Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[Mike&AllisMom]

CRO central reservation office

Thanks! I knew it was probably something obvious

 

[mickeyluv'r]

oops

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Just back from short BC CL stay with a restricted diet guest. Chef Stephanie was super. She went over food on the line, and carefully discussed options. Most of our stay though was at Universal. Some info on US CL's:

Overall, they are slightly different, but roughly equal to WDW in food offerings. The HR food offerings were slightly lesser maybe than WDW's CL's, but the other two offer slightly better offerings, IMO.
HRock: boiled eggs/cold cuts at breakfast, paper cups, appetizer hour has vodka/juice drinks, morning mimosas, CL rooms on 7th floor, lounge 7th floor, key access,near elevators, locked at non food hours, cool HR themed bottled water! Great staff!

Royal Pacific: Excellent food, 4:30-6:30 PM offerings less fancy than some WDW CL's. No latte machine, but decent coffee w/real milk/cream all day. Tazo teas. Beer/wine. (only saw during appetizer hour?). US displays menu for each day. paper cups, bottled water upon request. Lounge staff SUPER! I think lounge locked for non-food hours, but we didn't see. Guest rooms on the 6th/7th floor of tower 3. Lounge on middle of 7th floor.

Portofino: (from 2014) lounge is located in lobby, w/gold key access. Eggs at breakfast, more appetizer-style at appetizer hour. I think beer and wine were included, but cocktails were an extra couple $.

One of the biggest differences, IMO at US is each lounge has slightly different hours than WDW lounges. Nothing before 7am.

Of the three, Portofino is the furthest from the parks, but overall US is far more compact than WDW. It is easy to walk from any US deluxe to the parks. (though I think Cabana Bay is a bit further)

Another option to note- just off US property is a plaza with a great Whole Foods, and several other inexpensive options. WF has extensive hot/cold bar ($9/lb) plus nice seating: soups, salads, BBQ, seafood, pizza, barrista, beer/wine, bakery, custom juice.

 

[pas130]

I am pleased to announce that I have a trip booked. December 12-15, 2015 at BWI Deluxe room CL. It will be me, my MIL, DD10, DD9, DD8, and DS6. It was between WL and BWI, so I hope I made a good choice

 

[rcraw45425]

Just back from short BC CL stay with a restricted diet guest. Chef Stephanie was super. She went over food on the line, and carefully discussed options. Most of our stay though was at Universal. Some info on US CL's:

Overall, they are slightly different, but roughly equal to WDW in food offerings. The HR food offerings were slightly lesser maybe than WDW's CL's, but the other two offer slightly better offerings, IMO.
HRock: boiled eggs/cold cuts at breakfast, paper cups, appetizer hour has vodka/juice drinks, morning mimosas, CL rooms on 7th floor, lounge 7th floor, key access,near elevators, locked at non food hours, cool HR themed bottled water! Great staff!

Royal Pacific: Excellent food, 4:30-6:30 PM offerings less fancy than some WDW CL's. No latte machine, but decent coffee w/real milk/cream all day. Tazo teas. Beer/wine. (only saw during appetizer hour?). US displays menu for each day. paper cups, bottled water upon request. Lounge staff SUPER! I think lounge locked for non-food hours, but we didn't see. Guest rooms on the 6th/7th floor of tower 3. Lounge on middle of 7th floor.

Portofino: (from 2014) lounge is located in lobby, w/gold key access. Eggs at breakfast, more appetizer-style at appetizer hour. I think beer and wine were included, but cocktails were an extra couple $.

One of the biggest differences, IMO at US is each lounge has slightly different hours than WDW lounges. Nothing before 7am.

Of the three, Portofino is the furthest from the parks, but overall US is far more compact than WDW. It is easy to walk from any US deluxe to the parks. (though I think Cabana Bay is a bit further)

Another option to note- just off US property is a plaza with a great Whole Foods, and several other inexpensive options. WF has extensive hot/cold bar ($9/lb) plus nice seating: soups, salads, BBQ, seafood, pizza, barrista, beer/wine, bakery, custom juice.

From Thanksgiving '12, we were in a Villa room at Portofino and they informed us that they stopped serving beer and wine at other 7pm or 7:30pm, which I found really strange. Did not care for being on another floor and having to have the gold card to enter, especially 4 guests with only two cards.

We stayed CL at RPR Christmas '10 and the staff and offerings were awesome. They encouraged you to make a meal out of it. Back then it was Asian themed food like lo men an potstickers which was perfect for our younger daughter that was with us.

 

[mickeynut1]

Thanks! I sent my request to IPO.

You're welcome .

I am pleased to announce that I have a trip booked. December 12-15, 2015 at BWI Deluxe room CL. It will be me, my MIL, DD10, DD9, DD8, and DS6. It was between WL and BWI, so I hope I made a good choice

How exciting! I'm sure you'll like BWI. We love WL CL, but BWI CL seems to get great reviews .

 

[gwynne]

I am pleased to announce that I have a trip booked. December 12-15, 2015 at BWI Deluxe room CL. It will be me, my MIL, DD10, DD9, DD8, and DS6. It was between WL and BWI, so I hope I made a good choice

Congrats! The BWI Deluxe rooms are so spacious and pretty. What fun to be at WDW at Christmas!

 

[bethclayton]

We got back on Thursday 8/26 from 7 nights at the Poly CL. We enjoyed our trip thoroughly and spent a lot of time at the lounge (will post more on that). Here are some pics of the the Hawaii building:
[GALLERY=] [/GALLERY]

Sorry that they are a bit out of order. We originally had a GV room, and the view from that room is shown in the second picture (view pool construction). That was the entire view, head on. There really was nothing else to be seen except that. Dh requested a room change and after being told no at every turn, finally a leader came and said he could change us the following day. The remaining pictures (minus the last pic) are what the view was from the "new" room that we moved to. Not a whole lot better! They were there m-f 9-5 and as you can see, those cherry pickers spanned the whole length of the building. So if you had a GV you were looking at the second pic I posted, and if you had lagoon view or theme park view you had a view of cherry pickers and on some days your patio was covered in either a tarp, a worker, or equipment and was not able to be used at all. Let me say now that we did not pay full rack rate because we had the "magical deal," but I was brokenhearted for other people who may have paid full price.

The last pic is from the stairwell of the lounge. Every morning during breakfast the cherry pickers were all the way up in front of the lounge windows- sometimes all the windows- with men sanding. The noise was really extreme and a pretty miserable way to start the day.

I think the pics speak for themselves so I will not belabor that disaster. On to the good! The lounge staff were mostly great. Irv is awesome. The breakfast seems the same as it was in 2010 (in a good way). I was quite worried about the evening offerings but they were completely fine. They kept the evening apps replenished and the food really was pretty good. Wine was out and self-serve between 5 and 10, which we really enjoyed! the staff were great about keeping tables clean and getting people all sorts of things that were not out. We have had hit-or-miss experiences with my dh's gluten intolerance at some of the lounges but the one chef at poly (who was there most of the week) was great.

Of note was the fact that they barely dim the lights at all in the lounge now during fireworks and while the music is piped it, it is so quiet that you can barely hear it. Viewing from the beach would be a much better choice, or from your patio or balcony if you are on that side of the building. The bungalows do not impede on the fireworks viewing at all.

If anyone has any questions I would be happy to try to answer! Overall we did have a great vacation.

 

[SeaSpray]

Just back from 8 FABULOUS days at the Polynesian CL in a GV room.

Here's my Live trip report thread.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/live-from-the-polynesian-gv-cl-aug-24-sept-1.3441268/

 

[VbChristy]

We got back on Thursday 8/26 from 7 nights at the Poly CL. We enjoyed our trip thoroughly and spent a lot of time at the lounge (will post more on that). Here are some pics of the the Hawaii building:
[GALLERY=]View attachment 121038 View attachment 121039 View attachment 121040 View attachment 121041

What did they serve for your daughter that is GF? I'm booked for a stay in May and have to be GF. For the standard menu, it doesn't appear to have a lot of GF choices. I would like to be able to partake each day. And we're they able to do an afternoon snack for him because what I've seen, all the choices were full of gluten.

 

[bethclayton]

What did they serve for your daughter that is GF? I'm booked for a stay in May and have to be GF. For the standard menu, it doesn't appear to have a lot of GF choices. I would like to be able to partake each day. And we're they able to do an afternoon snack for her because what I've seen, all the choices were full of gluten.

it is actually my dh that cannot have gluten. most nights the chef made him a plate of pulled pork and rice. one night i think it was chicken (i guess a thigh?) and rice. but the portions were LARGE, almost dinner sized, to the extent that several other random guests said they were going to ask for the gluten free option! he is at the one direction concert with our daughter right now and can't be reached, lol, but i can ask him tomorrow what else he had because i don't remember, but I do know that it was very redundant and was the same plate almost every single night. but it was ready and waiting, which we were very appreciative of! it tasted good and dh was just glad that he had something. it was only the one chef that was great about having something prepared. two other chefs were actually so rude that one sighed heavily and walked away when he asked about gluten free and i literally replied, "well that's not a very nice way to answer someone's question!" there were a few items that looked like they should have been GF, particularly the vegetable sushi rolls (chicken wings was the other), and the chef informed him that they were all rife with gluten. all the hot appetizers seemed to contain gluten but every night they had lots of veggies and dips, hummus, fruit, and three different cheeses. My husband had gluten free pretzels in the room to eat with the cheese but never even ended up using them, he just ate the cheese plain.

in the afternoon, the only choices would be gummy bears and popcorn (which they only had certain days). You could theoretically ask for something GF but there really isn't a chef around at those times. For breakfast, it is Gluten City. my husband was limited to oatmeal and fruit (but the oatmeal is very good and they have toppings). They may have had a GF cereal, i don't recall. Desserts all appeared to be gluten-y. With that said, one morning I had inquired about nut free products as dd and I cannot have nuts, and Ivette later came and offered us three boxes of "allergen free" treats- brownies, snickerdoodles, and I think some other cookie. She said we could "choose one box and keep it for our trip." So i suspect if you ask for an afternoon snack or dessert, this will be your alternative.

we did note it on our reservations, as well as a separate email to IPO, and it made no difference, it was never communicated to the chef. you will need to speak to the chef directly, but if it is the guy, he is very accessible. there two women really did not want to be bothered.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

I am pleased to announce that I have a trip booked. December 12-15, 2015 at BWI Deluxe room CL. It will be me, my MIL, DD10, DD9, DD8, and DS6. It was between WL and BWI, so I hope I made a good choice

Fantastic! That sounds wonderful!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We got back on Thursday 8/26 from 7 nights at the Poly CL. We enjoyed our trip thoroughly and spent a lot of time at the lounge (will post more on that). Here are some pics of the the Hawaii building:
[GALLERY=]View attachment 121038 View attachment 121039 View attachment 121040 View attachment 121041 View attachment 121042 View attachment 121043 View attachment 121044 [/GALLERY]

Sorry that they are a bit out of order. We originally had a GV room, and the view from that room is shown in the second picture (view pool construction). That was the entire view, head on. There really was nothing else to be seen except that. Dh requested a room change and after being told no at every turn, finally a leader came and said he could change us the following day. The remaining pictures (minus the last pic) are what the view was from the "new" room that we moved to. Not a whole lot better! They were there m-f 9-5 and as you can see, those cherry pickers spanned the whole length of the building. So if you had a GV you were looking at the second pic I posted, and if you had lagoon view or theme park view you had a view of cherry pickers and on some days your patio was covered in either a tarp, a worker, or equipment and was not able to be used at all. Let me say now that we did not pay full rack rate because we had the "magical deal," but I was brokenhearted for other people who may have paid full price.

The last pic is from the stairwell of the lounge. Every morning during breakfast the cherry pickers were all the way up in front of the lounge windows- sometimes all the windows- with men sanding. The noise was really extreme and a pretty miserable way to start the day.

I think the pics speak for themselves so I will not belabor that disaster. On to the good! The lounge staff were mostly great. Irv is awesome. The breakfast seems the same as it was in 2010 (in a good way). I was quite worried about the evening offerings but they were completely fine. They kept the evening apps replenished and the food really was pretty good. Wine was out and self-serve between 5 and 10, which we really enjoyed! the staff were great about keeping tables clean and getting people all sorts of things that were not out. We have had hit-or-miss experiences with my dh's gluten intolerance at some of the lounges but the one chef at poly (who was there most of the week) was great.

Of note was the fact that they barely dim the lights at all in the lounge now during fireworks and while the music is piped it, it is so quiet that you can barely hear it. Viewing from the beach would be a much better choice, or from your patio or balcony if you are on that side of the building. The bungalows do not impede on the fireworks viewing at all.

If anyone has any questions I would be happy to try to answer! Overall we did have a great vacation.

You have a very positive outlook on the "view", I think I would have cried. I sure hope people paying for lagoon view got a discount. UGH!

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Just back from 8 FABULOUS days at the Polynesian CL in a GV room.

Here's my Live trip report thread.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/live-from-the-polynesian-gv-cl-aug-24-sept-1.3441268/

Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip!

 

[mickeynut1]

We got back on Thursday 8/26 from 7 nights at the Poly CL. We enjoyed our trip thoroughly and spent a lot of time at the lounge (will post more on that).

Overall we did have a great vacation.

I'm sorry about the construction/machinery views, but glad you had a nice trip overall .

Just back from 8 FABULOUS days at the Polynesian CL in a GV room.

Here's my Live trip report thread.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/live-from-the-polynesian-gv-cl-aug-24-sept-1.3441268/

Glad you had a great time! Thanks for the live TR with all of the great pics, I loved following along .

 

[KerryCM]

Tomorrow we are headed to the Beach Club!!! Cannot wait to relax and enjoy the resort. Not much park time for us!!!

 

[Mike&AllisMom]

[If anyone has any questions I would be happy to try to answer! Overall we did have a great vacation.[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much for sharing! I have been wondering what to expect. We are going in November so it might not be the same but at least I have an idea. I'm glad you had a great time and didn't let it ruin your trip. After seeing your pictures I have made the right decision on where to stay. We also have a magical discount

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We did note it on our reservations, as well as a separate email to IPO, and it made no difference, it was never communicated to the chef. you will need to speak to the chef directly, but if it is the guy, he is very accessible. there two women really did not want to be bothered.

Sorry, think I should help clarify here. Talking to the chef is standard procedure at all Disney club levels, and all table serves as well, not just for allergies, but more or less all special needs dining, like vegetarian. Kosher might be different.

However, that does NOT mean you were wrong to note it on your reservations, quite the opposite. Noting it on your reservations means the chefs stocks necessary items for the week. They are ordered in advance. We've been told that quite clearly multiple times, including just ten days ago at BC. If chefs haven't ordered enough of something, it puts them in a bind. Guests never see the effort the chefs make to acquire needed ingredients, but it is extra work to call other kitchens if they don't have what they need. Numerous chefs have thanked us for alerting them in advance!

Talking to guests in person is important because allergy sensitivities are very personal. Reactions vary from mild to life threatening.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

What did they serve for your daughter that is GF? I'm booked for a stay in May and have to be GF. For the standard menu, it doesn't appear to have a lot of GF choices. I would like to be able to partake each day. And we're they able to do an afternoon snack for him because what I've seen, all the choices were full of gluten.

Check out the DISabilities section of the DIS. Last I checked, there were multiple threads listing specific brands of items that WDW stocks.

Most likely, the chef will arrange a combination of: setting aside a few items for you (in each food period), telling you all the safe line foods, and/or giving you prepackaged items.

I should add, CL changes all the time, and our last stay at Poly was at least 5 years ago. We've been to several others in the last 15months though, and all the CL's follow similar procedures.

The mid-day snack offerings aren't very much for anyone, but all the lounges provide a fresh fruit basket all day. (apples, oranges, sometimes bananas) They pretty much all have homemade potato chips, thick kettle style chips, and not much else. We always eat lunch in the parks. You also get a fridge in your room, which is a great place to stock an orange.

 

[sfbank]

Kerry-have a good trip! I am sure you will stop over and see our favorite Innkeepers CMs. Enjoy your time