EXPIRED: Part ONE of 2015 CLUB LEVEL (CL) INFORMATION and HELP Thread DO NOT POST HERE!!!

[cantwaitvaca09]

Thank you. I thought it was odd.

 

[DisCatGirl]

so here's a question I just thought of. when you check in (AKL) it is my understanding that concierge actually walks you to your room, is that correct? if so, do you tip them or is that a no no. I don't want to do it wrong......

I've stayed AKL Club a few times and haven't ever been walked to my room. I was checked in at the Club Lounge then sent on my way.

 

[Suzanne74]

I don't remember a designated person for alcoholic beverages.... Interesting... Can he/she keep up with the demand?
I've been watching for you room number. Did I miss it? Aren't you the one that got a standard room with a full balcony and a daybed? Is the room fairly quiet? Last time, we were too close to the lounge. The staff woke us up preparing to open the lounge in the morning, and people were right outside our room talking (but fortunately, that room is now part of the new lounge).

I will post some room numbers on return. Our room had MASSIVE renovation noises from 10-6pm the first 2 days. It was like the drill was in our room. My 5yr old couldn't nap both days and the one was our 7am EMH morning at MK where we all came home to nap. It really affected our days and CL was just like "sorry, renovations." I never received some letter they vaguely mentioned. But they must have moved onto another room because no noises the last 2 days.

Honesty, we have not been impressed with CL here. The first day the greetings were great and some of them are still very warm and welcoming. Most are just lukewarm at best.

The lounge staff are always rushing around like crazy. They are always hurried and the fact that they go past the front desk and down the guest room hall to a separate food areas is strange, noisy and disruptive. Some one rushing with a huge tray of food walked right past my daughter and cut her off to quickly get into the food room. It is just a very busy area with little room for movement between people checking in, guests going to room or lounge and lounge staff going back and forth between large doors opening and closing.

 

[RCP]

Hi there! Could you please add me to the Club Level Roster at BWI from June 7 to June 13, 2015? It will be our first time at the BWI CL. We loved our 2 stays at WL CL and are looking forward to the Epcot Resort experience this time.

Does anyone recall if the Innkeepers Club has a "regular" schedule of what hot appetizers they have each night?

Hey there! My family and I will be there right along with you at BWI CL from June 8th-13th! What does adding ourselves to the CL "roster" do?

 

[dansdad]

What does adding ourselves to the CL "roster" do?

Let's other DIS members know who is going to be there at the same time as they are. In case anybody wants to meet up or just say hi and put a face to a screen name.

 

[Suzanne74]

Hit send by accident.

They clean up and are done by the closing time which annoys me. If I walk in at 9:50pm after illuminations there should still be some desserts out. Instead there is mass chaos of people hurrily cleaning up, taking away the desserts and nothing left.

The first full day it was 6:35pm and I asked what these cups of sauce were and she said "well they went with rolls but we don't have anymore." Okay - no big deal at the time but it has just felt like that the whole time. Like if you aren't there 7am, 5pm or 8pm - you are out of luck.

And yes, they have someone doing all alcohol and you just wait your turn. I guess to cut back getting multiples or taking 2 bottles of beer at a time. They handle the bottles/glasses/pouring and hand it to you. That honestly doesn't bother me though.

And they missed our room once for day cleaning and 3 out of 5 times for turn down service. My husband asked tonight when we left at 5pm for Epcot if they could add a few more towels when they come tonight (we have 5 people and only 4 towels given daily) and came back to no turn down service and no towels. So yeah, a little annoyed.

But we'd love the proximity to Epcot and the pool. Beaches & Cream was great and Cape May dinner was pretty decent. I just don't think we would stay CL again at this hotel. It doesn't seem that well put together and it is tight/chaotic. We are here 2 more nights. I will update more when we get back.

 

[loveshak22]

Hit send by accident.

They clean up and are done by the closing time which annoys me. If I walk in at 9:50pm after illuminations there should still be some desserts out. Instead there is mass chaos of people hurrily cleaning up, taking away the desserts and nothing left.

The first full day it was 6:35pm and I asked what these cups of sauce were and she said "well they went with rolls but we don't have anymore." Okay - no big deal at the time but it has just felt like that the whole time. Like if you aren't there 7am, 5pm or 8pm - you are out of luck.

And yes, they have someone doing all alcohol and you just wait your turn. I guess to cut back getting multiples or taking 2 bottles of beer at a time. They handle the bottles/glasses/pouring and hand it to you. That honestly doesn't bother me though.

And they missed our room once for day cleaning and 3 out of 5 times for turn down service. My husband asked tonight when we left at 5pm for Epcot if they could add a few more towels when they come tonight (we have 5 people and only 4 towels given daily) and came back to no turn down service and no towels. So yeah, a little annoyed.

But we'd love the proximity to Epcot and the pool. Beaches & Cream was great and Cape May dinner was pretty decent. I just don't think we would stay CL again at this hotel. It doesn't seem that well put together and it is tight/chaotic. We are here 2 more nights. I will update more when we get back.

So sorry to hear the CL is a let down. I'd be really annoyed by the limited options in CL if you aren't there right at the hour. And closing early would be annoying as well. Could you ask to speak to a manager? I mean there's quite a big price difference for CL to have these issues when the main cost is the lounge offerings.

Also frustrating about house cleaning and towel issues - so surprising!!

 

[Gryhndmom]

DH and I just had a discussion about the Grand Floridian - RPC...

He said: "Honestly, I could do without the band... And we can visit the lobby as much as we want for no extra charge... I don't think that I will appreciate the Main Building as much as I should. I don't want to feel forced to spend more time there just because we paid a lot of money to be there. I would feel much more comfortable with the "smaller" Club Level. If there was availability in the Sugar Loaf, especially since the food and drinks are the same, I think I would prefer to be there instead."

O.k. ...

A few weeks ago, there was no availability at SL when the special offer got out and it's the reason I switched to Main Building for no extra charge (I had originally booked it at rack rate).

Tonight, there was a room available at SL. The GF CL is a birthday gift for my husband. In the end, if what he wants is the Sugar Loaf, I want him to get the Sugar Loaf. So, we switched back to SL. I'll get a refund.

Deep down inside, I know I (too) will feel more comfortable there. I know the value of RPC... Just not sure it was really for us... And tbh, we won't know what we're missing either!

I'm excited to be back to the CL that I know we are going to appreciate the most.

I really liked the sugar loaf CL when I was there May 2014. Didn't mind the walk and for some reason thought that would burn all the extra calories I was eating....not so much ! Hope they still have the cupcakes with mickey sprinkles on them ! Yup that was definitely the cause of my weight gain !

 

[RCP]

Let's other DIS members know who is going to be there at the same time as they are. In case anybody wants to meet up or just say hi and put a face to a screen name.

Where do you view the roster?

 

[dansdad]

Where do you view the roster?

Post #3 on the first page.

 

[RCP]

Thanks!

 

[dansdad]

Thanks!

 

[focusondisney]

And they missed our room once for day cleaning and 3 out of 5 times for turn down service. My husband asked tonight when we left at 5pm for Epcot if they could add a few more towels when they come tonight (we have 5 people and only 4 towels given daily) and came back to no turn down service and no towels. So yeah, a little annoyed.

Were you in your room between around 4:30 & 5:30 pm with the "do not disturb" sign on your door? If so, that's probably why you didn't get turn down service. I have no idea why they do turn down so early, but that's when they to it. We usually have dinner ADRs for 7pm-ish. We are usually still resting or getting dressed around 5-5:30, & by the time we leave our room at around 6, we have missed turn down. Not a big deal, but it is annoying to always miss a service you are paying extra to get. Now this is st Yacht Club, but I'm sure it is the same at BC since they have the same management team.

I hope the rest of your trip stays quiet!

 

[mevelandry]

I really liked the sugar loaf CL when I was there May 2014. Didn't mind the walk and for some reason thought that would burn all the extra calories I was eating....not so much ! Hope they still have the cupcakes with mickey sprinkles on them ! Yup that was definitely the cause of my weight gain !

Thanks!

I am convinced that we are going to like it as well.

I was scared not to like the RPC because it was really big and the band wasn't really my type of music (I usually "hate" jazz). Also not a fan of the reverb I heard in videos (I know it might sound strange but I don't like big rooms just because it makes sounds/voices reverb). I usually prefer cozy environnement.

Now that we switched back to SL, I feel much more confident that we are going to like it.

 

[Suzanne74]

Were you in your room between around 4:30 & 5:30 pm with the "do not disturb" sign on your door? If so, that's probably why you didn't get turn down service. I have no idea why they do turn down so early, but that's when they to it. We usually have dinner ADRs for 7pm-ish. We are usually still resting or getting dressed around 5-5:30, & by the time we leave our room at around 6, we have missed turn down. Not a big deal, but it is annoying to always miss a service you are paying extra to get. Now this is st Yacht Club, but I'm sure it is the same at BC since they have the same management team.

I hope the rest of your trip stays quiet!

No. We left yesterday at 4:50 yesterday when we spoke about the towels. Came back at 9:45pm. We quickly came back from our 5pm Cape May Cafe ADR one night at 7:30pm before going to EMH to get the stroller and left. Wasn't done before or after. The other time we were gone from 3pm.

 

[Tntfras]

We are so excited...just upgraded to club level using summer discount at WL for 6/16-6/23! We have stayed several times at WL but never club level.

 

[AliceIn]

Hit send by accident.

They clean up and are done by the closing time which annoys me. If I walk in at 9:50pm after illuminations there should still be some desserts out. Instead there is mass chaos of people hurrily cleaning up, taking away the desserts and nothing left.

The first full day it was 6:35pm and I asked what these cups of sauce were and she said "well they went with rolls but we don't have anymore." Okay - no big deal at the time but it has just felt like that the whole time. Like if you aren't there 7am, 5pm or 8pm - you are out of luck.

How crowded is the hotel this week? We have stayed at the BC CL twice. One time it was an extremely crowded weekend (labor day, I believe), and we experienced similar things. Food gone 30 minutes before the service ending, no turn down, etc. The other time there was no problem, and food was available all evening. I think some of it depends on the people who are staying with you. We noticed there were several families during the holiday weekend who were taking huge platefuls of all the hot appetizers and leaving the lounge with it, there was one lady filling a takeout box full. I experienced the same thing at Sugar Loaf when we stayed a night before our cruise. There was a large group of teenagers who swooped in each and every time the staff brought out another platter of food. My family was not able to get a single hot appetizer that weekend. I'd written to Disney about it, and they confirmed that it was not a good weekend at the GF - they ran out of food at every service. Sugar Loaf was completely full that weekend, because RPC was down for refurbishment. For the price we paid, it really isn't excusable.

My thought is that they plan for people to eat a little of everything, and they don't take into account that there may be a greedy few grabbing up far more than they should. Either they need to have CMs there to discourage people from greedy behavior, or they continue to bring out more food until the service ends. For the price you pay, you should be able to walk into a lounge 30 minutes to the end of the service and find plenty of food available.

 

[Dispro1]

Hit send by accident.

They clean up and are done by the closing time which annoys me. If I walk in at 9:50pm after illuminations there should still be some desserts out. Instead there is mass chaos of people hurrily cleaning up, taking away the desserts and nothing left.

The first full day it was 6:35pm and I asked what these cups of sauce were and she said "well they went with rolls but we don't have anymore." Okay - no big deal at the time but it has just felt like that the whole time. Like if you aren't there 7am, 5pm or 8pm - you are out of luck.

And yes, they have someone doing all alcohol and you just wait your turn. I guess to cut back getting multiples or taking 2 bottles of beer at a time. They handle the bottles/glasses/pouring and hand it to you. That honestly doesn't bother me though.

And they missed our room once for day cleaning and 3 out of 5 times for turn down service. My husband asked tonight when we left at 5pm for Epcot if they could add a few more towels when they come tonight (we have 5 people and only 4 towels given daily) and came back to no turn down service and no towels. So yeah, a little annoyed.

But we'd love the proximity to Epcot and the pool. Beaches & Cream was great and Cape May dinner was pretty decent. I just don't think we would stay CL again at this hotel. It doesn't seem that well put together and it is tight/chaotic. We are here 2 more nights. I will update more when we get back.

Ugh! I really hope your trip gets better! The noise thing really bothers me too. I hope the rest of your trip is peaceful/quiet. We don't arrive until May 30th, so maybe they will be working on an even lower floor, plus, we don't have any nappers now... They just sleep until 11am. We stayed at BC last year for the first time, and although it wasn't GF RPC, we had a great time and it was well worth the money (because it costs so much less!). We loved SAB and the proximity to Epcot and HS too. I know the staff rotates between Yacht and BC, so I hope you get some nicer staff! We had a concierge named Neil that was awesome and a lounge staff worker named Sean that was really friendly. One night, we came back to find a container of Oreo bonbons in our fridge - these are served on Saturday nights, I think, and they magically appeared after someone found out we were leaving Saturday morning (had to be Neil). We've found that making friends with the staff definitely increases the "magic" but some people just don't want to become friends with the guests:-(. If we have a similar experience to what you are having so far, we will probably never stay out of the monorail loop again. I REALLY hope you have better news to report later!

 

[trishadono]

Summer Savings mixed with an Orbitz promo code = Mom and dd going back to GF in SL 8/16-20th!

Thanks to Blueskies for giving me a heads up yesterday to watch for the sale

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I searched for information on the bottled water situation at the Innkeeper's Club and I'm reading about having to fill your own personal water bottle from a larger one that is available in Club level. Could some one give me more information about this. I'm thinking that I have to bring refillable H2O bottles and I want to figure out the best way to go about that. Thanks everyone!

~NM

It's been a tiny while since we stayed at BWI, they've since changed the restaurant downstairs, but most CL's are now the same. Over time, all CL's have transitioned form glass bottles of Evian, to a water dispenser that has Natura brand water. If you look at lounge images from the start of this thread you'll see what I mean. The image from the Beach club has a clear image. Some of the lougnes have slightly different style dispensers. Since the Innkeepr's club was remodeled, it is almost certainly has something similar to the Beach Club one.

Water is always a bit of a challenge for us too. One option is the on-WDW Hess stations. You won't even need a car! There is a Hess station next door to the Boardwalk hotel. (corner of Buena Vista DR) Hess has basic brands like Dasani. On property, Car Care Centre Hess has the widest selection of brands.

Other options: I haven't done this in a while, but Costco used to deliver bottled water. (but I think BWK charges a package fee, as it has business customers) If we have a car, another option is to stop at the Whole Foods, just off I-4 coming from the airport (use north exit, take Sand Lake Rd exit them make quick u-trn). WF has more high end brands of water. It is alsoa great place to stop for a snack or meal. They have a large hot/cold bar, tons of soups, a fresh juice bar, etc. There are also several Publix around.

Other folks like to use their own water bottles, and the kind with a built in filter is popular. (Brita?) We tend to just use disposable bottles and refill them a bit. I also bring a short Sharpie marker to label them. If you are a DDP package, you could also use your refillable mugs.