We have had a very long day, waking up at 2:45am to catch our flight to Orlando and checking into the WL about 10:45am. We were greeted by a CL CM and taken upstairs after they fixed some crazy mix up with our credit card.
Anyway, the lodge itself still looks the same except for a few fake walls and potted plants blocking access to the lobby elevators and the south wing. Half of the resort is closed off. All of the guest rooms on the south side are closed now, even the lobby rooms on the south side above the check in desk. They have placed their blockades in the hallways on each floor so that you can't access those outside balconies that face Bay Lake in the fourth floor and fifth floors. They also blocked off the club level floor so that you can't sit in front of the window that looks out on the lake. The only sitting area up there is on the north side.
The resort is half empty with all those rooms closed off and it shows. I stopped in Roaring Forks around five o'clock tonight and there was one customer and four CM's in there. Whispering Canyon Cafe and Artist Point were still busy, though.
As far as the construction goes, if you have a courtyard view room you won't even see it. We haven't done any exploring yet but from what I've seen, they have cleared out most of the trees between the north wing and the lake in the Otter Pond area. In fact, I think Otter Pond is gone. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow. They left a fringe of trees at the shoreline so it isn't a shocking sight, but the people who stay in the woods view rooms in the north wing will be front and center of the construction site once they start building the cabins. They are still clearing and prepping the land, though. There wasn't any construction work going on today.
As for our club level experience - We received our welcome packet along with our club level chocolates. In that welcome packet was a letter that said that if we planned to have dinner at Artist Point then the chef will visit our table with something special for us. Just by coincidence I had made reservations for dinner tonight at Artist Point months ago. So we took our letter down to the restaurant and received complimentary champagne and their cheese tray appetizer. It was delicious. I would never have thought of ordering it, but I am really glad to have tried it. I had a lot of fun sampling the different cheeses and the different things that paired with them, like honey with bleu cheese. It was a very nice of them to do this as compensation for some of the changes to the club level floor.
As I have mentioned, this was our first club level stay anywhere, and I was really looking forward to the Old Faithful Club. I will admit that I was very disappointed to find out that they blocked off the sitting area in front of the window. Now you can only look down on the lobby. You can't see Bay Lake from the club level lounge area.
Someone posted two pictures of the club level floor and that is really all that there is. There is half of the hallway on the east side that has two long tables with drinks on one table and food on the other. And the tables are on the north side, the side above Whispering Canyon Cafe. I don't know if there used to be furniture up there before, but there are only chairs and tables for eating at now, and a television. No kids tables, no couches, just tables and chairs.
The food is self serve, but not the beverages. The only drinks that you can pour for yourself are water and coffee and the cordials. If you want a beverage, whether it is a Coke, a glass of wine or a beer, they have to go get it for you. And I'm not sure where they are going, but it looks like it is down the hallway where the honeymoon suites are. And it takes them some time to get the drink for you. It isn't right there. It is somewhere else.
They told us that the chef was preparing some special foods for club level. And they had some very good food. I would say that the appetizer part of the evening was very good. We stopped by after dinner at Artist Point to see what they had for dessert and I was surprised that they didn't have any cobbler or Magic cookie bars or brownies. But they did have some other cookies and s'mores and these rice krispy things.
Our room was ready when we checked in at 10:45am except that it turned out to be a bunkbed room. So we asked for a room with two queen beds which would be ready later, so we went off to the parks. We did get the courtyard view that I requested and we can see the Electric Water Pageant from the balcony.
The club level staff is very friendly and the food is good. But it is missing the ambiance that I was looking for when I decided to finally try club level.
How nice of you to post such a thorough and honest first-day review, thank you
@Wood Nymph!
I know it's hard for you to compare the OFC now to prior to the downgrade, but, your description sounds like a fairly big downgrade. So big, that personally, I question why they're even offering CL bookings at all, especially with the "lounge" out in the CL seating area. Maybe it will be better in the Yosemite suite because at least you have some windows. IMHO, it should either be closed or at a minimum, guests need to warned of the downgrade and compensated.
As you probably know from the CL chapters and from descriptions, that huge window overlooking the courtyard and Bay Lake is a highlight of the OFC seating area. Without that window, I imagine it's very dark and more like the AKL CL view?
Having to ask for and then wait for basic CL amenities such as cold beverages is going to grow old fast, for both guests and CMs. Not convenient at all.
NO COBBLER??!! That's the OFC's signature dessert and a highlight of each evening. The cobbler sits atop a warmer which might be the issue now, but the other desserts, such as brownies and Magic Cookie Bars don't. Why in the world can't they at least serve those? It sounds like they've replaced those tasty treats with the lesser Riced Krispy Treat?
I've never seen RF uncrowded, except at really off times of the day, so I suppose that's a welcome change. It sounds like you could have easily eaten there without any lines any time of the day, which makes CL even less useful. Of course, it is January, so maybe RF is pretty empty this time of year? But, with at least half the normal occupancy level, this has to be an unusually empty resort, even for January.
First of all, the CL staff has been wonderful. They are the friendliest group I've met. As a result I have learned tons of information which I will share later when I have more time. But I wanted to let everyone who plans to stay club level know what I learned about the lounge. They are taking out the two honeymoon suites on the north side and converting them into the new Old Faithful Club. He said it will be a lovely space with windows. (He knew that I was disappointed with the window situation.) The current lounge situation is only temporary and they will be moving into the vice-presidential suite in about 3 weeks. There was something about fire codes and occupancy categories that prevented them from moving there right away. So that sounds very promising. And the staff is great and the food has been good, so that part is really nice.
More updates on things will come later.
Thank you for confirming my suspicion that the two South Wing Honeymoon Suites would be replaced by the larger lounge. The view from those two rooms is not very good and those who knew about it would always request to be in the two North Wing suites instead. The South Wing suites overlook VWL and the roof with the bus stop and parking lot over to the right. The North Wing suites have a partial Wishes view and used to overlook woods, but will soon overlook the cabins and some trees and perhaps some of Bay Lake.
On a positive note, I'm glad you're able to experience the friendly and helpful OFC CMs. Looking forward to more of your updates and enjoy your first full-day
The IPO guy told me that it would be in the vice presidential suite. 
