Disney’s beach resort at Hilton Head Island, is one of the most-elusive Disney Vacation Club Resorts to stay at. With just over 100 villas, you may not have even known Disney had a resort in South Carolina. The resort sits along the Broad Creek and the Shelter Cove, themed as a cozy “Lowcountry” retreat. Even though this beach resort is not directly on the beach, Disney provided shuttles run continuously throughout the day to “Disney’s Beach House”. The Beach House has its own private swimming pool, Quick Service Restaurant, full bar, and activities.
I finally got the chance to stay at Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort and found the resort to be super charming with the right amount of Disney touches. Here’s a look at the resort and some of its amenities!
While Disney’s Hilton Head Resort is gated and only accessible to guests with a reservation, it is also tucked into Shelter Cove. You can easily walk to the harbor if you were wanting to check out one of their restaurants.
You’ll immediately notice the quaintness of the resort’s size. Instead of a sprawling Disney lobby, guests check-in at the Live Oak Lodge, reminiscent of a local hotel from days gone by. The Live Oak Lodge offers a first floor parking garage, select rooms and villas, and a cozy retreat space with games and afternoon cookies.
Broad Creek Mercantile and Big Dipper Pool
Most of the amenities and activities take place in the center of the resort over by the Big Dipper Pool and Broad Creek Mercantile. This is where you’ll find recreation like corn hole, shuffle board, and fishing plus Disney merchandise and a walk-up Quick Service at Tide Me Over.
At breakfast time you can get Mickey waffles all the way in South Carolina plus beignets similar to the ones they serve at the Magic Kingdom! Lunch and dinner consists of sandwiches, salads, pizza, and coconut shrimp. You can also get a resort refillable mug to use just like at the Disney World resorts.
Activities include crafts like wine glass painting and make-your-own Mickey wreaths, character meet and greets, and poolside Disney trivia. Be sure to get an activity schedule at check-in so you don’t miss out!
The Big Dipper Pool has a water slide, small pool with fountains for little ones called The Little Dipper, and a hot tub.
The Community Hall is where most of the crafts take place and is just beside the Mercantile.
Disney’s Beach House
Disney’s Beach House is located just across the street and is around a 5 – 10 minute drive. You’ll definitely want to take the provided transportation or drive yourself over. The Beach House is only accessible if you have an active resort key, making it quiet on most days. There are plenty of places to relax including an indoor lounge with TVs, a Quick Service with refillable mug access called Signals, and a full service bar. The Beach House closes most days around 7 pm with shuttle service ending around 5 pm.
The pool overlooks the beach and you can rent beach chairs from a local vendor set-up nearby.
Another nice amenity for kids is the free sand toys, available to use for the day. There is also a locker room for storing necessities and a shower for cleaning up before heading back to the resort.
One Bedroom Villa
Earlier this year, Disney completed a major refurbishment of the Hilton Head Villas. The new decor includes Disney art, light and airy colors, and subtle nods to Hilton Head. The one bedroom villa is quite spacious, sleeping up to 6 with a king bed, a double size Murphy bed, and a single convertible chair. The full kitchen includes a dishwasher, oven with stovetop, microwave, full-size fridge with ice maker, and a dual coffee machine for both K-Cups and drip coffee. The shared living/ kitchen area also has a banquette dining table. Disney fans will be happy to know the TV has all the same channels as the Disney World Resorts – meaning you can watch Mickey Mouse cartoons here too!
The one bedroom villas can connect to a studio effectively making a two bedroom. This lockout area is also int he alcove with the full-size washer and dryer and a perfect drop zone for beach supplies and sand toys. Be sure to look at the bench for a few special carvings from both Mickey & Minnie and Walt Disney.
The bedroom is super spacious with plenty of drawer space and two padded benches. There is also a second door out to the covered porch.
The bathroom is split into two areas – a double sink vanity with a closet, and large soaker tub plus a separate room with a shower, toilet, and vanity. Much like many of the early DVC villas, the bathtub area does not have a door, only a door between it and the toilet/ shower area. How amazing is the art of Max and Goofy fishing together in Broad Creek?
One of the best features of the rooms at Disney’s Hilton Head is the over-sized porches overlooking either Broad Creek or the many oak trees. The one bedroom villa has a dining table with four benches and two rocking chairs. The resort’s design guarantees no one has a parking lot view and many rooms allow you to park very close to your room.
Overall Thoughts
If you’ve stayed at Disney’s Vero Beach, Hilton Head is a very different experience. Hilton Head is much more quaint and more about slowing down and spending time with friends and families. Since there’s only two Quick Service restaurants (and only one at the actual resort) Disney’s Hilton head offers a 10% discount on many local restaurants. We opted to dine at one of these restaurants, Skull Creek Boathouse, and it was fantastic. For this reason, I would opt for a one bedroom over a studio for the ability to cook meals in your room. There’s a Kroger near the resort that I would plan to stop at on the way in.
If you’ve never been to Hilton Head, it’s incredibly charming and picturesque. It’s a purposefully designed, quiet beach town. There’s plenty of recognizable chain restaurants and shops plus special, local options. Disney’s Beach House gives a nice solution for not being right on the water and the resorts charm makes it appealing year-round.
Disney’s Hilton Head reminded me a lot of Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside, 1920’s Southern architecture and cozy landscaping. To keep with the Lowcountry theme and weather, almost nothing is on the “ground floor”. The lobby, gift shop, quick service, and rooms are all in raised buildings and require stairs or an elevator. If you’re a Disney fan or DVC pro, staying at the Hilton Head Resort feels like a rite of passage. I was told at check-in the resort is almost always completely sold out. If you can get a reservation, I would book it right away and plan for days at the beach and evenings spent cooking dinner and playing board games. I could see Hilton Head being a great family tradition to spend quality time together.
