio
setup. All of these were refurbed to some degree back in 2016. So Beach Club Villas was actually a
full overhaul, they had the full refurbishment. Whereas Bay Lake Tower and then BoardWalk received
a refresh. This also means they're all due for a next refurbishment around the same time--either
2022 or 2023. But so for that next refresh it'll be Bay Lake Tower and BoardWalk will get their
full refurbishment, whereas Beach Club will just sort of get a little refresh--that soft goods
redo. In terms of the rooms themselves those are some of your basic facts. Essentially, you know,
Beach Club and BoardWalk are pretty similar square footage, sleeps; Bay Lake Tower's little smaller,
sleeps one less person. And then for the refresh it's funny because they
all felt about the same, but they actually are on different refurbishment schedules. –Yeah,
you really felt like they all had the same amount of newness –Yeah. --to it as you're going through
all the different parts of the resort. –Yeah, okay. So let's get to it. Let's start with Beach
Club and BoardWalk. Those are both in the Crescent Lake area, so you can walk to or take friendship
boats to both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. Beach Club is very very close to EPCOT. BoardWalk sort
of in between the two. But in terms of the rooms I thought they were extremely similar.
–Yeah, no. I mean they felt like they were the same room, just in different buildings.
Yeah. The amenities of course were different, we'll talk more about that I’m sure, but just the
rooms themselves felt like they copied and pasted it with different [décor]. --Yeah. --But it's like the same
everything, the same supplier for both rooms. --It was shockingly similar; like you walk in, you have
a decently big sort of entry area because that's where the adjoining room door is, and then you
have your bathroom area--but it's just like the sink and then the door for the actual bathroom,
and the closet, keep walking a little you've got your bedroom, you have your sitting area--which
then you can pull down into that that single sleeper, and then your couch, some sort of table,
and then your patio or balcony. Like they were the same. BoardWalk did feel, the specific room
we got, felt a little more run down. There were a couple things that were not… they weren't broken,
but they weren't fully perfect. And I will say the BoardWalk room we were in, and I think most if not
all of the BoardWalk rooms, still do have--the AC unit is not digital. So it's like a manual
situation where you're just moving “do I want off, heat, or cool?” And then, you know, “how
how hot how cold on a rough scale?” Rather than say like I want 72 degrees, type it in. –Yeah.
It's, you know, if AC is important to you, in Florida it should be, that can be frustrating.
--It's frustrating from the sense that it feels old, but I actually think I preferred it. Because
you set that temperature, and because it's an older system I’m pretty sure it's not hooked up to
any sort of motion detector. So it just stays the temperature you want. As opposed to the newer
locations, and I don't know that they do this in all the resorts--it seems hit or miss to me,
but there are some for sure that have like a motion detector sensor, and if you aren't
moving around for a while it just turns the AC off. So sleeping at night time can be a
little uncomfortable or tricky in those rooms. And like at BoardWalk, in the room we were in
since it wasn't that situation, it was just like a very comfortable temperature the whole time.
In both of those I did really love when you pull down that single bed the back splash is themed;
so Beach Club it was like Donald Duck I think lounging on the beach, and then a BoardWalk it
was Dumbo taking a little nap. I thought that was really cute. Those were the biggest Disney touches
though; the rest of the rooms were a little bit themed to either like a beachy vibe or sort of
a carnival-y/circus vibe over at BoardWalk, but not a lot of Disney at all in the rooms. –Yeah,
no. It was really just that one pull down. And then everything else is just like, you know,
modern architectural touches, right. Very subtle, but nothing directly magical. --Yeah like a
little bit on the bed headboard maybe, what does your bathroom mirror look like, like doorknobs,
that kind of stuff. But not not a lot of Disney really, which I think is interesting because
again these were both refreshed or fully refurbed in 2016. So that's obviously a choice that they
made really recently, and I’ll be interested to see what the next round looks like in,
you know, 2022 or 2023. And then the resorts as a whole… we didn't spend as much time at Beach Club
as we did at BoardWalk. And for both really we didn't hang out at the resort a ton. We're more
parks people I would say. But those definitely have different feels. BoardWalk is very kitschy
–Yeah. And it's definitely more in the middle of all the action. –Yeah. --Crescent lake, right. So
versus Beach Club, you know, we had the room in like the far farthest away possible corner out of
that resort. But it was really quiet and peaceful right. --Beach Club was very quiet. BoardWalk,
you're on the BoardWalk, so I--it did feel a little busier, like a little more happening to me.
–Yeah, for sure. And I like how Beach Club had their little shop just kind of like in
the middle of the resort. --Yeah. --It was actually really nice. --It's also nice that with Beach
and Yacht Club you can stay inside for quite a lot of it, or at least under cover. So if it's
pouring you can still get to most of the offerings in the resort. Versus BoardWalk you have to go
outside to get to almost everything I think, so it's a little less convenient in that way.
And then location-wise like I said Beach Club is so close to EPCOT, BoardWalk is sort of in
between EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. I personally prefer the BoardWalk location because it's not
that long of a walk to either, versus from Beach Club the walk to Hollywood Studios--it's not
long long, but, you know, BoardWalk's sort of situated nicely in the middle, as opposed to
Beach Club like heavily favors EPCOT over Studios. –Yeah, I agree with you Jacqueline. How, you know,
so close to EPCOT Beach Club… like I think one time we got poured on and EPCOT and we managed to
sneak back in the Beach Club and, you know, took the long way back, but we managed to stay under
cover during the pouring rain. --Mostly. –Mostly. --Not while we were in EPCOT. –No, but once we got to
Beach Club we didn't have to contend with going outside again –Yeah. --which was nice. But no,
overall the location of BoardWalk in the middle, you know, it's not a bad walk go either way.
And yeah, especially if you're going to multiple parks and not just EPCOT it's probably a better
location for me. --Yeah for, again we prefer walking and being able to walk to and from as
quickly as we want to, as opposed to relying on buses or--the boat transportation even we
took once and I found it to be incredibly slow. So yeah, for walkability--again
we're just two adults traveling by ourselves--I think the BoardWalk location edges it out for me.
And then for entertainment, I mean I really enjoyed Ale & Compass lounge, which you can get to
from Beach Club on the inside very easily, but it is a little bit hard to beat being on the
BoardWalk… like AbracadaBar is phenomenal. –Yeah, definitely more of a nightlife scene on that side.
Versus just these are some nice restaurants and bars. --Yeah. Overall for me I would say
I probably prefer BoardWalk to stay in. I think the rooms are practically identical, so that's
not really a consideration anymore. And then I just like the location better. And also from
a financial standpoint for DVC it's typically, if not always, less points per night than Beach Club.
–Yeah, that can make a huge difference in what you do and how you plan your vacation is how
many points. And, you know, there's a lot we have a lot of pros in that BoardWalk column.
As for me, I definitely prefer overall BoardWalk as the resort I would pick.
--Nothing against Beach Club, we had a nice stay there. But just for the points cost, and
particularly since we aren't the kind of people that like lounge around at the pool for
a day or multiple times over the course of many days like... --I can see someone wanted to stay at
Beach Club for that pool –Yeah. –access. --Or if we had kids I could see Beach Club being a lot
more appealing than BoardWalk because I’m not taking my kids to AbracadaBar probably.
–Yeah, I hope not. --Well I’m sure it's allowed? But I don't know. Anyway. So yeah, I mean Beach
Club and BoardWalk were both great. The studios on the inside are basically the same. I mean if
if you're looking for a room just to have a room to go back to and a resort to sometimes go to the
things, but not like hang out at the resort a ton, I think BoardWalk's probably just a better deal.
Unless you really want to be right at EPCOT or you really are a pool person and want Stormalong Bay.
–Yeah. I mean there's definitely situations where you probably want to pick Beach Club.
But definitely BoardWalk edges it for us. And probably a lot more people
should probably choose BoardWalk than do Beach Club because there are just a lot of pros.
--Moving away from Crescent Lake then, our last DVC stay was at Bay Lake Tower.
We again stayed in studios, but we experienced all three views: that was standard view,
lake view, and theme park view. Now, Bay Lake Tower is our home resort contract for Disney
Vacation Club; it's no secret that I love it. And so I--that's my winner, like by far.
--Well there wasn't much suspense there. But I also really enjoyed Bay Lake Tower, it was my favorite
stay. We spent a good amount of time there, and there was, you know, this was really nice time.
And the location proximity Magic Kingdom is magical, right. And it was just a really nice
way to cap off our vacation for sure. –Yeah. --It would be really hard for me to start there
and then move somewhere else, let's put it that way. –Oh. that'll be interesting for the future.
So let's talk about the room a little though. It doesn't matter what your view is, the room is the
same. And so far as I could ascertain your patio or balcony is also going to be exactly the same.
They seemed the same to me anyway between our three rooms. As opposed to like over at Beach
Club those patios and balconies are vastly different depending on what room you get,
which is super weird. But anyway, back to Bay Lake Tower. So that room is a little different because
the bathroom is fully contained. So the door is here, your sink is in here, your toilet's in here,
your shower's in here… so the sink is not on the outside like it is over at Beach Club
and BoardWalk. The sink is also very small. There's like no counter space. There's not a
lot of storage space. It's a perfectly functional bathroom; it worked well for two people. I don't
think I would put four people in there though. I would not put four adults in there. I don't
know about smaller people. –Yeah, two adults, two children probably? --It would be tight.
--Small children. --I value my space; let me--let me say that. I don't think I would put four adults
in a Beach Club or BoardWalk studio either, personally. You lose a lot of space if you have to
constantly have the pull out couch out to be a secondary bed for two extra adults, for example.
And yeah, I don't--I don't know… I value having a little more space. So not for me personally. So
although your bathroom is fully contained, the kitchenette is super different. So BoardWalk,
Beach Club your kitchenette is just like a little half counter, they throw the things
there--mini fridge, microwave, all your standard things. In Bay Lake Tower you get like a galley
style kitchenette basically where there's--it's walled in on three sides, and you have all of your
kitchenette things—sink, refrigerator, etc., but there's more storage. There's a long mirror here,
there's a secondary small counter on this wall that also has a mirror. And so
I found that to be really great because it's not a bathroom, but it functioned as if you had that
sink space outside the bathroom. So like I put all my makeup stuff over there, and that's where
I would get ready in the morning. You have your sink, you've got a lot of counter space, you've
got good light, you've got multiple mirrors. So I thought it worked really well, not only for
storage, but also as a separate space for me to get ready. –Yeah. I think the space allocation,
although small, was really well designed, --Right. to make, you know, your stay as easy as possible.
–Yeah. Versus you know Beach Club and BoardWalk do have the kitchenette, so there is that sink
outside the bathroom—even, you know, they already have their outside bathroom sink--there's another
one. But there's not a lot of counter space, there's not a mirror. It's not really like a
place to get ready. Whereas I felt like the Bay Lake Tower space worked really well for that. I
stored all my shoes in there; like it was just a really thoughtfully designed space like Adam said,
especially with the tight constraints. –Yeah, and not to mention there was most of my favorite decor
was in Bay Lake Tower as well. –Yeah, so Bay Lake Tower did actually have some like Disney. So the
art on the walls was all Mickey Mouse themed, versus the art at Beach Club and BoardWalk
was just like here's a picture of beach, here's a picture of you know some BoardWalk looking things
like circus type tent. So it was nice to get some actual Disney in there. But then the rest of the
space was fairly similar. There isn't that single pull-down bed, so there was a big cabinet piece
basically with drawers and storage and a teeny tiny TV--it was the smallest TV by far, but I
don't really care. And then, you had, you know a table, a couch, so it was pretty similar in that
sense. But yeah, you don't have that sleeper pull down bed for a fifth person. Pros and cons. Again,
you know, we're never planning on sleeping five in a studio, so I--I really don't mind losing it.
And then resort wise of course you're connected to the Contemporary through a little sky bridge.
The Contemporary, while we were there, was pretty under construction; so a little bit underwhelming.
The Wave was closed; The Wave is gone now--now it’s Steakhouse 71. But we were down a restaurant
I guess is the point. So that made it a little awkward because you could have like Contempo Café,
which in my opinion for like sustenance food is not very good, or it's like California Grill. And
there wasn't really anything in between. I suppose that has been filled now by Steakhouse 71 I hope
to where that's a little bit less awkward. –Yeah, of course Top of the World wasn't open either.
–Right. Top of the World was not open. As of the day we're filming this it still isn't open,
though it could change any day now. So yeah, that was kind of a bummer. I was hoping to be able to
experience that, and I know that's not for like sustenance type food either, but that would be
cool. Pools at the Contemporary are largely kind of underwhelming for that deluxe level resort.
I think that's a commonly held opinion. We did hang out at the pool at Bay Lake Tower, I think
it's called the Bay Cove pool, a little bit. It's cute. It serves it’s purpose. It's nothing to like
gawk at or go out of your way for, and neither are the main pools at the Contemporary either.
So again, if you're a pool person like I don't really think Bay Lake Tower's for you. But being
able to walk to the Magic Kingdom… like we could literally get from our door to the front gate of
Magic Kingdom in 10 minutes. That is so worth it to me. –Yeah. That was probably one of the most
amazing parts of our stay is just like how easy it was to go to the Magic Kingdom, and come back,
relax, and go back again, right. --Yeah. --It was just really nice experience to be that close. –Yeah,
and you're on the monorail loop, so not very far from Grand Floridian or the Polynesian,
which we enjoyed quite a bit too. So it was nice… it was just nice to be in that loop, in that area,
not too far from anything, and just to be able to pop in and out of Magic Kingdom
on a whim was chef's kiss amazing. To me that's more valuable than being able to go in and out of
EPCOT or Hollywood Studios by foot. --We know some other people may have a different opinion, but
again overall it's definitely a special time to experience is when you're that part of your stay
where you're that close to the Magic Kingdom. –Yeah. So I remain so glad that Bay Lake Tower
is our home resort on our Disney Vacation Club contract. Of course, we can use our points at, you
know, almost all the other resorts. But I would think that we'll try to stay at Bay Lake Tower,
if not end on Bay Lake Tower, almost every time. --Yeah I’m on the team let's end our vacation there,
but maybe we do more split stays, right? –Probably. Overall for me our stay at Bay Lake
Tower was definitely number one. I enjoyed all of the three different view categories we stayed in.
Obviously theme park view room is pretty dang special, but it's hard for me to say if it would
be worth that many extra points--especially if you're staying for five or six nights,
that adds up to be quite a lot. So I don't know what my ranking is between standard view,
lake view, and theme park view. The insides of the room though are exactly the same. So I think it's
a great room. I think it's a great layout, use of space. It felt the most comfortable to me, and
the most like home per se. And then second for me is BoardWalk, third is Beach Club. Again, I mean,
we had great studio stays in all these places, and the proximity to theme parks was fantastic. But
Bay Lake is--it's definitely my number one. –Yeah, I--I agree. Same exact order for me, pretty much a
lot of the same reasons, you know. I think that overall all the experiences were pretty great
in terms of from being a guest at these resorts, the amenities, and, you know, how it played into
what we wanted to do and accomplish in the parks each day. It was a lot of fun. We'd do it again.
--I would do it again. --Especially the Bay Lake Tower part at the end of the stay with theme park view…
just, you know, good way to go out on top. –Yeah. It's pretty cool. It's it's pretty special.
If you have any questions about our stays, or you want our opinions on anything further or more
specific, leave those in the comments down below and we'll get back to you. You can also chat to me
outside of YouTube over on Twitter and Instagram you'll find me @PixieDustPhD.
We hope you've been enjoying the vlogs and the room tours--I hope you found that helpful as well
as this summary review. If you did please like the video and subscribe to the channel; once you're
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At least with these three DVC resorts I don't think you can go wrong. I’m sure the rest are
the same, but, you know, we'll have to slowly check them off our list over the next decade. We
hope the rest of your day is super magical, and we'll see you real soon at Pixie Dust PhD. --Bye!