Concierge/Club Level Information - Part II (Sept 2009)

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

Thank you CRFan4Life and jenjersnap - I appreciate your input.
We stayed on the 3rd floor last year (before the view changes) & had a great view! Really loved the view - and most of all the balcony! I guess it would be considered to be an upgrade to be located on the same floor now. Guess I really didn't think this through all the way. There are just so many angles to everything at Disney!
I guess it will be what it will be, eh?
The most important thing is that we'll be there with the grandkids - balcony or no balcony...
Gretchen

 

[mmmears]

I have a dilemma and I wondered if anyone had any input.

We are splitting a stay in December between a MK resort (have Poly booked, hoping for an opening at BLT) and BC CL.

I just realized that our 180 ADR date will happen when we are on another vacation to New England. We'll be in far, far, far northern VT and last time we were there cell phone service was spotty.

Will the IPO make ADRs for only the days we'll be staying CL or is there a chance they would do us a HUGE favor and make all of our ADRs, including the non-CL part? Anyone ever asked this?

We do lots of split stays. Every time the IPO office asks if both are CL, explaining that then they can go ahead and make all our ADRs for us. I'm not saying they won't do it, but it's not part of their job to do so. You could ask, and you might get lucky (other people have). But it's not something I would count on...

 

[johnsonet]

I have a dilemma and I wondered if anyone had any input.

We are splitting a stay in December between a MK resort (have Poly booked, hoping for an opening at BLT) and BC CL.

I just realized that our 180 ADR date will happen when we are on another vacation to New England. We'll be in far, far, far northern VT and last time we were there cell phone service was spotty.

Will the IPO make ADRs for only the days we'll be staying CL or is there a chance they would do us a HUGE favor and make all of our ADRs, including the non-CL part? Anyone ever asked this?

AKL CL IPO has done this for me once but I stay there a lot. I can't remember the scenario but somehow it came up and s/he offered. I think I would feel comfortable asking any of the resort IPOs if I were in your shoes, assuming it's not a week's worth of ADRs or something like that... Just let them know that you know that they would be doing you a big favor

 

[chimo2u]

As you can see from my title, I am beginning to sweat the ADR reservation process! Don told me that they start ADR booking at 6 am, I just hope my name is close to the top of the pile, LOL....I am especially worried about the hard-to-get ones I REALLY want, and on the days I need!! Like my MM Fantasmic dinner pkg, and my Le Cellier lunch. This is a very short trip and park days/plans are completely unmoveabale.... I am wondering if I should be up at 5 am working to book my Fantasmic ressie or if I should just put all my hope in the IPO's hands and trust they'll get us what we want?? It's like waiting for something really big, like Christmas morning for a child hoping they get the gift they want, or before competeing in a very important event and hoping you score!!! I have that really nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach!!

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

As you can see from my title, I am beginning to sweat the ADR reservation process! Don told me that they start ADR booking at 6 am, I just hope my name is close to the top of the pile, LOL....I am especially worried about the hard to get ones I REALLY want, and on the days I need!! Like my MM Fantasmic dinner pkg, and my Le Cellier lunch. This is a very short trip and park days/plans are completely unmoveabale.... I am wondering if I should be up at 5 am working to book my Fantasmic ressie or if I should just put all my hope in the IPO's hands and trust they'll get us what we want?? It's like waiting for something really big, like Christmas morning for a child hoping they get the gift they want, or before competeing in a very important event and hoping you score!!! I have that really nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach!!

I don't think you should really be all that worried about it. 180 days is a long time. We're leaving next week, and I'm still getting great ADRs for the time i want.

That being said, we are staying CL, and I would never let an IPO make my ADR's. I'm too anal that way.

 

[mmmears]

As you can see from my title, I am beginning to sweat the ADR reservation process! Don told me that they start ADR booking at 6 am, I just hope my name is close to the top of the pile, LOL....I am especially worried about the hard-to-get ones I REALLY want, and on the days I need!! Like my MM Fantasmic dinner pkg, and my Le Cellier lunch. This is a very short trip and park days/plans are completely unmoveabale.... I am wondering if I should be up at 5 am working to book my Fantasmic ressie or if I should just put all my hope in the IPO's hands and trust they'll get us what we want?? It's like waiting for something really big, like Christmas morning for a child hoping they get the gift they want, or before competeing in a very important event and hoping you score!!! I have that really nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach!!

Don't worry. Don and the AKL team do a great job. They got me everything I asked for. And this is for the 2 weeks surrounding Easter (super-busy time) and my ADR date was on the day that they opened 3 months of reservations to 180days on the same day! I knew the system would go down, and it did. But Don and his team booked everything for me. No problem.

Honestly, I didn't use to trust IPO to do this for me and now that I do I feel so spoiled! No icky, long WDW phone calls! It's one of the very best things about staying CL.

Hope this helps reassure you. BTW they know what they are doing (they book the hard to get ressies first (for everyone) then go back and do the rest. So you don't need to be on the top of their pile. On my ADR day I think there were over 100 people waiting for ADRs! On a normal day, probably less than 20. So relax and enjoy!!!

 

[jenjersnap]

Thanks, mmmears and johnsonet, for the input. I think I would ask for just the few time-sensitive ones and work on the others when we return to civilization. Though with this "emergency" maybe I can convince DH that we should stay CL at the Poly.

 

[johnsonet]

with this "emergency" maybe I can convince DH that we should stay CL at the Poly.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thank you CRFan4Life and jenjersnap - I appreciate your input.
We stayed on the 3rd floor last year (before the view changes) & had a great view! Really loved the view - and most of all the balcony! I guess it would be considered to be an upgrade to be located on the same floor now. Guess I really didn't think this through all the way. There are just so many angles to everything at Disney!
I guess it will be what it will be, eh?
The most important thing is that we'll be there with the grandkids - balcony or no balcony...
Gretchen

You're welcome and have a great time.

 

[luvthemouse71]

The only time my family and I stayed Club Level at the Polynesian was in December 2007 with a Lagoon View that also happened to have a clear view of Cinderella's Castle. Now as for these recent changes my guess is they took the rooms that had a clear view of Cinderella's Castle like the one my family and I were in which was room #3510 and turned those into the Theme Park Views. So the rooms that were blocking the view would remain as Lagoon Views.

As for getting a room on the 3rd floor with a balcony it's just pure luck and the only thing you can do is make a request, so hopefully it will be able to happen when you arrive.

This is partly the reason why I just called today and had them change my LV-CL to a GV-CL..We had a great LV room(3rd floor with balcony) in the Hawaii building last year, but would have had to pay more for the same view..it was already wicked expensive. Oh well, glad I did it once anyway.

Still excited about my trip in September. I wasn't quite ready to give up Club Level.

 

[luvthemouse71]

As you can see from my title, I am beginning to sweat the ADR reservation process! Don told me that they start ADR booking at 6 am, I just hope my name is close to the top of the pile, LOL....I am especially worried about the hard-to-get ones I REALLY want, and on the days I need!! Like my MM Fantasmic dinner pkg, and my Le Cellier lunch. This is a very short trip and park days/plans are completely unmoveabale.... I am wondering if I should be up at 5 am working to book my Fantasmic ressie or if I should just put all my hope in the IPO's hands and trust they'll get us what we want?? It's like waiting for something really big, like Christmas morning for a child hoping they get the gift they want, or before competeing in a very important event and hoping you score!!! I have that really nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach!!

They got my Le Cellier ressie for dinner last year..they got me every ADR I wanted. This is my most favorite part of Club Level.

 

[mmmears]

This is partly the reason why I just called today and had them change my LV-CL to a GV-CL..We had a great LV room(3rd floor with balcony) in the Hawaii building last year, but would have had to pay more for the same view..it was already wicked expensive. Oh well, glad I did it once anyway.

Still excited about my trip in September. I wasn't quite ready to give up Club Level.

We had a great LVCL room on the 3rd floor last year, too. Sounds like with only one LVCL room on the 3rd floor it would be impossible to get it.

Well, at least now you're saving some $$$. I ended up switching from LVCL to TPVCL, but only because when I called to get the AP discount (after waiting forever for it to be released for our dates), LVCL was not available. The AP TPVCL was still over $200 less per night than my LVCL room, so it made it more palatable. Without the savings, I would have switched to GV CL like you did.

You'll still get the great lounge with the view of the castle and save lots of $$$ this way!!!

 

[hstrickland]

In the past I did an internet search for "mousekeeping envelopes." It took me to a site (or 2) that had great all ready to print designs that work perfectly on standard envelopes (with lots of choices, from Mickey, to Stitch, to the princesses). Worked great and was really easy, too!

Thanks a million, mmmears! Found several sites with a wealth of info. The kids are excited about having special envelopes for mousekeeping.

 

[mmmears]

Thanks a million, mmmears! Found several sites with a wealth of info. The kids are excited about having special envelopes for mousekeeping.

Glad you found them! I can't ever remember which one we use, just search for it each time. And I love the envelopes that we print from them, and I'm sure that the mousekeepers are thankful, too. Glad to have helped!

 

[marlaine]

I called the Poly IPO yesterday. I was concerned that they hadn't contacted me since I made my reservation on 1/1/10. Our trip starts 9/12. I spoke with a really nice gal named Brittany. She said they are not contacting people until 190 days out. I was concerned that they would think I was being a pest by initiating contact, but she sure made me feel welcome. If I hadn't read this thread, I would have been anxious about calling.
She e-mailed me a form, and I will fill it out today and send it back to her.
She answered all of my questions, although I really didn't have too many after reading all of this great info!
The only thing I'm trying to decide on is the Wildlife Exursion. It will be our last full day in WDW and I can't decide if my DS wants to take that much time away from the attractions. Does anyone know how long it takes?
So far I am very pleased with my interaction with Brittany. She even told me when her days off are, so my chances of getting her for help are better.

 

[mdrob214]

The Poly IPO folks are awesome! We had been wanting to book a Wishes (or whatever Fireworks show) cruise for July 4th. We called at 180 days out and it wasn't in the system yet(no idea why, since the 3rd and 5th were there at 180 days out). We told Poly IPO about it and they assured us they'd book it at the soonest opportunity. Well, I admit DH and I each called a few times--just to be sure--and it still wasn't available. Yesterday--it became available. Brittany emailed us that we have the cruise.

 

[RachelTori]

I called the Poly IPO yesterday. I was concerned that they hadn't contacted me since I made my reservation on 1/1/10. Our trip starts 9/12. I spoke with a really nice gal named Brittany. She said they are not contacting people until 190 days out. I was concerned that they would think I was being a pest by initiating contact, but she sure made me feel welcome. If I hadn't read this thread, I would have been anxious about calling.
She e-mailed me a form, and I will fill it out today and send it back to her.
She answered all of my questions, although I really didn't have too many after reading all of this great info!
The only thing I'm trying to decide on is the Wildlife Exursion. It will be our last full day in WDW and I can't decide if my DS wants to take that much time away from the attractions. Does anyone know how long it takes?
So far I am very pleased with my interaction with Brittany. She even told me when her days off are, so my chances of getting her for help are better.

I'm glad you're finding this thread useful!

I just did the Wildlife Discovery Excursion 2 weeks ago. There's a morning one (10?), and an early afternoon one. I did the afternoon (1pm). It was about an hour and I found it very worthwhile. I would say it depends on how old your DS is and how interested he is in the animals, but I give it a definite thumbs up!!

 

[danielle782001]

DS loved Mickey waffles...Rest of family can/will eat breakfast food from club....Is it okay to get something from Mara and eat it in the club?

 

[mmmears]

I'm glad you're finding this thread useful!

I just did the Wildlife Discovery Excursion 2 weeks ago. There's a morning one (10?), and an early afternoon one. I did the afternoon (1pm). It was about an hour and I found it very worthwhile. I would say it depends on how old your DS is and how interested he is in the animals, but I give it a definite thumbs up!!

Have you taken the Sunrise Safari before (I thought you had) and can you compare the two?

DS loved Mickey waffles...Rest of family can/will eat breakfast food from club....Is it okay to get something from Mara and eat it in the club?

That won't be a problem.

 

[teacher5]

We have done the Sunrise Safari and the Wildlife Discovery. We like the WDE better. With the SS, besides getting up sooo early, you aren't finished before the park opens. So, as we were finally getting to eat, the park opened and I ran to get fastpasses across the whole park!

I felt like the WDE was more leisurely. We would pull off to the side and have time to talk about the animals more. People stared at us who were doing the regular safari ride as if we were celebrities! My dd thought that was funny! We are going again in July and booked the WDE again. It was one of the highlights of our last trip for sure!!! By the way, the SS was packed with people and we were the ONLY ones on the WDE. That made it more fun too!