Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[ColoradoMom12]

I just switched our stay next month to CL at the Beach Club. I kept getting an error trying to book it, saying the room category was no longer available. I persisted and eventually got it to go through. The rate with the passholder discount now for the same dates as I booked earlier is quite a bit more than the rate I had. When I booked, it was about a 35% savings. Right now it’s less than $100 off the rack rate. I didn’t realize passholder discounts (for the exact same range of dates) could fluctuate like that.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I just switched our stay next month to CL at the Beach Club. I kept getting an error trying to book it, saying the room category was no longer available. I persisted and eventually got it to go through. The rate with the passholder discount now for the same dates as I booked earlier is quite a bit more than the rate I had. When I booked, it was about a 35% savings. Right now it’s less than $100 off the rack rate. I didn’t realize passholder discounts (for the exact same range of dates) could fluctuate like that.

I'm not sure if it's the AP discount that varies or the seasonal room rate or if a limited amt of rooms are available for a specific deal. However it's done I would try to double check the rate via the CL telephone number to be sure.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I just switched our stay next month to CL at the Beach Club. I kept getting an error trying to book it, saying the room category was no longer available. I persisted and eventually got it to go through. The rate with the passholder discount now for the same dates as I booked earlier is quite a bit more than the rate I had. When I booked, it was about a 35% savings. Right now it’s less than $100 off the rack rate. I didn’t realize passholder discounts (for the exact same range of dates) could fluctuate like that.

Not sure if the case in your situation, but sometimes I’ll find the AP discount is only available weekdays and not Fri-Sat, so sometimes if you have a trip that covers both you get a mix of discounted and non discounted days that may blend to being less of a discount than the general public discount. Again, might not be what’s happening in your case, just something I see from time to time as checking resort options and AP discounts.

 

[KerryCM]

Sitting at the Nashville airport waiting to board our flight. Should be at the Boardwalk by 10:30, giving travel time on ME. Cannot wait!

 

[CogsworthTN]

Sitting at the Nashville airport waiting to board our flight. Should be at the Boardwalk by 10:30, giving travel time on ME. Cannot wait!

Have a great trip!

 

[mrsap]

Sitting at the Nashville airport waiting to board our flight. Should be at the Boardwalk by 10:30, giving travel time on ME. Cannot wait!

Have a great time!

 

[DisneyLifePapioNe]

Sitting at the Nashville airport waiting to board our flight. Should be at the Boardwalk by 10:30, giving travel time on ME. Cannot wait!

AWESOME!!!

 

[Rachel GB]

A friend of mine is at WDW right now on the second half of a YC (non-CL)/ AKL CL stay. She has never stayed CL before and I convinced her that she absolutely MUST (although I did suggest YC CL)! Surprisingly, she's very disappointed in AKL CL and room quality. She said the bed was "awful", and the bathrooms were "same size as value" resorts. They weren't fans of the food (other than breakfast). I suggested she ask the lounge CMs for something from the kitchen they may like that was offered during a different service (ie. certain kind of cookie, etc.) as they're so accommodating. She did, however, they didn't fulfill her request. Their room is also two floors from the lounge. She clocked a 7 minute walk from her room to the lounge. I feel awful for heavily recommending CL to her as they're so unhappy! Any recommendations to help her out while she's there? TIA!
P.S. She did love YC. I think she would have been happier with the CL there.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

A friend of mine is at WDW right now on the second half of a YC (non-CL)/ AKL CL stay. She has never stayed CL before and I convinced her that she absolutely MUST (although I did suggest YC CL)! Surprisingly, she's very disappointed in AKL CL and room quality. She said the bed was "awful", and the bathrooms were "same size as value" resorts. They weren't fans of the food (other than breakfast). I suggested she ask the lounge CMs for something from the kitchen they may like that was offered during a different service (ie. certain kind of cookie, etc.) as they're so accommodating. She did, however, they didn't fulfill her request. Their room is also two floors from the lounge. She clocked a 7 minute walk from her room to the lounge. I feel awful for heavily recommending CL to her as they're so unhappy! Any recommendations to help her out while she's there? TIA!
P.S. She did love YC. I think she would have been happier with the CL there.

Tough situation. That’s one reason why I don’t give friends Disney advice or recommendations. All you DIS strangers, sure... friends... no way! Ha! Kidding... kind of.

Sounds like AKL and AKL CL just isn’t the resort/CL combo for them. AKL rooms are among the smallest of any deluxe resort, if not the smallest. To me the furniture and design are dated, although I think they are starting a refurb now/soon (someone correct me on that, haven’t followed details closely). AKL and WL share the same architect and design style - small rooms/bathrooms but wonderful resort common areas. Kind of a trade off.

All standard CL rooms are located on the 4th floor, the lounge is on the 6th floor. This doesn’t personally bother me, but it does for some (sounds like your friend is in that camp). The room/lounge location situation is much different at AKL than other CLs and long walks room to lounge are the norm.

Advice for what to recommend now? Not sure, hard to offer advice to make things better since their objections are things that can’t be changed. We love AKL as a resort and like the wonderful grounds, amenities, activities, places to eat, CMs in the lounge, etc, so don’t care if we’re a 1 or 7 minute walk - but that all sounds sort of flippant to someone who isn’t enjoying the setup. If they have several days left, maybe something extreme like moving to a new resort?

Half way through our trip in April our kids started doing the bead collecting activities - that ended up taking the better part of 2-3 days and was a fun adventure for them. We also ended up spending a lot of time at the Kidani pool as it has a large slide, splash area, and a nice bar. We almost didn’t even go over there because I just “assumed” it was a basic pool... I had not done my research and was wrong. Not sure if appealing/options for your friends.

Good luck!

 

[Rachel GB]

Tough situation. That’s one reason why I don’t give friends Disney advice or recommendations. All you DIS strangers, sure... friends... no way! Ha! Kidding... kind of.

Sounds like AKL and AKL CL just isn’t the resort/CL combo for them. AKL rooms are among the smallest of any deluxe resort, if not the smallest. To me the furniture and design are dated, although I think they are starting a refurb now/soon (someone correct me on that, haven’t followed details closely). AKL and WL share the same architect and design style - small rooms/bathrooms but wonderful resort common areas. Kind of a trade off.

All standard CL rooms are located on the 4th floor, the lounge is on the 6th floor. This doesn’t personally bother me, but it does for some (sounds like your friend is in that camp). The room/lounge location situation is much different at AKL than other CLs and long walks room to lounge are the norm.

Advice for what to recommend now? Not sure, hard to offer advice to make things better since their objections are things that can’t be changed. We love AKL as a resort and like the wonderful grounds, amenities, activities, places to eat, CMs in the lounge, etc, so don’t care if we’re a 1 or 7 minute walk - but that all sounds sort of flippant to someone who isn’t enjoying the setup. If they have several days left, maybe something extreme like moving to a new resort?

Half way through our trip in April our kids started doing the bead collecting activities - that ended up taking the better part of 2-3 days and was a fun adventure for them. We also ended up spending a lot of time at the Kidani pool as it has a large slide, splash area, and a nice bar. We almost didn’t even go over there because I just “assumed” it was a basic pool... I had not done my research and was wrong. Not sure if appealing/options for your friends.

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply! Yes, haha, lesson learned. No more offering Disney advice to friends!

 

[mrsap]

Tough situation. That’s one reason why I don’t give friends Disney advice or recommendations. All you DIS strangers, sure... friends... no way! Ha! Kidding... kind of.

So sketch!!!!

 

[mickeynut1]

Sitting at the Nashville airport waiting to board our flight. Should be at the Boardwalk by 10:30, giving travel time on ME. Cannot wait!

Have a great trip!

A friend of mine is at WDW right now on the second half of a YC (non-CL)/ AKL CL stay. She has never stayed CL before and I convinced her that she absolutely MUST (although I did suggest YC CL)! Surprisingly, she's very disappointed in AKL CL and room quality. She said the bed was "awful", and the bathrooms were "same size as value" resorts. They weren't fans of the food (other than breakfast). I suggested she ask the lounge CMs for something from the kitchen they may like that was offered during a different service (ie. certain kind of cookie, etc.) as they're so accommodating. She did, however, they didn't fulfill her request. Their room is also two floors from the lounge. She clocked a 7 minute walk from her room to the lounge. I feel awful for heavily recommending CL to her as they're so unhappy! Any recommendations to help her out while she's there? TIA!
P.S. She did love YC. I think she would have been happier with the CL there.

I'm sorry your friends aren't having a good experience. As GADisneyDad posted, AKL CL is set up differently from other CLs in that CL rooms are not on the CL floor, which (unfortunately) makes being close to the lounge not really possible. If they're really that unhappy and have a few days left, I second DisneyDad's suggestion of asking to be moved to a different resort. Other than that, I don't really know of anything else they can do. With that said, I hope they can manage to enjoy the rest of their time there .

 

[ColoradoMom12]

Tough situation. That’s one reason why I don’t give friends Disney advice or recommendations. All you DIS strangers, sure... friends... no way! Ha! Kidding... kind of.

I am exactly the same! When friends approach me asking for Disney advice, I point them in the direction of Disney resources but try not to offer any suggestions. Actually the one piece of advice I do offer is to plan early. When friends say in about January that they are considering planning a trip for spring break,
I tell them Disney typically requires more advance planning than that, especially given my location as most families will not travel to Disney more than maybe once or twice.

 

[Rachel GB]

Have a great trip!



I'm sorry your friends aren't having a good experience. As GADisneyDad posted, AKL CL is set up differently from other CLs in that CL rooms are not on the CL floor, which (unfortunately) makes being close to the lounge not really possible. If they're really that unhappy and have a few days left, I second DisneyDad's suggestion of asking to be moved to a different resort. Other than that, I don't really know of anything else they can do. With that said, I hope they can manage to enjoy the rest of their time there .

Thanks for your reply! I'm sure they'll still enjoy it- they're at Disney !

 

[mrsap]

Sorry corrected below!

 

[mrsap]

A friend of mine is at WDW right now on the second half of a YC (non-CL)/ AKL CL stay. She has never stayed CL before and I convinced her that she absolutely MUST (although I did suggest YC CL)! Surprisingly, she's very disappointed in AKL CL and room quality. She said the bed was "awful", and the bathrooms were "same size as value" resorts. They weren't fans of the food (other than breakfast). I suggested she ask the lounge CMs for something from the kitchen they may like that was offered during a different service (ie. certain kind of cookie, etc.) as they're so accommodating. She did, however, they didn't fulfill her request. Their room is also two floors from the lounge. She clocked a 7 minute walk from her room to the lounge. I feel awful for heavily recommending CL to her as they're so unhappy! Any recommendations to help her out while she's there? TIA!
P.S. She did love YC. I think she would have been happier with the CL there.

It’s hard... I am the same way. I LOVE Disney, and just assume everyone else will love it too. My DH’s co-worker and his family went a couple years ago... we gave them all the advice we could before they left. When they got back, they said it was the worst vacation they’ve ever been on and would never go back. They now refer to Disney as ‘Hell’ when we talk about it. Different strokes for different folks, I guess! I’m sure your friend will be just fine. It’s still vacation, how bad can it be???

 

[mickeynut1]

Thanks for your reply! I'm sure they'll still enjoy it- they're at Disney !

 

[focusondisney]

I just switched our stay next month to CL at the Beach Club. I kept getting an error trying to book it, saying the room category was no longer available. I persisted and eventually got it to go through. The rate with the passholder discount now for the same dates as I booked earlier is quite a bit more than the rate I had. When I booked, it was about a 35% savings. Right now it’s less than $100 off the rack rate. I didn’t realize passholder discounts (for the exact same range of dates) could fluctuate like that.

It is possible that the discount is now available for only some if the dates, not all of them. You can tell by clicking the rate details button, it will list the rate for each day. I have found that you can book the whole stay even if some days are at rack rate & some discounted. So when you booked your stay, you might have had more discounted nights available. The website combines all nights to give you the average per night with discount included unless you click the rate details button.

Plus inventory is constantly changing. Example: I booked an AP discount at YC for April 20 - 27 when the discounts were first released. However, the first night was not discounted. I kept checking several times a day for different combinations of dates to see if I could get the AP rate for that first night. A few weeks ago I was able to find an AP discount for a one night reservation for the night I needed. It was late at night so I quick booked it. The next morning I called CRO & with the help of guest services the CM was able to drop the first full priced night from my original reservation. So I did need to make 2 reservations & pay 2 deposits, but I got the discounts I wanted for the whole stay. And I did recheck after I booked the single night. It no longer showed up in the search so I got the only discounted room available. Sometimes things come & go quickly.

 

[NYCgrrl]

A friend of mine is at WDW right now on the second half of a YC (non-CL)/ AKL CL stay. She has never stayed CL before and I convinced her that she absolutely MUST (although I did suggest YC CL)! Surprisingly, she's very disappointed in AKL CL and room quality. She said the bed was "awful", and the bathrooms were "same size as value" resorts. They weren't fans of the food (other than breakfast). I suggested she ask the lounge CMs for something from the kitchen they may like that was offered during a different service (ie. certain kind of cookie, etc.) as they're so accommodating. She did, however, they didn't fulfill her request. Their room is also two floors from the lounge. She clocked a 7 minute walk from her room to the lounge. I feel awful for heavily recommending CL to her as they're so unhappy! Any recommendations to help her out while she's there? TIA!
P.S. She did love YC. I think she would have been happier with the CL there.

Can't think of anything more to suggest to her so just keep in mind that we are all responsible for our own happiness.
Here's hoping your friend finds her sweet spot before she returns home.

Oh and if it's any help my older sister and I get along like 2 peas in a pod for most life situs but when it comes to vacations all bets are off. She thinks I'm crazy for going to Disney and wild horses wouldn't allow me to stay at the Intercontinental in Paris. We give each other general vac info mostly revolving around saving money and times to visit museums (See that? We both like museums, LOL!) but when she tells me about the wondrous American style breakfasts at her hotel and how all the employees speak excellent English I just say "Uhuh that's nice" and move to a different topic.

 

[focusondisney]

A friend of mine is at WDW right now on the second half of a YC (non-CL)/ AKL CL stay. She has never stayed CL before and I convinced her that she absolutely MUST (although I did suggest YC CL)! Surprisingly, she's very disappointed in AKL CL and room quality. She said the bed was "awful", and the bathrooms were "same size as value" resorts. They weren't fans of the food (other than breakfast). I suggested she ask the lounge CMs for something from the kitchen they may like that was offered during a different service (ie. certain kind of cookie, etc.) as they're so accommodating. She did, however, they didn't fulfill her request. Their room is also two floors from the lounge. She clocked a 7 minute walk from her room to the lounge. I feel awful for heavily recommending CL to her as they're so unhappy! Any recommendations to help her out while she's there? TIA!
P.S. She did love YC. I think she would have been happier with the CL there.

Ugh, hard situation. Did your friends intend to book AKL anyway? And just took your advice for club level? I wonder how much research they did on the resort beforehand. We are YC regulars for about 20 years. It is our favorite resort. We have done club level at YC regularly but also at BC, CR, BWI & GF RPC. I have never had the desire to stay at AKL at all & we would never do CL there. We have absolutely no interest in the types of food offered there & the rooms don’t appeal to us either.

But I know what we like & have researched AK & know it wouldn’t be a “fit” for us. Everyone is so different in their tastes & preferences so what one person loves, someone else hates. So like other posters, I don’t give much advice to friends or family who are going. I will tell them this is what we do & like. But I never say you should do this or that. I don’t want to be responsible if they don’t like it as much as I do. Especially with what a Disney trip costs.