Club level or dining plan?

[Poppergirl]

Need advice please! I would love to surprise my family and stay CL at WL in Dec. We usually get the dining plan. I think that would be way too much food. While we enjoy the dining plan, we don't eat much dessert so that's a waste. Now, we can only stay CL if we get a discount or pin for at least 25%. Free dining has been offered in the past during our dates so if that is offered and a room discount isn't, I'd have to take the free dining.

When you stay CL is it worth it? Do you usually get the dining plan with it?

Thanks!

 

[Pakey]

Other than breakfast, Disney's club level is not meant to replace meals. Breakfast will be cereals, fruits and pastries. Midday offerings are next to nothing and in the evenings you are going to have a few hot appetizers. I think of Disney's club level food as "something to tide you over" rather than a meal replacement.

We are small eaters and never do the dining plan because it's too much food for us; it doesn't matter if we are staying club level or not. However, even if we stay club level, we will pay OOP for one meal a day.

 

[Poppergirl]

Thank you Pakey. We would definitely want one TS meal a day. I'm thinking one meal, the breakfast and snacks would do it for us. Now if only I could get a PIN

 

[TJA]

Personally, for our family, we don't combine dining plan with the CL. Too much food for us. When we stay CL, we eat breakfast in the lounge, have our big TS meal during the afternoon, then our "dinner" is the food offerings at night in the lounge. Being that we had a large TS meal already, the lounge food at night is enough food for us. Then of course we enjoy the desserts in the lounge later on as well.

 

[TexasJule]

We just returned from staying a week at CL. Two nights at BWI and the rest at Grand Floridian. We had the Deluxe Dining plan and it was way too much food. The CL would have been all we needed with one meal a day. Everyone usually ate something from CL for breakfast and when we came back to the resort after lunch all of us grabbed something from there again. We had 30 dining credits expire when we checked out. The CL was great because we all enjoyed the fruits and veggies. I think if you have one meal a day you will do fine with CL unless you stay at the parks all day long.

 

[bowbat]

Like PPs, we generally enjoy one TS meal per day when we stay CL. We like to have breakfast in the lounge, a late TS lunch, then the hors d'oeuvres & desserts in the lounge in the evenings. GF & BWI both had protein offerings for breakfast (sliced meats & cheeses and hard-boiled eggs, respectively, as well as yogurt), which are more satisfying than just the usual pastry & fruit carb overload. And, after a big, late lunch, the nibbles in the evening are more than enough for us.

I would say, though, that it depends on both your eating habits & park-touring style. We're the types who prefer small bites throughout the day over big meals and we're not park warriors -- we spend as much (or more) time at the resorts as we do at the parks. If you spend most of your time in the parks and/or prefer three nice, big meals per day, CL might not be for you.

 

[osugal]

For us - DDP and CL is way too much food. You won't buy nearly as many meals/food when you're staying CL.

 

[*Fantasia*]

Other than breakfast, Disney's club level is not meant to replace meals. Breakfast will be cereals, fruits and pastries. Midday offerings are next to nothing and in the evenings you are going to have a few hot appetizers. I think of Disney's club level food as "something to tide you over" rather than a meal replacement.

We are small eaters and never do the dining plan because it's too much food for us; it doesn't matter if we are staying club level or not. However, even if we stay club level, we will pay OOP for one meal a day.

Please forgive me if this may be a stupid question (I have never done club level at Disney but have at Universal.) Do they limit you as far as how much you want to eat? Or maybe a sign that would say that you can only take 1 can of pop or bottled water or appetizers? Do they replenish when the food is getting low? I'm just curious.. What does OOP means? Thank you.

At the Hard Rock Hotel Club Level @ Universal, people were eating as if that is their main meal. They would bring cans of pop and tons bottled water to their room. The resort were very generous. They kept bringing food out when it is running low. I don't know about now, this was some years ago. I'm long due to come back to Disney/Universal.

 

[Kim1964]

OOP= Out of pocket (paying cash instead of using dining credits)

They don't limit how much food you can eat. I stayed at YC CL and Royal Pacific CL last summer, and I would say that Royal Pacific had more plentiful offerings and did a better job of keeping it replenished than I've seen in 3 YC CL stays.

 

[*Fantasia*]

OOP= Out of pocket (paying cash instead of using dining credits)

They don't limit how much food you can eat. I stayed at YC CL and Royal Pacific CL last summer, and I would say that Royal Pacific had more plentiful offerings and did a better job of keeping it replenished than I've seen in 3 YC CL stays.

Thank you.. Another question.. again please forgive me if this is a stupid question. Is the Club Level at Disney just to "tie you over"? Or can you really eat and get full? I would hate to pay that kind of money and feel like I should restrain myself from indulging because this club level is only suppose to "tie me over." I don't eat much, but I would love to just get full off what they are offering and head back to my room and just relax and fall asleep after a long day in the park (with a mid-break). I'm just comparing it to Universal. Like I said earlier, those folks at the HRH ATE.. not to tie over.. but to get full.. and I think it's only fair to do that because CL is not cheap. If people want something to tie them over, I'm sure they would just snack on chips and granola bar and don't bother booking into a club level.

 

[Hopefully]

Thank you.. Another question.. again please forgive me if this is a stupid question. Is the Club Level at Disney just to "tie you over"? Or can you really eat and get full? I would hate to pay that kind of money and feel like I should restrain myself from indulging because this club level is only suppose to "tie me over." I don't eat much, but I would love to just get full off what they are offering and head back to my room and just relax and fall asleep after a long day in the park (with a mid-break). I'm just comparing it to Universal. Like I said earlier, those folks at the HRH ATE.. not to tie over.. but to get full.. and I think it's only fair to do that because CL is not cheap. If people want something to tie them over, I'm sure they would just snack on chips and granola bar and don't bother booking into a club level.

It is intended to "tie you over", it is not intended to be a meal replacement. That said, no one will come and pull a plate of food out of your hand as you overload it. I guess it is up to you.

 

[*Fantasia*]

It is intended to "tie you over", it is not intended to be a meal replacement. That said, no one will come and pull a plate of food out of your hand as you overload it. I guess it is up to you.

Thank you for clearing my questions.

 

[bethclayton]

one thing to be aware of is that the plates are very tiny, like a saucer or bread plate, so you really can only fit a few bites of food on your plate at a time.

we have stayed CL three times. the first time we also had the dining plan and we wasted so many credits. the next two times, we just paid OOP for some meals. dh and i actually realized that for our family, we saved money using CL because of the food offerings (that is strictly speaking for our stay at the poly, with a discount; not sure that would always be the case). we always eat breakfast in the lounge and we usually eat the evening hors d'eouvres (sp). if we are lucky, we manage to get a midday offering at some point during our stay. yes, we would get more "volume" of food eating full meals at a restaurant but we are totally satisfied with what we get from the lounge. this past trip, we did 4 TS meals and 2 QS, and the rest of the time we ate in the lounge. it was plenty.

 

[Kim1964]

If people want something to tie them over, I'm sure they would just snack on chips and granola bar and don't bother booking into a club level.

The only Disney CL I have stayed at is YC, so this may not be the case at all of them, but the afternoon snacks are pretty much along the lines of chips and granola bars. Of all of the food served at various times during the day, the afternoon food is really snack food as opposed to meal food. There is enough variety at breakfast to make that a real meal. The hot food at night is more appetizers than a meal. You could eat enough to fill up, but as a PP said, the plates are very small. The lounge gets very crowded when the hot food arrives, and I have found it more relaxing to take a plate back to my room and enjoy it while sitting on my balcony. That pretty much limits me to one plate as I am unwilling to keep walking back and forth and fighting the crowds.

Trying to get your money's worth out of the CL food offerings is a tall order, imho. If you drink wine and beer and enjoy evening cordials, you have a better chance of eating and drinking the extra amount that CL costs. It also depends on how many people are in your party. Even when I take my kids with me, we don't eat enough to have our food consumption total the extra that we pay for CL (and I don't drink alcohol so there's no benefit to me there). We choose to stay CL for reasons other than the food.

 

[MissionMouse]

Need advice please! I would love to surprise my family and stay CL at WL in Dec. We usually get the dining plan. I think that would be way too much food. While we enjoy the dining plan, we don't eat much dessert so that's a waste. Now, we can only stay CL if we get a discount or pin for at least 25%. Free dining has been offered in the past during our dates so if that is offered and a room discount isn't, I'd have to take the free dining.

When you stay CL is it worth it? Do you usually get the dining plan with it?

Thanks!

I will tell you, club level offerings have changed significantly and you cannot use the appetizers in the evening as a substitute for dinner. There will be one hot item such as a chicken or beef skewer, cheese, hummus, veggies, etc. It is light finger food. It is not the substantial spreads of several years ago

 

[mmmears]

IMO staying CL and adding the Dining Plan = too much food. But I don't think that you can really make do with the evening appetizers as a dinner... And definitely not the mid-day snacks (which really are just snack foods).

If you like the Dining Plan, then CL may not be for you.

We usually end up having breakfast in the lounge, a nice sit-down lunch, and sometimes we have a sit-down dinner or split something small in the parks (sometimes we are not as hungry and the snacks are plenty).

I don't think you can "count" on skipping any meals other than breakfast. We found that at the Poly, the evening apps were more like a dinner than they were at other properties at WDW.

 

[Poppergirl]

Thanks all!! I really appreciate all the replies If free dining is offered I'm going to take that and stick to my woods view non CL room!

 

[a1tinkfans]

Thanks all!! I really appreciate all the replies If free dining is offered I'm going to take that and stick to my woods view non CL room!

Id do free dine over Cl anytime....
Cl is a "perk" perhaps a beer in the evening, a bite/snacks...but its def Not a meal replacement by any stretch...
more over, your park touring style is important as well...do you really want to trek out of a park and back to a resort to grab a bite of a few snacks...
as far as dine plan, we love it, the reg one, the deluxe was Over kill and so much wasted time, and wasted food....remember to keep in mind that each of those sit downs are generally like 1-1/12 hours of time, time taken away from park rides etc....and thats really what you are there for, right?
The other thing is....each of the resorts is quite different in their offerings for club level....Poly is quite dif from wl.....
also, someone mentioned/asked about refills of food, we found they did not actually go running to fill it back up...its not a free lunch buffet that gets replenished immediately...just something to keep in mind as well...
have a great time...

 

[SwirlyGirly]

We once did the deluxe dining plan and CL at CR, and it was way too much food. We never even tried the evening offerings or the desserts and only once had breakfast. I'd never do it that way again. In fact, I found the DxDP itself was too much food because I'd never order a dessert and an appetizer for both lunch and dinner in the real world. Now we do CL and pay OOP.

Deciding if CL is worth it for your family depends a lot on how you determine value. For us, especially on vacation, time is money and the more time saved the better. That's the real value in CL. Someone else makes your ADRs. You never have to wait in line for breakfast. You can grab a bottle of water in the morning, and skip standing in line for one in the park. Etc.

It is clearly stated in the description for CL that breakfast is offered as well as afternoon snacks, evening APPETIZERS (appetizers--a word derived from combining the words appetite and teasers--as in a few bites to tease your appetite) and desserts. The evening offerings are in no way supposed to serve as a "hey, let's just fill up these teeny, tiny plates 5 times and hoard a table for 2 hours and then we don't have to pay for dinner!" And yes, no matter how much one family eats, they always replenish to be fair to other guests.

But the value isn't just in how much food you can score. There are a lot of benefits in staying CL, just not all of them are monetary.

 

[i_heart_the_mouse]

But the value isn't just in how much food you can score. There are a lot of benefits in staying CL, just not all of them are monetary.

This!

Although my kids do love the "snack rooms" I find the biggest benefit is in the extras. When my youngest DS had a stomach ache they offered him gingerale, crackers and a heating pad. My older two boys love borrowing the DVDs and board games during their downtime. When a tire on my jogging stroller was low on air a CM tracked down a air pump to fill it up.

These are the reasons we do CL. The food is just an added bonus.