Club Level Question

[Seeker615]

I am getting ready to book my hotel this week and am seriously considering doing club level.

For those who have done it is it worth the extra money?
Is one club level better in one hotel then the other?

I do believe we will be there for a week with 4 park days and a few days to enjoy the resort. We would more than likely eat breakfast at the club room every day.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[pattyw]

We love club level! We've done it at PBH and HRH. We love HRH overall so we stay there exclusively now. The great thing is that at Universal you're so close to the parks and have Express Pass- you can really take advantage of the club offerings. We have breakfast there, go to the parks, come back for snacks, stay for appetizers- then go back to the parks until close. Then,we come back for dessert. We are four adults (three men) and the appetizer offerings serve as dinner for us most nights. The club staff is amazing as well!

 

[macraven]

I I have stayed club at hrh and rpr

If you plan to do a lot of time in the hotel, it can be worth it if you have a family


I usually go solo and would use club for morning coffee and a Danish
For afternoon time, used club for water and soda bottles

Very few times I went at 5 for the evening offering as I was either at city walk or the parks
The appetizers were nice and were a decent snack before going out for dinner

It usually costs an additional $100 per day to stay club
Room charges for all other rooms are less

If you plan to spend a lot of time in the hotel and have 4-5 in your group, it could be worth it

I stay a decent time at UO on my vacations and don't schedule my days around club when they have the apps out in late afternoon/5:00
When I stay onsite, the parks are closing early, 7-8 pm
It wouldn't make sense for me to come back at 5 for the hotel and leave at 6 to have one hour only for the parks the
So now I do not book club

With my stays at 13 nights, that would be an additional $1300. I could use in other ways

 

[bumbershoot]

I like it BUT $100/day is too much for how we use it. IMO. DH has different opinions.

And we have to make sure we are having the kind of trip where we will use it. So no spending ALL day in the parks. Best for us if it's a winter trip with short hours so we can take advantage of the offerings without missing out on park time.

 

[Seeker615]

Thanks.
We will be there end of April/early May for a week. Have not looked at park hours though I know there is a Grad night gathering one evening. We plan to split the park days with hotel/resort days so there will a day or two where we will be very lazy and stay at our resort and enjoy the pool and hot tub.
I'm tempted to try Club level because of the snacks and soda and breakfast. Would save us time to grab breakfast before heading out.

 

[macraven]

If you are at rpr, orchids lounge is open at 6:00 am everyday
Many grab breakfast there before heading to the parks

 

[cleopenn]

I had a similar question when planning our trip. Because my husband has the highest status with a major chain, we always have club level access when staying at those properties. Some properties are better than others but I am now spoiled by having access to at the very least, free snacks, water, etc.

I really chewed over the extra cost as I am not used to paying for it. I think with our package, it worked out to be about $67 more a night. But then I figured my husband would go down to Starbucks and think nothing of spending $30 for coffees, juices and sweets and then as much for snacks and drinks on the way back from the parks and decided just to go for it.

In general, my husband turns up his nose at lounge breakfast offerings as he prefers a sit down breakfast but on vacation, i like to get moving in the morning. We both enjoy a space outside of our room for relaxing after the day.

We decided to do CL at the Poly last year and while it was an overrun zoo, it really enhanced our stay.

We are staying CL at Portofino Bay next week and will report back on my thoughts.

 

[Disneytam]

I had a similar question when planning our trip. Because my husband has the highest status with a major chain, we always have club level access when staying at those properties. Some properties are better than others but I am now spoiled by having access to at the very least, free snacks, water, etc.

I really chewed over the extra cost as I am not used to paying for it. I think with our package, it worked out to be about $67 more a night. But then I figured my husband would go down to Starbucks and think nothing of spending $30 for coffees, juices and sweets and then as much for snacks and drinks on the way back from the parks and decided just to go for it.

In general, my husband turns up his nose at lounge breakfast offerings as he prefers a sit down breakfast but on vacation, i like to get moving in the morning. We both enjoy a space outside of our room for relaxing after the day.

We decided to do CL at the Poly last year and while it was an overrun zoo, it really enhanced our stay.

We are staying CL at Portofino Bay next week and will report back on my thoughts.

Please report back! We will be there Dec. 10-Dec. 13 staying CL with 4 adults and are really looking forward to some relaxing resort time. I'm trying to find out what the pool hours are as well. Of course I am being optimistic that it will be warm enough to swim and that the pool's are heated. Years ago when we last visited in Dec. the Villa pool was NOT heated and I really would have loved to swim in it.

 

[Seeker615]

Yes - please report back. I am going back and forth in trying to decide if it will be worth it or not. I like the idea of the snacks and sodas and the breakfasts included.
The evening offerings sound great too but I know we will not use them every day.

 

[bumbershoot]

But then I figured my husband would go down to Starbucks and think nothing of spending $30 for coffees, juices and sweets

Remember though that it's brewed coffee, not espresso drinks in the lounge. If you are frappucinos or "flat white" people at sbx you might still end up stopping at sbx. But if you just need the caffeine, then the lounge will be a good thing.




I will say that portofino's club level was a "lifesaver" last time we used it. Universal was the third week of a 4 week trip. It was just me and my son the first two weeks. And I got super sick on day 3. Then ds got sick. Those two weeks were awful (I lost probably 15 lbs because I couldn't taste anything and wasn't eating). We got DH from the airport and went to our week at PBH. I was recuperating and ds was sleeping most of the day. Having the lounge there was fabulous. I didn't have to go outside for food or coffee. The offerings were perfectly sized for our tiny appetites. (Should mention that we are veggie and have yet to be able to partake in the hot food at dinner) And after a long day of hanging out with ds in the room (he was so wiped out that he, at 9, wanted to watch Life of Pi and did watch it) I could leave DH in charge and go to the lounge for some much "needed" wine. The staff were so empathetic and most of them had already had this horrid virus and could tell me how it was going to go. The wine guy would fill the 16oz plastic juice cup so I could take it back to the room with cookies.

It was so good to have that lounge that time.


AND it was during Celebration of Harry Potter and a bunch of movie people were staying there. Chatted with non-actor movie people in the lounge, and spotted Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) in the porte cochere one day. So that was fun.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

We are thinking of upgrading to CL at RPR. We have stayed CL St Disney many times and wondered how they compare

Also if anyone has stayed CLA AT RPR recently could you give me an idea of the evening appetizer rotations? Thanks!

 

[cleopenn]

Remember though that it's brewed coffee, not espresso drinks in the lounge. If you are frappucinos or "flat white" people at sbx you might still end up stopping at sbx. But if you just need the caffeine, then the lounge will be a good thing.

Yep, we are simple coffee people, just a cup or two to jump start the day.

 

[macraven]

We are thinking of upgrading to CL at RPR. We have stayed CL St Disney many times and wondered how they compare

Also if anyone has stayed CLA AT RPR recently could you give me an idea of the evening appetizer rotations? Thanks!

Quite a few pics of club offerings in threads now
Use the search button to pull some of them up

Also check some of the trip reports as there are some peeps that post club food pics there

 

[houseofthrees]

We find it well worth it for our family. There are 5 of us, so I look at it as 20.00 a day per person or less. It can definitely be worth it, especially if are gonna take advance of the two hours of beer/wine. We prefer the club at RP over PB because they offer more at breakfast(but we seem to always end up at PB because we like the hotel better overall). We will be trying HR out this Dec

 

[schumigirl]

We are thinking of upgrading to CL at RPR. We have stayed CL St Disney many times and wondered how they compare

Also if anyone has stayed CLA AT RPR recently could you give me an idea of the evening appetizer rotations? Thanks!

Orange Chicken, macaroni and chicken casserole, chicken and farfalle in a mushroom (I think) sauce, fish and rice were some of the selections........I didn't pay a lot of attention to others to be honest.......

Always salads with various dressings, crudités, cheeses with biscuits, dips and chips, prawn crackers with sweet chilli sauce is another option.......

 

[wookiebeck]

We have done club level and LOVED it each time. Did PBR and RPR on separate trips. We like it for the ability to gather in a place that is not our tiny room. We like to give the teens time to shower while we have our feet up sipping wine. And the efficient use of self-serve breakfast time is wonderful.

 

[cleopenn]

Reporting back.....

We thought CL at Portofino Bay was well worth the cost. In summary, the lounge staff is great, constantly buzzing about, keeping everything clean and refreshed. Also, during evening cocktails they provided table service for drink refills. I give them credit for managing the pre-Express Pass morning craziness.

Breakfast offerings were fine - lots of pastries, bagels, yogurt and fruits. Hot offerings where typical for a chain - oatmeal, powdered eggs and a potato of sorts.

Evening offerings included a nice selection of meats and cheeses with breads and crackers. The hot offering I saw (I only looked once) was beef pot pie. Wines were 2 whites, 2 reds. Beers - Peroni, Coors light and bud.

Something I saw that was interesting - people were eating full meals that they must have brought in or had delivered.