My positive Boardwalk Inn CL review & my very negative Beach Club CL review

[micknme]

Wow! OP, I'm sorry you did not enjoy your time at the BC, but our experience could not have been further from yours. The women sitting at the CL desk were super friendly, if we requested something in the lounge, it was delivered promptly and once they asked me for my room # and upon returning from the parks one day, I was surprised to find my fridge stocked with my request. I cannot wait to go back.

For me, my time at CR CL left much to be desired and we won't return there. While loving the Poly CL lounge, I found the women at the CL desks to be far less friendly than those at the BC.

I guess everyone has different experiences at different times and it's luck of the draw as to who is manning the desks while you are there.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I didn't see anyone named Pete during out 1 night at the Beach Club.

You must have been there on one of his few nights off.

Honestly our BC CL stays have been the exact opposite of yours.
We are definitely not "high maintenance" but everything we've asked for has always been done with a smile. Since we have been going there for several years the cms always remember us and make us feel like they
are definitely welcoming us home.

It's a shame some guests (and we saw this at GF RPC too!) are greedy and grabby and act like pigs. Unfortunately from what I've read this happens at every CL lounge.

I do have to totally disagree with you about SAB too - IMHO it's much better than the scary clown pool at BWI!

 

[brunette8706]

You must have been there on one of his few nights off.

Honestly our BC CL stays have been the exact opposite of yours.
We are definitely not "high maintenance" but everything we've asked for has always been done with a smile. Since we have been going there for several years the cms always remember us and make us feel like they
are definitely welcoming us home.

It's a shame some guests (and we saw this at GF RPC too!) are greedy and grabby and act like pigs. Unfortunately from what I've read this happens at every CL lounge.

I do have to totally disagree with you about SAB too - IMHO it's much better than the scary clown pool at BWI!

*
I too agree, nothing beats Storm Along Bay pool! It's was voted the best pool in all of Walt Disney World! It's gorgeous! Plus I love the sand at the bottom of the pool!

 

[mommykds]

To the original poster. Sorry you did not enjoy the BC & very glad to hear that you were able to switch over to BWI easily.

Just goes to show you that everyone has different experiences in WDW. Our 2 favorite CL are BC & BWI. Both have been wonderful & the staff in both exceptional.

Don't get me started on the Poly CL. (For us) this was the worst CL experince possible. The worst service (or lack thereof) we have ever experienced in 15 years of going to WDW.

I would love to try the CL at the Contemporary. We have only stayed in a regular room there before.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I do have to totally disagree with you about SAB too - IMHO it's much better than the scary clown pool at BWI!

Theme wise I agree it's better, although I don't think it's by a lot. However we just thought the whole area was to overwhelming because it was so big, so we like how the Luna Park pool area is set up and etc.

 

[Mamalisa58]

Also I had to ask which way to our room, so you think he would have said you go in this direction after saying the room number. I mean that is standard service in any Hotel around the world.

My family had the opportunity to stay at the BC one year due to POFQ being closed for refurb. We were not CL but also found the staff COLD & RUDE. They did not tell us how to get to our room. On every other trip the cast member pulls out a map and circles where our room is, points out where we are and shows us the route to take to get there. Not so at the BC. I have to say it was the worst experience we have had at a WDW hotel. Stormalong Bay & the walk to Epcot were the bright spots.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Here are two other things about the Beach Club which I forgot to mention.

1) Once we got into our room I noticed that there wasn't any of the bath robes in the closest that all Club Level guests always recieve. Now I can't blame the Beach Club CL Cast Members for that one, so I guess that was Housekeepings fault for not seeing that when they cleaned the room after the previous guests had checked out. Still that was the 1st time we had to request them because they were in our room right away when we stayed Club Level at the Contemporary, Boardwalk Inn and Polynesian. Basically it's something we shouldn't need to ask for because they should have already been there.

2) Our room didn't have a phone book. I am not sure if the previous guests decided to take it home or the room just didn't have one for a long time, because that's the 1st time staying in any Hotel across Canada and the United States where our room didn't have that.

 

[ElizabethB]

Our experience has been just the opposite of yours. We loved Club Level at the Beach Club. Food was good and varied and CMs were wonderful. We then stayed at BWI Club Level. We were very unimpressed. We felt that every time we asked the CMs anything, it was kind of "what now?". And, we were only asking for simple things like changing a reservation time. Nothing special. Plus, the evening offerings were kabobs -- most every night of our one-week stay. The cappucino machine broke early in our stay and was never fixed. Suffice it to say, we will stay BC CL again, but won't stay BWI CL again.

 

[HelenParr]

All perspectives on first hand experience at WDW are interesting to me, and often helpful, whether I agree or disagree, which is why I read the DIS. So thanks OP! I appreciate the honest opinion and it is super helpful that you are detailing what you didn't like. It helps readers sort out how it might affect them.

Some folks express themselves by countering others input. Human nature. Still interesting to read, but can be a little mean.

Long way of saying, bummer the OP is getting flamed for honest appraisal from personal perspective.

 

[Ginger Girl]

All perspectives on first hand experience at WDW are interesting to me, and often helpful, whether I agree or disagree, which is why I read the DIS. So thanks OP! I appreciate the honest opinion and it is super helpful that you are detailing what you didn't like. It helps readers sort out how it might affect them.

Some folks express themselves by countering others input. Human nature. Still interesting to read, but can be a little mean.

Long way of saying, bummer the OP is getting flamed for honest appraisal from personal perspective.

I am not trying to be 'a little mean' when I say this.... I do believe the OP has gone far beyond what I deem as credible criticism when 'not having a phone book in their room' is added to their list as to why the OP left said resort. I like to read valid criticism on any topic, even if I completely disagree, if it is truly relevant to the beliefs/actions taken by the OP. It's what I do for a living. The OP started off with reasons that were important to him/her and apparently others, in their dislike of a certain resort. At this point in time, this does not seem to be the case. I think it is sad when topics of any kind become petty. I believe this thread is case in point. Thank you.

 

[johnsonet]

Glad you had such a great BWI CL stay, CR Fan. It's nice to know they still do such a great job over there

At least 90% of the reviews I've read of BC CL in the past 2-3 years have been negative. For such a great resort, it's a shame

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

We've stayed at all of them multiple times and BWI has our favorite CL. Combine the lounge/Cast with the Garden Suites....it just doesn't get any better at WDW.

We won't stay CL at BC again. Really, imo, there is no upside to it. We enjoy the BCV and regular BC rooms, just not the CL experience.

 

[HelenParr]

I also notice anything out of place or out of the ordinary when I am first in any WDW room. OP was posting those notes, which was thorough and helpful.

It is very credible criticism that the robes were missing. I have also had that exact experience at BC CL where robes were missing at check-in. That's odd and signals unpreparedness on Disney's part. Plus, I then took time to be sure it was corrected because, otherwise they might think I stole them. I don't use the robes, but I sure didn't want to argue about buying the robe I never stole. Phone book missing is odd, and seems to indicate the room was not 100% reset before releasing it to next guest.

Things that are outside of normal tend to make me like the room/resort less...it tends to make you wonder what might not work next. I've had a zillion things go wrong with Disney rooms. I still love WDW. It's an addiction I have to live with. But I can totally see how things out of place can put you off that resort, especially if it were your first try and you like other resorts already.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

If you check out the BC/YC thread you'll hear from tons of posters who LOVE BC CL.

Everyone's opinion is different. Of course I wouldn't have even have NOTICED a missing phone book!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Our experience has been just the opposite of yours. We loved Club Level at the Beach Club. Food was good and varied and CMs were wonderful. We then stayed at BWI Club Level. We were very unimpressed. We felt that every time we asked the CMs anything, it was kind of "what now?". And, we were only asking for simple things like changing a reservation time. Nothing special. Plus, the evening offerings were kabobs -- most every night of our one-week stay. The cappucino machine broke early in our stay and was never fixed. Suffice it to say, we will stay BC CL again, but won't stay BWI CL again.

Well if that's your opinion I can respect that. However the way others have claimed the BC/YC Thread has a lot of BC CL fans if you read the Boardwalk Inn FAQ thread and other sites like Allearsnet, you will see that the BWI CL has a lot more positive reviews then the BC CL. So I don't think it's a fluke that it's true and I am not the only one on here who has mentioned having a bad experience staying CL at the BC.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Well if that's your opinion I can respect that. However the way others have claimed the BC/YC Thread has a lot of BC CL fans if you read the Boardwalk Inn FAQ thread and other sites like Allearsnet, you will see that the BWI CL has a lot more positive reviews then the BC CL. So I don't think it's a fluke that it's true and I am not the only one on here who has mentioned having a bad experience staying CL at the BC.

No one is saying that BWI CL doesn't have positive reviews too. If you read the ALL EARS reviews you will see both positive and negative reviews for BC and BWI CL.

I'm just saying that the things that upset you (no phone book, no sprite zero, people "watching"you?, etc) are not necessarily things that would make someone else leave the resort. Everyone likes different things about
different resorts.

For me the lobby at BWI isn't to my liking at all, the whole resort seems "too busy" for me and the clown pool seems to reminiscent of "IT". That doesn't mean that lots of people don't love BWI.

We've stayed at BC CL for two weeks each of our last four stays and we love it - that's our opinion. Your family didn't like it (really though, did you give it much of a chance after one day?) so it's not the resort for you.

We've stayed at BC, YC, the Polynesian and the GF and the BC is OUR favorite resort. Guess that's why Disney has so many different resorts - different people have different taste.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I am not trying to be 'a little mean' when I say this.... I do believe the OP has gone far beyond what I deem as credible criticism when 'not having a phone book in their room' is added to their list as to why the OP left said resort. I like to read valid criticism on any topic if it is truly relevant to the actions taken by the OP. The OP started off with reasons that were important to him/her and others, in their dislike of a certain resort. This does not seem to be the case at this point. I think it is sad when good topics of any kind become petty. I believe this thread is case in point. Thank you.

For the record not having a phone book in our room was not one of the factors that lead us to leave the Beach Club after one day. It just so happened that we never got one and I found it odd because as I said before that's the first time we never had one, no matter what type of Hotel we have stayed at.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Your family didn't like it (really though, did you give it much of a chance after one day?) so it's not the resort for you.

Yes we felt like giving it one day was good enough of a chance and I know we aren't the first set of guests to check-out early and move to another WDW Resort after one day. So if we came to the conclusion we weren't going to enjoy the Beach Club why shouldn't we leave early when we have the chance and move back to a resort we enjoyed staying at.

 

[Cotillard]

I stayed at BC last summer and loved it. But we stayed in a standard view room. I had booked concierge at one point but cancelled after reading a live report on twitter from a woman who was staying there. Her complaints echoed complaints I'd read here on the Dis and, for the price, I didn't want to risk being disappointed.

We stayed at Boardwalk concierge several years ago and it was REALLY nice. We, too, stayed in a Deluxe room basically across the hall from the lounge. It was great!

This summer, another man I follow on Twitter - who stays at Disney Deluxe resorts a LOT, usually concierge level, was "live tweeting" from BC CL and said next time he'd go back to YC CL. That BC CL wasn't nearly as nice [in his opinion of course]. "Rude cast members" and "packed lounge" are the recurring themes, it seems. Rolling of eyes and sighing is extremely unprofessional.

As to missing robes, this happened to me at AKL CL in February

To the OP, yay for finding a new favorite resort

 

[micknme]

I have stayed in 5 star hotels throughout the world and not once have I ever mentioned to anyone when I returned home if there was a phonebook missing in my hotel room. If I did mention it to others as a complaint, I know I would get raised eyebrows and such a ribbing from my friends as being a diva (lol) I would actually be embarrassed to do so, but then that is me. Meanwhile, you should feel free to complain about this as well as the lack of smiles and conversation from CM's, etc. since it obviously important to you. Thankfully you have the BWI to return to from now on. For me? I love the BC. I believe it and their pool is second to none in all of Disney. But again that is just my opinion. It's great that Disney can cater to all of their visitors as they definitely have different needs and comfort levels.

p.s. I too am glad you have found a new fave. It sure makes it feel like you are home when you arrive!