Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[JBRB828]

is CL available for next year yet?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

is CL available for next year yet?

No, CL remains an un-bookable room category at the moment.

 

[focusondisney]

We transferred from the Rivera to Yacht yesterday. We are on the 5th floor overlooking SAB and the boat dock. My magic band last nite stopped working for the room. Got the dreaded red light. lol! Anyway when she was fixing the band i asked when they are bringing back club level. She said the rumor is in the fall. I asked before or after the anniversary. She said all they know is sometime this fall. Hope this news helps someone somehow. And SAB did not look crowded also yesterday at around 1.

Hmmm, I wonder if Disney has kept bookings below capacity if CL rooms were included. I mean, so many resorts have no availability for this fall. I’d love to book CL for our September trip. Especially since I had to book BC, because YC has no availability for half our dates.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Hmmm, I wonder if Disney has kept bookings below capacity if CL rooms were included. I mean, so many resorts have no availability for this fall. I’d love to book CL for our September trip. Especially since I had to book BC, because YC has no availability for half our dates.

It would be interesting to know exactly how that is being handled behind the scenes, right!?

 

[Lsyves]

I am waiting too but I wonder what it will look like if/when it does return? I am picturing it super-limited and possibly not worth it. We shall see!

 

[Eastern]

I am waiting too but I wonder what it will look like if/when it does return? I am picturing it super-limited and possibly not worth it. We shall see!

I'm imagining a socially distanced line to get a glass of wine and a small plate which you then take back to your room. Then if you want to get anything else, you have to get in line again.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm picturing a mostly back to normal club lounge by October. I hope I'm right.

 

[Eastern]

I'm picturing a mostly back to normal club lounge by October. I hope I'm right.

I think our perspectives might be influenced by the area of the country we live in. Social distancing is very different depending on where you are located. I live in NJ and visited TX recently and the differences/expectations were night and day.

I am also asking myself, 'if CL came back, not as a multi-choice buffet and lounge area, but as a wine and a prepackaged cheese and crackers package, would I be ok with it?'. I may choose non-CL rooms until people have experienced the new normal and reported back. It's a lot of money to put at risk.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I think our perspectives might be influenced by the area of the country we live in. Social distancing is very different depending on where you are located. I live in NJ and visited TX recently and the differences/expectations were night and day.

I agree. We are in the Chicago suburbs and have tons of restrictions. We mostly observe them here but many people in rural Illinois haven't followed them in ages. But that fact that our very cautious governor has set of date of June 11th for reopening our state gives me immense hope that things will soon be back to normal. Even New York City has plans to reopen soon. The actions of these states have signaled to me that an end is near.

 

[Disneydude2022]

I believe the club levels are still without that type of service although the rooms themselves may be open. Is that the case?

 

[Wood Nymph]

I believe the club levels are still without that type of service although the rooms themselves may be open. Is that the case?

They are putting guests in the rooms that were formerly used for club levels, at least at YC and GF.

 

[Crazyhorse]

I agree. We are in the Chicago suburbs and have tons of restrictions. We mostly observe them here but many people in rural Illinois haven't followed them in ages. But that fact that our very cautious governor has set of date of June 11th for reopening our state gives me immense hope that things will soon be back to normal. Even New York City has plans to reopen soon. The actions of these states have signaled to me that an end is near.

Fellow Chicago suburbanite here. I'm 10 miles from Dyer Indiana and they've been WIDE open for a long time. I have a lot of rural friends who basically don't believe in masks or vaccines. We're fully vaccinated and are hoping to travel soon. Full disclosure..I haven't been inside a restaurant since March 13,2020.
My belief is that Disney will take it very slow and easy. I think it's been mentioned that park reservations will be around at least into 2022. I don't think they will back off their mask policy until 2022. I think the reopened CL will not look like what we're accustomed to and we'll all have to decide if it's worth the extra money. I do have high hopes that in 2022, CL will go back to what we know and love. As mentioned, we do have reservations in early December at both BWI and YC but I'm fully prepared to cancel and push into 2022. It's all about managing expectations. Our AP expires in July and I'm still trying to decide whether to renew or not. At our age, we want what we want and just aren't sure about what to expect.

 

[jods]

I agree. We are in the Chicago suburbs and have tons of restrictions. We mostly observe them here but many people in rural Illinois haven't followed them in ages. But that fact that our very cautious governor has set of date of June 11th for reopening our state gives me immense hope that things will soon be back to normal. Even New York City has plans to reopen soon. The actions of these states have signaled to me that an end is near.

I'm in NYC and it feels like forever I'm just thrilled to have indoor dining back- still distanced. We have temp checks and have to give a name and phone number for contact tracing. Bars are open as of this week though the place we ate at last night still had it blocked off.

 

[Lsyves]

I think our perspectives might be influenced by the area of the country we live in. Social distancing is very different depending on where you are located. I live in NJ and visited TX recently and the differences/expectations were night and day.

I am also asking myself, 'if CL came back, not as a multi-choice buffet and lounge area, but as a wine and a prepackaged cheese and crackers package, would I be ok with it?'. I may choose non-CL rooms until people have experienced the new normal and reported back. It's a lot of money to put at risk.

I am thinking the same. Unless we get zillions of free fast passes or something

 

[chasgeese]

I realize Club Levels are being offered at this time but......

If you had a choice between Club Level at Grand Floridian or Polynesian, which one would you do? What if I had someone in the group that needed a scooter?

If you had a choice between Grand Floridian Main Building Club Level or Outer Building Club Level, which one would you do?

Thank you all for your comments.

The Main Building at GF is probably the best CL on property, but the price increases over the years have just made it too cost prohibitive to justify (and I have a pretty high price threshold, for Disney hotels) for a single hotel room. The Poly/CR starting in the low $700s is already pushing it and I just don’t think RPC is worth $400 more than that already extremely inflated price. If I’m going to pay that price I either want a suite or to be staying at one of the truly great 5 star hotels around the world out there.

I understand why and how Disney can charge so much for its hotels and am willing to pay and love staying CL, but at the end of the day, even the best hotels at Disney are not really world class. They are nice, but not in the same league as true luxury hotels out there charging similar prices (or often less). The RPC just crosses that line where I have to say enough for me. It’s nice, but not that much nicer than other CL’s.

 

[Runnsally]

The Main Building at GF is probably the best CL on property, but the price increases over the year have just made it too cost prohibitive to justify (and I have a pretty high price threshold, for Disney hotels) for a single hotel room. The Poly/CR starting in the low $700s is already pushing it and I just don’t think RPC is worth $400 more than that already extremely inflated price. If I’m going to pay that price I either want a suite or to be staying at one of the truly great 5 star hotels around the world out there.

I understand why and how Disney can charge so much for its hotels and am willing to pay and love staying CL, but at the end of the day, even the best hotels at Disney are not really world class. They are nice, but not in the same league as true luxury hotels out there charging similar prices (or often less). The RPC just crosses that line where I have to say enough for me. It’s nice, but not that much nicer than other CL’s.

100% this

 

[focusondisney]

The Main Building at GF is probably the best CL on property, but the price increases over the year have just made it too cost prohibitive to justify (and I have a pretty high price threshold, for Disney hotels) for a single hotel room. The Poly/CR starting in the low $700s is already pushing it and I just don’t think RPC is worth $400 more than that already extremely inflated price. If I’m going to pay that price I either want a suite or to be staying at one of the truly great 5 star hotels around the world out there.

I understand why and how Disney can charge so much for its hotels and am willing to pay and love staying CL, but at the end of the day, even the best hotels at Disney are not really world class. They are nice, but not in the same league as true luxury hotels out there charging similar prices (or often less). The RPC just crosses that line where I have to say enough for me. It’s nice, but not that much nicer than other CL’s.

No kidding! I was looking at the prices listed on Mousesavers. $1163-$1995 per night for a standard view RPC room before taxes. I loved the times we stayed there, but for crying out loud, that’s more than double what our monthly mortgage payments were. For 1 night! Maybe a 40% AP rate will show up again someday. Of course, by then, it’ll probably be $1200 with the discount.

 

[chasgeese]

No kidding! I was looking at the prices listed on Mousesavers. $1163-$1995 per night for a standard view RPC room before taxes. I loved the times we stayed there, but for crying out loud, that’s more than double what our monthly mortgage payments were. For 1 night! Maybe a 40% AP rate will show up again someday. Of course, by then, it’ll probably be $1200 with the discount.

Lol, exactly. I’m still willing to pay Deluxe prices, and on occasion, CL prices (partially because I go to WDW maybe once every three years, so I’m willing to splurge to make it special when I do go) but the slightly better food (and let’s be real, while it is definitely better than other CL offerings, it doesn’t turn the RPC into a meal replacement or anything) is not enough to justify spending $1100 on a single hotel room. Admittedly, I’m not really a fan of GF because I think the rooms are kind of dowdy, but still it’s just too much. Especially when I take non-Disney trips and can stay at a real luxury hotel for less.

For example, on my last trip anywhere pre-covid in Feb 2020, I went to stay at the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago while visiting my younger sister who’s in grad school there (Peninsula is a hotel chain based in Hong Kong, and it’s one of the best hotel chains in the world, think Four Seasons but even better). I stayed in a giant room with beautiful views of Lake Michigan, smack dab in the center of the Miracle Mile and paid about $375 per night, including a full spa treatment which I gave to my sister after I checked out. I got twice daily room cleaning, the best bed I’ve ever slept in, the ability to control the tv and all lights in the room and even make requests such as room service from an iPad next to my bed, and every request was covered (which was great because I forgot my toiletry bag and they provided me with all the essentials in the brands that I use and a hair brush that actually worked free of charge). They even gave me a 5 pm checkout so my sister could take a nap after she went to the spa! Sure I might have been there at a relatively cheap time for Chicago and I wasn’t a monorail away from the Magic Kingdom, but at a certain point I just have to draw a line. At least until the GF gets a major overhaul, the RPC will still be on the other side of that line for me.

 

[Cheburashka]

I am also asking myself, 'if CL came back, not as a multi-choice buffet and lounge area, but as a wine and a prepackaged cheese and crackers package, would I be ok with it?'.

I don't think that model would be profitable for Disney resorts, which cater primarily to families. The convenience of the easy & kid-friendly breakfast, snacks, etc., is a huge draw for most Disney club level guests. Wine & cheese wouldn't come close to making up for the loss of that, so not many guests would pay the club level premium.

 

[Eastern]

I don't think that model would be profitable for Disney resorts, which cater primarily to families. The convenience of the easy & kid-friendly breakfast, snacks, etc., is a huge draw for most Disney club level guests. Wine & cheese wouldn't come close to making up for the loss of that, so not many guests would pay the club level premium.

I wasn't suggesting they would remove breakfast, just that happy hour might not be as good.