Hi, everyone! I've been lurking a long time but finally wanted to post to say what a fantastic time I had at Yacht Club last week (Sept. 18-22, 2017). I was there with a good friend of mine for a girls' getaway to Food & Wine, and we loved it. The resort is just beautiful, and we loved the renovated room. We were in 2034 with a nice view of the quiet pool, and the noise/traffic level was absolutely no problem even though the resort was booked. We had two queen beds, no daybed, just a desk and chair. There was plenty of storage space, and everything was very clean. Housekeeping was just fine. There was only one day that I came back mid-afternoon to find we had not had service yet, and on that day the housekeeper came by just as I was about to get in the shower. She promised me she would come back later, and she did! Anytime I ran into the housekeepers in the hall, they were all very friendly.
We arrived LATE Monday night (barely Tues. morning, actually), as my car's transmission gave out on us on the way down. Ugh! After a 5 hour delay in SC, we were able to have my car towed back home and get a great rental car, so I nearly got out and kissed the ground when we finally arrived, LOL! There were actually a couple people in front of me at the front desk (including one man who thought he was just going to walk in and get a room without a reservation - ha!), but I just tried to breathe deeply and enjoy the lovely smell of the lobby. Parking was absolutely no problem at midnight on that Monday night. Luckily I didn't need my car until we left, because a convention made parking an absolute nightmare later in the week.
NOT a good way to start the trip, but after getting a good night's sleep, the rest of the trip was PERFECT. The weather was great with no rain (though yes, a bit on the warm side)! We enjoyed sampling the goodies at Food & Wine, and we also saw Air Supply. (Incidentally, I thought they were PHENOMENAL on Tuesday in particular, and I was THRILLED to score a picture with Russell Hitchcock as he went out in to the audience to sing "The One That You Love"--
) It was awesome to just walk back "home" after such a fun night! The location cannot be beat.
I have no complaints about transportation! On MK day, the bus arrived to pick us up at YC within 5 minutes. When we left MK, there was a very long line at the Yacht/Beach bus stop. The bus came quickly, but it was obvious not everyone would make it. A Boardwalk bus was also there, so we boarded it instead, and then there was a boat waiting for us to take us across the lagoon, so no problem. On AK day, the bus was pulling up as we got there. (Thank goodness, because we were rope-dropping FoP, and I didn't want to drive). FoP was AWESOME, and we did it at RD and again after lunch with a FP. My friend managed to get ANOTHER FP for FoP (!), but I had headed back to the resort to get ready for the evening to see the Star Wars fireworks. We decided to walk back after the fireworks, and that was a very pleasant way to end the day. We had great views of Illuminations on that walk back! And it was much nicer than riding a crowded boat, in our opinion. I did ride the boat about 3 times (twice going over to DHS and once coming back from DHS), and all three times it was pulling up to the dock. It was pretty amazing!
The Marketplace at Beach Club is indeed undergoing some construction (drink machines I guess, from what previous posters have said), so while I had no problem eating a Mickey waffle there one morning, I had to go somewhere else to eat lunch one day because the noise was awful. Glad that should be resolved soon. By the way, my lunch was the pulled pork sliders from Hurricane Hannah's, and I thought they were really good!
Sorry to be so long-winded, but I hope it's helpful to someone as you all have been so helpful to me with my trip planning! Thanks to Dee and to all you other posters for sharing your knowledge and experiences. LOVE this thread!