DVC CLUB LEVEL ANY SUGGESTIONS OR REVIEWS?

[MrPink]

We are staying at AKL DVC club level for the first time this June in a 1 bedroom villa (Jambo House). Can anyone provide information on the rooms, experience and staff regarding a DVC club level stay? Is it worth the points or would you recommend a regular stay at another hotel? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[disneynutz]

If you have the reservation already, consider yourself lucky and enjoy your stay. You should give it a try at least once for a few nights.

IMO the views are the worse in the resort, the CL food offerings are okay and the housekeeping quality is the same as other rooms.

Bill

 

[pangyal]

We absolutely loved our stay! We also had a 1BD this February and it was our first stay in CL. We wouldn't book that size again, as the kitchen went totally unused for the days we were there. We ate at the lounge for breakfast, dinner, and dessert, plus of course the wine, beer and cordials were a nice touch .!

We found that the appetizers were quite substantial and the chefs would be cooking them up until the last minute of the service hours. We never went hungry, and the food was delicious. I'm not an adventurous eater at all, and I ate everything they made. It was delicious. Breakfast had a great selection.

We had a Savannah view room and while it wasn't super-duper, we saw giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and many more animals. The giraffes slept right under our window, so we had fun watching the zebras buzz them awake and the fallout from that. It was a nightly event. Apparently the zebras are the "jocks of the normal world" (quote from a keeper).

The staff was wonderful, and we are going to try to book a CL studio for next June, if we can. I actually wish that all of the resorts that offer CL to regular guests would bring the option into booking for DVC, but I know that I am severely in the minority with that opinion .

Overall, it saved us a lot of money on drinks and food, and it was just a really nice place to be! You'll love it!

 

[disneynutz]

We absolutely loved our stay! We also had a 1BD this February and it was our first stay in CL. We wouldn't book that size again, as the kitchen went totally unused for the days we were there. We ate at the lounge for breakfast, dinner, and dessert, plus of course the wine, beer and cordials were a nice touch .!

We found that the appetizers were quite substantial and the chefs would be cooking them up until the last minute of the service hours. We never went hungry, and the food was delicious. I'm not an adventurous eater at all, and I ate everything they made. It was delicious. Breakfast had a great selection.

We had a Savannah view room and while it wasn't super-duper, we saw giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and many more animals. The giraffes slept right under our window, so we had fun watching the zebras buzz them awake and the fallout from that. It was a nightly event. Apparently the zebras are the "jocks of the normal world" (quote from a keeper).

The staff was wonderful, and we are going to try to book a CL studio for next June, if we can. I actually wish that all of the resorts that offer CL to regular guests would bring the option into booking for DVC, but I know that I am severely in the minority with that opinion .

Overall, it saved us a lot of money on drinks and food, and it was just a really nice place to be! You'll love it!

Okay I have to ask, we stayed there twice a couple of years apart, you saw those animals from your CL room on the 6th floor and they came to the savanna dead end? All we saw were some birds and a steer each time. There weren't even feeders for the other animals.

The lounge offerings was 3 warm bites and fruit, cheeses, bread, veggies, and crackers for the most part. For breakfast, cereal, oatmeal, toast. Beverage service as nice. Not enough food to be considered a meal IMO, more like a lite breakfast and an evening tasting menu. Has the food changed?

Bill

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Okay I have to ask, we stayed there twice a couple of years apart, you saw those animals from your CL room on the 6th floor and they came to the savanna dead end? All we saw were some birds and a steer each time. There weren't even feeders for the other animals.

The lounge offerings was 3 warm bites and fruit, cheeses, bread, veggies, and crackers for the most part. For breakfast, cereal, oatmeal, toast. Beverage service as nice. Not enough food to be considered a meal IMO, more like a lite breakfast and an evening tasting menu. Has the food changed?

Bill

Nothing changed as of last May and I haven't heard any other reports of it being different I think it all just depends on your perception but we have tended to find it enjoyable and to fit into our Disney eating so that we aren't wanting another full meal.

And we had saw quite few animals also every evening, including giraffe. Some of the herd animals hung out in the shade there during the day too.

 

[pangyal]

Okay I have to ask, we stayed there twice a couple of years apart, you saw those animals from your CL room on the 6th floor and they came to the savanna dead end? All we saw were some birds and a steer each time. There weren't even feeders for the other animals.

The lounge offerings was 3 warm bites and fruit, cheeses, bread, veggies, and crackers for the most part. For breakfast, cereal, oatmeal, toast. Beverage service as nice. Not enough food to be considered a meal IMO, more like a lite breakfast and an evening tasting menu. Has the food changed?

Bill

Yes, we saw a lot of animals in that little dead end. As I said, it was the giraffe sleeping area so when the zebras would come to harass them, we could see it all clearly . We saw Ankoli Cattle (those might be your steer) and emus.

The food was, if I recall, for breakfast: quinoa, oatmeal, berries, apples and melon for fruits, pastries, cereals, bagels, breads, and I'm sure I'm missing some. We didn't do the afternoon tea, but my mum had the spiced nuts etc. And the scones and cookies of course.

For dinner, there were two or three offerings, but they were substantial. During our stay, there were short ribs, pastas, all kinds of meat dishes, and stews for the hot foods. There was also a small area with cool offerings such as different kinds of hummus, tahini, etc. and various breads for those. There was also a station with cold bites on spoons, like little amuse-bouche type things. There were also of course breads, fruits, cold salads, cheeses, dried fruits, and more. We had three adults and while kiddo was too picky and would always get something from Mara, none of us went hungry. It helped that the chefs would encourage multiple servings of each dish!

 

[bobbiwoz]

My sister and I had excellent views of animals from our 6 th floor concierge level Jambo house 5 years ago. One night the herd of zebras stayed down by us for a very long time, we gave up watching them around 11. It was too dark to take pictures. I have wonderful pictures of giraffes finding their treats in what look like burnt logs.

I have a CL coming up in 2 weeks, and this time I know I will be on the 5 th floor, because the lounge is being regurbished!

 

[disneynutz]

Might be worth another try!
All I remember was an obscured patio view from the roof line, the savanna ground in the dead in was wet most of the time and like I said, no animals to speak of. After visiting the food offerings, I was thinking about where I could go to get a hamburger.

Bill

 

[alisonslp]

I think it really is "to each his own" sort of experience. We were there a couple weeks ago in a 2bdrm overlooking the pool, with 7people for 2 nights. All of us really enjoyed having a place to hang out and relax with treats. I would say hubby probably was the least impressed with the food offerings b/c he is really picky but he did like the beer, wine and cordial option. We all felt the breakfast was good for a fee days. I think if we were there for several days, we would have been looking for something more hearty - eggs, pancakes, etc. - by day 4. The kids (teens) loved the afternoon offerings and the sweets. I liked the hot appetizers - soups, beef, stew - and the cheese/crackers.

We did it to experience it once. I don't think it is worth the points to do it a lot or for a long time, particularly if you are going to the parks. We stayed on site those 2 days ago we felt like we got our money's worth. If we had been in the parks all day, we would not have had time to enjoy the lounge or the food.

 

[bobbiwoz]

This is one picture of the giraffe eating from that hidden burnt log feeder. We watched him for a long time. You can see the thatched roof in the bottom of the picture, but there was plenty of room to admire all the savannah from our room!

 

[beer dave]

Might be worth another try!
All I remember was an obscured patio view from the roof line, the savanna ground in the dead in was wet most of the time and like I said, no animals to speak of. After visiting the food offerings, I was thinking about where I could go to get a hamburger.

Bill

I went this past february--- my experience was similar to yours-- Saw one cattle and a bird. The lounge was nice for saving some money, but I found it to get quite boring hanging out there for any extended period of time. The breakfast stuff was as listed above, and was acceptable to accomplish breakfast, but not special. The evening apps were good, but again, getting up six times to try to collect enough to call a meal is a little much. I was really excited for the trip and am glad I experienced it, but if I do it again it will be as a night or two in a split stay.

 

[jimim]

If you have the reservation already, consider yourself lucky and enjoy your stay. You should give it a try at least once for a few nights.

IMO the views are the worse in the resort, the CL food offerings are okay and the housekeeping quality is the same as other rooms.

Bill

My pool view wasn't horrible. I stayed in 2 nights cause my son was just too tired. I ordered room service and kept going back and forth for beer at the CL. It was a good stay.

I think it was worth it. We had a constant supply of snacks for the kids. It gave us just what we needed in the am to get going.

Forcthe amount of extra points I thought to was worth it.

Jim

 

[jimim]

Okay I have to ask, we stayed there twice a couple of years apart, you saw those animals from your CL room on the 6th floor and they came to the savanna dead end? All we saw were some birds and a steer each time. There weren't even feeders for the other animals.

The lounge offerings was 3 warm bites and fruit, cheeses, bread, veggies, and crackers for the most part. For breakfast, cereal, oatmeal, toast. Beverage service as nice. Not enough food to be considered a meal IMO, more like a lite breakfast and an evening tasting menu. Has the food changed?

Bill

Dinner offers I agree with you. We always just grabbed a few things before our normal dinner.

Breakfast was perfect for us cause we don't need the typical eggs bacon toast thing.

I always had enough to drink. If beer wasn't out I would ask and they would grab me 2 at a time. I tried that one night to grab a bunch cause I didntcwantvtoeave my room cause of my kid but that got detailed. He was cool about it. He said 2 at a time and he said he didn't care how many times I came back. Lol

But yes deff not what I would call dinner. But I would call it breakfast. Again everyone is different.

 

[disneynutz]

My pool view wasn't horrible. I stayed in 2 nights cause my son was just too tired. I ordered room service and kept going back and forth for beer at the CL. It was a good stay.

I think it was worth it. We had a constant supply of snacks for the kids. It gave us just what we needed in the am to get going.

Forcthe amount of extra points I thought to was worth it.

Jim

To me the pool view is more of a view of the roof from the lower building with a pool through the trees beyond.

Different people see things differently, that's why I always post that people should try everything at least once for themselves.

Bill

 

[gillep]

To me the pool view is more of a view of the roof from the lower building with a pool through the trees beyond.

Different people see things differently, that's why I always post that people should try everything at least once for themselves.

Bill

I agree that if you are really interested it is probably worth spending the points at least once to try. DH and I stay club level every year for our January trip. We have stayed 6 times and have gotten pool view once and savannah view the other five times. Our pool view was actually really nice, yes you could see the overhang, but we had a view of a large portion of the pool and the birds. We have always seen giraffe and zebra from our savannah view room, not always every day, but multiple times over a week long trip. The savannah view isn't as good as those in the rest of the resort, but I have always been able to see a giraffe from my balcony at least a couple times.

The breakfast offerings are more than enough to satisfy myself and DH (I love the oatmeal with added granola and fresh berries). The evening offerings wouldn't be enough for us to have a full dinner, but if we have eaten a later lunch, or just a lot throughout the day, then the evening offerings are more than enough to keep us satisfied until morning.

 

[Splashboat]

Only sprung for a two nights in a studio. Had a pool view which we liked (but I had read negative reviews about the views so my expectations were very low which might have lead to me being pleasantly surprised) In the morning the pool was quiet and beautiful with steam coming off the top. There were a number of hot air balloons on the horizon which made for beautiful pictures.

As far as food, we weren't planning on having meals so we weren't disappointed but we thought the snacks, desserts and drinks were very good.

My only negative would have been out interaction with the staff. We couldn't get the magic bands to work on our door. We waited in line for several minutes. Finally got a CM to help and turned out only my band worked. Tried to get the problem resolved but every time we went there was a line or only one person who said they couldn't leave the area so we would have to come back.

Not a huge deal with the short stay but nothing impressive about the staff. Same for interaction with food service staff. They smiled but didn't seem particularly friendly the days we were there. (I believe this was 2 years ago from last December)

Was glad we tried it but probably wouldn't use the points again unless it worked out for only a couple of nights.