Best Pools at Walt Disney World for DVC Renters
When you’re renting DVC points, you’re usually staying somewhere for five nights or more, and that means the pool stops being a “maybe we’ll swim one afternoon” thing and becomes its own destination. Some of these pools are so good that guests plan whole resort days around them. If you’re trying to figure out which Disney Vacation Club resort to rent at, the pool might just be the tiebreaker.
Here are our favorite pools at Walt Disney World for DVC renters, roughly in order of how much we’d build a trip around them.
What makes a great Disney pool
Not all Disney resort pools are created equal. The standouts usually have a few things in common: a themed feature pool with a real slide (not a glorified kiddie slide), a hot tub or two, a pool bar with food service, a kid splash zone, and that Disney-level theming that makes you feel like the pool is part of the story. Some resorts go even further with lazy rivers, sand bottoms, or multiple feature pools. The rest of this post is our take on which DVC pools deliver and which ones are just fine.
Stormalong Bay at Beach Club Villas
Stormalong Bay is the consensus best pool on Disney property, and it’s not really close. Where else are you getting a sand-bottom pool, a lazy river, and a slide that launches off a shipwrecked pirate ship? It’s three acres of pool, which feels enormous after you’ve splashed around the typical resort pool.
A few things to know: Stormalong Bay is for Beach Club, Yacht Club, and Beach Club Villas guests only. They actually check your MagicBand. So if you want this pool, you need to rent at Beach Club Villas. Studios there are tough to grab, but the pool alone is worth working for.
Lava Pool at Polynesian
The Lava Pool is the one with the volcano you’ve seen on Instagram, and it lives up to the photos. The slide tunnels through the volcano and dumps you into the main pool, the views look out over the Seven Seas Lagoon, and the whole area has that island-luxury feel. There’s also Oasis Pool (the quieter one) for when you want fewer kids and more relaxing.
Bonus: Come back to the pool at night, swim and watch the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. They sync the music and it’s magical!
Copper Creek Springs Pool at Wilderness Lodge
Wilderness Lodge has two DVC resorts and they share the Copper Creek Springs Pool, which is themed like a hot spring flowing out of the lodge. The slide is built into the rockwork and there’s a fire pit and pool bar nearby. It feels rustic and woodsy in the best way, a real change of pace from the bright, splashy pools at the Epcot-area resorts.
Boulder Ridge also has its own quiet pool, which we’ll come back to in a minute. If you’re staying at Wilderness Lodge, you can use either, and most guests pop between them.
Uzima Springs and Samawati Springs at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Animal Kingdom Pool
Each Animal Kingdom Lodge has its own pool, and both are good. Uzima Springs at Jambo is the larger of the two, with a slide and a great view back at the resort. Samawati Springs at Kidani has a slide, splash zone for the little ones, and the bonus of being right next to the savanna where you can sometimes see the animals while you swim.
Riviera Pool at Riviera Resort
Luxury
Riviera is a newer WDW DVC resort and the pool reflects it. The main feature pool, Riviera Pool, has a slide and is themed to the resort’s Mediterranean vibe. It feels clean, beautiful, and slightly more grown-up than some of the others. The Beau Soleil quiet pool is one of the nicer quiet pools on property if you need a break from the splash chaos.
Beach Pool and Courtyard Pool at Grand Floridian
Grand Floridian’s pools are perfectly nice. The Beach Pool has a slide and a zero-entry, the Courtyard Pool is more sedate, and the whole area has that Victorian elegance that fits the resort. But if you’re picking Grand Floridian as a renter, you’re picking it for the monorail, the lobby, the spa, and that “we splurged” feeling, not the pool.
High Rock Spring and The Paddock at Saratoga Springs
So many choices
This is the resort that surprises people. Saratoga Springs has two feature pools with slides. High Rock Spring is themed like a rocky spring with a long water slide, and The Paddock Pool has its own slide and is closer to the Springs and Carousel sections of the resort.
Most resorts have one feature pool. Saratoga gives you two, which matters a lot when you’ve got a big resort spread across multiple buildings. Saratoga also has multiple quiet pools tucked around the resort, so if you’re staying for a longer trip, you almost always have a less-crowded option within walking distance of your villa.
Sandcastle Pool at Old Key West
Old Key West’s main pool is themed like a giant sandcastle, with the slide built right into it. It’s a fun look, especially for kids, and the pool area has a relaxed, Key West vibe that fits the rest of the resort. There’s also a kids’ splash zone and a pool bar.
It’s not the showstopper that Stormalong Bay is, but it’s a solid pool with real personality. If you’re already drawn to Old Key West for the bigger villa square footage, the pool is a real bonus.
Luna Park Pool at Boardwalk
Boardwalk’s Luna Park Pool got an update during the recent resort renovation, and the old clown-faced slide that everyone had opinions( or if you are me, nightmares!) about is gone. The new look is more in keeping with the boardwalk amusement park theme without the nightmare fuel. There’s a slide, a pool bar, and the unbeatable Boardwalk location. You can step out of the resort and walk to Epcot or Hollywood Studios via the Skyliner.
For a pool-focused trip, it’s not a top pick. But if you’re choosing Boardwalk for the location and the freshly renovated rooms, the pool is now a genuine plus instead of a thing people made fun of.
Bay Cove Pool at Bay Lake Tower
Bay Cove Pool, shared with the Contemporary, has a long water slide and is well-maintained. It’s a nice pool. It’s just not a destination pool the way Stormalong Bay or the Lava Pool is. Most Bay Lake Tower guests are there for the monorail access to Magic Kingdom and the rooftop views, not the pool, and that’s fine.
Renting tips for pool lovers
A few things we’ve learned from helping families rent points:
- Pick the resort for the trip you actually want. If your kids are at the age where the pool is the vacation, that should be a real factor, maybe even more than which park you’re closest to.
- Check refurb schedules. Pools get refurbished, and a pool closure during your stay can be a serious bummer. We can help you check what’s scheduled before you commit.
- Ask about availability windows. Beach Club Villas and Polynesian studios go fast because of the pools and the further out you book, the better. Reach out to us at Pixie Point Gals and we’ll help you match the resort to the trip.
The bottom line
For DVC renters, the pool is a bigger deal than first-time guests realize. Stormalong Bay and the Lava Pool at Polynesian are the standouts, but every resort on this list has something going for it. The right pick depends on whether you want destination-pool drama, quiet-pool peace, or two feature pools to spread a big group across.
Which Disney resort pool is your favorite, feature pool excitement or quiet pool calm?
