Staying deluxe without club level. Help me do it, or not??

[Mousemommy1]

Well, I am clearly having issues here. Contemplating what I will book for next year's trip once rates come out. We will book 10 nights in August 2014.

We go annually, or more, and have stayed at all levels. DH and I always stayed at values before kids and loved them! Then the kids came....we stayed at POP (Loved it!), then CBR (really disliked it) and then finally bit the bullet and booked a deluxe (WL). I think our mistake was going right to club level on our first deluxe stay. WL CL was absolutely wonderful.... Everything was great, the resort, CL CM's, the food selections in the lounge....just a perfect 10 night stay.

Then, this year we did YC CL. It was nice, but it was not WL CL and we felt like we would not spend the $$ on CL at YC again but would definitely stay at YC again someday.

So, for next year.....I was torn between my first choice Poly CL and GF Sugarloaf (RPC is out of the question, just too expensive). I do have concerns though that if DVC is in fact started at Poly, it will be a hot mess (literally) with construction and I don't want to deal with that on vacation....thus the thought of GF CL...but I have heard very mixed reviews on Sugarloaf and don't want to end up with another YC feeling.

What I would like to do is just book a deluxe and not do CL, but I'm afraid I (and my family) will miss it!!!

Have any of you gone from CL to a regular deluxe and been equally or even more happy??? Or did you miss CL?

And feel free to chime in on your favorite CL's and why, or even why you feel that CL is a waste of money....

In other words, all opinions welcome. HELP!

 

[DLgal]

We'll be doing it this year. We are doing WL, but not CL. We are doing a cruise beforehand and wanted to save some money on the resort afterwards. Plus, we'll probably be so stuffed that we won't really miss the food.

The hard part, for us, will be breakfast. My kids seem to think breakfast is always "free" at hotels because we either stay CL or we stay places that offer free full breakfast. They assume that we wake up and breakfast is all they want to eat, and whatever they want, immediately. It will be hard to switch gears and explain that we must BUY breakfast and they must choose ONLY what they really are going to eat.

I understand your hesitation, but you will still have a great time at a Deluxe without CL. It's just a bit of an adjustment.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We'll be doing it this year. We are doing WL, but not CL. We are doing a cruise beforehand and wanted to save some money on the resort afterwards. Plus, we'll probably be so stuffed that we won't really miss the food.

The hard part, for us, will be breakfast. My kids seem to think breakfast is always "free" at hotels because we either stay CL or we stay places that offer free full breakfast. They assume that we wake up and breakfast is all they want to eat, and whatever they want, immediately. It will be hard to switch gears and explain that we must BUY breakfast and they must choose ONLY what they really are going to eat.

I understand your hesitation, but you will still have a great time at a Deluxe without CL. It's just a bit of an adjustment.

I get this. My kids automatically want to know where the "snack room" is...that's probably bad. Might be good to break them out of that mindset. Although I do love it because I don't have to pull out the wallet everything they are hungry or thirsty. Though, with all the money saved by not staying CL, that wallet would be more full.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We gave up CL long ago... Just isn't worth the high cost , and poor discounts, for nuts and crackers anymore.... Plus having to be at the resort to enjoy it.... Parks are more fun to waste time in... Not a crowded, filthy overrun CL lounge...

We take that saving, up grade to a deluxe resort, go a grocery / alcohol stop and load up our room with better offerings served anytime we want... We prefer to hang at the pool when we're at the resort... We make picnic lunches, adult beverages in our cooler... Resort room is for sleeping....

CL is a lot of extra money, for what ? Rooms are the same as regular, I can still get turn down service if I want... Other than the token food offerings, I eat at the food court better for breakfast and dinner cheaper paying OOP than CL money cost...

Nope, sorry... CL has gone so far down hill from its past glory, pocket the savings and go regular... No more personalize service !

 

[DLgal]

We gave up CL long ago... Just isn't worth the high cost , and poor discounts, for nuts and crackers anymore.... Plus having to be at the resort to enjoy it.... Parks are more fun to waste time in... Not a crowded, filthy overrun CL lounge...

We take that saving, up grade to a deluxe resort, go a grocery / alcohol stop and load up our room with better offerings served anytime we want... We prefer to hang at the pool when we're at the resort... We make picnic lunches, adult beverages in our cooler... Resort room is for sleeping....

CL is a lot of extra money, for what ? Rooms are the same as regular, I can still get turn down service if I want... Other than the token food offerings, I eat at the food court better for breakfast and dinner cheaper paying OOP than CL money cost...

Nope, sorry... CL has gone so far down hill from its past glory, pocket the savings and go regular... No more personalize service !

I totally disagree with this. That has not been my experience at all.

FWIW, we get the military 40% discount on CL. It is definitely NOT worth rack rate, but none of the resorts are "worth" rack rate IMO. We don't go without significant discounts. For the price we pay, CL pays for itself on just breakfast and alcohol.

I don't go on vacation to order groceries and prepare my own food. To each his own though.

Without CL, I will happily eat my meals and buy my drinks elsewhere. We'll be losing the convenience but that's okay for this trip since it's short.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We gave up CL long ago... Just isn't worth the high cost , and poor discounts, for nuts and crackers anymore.... Plus having to be at the resort to enjoy it.... Parks are more fun to waste time in... Not a crowded, filthy overrun CL lounge...

We take that saving, up grade to a deluxe resort, go a grocery / alcohol stop and load up our room with better offerings served anytime we want... We prefer to hang at the pool when we're at the resort... We make picnic lunches, adult beverages in our cooler... Resort room is for sleeping....

CL is a lot of extra money, for what ? Rooms are the same as regular, I can still get turn down service if I want... Other than the token food offerings, I eat at the food court better for breakfast and dinner cheaper paying OOP than CL money cost...

Nope, sorry... CL has gone so far down hill from its past glory, pocket the savings and go regular... No more personalize service !

I agree that monetarily you definitely don't get anywhere near dollar for dollar back on that CL "investment".

We have experienced personalized service though at WL and at YC (we were even chosen as Family of the Day at YC!!!)

But, I am sure we would have just as much fun not having it, and not feeling like we need to be back at the resort to take advantage of the offerings...

 

[Mousemommy1]

I totally disagree with this. That has not been my experience at all.

FWIW, we get the military 40% discount on CL. It is definitely NOT worth rack rate, but none of the resorts are "worth" rack rate IMO. We don't go without significant discounts. For the price we pay, CL pays for itself on just breakfast and alcohol.

I don't go on vacation to order groceries and prepare my own food. To each his own though.

Without CL, I will happily eat my meals and buy my drinks elsewhere. We'll be losing the convenience but that's okay for this trip since it's short.

We go with the 40% discount as well.

We would NEVER pay rack rate.

 

[dpswift]

Recently on this board a poster talked about her do it yourself plan. She brought cereals and snacks from home and bought milk from the giftshop. It seemed like a good way to wean off CL. The kids still had snacks but she saved the CL costs. To be honest I do not see the need for all the extra food. On my first Disney trip I brought it all. Cookies, granola bars, flavor packets for water, etc. 95% came back with me. We also had leftover credits from free dining.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Recently on this board a poster talked about her do it yourself plan. She brought cereals and snacks from home and bought milk from the giftshop. It seemed like a good way to wean off CL. The kids still had snacks but she saved the CL costs. To be honest I do not see the need for all the extra food. On my first Disney trip I brought it all. Cookies, granola bars, flavor packets for water, etc. 95% came back with me. We also had leftover credits from free dining.

We don't do the dining plan anymore as we always had leftover credits and it was such a waste for us.

I might just get snacks and juiceboxes and such for the room, along with beers for DH and go from there.

 

[Indio]

We pack a Snack Box for the room. We drive so the tranport is not an issue. I have one of those Rubbermaid tubs - not the huge one, just the medium sized one. Before we leave we go to the store and stock up on all the snacks that everyone wants and fill the box to the rim (have taken stuff out of the original boxes and packed in food storage bags to save room). Then we also buy several cases of soft drinks and fill the fridge when we get there. We still eat breakfast at the food courts (we take the softdrinks from the room) and have all our meals in the parks as well as any snacks we want. BUT, when we go back to the room for our mid-day swim/rest and at night after we go back to the resorts, the boys can pig-out all they want and not have to buy that!

Works great for us and a lot cheaper than CL.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We pack a Snack Box for the room. We drive so the tranport is not an issue. I have one of those Rubbermaid tubs - not the huge one, just the medium sized one. Before we leave we go to the store and stock up on all the snacks that everyone wants and fill the box to the rim (have taken stuff out of the original boxes and packed in food storage bags to save room). Then we also buy several cases of soft drinks and fill the fridge when we get there. We still eat breakfast at the food courts (we take the softdrinks from the room) and have all our meals in the parks as well as any snacks we want. BUT, when we go back to the room for our mid-day swim/rest and at night after we go back to the resorts, the boys can pig-out all they want and not have to buy that!

Works great for us and a lot cheaper than CL.

That's a great idea!!! Unfortunately, we have to fly, so that wouldn't be possible for us.

 

[TJA]

We went to Disney for years without staying CL as we really didn't even know about it. Then we were upgraded for free to BC CL and absolutely fell in love with the entire CL experience. We have stayed non-CL maybe 2x since then, but we did indeed miss it. Since you also seem to love the CL experience, I'd suggest trying a split stay since you will be there for 10 days. Maybe the first 5 days without CL at a resort, then switch to a different resort with CL. Personally, we like to switch it up between an MK resort and an Epcot resort. Then plan our meals according to where we're staying. Maybe try BC without the CL (since it's similar to YC CL and you've already tried that....), then switch to Poly CL. Make a lot of Epcot/BC/boardwalk area/HS dining ADR's for when you're staying in that area, then make all the MK and monorail resort ADR's for your stay at Poly.

We've never personally tried Sugarloaf, but we have good friends who recently stayed there and said that BC CL was WAY better in every way. They thought Sugarloaf was too crowded (and they went during a slow season Jan/Feb), CM's never knew them by name (and they were there for 8 days), and many more reasons that I can't recall at this moment (but she had a long list....). Not that I'd ever base my own decision on one person's experience, but I do love to hear about experiences.

 

[disd55]

I don't go on vacation to order groceries and prepare my own food. To each his own though.

I would just like to say that we order groceries before leaving for the trip, and they are delivered to the room. We order them regular Florida price, outside of Disney. It doesn't ruin your vacation any bit.

I've never stayed CL and don't need to. I've gone and searched videos of Disney's CL at resorts and it doesn't look worth it. You're not spending THAT MUCH time at the resort to take advantage of all that stuff. If you are, you're wasting your vacation.

 

[dansdad]

You're not spending THAT MUCH time at the resort to take advantage of all that stuff. If you are, you're wasting your vacation.

I guess our 6 night resort only (no parks) trip was a waste. Sure didn't feel like it.

 

[disd55]

I guess our 6 night resort only (no parks) trip was a waste. Sure didn't feel like it.

Oh I knew someone was going to say this. I was going to put "unless you spend your vacation at the resort", but then I decided, still, you're outside, in the pool, on the beach. How boring can it get sitting inside? Pretty boring.

 

[mickeynut1]

Have any of you gone from CL to a regular deluxe and been equally or even more happy??? Or did you miss CL?

And feel free to chime in on your favorite CL's and why, or even why you feel that CL is a waste of money....

We don't stay anything but deluxe, but we don't always stay CL. CL is nice, but it's not a necessity for us and we have just as good of a time without it as we do with it. As long as I get my deluxe resort (wouldn't go if I couldn't stay deluxe ), I'm happy .

I understand your hesitation, but you will still have a great time at a Deluxe without CL.

We prefer to hang at the pool when we're at the resort... We make picnic lunches, adult beverages in our cooler... Resort room is for sleeping....

That's what is so great about Disney......there are so many choices to choose from. Getting food upon arrival and making lunches is not a vacation to me.....I want to relax and be pampered when I go away....but for others it works, which is great .

But, I am sure we would have just as much fun not having it,

Yes, you would .

You're not spending THAT MUCH time at the resort to take advantage of all that stuff. If you are, you're wasting your vacation.

We spend more time at the resort than at the parks and that works great for us. Some people see the room as just a place to sleep, but we don't see it that way and we have never felt that we were "wasting" our vacation by spending more time at the resort, whether we were sitting by the pool or enjoying some time in the lounge.

 

[TXPyroMom]

I haven't ever stayed club level, so I can't comment on that, but have you thought about upgrading your view?

With the ages of your children, I bet they would love to wake up every morning to the castle and fall asleep every night with it changing colors.

We stay at the Contemporary in an MK view room and love it. Watching Wishes in your Pjs without 10,000 of your closest friends standing next to you is great While my family adores the Contemporary, I get that it's decor isn't for everyone, but you can still stay at the Poly or Grand and pay for an MK view.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Mousemommy1]

I haven't ever stayed club level, so I can't comment on that, but have you thought about upgrading your view?

With the ages of your children, I bet they would love to wake up every morning to the castle and fall asleep every night with it changing colors.

We stay at the Contemporary in an MK view room and love it. Watching Wishes in your Pjs without 10,000 of your closest friends standing next to you is great While my family adores the Contemporary, I get that it's decor isn't for everyone, but you can still stay at the Poly or Grand and pay for an MK view.

Good luck with your decision!

When we stayed WL CL, we had an awesome view of the castle and also Wishes. It was amazing....

I am considering CR TPV, instead of CL. I think that would be pretty awesome!

 

[Dis703]

No real advice, but I can totally sympathize with your dilemma. Prior to kids we only stayed offsite. Then we went once with ODS and did POFQ and was kind of meh about it really. Then this year I was in desperate need of a fabulous vacation so we splurged big time and made the jump to CL at BC. I NEVER thought I would stay deluxe much less CL but with a 35% discount we felt it was worth it for a once in a lifetime type of vacation.

We are looking to return one more time before my twins turn 3 and we bought APs for that purpose. In reality our budget allows for a mod but not a deluxe so we are going from a CL experience with a fabulous location to a mod without either and I'm afraid its going to be very disappointing. Although whatever we do I plan to go in with the attitude of just enjoying every minute because I'll still be at my favorite vacation spot!

We did use the CL lounge A LOT on our recent trip. It helped that our room was literally 15 feet from the lounge so we popped in on our way in and out all day. And we went back for naptimes so we were often there during snack or app time as well as back to get the kids to bed most nights while desserts were out. I could see if you didn't have the convenience of a close room or if you plan to be at the parks from open to close how it might not be as worthwhile.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Willows909]

I love this thread, thanks for starting it! We are staying Deluxe and CL for the first time and I am so excited! We are not going to the parks and plan on taking full advantage of CL....Lots of relaxing, taking in AKL pools and the CL lounge experience! We may or may not do it again...cost wise it is a splurge, but it's just hubby and I and we decided to go all in!!