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

[mickeynut1]

Thanks to everyone who gave advice for this trip - esp CRRF4L, WDWKOOK and mickeynut1. I thought I would let you know everything turned out wonderfully. I will try to limit my comments to Club Level related things.

So thanks to everyone's advice we had a wonderful trip. I was happy to have made use of the concierge services which I normally don't do as I book my own ADR's. Having an actual person to talk to really does make a great difference when you are changing your plans around, etc.

I will post some photos following.

Glad you had a great stay at both resorts . I love your BWI pics.....your balcony was huge!!!! We are taking our first Disney cruise next summer and we will be staying at a Disney resort before and after, but I'm having a hard time trying to decide between GF and BWI CL prior to the cruise . I have always wanted to try the BWI, but have a hard time being away from the MK area as it's our favorite. But from reading your review and seeing all your great pics, I can see I'm going to have a hard time deciding. My DSs have already chosen the Poly for after the cruise, otherwise it would be easy for me .

The way I figured it out is like this. Their non Club Level rooms have blue doors, however their Club Level rooms have white doors and that's how you can tell them apart if you are not staying in a room past the Innkeeper's Club Level door.

This is interesting. Thanks for that info .

 

[nascargirl]

We love 4261 so much that we had that room last May and this past January. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we get that same room in a few weeks.

 

[padawans]

Glad you had a great stay at both resorts . I love your BWI pics.....your balcony was huge!!!! We are taking our first Disney cruise next summer and we will be staying at a Disney resort before and after, but I'm having a hard time trying to decide between GF and BWI CL prior to the cruise . I have always wanted to try the BWI, but have a hard time being away from the MK area as it's our favorite. But from reading your review and seeing all your great pics, I can see I'm going to have a hard time deciding. My DSs have already chosen the Poly for after the cruise, otherwise it would be easy for me .



This is interesting. Thanks for that info .

We are taking a similar vacation next year. I haven't decided when yet. Most likely May or October. We did it last October. We stayed at BW before Cruise and BC after. The 4 day cruise is perfect to combine with a trip to WDW. If you haven't been on the Dream yet your in for a real treat. I think we will do the Poly before the cruise, and one of the epcot resorts after. I would give BW a try I think you will like it.

 

[pas130]

turningleaf Wonderful pictures. I am glad you had such a nice vacation.

 

[mickeynut1]

We are taking a similar vacation next year. I haven't decided when yet. Most likely May or October. We did it last October. We stayed at BW before Cruise and BC after. The 4 day cruise is perfect to combine with a trip to WDW. If you haven't been on the Dream yet your in for a real treat. I think we will do the Poly before the cruise, and one of the epcot resorts after. I would give BW a try I think you will like it.

Those are 2 great months to go. I agree that it's the best of both worlds to do a Disney cruise and combine it with WDW . Our cruise is 3 nights and leaves on Thursday, but I haven't decided if we should fly out Monday and stay 3 nights prior or wait until Tuesday and only do 2 nights before. I told my DSs they could each pick a resort and wouldn't ya know they both chose the Poly . As much as I love the Poly, I don't want to stay there before and after.....I kind of want to try something different for at least one of the stays. Of course it would have been alot easier for me had each DS picked a different resort, but now I'm stuck trying to decide for myself . I decided to do the Poly after the cruise and have been trying to decide between the GF and BWI for the beginning. I have had my eye on BWI, so I'm leaning toward that so we could be near Epcot at the beginning of the trip and then end by the MK. Thanks for your opinion on the Dream. I am SO excited . I have read so many awesome things about it and looking at all the great pics on the DCL site makes it hard to wait until next June.

 

[WDWKOOK]

WDWKOOK- Well, our PIN code was for 20% off I think. At least that's what it seems like to me. It looks like we would save about the same w/free dining. If I had a higher discount, then I wouldn't think twice about free dining. I am trying to figure if we'll eat enough to save more than the discount we have now. I have a 7 yr old & 3.5 yr old too who are not big eaters. To be honest, I am hoping a higher discount is offered for fall instead of free dining.

Just compare the room's rack rate amount to what you're paying to see what you're actually saving. Then, price-out a typical days' meals/snacks/drinks that you would pay for OOP for your family. Compare that total amount with the DDP cost for one day for your family. This will help you to determine whether the DDP is good for your family AND if it's more advantageous than a room discount.

Thanks to everyone who gave advice for this trip - esp CRRF4L, WDWKOOK and mickeynut1. I thought I would let you know everything turned out wonderfully. I will try to limit my comments to Club Level related things.

GF
We arrived on schedule at GF - we got a plain white parking pass and someone greeted us at the front door. Our room was not yet ready, but our CM asked us if we wanted to checkout the SL building anyway. We declined and decided to just check in at the GF lobby, it was nice to be sitting down on the sofa and listening to the piano music while checking in. So we did not get the golf cart ride. My folder contained all the events I had booked at GF, even though I booked them through the BWI IPO (As you know I switched to GF very soon before leaving so I was never able to contact them except to give my arrival time.) We decided to head to MK right away and as soon as we got on the monorail I received the text that our room was ready, so that was nice to know.

Quick question - what is the wonderful scent in the GF lobby?

Btw, At MK, it was One More Disney Day at MK and although the crowd calendar said "2", I expected it to be busy but we must have hit the afternoon lull - we walked onto Buzz Lightyear.

On our return to SL we met Janice, the wonderful CM at SL. We got room number 6421, which was on the 4th Fl but not too far from the elevators, just off the main "courtyard" rooms . It was quiet and facing the lagoon. No audible noise in spite of being beside the Ice Machine Room. I guess no one needed to use it, being at Club Level and all As WDWKOOK said, the construction doesn't affect SL at all.

From then on we only used the boat to go to MK. On our first morning the boat was empty and did not go on to Poly as usual. Instead the driver took us directly to MK so I felt like we had our own private water taxi. DH was amazed. We always managed to catch the boat right on time upon leaving MK as well. Couldn't have asked for better timing!

My DD's ADR's worked perfectly. We returned via boat from MK to do the Wonderland Tea Party, after which went swimming. Loved the waterfall and slide. Following morning did the Pirate Adventure cruise which is right outside SL building on the dock side. We could see the pirate boat from our room. This was amazing as I didn't even know this was going to happen. So we picked her up after the cruise at 11am, and she was able to have a quick snack and drink at SL on our way to the car. So glad we decided to switch to GF for this trip!

We also used the Disney luggage service for the first time. So we didn't have to load our bags into the car. We called for the bellman at 10am, he gave us a ticket and we collected our luggage at BWI after returning from HS. It was so easy.

On our last day at GF, March 2, the monorail interruptions started. A CM at the gentlemen's wear store first mentioned it to us and said it would be until the end of March. We were glad to be moving to BWI that day!

I have to say we really liked the SL lounge and their CM's. For some reason on this trip I needed more help than usual with my reservations. I had to cancel Narcoosee's last minute and change to Citrico's, and they did everything a few hours before, including changing my Mouseketeers Club reservations. Thank you Janice and Grace. Yes the lounge was quite busy. A lot of families with young children taking advantage of the snacks, but all well behaved. The food and refreshments were always plentiful and varied, constantly replenished, and the tables were always cleared right away. So in fact we never did have to wait around for a table even at peak times. One thing I noticed is that they are not too strict here about the serving times. For the evening snacks, I noticed they kept the food out up to 20 minutes or so past 7pm as long as there were people coming in and eating.

I did visit the RPC lounge. CM's were all lovely here as well. It is a more private lounge feel and quieter as well. There wasn't as much seating as I had imagined though, but I guess there is seating on other floors too? Does it ever get busy here? I hadn't realized that GF 3rd, 4th and 5th floor are all CL? Do they have regular rooms in the main building, and if so, I can't see where they would be located.

In general we felt GF lives up to its flagship reputation. We will definitely return! (if we can still afford it!)

BWI
I won't comment much on BWI since we have been there before and love it. We always love coming back here. We arrived at noon, got our yellow parking pass and were brought upstairs to check in. We got 4261 (yes it was confusingly similar to our other room). I remembered that someone had gotten this room before and although DH was not too pleased at being outside of the Innkeepers Club door, we were very happy with our balcony. I think it may be the biggest balcony facing the Boardwalk! I had requested a full balcony near the elevator, and thinking about it, that's exactly what I got. We just marveled at the view from our balcony. (Now I think I got a room last year which was two doors down, really facing the courtyard but still with a boardwalk view. And it was not CL.)

Do you know how many such CL rooms there are outside the club door? We normally like the restricted access, but I noticed that quite a few people seemed to be coming from outside the Innkeepers Club, so I'm wondering exactly how many rooms are outside.

My only comment about this room is that at night there is an audible humming sound which I think is the Flying Fish AC. It didn't bother DH at all but I could def hear it. I think it may be more noticeable if you're used to a very quiet sleeping environment. But really it's only noticeable once all the boardwalk noise dies down and since you're on the Boardwalk some noise is inevitable.

The lounge was immaculate as usual, and quite empty. The CM's said they would be very busy in the coming week (this week). Even the breakfast rush did not fill it up completely. At night, we did have dinner reservations and didn't see how busy it got after 6pm. But it was pretty empty at dessert time and only really got busy near the fireworks. Not very busy, just 2 other families aside from us.

For all meals, SL had more to offer, but we were happy with the new menu at BWI. They still had the apple and caramel dippers which my DD loves. I don't think I noticed a major change except I didn't see the garlic spread, and there are more salads type food. For breakfast, although SL has a bigger variety, I prefer the hardboiled eggs at Innkeepers Club to the breakfast meats at SL. I just thing eggs are more of a breakfast food. But BWI did not have toast, only bagels and croissants. This is aside from the usual danish and muffins.

Comparing the two lounges, SL is definitely busier and BWI more intimate. But both sets of CM's are great and very friendly. I think that BWI the other guests are more likely to chat and be cordial bec of the quieter atmosphere.


So thanks to everyone's advice we had a wonderful trip. I was happy to have made use of the concierge services which I normally don't do as I book my own ADR's. Having an actual person to talk to really does make a great difference when you are changing your plans around, etc.

I will post some photos following.

LOVED reading your review of BWI and GF, turningleaf and thank you for posting photos as well. The photos of the Innkeeper's Club got me especially excited since we'll be there in a few weeks.

Have you made plans for a future visit? Where might you be staying?

Besides #4261 there are two other Club Level rooms located outside of the restricted hallway and those are actually next to the room you had in that little space, so it's only a grand total of 3 rooms.

The way I figured it out is like this. Their non Club Level rooms have blue doors, however their Club Level rooms have white doors and that's how you can tell them apart if you are not staying in a room past the Innkeeper's Club Level door.

There are also 5 Deluxe rooms that aren't on the CL. Maybe all those other guests turningleaf saw were coming from there or there are 14 cottages they could have been coming from, too.

We love 4261 so much that we had that room last May and this past January. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we get that same room in a few weeks.

I'll be there in a few weeks, too. Don't worry, I didn't ask for room 4261

 

[padawans]

Those are 2 great months to go. I agree that it's the best of both worlds to do a Disney cruise and combine it with WDW . Our cruise is 3 nights and leaves on Thursday, but I haven't decided if we should fly out Monday and stay 3 nights prior or wait until Tuesday and only do 2 nights before. I told my DSs they could each pick a resort and wouldn't ya know they both chose the Poly . As much as I love the Poly, I don't want to stay there before and after.....I kind of want to try something different for at least one of the stays. Of course it would have been alot easier for me had each DS picked a different resort, but now I'm stuck trying to decide for myself . I decided to do the Poly after the cruise and have been trying to decide between the GF and BWI for the beginning. I have had my eye on BWI, so I'm leaning toward that so we could be near Epcot at the beginning of the trip and then end by the MK. Thanks for your opinion on the Dream. I am SO excited . I have read so many awesome things about it and looking at all the great pics on the DCL site makes it hard to wait until next June.

I would do 3 nights before the cruise....when it comes to vacations the longer the better

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

This is interesting. Thanks for that info .

You're welcome.

Although the more I think of that I realized that's only for their rooms on the 4th floor. I can't remember if the doors for the Deluxe Rooms on the 3rd floor was white like the ones located on the 4th floor.

There are also 5 Deluxe rooms that aren't on the CL. Maybe all those other guests turningleaf saw were coming from there or there are 14 cottages they could have been coming from, too.

I never thought of that fact, so good point.

 

[mickeynut1]

I would do 3 nights before the cruise....when it comes to vacations the longer the better

You make a very good point.....I like your way of thinking . Hopefully the 2013 rates will come out early like the 2012 rates did last year .

Although the more I think of that I realized that's only for their rooms on the 4th floor. I can't remember if the doors for the Deluxe Rooms on the 3rd floor was white like the ones located on the 4th floor.

Are all the deluxe rooms on the same floor? And aren't there only 10 of them or something like that?

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Are all the deluxe rooms on the same floor? And aren't there only 10 of them or something like that?

The Deluxe Rooms are located on both the 3rd and 4th floors.

Also yes they only have a total of 10 Deluxe Rooms.

 

[mickeynut1]

The Deluxe Rooms are located on both the 3rd and 4th floors.

Also yes they only have a total of 10 Deluxe Rooms.

Thank you . I thought I remembered reading there were only so many of them. A deluxe room costs a little more than a standard CL room, but the difference isn't that much to make me go with just a standard. Plus, although there's only 4 of us (with 2 teens), it would be great to have that extra space . Do you know how much bigger the deluxe rooms are vs the standard rooms?

 

[WDWKOOK]

Thank you . I thought I remembered reading there were only so many of them. A deluxe room costs a little more than a standard CL room, but the difference isn't that much to make me go with just a standard. Plus, although there's only 4 of us (with 2 teens), it would be great to have that extra space . Do you know how much bigger the deluxe rooms are vs the standard rooms?

The BWI Deluxe rooms are 644 SF and the regular rooms are 434 SF. (I got that from the first page of my thread)

 

[mickeynut1]

The BWI Deluxe rooms are 644 SF and the regular rooms are 434 SF. (I got that from the first page of my thread)

Hey there ....thanks for the info. I guess it would have helped to look at the first page......I didn't even think to look there .

 

[WDWKOOK]

Hey there ....thanks for the info. I guess it would have helped to look at the first page......I didn't even think to look there .

No problem at all. I just couldn't remember off the top of my head, so off to the thread I went. I would absolutely book the Deluxe room if I were you, as long as you don't mind a BW view and the 50% possibility of not being on the CL floor.

 

[mickeynut1]

No problem at all. I just couldn't remember off the top of my head, so off to the thread I went. I would absolutely book the Deluxe room if I were you, as long as you don't mind a BW view and the 50% possibility of not being on the CL floor.

I am thinking a BW view would be nice, although I'm not sure how I would like not being on the CL floor, so I guess I would have to decide what was more important to me.....the extra space or being sure we would be on the CL floor. All of the BWI rooms look awesome, but a deluxe room would be great with all of that extra space . I am really leaning toward BWI CL over GF RPC since I have been wanting to try the BWI, but also because it is quite a bit cheaper than the GF. Going on 2012 rates, a BWI regular CL room is $280/nt cheaper and a deluxe CL room is $150/nt cheaper than GF RPC, which is a huge difference . So that will play a part in my decision, especially if there are no discounts to be had in June 2013 .

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thank you . I thought I remembered reading there were only so many of them. A deluxe room costs a little more than a standard CL room, but the difference isn't that much to make me go with just a standard. Plus, although there's only 4 of us (with 2 teens), it would be great to have that extra space . Do you know how much bigger the deluxe rooms are vs the standard rooms?

For our dates in August 2012 with the 35% Bounceback rate we got, a Deluxe Room with all the taxes and etc being included was $1700 more compared to the Standard Club Level Room.

So that's why we went with the Standard Club Level Room, however at least we know in advance that we are getting a room on the 4th floor and will be closer to the lounge. Now if we get the Boardwalk view that's great, if we don't then that's not a problem. Plus we have stayed two previous times in a Standard Club Level Room (December 2010 & December 2011) so we know what it's like.

Now I also enjoyed the two times we stayed in a Deluxe Room. (August 2010 & August/September 2011.) Plus both times our room happened to be over the Boardwalk Bakery and for your reference in August 2010 it was room #3229, then in August/September 2011 it was room #4225. Finally another great perk was having the 2nd TV in our room.

 

[mickeynut1]

For our dates in August 2012 with the 35% Bounceback rate we got, a Deluxe Room with all the taxes and etc being included was $1700 more compared to the Standard Club Level Room.

So that's why we went with the Standard Club Level Room, however at least we know in advance that we are getting a room on the 4th floor and will be closer to the lounge. Now if we get the Boardwalk view that's great, if we don't then that's not a problem. Plus we have stayed two previous times in a Standard Club Level Room (December 2010 & December 2011) so we know what it's like.

Now I also enjoyed the two times we stayed in a Deluxe Room. (August 2010 & August/September 2011.) Plus both times our room happened to be over the Boardwalk Bakery and for your reference in August 2010 it was room #3229, then in August/September 2011 it was room #4225. Finally another great perk was having the 2nd TV in our room.

Thanks for your input . We are only looking at 2 or 3 nights prior to a cruise, so the difference isn't huge between regular CL and deluxe CL. But I can see how it would be quite a bigger difference over the course of a week or better like you have shown. Knowing that we will be on the CL floor would be nice, but those deluxe rooms look so nice that it is very tempting. We don't watch much tv on vacation, but knowing there is an extra one like you stated, as well as the extra sitting space, that is what's making me consider the deluxe room. We do fine in a regular room since there's only 4 of us, but it's always nice to have that little bit of extra space to allow everyone to spread out a little more .

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks for your input . We are only looking at 2 or 3 nights prior to a cruise, so the difference isn't huge between regular CL and deluxe CL. But I can see how it would be quite a bigger difference over the course of a week or better like you have shown. Knowing that we will be on the CL floor would be nice, but those deluxe rooms look so nice that it is very tempting. We don't watch much tv on vacation, but knowing there is an extra one like you stated, as well as the extra sitting space, that is what's making me consider the deluxe room. We do fine in a regular room since there's only 4 of us, but it's always nice to have that little bit of extra space to allow everyone to spread out a little more .

Our exact dates is from 08/09/12 - 08/23/12 so that's where the difference comes in between both room categories based on the amount of days we planned.

However if you are planning on staying 2 or 3 nights then I can see why your decision is a tough one to have, although it's something a lot of us would like to be thinking over.

Now if this helps the main reason the main reason we tried the Deluxe Room the 1st time is because I wanted to get the guaranteed Boardwalk view. Plus in August 2010 it was only a 4 night stay and our 1st time doing a split stay after having just stayed at the Contemporary. So for the amount of days we were scheduled to stay there we didn't care if we ended up on the 3rd floor or 4th floor.

Although one thing I forgot to mention with their Deluxe Rooms is that the ones on the 3rd floor have bigger balconies compared to the Deluxe Rooms located on the 4th floor. So I guess now I have given you something else to consider when making your decision.

 

[ChrisParker]

We have a room booked in Concierge at the Poly in August for our Honeymoon . I've always wanted to stay in Concierge and I thought what better time!

We didn't get the Dining Plan b/c I want to have a relaxed time and thought we could graze in the lounge and have a few special meals out. Then I looked up having the Deluxe Dining and a regular room and it actually worked out cheaper...my gut says to stay with Concierge but I'm curious from those who have done it - what are the perks? What makes the concierge experience better? What are the unwritten fun bits?

Looking forward to hearing your ideas...

 

[lovemickeyshouse]

Chris free beer and very select liquor and free soda and water with finger foods.