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

[Donald is #1]

My 11 month window opened today for my August 11 trip. So right at 9 AM, I called and guess what?



I was able to book at 1 BR at AKV Concierge level. This will be my second CL stay at AKV. I actually have another 2-3 nights to book that I couldn't book yet because the trip will be 10-11 days. I think that instead of calling day by day to add to this reservation, I may wait and book a savanna view room for the last 2-3 nights. That way my niece and I will be guaranteed a savanna view for part of the trip.

Sunrise Safari here we come!

 

[dragonfly57005]

Donald is #1: Score!!!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

One difference I noticed between the Atrium Club Level Cast Members at the Contemporary and the Innkeeper's Club Cast Members at the Boardwalk is that at the Atrium Club just before the foods are taken away they ask is there anything else we want to get? At the Innkeeper's Club once it's time to take everything away they just do it and don't ask any guests in the lounge if they want anything else. Now that is not a knock on the Innkeeper's Club Cast Members because as I said before they were great and we had no complaints about them at all, it's just one thing I noticed that was different between them both. So I am wondering at the other Club Level lounges do the Cast Members ask if you want any more food before taking it all away at their specifc times?

 

[hammieva]

can anyone describe the offerings on the concierge level for AKV. Not sure if the dining plan is a smart idea if staying on concierge??

 

[HaleyB]

can anyone describe the offerings on the concierge level for AKV. Not sure if the dining plan is a smart idea if staying on concierge??

The DP is too much food for me either way. Plus our oop spending just never comes out to $40 a person/a day. Closer to half that and we eat a sit down meal just about every day.

The offerings are posted somewhere, maybe the start of this thread? Those were spot on.

What I recall:
Breakfast offerings are the same everyday and included two dry cereals and hot oatmeal, and another hot porridge type thing that I forget the name of. Yogurt. Juices including an "African" blend that is yummy. Coffee and tea.

This to me is the biggest plus of CL. I can grab a fast breakfast with no waiting in CS lines and be on my way quickly.

Midday snacks are, um, I never was around for them. Dry salty mix and baked potato chips I think. Odds are there were some cookies or something sweet.

Tea time they put out scones and clotted cream (yum). Tea cookies. Oh and there is a fruit basket out all day, apples and oranges I think maybe bananas in the morning.

Around 5 pm they put out hot tastes. These are just tastes, enough to keep you from filling up on bread while waiting for your dinner. I know there was always one with meat and one w/o meat, might have been 2 w/meat (I don't eat much meat). A couple of cheeses, a few flavors of humus, flat bread/crackers, olives, marinated carrots, one other thing that escapes me (our camera died right before this trip and my memory is far from perfect). Wine and beer too, that may be out earlier.

I think the cordials and deserts go out at 8pm, again they are more like tastes than full desserts and when I was there they were put out very sparingly. Along with those cookies, brownies, and rice crispy treats.

They were mostly snacks. I guess if you hung out there all day and ate every snack they offered you might not need dinner. In our case we found while we did want our regular meals we ate a bit lighter than we might have otherwise.

And all that with the disclaimer that my husband and I often share meals when we eat out (at home or in WDW) because we are just not used to big servings. We love to eat, we just can't put as much away as we could when we were younger. Our teen/pre-teen kids ate the snacks whenever we were in the lounge and still found plenty of room for regular meals too

 

[HaleyB]

One difference I noticed between the Atrium Club Level Cast Members at the Contemporary and the Innkeeper's Club Cast Members at the Boardwalk is that at the Atrium Club just before the foods are taken away they ask is there anything else we want to get? At the Innkeeper's Club once it's time to take everything away they just do it and don't ask any guests in the lounge if they want anything else. Now that is not a knock on the Innkeeper's Club Cast Members because as I said before they were great and we had no complaints about them at all, it's just one thing I noticed that was different between them both. So I am wondering at the other Club Level lounges do the Cast Members ask if you want any more food before taking it all away at their specifc times?

They don't ask at AKL, actually I noticed if anything they clear things away a bit early. They also didn't ever put much out at a time, so there was often not very much to be cleared. I found both those things a little annoying. Not annoying enough to keep me from booking at the AKL again for our next trip, once I knew they did it that way I was fine. Just not what I had expected. They had some suits hanging out, watching everything, and giving 'constructive criticism' a couple of nights. This amounted to them putting colored napkins under the plates and moving knick knacks around a bit Stressed the poor CL CM's out though, so I felt badly for them.

 

[Donald is #1]

Donald is #1: Score!!!

 

[PolyDec2008]

Thought fellow club goers would like to know what I heard from the Poly IPO toay: "We would be happy to book the Wildlife Discovery Excursion for your family, however, it is going to be discontinued starting on December 19, 2010"

We can take it before the 19th but wanted to tour the parks those days before the crowds fill the parks right before Christmas. Any one go on the excursion? Is it worth $50/person?

ETA: Sorry, should have done a search before posting, looks like this is common knowledge.

 

[Rhongepooh]

We will be celebrating my daughter's 16th birthday at Disney Thanksgiving week at the CR Atrium CL level. Has anyone stayed CL during their birthday. Will they do anything special for her? I have let the CMs know about her Birthday celebration at Disney.

 

[kaffinito]

So I am wondering at the other Club Level lounges do the Cast Members ask if you want any more food before taking it all away at their specifc times?

They don't at AKL or at Poly, but they did at GF. I was surprised when they did that at GF, since I thought that not asking was the way it was done.

can anyone describe the offerings on the concierge level for AKV. Not sure if the dining plan is a smart idea if staying on concierge??

What HaleyB said is what I found there too. It was good food!

I figure out the cost for our meals without the dining plan, and then compare the two prices. Some trips its better to get the DDP, and for some trips it isn't. If I were to stay at the GF CL again I would not even bother with the DDP since they have so many offerings out. I found AKL to be filling too.

 

[MickeyT]

I guess I will need to sit down and see if there are any that we just have to go to this time. We like to have one sit down meal in the evenings. My husband wants to try V&A this time. We also enjoyed the seafood at Cape May last time.

Anyone have any suggestions on some really nice places that are not on the dining plan? I thought theymight be a little less crowded. It seems like once Disney started offering the "free" dining, the masses have showed up! I would like to avoid that if possible.

Hey fellow Tiger Fan! Maybe I can answer.

Most of Disney's sit down restaurants are on the dining plan. Victoria and Alberts of course doesn't show up (don't know how many credits that would take!)

Here is a link off DIS dining under dining on the front page. Go there and you can search and look any way you like. Take a look at the search restaurants and you can filter by dining plan. Hope this helps.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining.htm

 

[contemporarymom]

Thought fellow club goers would like to know what I heard from the Poly IPO toay: "We would be happy to book the Wildlife Discovery Excursion for your family, however, it is going to be discontinued starting on December 19, 2010"

We can take it before the 19th but wanted to tour the parks those days before the crowds fill the parks right before Christmas. Any one go on the excursion? Is it worth $50/person?

ETA: Sorry, should have done a search before posting, looks like this is common knowledge.

We love the Excursion. Definitely worth it for us. My husband, myself, DS14 and DD11 always enjoy it. When we went this time at the end of August it was really wonderful. Lots of up close interaction and a lot of "inside" info. We're very sad this is being discontinued.

 

[WendyisDarling]

We will be celebrating my daughter's 16th birthday at Disney Thanksgiving week at the CR Atrium CL level. Has anyone stayed CL during their birthday. Will they do anything special for her? I have let the CMs know about her Birthday celebration at Disney.

It just depends. I've CL for 3 of my birthdays in the last 5 years. I am not a child and it isn't my sweet 16 so there could be a difference. I have not stayed at CR. First year at Poly not even a spoken "Happy Birthday". Second birthday at AKL --Wow! Complimentary small cake with my name on it waiting in the room, a card from CL staff and a certificate declaring me forever 29. Third year was a split stay starting at BC before my BD. At BC when we arrived, CL check-in gave me a BD button (my birthday was a week away) we got to our room there were balloons weighted down with various candy bars plus a card. Switched over to Poly and a few days later the night of my actual birthday a Snow White card was slipped under the door.

Wishing for pixie dust for your daughter!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

They don't ask at AKL, actually I noticed if anything they clear things away a bit early.

I think I saw both at CR, both club levels. Sometimes they asked, sometimes they just started clearing some items. I also don't recall them asking at BWI. I don't recall at the others. But I also think it depends on the Cast member. A few times I've been under the impression that perhaps for a few cast members, English is their second language and they are a little shy about making announcements, or answering questions with long answers. Other CM's are just naturally outgoing.

One thing I have also noticed at all of the CL's we've tried is that CM's pretty much like to be done clearing at 10pm, not leaving full dessert buffet out until 10pm. The non-alcoholic drinks are often the last to go, which is great for us.

 

[mjamm]

We are booked right now for our first CL stay for next Feb at the Poly. I am considering changing over to the Boardwalk after reading some of the great reviews it receives. What would be your advice for our family? We are traveling with four girls 9, 7, 4, and an almost one yr old at the time of travel. The close proximity to MK would be nice, but not a must. After all we are use to the bus' at the values so we will not be disappointed with the deluxe accommadations.
Just looking for advice from those of you who have stay CL in the past, what would you consider better for us first timers?
TIA!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We will be celebrating my daughter's 16th birthday at Disney Thanksgiving week at the CR Atrium CL level. Has anyone stayed CL during their birthday. Will they do anything special for her? I have let the CMs know about her Birthday celebration at Disney.

You can always have it noted on your reservation that your daughter will be celebrating her birthday while your there, however the best thing is to make plans yourself because there might a lot of other guests staying Club Level at the Contemporary and celebrating their birthdays.

 

[ClareH37]

We are booked right now for our first CL stay for next Feb at the Poly. I am considering changing over to the Boardwalk after reading some of the great reviews it receives. What would be your advice for our family? We are traveling with four girls 9, 7, 4, and an almost one yr old at the time of travel. The close proximity to MK would be nice, but not a must. After all we are use to the bus' at the values so we will not be disappointed with the deluxe accommadations.
Just looking for advice from those of you who have stay CL in the past, what would you consider better for us first timers?
TIA!

I love the BWI CL, it's amazing but given the ages of your DDs I would go with the Poly

One thing to consider with the BWI is it is a convention resort and sometimes (although not all) there can be a lot of adults/conventioners staying CL. The lounge is lovely and the CMs wonderful but it's not as roomy as the Poly lounge, and one time I stayed CL at the BWI the BWI lounge had been taken over by conventioners enjoying (I say that politely lol) more than their fair share of beer. Another thing to consider, just in case it's important to you, the evening offerings (which I personally found delicious) are from Kouzzina and I know some people are not too keen on them.

Saying that I really don't think you can go wrong with either resort - perhaps it might be worth considering what park you will be spending the most time at and going from there?

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We are booked right now for our first CL stay for next Feb at the Poly. I am considering changing over to the Boardwalk after reading some of the great reviews it receives. What would be your advice for our family? We are traveling with four girls 9, 7, 4, and an almost one yr old at the time of travel. The close proximity to MK would be nice, but not a must. After all we are use to the bus' at the values so we will not be disappointed with the deluxe accommadations.
Just looking for advice from those of you who have stay CL in the past, what would you consider better for us first timers?
TIA!

I have stayed Club Level at both resorts and they are great in their own way, however I would have to go with the Boardwalk. My reason is I liked their room better, their Club Level Cast Members were simply amazing, I enjoyed their food offerings more, the lounge was nicer and I liked it's theme/atmosphere better. Now in the past I have always said it's great staying at Monorail Resorts with little kids because it makes things easy and it's close to the Magic Kingdom, but after staying at the Boardwalk my opinion has changed.

Now have you thought about trying a split stay at both resorts so this way you can experience both of them?

 

[mjamm]

Now have you thought about trying a split stay at both resorts so this way you can experience both of them?

I did not think of the split stay, it is definitely something to consider. I haven't read much on doing a split stay, does Disney help out with transportation, etc? With four little kids in tow, it might be more of a hassel, but I would love to try both resorts! This is going to be a 10th anniversary trip for us...( and a 10th birthday, 5th birthday, and 1st birthday...and of course I can't leave one out so we are celebrating her 7th birthday too....) So we want to make this an extra special trip. As far as parks go...I know we will probably spend more time at MK, it is their favorite park, but we do love Epcot too. And thinking about doing the dining plan so...Epcot would be handy too!

 

[kaffinito]

We will be celebrating my daughter's 16th birthday at Disney Thanksgiving week at the CR Atrium CL level. Has anyone stayed CL during their birthday. Will they do anything special for her? I have let the CMs know about her Birthday celebration at Disney.

When I am checking into CL I let the CM know about the birthday as well. DS 18 got a nice bunch of candy bars and a card for his birthday at BWI and a nice White Chocolate Mickey at GF.

We are booked right now for our first CL stay for next Feb at the Poly. I am considering changing over to the Boardwalk after reading some of the great reviews it receives.
TIA!

I did not think of the split stay, it is definitely something to consider. I haven't read much on doing a split stay, does Disney help out with transportation, etc? With four little kids in tow, it might be more of a hassel, but I would love to try both resorts!

I would go with BWI CL over the Poly. The Poly's CL is not very good IMO. However the Boardwalks is really lovely with a super nice staff. It's also in a private keyed entry area, which is also nice to have. A non CL stay at Poly and a CL stay at BWI would be a great split stay! You could have the best of both worlds.

To move your luggage, simply tell Bell Services when you are checking out of one and going to the next one that you need to have your luggage transferred to the next resort. They move your luggage for you.