Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[focusondisney]

Hi there! I was wondering if I can get an opinion if paying for the extra fast passes is worth it at Club level this August if I am at Disney for four days. Thank you!

We have done them twice. I think the biggest drawback/ consideration is how long you have to be in the parks to use them. We aren’t park commandos usually are only in the park for in the mornings. The first time we used them, I planned all the FPs in a row. Six hours in a row in the park did Not make us happy. So the next time, I planned differently. I did 1 paid FP & our regular ones early in the day. I did my regular FPs after the paid ones so I try to move them up as we used them, or get another after we used the prescheduled ones. Then I used the other 2 paid ones on headliners at a different park late in the day. That way we got the advantage of avoiding the tier restrictions & maximized our morning hours too. There is a whole thread on the theme parks forum :

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...se-program-planning-discussion.3657573/unread

The other thing to consider is that you are paying to stay club level. Will you want to be in the lounge for food service times? Depending on which hotel you’re at, which park you are doing that day & how you plan things, it might not be easy to return for appetizers or desserts etc. Will that make a difference to you?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Hello!
I'm totally new to posting on the DIS boards, but I have been stalking them for years. I tried to go back on this thread the last few months and haven't really seen any posts about the Poly CL. My husband and I were there for our anniversary a few years back and enjoyed it so much we booked it to celebrate again this July. Any recent posts or updates? I am hoping that it's still as great as I remembered. Thanks!

How far is a “few years back”? Poly CL has had a lot of changes over the last few years. I would say search back on my posts on this thread, but you’d have to filter through a bunch of misc chatter.

Poly CL is a personal favorite of mine, I’m happy to answer any questions / post pics as needed. I was last there late Dec/early Jan.

 

[AngiTN]

Hi there! I was wondering if I can get an opinion if paying for the extra fast passes is worth it at Club level this August if I am at Disney for four days. Thank you!

I don't do them. I don't find a reason to. I don't like that they are only changeable by the staff. We always ride all we want without them. Without giving them more money. You may find all you want, and then some, in the thread dedicated to the CL FP program.

 

[AngiTN]

We have done them twice. I think the biggest drawback/ consideration is how long you have to be in the parks to use them. We aren’t park commandos usually are only in the park for in the mornings. The first time we used them, I planned all the FPs in a row. Six hours in a row in the park did Not make us happy. So the next time, I planned differently. I did 1 paid FP & our regular ones early in the day. I did my regular FPs after the paid ones so I try to move them up as we used them, or get another after we used the prescheduled ones. Then I used the other 2 paid ones on headliners at a different park late in the day. That way we got the advantage of avoiding the tier restrictions & maximized our morning hours too. There is a whole thread on the theme parks forum :

https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...se-program-planning-discussion.3657573/unread

The other thing to consider is that you are paying to stay club level. Will you want to be in the lounge for food service times? Depending on which hotel you’re at, which park you are doing that day & how you plan things, it might not be easy to return for appetizers or desserts etc. Will that make a difference to you?

Funny you mention that. There's been several instances where I've gotten 3 anytime FP as pixie dust from staff for various reasons. I'm not sure we've ever used them all. 1 maybe but really, we end up letting them expire. I feel really bad, the staff is always being so sweet to set them up for us. I don't want to turn them down, I do think at the outset we'll use them but in practice, it's really hard to use that many for us.

 

[auntfrannie]

Hi there! I was wondering if I can get an opinion if paying for the extra fast passes is worth it at Club level this August if I am at Disney for four days. Thank you!

For a short trip I think it's worth it for someone that hasn't been to Disney in a while. I used it last August on a trip with my niece and her husband. It had been 5 years since their last trip and with so many big rides that were new to them, I wanted to make sure they didn't miss them. On my solo trips I don't bother because I go a few times each year.

What I thought really made it worthwhile was the ability to book the 3 CL passes regardless of tier levels.

 

[KerryCM]

On my way to the airport for my second trip in a week! This trip will be totally different. I plan on a relaxing trip with my husband and enjoying the lounge and the pool. I loved being with my granddaughter and daughter in law, but I was exhausted when I got home Monday! Piper’s team placed second in Nationals and I was so proud of her. The cast at the Innkeepers Club sprinkled all kinds of pixie dust on her and she had a great time.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Hi there! I was wondering if I can get an opinion if paying for the extra fast passes is worth it at Club level this August if I am at Disney for four days. Thank you!

As you can see, you’ll get a range of opinions on the topic. The only thing I’ll add is that some folks on this thread (myself included) are relatively frequent WDW visitors and may or may not find the program useful because we’re not commandos, tour in a more relaxed way, are well versed in refreshing for FPs, or whatever the case may be. If any given trip were our once every few years or once ever shot at WDW, I would find the program much more appealing. The ability to cross tiers, especially now at DHS with two popular rides going FP (MFSR and MMRR) can be incredibly helpful.

So like most things WDW, it’s not a one size fits all answer. Similar to the posts above I found that it didn’t really fit our style (we’re maybe 1/3 parks, 2/3 resorts, or sometimes 1/2 and 1/2), but others (especially on the linked thread above) have been happy as clams, so it really comes down to your individual goals/objectives.

My 0.01 cent.

 

[Crazyhorse]

On my way to the airport for my second trip in a week! This trip will be totally different. I plan on a relaxing trip with my husband and enjoying the lounge and the pool. I loved being with my granddaughter and daughter in law, but I was exhausted when I got home Monday! Piper’s team placed second in Nationals and I was so proud of her. The cast at the Innkeepers Club sprinkled all kinds of pixie dust on her and she had a great time.

Gotta post pix or it didn't happen.

 

[KerryCM]

Gotta post pix or it didn't happen.

I sure will! Anything in particular you wan to see?

 

[mickeynut1]

CL Question: We have the chance (and are currently booked at) to do YC CL for July 4-11. In the past we have stayed at Contemporary CL and a split at BC/Contemporary CL. My family (especially my kids) love the contemporary (I think they truly love that monrail and it was their first resort). I can do another split stay this year with YC and Contemporary CL, but it will increase our cost about $600. If it were you would you just stay at YC CL or would you do the split stay to have the best of both worlds? I appreciate your feedback!

That's tough as I'm not one for split stays, but I love both YC & CR CLs. With that said, I think I'd save the $600 and stick with YC CL the whole time. Hope you have a great trip .

Hello!
I'm totally new to posting on the DIS boards, but I have been stalking them for years. I tried to go back on this thread the last few months and haven't really seen any posts about the Poly CL. My husband and I were there for our anniversary a few years back and enjoyed it so much we booked it to celebrate again this July. Any recent posts or updates? I am hoping that it's still as great as I remembered. Thanks!

I can't help with recent info as my first (and only) Poly CL stay was Oct 2018, but I wanted to say welcome to the Disboards .....and I hope you have a great trip!

 

[CogsworthTN]

I sure will! Anything in particular you wan to see?

I would love to see the food offerings. Have a great trip.

 

[daisyx3]

For a short trip I think it's worth it for someone that hasn't been to Disney in a while. I used it last August on a trip with my niece and her husband. It had been 5 years since their last trip and with so many big rides that were new to them, I wanted to make sure they didn't miss them. On my solo trips I don't bother because I go a few times each year.

What I thought really made it worthwhile was the ability to book the 3 CL passes regardless of tier levels.

This is why we are doing it, especially at DHS. We were at DHS last spring with my daughter and my grandson but she was pregnant and he was too short, so we have not ridden Slinky Dog. DH and I rode Rock and Roller while they waited, but for all four of us we rode TSMM, which we had already ridden. I will be wanting to ride all three tier 1 rides (Slinky, Runaway Railroad, and Smuggler's Run). And the minimum is 3 days, so we will also do one day at AK and one at Epcot. We may not even use all six, but we will be able to try everything--especially if we get a boarding group.
I like the idea of splitting them up time-wise.

 

[kylenne]

Hi there! I was wondering if I can get an opinion if paying for the extra fast passes is worth it at Club level this August if I am at Disney for four days. Thank you!

Just to add another opinion, we ultimately decided to add on the 3 day minimum despite the fact that I go fairly often, we have a 10 day trip, and we are not generally park commandos. Our usual touring style is rope drop and then an afternoon break at the resort, then go back in the evening, sometimes to a different park. So at first we weren't thinking about CL FP at all. But we changed our minds, 100% due to the tier situation at HS. I was starting to get really stressed out with all the constant changes with park hours, tiers, etc. especially since our main HS day will be May the 4th. I saw it as paying for the peace of mind so that all we will have to worry about is getting a BG for RotR. I booked them at our 90 day mark the other day and split them up with our regular FPs so that we still have time for our afternoon breaks (I listed them out on the thread folks linked you). We even have a hopper day built in where we do the Pandora rides and a couple other AK rides in the morning, then Epcot for Soarin, TT and dinner that night. It does mean that we likely won't be able to refresh our way to more FPs, and if we had a shorter trip I would be more concerned about that, but we have a couple of After Hours events planned, and more than just three park days available to us.

It will be interesting to see how it goes. I really like how we ended up setting it up on paper, though. We wanted to have a more relaxing trip with a minimum of rope dropping and more resort time even before we upgraded to CL, and now that we did, we obviously want to utilize the lounge. So I feel like this will give us more flexibility for the rest of the trip.

 

[Crazyhorse]

I sure will! Anything in particular you wan to see?

We're 62 days out from our stolen stay at the BWI Garden Suites....happy to see anything at this point! Enjoy!

 

[NKL]

How far is a “few years back”? Poly CL has had a lot of changes over the last few years. I would say search back on my posts on this thread, but you’d have to filter through a bunch of misc chatter.

Poly CL is a personal favorite of mine, I’m happy to answer any questions / post pics as needed. I was last there late Dec/early Jan.

It was July 2018, so not too far back.

 

[lissiesmum]

I sure will! Anything in particular you wan to see?

Kerry, are you staying at BWI again? Please if you could, post lots of pics of food offerings in the evening

 

[KerryCM]

Kerry, are you staying at BWI again? Please if you could, post lots of pics of food offerings in the evening

I am, and will post pictures for you.

 

[lissiesmum]

I am, and will post pictures for you.

Kerry, thank you! We are going in July and my teen daughter is very fussy! It will ease our minds if we see recent pics

 

[GADisneyDad14]

It was July 2018, so not too far back.

The years blend together a little for me, so things may be pretty similar. Evening apps these days are 3-4 small plate items with a relatively heavy emphasis on Polynesian / Hawaiian type items/flavors. The dishes are borderline exotic compared to a few years ago where meatballs and sticky wings were more common. The small plate items these days are legit small plates - like a bite or two each. I like the current evenings offerings but sometimes I do wish they were a little more substantial.

Daytime continues to be make your own lettuce wraps with noodles, various topics, and either chicken or shrimp depending on the day. Plus various nuts, veggies, and house made chips.

Mornings have been static for several years now, more or less, although they recently switched to in-shell hard-boiled eggs vs already shelled (I’m not a fan). Accurate as of early Jan.

There are rumors of a Sept/Oct’ish renovation to the Poly CL rooms and lounge, but that is not confirmed (and it looks like before your trip anyway).

Other than that, things are relatively status quo compared to 2018, in my opinion.

 

[alwayssmile]

Countdown is getting serious. 15 days until poly CL!