Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[tinydancer312]

I was able to change my reservation to a resort view CL at Poly for our trip in August as part of a triple split stay. Any rooms we want to avoid? First time trying the Poly!

 

[TJA]

We were there in a LV room. We watched the fireworks on the 3rd from our patio, we would have gladly shared with if I knew you were there. There was a bungalow in the way so we couldn't see the castle but had a great view of the fireworks. Watched from the beach on the 4th, we were able to get a nice chair about an hour before. Loved the addition of snacks and drinks on the beach so you didn't have to make trips to the lounge. They had beer but no wine because of glass bottles. The lounge seemed more crowded this time than other 4th of July trips. Didn't even get any appys on the 4th just too many people and no place to sit. No place to sit on the 3rd either so we took it back to the room. The lounge is too small for the amount of rooms in Hawaii plus the suites in Tonga. We missed the water parade too, wonder why they didn't have it

Our plans were so last-minute that I didn't pre-post we would be there, but thank you and it would have been nice to see you! I agree the lounge is way too small considering the number of guests, and we felt it more than usual this trip. However, we enjoyed our stay as usual and still feel Poly is the best place to be over the July 4 holiday! And we got to experience Tuvalu TPV and it was such a fantastic view that I wouldn't hesitate to book that room type again if we can't get or don't want CL.

 

[focusondisney]

What day did you arrive at the BWI? I heard it was very crowded on the 4th. We arrived on the 5th and never had trouble getting a seat at breakfast or evenings. It was like that when they had the chef cooking in the lounge, always a long line for food. I am in the minority and did not like the cooking in the lounge. The food was much better, but I didn't like the smells especially when cooking fish. I am more likely to stay there now that they don't cook in the lounge. I was hoping to meet you, sorry we missed you. WE stay at the YC a lot, maybe our trips will overlap some day.

The PPs description sounds like atrium club not tower club. I just can't imagine it being that busy. There are only 13 or 14 rooms up there. In March there were never many people in the lounge. Most at breakfast but still able to get a seat.

Yea, we were there the 4th - 8th. The evening of the 4th was the worst. We did go to breakfast at 7:25 on Wednesday & we got a table. Thursday we went very late, the lounge was full but we got a seat in the hallway. No seats Wednesday for apps then we didn’t go Thursday apps or Friday morning. Sorry we didn’t get to meet up. I can totally understand being turned off by lingering smells, especially fish! .


I’m sure the rude CM in the lobby colored my experience right from the beginning. The deluxe room is very nice so that helped. Hope to meet you at YC some day!

 

[2vets]

Obsessive checking FTW!!!

I've had two reservations for my Jollywood/Xmas stay (tail end of Nov) - I really wanted to stay at GF and check out the new RPC, but I have had a bad feeling about it possibly not reopening on time (no insider knowledge, but I didn't want to be non-CL for this stay), so I booked BWI standard CL as a backup. I was messing around during a long meeting today, and I saw that a BWI deluxe room was available for one night stays on the 29th and again on the 30th for the 25% discount. When I tried for length of stay, though, I couldn't get a discount. So I called, and with a little rigmarole, they were able to get it applied for the length of stay - saved more than $200 over the standard room! And saved quite a bit more compared with GF RPC Dec rack rate, which was utterly obscene.

HOWEVER - they made me cancel GF. Like, the implication was that they weren't going to book the discounted BWI for me unless I let them cancel GF. It was all very sweetly stated, of course. So I folded! I am checking to see if that GF room inventory pops back up, but it doesn't seem to be. I'll be there with my mom in February, though, so I'm cool with it. But they definitely applied some Disney strong-arming!

 

[Maxie86]

Our plans were so last-minute that I didn't pre-post we would be there, but thank you and it would have been nice to see you! I agree the lounge is way too small considering the number of guests, and we felt it more than usual this trip. However, we enjoyed our stay as usual and still feel Poly is the best place to be over the July 4 holiday! And we got to experience Tuvalu TPV and it was such a fantastic view that I wouldn't hesitate to book that room type again if we can't get or don't want CL.

Sounds like you had a very nice substitute for CL.

 

[Richie248]

Found gran destino club over thanksgiving week, roughly same price as regular savanna view at AKL or no discount WL resort view… help!

CSR/Gran Destino CL is my favorite! Can't beat it! I would go with CL at CSR!

 

[SkyGuy]

Found gran destino club over thanksgiving week, roughly same price as regular savanna view at AKL or no discount WL resort view… help!

Love Chronos Club, and I love the vibe at CSR, so I would choose that. However, CSR is a moderate and not a deluxe, so if you were planning on utilizing the extra evening hours, you would lose out on those.

 

[disneyhayley206]

@disneyhayley206 I’m pretty sure BC and YC lounges share the same kitchen and it’s basically the same food. We stayed CL at YC in September after trying to decide between the two mainly for the guarantee of having a balcony. BC room can have tiny or even “Juliette style” balconies. We totally fell in love with the pool, you are going to love it. We have BC booked for the end of the month this time though just bc it was a better price.

Thank you so much, that's good to know. I had heard that about beach club, so do all yacht club rooms have full balconies then?

 

[Dave006]

Thank you so much, that's good to know. I had heard that about beach club, so do all yacht club rooms have full balconies then?

Almost all CL rooms at the YC have a full balcony except for 5163. The building / roof facade blocks where the balcony would be located (note: there is no balcony of any type just a solid wall. However there is a band of windows that overlook the Wedding Gazebo and the room is slightly bigger as it has a hallway from the guest room door along the windows.



Dave

 

[KellyKateri]

You found club for $560?? That’s an awesome rate.
Eeeeep, sorry, 583 on Wed, 584 on Thurs!! Still too good to not grab it!! I need to fix my post!!

Exactly how I feel about my $545 week night rate for yacht in late aug/early september, so excited!

 

[RapunzelRN]

I’ve already posted but didn’t get a response so am wondering if anyone can answer this.

We are checking out of BWI CL into DVC at BWV. On check out day, how long would we have access to the club level lounge? Trying to plan the day. Thanks for any input!

 

[dansdad]

I’ve already posted but didn’t get a response so am wondering if anyone can answer this.

We are checking out of BWI CL into DVC at BWV. On check out day, how long would we have access to the club level lounge? Trying to plan the day. Thanks for any input!

Until the lounge closes, which I believe is 10PM.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Oh - we deeply missed the patriotic water parade during the fireworks! When did that stop?? It added so much to the show....

I need to go back and check my pics and the Covid years off mess my head up when thinking about timelines/history, but it’s been a few years. They used to pull them out for NYE as well for audio but stopped that too. In some ways it may be for the better though, I recall one time (it was either 7/3-4 or 12/30-31) when the audio from the barges was slightly out of sync from the resort audio and it was an echoing mess.

But anyway, it was great to read your report. Just like old times!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Just booked a quick vacation for Stone Harbor Club. It's our first stay at BC and are quite excited for Stormalong Bay. Just curious for the pool area, is there a preferred area to get a chair with kids under 9? I'd love to get under an umbrella. I've never really paid much attention to the pool and seating areas, so I'll be going in blind so to speak.
We've done Atrium Club and Kilimanjaro Club and enjoyed those. I'm hoping SHC will have died down a bit from the review above about July 4th. Atrium Club was next to empty when we stayed there (second week that they opened after Covid shutdown of lounges), and Kilimanjaro definitely felt much busier last November.

A PP said the same thing but I’d strongly recommend a table over around the sandy area on the YC side. My kids spend hours there and it’s a good spot to keep an eye on things. It’s worth the extra steps over to that side of the pool, IMHO.

BTW, not sure of your exact ages and how much freedom they have, but if you have ones you need to see/be with all the time get ready for a workout running around SAB all day, especially if they like the slide (which you access by leaving the pool fenced area).

Enjoy your stay!

 

[GADisneyDad14]

If it makes any newcomers or those on the fence feel better, talk of lounge crowding has ebbed and flowed forever on the 2,000+ pages of this thread. For every time I’ve been annoyed at no space in the (insert CL name) lounge, there’s usually an offsetting moment of peace, quiet, tranquility, or convenience at some point during the day. Grabbing breakfast at Cap’t Cooks isn’t exactly all candy canes and roses either, I try to remind myself.

No season is immune but I find crowding reports tend to increase on the margins during the summer - it’s hot and people are more likely to be “around” the resort/pools looking for respite. Throw in a storm and everyone rushes to the lounges and from there it’s a downward spiral. It’s a good recipe for big swings.

No doubt it can spoil things. We pretty much swore off BWI after our one stay there 2018’ish (February by the way) with one of the main contributors being we could never find a seat and it just wasn’t very fun over the course of a few days. But BWI is pretty universally loved around here so I know it must have just been my luck that particular trip. Hard to keep a calm perspective about it though since we all want each trip to be perfect and magical.

Anyway, long winded way of saying I wouldn’t worry about it all that much. All lounges will have ebbs and flows so knowing that going in should help and hopefully it’s just part of the many variables (some good and some not so too) that make up a WDW vacation.

 

[trishadono]

If it makes any newcomers or those on the fence feel better, talk of lounge crowding has ebbed and flowed forever on the 2,000+ pages of this thread. For every time I’ve been annoyed at no space in the (insert CL name) lounge, there’s usually an offsetting moment of peace, quiet, tranquility, or convenience at some point during the day. Grabbing breakfast at Cap’t Cooks isn’t exactly all candy canes and roses either, I try to remind myself.

No season is immune but I find crowding reports tend to increase on the margins during the summer - it’s hot and people are more likely to be “around” the resort/pools looking for respite. Throw in a storm and everyone rushes to the lounges and from there it’s a downward spiral. It’s a good recipe for big swings.

No doubt it can spoil things. We pretty much swore off BWI after our one stay there 2018’ish (February by the way) with one of the main contributors being we could never find a seat and it just wasn’t very fun over the course of a few days. But BWI is pretty universally loved around here so I know it must have just been my luck that particular trip. Hard to keep a calm perspective about it though since we all want each trip to be perfect and magical.

Anyway, long winded way of saying I wouldn’t worry about it all that much. All lounges will have ebbs and flows so knowing that going in should help and hopefully it’s just part of the many variables (some good and some not so too) that make up a WDW vacation.

Candy canes n roses. That’s a new one.
Good to see you back! You have been missed

 

[trishadono]

So DD28 a huge Taylor Swift fan. ‘Mom you got me D23 Tron preview, D23 in September and last year AP preview for GOTG. So you HAVE TO get a Ticketmaster account and sign up for the Eras tour. “

OK then. How it works, they email you that you have a chance to book or you are on a waiting list.

Yep I got chance to book Paris!

2:45 am I was on today. Booking window for 3 here, 9 am Paris. Keep checking, no movement. Ever done a Queue it ? Wait for the man walk across the screen until it’s your turn? It’s a nightmare!

So again Ticketmaster epic fail and they scratched it and I have to wait for another day,.

Meanwhile back at the ranch…. Dd and I decide Disneyland Paris is so close, why not?

Anybody do CL at Paris? Any help? Pm me if needed.

Je m‘appelle Trish

About all I can remember HS was over 40 years ago

 

[Stacey25]

Hello everyone! I am currently here at Beach Club for 6 nights. We arrived on Friday and we were upgraded from resort view to a wonderful water view of the lagoon and Boardwalk! Club level has been…just ok. We had a much better experience last year at Yacht with their offerings. Breakfast and dinner has been pretty decent. The dessert offerings are quite frankly abysmal. There were zero plates even available tonight. People stood around for a while looking. I eventually put my cupcake on a napkin and sat down Each night has only had just a few items. Very sparse. I took some pics about an hour ago of the offerings.

 

[French Slushie]

If it makes any newcomers or those on the fence feel better, talk of lounge crowding has ebbed and flowed forever on the 2,000+ pages of this thread. For every time I’ve been annoyed at no space in the (insert CL name) lounge, there’s usually an offsetting moment of peace, quiet, tranquility, or convenience at some point during the day. Grabbing breakfast at Cap’t Cooks isn’t exactly all candy canes and roses either, I try to remind myself.

No season is immune but I find crowding reports tend to increase on the margins during the summer - it’s hot and people are more likely to be “around” the resort/pools looking for respite. Throw in a storm and everyone rushes to the lounges and from there it’s a downward spiral. It’s a good recipe for big swings.

No doubt it can spoil things. We pretty much swore off BWI after our one stay there 2018’ish (February by the way) with one of the main contributors being we could never find a seat and it just wasn’t very fun over the course of a few days. But BWI is pretty universally loved around here so I know it must have just been my luck that particular trip. Hard to keep a calm perspective about it though since we all want each trip to be perfect and magical.

Anyway, long winded way of saying I wouldn’t worry about it all that much. All lounges will have ebbs and flows so knowing that going in should help and hopefully it’s just part of the many variables (some good and some not so too) that make up a WDW vacation.

This is a very balanced post and it does a great job of pointing out how widely experiences can vary and that so many factors can make or break a situation. First impressions don't always tell the whole story. Of all of the negative experiences that have been mentioned on the last several pages, the one thing I find really unforgiveable and completely preventable is the story someone posted about non club level guests being given club access as an upgrade. It's totally unfair to give a bunch of people something for free when it causes the people who actually paid a premium to be crowded out. That one is mind boggling to me and I'd be mad enough to insist that my room rate be adjusted to a non club rate. Normally I'm one to just walk away and go find another place to eat, drink, or sit if the club is busy but in that situation I would take a stand. I felt really bad for that poster.

 

[2vets]

Meanwhile back at the ranch…. Dd and I decide Disneyland Paris is so close, why not?

Anybody do CL at Paris? Any help? Pm me if needed.

Je m‘appelle Trish

About all I can remember HS was over 40 years ago

It was only a matter of time!!