Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[TigrLvsPooh]

Could you please add us to YC CL 5/22-5/26/18?

got you added

 

[Spintopbeach]

Could you please add us to boardwalk club October 20-25? Excited!

 

[GoGoBeans]

I'm sad to say that I'm back from my weekend WDW visit - two nights at BWI CL, one night BC non-CL. We spent the weekend in sunny, 85-degree weather, and I'm wishing we would've stayed for the week! At home we're experiencing our fourth nor'easter in a month, and today we've had hail, rain, sleet, and now snow - and it's a crisp 30 degrees.

We arrived at BWI on Friday evening around 7:30pm. We had checked in online but still hadn't received a "room ready" text by the time we arrived, so I went to the registration desk in the main lobby and we received the standard "okay, well here's your balance, here's a map, here's a times guide" spiel and were told where to find the elevators to get to our floor - no acknowledgement that we were CL guests. I don't need special treatment, but this was just the total opposite of our experience at the Poly and the YC in December, when - once we told the CMs we were checking in as CL guests - we were escorted to the CL building (at Poly) and CL floor (at YC) and checked in there. Perhaps they don't do this at BWI because of the small desk area upstairs?

We booked a standard view and ended up in Room 4254, just inside the door and overlooking a courtyard. We dropped our bags off in the room and walked down to the lounge. It was between services but we were hoping to get some drinks before heading out for dinner. We sat in the lounge for 15 minutes without seeing a single CM before we decided to leave. Not a great first impression. We were in Epcot until after 10 that evening, so we didn't return to the lounge that night.

On Saturday morning, I walked down to the lounge to grab cereal for my DD and I asked for a mimosa. I was told, "Sorry, we don't have the liquor for those." I wasn't sure what liquor the CM might have meant, so I asked if they were out of sparkling wine. She said yes, and her fellow CM commented that I could probably run out to the store to find some and then use the OJ in the CL lounge fridge to make one. I was not amused. We went to AK in the morning and returned to the lounge in the afternoon to grab some snacks and drinks to take down to the pool. I asked which wines they had available and was told they only had whites (I'm a red gal, myself). I asked for a Bud Light for my DH and was told that they were out, but they might have more in a few hours. This lounge was seriously striking out with me after the excellent service and amenities I've received at other WDW CLs. On the way down to the pool, we did stop at the CL CM desk to ask for help making a reservation for our DD at the Sandcastle Club for that evening. I didn't get the CM's name, but she was very friendly and was able to make the reservation for us in less than five minutes. Finally, a positive!

My DH and I returned for evening apps on Saturday after dropping our DD off at the Sandcastle Club for the evening. Redgie and his dishes were seriously the highlights of our BWI CL experience. That evening he made beef tenderloin with fingerling potatoes, and sauteed fish (cod, maybe?) with veggies. Both were delicious - between those and the other items (charcuterie, crudites, bread with fondue, and soup - that night it was New England Clam Chowder), we didn't need a separate dinner. My DH and I chatted with Redgie for a bit and he told us that we definitely needed to come to the lounge for the omelette station the next morning. After that, we headed to Jellyrolls for some St. Patty's Day fun before picking up our DD from the Sandcastle Club. I'll mention here that she had a blast! So much so that she requested to go back Sunday evening (and of course we obliged so that we could have another "date night," haha)! They made volcanoes as a science experiment and had a pirate party where they got to meet Captain Hook and Smee. On Sunday, they had a luau and had a visit from Chip and Dale.

Sunday morning I was pleased with the lounge offerings. There were several add-in options for the omelettes, plus there was finally champagne for mimosas! After breakfast, we moved our bags over to BC (our room was ready by 8:00am!) and then headed over to MK for the morning. We had lunch at Epcot and then went back to BC to spend the afternoon at SAB. After getting cleaned up, we dropped our DD off at the Sandcastle Club again and headed to the BWI CL lounge for evening apps. Redgie recognized us immediately and asked what we thought of the omelettes that morning. His offerings that night were steamed mussels with couscous and pork belly with apple slaw. There was also a delicious lobster bisque. My DH really enjoys cooking and ended up chatting with Redgie about that for a while. The lounge was pretty slow, so Redgie offered to give my DH a demo of how he was cooking the mussels. At the end of that service, he made us a custom dish that combined the pork belly with couscous - it was delicious, and after everything else we could barely finish it! I can honestly say that, if it hadn't been for Redgie, I wouldn't consider going back to BWI CL. I saw @GADisneyDad14 make a comment earlier about how one shift can make the difference between a good and bad CL experience, and that was absolutely true for me at BWI. The resort itself was great - our room was clean and comfortable, and the proximity to Epcot was really convenient - but I didn't feel that we got the same perceived value for the CL price that I have from other resorts. WDW happened to send me a survey about our resort stay on Monday morning, and I told them the exact same thing.

My DH liked being within walking distance of Epcot and we briefly discussed trying BC CL next, but he's set on returning to Poly CL for our next stay - so we booked a bounceback for June, after DD's school year ends.

I'll try to add a few photos when I get some time to reduce the size of the ones I took on my phone!

Aw, sorry BWI was less than fabulous. That’s blasphemy on them running out of sparkling wine! I’m totally with you on the reds.

Nice date nights and connection with Redgie. Glad things turned around.

Woohoo for the bounce back!

 

[trishadono]

@Disneytam @DisneyFansInNYC Just saw you both mention stays at BWI. Can you help me with a Boardwalk question please? Do you know how late entertainment (jugglers, comedians, etc) stays out on the Boardwalk on Friday and Saturday nights? Thinking of walking over from BC for a late night stroll one evening. TIA

Dd and I like to wonder after parks close. Don't forget to check out the Swan & Dolphin.

The lobbies are a bit different compared to the other disney resorts and they have fun shops too.

Also checking out the honeymoon cottages behind the bwi are pretty at night as well. Really all resort areas are accessible expect for main pools and cl areas for the most part.

I had a bwi water view recently and I sat on my balcony watching the families watch the entertainers. However I think I was in the room prior to 11p so not sure how late.

 

[yaya74]

Question about watching fireworks and electrical water pageant from Poly's CL lounge:
Would the lounge change the closing time so people can see these shows from the lounge?
I will be going in the summer when park closes later. I think the MK fireworks will be held after 9pm and water pageant around 10:30pm like what it is currently scheduled. I read somewhere that the lounge closes at 10pm.. then does that mean I won't be able to see the pageant from the lounge???

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Question about watching fireworks and electrical water pageant from Poly's CL lounge:
Would the lounge change the closing time so people can see these shows from the lounge?
I will be going in the summer when park closes later. I think the MK fireworks will be held after 9pm and water pageant around 10:30pm like what it is currently scheduled. I read somewhere that the lounge closes at 10pm.. then does that mean I won't be able to see the pageant from the lounge???

Last summer, HEA was at 9pm every night of the summer. The EWP stops at Poly at 9PM - when it conflicts with HEA they 'usually' do it at 8:50pm, despite what any park calendar says. EWP stops at the MK at 10:35pm, not Poly.

For this summer, at the moment HEA is on the park calendar for 9:15pm every night starting 5/20 through 8/18.

So, lounge conflicts shouldn't be a problem for you.

But FWIW, back in the Wishes era when it would often be at 10pm, the lounge would still be open but service does end at 10pm. The Poly lounge itself is open 24/7, but CMs start wrapping things up / cleaning up / putting food away at 10pm.

Hope that helps!

 

[yaya74]

Last summer, HEA was at 9pm every night of the summer. The EWP stops at Poly at 9PM - when it conflicts with HEA they 'usually' do it at 8:50pm, despite what any park calendar says. EWP stops at the MK at 10:35pm, not Poly.

For this summer, at the moment HEA is on the park calendar for 9:15pm every night starting 5/20 through 8/18.

So, lounge conflicts shouldn't be a problem for you.

But FWIW, back in the Wishes era when it would often be at 10pm, the lounge would still be open but service does end at 10pm. The Poly lounge itself is open 24/7, but CMs start wrapping things up / cleaning up / putting food away at 10pm.

Hope that helps!

Thank you @GADisneyDad14 for answering my question!!

 

[erigby]

The answer depends on how important “food” is to your traveling group. If most of you are foodies, then DDP would be a better choice. CL is not about food. It’s more about having concierge service. If you are in the park all day and rarely stay at resort, CL might not be a good choice for you. Hope it helps.

it did thanks! I already have all of our dining reservations booked & I'm good about park planning so I guess I wouldn't really even use the concierge service. DDP it is! Thanks again!

 

[GreyStr0ke]

Hey @GreyStr0ke - the AKL CL photos you posted yesterday were AWESOME, but today it looks like Photobucket has their hand out wanting you to pay up for web hosting. Not sure if you have another way to upload your pics, just wanted you to know in case you didn’t notice. Those were some of the best AKL lounge pics I’ve seen in awhile.

Sorry about that. I hadn't used PhotoBucket in ages, so was not aware of their limiting. I've edited the post now and all should be good.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...-and-questions.3414590/page-764#post-58969899

 

[JennLTX]

On it!

Thanks muchly!!!! I know it's a heck of a lot to keep up with!!!

 

[mickeynut1]

@trishadono
@jods
@mickeynut1

Lol now I think I want to go to the party. Decisions, decisions I didn't think about going at 4pm then breaking, then going back to party for the night. Thanks for your input. I love the CL thread- everyone so helpful and friendly. Makes me keep wanting to do CL after this year. I guess I will have to find a way to make it work so I can keep participating on this thread.

You're welcome! Good luck deciding on the party and happy planning .

My TA just upgraded me from BWI CL to Poly CL with the summer discount!!!! Bad news is I have to pay the new ticket price so I am paying the same as before overall. But I believe Poly is a huge upgrade from BWI, right???!!! My DH and I stayed at Poly during our honeymoon 16 years ago.. Looking forward to return with our kids

when was the last refurb at Poly??

Hope you have a great trip .

I love the “vibe” during a party. It’s fun... the CMs are happy... the music is great.... the lighting is different...the people watching is outstanding. People come up with the craziest costumes. Experiencing “something different” at the MK has a lot of appeal for us.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

Thank you. Just want to mention how much I've enjoyed watching your videos. They're so much fun to watch, especially when I need a Disney fix!

That is so nice of you to say. I have to agree - when I need a Disney fix I watch other people's videos as well as ours. Enjoy the BC!

 

[trishadono]

I'm sad to say that I'm back from my weekend WDW visit - two nights at BWI CL, one night BC non-CL. We spent the weekend in sunny, 85-degree weather, and I'm wishing we would've stayed for the week! At home we're experiencing our fourth nor'easter in a month, and today we've had hail, rain, sleet, and now snow - and it's a crisp 30 degrees.

We arrived at BWI on Friday evening around 7:30pm. We had checked in online but still hadn't received a "room ready" text by the time we arrived, so I went to the registration desk in the main lobby and we received the standard "okay, well here's your balance, here's a map, here's a times guide" spiel and were told where to find the elevators to get to our floor - no acknowledgement that we were CL guests. I don't need special treatment, but this was just the total opposite of our experience at the Poly and the YC in December, when - once we told the CMs we were checking in as CL guests - we were escorted to the CL building (at Poly) and CL floor (at YC) and checked in there. Perhaps they don't do this at BWI because of the small desk area upstairs?

We booked a standard view and ended up in Room 4254, just inside the door and overlooking a courtyard. We dropped our bags off in the room and walked down to the lounge. It was between services but we were hoping to get some drinks before heading out for dinner. We sat in the lounge for 15 minutes without seeing a single CM before we decided to leave. Not a great first impression. We were in Epcot until after 10 that evening, so we didn't return to the lounge that night.

On Saturday morning, I walked down to the lounge to grab cereal for my DD and I asked for a mimosa. I was told, "Sorry, we don't have the liquor for those." I wasn't sure what liquor the CM might have meant, so I asked if they were out of sparkling wine. She said yes, and her fellow CM commented that I could probably run out to the store to find some and then use the OJ in the CL lounge fridge to make one. I was not amused. We went to AK in the morning and returned to the lounge in the afternoon to grab some snacks and drinks to take down to the pool. I asked which wines they had available and was told they only had whites (I'm a red gal, myself). I asked for a Bud Light for my DH and was told that they were out, but they might have more in a few hours. This lounge was seriously striking out with me after the excellent service and amenities I've received at other WDW CLs. On the way down to the pool, we did stop at the CL CM desk to ask for help making a reservation for our DD at the Sandcastle Club for that evening. I didn't get the CM's name, but she was very friendly and was able to make the reservation for us in less than five minutes. Finally, a positive!

My DH and I returned for evening apps on Saturday after dropping our DD off at the Sandcastle Club for the evening. Redgie and his dishes were seriously the highlights of our BWI CL experience. That evening he made beef tenderloin with fingerling potatoes, and sauteed fish (cod, maybe?) with veggies. Both were delicious - between those and the other items (charcuterie, crudites, bread with fondue, and soup - that night it was New England Clam Chowder), we didn't need a separate dinner. My DH and I chatted with Redgie for a bit and he told us that we definitely needed to come to the lounge for the omelette station the next morning. After that, we headed to Jellyrolls for some St. Patty's Day fun before picking up our DD from the Sandcastle Club. I'll mention here that she had a blast! So much so that she requested to go back Sunday evening (and of course we obliged so that we could have another "date night," haha)! They made volcanoes as a science experiment and had a pirate party where they got to meet Captain Hook and Smee. On Sunday, they had a luau and had a visit from Chip and Dale.

Sunday morning I was pleased with the lounge offerings. There were several add-in options for the omelettes, plus there was finally champagne for mimosas! After breakfast, we moved our bags over to BC (our room was ready by 8:00am!) and then headed over to MK for the morning. We had lunch at Epcot and then went back to BC to spend the afternoon at SAB. After getting cleaned up, we dropped our DD off at the Sandcastle Club again and headed to the BWI CL lounge for evening apps. Redgie recognized us immediately and asked what we thought of the omelettes that morning. His offerings that night were steamed mussels with couscous and pork belly with apple slaw. There was also a delicious lobster bisque. My DH really enjoys cooking and ended up chatting with Redgie about that for a while. The lounge was pretty slow, so Redgie offered to give my DH a demo of how he was cooking the mussels. At the end of that service, he made us a custom dish that combined the pork belly with couscous - it was delicious, and after everything else we could barely finish it! I can honestly say that, if it hadn't been for Redgie, I wouldn't consider going back to BWI CL. I saw @GADisneyDad14 make a comment earlier about how one shift can make the difference between a good and bad CL experience, and that was absolutely true for me at BWI. The resort itself was great - our room was clean and comfortable, and the proximity to Epcot was really convenient - but I didn't feel that we got the same perceived value for the CL price that I have from other resorts. WDW happened to send me a survey about our resort stay on Monday morning, and I told them the exact same thing.

My DH liked being within walking distance of Epcot and we briefly discussed trying BC CL next, but he's set on returning to Poly CL for our next stay - so we booked a bounceback for June, after DD's school year ends.

I'll try to add a few photos when I get some time to reduce the size of the ones I took on my phone!

Sorry for late response.

I just wanted to say I would have been so annoyed! No sparkling? no beer? Um hello, YOU (CM) should go get some!

That was just so different from my first bwi cl stay just a few months ago . I saw many people with sparkling/mimosa every morning and night. I also got red wine in the afternoon. They did mention they don't have red during the day but someone did fetch it my arrival day.

I understand that there are peaks to being busy and things happen like a sudden storm and everyone piles into the lounge, holidays etc. However they huge price increases the last 2 years they can/should be able to afford to keep the lounge stocked IMO.

Hope your next stay is a good one no matter where you end up

 

[beesly]

First off, Comedy Central has been running The Office re-runs non-stop for the last week or so and my DW has had us watching it every day. Ahh... Pam and Jim.... fun memories.

Second, I’m glad I’m not the only one that had a really crappy check-in experience at BWI lately!

Third, THANK YOU for the detailed review! That food sounds delicious. BWI is definitely tops at the evening app game.
Fourth - like your DH, I am also looking forward to ‘getting back’ to the Poly this summer as well.

Glad you had a mostly good trip.

Thanks for the heads up on The Office! I haven't caught it on TV in a while.

The check-in was disappointing, but I think the evening app service made up for it. I would consider giving BWI CL another try for a longer stay to see how they do over the course of a week or so instead of just a couple of days. Back to the Poly first, though.

Such a small world this is! We had the same room as you did for our early March stay. We also really enjoyed Redgie and had a nice relaxing evening talking with him. I hate to say though the rest of our trip was so unlike yours! I asked for and received a glass full of sparkling wine to make my morning mimosa every morning. Lorenzo brought my husband and I bottles of water every morning after we asked for a bottle the first morning. He just remembered that we asked so he brought us some every morning. When we got stranded due to a snowstorm the CM went out of their way to try to keep me in the room that I had at the BWI and when that wasn't available they got me a room at the YC with a discount. I loved one of the red wines that they were serving and when I mentioned it a CM brought me over the bottle and suggested I take a photo of it so I would remember the name when I got home. I was surprised to see that it is a somewhat pricey wine! Wonderful CM Pete even went looking for hot chocolate for me late one evening because he new I liked to mix it with Irish cream for a late night warm up.

I feel really badly that your BWI CM interaction was not up to snuff. My husband and I have stayed there often over the years so we just go directly up to the fourth floor when we check in. We did have a terrible check in experience the last time we stayed at the GF RPC so I do know how it feels to be treated really poorly at check in! My poor son stayed in the Garden suites at the BWI CL last December and had such a poor check in that he had to call me at home so that I could direct him on how to get to the Garden Cottages sense he asked two separate CM and still hadn't been able to find them. That was an interesting phone call!

Comments like your first paragraph are what made me want to try BWI CL in the first place! I'm glad you had such a great experience there. I really think I just caught a couple of "off" shifts - still disappointing, but I'll give it a second chance sometime. Thanks for the note!

Aw, sorry BWI was less than fabulous. That’s blasphemy on them running out of sparkling wine! I’m totally with you on the reds.

Nice date nights and connection with Redgie. Glad things turned around.

Woohoo for the bounce back!

Thanks! I was quite shocked that BWI ran out of anything. The evening app services definitely turned things around.

Sorry for late response.

I just wanted to say I would have been so annoyed! No sparkling? no beer? Um hello, YOU (CM) should go get some!

That was just so different from my first bwi cl stay just a few months ago . I saw many people with sparkling/mimosa every morning and night. I also got red wine in the afternoon. They did mention they don't have red during the day but someone did fetch it my arrival day.

I understand that there are peaks to being busy and things happen like a sudden storm and everyone piles into the lounge, holidays etc. However they huge price increases the last 2 years they can/should be able to afford to keep the lounge stocked IMO.

Hope your next stay is a good one no matter where you end up

I was quite annoyed! Prior to the evening apps on Saturday, my DH and I were already talking about not returning to BWI in the future, and wishing we'd stayed somewhere else or in a non-CL room. Admittedly, a lot of the "value" we get out of CL comes from the food and especially the beverages in the lounge. With those unavailable, we lost quite a bit of value the first day and a half since we ended up spending money to buy drinks elsewhere. I know I'm starting to repeat myself in saying this, but I do think this would have been less of an issue for me if I'd had a longer stay and more positives to balance out the negatives. But to begin a two-night stay with so many things lacking, it made a pretty negative impression. We still had a great trip, though, and are looking forward to the next.

 

[TxTiggergal]

We just got home late last night from our five night 30th anniversary celebration at AKL club level. I am still in that "this time yesterday, I was sipping wine in the club lounge" mode while I am back to real life today! We had such an amazing time; I have nothing but good things to say about the resort and especially the club level experience. This was our third stay at AKL, so we already knew we loved the resort, but it was our first time to stay club level there.

On arrival day, I got the room ready text as we were arriving at MCO and preparing to board the Magical Express. When we arrived at the resort, I didn't see a dedicated "club level" check in area outside, but I did notice a CM with a tablet in her hand, speaking with someone. I wondered if she was for club level arrivals, but we went on inside and just went to the main desk to see what we needed to do about accessing the club level. We had no sooner started speaking with the desk agent though when the CM from outside came over and apologized for missing us get off the bus. She whisked us upstairs and left us with Sue who thoroughly acquainted us with the lounge and gave us our goodie bags.

Our room was 4321, which was on Kudu Trail. We loved the location and view. The room was configured with two queens and a bunk. Everything was in working order, clean, and in general a great room. I would absolutely stay in that room again. Prior to arrival, I had made no room requests whatsoever. Mousekeeping kept us well stocked in supplies and we had turn down service every night.

We found the club level food offerings to be plenteous and tasty. The food staff replenished items promptly, kept the area tidy, and removed dirty dishes quickly. Equally important, however, they seemed genuinely interested in making sure guests had what they wanted. For instance, they took the initiative to ask us whether or not we had been assisted, was there anything they could get us, etc. And I asked on numerous occasions for extra things such as wine to go, or to have a mimosa made, and all my requests were fulfilled cheerfully. Speaking of mimosas, the ones made with jungle juice were the best! We asked for and received bottled water to take with us multiple times as well. Most times it was Evian but occasionally it was the mini Dasani bottles. There was one afternoon when they were out of jungle juice and bottled water, but other than that isolated afternoon, everything was on hand and available.

We thought the desk CMs were great as well. They greeted us when we came into the lounge area, as well as told us to have a nice evening or whatever when we were leaving. We did require their help with my husband's PIN on his magic band and they resolved it quickly. Again, everyone was very friendly and eager to assist.

One afternoon in the lounge there was a gentlemen from South Africa doing a presentation on the climate in his country. It was very interesting and we were glad we were there to hear it.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents about the AKL club level. We would definitely stay there again!

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

Thanks @TxTiggergal for the report - we are planning to stay there for a couple of days on our next trip - and we have never stayed at the resort before. We love all the food at the AKL so are really looking into staying there. Thanks again.

 

[kayteekt]

50 days out and I'm trying to finalize our schedule.

Want to make sure we take advantage of the food offerings for our BWI CL stay. Does anyone know the times or have a picture of the service times? Want to make sure we enjoy the evening apps at least a couple of nights.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

50 days out and I'm trying to finalize our schedule.

Want to make sure we take advantage of the food offerings for our BWI CL stay. Does anyone know the times or have a picture of the service times? Want to make sure we enjoy the evening apps at least a couple of nights.

Hope this helps!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Unfortunately, I didn't really get to experience it as we were either at a park or had dinner ressies. The timing just didn't work out this trip. I did enjoy the evening cordials though. What's better than cupcakes and Grand Marnier before bedtime? I'm sure the 5pm spread was good though. I hope you enjoy your stay!

Great pics! I couldn't see them before! Yes, fitting it all in can be tough, but it sounds like you had your priorities in the right places, lol! Mimosas to cupcakes and cordials, sounds good to me! Thanks!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

From 1130-3 they have "safari snacks" that's dips, breads and homemade chips, make your own trail mix (spiced nuts, goldfish, dried fruit, yogurt pretzels, etc) and cookies.

Then from 3-430 they have afternoon tea. Scones, homemade granola bars, PB brownies and rice krispie treats.

Excuse my delayed response! We stayed there a couple of years ago but I think we only got to the lounge for breakfast and evening apps, so good to know - thanks! Dips, breads and homemade chips are right up my alley! Did you stay there recently? When we went, they had phased out the "kid-friendly" apps during the evening when they added the chef - we worked around it okay (DS just got some food from the Mara and brought it up), but I was curious how it was now?