Concierge/Club Level Information - Part III (October 2010)

[britfish]

Are all the food offerings the same at the different CL's? I read through the offerings list but can't really tell. I am only asking because we have stayed at WL CL and GF CL and I felt the GF offerings were much more plenitful, especially the mid day offering. If I remember correctly the midday offerings at WL were just pretzels and gummy bears things, compared to to the GF where the you could have made a lunch out of the offerings. So are some CL offerings more plenitful and would they be based on $

 

[disneydreamin247]

Are all the food offerings the same at the different CL's? I read through the offerings list but can't really tell. I am only asking because we have stayed at WL CL and GF CL and I felt the GF offerings were much more plenitful, especially the mid day offering. If I remember correctly the midday offerings at WL were just pretzels and gummy bears things, compared to to the GF where the you could have made a lunch out of the offerings. So are some CL offerings more plenitful and would they be based on $

No, each different CL has their own list of offerings.

 

[britfish]

I realize the food options are different but are the quantities different? It just seemed like WL was a very light offering whereas the GF was very plentiful, however I don't know if that is always the case or if it was because the GF was a more recent stay for us and things may have changed.

 

[Mrs K]

I realize the food options are different but are the quantities different? It just seemed like WL was a very light offering whereas the GF was very plentiful, however I don't know if that is always the case or if it was because the GF was a more recent stay for us and things may have changed.

We must have hit a weird week at the GF last July, because the offerings in the CL lounge in Sugar Loaf were very limited. I keep reading about how much better they are than at the Poly, but we didn't think so. My kids even thought that the Poly was better. By "kids" I mean 20 and 16, and they aren't picky eaters. My DD does have food allergies and except for breakfast, her choices were very limitted.

 

[ppony]

I realize the food options are different but are the quantities different? It just seemed like WL was a very light offering whereas the GF was very plentiful, however I don't know if that is always the case or if it was because the GF was a more recent stay for us and things may have changed.

The WDW CLs we've stayed in are AKL, GF/RPC, and the Poly. I remember the AKL and poly offerings to be relatively similar for mid-day stuff, gummy bears, m&ms, cookies, what-not. I remember the RPC offerings to be INCREDIBLE. Pettifors, shrimp, etc. My mind is hazy now and it was our first stay (1999) at a CL (free upgrade!) so we hadn't gone in w/ any knowledge or expectations and of course, were blown away. I'll always see that stay w/ rosy glasses.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Are all the food offerings the same at the different CL's? I read through the offerings list but can't really tell. I am only asking because we have stayed at WL CL and GF CL and I felt the GF offerings were much more plenitful, especially the mid day offering. If I remember correctly the midday offerings at WL were just pretzels and gummy bears things, compared to to the GF where the you could have made a lunch out of the offerings. So are some CL offerings more plenitful and would they be based on $

Some of the Club Level lounges might have the same items for breakfast and during the afternoon. However the items from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM are specifc to the resort you are staying at. For example at the Boardwalk Inn a lot of the food during that time comes from Kouzzina which is also located there and you won't find them at any other Club Level lounge.

 

[RachelTori]

Hi! Question for all the AKL CL experts....I read at the very beginning of this thread that all CL rooms on the 4th floor are savannah views. Is there any "bad" view/room that I need to be aware of? We didn't make any room request...basically because I'm not familiar with the layout of AKL CL....didn't know what to request

Thanks!!
Heather

All AKL-CL rooms are 4th floor Savanna View. They try to put CL guests in the 1st pod off the lobby since it's a bit of a walk to the Lounge (6th floor). There are rooms on the 6th floor, but those are DVC Villas.

What I would suggest is that you work with AKL's IPO and have them add your room request. They are the experts!

Here's the room map. http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/aklmap.htm

On Kudu Trail, your room would most likely be one of the 4210-4225 (1st pod) rooms; on Zebra Trail, 4407-4422 (odd numbered only; even numbers are "pool view"). The Club Lounge is directly above where the map says "Rooms 5101 to 5106" and has a great view of the massive lobby below.

HTHs!

 

[bowbat]

So CL rooms at AKL are not on the same floor as the lounge? Interesting. We're staying there just for a night in April, so it's not a big deal, but I wonder if that gets to be annoying during a longer stay.

 

[dgbg100106]

So CL rooms at AKL are not on the same floor as the lounge? Interesting. We're staying there just for a night in April, so it's not a big deal, but I wonder if that gets to be annoying during a longer stay.

DVC CL rooms are on the same floor as the lounge.

 

[pas130]

So CL rooms at AKL are not on the same floor as the lounge? Interesting. We're staying there just for a night in April, so it's not a big deal, but I wonder if that gets to be annoying during a longer stay.

Come to think of it, we have NEVER stayed the same floor as the lounge. SL we were close to the elevator, and YC and AKL we were is suites FAR FAR AWAY...

OK....JMHO, AKL is awesome. and we had no elevator issues getting up to the lounge. I think it will be fine. It's nice just wandering around there

 

[nemofans]

All AKL-CL rooms are 4th floor Savanna View. They try to put CL guests in the 1st pod off the lobby since it's a bit of a walk to the Lounge (6th floor). There are rooms on the 6th floor, but those are DVC Villas.

What I would suggest is that you work with AKL's IPO and have them add your room request. They are the experts!

Here's the room map. http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/aklmap.htm

On Kudu Trail, your room would most likely be one of the 4210-4225 (1st pod) rooms; on Zebra Trail, 4407-4422 (odd numbered only; even numbers are "pool view"). The Club Lounge is directly above where the map says "Rooms 5101 to 5106" and has a great view of the massive lobby below.

HTHs!

Is this true? They keep CL guests in the 1st section & not further down the hall?

 

[ZZUB]

Hi! Question for all the AKL CL experts....I read at the very beginning of this thread that all CL rooms on the 4th floor are savannah views. Is there any "bad" view/room that I need to be aware of? We didn't make any room request...basically because I'm not familiar with the layout of AKL CL....didn't know what to request

Thanks!!
Heather

We were in the third pod on the Zebra trail; right past the elevators. From our perspective this was a prime location. We could take the Zebra trail elevators to the Mara and down to the lobby to catch the busses. We weren't a very far walk to the main elevators to get up to the 6th floor lounge. I suppose in an ideal world, the lounge would be right on your floor but truthfully, we didn't find the schlep up there to be an issue. It certainly didn't keep us from enjoying the lounge.

Knowing you're going to be on the 4th floor, you should look at the resort map and think about where you want to be. We wanted to be on the bus side of the resort and we didn't want to be too close to the lobby b/c we wanted to be more in the middle of the savannah. However, we didn't want to be too far out. The pod we were put in was about perfect for us.

I agree you should let IPO know if you have any room requests. It also helps to check in early so that if you don't like where they're going to put you, you have some chance at getting a better location.

We really liked the lounge and club level CMs. It's not the Ritz Carlton, or even a Hyatt, but the food offerings were plentiful and the CMs were very friendly.

My one caution regards the busses. Not that AKL is any worse than any place else; Disney Transportation is what it is. But after two trips at the CR when getting to MK and Epcot was pretty easy, we found the wait on the busses to get any place a real drag. The first few days we were still Drunk on Disney and didn't care. But after a few days, it started to wear on us. In fact, for dinner most nights, we took a cab. Much faster. My recommendation is to rent a car.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Some of the Club Level lounges might have the same items for breakfast and during the afternoon. However the items from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM are specifc to the resort you are staying at. For example at the Boardwalk Inn a lot of the food during that time comes from Kouzzina which is also located there and you won't find them at any other Club Level lounge.

This is about what I'd say based on my experience too. It's important to note that Disney makes changes periodically, so experiences vary over time.

I've stayed at CR several times, and within that one resort I've seen change: they added oatmeal (complete with various mix-ins) and a soft-drink cooler. Those two small changes amount to a considerable plus. All resorts have a latte machine- but the kind of machine they have differs. Some are better than others.

There are some differences in what they offer in the am and afternoon from resort to resort and day to day, but they are minor in my opinion: BC had Mickey shaped sugar cookies, whereas others had round chocolate chip cookies. They all have am: yogurt, fruit (some variety, but also all have bananas, Sunkist oranges, delicious apples), pastries, toast. The pastries may be muffins, croissants, bread, etc.

One day they have iced tea, the next cranberry juice, the next lemonade. One resort may offer lemonade more than another - that sort of thing.

The evening offerings also provide similar differences and continuity. I think every resort has cheese/cracker plates. They all have some kind of chip/cracker - but maybe different kind of crackers.

Most hot offerings are along the lines of classic finger food appetizers: mini-pizzas, mini-fritters, vaguely meaty philo-dough dumplings/wontons (maybe duck, maybe shrimp, maybe prok filling) (maybe baked maybe fried) I've not seen those kind of appetizers offered at any restaurants. Looking at the BC/YC menus- for example - I don't see bacon wrapped scallops anywhere or duck egg rolls: both foods we had in the lounge, but maybe I just haven't seen them.

A few offerings are vaguely tied tothe theme ofthe resort: Poly was heavy on meat skewers, but I've also seen them a few other places, and they aren't quite the same as the skewered meat in 'Ohana. BWK had an olive themed salad (Olives and artichoke hearts if I recall correctly), AKL has the squash soup from Boma. I think those kind of offerings are remnants that harken back to earlier days when the offerings were more closely related to each resort -but my club experiences don't go that far back.

One type of offering that is related to each individual resort is the kind of beer and wine they offer - with some overlap. AKL has the Safari beer and African wines. BC had Sam Adams and Cali wines. I think the cordials are all similar, but I don't recall for certain.

 

[nemofans]

We were in the third pod on the Zebra trail; right past the elevators. From our perspective this was a prime location. We could take the Zebra trail elevators to the Mara and down to the lobby to catch the busses. We weren't a very far walk to the main elevators to get up to the 6th floor lounge. I suppose in an ideal world, the lounge would be right on your floor but truthfully, we didn't find the schlep up there to be an issue. It certainly didn't keep us from enjoying the lounge.

Knowing you're going to be on the 4th floor, you should look at the resort map and think about where you want to be. We wanted to be on the bus side of the resort and we didn't want to be too close to the lobby b/c we wanted to be more in the middle of the savannah. However, we didn't want to be too far out. The pod we were put in was about perfect for us.

I agree you should let IPO know if you have any room requests. It also helps to check in early so that if you don't like where they're going to put you, you have some chance at getting a better location.

We really liked the lounge and club level CMs. It's not the Ritz Carlton, or even a Hyatt, but the food offerings were plentiful and the CMs were very friendly.

My one caution regards the busses. Not that AKL is any worse than any place else; Disney Transportation is what it is. But after two trips at the CR when getting to MK and Epcot was pretty easy, we found the wait on the busses to get any place a real drag. The first few days we were still Drunk on Disney and didn't care. But after a few days, it started to wear on us. In fact, for dinner most nights, we took a cab. Much faster. My recommendation is to rent a car.

Ok. I did request to be near those elevators on Zebra Trail hoping to be put in the 2nd or 3rd pod section. We were in the 2nd pod section on Zebra Trail on the 3rd floor for our other AKL stay & it was the perfect location: close to lobby & next to elevator for pool & Mara.
I will make sure to also let the IPO know of our request as well.

 

[RachelTori]

Is this true? They keep CL guests in the 1st section & not further down the hall?

OK -- after 6 AKL-CL stays in the past several years, I thought they were all in the 1st pod off the lobby. Being the list-keeper I am I checked and 5 of those stays were in the 1st pod off the lobby (4 on Kudu; 1 on Zebra), but this past August, we were in room 4301 - the first room in the 3rd pod (Kudu) and it was one of our favorites! (we've also stayed non-CL at AKL many times )

 

[ppony]

So CL rooms at AKL are not on the same floor as the lounge? Interesting. We're staying there just for a night in April, so it's not a big deal, but I wonder if that gets to be annoying during a longer stay.

It did for us, BIG TIME. But that was prior to them renovating for DVC and moving the CL rooms closer to the lobby. We were waaaaaaay down the hall once and it was a royal pain to go to the lounge and back to the room so once you went to the lounge you were either going to stay for a bit (which was not fun in itself when it was packed) or leave the building, there was no back and forth. HATED that. But as I said, it was prior to them changing things up. We're doing a DVC CL stay in Oct. so I'll be interested to see if our feelings change on it. We hadn't planned to stay AKV CL again after our first experience w/ it, but we scored the hard to get ressies at 11 months out exactly, so we'll give it a shot.

 

[tiggrbaby]

So CL rooms at AKL are not on the same floor as the lounge? Interesting. We're staying there just for a night in April, so it's not a big deal, but I wonder if that gets to be annoying during a longer stay.

We stayed 4 nights with someone who had mobility issues. They put us in 4407 (1st room on Zebra Trail) and although it was not the same floor, it wasn't unbearable.

 

[nemofans]

Do the elevators betw the 2nd & 3rd pods go up to the 6th floor? Just wondering which way would be the easiest to get to the lounge at AKL.

 

[RachelTori]

Do the elevators betw the 2nd & 3rd pods go up to the 6th floor? Just wondering which way would be the easiest to get to the lounge at AKL.

No, the only elevators that go to 6th floor are the lobby elevators, which are around the corner from Zawadi gift shop. The 6th floor is only around the perimeter of the lobby; the 5th floor is the top floor on the trails.

 

[hstrickland]

Y'all are awesome with the info on AKL!!! RachelTori, the map is great! Now I understand what you mean about pods, Kudu Trail, etc. ZZUB, your location on the Zebra Trail does look perfect!! I'm thinking this might be good for us...it appears to be an elevator ride away from the pool, or close to it anyway. I'm thinking the 2nd or 3rd pod will be the best. By the way, ZZUB...I really like the verse in your signature...one of my favorites! Thanks again, everyone, for the info. I'm sure I'll have more questions before our trip

Hi Pas & Dani! Nice to "see" you over here