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Disney's Beach Club Resort
Brings Turn-of-the-Century
New England to Vacation Kingdom
The grand, turn-of-the-century summer homes of
Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket are recalled in Disney's Yacht
Club Resort and Disney's Beach Club Resort, two
deluxe-category hotels at Walt Disney World Resort.
Guests can walk or go by tram from the resorts
to Epcot, or travel by water taxi to Disney's Hollywood
Studios. Convenient bus service transports guests throughout
Walt Disney World Resort.
The luxury club hotels on the shores of
25-acre Crescent Lake are designed by noted architect Robert
A.M. Stern, best known for his East Coast seaside homes. The
resorts take guests back to the 1890s with fancy-cut shingles,
French doors and other post-modern embellishments that are the
trademark of Stern's work.
The imagery follows through in Stormalong Bay,
a 2 1/2-acre water recreation area reminiscent of a Nantucket
beach with a life-size shipwreck with water slides, snorkeling
in a sandy lagoon and a meandering swimming area that
seemingly flows into the surrounding lake.
There is also a 73,000-square-foot convention
center adjacent to the resorts that includes a
36,000-square-foot ballroom capable of seating up to 2,800 for
dinner.
Complementing each other, the three-, four-
and five-story club hotels nonetheless have distinctive
architectural styles. Each hotel has its own entrance motif,
main lobby, restaurants and retail shops.
Disney's Beach Club Resort More
Whimsical
The pale-blue-and-white "stick-style" Beach Club is
"a little bit of this, a little bit of that," said
Stern with a smile. Stick style, he explained, was the
prevalent architecture for seaside wooden cottages in the
1860s and 1870s, "like grandmother's fabulous beach house
-- ceiling fans, chintz, gingham."
The crisp colors open up the hotel's lobby
with white wicker furniture, 24-foot-high ceilings, natural
French limestone floors and a seashell motif. Cast members are
dressed in more casual pastel knickers or dresses.
Restaurants range from an authentic clambake
with a rockweed steamer in the 218-seat Cape May Cafe
to Martha's Vineyard, a cozy 59-seat lounge featuring a
wide variety of wines.
All of the 576 rooms continue the "summer
cottage" ambiance with cool colors, a scattering of
seashells and French doors to outdoor porches and a white-sand
beach.
Both hotels offer child-care facilities and
are accessible to handicapped guests.
Stormalong Bay
Guests can splash through three lagoon areas -- including one
specifically designed for younger water-lovers, with a depth
of 2 to 3 feet.
A spiral stair on board the life-sized
shipwreck ascends to a 150-foot mast, broken and askew to
serve as a flume plummeting toward a rocky outcropping where
another 150 feet of spins complete a fast-moving thrill slide.
Each hotel also features a "quiet
pool" in alcoves far removed from Stormalong Bay. There
also are motorized watercraft at the resort marina.
A tile-lined, 12-person Jacuzzi, reminiscent
of the famous old health spas, is the centerpiece of the
4,750-square-foot Ship Shape Health Club. A steam bath, sauna
and massage rooms also are included. A weight room and
aerobics room both have staff trained to assist guests.
The centrally located Beaches & Cream
old-fashioned ice cream parlour is the place to head after a
swim or workout, where guests can order burgers and decadent
desserts like banana splits, frozen hot cocoa, floats, shakes
and malts. |
