Resort Thread Disney's Club Level (CL) Thread

[GGGT]

A couple more photos. Tortellini Salad at RPC and some photos of yesterday's beautiful sunrise from Conch Key TPV room.
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Thanks for the great/detailed report and of course the wonderful pictures. Glad you had such a great time! We'll be there next week, how are the refurbishments going? Were they obtrusive?

 

[aboveH20]

Thank you to all who took the time to reply to my CL vs DVC queries. As I suspected, it's like comparing apples to alpacas.

It’s a great question .

Responding subjectively and based solely on personal experiences and preferences, we do DVC because it provides a true “home away from home” experience and you’d better believe we just make our own CL lol. That being said, we do own at AKL pretty much solely for the CL access and stay 4-5 weeks total there annually…best of both worlds .

We like the feeling of “all-inclusive” and padding out of the room to get food or liquid sustenance of some kind, and it just “feels” different from getting something out of your room fridge. Purely psychological, I know, but I personally would never want to give up our CL stays…or our DVC stays! I know that this is likely an incredibly unhelpful response, but the gist of it is that we would not want to choose or “graduate” to lose one or the other because they’re both wonderful vacations in their own way .

". . .4-6 weeks annually. . ."

When we first went to Disney, we stayed off property. A friend of ours gifted us her timeshare for that stay and that’s how we visited Disney for the first few years. We didn’t know we were missing out on anything!! lol Then DH’s co-worker told us he was staying WL CL, and wanted to come to Disney the same time as us. We planned on going to dinner one evening. He told us to meet him at WL, said we had to see it. He only stayed at WL CL, and literally everyone knew him by first name! lol It was late November and the tree was up!! He gave us a tour of his room and showed us around the CL lounge (desserts were out). I don’t think our jaws got off the floor during our little tour. We were blown away lol Needless to say, we stayed WL CL the next 4 years, and once construction started on CCV, we started trying other resort CL’s. We’d go to Disney once a year for 2 weeks - one week off property (we loved the off-site property we had originally stayed at) and then a week or so at Disney CL. But we wanted more A friend of ours had DVC, but we knew there was no Club level, so we avoided it at first. Then once Copper Creek was opening, and they offered Club Level, we were in!!!! Unfortunately, that CL sucked and was short lived, but it was enough to get our feet in the door. We started out going to Disney once a year for 2 weeks, and since buying into DVC, we added two more trips each year. We love being there, so it works for us! We still do Club level stays too! No reason why you can’t do both!! Funny, DVC Members are currently receiving surveys from Disney asking if we’d be interested in using our points for Club Level stays!! Best of both worlds would be wonderful. Sorry this was so long! Enjoy!

"No reason why you can't do both!!" Can I use your name when I mention this to my husband?

IMO, big picture, they are two pretty different products. Personally, I don’t own DVC and while I’ve occasionally looked into it, it’s not the best fit for our particular lifestyle or vacation plans. That said, if I look back at what I’ve paid for CL rooms/suites over the years, I’d probably have way more points than I’d care to admit and likely would have ‘saved’ a ton of money. But the booking/planning/locked in nature of it just doesn’t work for us - I book and cancel a lot, I do last minute trips a lot, I tinker a lot - and while I know I could still conceivably do this with DVC, it’s less flexible. Kids are 13 and 9 just for context as that influences a lot of my thought process.

Early on I was also like “this is just a phase in our lives with kids, it’ll pass” and we didn’t want to feel locked in to Disney. As time went on we realized it was a place we all continue to enjoy as we march through life’s phases, but planning habits change - we need to navigate around increasingly complex and demanding school and sports schedules, parent health issues are more of a real fact of life, we like to do other things outside of WDW. Multiple short trips have replaced longer stays, at least for the foreseeable few years.

I must admit right after Covid Disney moved me from Poly CL (closed at the time) to a BLT 2BR - I loved that room so much I ran some serious numbers. As CL continued to be closed we later stayed in a Bungalow (gimmicky, IMHO), and sometime after that a WL Cabin (best accommodation on property, IMHO) - that one had me really considering it.

But the CL product just works better for what we want - I don’t need a kitchen, don’t care to mess with groceries on vacation, we’re four so can get by in a normal room and pay for a suite if we want something larger, I like the ‘pampering’ of having the CL lounge and CMs for small conveniences, etc. I like knowing where my room will be (generally) and for some the views provided. Probably hard to argue any of that is ‘worth it’ financially but it works for us.

I don’t know - maybe someday when we have the flexibility for longer stays I’ll reevaluate. I am mildly intrigued by the FW DVC Cabins and maybe Poly tower (although not sure I want to financially support that one, can’t tell if I love it or hate it, lol).

Thanks for your insights. I know I would much prefer CL, I've never even rented DVC points (leery of the non-cancelable claus). Strangely one of the foods I think about most is a croissant with their marmalade butter spread. Obviously something I could make home, but the ambience here is lacking. I also have no interest in a kitchenette.

I still go back and forth about my upcoming trip. On the one hand I picture staying in a resort room and having $400 spread on my bed every day to spend however I wish. On the other hand, I have a birthday ending in zero coming up and if that's not a good enought excuse, what it!

I was also interested in your comments about FW. Traveling solo I'm not sure I'd feel safe there, but it is a resort I'm otherwise interested in. May have to invite my husband.

 

[champagne&disney]

Thank you to all who took the time to reply to my CL vs DVC queries. As I suspected, it's like comparing apples to alpacas.



". . .4-6 weeks annually. . ."



"No reason why you can't do both!!" Can I use your name when I mention this to my husband?



Thanks for your insights. I know I would much prefer CL, I've never even rented DVC points (leery of the non-cancelable claus). Strangely one of the foods I think about most is a croissant with their marmalade butter spread. Obviously something I could make home, but the ambience here is lacking. I also have no interest in a kitchenette.

I still go back and forth about my upcoming trip. On the one hand I picture staying in a resort room and having $400 spread on my bed every day to spend however I wish. On the other hand, I have a birthday ending in zero coming up and if that's not a good enought excuse, what it!

I was also interested in your comments about FW. Traveling solo I'm not sure I'd feel safe there, but it is a resort I'm otherwise interested in. May have to invite my husband.

I stay at the Cabins at FW alone with my dog and we have the best time!

I’m a huge fan and I’m sad it’s going DVC but hoping for the best.

 

[jemtx]

I have BWI Deluxe cl 11/26-28 and Poly LV CL 11/28-30.

Let me know if need room, lounge or food pix/info.

Looking forward to seeing BWI . The pix look so nice!

I haven’t had lagoon side poly since like 9/19! GV cl popped up in the night when my grand pup woke me up. But I decided it was WORTH it this last affordable time to hear all of the boat horns, and see EWP, Castle, CR and GF from my room

I have many things to be thankful for this year so I won’t list them all but one last Club Level trip? On the LIST

How was your Poly CL? I noticed the GV CL pop up for the trip I have already booked at YC CL.

Nevermind, I just realize (or read) that you ended up switching your reservation to GF RPC.

 

[daisyduckismyqueen]

@daisyduckismyqueen - good luck with Dopey and those stairs in that room.

That’s good to hear. Although as I could barely handle the Epcot monorail ramp after Dopey this year the idea of climbing a fight of stairs to my bed that night is a non-starter for me!

I can play the one-up game... I flew home Sunday night after the full. When I finally landed home in Nashville, I had a full blown melt down until my boyfriend agreed to roll me to bag claim in a wheel chair After making it through that I think I can do anything lol

 

[gottalovepluto]

…As I suspected, it's like comparing apples to alpacas…

Am. Dying.

 

[sdk1231]

Thanks for the great/detailed report and of course the wonderful pictures. Glad you had such a great time! We'll be there next week, how are the refurbishments going? Were they obtrusive?

Refurbishments were not at all obtrusive. Renos inside the main building are done for now. Exterior sections still under refurb are few. There are limited construction walls and scaffolding here and there on the back & side of the main building. A very little bit of construction was going on on the front, kind of near the antique car. I couldn't really see what it was, and barely noticed it. In terms of Club Level, the CL balconies that are under refurbishment are not visible. The windows have been "frosted" so you can't see the construction. (I honestly thought the window frost was part of the Christmas decor LOL). As far as noise... I didn't experience any construction noise during my entire stay, either in CL or in Outer Building.

 

[GGGT]

Refurbishments were not at all obtrusive. Renos inside the main building are done for now. Exterior sections still under refurb are few. There are limited construction walls and scaffolding here and there on the back & side of the main building. A very little bit of construction was going on on the front, kind of near the antique car. I couldn't really see what it was, and barely noticed it. In terms of Club Level, the CL balconies that are under refurbishment are not visible. The windows have been "frosted" so you can't see the construction. (I honestly thought the window frost was part of the Christmas decor LOL). As far as noise... I didn't experience any construction noise during my entire stay, either in CL or in Outer Building.

Thank you!

 

[dnw25]

Good afternoon! We are regular CL at YC and BC. Our last stay was in June at YC.

I’m freaking out a little since I just received a phone call from someone at the YC. He wanted to let me know that the offerings had changed. Still continental breakfast, snacks and appetizers but changed.

He did not sell it or elaborate other to say the options are more varied.

We thought the food was fine in June. What can we expect?

Should I opt out of CL and book more dining? He really did not sell it!

 

[jemtx]

I didn’t know there had been any changes since this past June. I thought the reports indicted that there hadn’t been any changes in the menu since they reopened.

This is making me nervous.

 

[Eastern]

I didn’t know there had been any changes since this past June. I thought the reports indicted that there hadn’t been any changes in the menu since they reopened.

This is making me nervous.

I’m freaking out a little since I just received a phone call from someone at the YC. He wanted to let me know that the offerings had changed. Still continental breakfast, snacks and appetizers but changed.

He did not sell it or elaborate other to say the options are more varied.

We thought the food was fine in June. What can we expect?

Should I opt out of CL and book more dining? He really did not sell it!

I cannot imagine them downgrading the current offerings. Current prices for CL are extremely high, averaging between $900 and $1400 per room, per night, (not suite, those go up to 3k per night) with tax included... especially since it seems from various reports that they were discounting rooms last minute. They have to keep the customers that are continuing to pay, happy. CL used to average about $150-200 extra per night vs std room. Now it is more like $400-500 extra per night.

I just got back from a regular room at BWI, booked TS every night, CS for day, coffee in the room, and spent a lot less than a CL stay. I did not miss it. I would book again if the prices were more reasonable, as I do like the convenience. I did receive a survey about dining after my stay, which was pretty thorough.

 

[Ricguz]

Good afternoon! We are regular CL at YC and BC. Our last stay was in June at YC.

I’m freaking out a little since I just received a phone call from someone at the YC. He wanted to let me know that the offerings had changed. Still continental breakfast, snacks and appetizers but changed.

He did not sell it or elaborate other to say the options are more varied.

We thought the food was fine in June. What can we expect?

Should I opt out of CL and book more dining? He really did not sell it!

I was at YC CL in October/November and there were no changes other than more snacks at midday. I wonder what’s changed?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Is your stay close, like in the next week or so?

 

[Marrila]

Good afternoon! We are regular CL at YC and BC. Our last stay was in June at YC.

I’m freaking out a little since I just received a phone call from someone at the YC. He wanted to let me know that the offerings had changed. Still continental breakfast, snacks and appetizers but changed.

He did not sell it or elaborate other to say the options are more varied.

We thought the food was fine in June. What can we expect?

Should I opt out of CL and book more dining? He really did not sell it!

How soon is your trip?
If it were me I'd probably phone DSS, mention the call and ask for more details.

 

[dnw25]

The CM was adamant that changes had been made. The only thing he wanted to touch base with me other than did I have the phone number for signature services. He literally mentioned the offerings changes 4 times. I finally told him I needed more info since we we torn between CL or regular with more dining. That when he said the offerings were more varied.

I should hope they aren’t downgrading the offerings. The prices are $$$ for what you get already!

 

[dnw25]

We arrive the 21st

 

[Eastern]

He did not sell it or elaborate other to say the options are more varied.

Actually "more varied" sounds good. Maybe he just wasn't in a Disney mood.

 

[jemtx]

I was at YC CL in October/November and there were no changes other than more snacks at midday. I wonder what’s changed?

Maybe they’ve been directed to embellish since the prices have gotten so crazy.

 

[jemtx]

Is your stay close, like in the next week or so?

Mine is.

 

[jemtx]

The CM was adamant that changes had been made. The only thing he wanted to touch base with me other than did I have the phone number for signature services. He literally mentioned the offerings changes 4 times. I finally told him I needed more info since we we torn between CL or regular with more dining. That when he said the offerings were more varied.

I should hope they aren’t downgrading the offerings. The prices are $$$ for what you get already!

Strange. I wish YC CL gave you their direct number. CR did that.