Disney hotel Beach Club or POFQ?
 

My family and I (husband and 2 kids ages 8 and 5) are heading to Disney World in Sept. for 5 nights. Right now have Beach Club booked. Can stay at POFQ for $1000 less. Any experience with both or either of these hotels? Plan to do MK 2 days, and EPCOT and HS one day each. Wondering if the convenience of BC is worth not needing the bus for 2 parks and $1K more. Love the sound of BC's pool, but hear it can be very busy and a pain to watch kids with different swimming abilities. Also had thought about Wilderness Lodge which is about $250 less than BC. Thank you for any help!

The Beach Club pool is the best one at Disney IMO; that's one reason they give guests wristbands so that guests from other hotels cannot come in.

Whether or not "it is a pain" to watch your kid at a pool I suspect depends on you and your kid, not the pool...but the pool is big, for sure.

Yes, it can be busy; the YC/BC hold a lot of guests. You can walk into EPCOT easily. But if you want to be closer or at POFQ whatever that is, go ahead.

Thank you for the insight. By " a pain"', I don't mean that I don't want to have to watch them. I have heard that it can be hard to keep track of kids with different swimming abilities as the pool is so large and the slide entry is across a walkway, so it might get a little tricky. We have a pool at home and am very vigilant about always having an eye on both and any others. Just didn't know if the pool, while great, is better suited for strong swimmers. POFQ is the French Quarter Resort which uses busses to all parks. I know I can justify $1k for the ability to walk to Epcot, but I tend to not mind paying for convenience, while my husband is a tad more "frugal".

I have stayed at both BC and POFQ. I do love the convenience of being able to walk to EPCOT from the hotel. The whole area is very nice, including the Boardwalk Inn and, of course, the Yacht Club, which shares the pool with the Beach Club. Storm Along Bay is a great pool. However, if you have two children who may be in different parts of the pool, it might be difficult to keep your eye on both of them at the same time. I really dont think this would make me not stay there. You and your husband should be able to watch your children in the pool. Lots of families staying there every day.

POFQ is very nice, too. It is a smaller resort and easy to navigate. There is nice pool, with a slide. You can also use the pool at Port Orleans Riverside, as the resorts are connected and walkable to each other.

You mentioned Wilderness Lodge. I have not stayed there, but had breakfast in Whispering Canyon. The Lodge is beautiful (especially at Chrismas). I understand the rooms are a little small. It is convenient to the Magic Kingdom.

If cost is not a huge factor for you, I would choose the Beach Club. One thing i want to mention, there is no food court at the Beach Club, if that matters to you. I think there is a place to grab some food items, but no quick service dining. There are restaurants, of course.

Quite honestly, any one of your choices will be big fun. Enjoy.

One more thing, beginning today, Disney is offering Free Dining from September 2-25. If you are not aware, you should definitely look into this. Go to disneyworld.com and click on Special Offers. You can really save some $$ when the Dining Plan is free. Look into it.

Thank you both so much, have decided to stick with Beach Club, but managed to get the free dining discount, so some great savings there. Thanks again!

Oh, I am so glad you were able to book the Free Dining! Have fun!

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge last year and loved it. Since you are spending 2 days at the MK, taking the short boat ride over there is so much nicer then taking a monorail or a bus. Plus you get to enjoy the boat show on the lake, camp fires with roasted marshmallows on the beach, etc etc. Your kids are the perfect age for that :) The buses can take a long time even when they are empty - that is the one drawback of using Disney transportation.

Have a great trip - don't stress too much about where you are staying; you can never go wrong at Disney :)