Disney’s Yacht Club Resort: More Than Just a Place to Lay Your Head at Night

By Tink's Vacation Planner, Pollyanna.

I know Moms aren't supposed to have favorite children, but can travel agents have favorite resorts? I love the resorts at Walt Disney World®  for so many reasons. Animal Kingdom Lodge has animals roaming outside your window.  Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa is walking distance to Disney Springs. Art of Animation has a create your own pasta! You really can’t go wrong with any Disney resort, but my all time favorite is Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.  Narrowing down the reasons why I love Disney’s Yacht Club Resort has not been easy but here are my top five:

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The Christmas Decorations: Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, like all Disney resorts, celebrates Christmas beginning in early November. If you’ve never visited a Disney Destination at Christmas you are truly missing out. Yacht Club has a huge sailing themed Christmas tree right when you enter the resort. They also have a miniature train station with many hidden Disney features. But if you are staying at Yacht Club you must walk next door to The Beach Club to check out their working gingerbread carousel. It smells amazing and every year it has a different theme. Be sure to find all of the hidden Mickeys on the carousel.


Walking Distance to The Boardwalk: You could make an evening out of enjoying The Boardwalk. You can eat at one of the many table service restaurants, grab a pizza from the Boardwalk Pizza window, and finish it off with an ice cream flight from Ample Hill Creamery or a pastry from The Boardwalk Bakery. But there is so much more to do in the Boardwalk area. Rent a Surrey Bike, play a game or two to win a prize on The Boardwalk, sing along with the dueling pianos at Jellyrolls, or just stroll the boardwalk and enjoy the scenery.


Cast Members: I know all Disney cast members are special and make your vacation memorable, but having visited Disney’s Yacht Club Resort year after year I can honestly say that I see many familiar faces that have been there for years. I believe this says a lot about this resort. The cast members enjoy Yacht Club and know all there is to know about it. The pool entertainment leader has been there since I can remember and he never loses his energy and excitement. The captain in the lobby has greeted us year after year and even the concierge at the conference center has learned my name. Seeing cast members I recognize reminds me that I am “home” when I walk in the doors of Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.


Walking/Boating Distance to Hollywood Studios and Epcot: Seriously, how convenient is this? When you walk to Epcot you enter through the World Showcase entrance. I have never encountered a line or wait. I have found it the easiest way to enter a park. If you arrive before World Showcase opens it is empty and you are guided to Future World. You can walk back to your room easily and pop right back over to Epcot or Hollywood Studios. The convenience of this alone is enough to make me book a stay at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort!


The Pool ~ Stormalong Bay: If you’ve ever stayed at The Yacht Club you knew this was going to be the number one reason you would want to stay here. How can you not love to slide down the highest Disney resort slide into a 3 acre sandy bottom pool? At first I didn’t understand how sand at the bottom of a pool would be so heavenly, but let me tell you it’s the best thing I’ve ever enjoyed in a pool. After a long day of literally walking miles at the parks, my feet begged for this luxury. Everyone needs to experience this at least once in their lives. Don’t ask me how the sand stays at the bottom or how it doesn’t get drug throughout the pool area because I just don’t know. What I do know is that I will never enjoy another pool like I do Stormalong Bay.