Deluxe Renovations At Disney’s Yacht Club! A Disney Nerds’ Review

So a couple of weeks ago I had the chance to stay at Disney’s Yacht Club for five nights. I have to admit that this was one resort I was excited to check off my bucket list. I’ve always loved Yacht Club and its sister property Beach Club. I love its proximity to Epcot, I love hanging out in the lobby and I’ve always wanted to relax at Stormalong Bay, the pool and lazy river with a sand bottom! This resort was one that I was looking forward to staying at some point more than any other and when I found out the rooms had all been renovated it just added to my excitement because I love what Disney is doing in their room renovations!

I was traveling with my mother for this trip and we arrived early at Yacht Club to check-in. Our room was not ready but within an hour we received the text that said our room was ready (I really do love the fact that Disney will now text you when your room is ready). I was excited and we headed to the elevators to find our room. Now I must say that one flaw to the Yacht Club is the floor layout. If your room is not close to the elevators you might have a long walk to your room which is something to keep in mind when planning your own stay at Yacht Club. We ended up having a room that was a pretty good distance from the elevator but it wasn’t something that personally bothered me but I could see how it could be inconvenient to some. So after we walked down the hall and found our room, I opened the door to find such a beautifully renovated room! The rooms have received a major upgrade, in my opinion, they now have more of a modern and somewhat minimal nautical theme with rich, warm, dark woods throughout the room, a dark navy blue and white color pallet with some cream and gold accents. The artwork on the walls is of ships with a little not so hidden Mickey which is a nice touch to be a Disney element in the room but still keep the Yacht Club theme.

The Room

The rooms in most deluxe rooms have these small halls which I think is just a great entryway into the room and when we opened the door to this hallway in our room I saw the beautiful wood laminate floors. I do like that Disney is getting rid of the carpets, I like the look of the laminate wood and it gives the rooms a cleaner look in my opinion. To my left in the entryway is the refreshment hub with 2 floating shelves and a wood cabinet with a beautiful white stone countertop. The floating shelves are home to some mugs (paper and ceramic) and glasses on one shelf and the top shelf was empty which I utilized by storing some snacks that we brought with us for the trip. The white counter has nice stainless steel and blue ice bucket, a Keurig coffeemaker, and a nice blue tray that stores K cups (Joffrey’s coffee and Twinings tea), sugar, and other items to prepare your morning coffee or tea. Then there’s the wooden cabinet which is accented with gold metal and almost a rivet design (to keep an understated nautical design) which contained the fridge which was one of the clear door fridges. I really do love these fridges because it is so easy to see what you have in the fridge without opening the door and I think they actually are larger than other hotel mini-fridges which is so helpful. My mother and I bought a 24 pack of water for the week from a local store so it was nice to keep more than 2 bottles cold in the fridge (and not pay a high price for water on property).

Beside the refreshment hub is the wardrobe area. The wardrobe consists of two large doors both with space for hanging clothes (one side could hold longer hanging items like dresses and the other side could hold shorter hanging items like shirts with shelving underneath) and a third section that consisted of four cubbies and a smaller cabinet which conceals the safe, an iron, and a fold-out ironing board. There was also a full-length mirror inside of one of the doors which is always helpful while getting ready if you ask me. Since I was traveling with my mother, we each took one side of the wardrobe to hang our clothes and shared the third section to store miscellaneous items like hats and shoes. This wardrobe area was more than enough for the two of us and I was also happy to see a lot of hangers to use. I also loved that the hang bars had lighting under them so it was easier to see all of your clothes.

Bathroom

On the right side of the entryway is a wood barn-style door that leads to the bathroom. Before the renovations, there was no door and the vanity area was open to the rest of the room. I like that they have added the door to give more privacy. They are also put in a pocket door to the shower and toilet instead of a regular door which I think is another great change because it saves space. For the vanity area, they kept the double sink which I love having a double sink when traveling with other people because it’s so convenient if more than one person needs to get to the sink. Also, I think there is more counter space when there’s a double sink in these rooms. Above the sinks is one large mirror (there were 2 mirrors before the remodel) with a beautiful light wood frame around it. There are also lighting options in the bathroom that would appeal to anyone. There are lights behind the mirror and overhead (nice & bright!) and then there are 2 lamp sconces on the walls around the mirror. You can have all the lights on or just the sconces or just the lights behind the mirror. During my stay, I would turn only the sconce lights on in the morning (I don’t light bright light when I’m just waking up) and I’d have all the lights or just the lights behind the mirror on while I was getting ready (I loved the lighting while putting on my makeup for the day!). There was also a magnifying mirror on an arm with lights that I used too while getting ready but with all the other lights, the lights on the magnifying mirror didn’t add too much. Below the mirror was a small shelf which I think was a little wider than the previous shelf before the renovation. There were already two glasses on the shelf but I also stored the bathroom items that I didn’t want to get wet if water splashed over from the sink. Then below the sinks are added storage in the matching dark wood from the rest of the room. They added more storage than was there before the renovations, there used to be just three cubbies for storage but now there are six! It was a great addition and helpful to keep things organized in the bathroom. After I checked out the vanity area I had to check out the shower! My mother and I asked for a shower-only room (there are some rooms with the shower/tub combo too) when we checked in and we got one! I love the new showers they are doing on Disney property! The shower curtains are gone and there is this great textured glass, one side closest to the showerhead goes all the way up to the ceiling and the other side is the door to step into the shower. I was also happy to see a rainfall shower head in the shower with a second showerhead that can become handheld. I personally love this feature! I love having a nice shower while on vacation, especially when you’re dealing with the heat and humidity of Florida.

Room Improvements

So I’ve talked about the front half of the room and I haven’t even gotten to the good part, the actual room! Since I was traveling with my mother we got a two queen bedroom and I loved seeing the changes they made to the room! The room has one large cream-colored and round overhead light which usually too bright but I was happy to see that it wasn’t too bright and didn’t bother me to have on (in most cases I do not like overhead lights and won’t even turn them on so that’s saying something). The walls are a nice cream color and the wall behind the beds has a nice square pattern that almost looks like the squares are studded. The beds have been raised to fit luggage underneath them which is a trend that I love that they are doing. It was so nice to unpack and be able to hide our luggage and keep it out of the way especially since we were there for five nights. They used the same rich wood for the beds and the headboards for the beds are also framed in this wood and but the rest is padded in a blue rectangle and a cream frame around the blue which I thought was beautiful and still kept a nautical feel by using those colors. There were light sconces above both beds (two sconces per bed) with a light switch by both beds to control them. But there was one light I was really interested in, the reading light! Tucked almost inside the headboard on either side of both beds were these small reading lights that were the size of a marker and they automatically turned on whenever you flipped them up! They rotated and can go to a 90-degree angle. It’s perfect for someone who wants to stay up and read or do something on their computer while someone else is getting some sleep in the other bed. I used them a couple of times during our stay! Between the two beds was a blue and wood end table with two small drawers and one large one and an outlet on top (two plugs and two USB ports). You could easily store a book in the large drawer or something else you might need by the bed. I would put my phone cord in the smaller drawer when I wasn’t charging my phone. Then there was a small blue ledge on the wall on the other side of the bed on the right which was a perfect fit for my phone and also had an outlet (another set of two plugs and two USB ports). I thought that even though that was a small addition, it was a great one. If you have two people sharing a bed you don’t have to worry about having everything on one side of the bed. Then on the left side of the bed to the left was a nice desk in the same wood but with a blue countertop and with a round mirror hanging above it framed in wood. The desk had a white and gold desk lamp, two outlets on either side of the desk, and a smaller desk tucked underneath it that can be rolled out if you need it. The desk had a beautiful accent chair that was blue and white striped and also in the same wood. It was a perfect spot if you needed to do some work during your trip!

In addition to the beds, there is a nice cream-colored couch with white accent pillows with a pretty blue scroll design on them. The couch is comfy to lounge on and folds down to a twin-size bed which is very helpful for larger parties staying in these rooms! Beside the couch was the TV which is mounted on the wall above the dresser. The dresser is designed just like the cabinet that holds the mini-fridge, dark woods with gold accents, and a white countertop. On the countertop (or technically above it) are two plugs on either side of the dresser with two plugs and two USB ports each. Disney is really doing a great job in making sure there is always an outlet handy if you need to plug something in! The dresser has a cabinet in the middle which had extra blankets stored inside with a drawer above it and four drawers on either side. It was more than enough space to unpack our clothes! We did also have a standard balcony with a small white metal table and two white metal chairs but the balcony’s size can vary depending on your room.

Overall, I enjoyed my stay at Yacht Club and I look forward to more stays there in the future! The room was just laid out perfectly and it was very comfortable for my mother and me to spend our five nights in while at Disney. I couldn’t see how any family wouldn’t be comfortable in the rooms and the changes that Disney did to the rooms were exactly what they needed and even some that I didn’t even think they needed but so glad that added. I could actually spend a good vacation just hanging out and relaxing at Yacht Club and not even going into parks but who am I kidding?!?! I was just steps away from Epcot!

If you’d like to plan a trip and stay in one of these beautiful rooms at Yacht Club be sure to contact the official travel agent of The Disney Nerds Podcast, Once Upon a Time Travel.