Anybody think club level is not "All that"

[MsStinkerBelle]

I think Club Level has its benefits. One year I got upgraded to CL at the Poly during Christmas. If I had to pay for it I probably wouldn't as it is just DD11 and myself. However, if I had a larger family I might consider it and if it's during a peak time at Disney (like Easter, 4th of July or Christmas) I would *definitely* consider it. Having the perks of Club Level came in handy during those times when the crush of humanity in the parks can drive you bat <blank> crazy.

 

[nrpofp]

Unless you plan to spend lots of time at the resort it really IMO is not worth it. It can be crowded when food is put out, things are grabbed up and there often is not even a place to sit. I had much rather take the extra money order an app from room service and sit on my balcony. We enjoyed having soft drinks and bottled water available but we really could have bought it much cheaper at the gift shop. And with deluxe dining you will have so many snack credits you can use those snacks to bring back to your room. We have stayed CL at AKL and GF.

With deluxe dining you dont really needs snacks. I think I brought more than 40 snacks home with me. My dh bought beer, bottled water and jack daniels from costco, and I indulged in the barefoot bars "girly drinks' as my dh would say. I'm glad I started this thread because it helped me decide between deluxe dining or cl, and I think I will stick with deluxe dining. It may be too much food, but I think it's a better value. I thought there might be more to club level than the carb breakfast, the finger foods, beer and cheap wine. From the answers I have gotten It doesn't appear to be the case. Thanks.

 

[aheaviside]

I priced out the difference in tower bay lake view at contemporary for our dates vs 12th floor club level and it's $161/night more. Why is the CR club level so much more than other deluxe resorts? In this thread, people are saying club level was $80-110 more per night but that isn't the case for my dates. Just wondering?

I really want to try CR club level but I'm not sure at 161 more per night??

Another question- do club level rooms sell out faster or slower than other rooms. We are booked but if we wait to decide about club level what are the chances 2-3 months out that a CL room at CR would be available in slow value season?

 

[rie'smom]

I priced out the difference in tower bay lake view at contemporary for our dates vs 12th floor club level and it's $161/night more. Why is the CR club level so much more than other deluxe resorts? In this thread, people are saying club level was $80-110 more per night but that isn't the case for my dates. Just wondering?

I really want to try CR club level but I'm not sure at 161 more per night??

Another question- do club level rooms sell out faster or slower than other rooms. We are booked but if we wait to decide about club level what are the chances 2-3 months out that a CL room at CR would be available in slow value season?

When is your trip? That will influence the price/ night. Are you pricing a tower room or an tower
room with an MK view? The MK view is more expensive. Because there are fewer club level rooms, you can never be sure one will be available. I would suggest booking one if you really want it. Later, it will be easier to change that to a regular room than the other way round if you change your mind.

 

[aheaviside]

Value - Jan 31st- Feb 4th.

Pricing Bay Lake Tower Room which is booked with AAA discount vs. 12th floor atrium club level room (not mk view...called standard club i think).

Going to keep thinking about it and hopefully decide if it's worth it or not.

 

[Forever Fairy]

Club Level to Not - DH and I had done club level 3x and finally decided on our last trip in May that the extra cost just wasn't worth it. We stayed at the YC and had an ok experience.

We usually tried to have at least breakfast. But at least 1/2 the time we had to bring our food back to our room because the lounge was full. Afternoon snacks weren't very appealing, so we usually skipped. During the evening, it was nice to have the apps and wine/beer. But if we were out at the parks, we never made it back in time to enjoy.

During the last trip (not CL), we went down and bought a can of coffee $10, some creamer $3, and some snacks $10 for breakfast and those supplies lasted a week. One night we even purchased some liquor (which they don't have at CL) and soda ($20 total) at the gift shop and enjoyed multiple nights of sparkling beverages as well.

Finally, every time we've stayed at CL we had asked for a water view, and were given a room that overlooked the roof and then part of the pool. Personally we always like a view of the lagoon - as we enjoy watching what happens along the boardwalk. We finally decided that moving off CL provided us with more room choices that actually overlooked the water.

So bottom line, we spent about $50 in food versus the extra $1000+ it cost us to stay at club level. And we ended up with a room with a better view and overall had a better experience this time. We even splurged for a Chef's table dinner.

If I was upgraded to CL I would probably do again. Or maybe try CL at one of the other resorts, like the Poly. However, I think I'd personally rather use the $ for other things like Signature dinners or souvenirs.

 

[TDluvsDaisy]

I think you took that the wrong way. I would assume people that stay club make a higher income and can afford it. They also want a certain level of service. I am sure there are people that would never stay at a resort unless its club level, and they have earned that right. I just recently gotten to a place in life where I can afford deluxe resorts even club level if I want. I spent a ungodly amount of money on food and umbrella drinks our last stay. I would love to try club level and deluxe dining, but that really makes no financial sense.

I booked GF RPC with deluxe dining for my family last November. I agree it doesn't make financial sense. However we so enjoyed eating breakfast in the lounge, TS lunch then a signature dinner. We didn't really use the snacks, but I always like to use those for candy for family when we return. We loved loved loved our stay. We had one really great CL CM and one really bad one.

Would I do it again? Maybe, maybe not. I already personally made all our ADRs. But it was a great experiment. Perhaps if I didn't want to do all of the planning myself I would. Oh and with a discount. I wouldn't ever pay for it rack rate.

 

[dragonfly57005]

I wasn't that impressed by it at the Poly last year. When we go again here, it won't be my priority.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I priced out the difference in tower bay lake view at contemporary for our dates vs 12th floor club level and it's $161/night more. Why is the CR club level so much more than other deluxe resorts? In this thread, people are saying club level was $80-110 more per night but that isn't the case for my dates. Just wondering?

I really want to try CR club level but I'm not sure at 161 more per night??

Another question- do club level rooms sell out faster or slower than other rooms. We are booked but if we wait to decide about club level what are the chances 2-3 months out that a CL room at CR would be available in slow value season?

Well their Club Level rooms are going to be more expensive for the extras that they offer, plus there are different set of prices depending on the time of year. As for how fast they sell out it depends on the year and with current promotions they can sell out a lot faster when the rooms are discounted. Now as for if it's worth it or not that depends on you, because some will say it is and others will say it's not.

 

[Karlzmom]

I have mixed feelings on "worth it". We stay CL at the YC in 2009 and it was fabulous for us. DS needed a nap daily and the lounge let one of us sit comfortably somewhere other than the room. The DVD loans and ready availability of milk was awesome. We found the CMs very friendly and helpful. At the end of the trip we felt cared for and pampered.

Fast forward to our trip to the BWI in Feb 2011. The experience was very different, limited movies [but I could "go check with the DVC side to see if I could borrow one there"], having to ask for darn near everything, indifferent CMs, etc. by the end of the trip I was actually a bit resentful that I had spent the extra money.

I don't mind spending what I have to spend if there is a feeling of value, but if I feel like it was just wasted, then it really tees me off! At the end of the 2d trip I really felt like our trip didn't benefit at all for the $$ spent to stay CL and it left a bad taste in my mouth. The happy memory of the 2009 trip is really fighting the second experience, but now knowing that its a bit of a crap-shoot makes me a bit leery of spending the $$ to *see* what I'll get next time. In a strange way, our less than stellar experience in Feb has caused me to give a moderate a try now that it has queen beds. Really, I want to see home much difference there truly is for the $$. Never gave the moderate a thought, but once you start comtemplating value for dollars spent....well they may just lose me as a deluxe girl all together......

 

[sndral]

Some things in life you could offer to me for free, and I wouldn't be interested, club level is in that category for me. If offered the option of upgrading to a better view or keeping the view I'd booked but being upgraded to club level, I'd opt for the better view.

I would assume people that stay club make a higher income and can afford it.

I personally don't make this assumption. There are so many factors, are they squishing 5 people into one room, or do they have 2 rooms? Did they drive or have to pay for flights for an entire family. Are they paying from available income, or have they saved for months or used credit cards to make this trip - too many variables IMO opinion to make assumptions about income levels, I just assume whomever stays club was either upgraded or chose that option because it fit their vacation style/budget for this trip.
It's probably a good thing that everyone who could afford club doesn't want it - if they did Disney might find a way to pack even more people into the lounges.

It can be crowded when food is put out, things are grabbed up and there often is not even a place to sit. I had much rather take the extra money order an app from room service and sit on my balcony.

The last thing I want is to have to wait in line to get food and to have to schedule an arrival time in order to secure a table - I can do that at cs in the parks. I've looked at the pictures of the food offerings - they are not tempting to me (I avoid processed carbs and sugary sauces - and few offerings seem to fit those parameters.)
For some vacations a true club level experience is what I want, Disney isn't that style vacation for me, nor does it offer a true club experience, IMO.

 

[minniebride]

I think you took that the wrong way. I would assume people that stay club make a higher income and can afford it. They also want a certain level of service. I am sure there are people that would never stay at a resort unless its club level, and they have earned that right. I just recently gotten to a place in life where I can afford deluxe resorts even club level if I want. I spent a ungodly amount of money on food and umbrella drinks our last stay. I would love to try club level and deluxe dining, but that really makes no financial sense.

We are staying CL for our wedding/honeymoon and we definitely do not make a higher income. We are typically "moderate level resort" guests, but we chose CL for this trip because we wanted to splurge on something special for our honeymoon. We have no interest in Deluxe DDP, no interest in special tours, and the themed resorts are one of my favorite things about WDW. We are also looking for a relaxing vacation during the nutty holiday season and we feel the CL lounge will be a nice retreat from the chaos. I also love knowing which general area we will be assigned to. Room assignments are important to me and we are checking into our room in the evening so it's one less thing to worry about knowing which general area we will be assigned to.

Will we do CL again after this trip? Maybe, but only for another special occasion. We have had contact with IPO and we have been very happy with them so far. So, it's certainly not a status thing for us-just a splurge.

 

[RFrank9504]

Here's my thought: We are staying CL 1st time this trip at AKL. Its just me and hubby-no kids.
We are light eaters. We wont need all the DDP no way DxDP foods its excessive and was an $878.00 difference. We plan to eat bfast and go about our day. Come back and enjoy resort. Go to a sensible dinner and plan to take advantage of evening cordials and hit the boardwalk clubs/bars and nightime EMH. So for us as AP FL residents it was worth $120.00 more to add CL to our Room Only reservation and not add the DDP.
Staying CL at AKL also give us the advantage of getting the Sunrise safari and night vision goggles.
As for other resorts, I dont think I'd upgrade-unless the price was this nice-I mean $120.00-we spend more than that on 6 breakfast for the both of us anyway.
I really think it depends on how often you plan to be at the resort to take advantage of the food offerings.

 

[chabs]

To me, CL is about convenience-not about the money. It's worth the extra money not to have to go stand in line to get drinks and snacks when we get back from the parks at night. It's also worth it to us to go sit down and have a light breakfast whenever we feel like getting up and we don't have to run to an ADR to eat in the morning. Am I getting a great value? No. Am I getting a service that I love? YES!

 

[klmall]

We have stayed CL twice; once at WL and once at CR - Atrium Club but both times we had a discount. And even paying less than rack rate I would say the benefits do not come anywhere near to equating the cost. The food offerings and ambiance at the WL were great especially compared to the Atrium Club. But our room at WL was of course, pitifully small and there was nothing unique about our room at the CR. We have stayed at even Westin and Hyatt rooms with nicer toiletries, lighting, and room touches.

And as much as we love both of these hotels overall, their CL prices are outrageous and we will not pay them ever again even discounted. We can easily bring/buy snacks ourselves and we make all our own ADRs etc. anyway. I think CL at Disney is not Concierge in any sense of the word except perhaps if they contact you ahead to ask if you want ADRs made etc. which the CR did not do for us that time.

 

[Tess]

My husband and I agreed that CL is worth it to our family as long as the difference between a CL room and non-CL room stays under $100/night. But it really depends on so many factors, including your family size, dining preferences, touring styles, etc. We booked CL in August because the difference is about $80/night.

We're a family of five and we have three hungry boys. So our daily 5pm break in the club lounge is perfect - gives us all some downtime and the boys get a healthy snack (cheese, crackers, fruit, hot appetizers, etc.) instead of stuff in the parks or pre-packaged snacks in the room. My husband and I like a wine or beer before dinner, so that's an added benefit. And then we have ADRs for dinner around 7:30pm. We don't do the dining plan so we have flexibility to order lighter dinners.

The CL breakfast has something for everyone in our family - our boys actually asked to cancel Cape May so they could eat breakfast in the club lounge. We'll still do Tusker House and Ohana, but breakfast for five on most mornings adds to the value of CL, too.

While we are only a family of four, we have one very hungry young man. We generally leave the parks by 1:00 p.m. and make full use of the resort until after evening service and return before desserts/cordials for the evening. The price point we always felt made it worthwhile was no more than $100 p/night. Without a significant discount--not worth it.

However, as our next trip drew closer, I couldn't help but remember how convenient it was to have the lounge right there....loved the breakfast each morning, drinks all day, hot appetizers at night, desserts later on, beer and wine, etc. So I switched to CL and planned my ADR's accordingly. Meaning no breakfast or dinner ADR's, only lunch ADR's. We ate a large sit-down meal each day at lunch; therefore, we weren't that hungry for dinner and the hot appetizers in the lounge were sufficient. We do feel like we get our money's worth because of how we plan our ADR's.

We managed our ADRs the same.

All of that said, our kids are no longer kids and we are not as sold on the need for CL at this point in our lives.

 

[bean bunny]

My husband and i are much like a previous poster. We ended up in CL unexpectedly on our last trip in May. We left thinking it was nice but we probably wouldn't do it again. Well fast forward to planning our upcoming trip and it was less than $100 a night to upgrade so we went ahead and did it. At the YC there are a couple of pluses and they do revolve around convenience. The closest place for example to fill your mug is at the pool (during the day) or Beaches and Cream. With CL it's down the hall. We found that we spent much less out of pocket for other food because of CL.

We found the offerings to be quite good. As far as the staff goes, we didn't ask for much and didn't have a lot of interactions with them but they were very nice when we did. This time I'll hope to utilize their services more since I'm planning a CL trip. I think it all comes down to personal preferences and styles. I never thought of CL as a status thing more just a fun extra for our trip not that different than a fancy dinner or special tour. We don't have to have it but it's fun if we can swing it!

 

[FirestoneRocks]

For our family, club level just doesn't seem worth it to us. I'm sure it is worth it for other families. If it's not too expensive, I would probably try it, but everytime I price it out, it's alot more.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

People on these boards rave about club level, but for a 10 night stay at the poly it would cost me an extra 1700 dollars more for a gv cl. Even with 30% off its still 1100 more. Then you still have to buy meals. 1700 would buy a lot of beer, wine, snacks and signature dinners. It would almost pay for the dxdp and definetely would cover the ddp. Is staying club level just a status thing, because I'm just not seeing the value in it.

I've figured and planned for so many WDW vacations now that I think I could do it in my sleep. One thing we have never done is stay CL because it doesn't seem like it would be worth it for my family. The expense is way more than what I think we would get back in return. I suppose it is something I will never know first hand because I would never pay for it.

But if I'm checking in sometime and the CM upgrades me, then...

 

[klmall]

While we are only a family of four, we have one very hungry young man. We generally leave the parks by 1:00 p.m. and make full use of the resort until after evening service and return before desserts/cordials for the evening. The price point we always felt made it worthwhile was no more than $100 p/night. Without a significant discount--not worth it.

We managed our ADRs the same.

All of that said, our kids are no longer kids and we are not as sold on the need for CL at this point in our lives.

Wow! Even with a discount, I think it's hard to get the difference down to less than a $100 a night anymore in most 'seasons'. But recently I've been thinking that 3 adults in our party would never eat, drink that much at breakfast and snacks. And we've stayed CL twice.

And I guess, 5 people make it more worthwhile.