Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[mickeynut1]

I'm joining in - just booked not only our first Poly stay but doing it club level TPV style.. oh and just FYI i was told there's no more IPO!

How exciting!

Thanks for the update on IPO. Have fun planning .

Wow! We just got back from our first family Disney trip. We stayed club level in the Poly (Tonga Suites). The bar was set so high, I don't think we could ever come back! We arrived very early knowing the room was not ready. However, they still gave us a tour and showed us where Tonga was located. We told them we were headed to Disney Springs and that I was setup for text alerts. Once I received it we headed to the Ambassador suite. The photos are just like what you see on Tikiman's website. I will throw a couple more in this post to show you the perks you get with the suite.

We were greeted with a cheese tray and rice krispy treats. Also, received a packet for the screening of Moana.

I will put my thoughts in bullets:

• I believe mousekeeping came twice a day. We would come back for a late afternoon nap and find everything was refreshed. When we came back late in the evening, the beds were turned down with chocolates.
• Tonga guests have their own lounge. That was great for getting coffee first thing and grabbing a beer before calling it a night. However, we did make it to Hawaii a few times.
• Tonga guests are allowed to order from a complimentary menu. We took advantage of that.
• Tonga is tucked away and very quite. A couple of times I would see people try to go in; however, the concierge would kindly turn them away. There are not that many guests so they knew the families that were staying in the suites.
• The snacks were on par with what you read on this forum. However, I think staying in the Tonga gives you an advantage.

Hope this helps anybody deciding about staying in the Tonga.

Sounds like you had a great first trip! Thanks for posting .

 

[Ewoks]

Hope this helps anybody deciding about staying in the Tonga.

What a great report! Thank you so much! We've been considering booking the honeymoon suite in Tonga for a future trip but there are so few reports on what it's like over in Tonga that we weren't sure what to expect. We might move it toward the top of our list to try now! (If we can ever handle a Disney trip that doesn't involve staying at CR, that is.. we'll see!)

 

[ToothDoc4]

It's been awhile since I've read through this thread and can't remember about the CL rooms at BC. I've had trouble securing resorts/rooms that we want, so here's our trip so far: 2/23-2/26 CR tower club (military discount), 2/26-2/28 sugar loaf, and 2/28-3/4 standard poly room. We would prefer to move around less, but can't find a CL room for our entire stay (with a discount, that is). My MIL is going with us this time and has always dreamed of staying at GF, all I could manage to get (with a PH discount) were those two nights. MIlL, FIL, and my sister will only be staying through 2/28. So, I was looking today and saw a BC CL room available for our poly dates. It's $250 (total) more at BC CL for the 4 nights. The last 4 nights will just be me, DH, DS6, DS5, DD3, DD2. So, my real question is how close are the BC CL rooms to the lounge and how many of those rooms have a day bed, and better yet day bed with true balcony? We've stayed at BC before, in standard room, and didn't love it because of the long winding halls and difficulty just getting coffee/breakfast in the morning with 4 little people. However, if the lounge would be close by, that would make things a lot easier and worth the $250. Any help/advice?

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

It's been awhile since I've read through this thread and can't remember about the CL rooms at BC. I've had trouble securing resorts/rooms that we want, so here's our trip so far: 2/23-2/26 CR tower club (military discount), 2/26-2/28 sugar loaf, and 2/28-3/4 standard poly room. We would prefer to move around less, but can't find a CL room for our entire stay (with a discount, that is). My MIL is going with us this time and has always dreamed of staying at GF, all I could manage to get (with a PH discount) were those two nights. MIlL, FIL, and my sister will only be staying through 2/28. So, I was looking today and saw a BC CL room available for our poly dates. It's $250 (total) more at BC CL for the 4 nights. The last 4 nights will just be me, DH, DS6, DS5, DD3, DD2. So, my real question is how close are the BC CL rooms to the lounge and how many of those rooms have a day bed, and better yet day bed with true balcony? We've stayed at BC before, in standard room, and didn't love it because of the long winding halls and difficulty just getting coffee/breakfast in the morning with 4 little people. However, if the lounge would be close by, that would make things a lot easier and worth the $250. Any help/advice?

I'm sure someone can give you a better rwply but I will try.
We stayed at the BC Stoneharbor club right after the renovation. All the club level rooms are on thw 5the floor and you can only access that with your magic band (kids thought that was great).
The hallways are still long and winding but we rarely went back and forth so it was not that big of a deal. We did get a full balcony and to out right was a perfect view of Spaceship Earth.
We did request a room with a daybed or sleeper sofa, as we had a teen son and daughter, but we did not get one.
The CL cast members at the desk were all fabulous. They helped us with so many little things that could have taken hours out of our day. We would have no problem staying there again .

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Quick question for the WL CL experts.... have the CL CM's always done "double duty" here? Meaning, the desk CMs and the lounge/food CMs are basically the same?. That appears to be the setup that's going on at the moment. Might just be timing on my part but the desks rarely seem to me manned so far.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Nap time so I have some free time here. Continuing the new WL Old Faithful Club location conversation from yesterday, this is a crude map showing the new location. The red outline is the new lounge. It's not a big open area though, it's chopped up into different sections... food areas, seating areas, CM desks, etc. The space feels much smaller than this plan makes it look. The yellow line is current construction walls.

I'll doctor this up to more illustrative when I get back, but hope this helps.

 

[outahere]

Quick question for the WL CL experts.... have the CL CM's always done "double duty" here? Meaning, the desk CMs and the lounge/food CMs are basically the same?. That appears to be the setup that's going on at the moment. Might just be timing on my part but the desks rarely seem to me manned so far.

Short answer is yes....... every time we've stayed CL there, some of the CMs did "double duty". During the breakfast, appetizer and dessert hours, we have seen one or two extra people helping out. That being said..... there was usually at least one CM at the desk, most of the time.

 

[HBGdancermom]

Today these, tomorrow turkey, and Friday... WL Cobbler! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

View attachment 207447

So cute!! Have a great trip!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

So @TJA.... here's the quick skinny on the WL Deluxe Rooms. I was in Room 3003. I timed it several times and they were all around 2:40 from room to lounge. There isn't a stairwell or anything else that could make this any quicker unfortunately. With the south wing closed the Deluxe Rooms that are left are just flat out far, no way around it. A higher floor room would save a few seconds of elevator time, but not much.

Now, the distance didn't completely interfere with our enjoyment of the lounge, but it just makes it "different" IMHO. No "I'll just go grab a quick cup of coffee" type of situations. You go to the lounge once for breakfast, and that's it. You have 'a' beer during the evening and that's it.

On the other hand, the new lounge is beautiful and very easy to "hang out" in for an extended period.

Here's where my room was. 1 is the room, 2 is the elevator bank (the only one currently open in the whole resort) 3 is the lounge location (but obviously on the 7th floor).


My overall thoughts on the room.... honestly, it was just "OK." We could live with the longer walk to the lounge, but frankly we just didn't like the layout of the Deluxe Room. Even with the extra square footage, the room felt very cramped to us. The furniture is also big and clunky which doesn't help.

It's only us four and we felt on top of each other in some respects. DW (who is not opinionated about these things) at one point said that we as a family could live much more fluidly in a standard Poly or CR room vs the WL Deluxe Room. I tend to agree with her.

A couple of other notes about the location of these rooms, note that the boat dock is about 100-200 feet off the balcony. If you're bothered by the boat horns, this is not a room for you. We like it actually, but if you're real picky, you won't like it.

Also the geyser.... oh the geyser. For the Deluxe Rooms on the side where mine was, it's pretty darn loud and it goes off (I think) every hour 24 hours a day. I am not sure why it needs to go off at 4am, but whatever. We slept through it OK, but it's not just a subtle distant noise. It would probably be less obtrusive from the other Deluxe room a few doors down (north) of where mine was.

On the whole, while we didn't mind the location and we did enjoy the extra space of a Deluxe room, being so far from the lounge and limited "extra" you get with that booking category would probably steer us away from that room choice in the future. I think we'd rather just have a standard CL room and be on the CL floor and deal with an even smaller room layout. Especially with the really nice lounge!

About to throw up some rooms pics in the next post.

 

[Shaggynamos]

@GADisneyDad14 you just made me want to go out at 4am and dance in the geyser with my son. We are getting there tomorrow.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Some WL Deluxe Room with Club Level Access room pics. Room 3003.



There are two balconies. Here you can see the door to a very tiny one off the bedroom. Frankly it's a pointless balcony, just really small.


They just barely made this work...


Take away my man card for this, but I actually missed the upgraded CR toiletries. There, I said it.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

A few more...

 

[trishadono]

So @TJA.

Now, the distance didn't completely interfere with our enjoyment of the lounge, but it just makes it "different" IMHO. No "I'll just go grab a quick cup of coffee" type of situations. You go to the lounge once for breakfast, and that's it. Y

. I think we'd rather just have a standard CL room and be on the CL floor and deal with an even smaller room layout. Especially with the really nice lounge!

.

Thanks. I have been trying to get one of those rooms for me and Mom. I thought Mom would like some space but I agree with you that being on the same floor is nice. I love that at CR and think for this trip it will be the best option.

Love the Pix!!

I hope we can see over the rail when we get there. That was one of the best perks of the 7th floor lol.

 

[PoohNFriends]

Hi
I hit my 180 day tomorrow and am very behind in my usual trip planning. I know I still have plenty of time to study & plan and everything will work out in the end!
So I'm back on the boards and wanted to check-in that my fiancé will be staying at AKV-CL 5/28-6/3/2017 as husband and wife . We get married 5/26/17 and start our honeymoon at the Most Magical Place on Earth followed by a Caribbean cruise!
I was last at WDW forever ago 6/2012 and last at AKV-CL 10/2011 CRAZY!!! My fiancé has never been to WDW, however, we did enjoy a DL trip this past May. He said "Now that I've seen DL, I have to see WDW!" Wish granted!
Can't wait to catch up with everyone and Disney news!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Thanks. I have been trying to get one of those rooms for me and Mom. I thought Mom would like some space but I agree with you that being on the same floor is nice. I love that at CR and think for this trip it will be the best option.

Love the Pix!!

I hope we can see over the rail when we get there. That was one of the best perks of the 7th floor lol.

Wife and I joked (in a kind of serious way) that we'd almost rather get two connecting standard rooms than the Deluxe Room.

Yes, you can see over the rails from the new lounge. I need to do a new post/write-up, but here are a few quick pics! If you don't want spoilers, scroll down quickly!

 

[TJA]

@GADisneyDad14 thanks so much for your in-depth review of the room. I knew you'd cover all the details . The thing that stood out to me the most in your post was the part about still feeling cramped in the room....that was my exact concern about that room, so your thoughts confirmed my suspicions. My thinking is that if we're booking a deluxe room and giving up the convenience of being close to the lounge, then I want it to be worth it. Like the BC deluxe room, right?

Thanks for taking the time to post maps too -- that really helps to envision the layout and locations. It sounds like you enjoyed the lounge, and I know you'll be posting about that so I won't even start asking questions - lol. Thanks again for all your thoughts and pictures!

Edit to add: I'd be disappointed with those toiletries too. GF really spoiled me in that regard! Oh - did you get to sit on your bigger balcony and enjoy any sort of view?

 

[mickeynut1]

It's been awhile since I've read through this thread and can't remember about the CL rooms at BC. I've had trouble securing resorts/rooms that we want, so here's our trip so far: 2/23-2/26 CR tower club (military discount), 2/26-2/28 sugar loaf, and 2/28-3/4 standard poly room. We would prefer to move around less, but can't find a CL room for our entire stay (with a discount, that is). My MIL is going with us this time and has always dreamed of staying at GF, all I could manage to get (with a PH discount) were those two nights. MIlL, FIL, and my sister will only be staying through 2/28. So, I was looking today and saw a BC CL room available for our poly dates. It's $250 (total) more at BC CL for the 4 nights. The last 4 nights will just be me, DH, DS6, DS5, DD3, DD2. So, my real question is how close are the BC CL rooms to the lounge and how many of those rooms have a day bed, and better yet day bed with true balcony? We've stayed at BC before, in standard room, and didn't love it because of the long winding halls and difficulty just getting coffee/breakfast in the morning with 4 little people. However, if the lounge would be close by, that would make things a lot easier and worth the $250. Any help/advice?

I can't help with a BC CL room as we've only stayed standard, but if it were me, I'd stick with the Poly and save the $250. The Poly rooms are much larger and all rooms come with a daybed, which is only a request at the BC (not sure how many rooms have a daybed). Parties of 5 are given preference for those rooms, but it's not guaranteed you will get one (although they will provide a roll away). With that said, I'd keep checking for one of the resorts to open up for all nights as people do cancel/change and something might become available. Good luck .

Short answer is yes....... every time we've stayed CL there, some of the CMs did "double duty". During the breakfast, appetizer and dessert hours, we have seen one or two extra people helping out. That being said..... there was usually at least one CM at the desk, most of the time.

We've only stayed WL CL once, but this was our experience as well .

On the other hand, the new lounge is beautiful and very easy to "hang out" in for an extended period.

Glad to hear this .

My overall thoughts on the room.... honestly, it was just "OK." We could live with the longer walk to the lounge, but frankly we just didn't like the layout of the Deluxe Room. Even with the extra square footage, the room felt very cramped to us. The furniture is also big and clunky which doesn't help.

It's only us four and we felt on top of each other in some respects. DW (who is not opinionated about these things) at one point said that we as a family could live much more fluidly in a standard Poly or CR room vs the WL Deluxe Room. I tend to agree with her.

Thanks for your input about the room. The deluxe room has always appealed to me, but I do love the spacious-ness of the Poly & GF rooms (haven't stayed CR) .

A couple of other notes about the location of these rooms, note that the boat dock is about 100-200 feet off the balcony. If you're bothered by the boat horns, this is not a room for you. We like it actually, but if you're real picky, you won't like it.

Hearing the boat horns is something we would like, too....that's one of the things I love most about the Poly .

On the whole, while we didn't mind the location and we did enjoy the extra space of a Deluxe room, being so far from the lounge and limited "extra" you get with that booking category would probably steer us away from that room choice in the future. I think we'd rather just have a standard CL room and be on the CL floor and deal with an even smaller room layout. Especially with the really nice lounge!

Not being on the CL floor is something I always think about when considering the deluxe room. There are only 4 of us, but our boys are young adults so the extra space would be nice, but it might not be a nice enough perk (for us) to not be convenient to the lounge .

@GADisneyDad14 you just made me want to go out at 4am and dance in the geyser with my son. We are getting there tomorrow.

Hope you have a great trip .

Some WL Deluxe Room with Club Level Access room pics.

Great pics, thanks for sharing .

I hope we can see over the rail when we get there. That was one of the best perks of the 7th floor lol.

I agree .

Hi
I hit my 180 day tomorrow and am very behind in my usual trip planning. I know I still have plenty of time to study & plan and everything will work out in the end!
So I'm back on the boards and wanted to check-in that my fiancé will be staying at AKV-CL 5/28-6/3/2017 as husband and wife . We get married 5/26/17 and start our honeymoon at the Most Magical Place on Earth followed by a Caribbean cruise!
I was last at WDW forever ago 6/2012 and last at AKV-CL 10/2011 CRAZY!!! My fiancé has never been to WDW, however, we did enjoy a DL trip this past May. He said "Now that I've seen DL, I have to see WDW!" Wish granted!
Can't wait to catch up with everyone and Disney news!

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. Sounds like a great honeymoon, hope you have a magical trip .

Yes, you can see over the rails from the new lounge.

I am so glad to hear this! Being able to sit and look over into the lobby is one of the things I love most about WL CL. I was getting worried as people were posting that with the new lounge, that was being taken away...glad to hear that didn't change .

 

[trishadono]

Anybody been to WL near Easter lately??

We used to go all the time but stopped in 2007. That year we did stay at WL and they had "make your own Easter Baskets" that you could create and have delivered on Easter Morning.

Does the hotel decorate any spring things? I have seen GF do the whole Easter Egg thing but can't remember about the other resorts.

As always planning ahead!

This crazy lady booked another weekend at GF for Labor Day with DH only!

Then I found out they extended F &W!!!
SO we are 9/1-4 and F&W starts 8/31, OH YEAH!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

@GADisneyDad14 thanks so much for your in-depth review of the room. I knew you'd cover all the details . The thing that stood out to me the most in your post was the part about still feeling cramped in the room....that was my exact concern about that room, so your thoughts confirmed my suspicions. My thinking is that if we're booking a deluxe room and giving up the convenience of being close to the lounge, then I want it to be worth it. Like the BC deluxe room, right?

Thanks for taking the time to post maps too -- that really helps to envision the layout and locations. It sounds like you enjoyed the lounge, and I know you'll be posting about that so I won't even start asking questions - lol. Thanks again for all your thoughts and pictures!

Edit to add: I'd be disappointed with those toiletries too. GF really spoiled me in that regard! Oh - did you get to sit on your bigger balcony and enjoy any sort of view?

I can't get my balcony / view pictures to resize small enough to post unfortunately. The view is mostly looking at trees with glimpses of Bay Lake in the background. You can see the lake and boat dock, there are just A LOT of trees in the way. Unpopular opinion here, but if they took down a few trees it would dramatically change my opinion of the room. But as is, it is TOTALLY peaceful and very serene... frankly goes with the theme perfectly.

Note the main balcony was a reasonable size but it wasn't Poly size. It was still a bit on the smaller side IMHO.

One positive is that you see zero construction.

I hope I haven't spoiled your opinion of the Deluxe Rooms. Obviously it's very subjective and I'm sure some people really love the layout, just didn't really work for our style.

 

[TJA]

I can't get my balcony / view pictures to resize small enough to post unfortunately. The view is mostly looking at trees with glimpses of Bay Lake in the background. You can see the lake and boat dock, there are just A LOT of trees in the way. Unpopular opinion here, but if they took down a few trees it would dramatically change my opinion of the room. But as is, it is TOTALLY peaceful and very serene... frankly goes with the theme perfectly.

Note the main balcony was a reasonable size but it wasn't Poly size. It was still a bit on the smaller side IMHO.

One positive is that you see zero construction.

I hope I haven't spoiled your opinion of the Deluxe Rooms. Obviously it's very subjective and I'm sure some people really love the layout, just didn't really work for our style.

No, you have not spoiled my opinion at all - honestly, you seem to value the same things that I do in a room/resort, and your thoughts only confirm my thoughts.
The location of the deluxe room to the lounge has been a big red flag in my head ever since I booked it. We're not afraid of walking at all, but a big part of our vacation enjoyment is convenience. And I was secretly hoping the trees obstructing the view were gone, but I understand why they're not. I agree that an awesome view goes a long way!

So a thought I've had in my head ever since I booked this room has been to change to a split stay with GF. I was just looking into availability (even before I read your review) and GF is wide open my week (no surprise given the cost....), so I'm hoping the AP rates come out soon because I'm pretty sure they'll be slightly better than the PIN rate, and that would enable me to somewhat justify the high cost of GF.

Oh, were you guys able to use the health club at WL? I kept reading things about it possibly closing (for refurb?). Probably not an easy thing for you guys given your 2 little ones, but now that my girls are 13 and work-out fanatics, the 4 of us frequent the health clubs!