Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[trishadono]

We’re half-way through June... which means 7/4 week is getting closer.

Anyone getting excited yet?

Me me me!

 

[trishadono]

I know RPC has it

Sugar loaf too.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Quick question... anyone know if AKL or GF RPC offer Angry Orchard cider? I see it in the Poly pic above. I'm not a beer drinker but I do love cider!

AKL did not have it in April.

 

[OlieRow]

I'm planning a 2 night trip (arrive Wednesday morning, leave Friday morning) for some F&W prior to boarding a cruise in October. I was hoping for Beach Club or one of the Epcot resorts for easy F&W access but decided it's a little out of my price range. Got a quote from a travel agent for a great rate at Wilderness Club Level. It's about $260 more for the 2 nights than her rate for POFQ and $180 less than for BC. It still may be a little more than I was initially looking to spend but when I figure breakfast and other food/drink would be "included" I'm trying to decide if it's worth it or not. Does anyone have recent experience with WL CL and the food offerings? If we arrive Wednesday morning, would we be able to have access to breakfast if we arrive while it's still being served or do we have to wait until check in? We had planned to do a lot of our eating at F&W kiosks and didn't have any plans for table service meals.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Quick OT post... but for those with APs that are always trying to squeeze in a trip here and there... AP discounts for travel 8/26-10/7 were released earlier this week. They are generally 10% higher than the previously released general public discount, with some exceptions. Notably, GF, AKL, and BWI have some early Sept dates with a whopping 40% discount. For example... RPC Standard View room, 9/3-9/9, $568 per night compared to a rack rate of $947 (all pre-tax). Same dates at BWI, Deluxe Room CL, $476 vs $794 rack (40% discount). It's pretty rare to see 40% these days!

Anyway - availability with AP rates is always spotty of course and it looks like some weekend dates don't have those same good rates... but anyone on the fence about an early fall trip...it might be a good time to take another look at your options, or maybe change any existing reservations you may have.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I'm planning a 2 night trip (arrive Wednesday morning, leave Friday morning) for some F&W prior to boarding a cruise in October. I was hoping for Beach Club or one of the Epcot resorts for easy F&W access but decided it's a little out of my price range. Got a quote from a travel agent for a great rate at Wilderness Club Level. It's about $260 more for the 2 nights than her rate for POFQ and $180 less than for BC. It still may be a little more than I was initially looking to spend but when I figure breakfast and other food/drink would be "included" I'm trying to decide if it's worth it or not. Does anyone have recent experience with WL CL and the food offerings? If we arrive Wednesday morning, would we be able to have access to breakfast if we arrive while it's still being served or do we have to wait until check in? We had planned to do a lot of our eating at F&W kiosks and didn't have any plans for table service meals.

These are pretty dated at this point (Nov 2016), but these posts will help give you a general sense of what WL CL is all about. Food offerings morph/change over time so things are probably a bit different now, but they'll help with the general pattern and types of offerings:

WL CL Food - November 2016

WL CL Lounge - November 2016

You can use all CL and resort amenities your full check-in and check-out days, regardless of the technical check-in and check-out times. So yes, if your arrive early you can eat breakfast in the lounge. We almost always fly in very early, well before we expect our room to be ready, and usually catch the tail end of breakfast.

When I think F&W, I don't immediately think of WL given its location... but, other than that... we really enjoyed our time there. Probably the best overall food/beverage/lounge offerings we've experienced over the last few years, in my humble opinion.

 

[OlieRow]

These are pretty dated at this point (Nov 2016), but these posts will help give you a general sense of what WL CL is all about. Food offerings morph/change over time so things are probably a bit different now, but they'll help with the general pattern and types of offerings:

WL CL Food - November 2016

WL CL Lounge - November 2016

You can use all CL and resort amenities your full check-in and check-out days, regardless of the technical check-in and check-out times. So yes, if your arrive early you can eat breakfast in the lounge. We almost always fly in very early, well before we expect our room to be ready, and usually catch the tail end of breakfast.

When I think F&W, I don't immediately think of WL given its location... but, other than that... we really enjoyed our time there. Probably the best overall food/beverage/lounge offerings we've experienced over the last few years, in my humble opinion.

Thanks! I don't think of WL either for F&W but I was intrigued by the rate. The more I think about it, we're really only likely to use it for breakfast. Probably better off to stay at FQ and Uber to Beach Club if we wanted to go in through World Showcase. Save our money for F&W deliciousness!

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

Dropping back in to update on a few things we have done. We are still very much enjoying AKL and the CL.
On Wednesday night we did the Star Wars dessert party.
It is now our favorite dessert party. (The freeze dried Nutella was yummy!) We have now experienced all of the dessert parties and I would do this one again. Although it rained during the fireworks we still had a good time.

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

Yesterday we did the Savor the Savannah (6:15 pm) tour at AK. You check in next to Kilimanjaro Safari and then take a truck on the savanna. It stops to give you more of a chance to see the animals. You can also stand while stopped to take photos. An animal caretaker tells more about the animals and gives you a chance to ask questions before heading to the ‘Boma’ where you hang out for an hour. Food and beverages are served, but we spent most of our time watching the lions from the boardwalk. It was a wonderful experience and very peaceful watching the animals
from the Boma.

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

We rounded out last evening with River of Lights, it is a beautiful show.

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

This morning we spent at AK again and somehow got lucky to be picked to go onstage during the UP show. The toucan hopped on our arms:

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

We had reserved the Wanyama safari this evening. It too was a wonderful tour. We started at Jiko with some snacks:

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

Then we headed to the truck and went around all the savannas at Kidani and Jambo House.





It was so interesting to hear the caretakers talk about the different animal personalities around the lodge.

 

[AngiTN]

Yesterday we did the Savor the Savannah (6:15 pm) tour at AK. You check in next to Kilimanjaro Safari and then take a truck on the savanna. It stops to give you more of a chance to see the animals. You can also stand while stopped to take photos. An animal caretaker tells more about the animals and gives you a chance to ask questions before heading to the ‘Boma’ where you hang out for an hour. Food and beverages are served, but we spent most of our time watching the lions from the boardwalk. It was a wonderful experience and very peaceful watching the animals
from the Boma.

Savor the Savannah is my favorite tour/dinner we've done. Better then the now defunct Sunrise Safari, which was my favorite. I got to do it on my birthday a couple years ago, when it was brand new. I keep saying we are going to do it again but something else always seems to come up and we don't book it. Sometime soon we will

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

After we toured the savannas for about an hour it was back to Jiko for dinner. It was so much food, but all delicious. Bread was served first with a fruity alcoholic beverage. Then appetizers accompanied by a white wine, followed by the main course which consisted of beef short ribs, chicken and fish. Several sides were served including pap, mac & cheese, ancient grains, etc. Red wine was served with the main course and finally a dessert sherry with desserts to round it out. The chef came to the table
before each course to explain what we were being served (sorry for the bad pic of him,
he stood next to me so I was shooting the pic straight up).
There were 6 people on our tour and everyone was lovely.

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

I took a moment to take pics of the AKL lounge offerings so thought I would post as well (apologies that they are out of order):

 

[JessietheNCCowgirl]

One other pic before I finish up, Minnie was in the lobby today:

 

[got15]

My favorite room category in all of WDW!

The prior post sort of answers a similar question to yours. "Improvements" will be in the eye of the beholder, but I generally prefer the offerings these days vs a few years ago, although it likely won't fit everyone's pallet. Take a look at the pics in the links above - that should help with a visual of the latest types of offerings you may encounter.

For beer, this was as of Jan. There was a recent report of I-4 IPA being added as well.


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Hope that helps, and hope you have a great trip!

Thanks, your advice and help are always appreciated! DH is a GF junkie- and would stay there every trip... but this is a resort heavy trip with a lot of kiddo pool time- so... I thought Poly would be a better fit for that. Going to miss the lounge at RPC/SL but longboards and pool are a magical combo.

 

[djc9699]

A rare Page 2 Rescue for the CL thread!

We’re half-way through June... which means 7/4 week is getting closer.

Seems to be several folks heading to WDW around that time.

Anyone getting excited yet?

Oh yeah! We arrive on the 1st for a two week WL stay. Too excited to sleep.

 

[djc9699]

We get in early on the 3rd and as many plan to, we'll be at MK on the 3rd and then Epcot on the 4th too. We'll to you, and all the others. I'm sure we'll have no problems spotting each other

Then we plan to check out TSL before heading home on the 5th.

We will be in MK on the 3rd too! We are staying early until as late as we can handle with FW party reservations. We are taking it easy on the 4th but might wander into Epcot from our late breakfast with Flynn and Eric.