These last several posts are very timely for me. I am seriously questioning my decision to stay CL at BC for 8 nights. My husband is only staying half the trip, so I am not sure that I need to pay for CL for the remaining nights for just my daughter and myself. I don't know what we are really getting for all the extra money. If the food runs out ....... I made all of my own dining ressies ....... Opinions and thoughts? Should I change to a regular room for the last half of my trip? This is our first time at a deluxe and first time at CL.
Concierge/Club Level Information - Part II (Sept 2009)
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SeaSpray
Disney World fan since 1976
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VERY well said, especially the bolded part! 
I don't care what other guests do or don't do, as long as it doesn't directly effect my experience.... and you know what? In all of our vacations, that has never happened. People left trash on a table? So what...I clear it off without a second thought. People filling up their plates? So what, as long as there's enough for me and my family to have a portion. And so on... and I couldn't care less what anyone wears into the lounge (although I total agree with, and adhere to, the dress code for the lounge).I have to say that we've never had a "bad" stay at any Disney resort, including our CL stays, but believe me, it's not because I've been too timid or shy to complain. I haven't had many times or reasons to complain while at Disney, but when I have, I made it clear what the problem was and what needed to be done to correct it. I don't let anything come in between me and a great vacation!
WendyisDarling
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We stayed BC CL part of our stay last summer. We loved it. I don't know how things are now, but we had no food issues. In fact, I went to the lounge right at 10 pm one night hoping it was open and I could get a glass of wine. They were closing up, but gave me a near full bottle to take back to the room
CM's were super nice and seemed to genuinely care that we were enjoying our visit.
It was my BD trip and in the room they had balloons tied to assorted candy bars and a card waiting. Very nice pixie dust.
Loved the homemade chips.
We considered staying there this year, but wanted to get only one room and with 4 of us (all adult size), it was a bit cramped and we knew the daybed at the Poly would let us spread out.
IMO, I would stay CL the entire trip. I found it a very pleasant experience summer 2009.
I wouldn't change your trip. I've really, really enjoyed 3.5 of my 4 CL stays in the last year. GF SL was okay, just not worth it imho. I think I would have like RPC much better.
If you're used to CL service in non-Disney resorts this won't be exactly the same but still quite nice and incredibly convenient. I really like the staff at the BC and based on the pics we've seen from stays this summer I wouldn't be concerned about abundance or variety. I'm still staying CL at the BC in Oct & can't wait.
For newbies I think the concerns you see here should help temper your expectations... but I hope not discourage you from staying CL.
Last year I read complaints about the pineapple going away at the Poly... and the pineapple bread. And while I completely understand how this would be disappointing if you were looking forward to it... between you & me I still LOVED the Poly CL and that didn't affect my trip one bit.
There may be a bit more venting by the CL "vets" about changes we've seen but I think most of us are on this board because we like the service & want it to stay nice. As you see we can all get pretty passionate about it and we're not shy about sharing our experiences with others.
Hope this helps.
WendyisDarling
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Duplicate post
CR Resort Fan 4 Life
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I agree with everything you said.
Momtomouselover
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Our BC CL stay this year was wonderful. The CM's seemed to be very caring and personable. The food offerings were good and replinished. I wouldn't change your plans unless money is a big issue for this trip.
However, with that said... I think all the Disney deluxe hotels need to upgrade their CL rooms and offerings but of all that I have stayed at recently the BC was the best and I would do it again for the convenience.
cyndisun
Queen of the Split Stay
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I'm with the PP's, I wouldn't change from CL. I know I was one of those venting about some of the food issues, but really that was only the Poly (in my experience). We have stayed YC, CR and AKL in the past two years and not had the same problem. YC and AKL food was good and certainly sufficient for our family of light eaters. We still stay at the Poly for the theme and location.
Go for it and then you can make up your own mind.
ElizabethB
<font color=teal>I have a raw meat fetish. Who kne
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Current Disney management, IMO, cares about CL only to the extent it generates good profits. Given the economy, CL rooms at 40% off rack rate have been plentiful. That, naturally, is going to result in cut-backs.
Additionally, since Iger took over, the thrust at Disneyworld, more than ever, seems to be the all-mighty dollar. The Eisner years brought changes to Disneyworld that encouraged us to return after 10 years of no visits whatsoever. During those years, there was an emphasis on opening top notch restaurants, bringing in high quality chefs, expanding wine lists, hiring sommeliers, and generally making Disneyworld attractive to vacationers who would never have considered a Disneyworld stay. To me, it seems that CL was an effort along the same lines.
These days, the emphasis is entirely on getting as many bodies to Disneyworld as possible. Offer resort discounts, offer free dining (which costs Disney very little, actually, given the cut-backs to DDP and the fact that food bought in mass quantities is cheap), offer anything to get the bodies there. Then sell them high-priced park entry tickets (note the coming ticket price increase in the face of extensive discounting in other areas). Additionally, do everything necessary to keep up profits in the face of declining revenues from hotel discounts. One of the first things to go in the regard is offerings in the CL lounges.
When we stayed CL at AKL shortly after it opened, we loved it. The food offerings were plentiful, tasty and of high quality, including things like shrimp appetizers, etc. Water bottles were available for taking to the parks. In fact, upon our departure, the CL employees handed us specially made bags with bottles of water to enjoy on our journey home.
This was around 2002 or so. Since then, CL has been expanded to hotels where it was never planned -- BC and WL. This, no doubt, was due to Disney finding it was pretty profitable. In the years since then, however, it seems to me that pleasing CL guests is totally secondary to profits. If CL isn't generating profits, cut back service and offerings until it does. With the 40% off discounts, more cut-backs are demanded. Ultimately, customer satisfaction drops and a vicious cycle starts. That's where I think things are now. Also, I sense a strategy of blame the customer for the cut-backs. CL guests were taking too many waters, so no more water. CL guests were eating too many donuts, so no more Krispy Kremes. CL guests were eating too much, so cut back on anything that's a bit pricey. Also, let's cut the wine quality back to something less than Two Buck Chuck. CL guests won't notice.
The end of this vicious cycle is that customer dissatisfaction leads to guests deciding not to pay for CL, resulting in more discounting to encourage guests to pick CL, leading to more cuts to ensure profits stay high despite CL room discounts, leading more people to skip CL. Not exactly a good marketing strategy, but there it is.
We are in the group that has seen such significant declines, we're going with a BC one bedroom villa this time, rather that BC CL. This is the result of stays, since our original AKL CL stay, at WL CL, BC CL, RPC CL (more than once) and BWI CL. Even RPC with its absolutely outrageous pricing was no great shakes. The only night shrimp was offered, it was shrimp bits in some kind of gazpacho shooter. Many of the offerings were prettily plated on small white plates, but consisted chiefly of lettuce, shredded carrots and the like. Not exactly expensive to produce. There were no berries at breakfast, unless you count the one blueberry that came as garnish on the cheese plate. Happily, I found if I kept a close watch I could nab 3-4 blueberries for breakfast! We were generally unimpressed with both food offerings and service at RPC. And, the ladies putting out the food seemed mostly to be guarding it, rather than assisting people in enjoying it.
Our most recent stay was BWI CL and it was so disappointing both with respect to food (poor quality food -- no muffins at breakfast (meaning we had to go to the Bellevue Room each morning to buy them), chicken kabobs every evening, an espresso machine that was broken for most of our week's stay, red wine that was undrinkable) and service, that it was the last straw for us.
We are trying CL at Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal soon. We hope to discover something of the CL we remember from happier times at Disney. We shall see. Beyond that, for good CL, we'll probably give the Ritz Carlton a try! No reason to bother with Disney CL rooms anymore, IMO.
Additionally, since Iger took over, the thrust at Disneyworld, more than ever, seems to be the all-mighty dollar. The Eisner years brought changes to Disneyworld that encouraged us to return after 10 years of no visits whatsoever. During those years, there was an emphasis on opening top notch restaurants, bringing in high quality chefs, expanding wine lists, hiring sommeliers, and generally making Disneyworld attractive to vacationers who would never have considered a Disneyworld stay. To me, it seems that CL was an effort along the same lines.
These days, the emphasis is entirely on getting as many bodies to Disneyworld as possible. Offer resort discounts, offer free dining (which costs Disney very little, actually, given the cut-backs to DDP and the fact that food bought in mass quantities is cheap), offer anything to get the bodies there. Then sell them high-priced park entry tickets (note the coming ticket price increase in the face of extensive discounting in other areas). Additionally, do everything necessary to keep up profits in the face of declining revenues from hotel discounts. One of the first things to go in the regard is offerings in the CL lounges.
When we stayed CL at AKL shortly after it opened, we loved it. The food offerings were plentiful, tasty and of high quality, including things like shrimp appetizers, etc. Water bottles were available for taking to the parks. In fact, upon our departure, the CL employees handed us specially made bags with bottles of water to enjoy on our journey home.
This was around 2002 or so. Since then, CL has been expanded to hotels where it was never planned -- BC and WL. This, no doubt, was due to Disney finding it was pretty profitable. In the years since then, however, it seems to me that pleasing CL guests is totally secondary to profits. If CL isn't generating profits, cut back service and offerings until it does. With the 40% off discounts, more cut-backs are demanded. Ultimately, customer satisfaction drops and a vicious cycle starts. That's where I think things are now. Also, I sense a strategy of blame the customer for the cut-backs. CL guests were taking too many waters, so no more water. CL guests were eating too many donuts, so no more Krispy Kremes. CL guests were eating too much, so cut back on anything that's a bit pricey. Also, let's cut the wine quality back to something less than Two Buck Chuck. CL guests won't notice.
The end of this vicious cycle is that customer dissatisfaction leads to guests deciding not to pay for CL, resulting in more discounting to encourage guests to pick CL, leading to more cuts to ensure profits stay high despite CL room discounts, leading more people to skip CL. Not exactly a good marketing strategy, but there it is.
We are in the group that has seen such significant declines, we're going with a BC one bedroom villa this time, rather that BC CL. This is the result of stays, since our original AKL CL stay, at WL CL, BC CL, RPC CL (more than once) and BWI CL. Even RPC with its absolutely outrageous pricing was no great shakes. The only night shrimp was offered, it was shrimp bits in some kind of gazpacho shooter. Many of the offerings were prettily plated on small white plates, but consisted chiefly of lettuce, shredded carrots and the like. Not exactly expensive to produce. There were no berries at breakfast, unless you count the one blueberry that came as garnish on the cheese plate. Happily, I found if I kept a close watch I could nab 3-4 blueberries for breakfast! We were generally unimpressed with both food offerings and service at RPC. And, the ladies putting out the food seemed mostly to be guarding it, rather than assisting people in enjoying it.
Our most recent stay was BWI CL and it was so disappointing both with respect to food (poor quality food -- no muffins at breakfast (meaning we had to go to the Bellevue Room each morning to buy them), chicken kabobs every evening, an espresso machine that was broken for most of our week's stay, red wine that was undrinkable) and service, that it was the last straw for us.
We are trying CL at Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal soon. We hope to discover something of the CL we remember from happier times at Disney. We shall see. Beyond that, for good CL, we'll probably give the Ritz Carlton a try! No reason to bother with Disney CL rooms anymore, IMO.
wdwfan
My heart belongs to Disney!
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ElizabethB, I agree with many points that you make. You have clearly outlined the problems that Disney has created with their CL service.
I am due to check in at the BWI CL in exactly 2 weeks. There's a chance I may have to postpone my trip due to my husband's demands at work. He just may not be able to break away from his job to enjoy a vacation in 2 weeeks. So, that leads me to wonder when I reschedule for the first week of November (if I have to) if I would be better off dropping club level and doing the deluxe dining plan in it's place? I'm really beginning to argue both the pros and cons of CL at Disney and whether or not my family and I would have more flexibility with the DxDP.
I've enjoyed reading this discussion. It has been both honest and eye opening.
I am due to check in at the BWI CL in exactly 2 weeks. There's a chance I may have to postpone my trip due to my husband's demands at work. He just may not be able to break away from his job to enjoy a vacation in 2 weeeks. So, that leads me to wonder when I reschedule for the first week of November (if I have to) if I would be better off dropping club level and doing the deluxe dining plan in it's place? I'm really beginning to argue both the pros and cons of CL at Disney and whether or not my family and I would have more flexibility with the DxDP.
I've enjoyed reading this discussion. It has been both honest and eye opening.
WendyisDarling
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I agree with so much of this, but really want to emphasize to those with upcoming CL stays: it is still a great experience.
If you go back a few pages and read my report of Poly CL, you will see that staying CL had many perks.
If it weren't still a nice experience, so many of us who have stayed CL in the past would not continue to do so.
Yes, I believe it was nicer a few years ago, but it remains a great choice.
Enjoy!
If you go back a few pages and read my report of Poly CL, you will see that staying CL had many perks.
If it weren't still a nice experience, so many of us who have stayed CL in the past would not continue to do so.
Yes, I believe it was nicer a few years ago, but it remains a great choice.
Enjoy!
Tess
DIS Veteran - 1997
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I agree with so much of this, but really want to emphasize to those with upcoming CL stays: it is still a great experience.
If you go back a few pages and read my report of Poly CL, you will see that staying CL had many perks.
If it weren't still a nice experience, so many of us who have stayed CL in the past would not continue to do so.
Yes, I believe it was nicer a few years ago, but it remains a great choice.
Enjoy!
Ditto and I concur--it was much nicer in the Eisner days and I really wasn't an Eisner fan.
This is a really great thread. Power To the Paying Guest!!
I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the many great cast members who work IPO and the lounges at CL. WDW employes about forty thousand people and these are some of the best. Imagine the pressure they are under to please the guests and cut back at the same time.
If you want to know how really great a Disney employee can be go over to the YC/BC info thread and see how helpful Tina the BC greeter is, her patience when answering the same questions over and over is incredible.
It must be a hard to have management pulling back service while evaluating your job performance based on guest satisfaction.
Has anyone ever taken the time to figure what one Deluxe CL non discounted guest is worth in profit to Disney? I am no mathematician but I think one CL stay is worth about three Value stays. Not just overall room charge but many other factors. For example, one mousekeeper cleaning one room compared to one mousekeeper cleaning three rooms. That sort of thing.
I plan on having a great vacation and always have a positive mind set when at WDW. I do not look for trouble and if it finds me I try to work through it in a way that is civilized and effective.
I think that Disney is one corporation that has customers who when united wield some power for change. We are those people. The real big profits in the hotel industry come from the top paying customers. Am I wrong? Do we have any experts? Would love to hear from you.
I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the many great cast members who work IPO and the lounges at CL. WDW employes about forty thousand people and these are some of the best. Imagine the pressure they are under to please the guests and cut back at the same time.
If you want to know how really great a Disney employee can be go over to the YC/BC info thread and see how helpful Tina the BC greeter is, her patience when answering the same questions over and over is incredible.
It must be a hard to have management pulling back service while evaluating your job performance based on guest satisfaction.
Has anyone ever taken the time to figure what one Deluxe CL non discounted guest is worth in profit to Disney? I am no mathematician but I think one CL stay is worth about three Value stays. Not just overall room charge but many other factors. For example, one mousekeeper cleaning one room compared to one mousekeeper cleaning three rooms. That sort of thing.
I plan on having a great vacation and always have a positive mind set when at WDW. I do not look for trouble and if it finds me I try to work through it in a way that is civilized and effective.
I think that Disney is one corporation that has customers who when united wield some power for change. We are those people. The real big profits in the hotel industry come from the top paying customers. Am I wrong? Do we have any experts? Would love to hear from you.
TinkerBelle_325
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I just wanted to stop by and say....
I'll be at the Polynesian in Club Level in exactly 30 days
And....I'm not letting any reviews get me down Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I appreciate that some things can seem lacking or go wrong, but generally I like to look at life with the glass half full
Also, I don't feel any of the reviews I've read thus far were as negative as some people seem to be reacting.
As far as food being replenished....if the evening offerings are from 5 till 7 and the majority of the food is gone by 6:30...well that's just life in my opinion. To replenish a full serving of each of the items for only a half hour of service left is actually quite wasteful....I would bet a good portion would end up in the trash.
I'll be at the Polynesian in Club Level in exactly 30 days
And....I'm not letting any reviews get me down
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I appreciate that some things can seem lacking or go wrong, but generally I like to look at life with the glass half full Also, I don't feel any of the reviews I've read thus far were as negative as some people seem to be reacting.
As far as food being replenished....if the evening offerings are from 5 till 7 and the majority of the food is gone by 6:30...well that's just life in my opinion. To replenish a full serving of each of the items for only a half hour of service left is actually quite wasteful....I would bet a good portion would end up in the trash.
sfbank
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Boy I must have been at the wrong resort last month. I could have sworn I was sitting with Nascargirl in the lounge at the BWI eating muffins for breakfast. I even took pictures to prove there were still muffins being served after seeing another post about them being gone before we left. I was excited to see they still had them. I will have to dig the pics out and post them to put minds at ease!
Tess
DIS Veteran - 1997
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My thoughts exactly !
Yes, there were better years, but dare I say, there were more rack paying guests?
"Power to the" discounted or upgraded guest is more like it now. And Let's face it, they
need to offer the discounts due to the economy. Let's just say, the guests have changed overall.
And I know you old timers can back me up on this one.
Plus,do the math for this economy.
It's called cut backs. And I think Disney's CLs are doing a wonderful job!
Sure, there are some "bumps" here and there, but that is found everywhere in CLs across the world.
It happens.
Just toured the GF's RPC, before that WL CL, and doing the YC CL next week. Will also be doing WL CL again (love it- a hidden jewel), CR Atrium and a couple of suites before the year is out. I'm lucky as having the privilege to do this.
Before anyone passes judgement on these services and CMs, please experience the WDW CLs.
Well, if you've seen the newly released rack rates for CL in 2011
, I would bet they will be continuing to discount just to fill the CL services. Without question, and as I have posted heretofore, the CL CMs are key to our repeat visits. Sadly, too many of them have moved on or retired and with the new rates, Disney may be pricing these long timers out of CL.
canadianmickey13
Earning My Ears
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Are the 2011 rates now available? I haven't been able to find them so if someone can post a link that would be helpful. thanks!
Tess
DIS Veteran - 1997
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Here is a random thread I found with 2011 room only rates. You can get other resorts by calling Disney. The website does not have new rates yet.
I also found this thread with a good many more rates for 2011.
I've experienced WDW CL's and I think as with most things at WDW... your individual mileage may vary lol That's sadly typical these days. For every hand written note, special treat, or awesome towel animal I may get from a CM... someone else is gonna meet Mr Grumpypants or have brown water running from the pipes in their room (not making that up, personal experience at WDW).
And imo, this is the sad legacy of the cutbacks. That super high Disney bar is a bit lower and many of us have noticed it. It's still good. Just not as good.
Disclaimer: I am not singling any one person out cuz I've seen this often... but even discounted CL rooms aren't cheap. Don't let 'em fool ya. A bounceback at Sugarloaf in the off-season still costs a minimum of around $400/night. For four hundred dollars a night you should have as many sodas as you want. They are NOT losing money on that. And that rack rate keeps creeping up to off-set the discount. We sit here fussing about the folks eating 8 sticky wings & paying $400/night for their room instead of $700... Disney reduces the number of "value" season nights, increases the rate and changes the view on rooms to make them more expensive and collect more money - discount or not.
I think that's how they make their money and if discounts went away tomorrow & everyone paid rack rates I doubt you'd see a huge change in club level service.
Ok - bringing this back to CL concierge info sharing: I'm surprised about the muffins at BWI. We enjoyed muffins in July at least 2 or 3 days during our stay. Maybe they change menus from time to time?
And those baked good were definitely a win for the BWI club level. Way too tasty Our fab stay and goodies like that are actually making it hard for me to try BC CL instead of going back to the BWI in January
That's sadly typical these days. For every hand written note, special treat, or awesome towel animal I may get from a CM... someone else is gonna meet Mr Grumpypants or have brown water running from the pipes in their room (not making that up, personal experience at WDW).And imo, this is the sad legacy of the cutbacks. That super high Disney bar is a bit lower and many of us have noticed it. It's still good. Just not as good.
Disclaimer: I am not singling any one person out cuz I've seen this often... but even discounted CL rooms aren't cheap. Don't let 'em fool ya. A bounceback at Sugarloaf in the off-season still costs a minimum of around $400/night. For four hundred dollars a night you should have as many sodas as you want. They are NOT losing money on that. And that rack rate keeps creeping up to off-set the discount. We sit here fussing about the folks eating 8 sticky wings & paying $400/night for their room instead of $700... Disney reduces the number of "value" season nights, increases the rate and changes the view on rooms to make them more expensive and collect more money - discount or not.
I think that's how they make their money and if discounts went away tomorrow & everyone paid rack rates I doubt you'd see a huge change in club level service.
Ok - bringing this back to CL concierge info sharing: I'm surprised about the muffins at BWI. We enjoyed muffins in July at least 2 or 3 days during our stay. Maybe they change menus from time to time?
And those baked good were definitely a win for the BWI club level. Way too tasty
Our fab stay and goodies like that are actually making it hard for me to try BC CL instead of going back to the BWI in January- Status
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