Yesterday I booked the Yacht Club CL for my husband myself and two grandchildren for October. We have never stayed CL before and I'm trying to get an idea on what that extra $1000 is getting me besides snacks in the lounge. I've read the last few pages of this thread and it seems that service has really taken a dive. I was hoping they would help me book a few ADRs especially since we are way behind the curve booking the trip 160 days out. Not really sure how to proceed or if I should even bother. The kids are a 9 yr old girl and 7 yr old boy so I am hoping I can score a few fun ADRs for them like the coveted Bon Voyage Breakfast and BOG dinner. Any advice on how I should proceed?
Hi there. Sounds like a fun trip! YC rooms were just renovated and look really nice. I bet your grandkids will love that pool.
I would suggest you have to take all comments you read on here with a grain of salt, mine included! All of our opinions and experiences are helpful from a "body of work" perspective, but some of this is so subjective.
You can flip back further and find glowing reviews of DSS and their helpfulness with booking ADRs and such. Personally my experiences with them have been excellent, although my needs are limited to things like adding room requests to my reservation, booking cabanas, etc. I do ADR booking myself.
As with everything at WDW experiences can vary quite a bit based on particular CMs. Sometimes you get the rose, sometimes you get a dud. This applies anywhere though - from DSS, to the person checking you in, to the person pouring your wine in the lounge. I'm not making excuses for anything or saying it's right, just relaying that experiences can vary.
One thing I will note, DSS can't really do anything for you that you otherwise could do for yourself. If you don't see availability for BOG on a certain date, they won't either. They don't have a secret stash of ADRs available.
As to your "what does the $1000 get" that answer will vary from person to person, but here's how I look at it:
- Access to the lounge, an "extra" space outside the room to be if someone is sleeping late, sleeping early, getting ready, etc. It's just nice to have somewhere else to be.
- Food/drink offerings, our touring style tends to lend itself to us being able to take advantage of the various offerings. Breakfast in particular is a very nice convenience, especially with kids.
- You "know" exactly what floor you'll be on and have a general idea of your possible views in advance.
- Access to DSS for pre-planning needs. Like I said above, I'm not a heavy DSS user as I prefer to do things myself, but do use them for room requests and a few other things if needed.
- While there you have access to CL CMs that can assist with various things. For example, occasionally I'll have an ADR that I'll need to cancel within the 24 hour window. You can't cancel online, you have to call. A few times I've asked a CL CM to cancel for me, which they will do and can (most of the time) waive the fee. I appreciate this convenience as calling Disney dining, waiting, and then talking to a CM is not what I want to be doing while there. I'm usually too busy for that stuff.
- Most (I think all?) CLs now offer the texting service. You can text CL CMs with any needs. To build on the example above, at times I've texted that I'd like to cancel so and so, or ask if any reservations or available at X that evening. We do a lot of things on the fly (if you can't tell) so this service is awesome for us.
Sorry, post is probably way more than you wanted, but hopefully helpful. Feel free to ask any questions.
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