book disney world yacht club

Disney's Yacht Club Resort

View prices for your travel dates

• Excellent 1,719
• Very Good 846
• Average 306
• Terrible 86
• All languages ( 3,071 )
• English ( 2,944 )
• Spanish ( 37 )
• Portuguese ( 36 )

" Cannot use the bus service…horrible. "

" Don't book this hotel. "

" Get a hotel refillable cup Take plenty of pain killers as they cost a fortune in the shop "

" Awesome location and options for transport. Not a ton to do for kids except the awesome pool. "

" Ask for a kettle for your room Get a room with a view Try and get a room close to reception "

Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.

DISNEY'S YACHT CLUB RESORT - Updated 2024 Prices & Reviews (Orlando, FL)

Accommodations

Theme parks, disney cruise line – what you need to know, cruise line ships, recent walt disney world, recent disneyland, all reviews, recent reviews, allears style, newsletter home, recent disney and florida attractions news blog.

• What We Pack for Universal That We Don’t Pack for Disney World
• NEWS: Disney World's New Permit Could Be a CLUE on When DinoLand U.S.A. Could Close Forever
• Disney CEO Bob Iger Is Bringing Back a Controversial Trend Started by Chapek
• FIRST LOOK at the New ‘The Acolyte’ Star Wars Series Premiering SOON on Disney+
• This Might Be the Best Kept Universal Orlando Secret of ALL Time
• ( view all posts )

Ultimate Guide to the Best Rooms at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

Staying at a Disney World deluxe resort usually comes with beautiful theming, nice rooms, and perks like Extended Evening Hours . One might argue, though, that one of the most beautiful deluxe resorts in Disney World is Disney’s Yacht Club .

This deluxe resort is a popular choice for guests wanting easy access to EPCOT or Hollywood Studios, which are both just a walk or boat ride away, or because of the epic pool, Stormalong Bay, which is almost like its own waterpark. It’s easy to decide why guests stay here, but, which rooms are the best ?

The Yacht Club is a five-story deluxe resort and is themed around the refinement of a New England yachting club. The resort has a soft gray exterior accented by striking red and white striped awnings and the interior is lined with warm woods, nautical instruments, and a giant globe as the lobby centerpiece. The resort faces Crescent Lake, is close neighbors with Beach Club Resort, and has the best resort pool on property. You’ve picked a beautiful resort to spend your Disney vacation, but let’s look at the best rooms!

The Yacht Club rooms are elegant and stately and might be a bit “executive” and bland when compared to some of its counterparts. Keeping with the nautical theme, you’ll find warm woods, navy blue and beige contrasted against crisp white. But one of the favorite elements in the room are the navy curtain which features fictional Disney constellations and a bit of whimsy to this otherwise rather corporate feeling room.

There are 635 guest rooms and 21 suites at the Yacht Club. The rooms are typically 381 square feet and feature two queen-size beds, a daybed, and a desk with chairs. There are some different categories to choose from: Standard View, Garden View, Water View, and Lagoon or Pool View .

For an extra cost, there are also 70 club level or concierge rooms on the fifth floor Regatta Club. Those these rooms are basically the same as standard rooms, they do offer access to additional amenities, including:

• An exclusive check-in area
• A concierge cast members to assist with personal vacation needs
• Nightly turndown service
• Access to a club lounge stocked with complimentary food and beverages

4th Floor Rooms

The top floor is typically reserved for the Club level rooms, but the next best thing without that concierge price tag is the fourth floor. These rooms provide better views (no matter what you’re direction you’re looking), but particularly if you have a Pool View where lower level rooms would just give you views of the back of pool lounge chairs.

Gazebo View

You won’t find “Gazebo View” listed in the options, but rooms ending –48, –50, –52, –54, and –63, as well as odd-numbered room –67 through –97 over look the gazebo which make for a serene view. And you even be in for a show if one of the Disney’s Fairytale Weddings occurs there during your stay (no invitation required!).

Corner Rooms

Rooms that fall on the corner of buildings sometimes come with a little extra elbow room or even an extra window. For that chance to snag not just one views, but two look at these options, rooms ending in: -001, -009, -114, -122, -027, -043,  -065, -155, -163, -164, -201, -209, -210.

If you’re looking to be closer to EPCOT, Stormalong Bay, and the Beach Club, ask for rooms ending in -190 through -241. If you’re looking for rooms closer to the Swan and Dolphin and Hollywood Studios, ask for rooms ending in -001 to -054.

So if you’re looking to book a stay at Disney’s Yacht Club and want the best room available, keep these in mind! You can also always check out our reader reviews of Yacht Club here .

The Ultimate Guide to the Best Rooms at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

Join the allears.net newsletter  to stay on top of all the breaking disney news you'll also get access to allears tips, reviews, trivia, and more click here to subscribe.

Have you ever stayed at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort? Let us know in the comments!

Trending Now

Disney CEO Bob Iger is bringing a controversial trend back that was started by prior...

Most folks don't realize that visiting Universal is incredibly different from Disney World and what...

If you're hoping to stay in a super elegant room for your next Disney World...

Figure out where to stay on your next trip Disney World based on your Enneagram...

If you're going to be traveling to Disney World this spring, this is the ONE...

These fun Disney car seats are also on sale!

Are we sleeping on a Disney World Park? These wait times suggest that might be...

The Canada Pavilion is often overlooked in the World Showcase, but here's why you shouldn't...

Love Disney books? This new Loungefly collection is PERFECT for you!

If you remember eating at any of these restaurants in Disney World, it's probably time...

Don't go to Disney World without these items from Amazon!

Dooney & Bourke's latest Disney collection is PERFECT for fans of Alice in Wonderland!

If you do any of these three things in Disney World, are you OK? We...

We've all ridden Frozen Ever After, but we've never really seen what's under the water...

Costco just changed the game for our Disney World hotel stays!

Amazon recently announced dates for their biggest sale of the year yet AND it's a...

If you're heading to Disney World with first-timers, first of all, good luck. Secondly, here's...

Annual Passholders can book reservations for the newest hotel rooms coming to Disney World starting...

We just found a hint about spooky season in Disney World!

The experts keep coming back to these nine Disney World restaurants. See why here!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow us on Social!

Shop the Disney Store | AllEars® Merchandise | Shop Amazon | Press Room | Contact Us

Read more About us or Advertise with us . We respect your right to privacy. Please take a moment to review our privacy policy and terms of use .

Copyright ©1996-2024 AllEarsNet, LLC, All Rights Reserved. AllEars.Net, AllEars® Newsletter and any other properties owned by AllEarsNet, LLC are not affiliated with, authorized or endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with, The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc., or any of their affiliates. All Disney artwork, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and trade names are proprietary to Disney Enterprises, Inc. or, its subsidiary, affiliated and related companies. For official Disney information, visit http://www.disneyworld.com

Hotel with the best pool complex at Disney World: Review of Disney's Yacht Club Resort

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here .

When you think of a Florida theme park hotel, I'd bet you probably don't think of deep, rich colors, hardwoods and a refined turn-of-the-century, New England-style nautical-themed resort.

And when you think of a hotel pool, you likely don't conjure up images of a 3-acre waterpark complete with a life-size shipwreck replica that is home to a long, twisting, turning waterslide.

But all this, and actually a lot more, is precisely what you'll find at what has to be one of the best hotels at Disney World , Disney's Yacht Club Resort. In fact, when we picked this resort for a short Florida getaway, we actually considered not spending any days in the Disney theme parks to go along with it. We amended that plan for one day at Epcot, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to do an entire vacation here without getting on a single ride. In this case, the resort could be the destination.

For more TPG news delivered each morning to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter .

Disney's Yacht Club (1990) opened in the same era of rapid Disney World development as Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort (1988), and both share a type of ocean theme. However, the two couldn't be more different from one another. With just over 600 rooms (compared to more than 1,500 at Caribbean Beach), this deluxe Disney resort offers guests a vacation within a vacation both in terms of comfort and amenities.

After a recent stay at the property, it was all I could do to not add another night when the time to check out unfortunately arrived. And while not everything is postcard-perfect at this Disney resort at the moment, I promised myself (and my kids) we'd be back. It's that special.

Let's start with some bad news: Disney's Yacht Club is often expensive.

This is one of Disney's deluxe resorts and there is no Disney Vacation Club wing of this hotel. This means you can't rent DVC points to potentially book a room for less the way you can at places such as Polynesian Village Resort. (Note that you can do this at the neighboring Beach Club Resort.)

If you can snag a room during a sale or with a solid discount, you can probably get the rate down to $350-$400 per night, but it's unlikely to go much lower. It's common for rooms here to go for $500 and up, especially once standard rooms are sold out and you need to pay even more for a water view, which is precisely what I had to do. The view itself is (in my mind) not actually worth an upcharge, but sometimes that's all that's available.

While I booked during a 30% off sale, my water-view room at the Yacht Club still came to just over $500 per night. There are some ways to use points for Disney World vacations , such as using miles from the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to offset the expense at a 1 cent = 1 mile valuation , but there's no way to get outsize value for your credit card points at Disney properties.

If you do decide to book a Disney resort like this one, it can make sense to go through a Disney Vacation Planner as that doesn't add to your cost and they do a great job staying on the lookout for sales and discounts and keeping track of all those ever-changing components of a trip to Disney World.

Related: How much does a trip to Disney World cost?

FOR NO-COST ASSISTANCE WITH PLANNING AND BOOKING YOUR NEXT DISNEY VACATION, CHECK OUT TPG'S DISNEY BOOKING PARTNER, MOUSE COUNSELORS .

No doubt it sounds a touch insane to spend $500 for a theme park-adjacent hotel room, but the location is one reason why Disney's Yacht Club commands that rate (and often sells out).

This hotel is just a 5-10 minute walk from the World Showcase entrance of Epcot. It is also within walking distance of Disney's Hollywood Studios, or you can hop on a boat to take you there since that walk is a bit longer.

Being so close to Epcot also means that the Skyliner stop at Epcot is within very easy reach, opening up even more Disney locations such as the Riviera Resort , Caribbean Beach Resort and more.

Yacht Club is also an incredibly short stroll away from the BoardWalk, which is home to even more shops and restaurants.

I'm happy to save money and stay off Disney property on the first night of the trip, or for trips when we aren't going for an all-in Disney family vacation. But when we do go all-in on Disney World, I want to be in the "Disney bubble." Staying at Yacht Club puts you in the heart of the Disney bubble, well-cushioned in your own deluxe nautical-themed space, but just an arm's reach from lots of great Disney dining and entertainment options.

Related: Guide to visiting Walt Disney World

We arrived at Disney's Yacht Club in the early afternoon, after starting the vacation off with a character brunch at Topolino's Terrace at the top of the nearby Disney Riviera Resort . (Which I highly recommend you add to your to-do list if you love characters and can snag a reservation.)

Since we arrived a few hours before official check-in time, I didn't have high hopes our room would be ready, given the era of pandemic precautions, but that became the first pleasant surprise of the trip when Room 2077 was ready and waiting for us several hours early.

Check-in is also where we were informed that while room service has returned as an option for breakfast and dinner, regular housekeeping had not yet returned to Disney resorts . Towels and trash would be attended to every other day. For our two-night stay, that meant there would be no formal housekeeping services, though we could ask for more towels and such.

If you are able to manage stairs, you can easily access the second level of the resort — where we stayed — via the lobby without using the elevators.

In fact, heading up the lobby stairs reveals some fun touches, such as a ship's wheel, among other themed decor.

Our room was a bit of a walk down several hallways, so if that's an issue, ask for a room closer to the lobby if available.

Inside a room at Disney's Yacht Club, you aren't going to find bright colors, Disney characters or loud decor. If that's what you want, I recommend Disney's Art of Animation , which has plenty of color and characters.

Yacht Club was renovated in recent years to appeal not only to traditional Disney vacationers but also to conventiongoers who frequently stay at the resort during normal times. And in this case, everyone won with a redesign that maintained the overall theme but upgraded the offerings.

The rooms still carry out the resort's high-end nautical theme, but in a way that is elegant and more refined than the previous 1990s-era version.

Like with other Disney resort upgrades, the beds are now raised and the floors are now hard instead of carpet. As Disney renovated rooms across its properties, this has been the standard it is changing to.

There's a pullout sofa that can be used as a sleeper and a small writing desk.

Most notably, there were outlets everywhere. We travel with a lot of things that need charging and we didn't come close to using them all up. Some furnishings may be made to look like turn-of-the-century New England, but they are loaded with modern-day power.

The two queen beds were perfect for a good night's rest after a busy day at Disney.

In the room, you'll also find a minifridge and Keurig.

We were impressed with the amount of storage the room had in the form of shelves, racks, cubbies and drawers. We were able to stay far more organized than normal with a family's worth of stuff, thanks to the storage options.

There was a balcony with two chairs that overlooked a well-manicured green lawn and technically some water. Remember, this was a pricier water-view room after all.

I adored the drapes, both because they did a great job keeping light out in the morning but also because they were adorable and perfect for the room, featuring constellations.

Like at many other similar Disney resorts, the bathroom had a vanity with two sinks located in a cubby between the main room and the bathroom, so it could be used while someone was in the shower.

The bathroom area had a sliding door for both the room itself and the tub/shower combo. There were plenty of Disney H2O+ bath products in the shower and bathroom area.

We found the room incredibly nice, but do know that it doesn't take much to hear what's going on in the hallway or other rooms around you. If you like total silence, you'll be well-served to pack some earplugs and a white noise app to go along with your Mickey ears.

Related: Why you need more than just a ticket to get into Disney World this summer

The Yacht Club room is plenty comfortable, but that's probably not why you stay at Disney's Yacht Club — it's certainly not why we paid what we did to stay here.

Stormalong Bay pool complex

What makes this resort so special is the 3-acre pool complex shared with the neighboring Disney Beach Club Resort.

Dubbed Stormalong Bay, this pool complex has everything from a 230-foot waterslide to a lazy river, whirlpool, shallow splash area, toddler slide, hot tubs and more. It even has a sandy bottom in some of the areas, which feels so much nicer on your tired Disney feet than a hard surface.

This pool area is almost a mini-waterpark and certainly worthy of planning some time in your schedule just to enjoy it. Right now, it can get busy to the point where there is no way to get in during peak times.

However, we had a blast also going late at night after the parks closed, when there were very few people in the pool at all. While the hours can vary, it was open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. during our stay.

There are four cabanas at the pool you can book if you want extra space and service, but you need to reserve well in advance if you want those because they go quickly.

Getting into the pool requires verification you are a resort guest and you're then assigned the colored wristband of the day to wear. There's plenty of towels at the pool, as well as a small army of lifeguards keeping a close watch on the various areas of the pool.

Stormalong Bay is adjacent to Hurricane Hanna's Waterside Bar & Grill, so it's pretty easy to pop over there and order a snack or cocktail. The $12 seafood roll turned out to be a perfect snack for us.

My 11-year-old gave the $6 Lava Smoothie (made of raspberry, coconut and pineapple flavors) high marks and my $14 Frosé was excellent.

Whether your group is made up of adults, some teens, tweens or toddlers, this pool area is truly excellent, especially if you build in some time to enjoy it when most people are sleeping, eating or in the Disney parks.

Evening movies on the beach

Several nights per week at 8 p.m., a Disney movie is shown along the "beach" at the Yacht Club. This is free to enjoy and the week we were there the films showing were "Zootopia," "Sleeping Beauty," "A Bug's Life" and "Disneynature: Earth."

I'll never fully understand who needs a treadmill at Disney when it's normal to walk 10 miles a day in the park, but Yacht Club has those and more in its gym that overlooks Stormalong Bay.

Magical Express Bus

Until the end of 2021, if you want to take the included Magical Express Bus transportation to and from the Orlando airport, that's available to those who stay at this and any other full-fledged Disney resort hotel. If you decide to self-park at Yacht Club, it's going to cost you $25 per night. The upside is that the fee also gives you access to parking at the Disney theme parks at no additional charge.

The Magical Express Bus stop is right in front of the hotel entrance, and the bus stop to go to the various Disney theme parks is just to the side of the hotel entrance.

Still-closed amenities

If you remember when I mentioned there are still some small bumps at Yacht Club, here's where they begin.

Those looking for the ultimate, once-in-a-lifetime Yacht Club experience may want to hold off a tiny bit longer if you want to experience all the amenities. The Club Lounge remains closed, as does one of the main sit-down restaurants.

On top of that, the onsite Ship Shape Salon is still closed, along with the Lafferty Place Arcade.

Normally, you can rent boats or even sign your kids up for a pirate-themed adventure that leaves from the dock outside of the Yacht Club, but all of that is also still on pause.

We had plenty to do for a few days without any of those amenities, but just keep in mind that some things remain shuttered for now.

Related: Changes to expect at Disney World in 2021

Ale & Compass Restaurant

Just off the lobby of Yacht Club is a dark, subdued restaurant called Ale & Compass. While you do need reservations to eat breakfast or dinner here, it's one of the easier reservations to get at Disney World.

Described as "Yankee comfort food," this menu has options such as lobster-and-corn chowder; a fantastic salad called the Ale & Compass salad with additions such as pumpkin seeds and beets; steak; pasta; and a burger with bacon and Vermont cheddar served with thick fries.

Getting good photos in the dark restaurant was next to impossible, but we enjoyed our salad and burger.

And while we didn't eat breakfast here, I've heard good things about the dark chocolate waffles.

Our service here was quite friendly but incredibly slow. The wait for our reservation was pretty extensive, followed by another wait for a server to arrive at our table to start the meal-ordering process. This is likely at least in part due to the restaurant having a brisk business of to-go orders that you can make from the Disney app, along with the other sit-down restaurant at the hotel remaining closed.

Related: These are the best restaurants at Disney World

Ale & Compass Lounge

Another alternative to the restaurant is the adjacent Ale & Compass Lounge, which also has a sleek, updated, but pretty dark look once day turns to night.

In the back of the lounge is a bar, with the front portion offering a variety of seating options and a reduced menu that still includes the burger and chowder.

The Market at Ale & Compass

In the gift shop area of the hotel is the Market at Ale & Compass, where you can order grab-and-go options in the Disney app.

We tried the $12 breakfast bowl that had a little bit of everything on it and was actually almost enough food for myself and two kids for a quick pre-park breakfast.

The $7 ham and cheese breakfast sandwich on a pretzel roll also looked really solid.

In the afternoon and evening, you'll find a variety of sandwiches, a hot dog and a panini on the menu.

Beaches and Cream Soda Shop

If you're going to splurge cash on staying at the Yacht Club, I highly recommend also splurging some calories at Beaches and Cream. You're going to need to make a reservation here well in advance (dining reservations are accepted 60 days before your trip) or get very lucky.

We planned our trip pretty close-in and were never able to snag advance reservations, but got lucky with timing that they had an outdoor table available for us to order the most exciting item on the menu ... the Kitchen Sink.

This $35 sink of ice cream is made of eight scoops (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream and mint) along with every single topping in the house. Oh, and there's also an entire can of whipped cream on top.

It's epic, huge, ridiculous and a lot of fun.

The three of us barely put a dent in it but certainly had fun trying.

There are more regular-sized ice cream options on the menu, too, but if you're doing a once-in-a-lifetime trip, try this once-in-a-lifetime dessert.

Should you want more than just sugar for your meal, this is also where you'll find burgers, sandwiches, chili and other 1950s classic-style treats.

Yachtsman Steakhouse

This second sit-down restaurant has not yet reopened, but when it does, this is where you can go for those post-convention expensed sales dinners ... or a very nice meal out for two. The menu features a $135 seafood tower, prime porterhouse, lobster, filet mignon, elk, lobster and other similar entrees that start around $50.

Overall impressions

I'm a total and complete sucker for a well-themed, well-located Disney World resort. Resorts such as this one, along with Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, Disney's Wilderness Lodge, Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and others, have me hook, line and wallet.

For me, the resort hotel isn't just a place to sleep at night, it's also a destination much like the theme parks themselves. I enjoy the scent in the lobby, the storyline of the property, the Disney touches throughout and the convenience of being fully immersed in Disney magic.

While my kids vetoed the idea, I'd have been totally happy having Disney's Yacht Club Resort serve as our actual final destination for the weekend with no park time at all. However, since it is such an easy walk to Epcot, adding that park on was actually a whole lot of fun, too.

If what you want is just a decent bed close to the parks, don't stay here. You're probably overpaying to stay at Yacht Club if you don't truly value the Stormalong Bay pool area. You can stay at the next-door Disney Swan and Dolphin for a fraction of the cash if you're just after location.

And right now, with some amenities still closed, I don't recommend staying here if you are going to be upset when things aren't 100% full service and perfect. The prices are as high as ever to match demand, so don't expect a reduced price to match the reduced amenities.

But if you can overlook a few things and what you want is a fun, slightly grown-up hotel theme, a great location, access to the best resort pool at Disney World and easy access to multiple restaurants, Disney's Yacht Club Resort is now officially one of my favorite Disney hotels — and one that I can't wait to return to in the coming years.

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort Review

Hoping for a chic place to stay at Disney World where the kids can still feel at home? At Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, sophisticated style, refined restaurants, and an epic hotel waterpark make for the perfect stay for families and couples alike.  

So, how does the Walt Disney World Yacht Club Resort compare to the other deluxe hotels? Is this spendy stay worth the price of admission? Grab your captain’s hat and a compass as we set sail to find out. (Updated September 7, 2022)

Staying at the Disney World Yacht Club Resort

Yacht clubs may typically be for the rich and famous, but you don’t need to be the owner of a swanky ship to stay at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. Overlooking Crescent Lake towards Disney’s BoardWalk , it’s the more dignified stay of the Disney Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, perfect for an adult Disney trip , kid-friendly perks like the best Disney hotel pool, and a convenient location in the middle of the Epcot & Hollywood Studios Resort Area . 

With quaint grey buildings trimmed in white and a lighthouse guiding Friendship Boats to the marina, this deluxe resort is styled like a stately yacht club along New England’s coastline. Only a short walk from the International Gateway entrance at Epcot with a covetable spot on the Disney Skyliner route, it’s an ideal stay for families hoping to maximize their time at Hollywood Studios or adults stumbling back to the room after a day spent drinking around the world . 

Disney World Yacht Club Rooms & Suites

The Walt Disney World Yacht Club Resort touts a 4.5 on TripAdvisor. As with other deluxe resorts at Disney World, it has a variety of room types to choose from including standard rooms, Disney club-level rooms , and even a 2-bedroom suite. If you’re picky about the view and don’t want to get stuck with uninspired scenes of the resort’s rooftops, choose from a relaxing garden-view or water-view room instead.

A far cry from the outdated, on-the-nose guestrooms of the past, rooms here use more contemporary elements like dark woods, strong lines, crisp linens, and nautical touches for a more refined take on classic coastal style. With sky-chart-inspired curtains, a mirror reminiscent of a porthole, and a feature wall with menswear flair, a stay here feels like stepping into the captain’s quarters on a posh mega yacht. 

In general, all standard rooms and suites at the Yacht Club come with the following amenities: a hairdryer, iron, ironing board, mini-refrigerator, coffee maker, in-room safe, telephone with voicemail, and free Wi-Fi. 

Standard View Room

• Comes with 1 king bed or 1 king bed & 1 day bed or 2 queen beds & 1 day bed or 1 queen bed & 1 day bed & 1 twin-sized sleeper chair
• Sleeps between 2 to 5 adults 
• Views of the parking area or resort rooftops

Garden or Woods Room

• Comes with 1 king bed or 2 queen beds or 2 queen beds & 1 day bed or 1 queen bed & 1 day bed & 1 twin-sized sleeper chair
• Views of the gardens or forested areas

Water View Room

• Comes with 1 king bed or 1 king bed & 1 day bed or 2 queen beds or 2 queen beds & 1 day bed or 1 queen bed & 1 day bed & 1 twin-sized sleeper chair
• Views of Crescent Lake or the quiet pool

2 Bedroom Suite

• Comes with 2 king beds and 1 queen-sized sofa sleeper
• Sleeps up to 6 adults 
• Views of Crescent Lake or Stormalong Bay

Rooms with Club-Level Service at the Walt Disney World Yacht Club

Club-level guestrooms at Disney’s Yacht Club offer the same handsome interiors and thoughtful amenities (see above for details) as the standard rooms and suites, plus a DVD player, as well as the following benefits at the Regatta Club: complimentary access to the health club, complimentary fax assistance, complimentary newspapers in the Regatta Club, evening turndown service, and access to Disney Signature Services and a personalized front desk. Club-level guests are also able to access the Regatta Club with their key when refreshments are served between 7 AM and 10 PM.  

Standard View – Club Level Room

• Comes with 1 king bed or 2 queen beds 
• Sleeps between 2 to 4 adults 

Garden View – Club Level Room

• Comes with 1 king bed or 2 queen beds or 2 queen beds & 1 day bed
• Views of the gardens 

Water View – Club Level Room

• Comes with 1 king bed or 1 king bed & 1 day bed or 2 queen beds or 2 queen beds & 1 day bed
• Views of Stormalong Bay

Disney Yacht Club Resort Prices

Ready to book your reservation at the Walt Disney World Yacht Club Resort? You’re probably wondering how much it’ll cost you to stay there. With sophisticated rooms, an unbeatable location, and arguably the best hotel pool at Disney World, a night here doesn’t come cheap.

In fact, even if you stay in the most basic room of the bunch during the slowest time of year, you’ll still end up dropping at least $500 a night. So, if you’re traveling on a shoestring, one of Disney’s All-Star Resorts might be more your speed. Or save on your hotel stay without skimping on little Disney luxuries, stay at one of the charming Disney Port Orleans Resorts or another moderate resort instead. 

If you’re ready to treat you and your loved ones to a stay at Disney’s Yacht Club, room rates will depend on a few different things like what time of year you’re traveling, how many people are staying, and what you want to see when you look out your window. For example, while watching the Christmas fireworks from your water-view room on the Regatta Club level will run you almost $1,400, staying during the slow season in a room with a less-than-picturesque view of the roof will net you around $900 in savings . 

With rates spanning from the mid-$500s during the slow season to the mid-to-high $900s, basic standard-view rooms without access to the Regatta Club are the most affordable option. Contrastingly, if your clan is large or you’re looking to splurge, prices for a 2-bedroom suite with keys to the club-level lounge start in the low $2,000s and top out in the high $3,000s. 

Below are some examples of room rate ranges for stays in 2023 , arranged by starting price, for each of the room types available at the Yacht Club (expect slightly lower rates in 2022 ) :

• Standard View Room: $542 to $986
• King Bed: $549 to $991
• Garden or Woods View Room: $586 to $1,034
• Water View Room: $684 to $1,118
• Standard View – Club Level: $796 to $1,378
• Garden View – Club Level: $828 to $1,398
• Water View – Club Level: $939 to $1,566
• 2 Bedroom Suite: $2,182 to $3,877

Disney Yacht Club Hotel Amenities

Although room rates at Disney’s Yacht Club are on the spendy side, as a deluxe resort , you’ll have access to some of the best hotel amenities on Disney property. Unlike staying at Disney’s Art of Animation or one of the other value resorts, there are more than enough things to do at the Yacht Club at Walt Disney World to keep you entertained all vacation long.

Disney Yacht Club Dining

Just like the elegant yacht clubs that dot the New England coast and the rest of the United States, Disney World’s Yacht Club Resort offers an array of tempting dining options. As this is one of the more grown-up resorts at Walt Disney World, don’t expect any seafaring-themed Disney dinner shows or character dining starring Donald Duck in his iconic sailor outfit here. Instead, you’ll find everything from a grab-and-go market to a prime steakhouse.   

Best of all, with the Beach Club right next door and Disney’s BoardWalk only a short stroll away, you’re minutes away from a smorgasbord of other Disney World restaurants that are perfect for pleasing even the pickiest of eaters. 

Ale & Compass Lounge

Attached to the table-service restaurant of the same name, the Ale & Compass Lounge is a distinguished spot to grab a drink after a long day exploring the parks. With its dark blue paneling, plush furniture, and tin ceiling accents, you almost feel as if you’re in a classy cruise ship lounge. Stop by for elevated appetizers like Lobster and Corn Chowder and a Bacon and Vermont Cheddar Burger; stay for the old-school and updated craft cocktails . 

Ale & Compass Restaurant

With both a to-go menu and a handsome, expansive dining room, the Disney Ale and Compass Restaurant is a welcome stop whether fueling up for a day of adventures or dropping anchor after hours in the parks. Serving up both breakfast and dinner, this table-service restaurant styled after an inviting lighthouse is a beacon for hungry guests both day and night.

In the morning, tuck into seaside breakfast favorites like Shrimp and White Cheddar Grits, Crab Cake Benedict, or a Maine Lobster Roll. At dinnertime, dig into a selection of comfort food classics with a coastal twist like New England Seafood Pot Pie and Short Rib “French Dip” Flatbread. 

Crew’s Cup Lounge

With its warm wood beams, Craftsman-style elements, and a convenient location next door to the Yachtsman Steakhouse, Disney’s Crew’s Cup Lounge is a cozy place for a drink before heading to dinner or on your way back to the room. While you could just come for a glass of wine or a boozy coffee cocktail, this hotel bar also offers an extensive menu with dishes from the neighboring steakhouse, making this an excellent alternative if you can’t score a reservation. 

The Market at Ale & Compass

Serving up breakfast, lunch, and dinner – as well as a substantial selection of Disney souvenirs, snacks, and sundries – The Market at Ale & Compass is the place to go for a fast meal at Disney’s Yacht Club. This quick-service restaurant serves up pretty standard AM fare such as Mickey Waffles and breakfast sandwiches in the morning before transitioning to light bites like sandwiches and salads in the afternoons and evenings. 

Yachtsman Steakhouse

No yacht club in the Hamptons is complete without a ritzy steakhouse slinging surf-and-turf favorites. Warm and welcoming with seaworthy touches like knotty pine and porthole-inspired windows, the Yachtsman Steakhouse feels more laidback than stuffy, although a dress code is required (no flip-flops here!). 

Cut into carnivorous classics like the 28-oz Porterhouse for Two or the Roasted Prime Rib or stick to fresh-from-the-sea fare like Seafood Cioppino or a Chilled Admiral’s Tower for Two overflowing with lobster, crab, mussels, and more. End your meal on a sweet note with desserts like Yachtsman’s Chocolate Cake or Crème Brûlée. 

Disney Yacht Club Pools 

Like to get in the water as much as you like to get on the water? Well, you’ve come to the right place. One of the resorts with the best hotel pools at Disney World , Yacht Club is home to the only waterpark at a Walt Disney World hotel: Stormalong Bay. Sprawling across 3 glorious acres on the shores of Crescent Lake, this aquatic paradise is the perfect spot for a beach day – no trip to the coast necessary.  

Splash down the 230-foot-long waterslide, let your cares drain away along the lazy river or in one of the whirlpool spas, sink your toes into the sand-bottomed pool, or even discover the ruins of the resort’s resident shipwreck. Yachting is all about luxury, so splurge on a full-service cabana for you and your crew (reservations required). 

As you can imagine, Stormalong Bay can get pretty busy during the day. To skip the crowds, try visiting one of the 3 different leisure pools shared by Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort. 

Other Recreation at Disney’s Yacht Club 

The WDW Yacht Club Resort may be the Disney hotel with the best pool, but there are plenty of other recreational activities to keep you busy all vacation long. While you don’t need the keys to your own Sunseeker to gain entrance to Disney’s Yacht Club hotel, you can rent some out by the half-hour for everything from a 2-person Sea Raycer to a 10-person pontoon boat from the resort marina – one of our top things to do outside the theme parks . Or for other on-the-water fun, go on a guided fishing excursion or pirate adventure cruise instead. 

Rather keep both feet on dry land? The youngest resort guests will love watching some of their favorite Disney flicks during Movies Under the Stars or toasting marshmallows around the campfire, while grown-ups can keep their exercise routine intact on the jogging path or during an intense match on the volleyball or tennis courts.  

Getting cabin fever? Take some time to explore the resort’s incomparable location. The Disney World Yacht and Beach Club is just a short walk from the tasty restaurants, entertaining nightlife, and turn-of-the-century appeal of Disney’s BoardWalk complex. Or for wholesome thrills the whole family can enjoy, work on your swing at Disney’s Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course across the street from the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resorts. 

Disney Yacht Club Merchandise Locations

For those searching for that perfect souvenir, set a course for The Market at Ale & Compass. This one-stop shop is a convenient spot to pick up forgotten essentials, Disney merchandise, and provisions for a day in the parks. As the location of the resort’s quick-service restaurant, table-service restaurant, and to-go outlet, it’s also an ideal pitstop before cruising to the parks or back to your room. 

Disney Yacht Club FAQs

Want to know more about Disney’s Yacht Club Resort? Read on for answers to some commonly asked questions. 

Is Disney Yacht Club kid-friendly?

Yes! Despite the more grown-up vibe, Disney’s Yacht Club can be a great place to stay for families with children of all ages. While the guestrooms aren’t exactly overflowing with pixie dust, you’ll still find plenty of kid-friendly activities to keep little ones feeling the magic, from splashing around in Stormalong Bay to watching Disney Movies Under the Stars. And if there aren’t enough options to please the picky eaters in your life at the Ale & Compass, there definitely will be at Beaches & Cream Soda Shop next door at Disney’s Beach Club. 

When was Disney Yacht Club refurbished?

Rooms at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort were renovated rather recently in 2017, a welcome update from the previous guestrooms’ dated design touches like nautical headboards and white-painted furniture. 

Can you see fireworks from Disney Yacht Club?

Yup! While you won’t be able to watch the entire show, thanks to its covetable location in the heart of the Epcot and Hollywood Studios Resort Area, you will be able to catch some of the higher fireworks from both nighttime spectaculars. In fact, aside from the beach at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort , it’s also one of our top spots to watch the Disney World fireworks outside the parks . Just head to the resort’s lighthouse on Crescent Lake. If you’re lucky, you may even be able to catch glimpses of the show from the comfort of your hotel room.  

Can you walk from Yacht Club to Hollywood Studios? 

Yes! If you’d rather not take the bus, Friendship Boat, or Disney Skyliner , there is a walking path that connects the Epcot Resort Area to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Roughly 1-mile long or around a 15 to 20-minute walk, the walkway runs from between Disney’s BoardWalk Inn and the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort to the main entrance to Hollywood Studios. 

How long is the walk to Epcot?

Walking to the International Gateway entrance at Epcot from Disney’s Yacht Club Resort will only take around 10 to 15 minutes depending on your pace. If you’re not in a hurry, you can also enjoy a leisurely 20-minute ride from the hotel to the park on one of the Friendship Boats . 

How long is the bus ride from Yacht Club to Magic Kingdom? Animal Kingdom?

Taking the Disney bus from the Yacht Club to Magic Kingdom typically takes around 20 minutes, as does the bus to Animal Kingdom . If you’ve really got some time on your hands and are looking to take the scenic route, you can also take the Monorail from the front of Epcot to Magic Kingdom Park.

However, as you will need to walk all the way through World Showcase and Future World just to reach the Monorail, this hourlong route definitely isn’t for the faint of heart or those short on time. Keep in mind that you will need a park ticket (and currently, also a park reservation) to get to the Epcot Monorail from Disney’s Yacht Club. 

Well, crew, that concludes our cruise around Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. With its adult ambiance, convenient location, classy style, delicious restaurants, and a boatload of recreational activities (including the best hotel pool at Disney World), it’s an excellent choice for everyone from families with children (especially older kids and teens) to couples. 

While you’re there, make the most of your time at the resort’s two closest parks with our 1-day plans for Epcot and Hollywood Studios . Or since you indulged in a deluxe resort, why not save some cash with our discounted Walt Disney World tickets . 

Have you ever stayed at Disney’s Yacht Club? Which room type or restaurant is your favorite? Is the Regatta Club worth it?  Where is the best place to watch the Epcot fireworks ? Let us know in the comments!

• Sign In or Create Account
• Change language button 日本語
• Destinations

From January 7, 2023 through October 2023, Disney's Beach Club Villas will undergo refurbishment. During this time, Resort amenities will remain available for your enjoyment. While you may see or hear construction during daytime hours, you should not hear noise in your Guest room between dusk and 9:00 AM.

Additionally, the Dunes Cove Pool will undergo resurfacing from November 3, 2023 to December 22, 2023. Guests are encouraged to visit Stormalong Bay, Shipwreck Pool or the tidal pool at Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts during this time.

From January 2025 through May 2025, Stormalong Bay and Shipwreck Pool will be closed for routine maintenance. Guests may see or hear construction work during daytime hours. During this time, Guests are welcome to swim at the Tidal, Admiral and Dunes Cove leisure pools.

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

Unwind in a New England-style yacht club with a beautiful, nautical-themed lobby and elegant accommodations. Enjoy swimming in 3 acres of water wonderland at Stormalong Bay as well as boating on Crescent Lake. Treat yourself to fine dining and delight in family dining with some Disney Characters. Sharing amenities with Disney’s Beach Club Resort, this Resort hotel is an idyllic vacation getaway unto itself—and also provides easy access to nearby EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Members who purchased directly through Disney can use Vacation Points to stay at this Resort hotel.

What Makes This Resort Hotel Unique

Take advantage of staying in a Disney Resort hotel close to 2 wondrous parks. Stroll to EPCOT and enjoy the exciting attractions and entertainment as well as the international pavilion with its art, music and food from around the world. Jump on a boat and cruise to nearby Disney’s Hollywood Studios with its amazing attractions, entertainment and tours that feature movie magic and the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Enjoy all the parks at Walt Disney World Resort —they’re only a bus ride away.

Key Resort Details

How to Book

View information about booking to help you secure the reservation you want.

View information about booking to help you secure the reservation you want. Since all reservations are subject to availability, the more you know about how to book your stay, the better!

• A nonrefundable $95 transaction fee applies per confirmed Disney Collection reservation. If payment is not received at the time of confirmation, Disney Vacation Club reserves the right to cancel the reservation.
• Some reservation Points Charts may not be available at the start of the booking windows.

The Rule of Four Applies

Disney Collection reservations (excluding reservations at Tokyo Disney Resort) must be made prior to the last 4 months of your Use Year for stays during that Use Year.

Realize your dream vacation by banking, borrowing or purchasing Vacation Points.

Bank or Borrow Vacation Points

You can bank Vacation Points from your current Use Year to use during your next Use Year, or you can borrow Vacation Points from your next Use Year to book a reservation in your current Use Year. Restrictions apply; please contact Member Services for details.

Purchase One-Time-Use Vacation Points

Occasionally, you may find yourself in need of just a few extra Vacation Points in order to book that perfect dream vacation. If that happens, you may be able to purchase Vacation Points for one-time use toward your desired stay. View details and pricing for One-Time-Use Vacation Points.

Purchase More Vacation Points—to Enjoy for Years to Come

When you Add On more Vacation Points, you can enjoy more vacation options and flexibility for years to come.

Make dining reservations and take advantage of Disney Dining Plans at Walt Disney World Resort.

Protect your Disney Vacation Club travels and buy travel insurance today.

Hotel Details

(407) 934-7000 †

Destination Type

Resort area, transportation to parks, driving directions.

• From I-95 take I-4 West to Exit 67 (Epcot/Downtown Disney)
• Take second exit off-ramp (Epcot Resorts/Beach Club).
• Follow signs on Buena Vista Drive to Disney's Beach Club Resort.
• Turn right to go to Disney's Beach Club Resort entrance.
• Follow signs to Disney's Beach Club Resort resort check-in.
• Travel West on 536.
• From Orlando International Airport, take South Exit to SR 417 South.
• On SR 417 South take Exit 2 to Epcot.
• After 2 traffic lights take second exit off-ramp (Epcot Resorts/Beach Club).
• One Reservation Point is equivalent to one allotted Vacation Point. Reservation Points have no other relationship with, or comparison to, Vacation Points and are established for convenience of reference only. General terms and conditions of this program are in the "Membership Extras Acknowledgment and Disclosure Statement." Please review them carefully before booking any of these options. Program terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.
• Effective March 21, 2011, Members who do not purchase their ownership interests directly from Disney will not be able to use those Vacation Points for the Disney Collection or options offered through hotel exchange.
• All reservations and exchanges are subject to availability.

Booking Windows

For important booking window guidelines, please see the “Booking Guidelines” page located under the “Plan Vacation” tab.

How to Cancel or Modify a Reservation

For important cancellation guidelines, please see the "Cancellation and Modification Guidelines" page located under the "Plan Vacation" tab.

We Value Your Opinion!

Will you please complete a brief survey about your experience on this website today?

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort Review (Is it worth it?)

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort is one of the most beautiful and convenient hotels in all of Walt Disney World. With its classy design, enormous pool, and prime location, it’s easy to see why the Yacht Club at Disney World is such a highly sought after place to stay.

My family and I have visited numerous hotels on Disney property, but the Yacht Club always keeps us coming back for more. We love the close proximity to Disney’s Boardwalk, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios.

The multiple transportation options are a huge plus, especially for those who don’t like to solely rely on Disney buses. And of course we have to mention the Yacht Club’s pool, Stormalong Bay. This elaborate resort swimming area is arguably the best pool at the Walt Disney World Resort!

If you’re still not quite sold on the Yacht Club at Disney World or if you would like more information, continue reading below. In this post, we will cover everything you need to know about this deluxe Disney resort , including the activities, restaurants, and rooms available at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.

(This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small compensation at no extra cost to you. Please see my disclosure policy at the bottom of this page for more details.)

Yacht Club Restaurants

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort is full of all different types of restaurants. Since this hotel shares dining options with its sister resorts, you’ll find even more places to eat within a short walk of your room.

These are the Yacht Club restaurants you will find just a short stroll away:

• Ale and Compass – sit-down restaurant in the Yacht Club that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner (also available to-go)
• The Market at Ale and Compass – quick service restaurant at Yacht Club with to-go items and menu options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• Yachtsman Steakhouse – fine dining restaurant at the Yacht Club that is open for dinner
• Crew’s Cup Lounge – bar at the Yacht Club that features a small dinner menu and full bar
• Cape May Cafe – offers a character meal breakfast buffet and sit-down dinner with no characters
• Beach Club Marketplace – features to-go items and menu options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
• Beaches and Cream – available for lunch and dinner with reservations highly recommended
• Martha’s Vineyard – offers appetizers and full bar
• Hurricane Hanna’s Waterside Bar and Grill – pool restaurant with full bar and lunch/dinner options

Furthermore, the Yacht Club is located just a short walk away from Disney’s Boardwalk , where you’ll find additional restaurants and bars.

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort is home to the most popular pool on Disney property. It’s such a hit that you’ll find cast members handing out wristbands at the entrance so that only hotel guests can enter.

The main pool, Stormalong Bay, features a large sand bottom swimming area that’s super shallow and great for toddlers and little kids. There’s also a lazy river that’s a fan favorite in my household.

Guests can also enjoy other large swimming areas at Stormalong Bay, including an activities section where you’ll find games like pool volleyball. Stormalong Bay offers a large waterslide as well as a smaller slide that empties into a shallow pool.

In addition to Stormalong Bay, the Yacht Club in Disney World features a “quiet” pool that is seldom busy. This is a great spot to relax or swim laps.

Rooms 

My family and I love the nautical decor and ambience of the Yacht Club guest rooms. Additionally, we appreciate that the rooms offer full balconies. In our post on Disney’s Beach Club vs Yacht Club , you’ll read about why these balconies are a major pro for Yacht Club compared to its sister resort.

Disney’s Yacht Club features standard rooms and club level rooms. If you book a room with Club Level benefits, you get access to the Regatta Club. Here, you’ll find food and beverages offered at certain times throughout the day.

Guest rooms at the Yacht Club come with views of the lake, pool, garden, or hotel rooftop/parking lot. These rooms typically feature 1 king bed or 2 queens. Some of them also offer a daybed. This means that if you book a room with 2 queens plus a daybed, you can sleep a family of five!

Prices at Yacht Club

Since Disney’s Yacht Club Resort is classified as a deluxe hotel at Disney World, you’ll notice that the prices are higher than at some of the other hotels. This is because the Yacht Club offers deluxe room space, extra amenities, and a prime location.

We will explain all the significance of all of these perks in more detail below, but it’s important to note that Disney’s Yacht Club truly offers a deluxe experience. The updated guest rooms feature plenty of space, including private balconies. Plus, the hotel is conveniently located within walking distance of other Disney hotels, restaurants, theme parks, and more. 

If you would really like to experience the location, amenities, and entertainment at the Yacht Club without the hefty price tag, we suggest booking a room at the sister hotel through David’s Vacation Club Rentals. You will be blown away by the cost savings on David’s DVC rental site! We usually save hundreds of dollars per night by using this method to book a room at a deluxe resort.

Just use the cost calculator to see exactly how much a room costs at Yacht Club’s sister resort, Disney’s Beach Club Villas. These villas are located just a short walk away from the Yacht Club hotel, and they both share restaurants, pools, and activities. While you can reserve one of the villas on the official Disney website, we prefer to book through David’s DVC rental website . We have used this reputable company for years to rent timeshare points at Disney villas.

Things to Do at Disney’s Yacht Club 

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort sits on the same property as two sister resorts: Disney’s Beach Club Resort and Disney’s Beach Club Villas. These three hotels share restaurants, activities, amenities, and entertainment options with each other.

One of my family’s favorite things about the Yacht Club is that you don’t need to leave the property to have fun. So, if you’re looking for activities at Disney outside of the theme parks, the Yacht Club offers lots of great options. These are our favorite things to do at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort when enjoying a relaxing day at Disney:

See Epcot Fireworks

We recommend walking to the bridge that connects the Disney Boardwalk to the Yacht and Beach Club Resort to enjoy the nightly Epcot fireworks show. You can even grab some ice cream to enjoy during the presentation.

Take a Ride on the Skyliner

Since the Disney Skyliner sits just outside of Epcot’s International Gateway entrance, you can easily access it from the Yacht Club Resort. Just take the short (less than ten minutes) walk toward Epcot and hop on the Skyliner for free!

Book a fishing excursion on Crescent Lake for a truly unique experience while staying at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.

Eat Ice Cream

Disney’s Yacht Club is home to one of our favorite WDW restaurants, Beaches and Cream . While reservations can be difficult to snag at this popular dining spot, you can access the walk-up window to order shakes and ice cream to-go.

Dine with Characters

Check out Cape May Cafe during breakfast/brunch when it becomes Minnie’s Beach Bash. Guests can meet Goofy, Minnie, and Donald while they dine at the breakfast buffet.

Float along the Lazy River

The Beach Club’s main pool, Stormalong Bay, offers many fun features. One of our favorite things to do at the pool is to grab (free) tubes to float along the lazy river.

Play Games in the Arcade

Lafferty Place Arcade offers lots of fun games for kids and adults to enjoy. This is a particularly great place to spend time at Disney World when it’s raining.

Ride the Friendship Boats

The Disney water taxi picks up visitors near the Yacht Club. You can ride this free boat to the Disney Boardwalk, Swan and Dolphin Resorts, Epcot entrance, and Hollywood Studios entrance.

Build Sandcastles

Did you know that Stormalong Bay features a shallow, sand bottom pool and beach area? Kids love digging in the sand and splashing around in this section of the pool.

Make S’mores

Visit the nightly campfire to roast marshmallows during your visit. You can even purchase S’mores Kits for a few dollars.

Rent a Boat

Spend time on Crescent Lake on your own private pontoon boat. Guests can rent boats from the marina near the Yacht Club.

Disney’s Yacht Club offers a large fitness center for guests to use during their stay. Ship Shape Health Club is even open 24 hours a day, so you can squeeze in a workout at any time.

Stroll along the Disney Boardwalk

The Disney Boardwalk is full of amazing activities and entertainment options and is just a short walk away from the Yacht Club. 

Play Volleyball

As you walk along the boardwalk in front of the Beach Club, you’ll notice a sand volleyball court. This is a great spot to pick up a game with friends or family. You can also often join a game of volleyball at Stormalong Bay Pool.

Enjoy an Evening Movie

Each evening, Disney Yacht Club guests can watch a movie under the stars. These family friendly movies are a great way to unwind after a long day.

Play Mini Golf

Stroll over to Fantasia Gardens and Miniature Golf Course where you’ll find two 18-hole courses. This fun spot is located near the Dolphin and Swan Resorts.

Swim Some Laps

If you’re looking for a quieter poolside experience to swim laps or relax, check out the leisure pool at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort. You’ll also have access to the quiet pools at Beach Club and Beach Club Villas.

If you’re not into running or jogging on vacation, you can spend time strolling along the jogging paths at the Yacht Club. You’ll find lots of great spots to take pictures and may even catch some surprises along the way.

Join a Kid Friendly Party at the Pool

Each afternoon, Stormalong Bay hosts fun poolside activities like hula hoop competitions and limbo. 

Play Tennis

Guests can find tennis courts near the Yacht Club’s quiet pool. 

Zoom Down Waterslides

Stormalong Bay features two separate water slides for guests to enjoy. The main waterslide stretches from the pirate ship and across the Beach Club boardwalk to the main pool.

You’ll also find a smaller slide that’s perfect for toddlers and small kids at the entrance to the main water slide.

Book a Fireworks Cruise

Take in the sights and sounds of the Epcot fireworks show from your pontoon boat on Crescent Lake.

Transportation

As mentioned above, Disney’s Yacht Club Resort sits in a prime location in the center of all the magic at WDW. If you’re planning to visit one of the theme parks, you’ll be happy to know that several of them are just a super short walk or ride away.

These are our preferred ways to get from Disney’s Yacht Club to other places in Walt Disney World:

• To Magic Kingdom – You can access the Disney buses in front of the hotel. The ride to Magic Kingdom should take 15-20 minutes. 
• To Epcot – Exit the back of Yacht Club (toward Crescent Lake) and turn left. Epcot sits just under a ten minute walk away!
• To Hollywood Studios – You have several options for getting to Hollywood Studios. We find the quickest option *usually* is walking. Hollywood Studios sits just a 15 minute walk away from the Yacht Club. You can also ride a Friendship Boat to Hollywood Studios. However, by the time you wait on the boat to make stops, this method can take longer than walking. You could also walk toward Epcot to catch the Disney Skyliner. With this method, you should be able to reach Hollywood Studios in around 25 minutes.
• To Animal Kingdom – You can hop on one of the Disney buses to get to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park. This is roughly a ten-minute ride.
• To Disney’s Boardwalk – You can make the five-minute walk around Crescent Lake to easily reach the Disney Boardwalk. Guests can also take the Friendship Boat from the Yacht Club lighthouse and ride across the lake to the Boardwalk.
• To Disney Springs – You can take a bus to Disney Springs, which typically takes 15-20 minutes.

Is Disney’s Yacht Club Worth It?

Since Disney’s Yacht Club may be my personal favorite resort in all of WDW , I would definitely say it’s worth the cost! I love the classy guest rooms and bathrooms with their nautical decor.

The lobby seems to be quieter and calmer than that at other resorts, and the cast members are super friendly and helpful. My family and I enjoy the food at all the restaurants on site, and we appreciate the ability to easily walk from the Yacht Club to the Beach Club’s dining options.

The close proximity to Epcot makes the Yacht Club an ideal place to stay since there’s no rush to get to the park in the morning or back “home” at the end of a long day. Plus, you enter and exit through the International Gateway entrance to Epcot (near World Showcase), so the lines to enter are basically nonexistent.

Additionally, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is just a short walk, boat ride, or Skyliner ride away. And if you feel like venturing out, you can take the scenic stroll around Crescent Lake to the Disney Boardwalk.

Overall, we highly recommend the beautiful Yacht Club Resort! For additional information on Disney resorts, join the conversation on our Facebook page: Mom’s Guide to Disney Resorts ! Do you have a review of Disney’s Yacht Club Resort? Comment below to share your thoughts with us!

Shari is an experienced planner and organizer for Disney vacations, cruising, and U.S. travel. Her family vacation information, reviews, and tips provide insight for moms and dads everywhere. You can read more about her story, including her journey through breast cancer, in the about me page.

Similar Posts

Where to Stay near Disney World: Top Hotels Close to Parks

Disney’s Polynesian Resort (Honest Review)

Full List of Disney World Characters (Free Printable)

Honest Review of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge at WDW

Choosing a DVC Rental Site: David’s vs DVC Rental Store

Disney World Height Requirements and Rides Chart

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Yacht Club Resort

By: Author Heather Thomas

Published: November 21, 2017 Updated: December 14, 2021

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort is a Deluxe Resort with stunning views, popular dining, and a fan-favorite swimming pool that guests can’t get enough of. Yacht Club is also located right next to Disney’s Beach Club Resort, which is accessible just by walking.

In this article

Located in the Epcot Resort Area, Yacht Club isn’t just within walking distance of the Beach Club, but Epcot itself. There is a path that leads directly to the International Gateway. What’s better than that?

It’s definitely a pricier resort, but for good reason. Based on location, sharing several amenities with Beach Club, just a boat ride away from Hollywood Studios, access to the Skyliner at Epcot, and much more, Yacht Club has a lot to offer. 

Plus, the New England-style resort sits on the water and truly is a gorgeous resort right on property. Here’s everything you need to know.

View Yacht Club Resort Maps

Rooms And Bathrooms

Yacht Club offers a variety of rooms that can sleep up to 6 people, depending on the type of room you book.

Each rooms offers your standard amenities, like a hairdryer, TV, free WiFi, a coffee maker, telephone, in-room safe, iron and ironing board, and a mini-refrigerator. Plus, there’s a range of views, including a view of the water, pool, garden, woods, rooftop, or parking area.

There’s even a selection of rooms that feature Club Level Service , which we go over in more detail below.

And, don’t worry, there are plenty of outlets and USB ports for charging all of your devices. Better yet, there’s plenty of storage for your belongings, including space under the bed, drawers, and closet space. 

The bathrooms have storage underneath the sink and vanity area, as well, which is also separate from the shower and toilet area. 

Let’s go through the types of rooms available to book.

Standard Rooms

• Standard View : Views of Rooftop or Parking Area; 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed or 1 Queen Bed and 1 Twin-Size Sleeper Chair and 1 Day Bed or 1 King Bed or 1 King Bed and 1 Day Bed

• Water View : Views of Crescent Lake or Quiet Pool; 2 Queen Beds or 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed or 1 Queen Bed and 1 Twin-Size Sleeper Chair and 1 Day Bed or 1 King Bed or 1 King Bed and 1 Day Bed
• Garden or Woods View : Views of Garden; 2 Queen Beds or 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed or 1 Queen Bed and 1 Twin-Size Sleeper Chair and 1 Day Bed or 1 King Bed

Rooms And Suites With Club-Level Service

These rooms and suites have the same amenities provided in the rooms above, in addition to Club-Level Service perks. They include:

• Evening turndown
• Secured key access to the club-level lounge (serves refreshments 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily)
• Complimentary fax assistance
• Club Level Concierge – Regatta Club
• Complimentary health club access
• Complimentary newspapers in Club Level lounge

Guests also have access to a DVD Player and Disney Signature Services for personal assistance with your trip.

Here are the rooms:

• Standard View Club-Level : Views of Rooftop or Parking Area; 2 Queen Beds or 1 King Bed

• Garden View Club-Level : Views of Garden; 1 King Bed or 2 Queen Beds or 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed
• Water View Club-Level : Views of one of the Stormalong Bay Lagoons; 1 King Bed or 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed or 2 Queen Beds or 1 King Bed and 1 Day Bed

• 2 Bedroom Suite – Club-Level Access : Views of Stormalong Bay or Crescent Lake; 2 King Beds and 1 Queen-Size Sleeper Sofa

Note: There are also both wheelchair and hearing accessible rooms available that include accessible bathrooms and visual alarms.

You can check out room layouts below.

Pet-Friendly Policy

Yacht Club is pet-friendly , but there are certain conditions that must be met. First, there’s a limit of 2 dogs per room. In order to bring your dog with you, you’ll need to call (407) 939-7539.

There’ also a day and overnight kennel care at  Best Friends Pet Care  located on property.

Checking In And Out

When it comes to checking in and out, you have a few options: at the front desk, online through the official Walt Disney World website, or via the My Disney Experience app.

The front desk is located in the lobby of the main building. Even though the front desk is there to assist guests, especially with checking in and checking out, all Disney World Resort guests are encouraged to check-in online  or by using MDE.

• Checking-In : After you check-in online or using the app, you’ll receive a room-ready notification via next. You can then use your MagicBand or MDE’s digital key feature to  unlock your room door .
• Checking-Out : Currently, guests will automatically be checked out of their rooms. But, if you have unresolved charges to your hotel folio, you’ll need to visit the front desk.

Note: Guests also have the option of to chat virtually with resort Cast Members via MDE for any assistance. 

The lobby is a nice size, with plenty of seating. Ale & Compass Restaurant and Ale & Compass Lounge are nearby, along with the Crew’s Cup Lounge . 

Magical Express pickup and the bus stop are also right outside the main lobby, along with  luggage storage  for those who have checked out or are waiting to check in.

Note: Resort Airline Check-In is no longer available.

Parking is available at Yacht Club. There is a standard $25 overnight self-parking fee  (including tax) that is applied to guests’ hotel folio upon check-out.

Valet parking is also available for $33 per night.

Complimentary standard self-parking is available for non-resort guests exploring dining, shopping, entertainment, and other experiences during the day.

We also have a complete  Walt Disney World parking  guide you can browse.

Important: Valet parking might not always be available.

Pros And Cons

[resortdetail id=’18224′]

Amenities And Shops

From gift shops, to on-site laundry services, to spa and fitness, there are several amenities offered to guests at Yacht Club.

Important note: Some of the following amenities might not be available at all times.

• Beach Club Marketplace Gifts : An all-purpose shop with souvenirs, apparel, grab ‘n’ go food items, beverages, and more.
• Marketplace at Ale & Compass : Find everyday essentials, souvenirs, beverages, and snacks.
• Laundry Services : There are 24-hour  self-service laundry facilities available near Admiral Pool.
• Dry Cleaning Services : Dry cleaning and valet laundry services are also an option.
• Movies Under the Stars : Watch complimentary Disney movies in the Solarium or on the lawn outdoors near the volleyball courts.
• Ship Shape Massage Salon Fitness : Full-service exercise facility with fitness equipment and spa offerings.
• Childcare Services :  In-room babysitting  for children 6 months to 12 years old.

Pools And Recreation

Yacht Club has one main feature pool and two leisure pools. If you need a non-park day, we recommended spending the day at your hotel and enjoying a Disney Resort pool .

Important note: Some of the pools and recreation options might not be available at all times.

Feature Pool

• Stormalong Bay : A sand-bottomed pool with a lazy river that also has a life-size shipwreck replica. It has one of the highest hotel waterslides. There’s pool covers three acres. Guests can also enjoy the pool bar and grill, Hurricane Hanna’s Waterside Bar and Grill.

Leisure Pools

• Yacht Club : The Admiral Pool is located in the garden area near the tennis court. Located in the garden are
• Beach Club : The Tidal Pool is in the garden area near the volleyball court. 
• Beach Club Villas : Yacht Club guests are allowed to use the Beach Club Villas’ leisure pool, the Dunes Cove Pool.

All of the leisure pools also have steaming whirlpool spas. Guests can also rent pool cabanas , which are exclusively for Yacht and Beach Club guests.

Some other recreational options include:

• Lafferty Place (arcade games)
• Motorized Boat Rentals
• Jogging Trails
• Campfire to roast marshmallows

There are also specialties for an additional price, including:

• Fantasia Gardens and Fairways Miniature Golf : Two 18-hole miniature golf courses inspired by Fantasia .
• Pirate Adventure Cruise : For those 4 to 12 years-old. The pirate adventure follows clues to discover hidden treasures.

How to get from Yacht Club to anywhere at Disney World

You can choose from several forms of complimentary Disney transportation at Yacht Club, including buses (takes you to all the parks and Disney Springs), the Disney Skyliner at the International Gateway (walk the Epcot path), and a boat to Hollywood Studios (you can also take a 20-minute walk here). 

The bus stop is right outside the main entrance. All of the different ways to get from Yacht Club to anywhere in Disney World is detailed below.

Dining options at Yacht Club

Yacht Club has a variety of dining options. You can find Quick Service and Table Service options, along with lounges and the Beaches & Cream Soda Shop, which is a popular place to snag some delicious ice cream. The Market at Ale & Compass does offer Mobile Order. 

Beaches & Cream Soda Shop and Ale & Compass Restaurant also offer Mobile Dine Check-In, meaning you’ll check-in using the My Disney Experience app rather than going to the host stand. When your table is ready, you’ll be notified to proceed to a specific location.

Ale & Compass Restaurant also has Table Service To Go , which allows guests to Mobile Order and take their meal back to their room. You can read more about the dining options below.

[restaurants-new resort_location=’at’ resort_name=’18224′]

Dynamic title for modals

Are you sure.

Disney's Yacht Club Resort

Resort Amenities

In-Room Floral & Gifts

Delight that special person in your life with a personalized in-room surprise—such as vibrant flowers and fun gifts! Read More

Delight that special person in your life with a personalized in-room surprise—such as vibrant flowers and fun gifts!

Whether celebrating a birthday, anniversary, first visit or romantic occasion, In-Room Floral & Gifts are sure to bring joy.

Choose from beautiful gift baskets, snack baskets, themed balloon bouquets and enchanting floral arrangements—all designed to celebrate your special moments while visiting Walt Disney World Resort.

Explore great gifts and surprises —or call (888) 814-8718 to learn more!

Order In-Room Floral & Gifts Order online anytime for delivery to any Disney Resort hotel and other select locations.

Deliveries are available 7 days a week. For same-day delivery, please order by noon.

Resort Transportation

Get around Walt Disney World Resort with ease using these convenient, complimentary transportation options. Read More

Get around Walt Disney World Resort with ease using these convenient, complimentary transportation options.

Disney Skyliner Transportation This new gondola system offers a bird’s-eye view while connecting Guests to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios from select Disney Resort hotels. A Disney Skyliner station is conveniently located at the International Gateway to EPCOT—just a quick stroll away from Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.

Learn more about Disney Skyliner transportation.

Disney Bus Transportation Most areas throughout Walt Disney World Resort—including theme parks, water parks, Disney Resort hotels and the Disney Springs area—are accessible by complimentary bus transportation. The bus stop at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort is located a short walk from the lobby.

Learn more about Walt Disney World bus transportation.

A More Magical Stay Starts with "Hey Disney!”

The "Hey Disney!" voice assistant experience features tons of character fun plus a helpful host, who can order you extra towels and answer lots of your park questions.

Minnie Van™ Service

Dash about in Disney style with Minnie Van service Connected by Lyft for travel within Walt Disney World Resort. Please note: this service is separate from your vacation package and subject to additional charges.

Learn more about Minnie Van service.

Complimentary Wi-Fi Internet

Explore parking options at this Disney Resort hotel. Read More

Explore parking options at this Disney Resort hotel.

• Overnight self-parking is complimentary to Guests staying at Disney Resort hotels at Walt Disney World Resort.
• Valet Parking is $39 per night (includes sales tax)
• Standard self-parking is complimentary for day Guests while they enjoy select dining, shopping, entertainment and recreation experiences at this Disney Resort hotel.

Services and fees are subject to change without notice.

Learn more about parking at Walt Disney World Resort.

Online Check-In

A 24-hour ATM is located near the Front Desk.

Learn more about ATMs at Walt Disney World Resort.

Visit the Front Desk to exchange foreign currencies.

Business Center

Fax, copy, print, ship and more at the Business Center, located just inside the Convention Center.

Learn more about Business Center services and locations at Walt Disney World Resort.

Designated Smoking Areas

Disney Meetings & Events

Planning a meeting? Read More

Planning a meeting? The Convention Center at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts offers 73,000 square feet of flexible meeting and function space for events large and small. Between meetings, your team can rent motor boats, relax on white-sand shores and enjoy mouthwatering cuisine.

Learn more about Disney Meetings & Events .

Housekeeping Service

When you stay at a Disney Resort hotel, enjoy peace of mind knowing that your room will be thoroughly cleaned prior to your arrival and will receive full housekeeping service daily for the duration of your stay.

Learn more.

Laundry and Dry Cleaning Services

Enjoy 24-hour self-service laundry rooms near Admiral Pool, plus dry cleaning and valet laundry services.

Learn more about laundry and dry cleaning services at Walt Disney World Resort hotels.

Mail Services

Send pre-stamped postcards and letters from the Front Desk, as well as pre-packed, pre-labeled packages. Read More

Send pre-stamped postcards and letters from the Front Desk, as well as pre-packed, pre-labeled packages. Stamps are available for purchase at Beach Club Marketplace.

Learn more about mail services at Walt Disney World Resort.

Club Level Concierge

Visit the Club Level Concierge to purchase tickets, make dining reservations and more. Read More

Visit the Club Level Concierge to purchase tickets, make dining reservations and more.

Learn more about Resort Concierge services at Walt Disney World Resort.

Disney Signature Services

Guests staying in Club-level rooms and suites are eligible for personalized vacation-planning support.

Spa & Fitness

Get toned at Ship Shape Massage Salon Fitness —a full-service facility featuring equipment, massages and more.

Learn more about Ship Shape Massage Salon Fitness.

Save Up to 25% at Disney Resort Hotels in 2024

Hotel Address

(407) 934-7000

Use CoBrowse to Share Your Screen?

Even as the Disney Cast Member guides you around our site, they will be unable to access or view any files or information on your device or anything you type.

To stop the session, click the X in the screen-sharing window at any time. You can remain on the phone with the Cast Member.

Enter the code provided by the Cast Member and Accept to get started.

Invalid code. Please reenter

Not on the Phone with a Cast Member?

the disney food blog

food IS a theme park

Read the Latest Posts

Looking for something?

Get the dfb newsletter.

STAY CONNECTED

Walt Disney World’s Yacht Club Resort

ANCHORS AWAY…. We’re setting sail towards Disney’s Yacht Club Resort!

Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

Walt Disney World offers three Resort hotel levels: Value, Moderate, and Deluxe. Disney’s Yacht Club Resort is a Deluxe Resort located near EPCOT .

Disney’s Yacht Club

Deluxe amenities, fun Resort activities and unique options for recreation, a wide range of dining options , a pool that is actually more like a hidden water park,  and much more make up Disney’s Yacht Club.

Disney’s Yacht Club Atmosphere

New England-style yacht clubs serve as the inspiration for Disney’s own Yacht Club Resort. 

Disney’s Yacht Club Lobby

Deep blues and rich woods help to establish the classic nautical setting.

The Yacht Club is the sister Resort to the attached Beach Club Resort .

Yacht Club Outdoor Walkway towards the Beach Club

And it’s all literally just steps away from EPCOT !

Yacht and Beach Club signage

Guests can take a quick stroll from the Yacht Club to EPCOT’s International Gateway (between the park’s United Kingdom and France pavilions).

Yacht Club Dining

Guests at Yacht Club have a wide array of dining options to enjoy, from a Signature steakhouse to Quick Service restaurants to relaxing lounges , and beyond!

Table Service Restaurants

Yachtsman Steakhouse delivers a Signature Dining option to Yacht & Beach Club guests.

Yachtsman Steakhouse

This craftsman-inspired dining room caters to all tastebuds with a variety of dishes, incredible sides, and amazing, cut-in-house steaks.

Ale & Compass Restaurant   is the  table service  component of the Ale & Market dining concept in Disney’s Yacht Club, which also includes  The Market at Ale & Compass  along with the refreshed  Ale & Compass Lounge .

Ale and Compass Restaurant

The atmosphere offers a  gastropub ambience while comfort food (New England-inspired) is featured  on the menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Counter Service Dining

Simple convenience is the name of the game, with a focus on grab-and-go items at The Market at Ale & Compass .

The Market at Ale & Compass

However, hot sandwiches, specialty desserts — and even a coffee bar — round out the options nicely.

Bars and Lounges

Ale & Compass Lounge is located just off the lobby of the Yacht Club.

Ale & Compass Lounge

It’s an ideal spot to relax with a night cap while winding down for the evening, or to grab a bite or two from their substantial appetizer menu.

Crew’s Cup Lounge is a favorite cozy spot of ours!

Crew’s Cup Lounge

Along with a full-service bar (featuring a wide selection of Single Malt Scotch), guests can also order select items from the full Yachtsman Steakhouse menu.

Hurricane Hanna’s Waterside Bar and Grill is the Pool Bar for Stormalong Bay!

Hurricane Hanna’s

Thankfully a few substantial entrees (like burgers and chicken nuggets) are on the menu along with the drinks, because you won’t want to leave this amazing pool area!

And remember, all of the restaurants at Disney Beach Club Resort are easily accessible to Yacht Club guests ! These include:

• Cape May Cafe (featuring buffet dining and a Character Breakfast)
• Beaches and Cream (classic diner eats and MAMMOTH ice cream sundaes!)
• Beach Club Marketplace (Quick Service options)
• Martha’s Vineyard (evening Lounge)

Click HERE for our Complete Guide to Eating at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts!

Wonderful world of wine.

A dining experience unique to the Yacht Club is the Wonderful World of Wine which is held at the Yachtsman Steakhouse every second Wednesday of the month at 3PM. Participants sample and learn about wines from vineyards throughout California, Italy, France, Chile, Australia and more.

A small tasting plate paired with the day’s chosen wines is included. The cost is $45 per person and can be booked by calling 407-WDW-DINE (407-939 3463) .

Take a FOOD TOUR of the dining options at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club with our DFB YouTube Video !

Guest Rooms

Disney’s Yacht Club features standard guest rooms with either 1 King Bed OR 1 King Bed and 1 Day Bed OR 2 Queen Beds OR 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed,  as well as  Club Level Rooms  (up to a 2 Bedroom Suite which sleeps up to 6 adults).

For standard rooms, guests may choose a Standard View, a Water View, or a Garden or Woods View.

Amenities, Activities, and Recreation

Welcome to Stormalong Bay ! This 3-acre water recreation area is available exclusively to both Yacht and Beach Club guests.

Stormalong Bay at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club

Stormalong Bay is a destination all its own. This pool complex is practically its own mini-water park, with sand at the bottom, a lazy river, 3 whirlpool spas, and a tanning deck!

Stormalong Bay

Kiddos (and adults) can take on the 230-footlong ‘shipwrecked’ themed water slide, while Shipwreck pool with its own mini waterslide is available just for the little ones.

Stormalong Bay Shipwreck Waterslide

Guests who prefer a little more quiet can take advantage of any of the 3 additional leisure pools.

The Front Desk will provide you with information about current Resort Activities which may include options like Movies Under the Stars , Pool Parties , evening Campfires , and additional activities for a nominal fee such as Arts and Crafts that you can take home.

Yacht and Beach Club Activities Board

More opportunities for fun and fitness include the Lafferty Place Arcade and the 24-hour Ship Shape Health Club .

Lafferty Place Arcade at Beach Club

Additional recreation options include boat rentals at the Bayside Marina ,  bike rentals, jogging trails, and volleyball and tennis courts.

Yacht & Beach Club Marina

2-hour and 4-hour Guided Fishing Excursions may even be booked by calling (407) 939-FISH or (407) 939-3474.

Additional amenities for Resort guests include lobby concierge service, daily housekeeping, complimentary Wi-Fi, currency exchange, self-service laundry rooms, mail services, and online check-in .

Additional Benefits

More theme park hours.

Guest staying at Disney’s Yacht Club have access to ADDITIONAL hours in the Disney World theme parks !

Welcome to Magic Kingdom

Early Theme Park Entry  allows guests  to enter any of the parks 30 minutes early  to get a head start on their day in the parks!

This benefit is available for  ANY theme park  every  day.  Please note that  guests need a valid theme park ticket AND a  Park Pass reservation   for the park they’re planning to visit in order to gain early access.

The Disney World Parks also offer  Extended Evening Theme Park Hours  for select guests,  giving them  extra hours in the parks at night! Guests at Disney’s Yacht Club qualify for this benefit, as it is exclusively to guests who are staying at a Deluxe or Deluxe Villa Walt Disney World Resort hotel for the length of their stay. 

EPCOT’s Spaceship Earth at Night

Guests attending Extended Evening Hours need a valid ticket and Disney Park Pass for that theme park. Alternatively, they may visit with a Park Hopper as long as they scanned into their Park Pass-reserved park at some time earlier in the day.  Click HERE to see the schedule for Extended Evening Hours !

Find out more about EXTRA Theme Park Hours for Disney Resort hotels guests HERE!

Disney genie and lightning lanes.

Disney Genie  is a new service available through the  My Disney Experience app  which offers  both free and optional paid-for features which will help guests maximize their time in the parks . The two optional paid-for features —   Disney Genie+  and  Individual Attraction Selection  — launched in tandem with the  FREE standard Disney Genie.

Disney Genie Brochure

For guests wishing to ride Disney’s most  popular  attractions — such as  Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance  — without a wait,  Individual Attraction Selection  allows guests to select return times  to  bypass the standby line  and instead enter the  Lightning Lane  for a  maximum of two specific, more popular attractions.  Individual Attraction Selection is a  pay-per-ride option.

All guests have the ability to buy Individual Attraction Selections. Guests staying offsite are able to get their first one when the park opens. But those  staying at Disney-owned and operated hotels are able to make their first Individual Attraction Selection at 7AM each day .

Click HERE to learn EVERYTHING you need to know about Disney Genie, Disney Genie+, and Individual Attraction Selection!

“hey, disney”.

“Hey, Disney!”   offers  “custom voice assistance” to guests staying at Resort hotels in Walt Disney World!

“Hey, Disney!”

This complimentary service, which  works with Alexa on Amazon Echo devices, assists guests with room amenities, guest services, planning,  and  weather info … AND it brings along LOTS of  extra Disney MAGIC  to make all of these things a lot more FUN!

Click HERE to learn MUCH more about “Hey, Disney!”

Dog-friendly resort.

And guess what? Fido can enjoy a stay at the Yacht Club, too! This hotel is one of Disney World’s Dog-Friendly Resorts (a limit of two dogs per room, restrictions, and fees apply). Pet owners interested in learning more may call  (407) 939 – 7539 .

Disney Dogs Food Bowl

Additionally, Best Friends Pet Care — a pet care center on Disney World property — offers a service to guests staying at the Yacht Club. They will pick up and drop off your pup to take them to doggy daycare, overnight boarding, or even grooming! Pet owners interested in learning more  about Best Friends Pet Care services during your stay (877) WDW-PETS or (877) 493-9738 , or visit bestfriendspetcare.com.

Of course, you’ll want to grab a souvenir (or ten 😉 ) to remember your Walt Disney World trip and your stay at the Yacht Club.

And for that, you can stop by The Market at Ale & Compass ! This is a shared space, as it also neighbors the Yacht Club’s primary Quick Service dining location.

Yacht Club Stein

Look for items unique to the Yacht Club along with other Walt Disney World souvenirs.

Transportation

Yacht Club guests have access to several types of Resort transportation.

Yacht Club Walkways

A rare perk is that, from the Yacht Club, guests have a very short walk to get to EPCOT’s International Gateway (between the park’s United Kingdom and France pavilions).

International Gateway Sign

Guest can also walk to the connected Beach Club Resort, to the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels , and to all of the dining and shopping along Disney’s BoardWalk .

Guests may also walk along Crescent Lake to Disney’s Hollywood Studios ; however, due to the longer distance to Hollywood Studios, another form of transportation to Hollywood Studios is provided.

Friendship Boats

Guests may take a Friendship Boat down Crescent Lake to Disney’s Hollywood Studios !

Cresent Lake Friendship Boat

The Friendship Boat also makes stops at EPCOT, BoardWalk Inn, and the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels.

Disney Skyliner

The International Gateway hosts EPCOT’S Disney Skyliner Station. From EPCOT, the Skyliner goes has a stop at Disney’s Riviera Resort and continues directly to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort (which serves as the Skyliner Hub).

EPCOT Skyliner Station

From Caribbean Beach, guests can then transfer to Disney’s Hollywood Studios (or to Disney’s Pop Century and Art of Animation Resorts ).

Disney Bus Transportation

Guests also have complimentary access to  Disney Bus Transportation  to and from  Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom,  and  Disney Springs .

To learn more about what it’s like to stay at Disney’s Yacht Club , please watch our video from our DFBGuide YouTube channel below!

Considering a stay at Disney’s Yacht Club? Get the Magic started and complete a request for a price quote. An agent will review your travel preferences and provide you with a no-obligation quote along with their phone number so you can talk with them.

Our favorite people over at small world vacations are ready to help you save time, headaches, and best of all , money, when you book your disney trip or cruise..

Their agents compare current offers to find the best deal for you — they’ve literally saved their guests millions of dollars since 1996. Plus, their services are 100% FREE FOR YOU ! (They’re DFB’s recommended travel agency, and you can see why here !)

So book that trip now, then sit back and enjoy planning your Disney World Trip with a DFB-approved expert! Click here for a no obligation price quote today , and let them know DFB sent you 🙂

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER EBOOKS

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED

Disney's Yacht Club Resort

View Gallery  View an image gallery of Disney's Yacht Club Resort- Opens Dialog

Theme park reservations are not required for tickets added as part of a room-and-ticket package. For other admission types, theme park reservations may be required. Learn more about theme park reservation requirements.

Rooms and Suites

• Standard Rooms - Beverage Cooler
• In-Room Safe
• Internet - Free WiFi Service
• Coffee maker
• Suites – Mini Refrigerator
• Iron & Ironing Board
• Telephone with voicemail

Resort View

View of Garden, Rooftop, or Parking Area

1 King Bed or 1 King Bed and 1 Day Bed or 2 Queen Beds or 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed

Sleeps up to 5 Adults

Check Availability

2 Bedroom Suite - Club Level Access

Views of Stormalong Bay or Crescent Lake

2 King Beds and 1 Queen-Size Sleeper Sofa

Sleeps up to 6 Adults

Views of Crescent Lake or Quiet Pool

Rooms and Suites with Club-Level Service

• Complimentary health club access
• Secured key access to the club-level lounge, serving refreshments 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily
• Club Level Concierge - Regatta Club

Includes All Room Amenities, Plus:

• Daily Housekeeping Service
• Access to Disney Signature Services—for personal assistance with your vacation. Call: 407-939-7777
• Personalized Front Desk and Guest Services

Resort View - Club Level

1 King Bed or 2 Queen Beds

Sleeps up to 4 Adults

Water View - Club Level

Views of One of the Stormalong Bay Lagoons

1 King Bed and 1 Day Bed or 2 Queen Beds or 2 Queen Beds and 1 Day Bed or 1 King Bed

 We've added your room selection to your cart.

Imagine shorter wait times - add park tickets now.

Add theme park tickets to your stay and, at no extra charge, reserve arrival times at select attractions, Character Greetings and more with FastPass+.

Make FastPass+ selections at popular attractions, such as Dumbo the Flying Elephant, as early as 30 days before you arrive.

*Valid theme park admission and online registration required. Disney FastPass+ attractions and entertainment experiences, the number of selections you can make and available arrival windows are limited.

Use CoBrowse to Share Your Screen?

Even as the Disney Cast Member guides you around our site, they will be unable to access or view any files or information on your device or anything you type.

To stop the session, click the X in the screen-sharing window at any time. You can remain on the phone with the Cast Member.

Enter the code provided by the Cast Member and Accept to get started.

Invalid code. Please reenter

Not on the Phone with a Cast Member?

• Share full article

The Billionaire Taking on Disney Just Wants Some Respect

The longtime corporate agitator feels misunderstood. Maybe his fight with Disney could change that.

Nelson Peltz, 81, has been battling the Walt Disney Company over its corporate strategy. Credit... Ahmed Gaber for The New York Times

Supported by

By James B. Stewart and Lauren Hirsch

• Published March 16, 2024 Updated March 19, 2024

At age 81, with over four decades of dealmaking and corporate cage-rattling under his belt, Nelson Peltz would seem to have pretty much everything.

He’s a billionaire. Until the hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin came to Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. Peltz had the largest property tax bill in town, with an oceanfront estate estimated to be worth $334 million. His 130-acre property in Bedford, N.Y., known as High Winds, has its own helipad, indoor ice rink and waterfall. He has use of his company’s jet. (But so far, he owns no yacht — he rents one instead.)

He also has an undeniably full life apart from his business: He has two children from his first marriage. He also has eight children (including two sets of twins) with his wife since 1981, the former model Claudia Heffner. His eldest child from that marriage, Matt, is a partner and co-chief investment officer at Mr. Peltz’s Trian Partners.

His photogenic younger children have thrust him into the tabloids and onto the Hollywood red carpet. Nicola, an actress (“Bates Motel,” “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Welcome to Chippendales”), married Brooklyn Beckham, son of David and Victoria Beckham, in a splashy wedding at the Peltz Palm Beach estate in 2022. Will is also an actor (“Unfriended,” “Euphoria,” “Manifest”). Brad played hockey for Yale and was drafted by the Ottawa Senators.

And yet Mr. Peltz yearns for something that continues to elude him: the respect from the corporate elite, which he craves and feels he deserves. Could admittance to the inner sanctum of one of the best-known and most respected companies in the world — the Walt Disney Company — deliver that?

On and off for almost a year and a half, Trian Partners has waged an intense corporate fight by controlling a $3.5 billion stake in Disney and pushing for two board seats and influence over the company’s strategy. Mr. Peltz’s ammunition is a barrage of criticism of Disney’s management and board: The stock has plunged; costs have spiraled out of control; a string of big-budget film flops has raised questions about the company’s creative engine — problems that Mr. Peltz says he can reverse with his operational skills and strategic insight. While he concedes he has no experience in entertainment, his opinions, he says, are informed by his children and their high-powered friends, including Elon Musk, who has been critical of Disney.

The proxy battle has pitted him against Disney’s chief executive, Robert A. Iger, one of the media industry’s most powerful executives and someone Mr. Peltz once considered a good friend. Mr. Iger and Disney’s board have pushed back hard, even enlisting the support of the Disney family , including Abigail Disney, who has long complained about Mr. Iger’s lofty compensation. The increasingly bitter contest is hurtling toward a climax on April 3, when Disney will hold its annual shareholder meeting and proxy votes will be counted.

That this fight is over far more than a couple of board seats, or even a multibillion-dollar stake in the company, was abundantly clear in a series of interviews with The New York Times at Trian’s offices on Park Avenue and in Palm Beach, and over the phone.

During the interviews, Mr. Peltz — who has had numerous similar run-ins with corporate giants such as Procter & Gamble, Heinz and Unilever — repeatedly lamented his reputation as a provocateur and “activist” investor, a thorn in the side of chief executives and their boards.

He hates being mentioned in the same company as a rogues’ gallery of activists, buyout operators and corporate raiders, as he often is. He thinks he should be compared to someone he admires and tries to emulate: Warren E. Buffett.

“Does Nelson feel misunderstood? He probably does,” said Arthur Winkleblack, who was chief financial officer at Heinz when Mr. Peltz waged a successful proxy contest there in 2006 and joined the board. “Not all activists are the same. There are activists who are not nice people. There are activists who are.”

Whatever label is attached to him, there’s little chance that Mr. Peltz will be embraced by the august members of the Business Roundtable, the Washington-based lobbying group of elite chief executives, given his long track record of public criticism of boards and chief executives, and his efforts, when rebuffed, to elbow his way into America’s boardrooms.

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase and a former chairman of the roundtable, recently came out against Mr. Peltz in the Disney proxy fight, citing the disruption that activist investors can bring to a board. JPMorgan is advising the company in its proxy defense. Disney has paid JPMorgan over $160 million in fees since 2014 as a client, according to LSEG, a financial data provider.

One measure of Mr. Peltz’s continuing notoriety is the reluctance of many people who have worked with him to speak on the record — even people he counts as friends and admirers, some of whom he recommended The Times interview for this article. That’s especially true in the midst of the Disney fight; several people said they didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire between Mr. Peltz and Mr. Iger, let alone Mr. Dimon. Both chief executives cast long shadows in the entertainment and business worlds.

“He’s like the uninvited guest who crashes a dinner party,” said Charles Elson, a former director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “No matter how charming, he’s not going to be welcome.”

Ski Bum Turned Billionaire

Mr. Peltz can be funny and self-deprecating: He recently told The Times that he was the only person he knew who had gained weight while taking Ozempic, which seems to be popular in his Palm Beach neighborhood (The tanned, fit-looking Mr. Peltz shows no obvious need to lose weight.)

Mr. Peltz, who was born and grew up in Brooklyn, traces his social skills to his student years at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was president of his hard-partying Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. “Classes screwed up my day,” he said.

He left Wharton before graduating to pursue a passion for skiing, but en route to a job as an instructor at Oregon’s Mount Hood, he was pressed by his father into a two-week stint at the family’s small Bronx-based frozen food distribution company. He was soon brimming with ideas for building the business, investing in the stock market and staying. (He also shaved off his beard at his father’s request. He sports a neatly trimmed beard again today.)

In the decades that followed, Mr. Peltz’s career mirrored the history of modern dealmaking. His successful effort to buy out the notorious corporate raider Victor Posner from National Can in 1985 was the first all-junk-bond tender offer, using the low-rated, high-yielding bonds once shunned by conservative investors. It was also the start of Mr. Peltz’s relationship with the junk bond pioneer Michael Milken. (Mr. Peltz balked at Mr. Milken’s initial invitation, for a 5 a.m. meeting in Beverly Hills; Mr. Milken grudgingly moved the appointment to 6.)

Mr. Peltz forged a close friendship with another controversial raider, Saul Steinberg, who introduced him to Mr. Milken and whose own hostile run at Disney ended with a much-criticized greenmail payment in 1984. (Greenmail is a payment to a corporate raider in return for dropping a hostile takeover bid.)

After the National Can deal, Mr. Peltz’s Triangle Industries swallowed the rival American Can’s packaging division in 1986. He then sold Triangle to France’s Pechiney for $4.2 billion in 1988, including debt. The deal was widely acknowledged as one of the most successful leveraged buyouts, or deals largely funded by debt, and it established a model subsequently embraced by a generation of financiers.

Suddenly wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, and only 46, Mr. Peltz considered an early retirement. But he was quickly bored by golf. He went on to a series of other leveraged acquisitions, buying Snapple from Quaker for $300 million in 1997 and then selling it and some other brands three years later for $1.45 billion. (Mr. Peltz’s success at Snapple is the subject of a Harvard Business School case study .)

“He would often suggest new flavors — and he would push us to come up with different forms and different bottles,” said Ken Gilbert, who was Snapple’s chief marketing officer at the time. “We were spinning out new products every month — it was crazy. And he loved it.”

Mr. Peltz helped found Trian in 2005 to pursue businesses that “weren’t well run but were too big for us to buy,” he said. He and Peter May, his longtime partner, his friend and a former public accountant, courted outside investors and embraced a lucrative compensation model, taking both a management fee and a percentage of the fund’s gains, a model that soon swept the world of alternative investing and that has minted numerous billionaires.

A Builder, Not a Breaker?

For all Mr. Peltz’s business and financial success, not to mention longevity, his early associations with people like Mr. Posner (who pleaded no contest to tax evasion and fraud in 1988) and Mr. Milken (who pleaded guilty to multiple felonies in 1990 and was pardoned by President Donald J. Trump in 2020) no doubt tainted his reputation, fairly or not.

Even before then, he was turned down by the co-op board when he tried to buy an apartment at 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan, and not because he couldn’t pay in cash. The building, on the Upper East Side, is a residential haven for the corporate elite: His friend, Mr. Steinberg, lived there. And Blackstone’s Stephen A. Schwarzman subsequently bought Mr. Steinberg’s apartment, once home to John D. Rockefeller Jr. (The board later approved a purchase by Mr. May, Mr. Peltz’s partner and the president of the New York Philharmonic.)

On more than one occasion Mr. Peltz, who is Jewish, has encountered what he considered at least a whiff of antisemitism. He recalled that his arrival in London in the 1980s was greeted with a tabloid profile headlined “The Wild and Rocking World of Nelson Peltz.” The first sentence, he said, called him a “Jewish boy from Brooklyn,” and the British business establishment closed ranks against him.

Mr. Peltz, long a fierce critic of antisemitism, said he stepped down from his role as chairman of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in December because after 40 years in the position, it was time for a change. But The Wall Street Journal reported that he left after the center called for a boycott of Ben & Jerry’s. The center had deemed posts by the company’s chairman to be pro-Palestinian after the Hamas attack on Israel. Mr. Peltz is a board member of Unilever, the owner of Ben & Jerry’s.

His fellow billionaire Henry Kravis, the buyout pioneer, is one of the few Jewish members of Palm Beach’s old-money Everglades Club, but not Mr. Peltz. Mr. Peltz said he had “refused to set foot” in the club until it had a Jewish member and, now that it does, has had lunch there several times. (Mr. Peltz belongs to the Palm Beach Country Club, which has long accommodated members excluded from more restrictive Palm Beach clubs.)

Mr. Peltz’s reputation as a corporate troublemaker also cost him his longtime relationship with his Manhattan law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. In 2019, the firm cut ties with him even though he had been one of its biggest clients for decades. Paul Weiss handled his estate planning and other matters; a Paul Weiss partner left the firm to become his general counsel. But after Paul Weiss expanded its elite corporate practice in recent years, the firm told him that it could no longer represent activist investors, including him.

Mr. Peltz countered that he wasn’t an activist, he was a “constructivist” — someone who worked with management, not against it. He had never mounted a hostile takeover, he said, or even fired a chief executive. Paul Weiss was unpersuaded. “They dropped me like that,” Mr. Peltz said. “I was probably their oldest living client.”

Vitriol for Disney

Mr. Peltz’s argument that he’s not an activist has also fallen on deaf ears at Disney.

Before the proxy fight, Mr. Peltz had breakfast with Mr. Iger at the Beverly Hills Hotel on occasion when Mr. Peltz was in Los Angeles, and Mr. Iger visited Mr. Peltz in New York. Disney’s pension fund also invested in Trian.

When Elliott Management, led by the activist investor Paul Singer, took a stake in AT&T in 2019 and agitated for change, Mr. Iger asked Mr. Peltz to address the Disney board. Topics on the agenda, according to records reviewed by The Times: “What made AT&T vulnerable?” and “Who will be the winners and losers” as big technology companies move into entertainment and media content production?

But early last year, after Mr. Peltz bought roughly $1 billion in Disney shares and threatened a proxy contest for a board seat if Disney rebuffed his proposals, Disney attacked Mr. Peltz, saying he did “not understand Disney’s businesses and lacks the skills and experience to assist the board in delivering shareholder value in a rapidly shifting media ecosystem.”

Even though Mr. Iger and the Disney board had seemed eager to tap Mr. Peltz’s expertise in 2019, Mr. Iger only grudgingly gave him 45 minutes on Jan. 10 last year to present his plans. Mr. Peltz’s reception was frosty — only Mr. Iger asked a perfunctory question.

Little more than a month after Mr. Peltz started his campaign, Disney pledged $5.5 billion in cost reductions (later raised to $7.5 billion) and said it would resume paying a dividend. Mr. Peltz said the changes aligned with Trian’s goals, and he backed off the proxy fight.

By December, he was back. Frustrated by the ensuing slide in Disney stock— from over $110 a share in February 2023 to below $80 in October— and what he deemed Disney’s failure to follow through with its pledges, Mr. Peltz and Trian renewed their campaign.

This time, Mr. Peltz increased the pressure by allying with two Disney veterans with intimate knowledge of the company: Ike Perlmutter and Jay Rasulo.

Mr. Rasulo, a former Disney chief financial officer and theme parks head, was considered a potential successor to Mr. Iger until he was passed over for the chief operating job in 2016. Mr. Rasulo and Mr. Peltz are Trian’s nominees for the Disney board.

Mr. Perlmutter is the sometimes irascible former chairman of Marvel Entertainment, which Disney bought in 2009 for $4 billion in cash and stock, making him one of Disney’s largest shareholders. He remained chairman of Marvel Entertainment after the deal, but Mr. Iger sidelined him in 2015 by revamping Disney management. Mr. Perlmutter was unceremoniously laid off last year and has since been a vocal critic of Mr. Iger.

Mr. Trump introduced Mr. Peltz to Mr. Perlmutter in 2016 at Mar-a-Lago, where Mr. Perlmutter usually commands a prime dining room table next to Mr. Trump’s. Mr. Perlmutter has been a prominent financial backer of Mr. Trump’s presidential campaigns. Mr. Peltz, too, was a Trump supporter and raised $10 million for him at his Palm Beach estate in February 2020. But the two stopped speaking after Mr. Peltz went on CNBC and denounced Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and incite violence on Jan. 6, 2021, as a “disgrace.” His antipathy has only grown since, and Mr. Peltz said he would not raise more money for Mr. Trump.

Still, the falling-out hasn’t dented Mr. Peltz’s friendship with Mr. Perlmutter.

Mr. Perlmutter has entrusted Mr. Peltz to vote his Disney shares, inflaming tensions with the entertainment company. In its defense against the Trian campaign, Disney accused Mr. Perlmutter of bearing Mr. Iger “personal animosity” and blaming him for being fired.

Disney has also suggested that Mr. Peltz is motivated by a grudge against Mr. Iger, a claim that Mr. Peltz has vehemently denied. The company recently told investors that the men were never close friends, and that Disney ended its investment in Trian in 2021, angering Mr. Peltz, because the fund had underperformed the S&P 500 on an annualized basis over eight years. A spokesman for Mr. Peltz and Trian said they didn’t comment on client matters.

Lacking the information that he’d be privy to as a board member, Mr. Peltz doesn’t purport to have a novel solution to the streaming losses that have bedeviled Disney and other media companies trying to make the difficult transition to the direct-to-consumer digital era. He has been frank about his lack of direct experience in entertainment — something Disney has highlighted. But he said experience wasn’t everything. “They just put out five movies in a row that were big losers,” he said.

In Disney, he sees a company with great assets. But he also believes it’s a business crying out for greater operational accountability, more efficiency and better board governance. He considers Disney to be not that different from consumer-facing companies that he has helped turn around, like Heinz and Procter & Gamble.

Mr. Peltz also has better visibility into Disney’s operations than most of his past targets thanks to his alliance with Mr. Rasulo. Many were surprised that Mr. Rasulo would go up against Mr. Iger, his former mentor, in such public combat.

But Mr. Rasulo said in an interview that Mr. Iger’s abrupt departure in 2020 and the choice of the little-known Bob Chapek to replace him left him (and many others) mystified. So did Mr. Chapek’s sudden ouster and Mr. Iger’s return in 2022. Streaming losses soared, and Disney stock plunged.

“I was always a Disney guy,” said Mr. Rasulo, who spent three decades at the company, and the decline was painful to witness. “Something obviously went radically wrong.”

Mr. Rasulo didn’t know Mr. Peltz when they met for breakfast in Los Angeles a year and a half ago, but he said he had liked what he heard. He conducted his own interviews with people who had dealt with Mr. Peltz, and his research bore out what Mr. Peltz had emphasized — that he was a long-term investor looking to fix the company, not break it up.

Mr. Rasulo said he had no ambition to take Mr. Iger’s place as chief executive. He said he believed he could be an objective “voice of clarity” on the board as well as someone with intimate familiarity with the company’s operations and legacy. (Disney has countered that Mr. Rasulo left eight years ago and is out of touch with a radically changed media landscape.)

Mr. Peltz, too, said he looked forward to working closely with Mr. Iger if he gained a board seat. But that hasn’t stopped him from publicly criticizing Mr. Iger’s leadership. Waging his campaign on CNBC, in other media and in a recent whirlwind of visits to major shareholders, Mr. Peltz has argued that Disney grossly overpaid for 21st Century Fox assets in 2019, a $71 billion deal that saddled the company with enormous debt; that Mr. Iger and the board have repeatedly bungled succession planning; and that Mr. Iger has overseen an alarming decline in quality and financial results at the company’s core Disney animation, Pixar and Marvel entertainment units.

“The fact is, the emperor has no clothes,” Mr. Peltz said.

There have been no invitations from Disney to address the board this time.

In a statement for this article, a Disney spokesman said Mr. Peltz “has failed to demonstrate that he comprehends Disney’s strategic position in the modern media business, or to offer any compelling ideas, and we believe his presence in the boardroom would be disruptive and destructive.”

History as a Guide

A recurring issue in the Disney proxy fight will be Mr. Peltz’s investment record, which remains a closely guarded secret. Various academic studies have found that activist investors, on average, don’t generate superior returns over time.

Trian maintains that federal rules prohibit it from publicizing its results. But the firm said that from the time Mr. Peltz joined a company’s board — 11 in all — through the end of 2023, Trian’s investments in those 11 companies generated a 17 percent annualized rate of return. The S&P 500 has returned an annualized 9.5 percent since 2005, when Trian was founded.

Trian said it used that measure — from the date Mr. Peltz joined a board to the present — because the fund took a long-term approach and often continued to own shares after Mr. Peltz or one of his Trian partners left a board. If returns were measured until the date they stepped down, the returns would be slightly higher, it said.

Annualized returns in those companies range from 47 percent (Legg Mason, acquired by Franklin Templeton in 2020, a year after Mr. Peltz joined the board) to 3 percent (Unilever, which was Trian’s most recent investment before Disney and whose board Mr. Peltz joined in 2022).

Trian argues that these returns are what’s relevant to shareholders of the target companies, including Disney. Trian’s own investors haven’t reaped annualized gains that large, in part because the fund isn’t always fully invested and holds cash and shares in other companies.

One investor said Trian gained 12 percent in 2023 (well below the S&P 500’s 24 percent rise) and lost 10.6 percent in 2022 (when the S&P dropped over 18 percent). Disney said Trian’s annualized returns for its pension fund trailed the S&P 500 by 500 basis points, or 5 percent, over eight years. (Trian said that it offered multiple investment and fee options, and that individual investor results therefore varied.)

Still, many investors have been satisfied: Trian’s assets have gone from less than $1 billion when it was founded in 2005 to over $10 billion. Mr. Peltz attributes his investment success to his operational skills and long-term perspective.

“We’re not activists,” he insisted. “We’re not private equity. We’re not looking to just leverage up a business and sell. We’re looking to build a business over the long term. That’s what’s fun.”

Mr. Peltz noted that the average holding period for a Trian position was six years— long by activist standards, though about the same as private equity funds. Some holdings, like Wendy’s, have been much longer.

The Times interviewed a dozen former executives at companies targeted by Mr. Peltz, and all said he had bolstered results, even those who said they had no particular fondness for him and declined to be quoted.

Mr. Winkleblack, who orchestrated Heinz’s defense in the proxy contest, thought it possible, even likely, that he’d be fired once Mr. Peltz gained a board seat. On the contrary, he stayed in his role after he met Mr. Peltz one on one.

“We fought a good fight,” Mr. Peltz told him. “Now let’s go make money for shareholders.” That, in essence, is Mr. Peltz’s philosophy, Mr. Winkleblack said.

After an extensive listening tour, Mr. Peltz backed Heinz’s chief executive, William Johnson, and his turnaround plan. Mr. Peltz subsequently proposed Mr. Johnson, whom he now calls a “great friend,” for the PepsiCo board, and Mr. Winkleblack now serves as a Trian representative on Wendy’s board.

Mr. Peltz’s battle against DuPont was in some ways the beginning of modern-day activism: evolving into a full-blown fight in which an influential proxy firm, ISS, sided with Mr. Peltz while index funds, decisively, sided with the company’s management.

Though Mr. Peltz lost the proxy fight in 2015, DuPont’s chief executive, Ellen Kullman, stepped down not long after. Her successor, Edward D. Breen, developed a warm relationship with Mr. Peltz and embraced much of his strategy.

Mr. Peltz said Trian intended to remain a major Disney shareholder and keep up the pressure even if it lost the proxy battle, and pointed to DuPont as a precedent.

Procter & Gamble put up a spirited defense to Mr. Peltz’s proxy campaign but, after a narrow loss, reluctantly welcomed Mr. Peltz into the boardroom in 2017. Two years later, Mr. Peltz and the company’s chief executive, David Taylor, were heaping praise on each other.

“We’d rather be rich than right, and David has that same attitude,” Mr. Peltz said at a conference sponsored by CNBC and Institutional Investor. “That’s why we’re getting along so well.”

Several executives who have faced Mr. Peltz’s attention said they saw a common theme: He accelerated existing recovery plans, and then reaped credit for the success. Chief executives who get along with him have to swallow their egos — something that might prove difficult for someone as prominent as Mr. Iger, especially given all the recent vitriol.

Many also said that the care and feeding of Mr. Peltz was time-consuming. After Mr. Peltz joined the board of the snack food maker Mondelez International, then-chief executive Irene Rosenfeld created a new executive position to handle some administrative duties while she dealt with Mr. Peltz and other activist shareholders. Still, Mondelez shares rose an annualized 11 percent while Mr. Peltz was on the board, Trian said.

No one The Times interviewed could recall Mr. Peltz’s arriving on a board with bold ideas that no one else at the company had ever thought of.

“He’ll offer thoughts. He’ll have a thesis,” as one former chief executive said. “But the reality is no one can come from the outside and really know a well-managed company. They’re not going to walk in and tell them something they’ve never thought of.”

Still Rocking the Boat

Which is why, when all is said and done, Mr. Peltz may never escape the unsavory reputation that still dogs him, at least in some quarters, and why it’s unlikely he’ll ever be mentioned in the same breath as Mr. Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway acquires companies only in friendly deals.

Mr. Peltz seems oblivious that even when he is invited onto a board, it’s often under duress: better to have him on the inside, with a director’s duty to shareholders, than on the outside waging a proxy war.

Mr. Peltz “may be a very smart investor and a very savvy operator, but he rocks the boat,” Mr. Elson the governance expert said. “People who rock the boat are naturally going to cross swords with the establishment.” (Mr. Elson’s family is also a pillar of Palm Beach high society; his father, Edward, was U.S. ambassador to Denmark in the 1990s, and his mother, Susie, was chair of Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts.)

“No one likes to be told you’re doing something wrong. That’s just human nature,” Mr. Elson continued. “When that happens, you’re viewed as a dissident, an irritant. Irritants aren’t loved.”

Loved or not, Mr. Peltz has Mr. Elson’s admiration, he said, even if he doesn’t always agree with Mr. Peltz’s approach. “Irritants,” he said, “are important to the proper functioning of a capitalist society.”

A previous version of this article misidentified Charles Elson. He is a   former director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, not its director.

How we handle corrections

James B. Stewart has been a reporter and business columnist for The Times since 2011, focusing on the human drama of the business world and the struggle for corporate power. More about James B. Stewart

Lauren Hirsch joined The Times from CNBC in 2020, covering deals and the biggest stories on Wall Street. More about Lauren Hirsch

Advertisement

Residentes de la Florida: Ahorra hasta un 30% en habitaciones de Hoteles Resort Disney selectos para esta primavera y a principios de verano

Ver Todas las Ofertas Especiales

¡Hospédate en la magia esta primavera y principios de verano! Los residentes de la Florida pueden ahorrar hasta un 30% en habitaciones de hoteles Resort Disney selectos; válido en estadías la mayoría de las noches del 25 de marzo al 7 de julio de 2024.

Esta oferta es válida en los hoteles resort Disney que figuran a continuación. Mira el gráfico para explorar los ahorros.

¡Hospédate en la Magia!

En un hotel Resort Disney, puedes descubrir el servicio legendario, la atención al detalle y el poder de la narración que encuentras en nuestros parques temáticos. Leer Más

En un hotel Resort Disney, puedes descubrir el servicio legendario, la atención al detalle y el poder de la narración que encuentras en nuestros parques temáticos. Y descubrirás el encanto a la vuelta de cada esquina.

Algunos de los aspectos destacados:

Ingreso Adelantado a los Parques Temáticos Cuando te hospedas en un hotel Resort de Disney, puedes obtener ingreso adelantado 30 minutos antes a cualquier Parque Temático por cada día de tu estadía (sujeto a capacidad), para que puedas disfrutar atracciones, tiendas y restaurantes selectos antes de la hora de apertura regular del Parque.

Para disfrutar de ingreso adelantado a los Parques Temáticos, debes tener una pulsera Disney, el servicio Disney MagicMobile o una tarjeta Key to the World, además de una entrada válida. Es posible que se requieran reservaciones de Parques Temáticos según el tipo de entrada. Más información sobre las reservaciones de Parques Temáticos .

Horario Nocturno Extendido en los Parques Temáticos Cuando te hospedas en un Hotel de Lujo de Disney o en una Villa de Lujo de Disney, podrás disfrutar el horario extendido en noches selectas en Parques Temáticos selectos.

Para disfrutar el horario nocturno extendido, necesitarás una pulsera Disney, el servicio Disney MagicMobile o una Tarjeta Key to the World, además de una entrada válida. Es posible que se requieran reservaciones de Parques Temáticos según el tipo de entrada. Más información sobre las reservaciones de Parques Temáticos .

Desplázate con Facilidad Las opciones de transporte gratuito hacen que sea fácil y divertido trasladarse por Walt Disney World Resort. Trasládate a toda velocidad en el mundialmente famoso monorriel, surca el cielo en Disney Skyliner y navega por cursos de agua apacibles a bordo de un bote. Algunos hoteles resort Disney incluso se encuentran a poca distancia a pie de Parques Temáticos selectos.

Magia en Cada Esquina Sumérgete en mundos fantásticos, tanto reales como imaginados, incluyendo algunos cuentos favoritos de Disney y Pixar. Ya sea que estés disfrutando de las vistas de una sabana africana, dándote un chapuzón en una de las fantásticas piscinas temáticas o degustando los sabores de las islas polinesias, en cada detalle encontrarás toques divertidos y sorprendentes de Disney.

La diversión no para en los hoteles Resort Disney, donde puedes disfrutar de las piscinas temáticas con toboganes, actividades junto a la piscina, y deliciosas experiencias culinarias. ¡Puede que incluso veas a algunos amigos conocidos de Disney!

Las actividades y los servicios varían según el hotel Resort Disney.

Diversión en los Parques Temáticos

Cuando agregas una entrada válida para los Parques Temáticos, puedes descubrir experiencias nuevas y los clásicos favoritos de Walt Disney World Resort. Leer Más

Cuando agregas una entrada válida para los Parques Temáticos, puedes descubrir experiencias nuevas y los clásicos favoritos de Walt Disney World Resort.

Reservaciones de Parques Temáticos

Para ingresar a un Parque Temático, es posible que se requiera una reservación de Parque Temático según el tipo de entrada.  Obtén más información sobre las reservaciones de Parques Temáticos .

Verifica la disponibilidad en el calendario de reservaciones para Parques.

• ¡NUEVO! Da un paseo por un exuberante sendero donde puedes explorar las maravillas del agua y descubrir su personalidad lúdica en Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana .
• Trae a toda la familia a correr y escabullirse por la cocina de Gusteau mientras disfrutan de las vistas, los sonidos y los aromas del mundo de Remy en Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure .
• Sube a bordo de una antigua embarcación noruega y adéntrate en el reino de Arendelle durante Frozen Ever After .
• Elévate en el cielo durante una aventura en ala delta en Soarin' , con vistas espectaculares, aromas agradables y la sensación agraciada del vuelo que te lleva a nuevas alturas increíbles.
• Ve cómo los cielos cobran vida en Luminous The Symphony of Us , un nuevo espectáculo nocturno con fuegos artificiales, fuentes, luces y música.  
• Únete a la diversión en los festivales de temporada repletos de comida fantástica, entretenimiento en vivo y mucho más.

Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park

• Celebra la magia de la naturaleza en Pandora – The World of Avatar . Allí podrás volar sobre un banshee en Avatar Flight of Passage, caminar en medio de montañas flotantes en Valley of Mo’ara y dar un místico paseo en bote que te llevará por un bosque bioluminiscente en Na’vi River Journey.
• Viaja en un vehículo abierto por una exuberante sabana africana repleta de animales exóticos en Kilimanjaro Safaris .
• Presencia Finding Nemo : The Big Blue... and Beyond! , un vibrante espectáculo escénico ambientado en el mundo submarino de Finding Nemo .
• Viaja a toda velocidad a través del Himalaya en un tren desenfrenado y esquiva las garras del Yeti en Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain.
• Maravíllate ante el Festival of the Lion King , un espectáculo más grande que la vida, lleno de pompas, marionetas y canciones clásicas de The Lion King .
• Sumérgete en una exuberante selva asiática en Kali River Rapids .

Magic Kingdom Park

• Deja atrás el mundo real para participar de una carrera de alto riesgo a través de la red del oscuro mundo computarizado de TRON en TRON Lightcycle / Run, presented by Enterprise .
• Explora atracciones emblemáticas y disfruta experiencias en 6 tierras increíbles, incluyendo Seven Dwarfs Mine Train , un paseo familiar que te lleva por una mina de diamantes.
• Déjate deslumbrar por la música, el baile y un colorido espectáculo durante el Festival of Fantasy Parade , un gran homenaje a los cuentos y a los habitantes de Fantasyland.
• Conoce a algunos de tus amigos favoritos de Disney , disfruta una recepción real de las Princesas Disney y mucho más.
• Despega en un emocionante recorrido en Space Mountain y Big Thunder Mountain Railroad .
• Vuelve a descubrir las adoradas atracciones clásicas de Disney como Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion y Dumbo the Flying Elephant .
• Deleita tus ojos con un espectáculo nocturno de fuegos artificiales , una extravagancia de fuegos artificiales con luces, láseres y efectos especiales.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

• Vive tu propia aventura en una galaxia muy, muy lejana en Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge . Disfruta 2 emocionantes atracciones, construye tu propio droide o sable de luz, deléitate con las sabrosas comidas y bebidas de Batuu, compra recuerdos de un marketplace bullicioso… ¡y mucho más!
• Descubre diversión en grande para niños y adultos en Toy Story Land . Disfruta un paseo alocado en la atracción Slinky Dog Dash o da vueltas en Alien Swirling Saucers.
• Empaca tu imaginación, cambia de carril y da un paseo muy animado cuando subas a bordo de Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway .
• Sube y baja a toda velocidad a bordo de un elevador embrujado en The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ .
• Ve algunos Personajes favoritos rondando por el Parque, incluyendo los amigos de Toy Story , los amigos de Disney Junior y Personajes de Star Wars .

Actualiza a un Paquete

Al reservar esta oferta de habitación, puedes agregar tickets para Parques Temáticos, e incluso un plan de comidas, para crear un paquete. Leer Más

Al reservar esta oferta de habitación, puedes agregar tickets para Parques Temáticos, e incluso un plan de comidas, para crear un paquete.

Cómo Reservar un Paquete Después de elegir una habitación, simplemente agrega tickets para Parques Temáticos para crear tu paquete de habitación y tickets.

Una vez que hayas seleccionado tus tickets para Parques Temáticos, tendrás la opción de agregar un plan de comidas a tu paquete. Con un plan de comidas, puedes disfrutar la comodidad y flexibilidad de comidas y snacks prepagados durante tus vacaciones en Walt Disney World.

Para ingresar a un Parque Temático, es posible que se requiera una reservación de Parque Temático según el tipo de entrada.  Más información sobre los requisitos de reservación de Parque Temático .

Sácale Partido a Tu Día

Como Huésped de un hotel Resort Disney, obtienes acceso adelantado para comprar una entrada Lightning Lane individual .

Para hacer reservaciones por teléfono, llama al (407) 939-5277† y habla con un experto en planificación de vacaciones. O contacta a tu agente de viajes.

• Pueden aplicarse cargos adicionales por adulto si hay más de 2 adultos por habitación en los hoteles Resort de Disney Económicos, Moderados y de Lujo, y en los estudios de las Villas Resort de Lujo de Disney.
• No puede combinarse con ningún otro descuento o promoción.
• Se requieren reservaciones por adelantado.
• La oferta excluye los siguientes tipos de habitación: Tower Studios at Disney's Riviera Resort, cabañas en Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, bungalós en Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, vista de la piscina en Disney's Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter, Treehouse Villas at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Villas Grandes de 3 dormitorios y The Campsites at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort.
• Se requiere un comprobante de residencia en la Florida al momento de registrarse en el hotel.
• Se requiere una entrada válida para disfrutar los Parques Temáticos y no está incluida en esta oferta. Es posible que se requieran reservaciones de Parques Temáticos según el tipo de entrada. Obtén más información sobre las reservaciones de Parques Temáticos .

Detalles de la Oferta

†Los Huéspedes menores de 18 años deben tener permiso de sus padres o tutores para llamar.

Otras Ofertas que te Pueden Interesar

Se requiere una dirección de facturación en Florida al proporcionar información de tarjeta de crédito durante el proceso para completar la compra Además, se requiere comprobante de residencia en Florida en el registro del hotel. ¿Quieres ver esta oferta para residentes de Florida?

Use CoBrowse to Share Your Screen?

Even as the Disney Cast Member guides you around our site, they will be unable to access or view any files or information on your device or anything you type.

To stop the session, click the X in the screen-sharing window at any time. You can remain on the phone with the Cast Member.

Enter the code provided by the Cast Member and Accept to get started.

Invalid code. Please reenter

Not on the Phone with a Cast Member?

Oferta para residentes de florida.