Explain Concierge Level please?

[TINKERIFIC]

Me too! You have to love those 'free' points.

..new owners...staying at GCH - conierge on our "free points". Looking forward to it!

 

[DisneyIsMagical]

I am new to the DIS boards...I saw this thread and thought I should post a comment. I have only stayed at the concierge level at the Grand Californian...what an experience! Disney Dreams is so right...it just makes you feel special, to be greeted by name. The entire level staff were so nice and accomidating. They made a special effort to find out little details about our family.

Last year my Aunt had booked a vacation package for our family. She is an avid traveler and always calls the hotel about two weeks before the trip to make sure everything has been taken care of. She happened to call GCH and they upgraded us to the concierge level for FREE! So I highly recommend that everyone calls to find out about any special offers or free upgrades, especially if you've never stayed on the 6th floor. None of us had ever heard of such a thing...

This year we will be going in Sept. This time I had booked the reservations and opted for the concierge level. Which ran us $2500 EXTRA for 5 nights...a bit steep for my sister and I, but my aunt/ uncle would assume the cost for difference due to the fact that they did not want to do without the concierge level. Two days after we booked, I recieved an email offer for 35% off hotel stay, good for the time that we had already reserved. At first I was a bit upset, but then I thought...I should just call and see if the coupon would apply even though the reservations had already been made. I called and the nicest representitive had to speak with her supervisor but ended up giving us $1200.00 off! I guess it can't hurt to ask! I can't wait till our vacation!

 

[bumbershoot]

I can't believe I'm defending the disneyland hotels right now, but here we go.


Some of that stuff described happens simply by staying at a Disneyland resort hotel. ANYONE who has a stay at PPH, DLH, or GCH has access to the Vacation Planning staff. That staff will make your PSs for you, they will arrange for the special Fantasmic dessert seating, I'm sure they would arrange for the Halloween party too.

The VP people are the ones who help you order the special baskets available for onsite guests.

So just staying onsite gets you some perks that seemed to be covered in concierge at WDW. That's why I've had "issues" with the concierge level at the disneyland hotels, b/c you're already getting so much of that special service just by staying there.

If you check out the pictures posted the other day, of the 3 lounges, you'll see that there's a breakfast spread, sodas and waters all day, coffees and teas and (fake) cocoa, there's beer/wine at night, cheese and crackers, desserts at night. I'm not really seeing a difference, based on the pix posted yesterday, and what was described for WDW.

From what I've read, checkin for Concierge is supposed to be on a different floor, so you don't stay with the rest of the guests at the front desk.

Now as for all that personalized stuff...it's not my style. I don't WANT people to remember my name (though remembering our food needs might be nice, or at least being able to help us with it upon request), I don't want to be greeted (omg especially in the morning...I might get up early at Disneyland but I'm still a bit of a grouch pre-coffee!).

In fact that's the one drawback to this whole dvc thing...the "welcome home" stuff. It's my least fave part!

I just like being anonymous on vacation, I guess.

Which one is blt? Is it at WDW?
Sorry I can't think of the name for the life of me...

Bay Lake Towers, next to the Contemporary.

Molly - bay lake towers how exciting! I think the rooms are bit contemporary for my taste...but they are at that hotel so it fits When will you be making your first trip home? We are at AKV and will make our first trip home this dec

Home as in out to WDW? We had a plan for October, but that's been put on hold. We're trying to make a big trip for my aunt and cousin and cousin's family, and if it was October we were going to borrow points...as it is, I think we'll be banking this year's points and making a big trip *next* year, to give us some breathing room from this spring's events.

This was mainly hubby's call...and he wanted AKV, but our guide steered us over to BLT. I'm still not totally sure that was the right decision, but I wasn't on the phone (though I did ALL the research, and hubby hasn't even toured the GCV model!). But the thing is, we're pretty easy to please, we rarely have a strong strong wish for one particular place, so if we "had" to stay at BLT, well, I guess we could do that. And if there weren't enough points, I am YEARNING to stay at OKW, and SSR seems great too. We're easy. But it's nice to have that snazzy resort as the home base, so we stand a chance at getting in sometimes, LOL.

...I am thinking we will spend all our time in the lounge eating to save on food prices...

It's actually one reason this quick-planned trip is easily possible. We're still bringing some things for DS...I don't trust random crackers so we'll bring him his own, and we picked up some small packets of "safe" peanut butter and jam, just in case theirs aren't safe for him, and soon I have to get a shopping order going to keep him from problems...but hubby and I, at least, anticipate snacking enough that we don't have to order big meals.

I
The one thing I noticed about just staying at GCH is that their regular concierge staff desk was able to help us with some switching around of ADR's and a few other things, all without the price of the concierge level room charge.

The Vacation Planning people, yes?

 

[dsny1mom]

Granted, I am going to share my experience at WDW, not DLR, but....

We stayed Concierge Level at Animal Kingdom Lodge and I could not imagine staying there without it now.

Let's start at Check-in. Someone from the Concierge Level Lounge came downstairs to meet us. Our bags were taken, we were escorted up to the Lounge, offered a beverage, and were checked in with no lines, no wait, no fuss.

Food and Drink:
Every morning there was breakfast (fruit, muffins, bagels, oatmeal, juice, coffee, an amazing cappuccino machine that made everything you could imagine - oh, I miss that machine)! Every afternoon (if we were at the hotel) there were snacks (and beverages), and every evening there were appetizers and drinks. Every night, desserts and drinks. The food was convenient, nice to have, wonderful not to have to worry about waiting at the restaurant downstairs, available to go if we wanted it, and just great to have available. My DH drinks Coke like it is falling off the planet. We had an unlimited supply of Coke at the lounge.

Planning:
Questions, show times, "how to?" questions, reservations, you name it...the concierge staff helped us morning, noon, and night, literally. They would sit with us in the morning and help us plan out our day so we could get the most of out it based on what we wanted.

They also helped with bookings. One day, we wanted to try to change a difficult to get ADR (like PS's at DLR). Instead of calling 10x a day while we were trying to enjoy the Parks, we mentioned it to the concierge staff in the morning. That afternoon we received a call on our cell phone that the reservation had been changed and that a confirmation print out would be in our room when we returned. (And it was!)

We were unable to get a seat at a very popular dinner show at WDW. The concierge team tried to get us in and could not. In the end, they gave us a seat at "their table" which is 10 seats that they have only for concierge level guests, should they be needed. So cool!

Felt Like Home...
Although not necessary at all, but the 2nd day, every time we entered the Lounge we were greeted by name, the staff quickly learned little things about us (like my DH's love for Coke), and would ask/comment/joke about various things with us that just made us feel like we were at home, not strangers in a giant hotel for a few nights. One morning we slept in and knew we were on the edge of missing breakfast. We called the lounge to find out exactly what time it would be pulled. They told us.

We arrived at the Lounge (knowingly) 10 minutes too late, deciding we would just get something to drink and skip breakfast that day. We waked in teh Lounge and one of the CMs we had come to know over the last few days said, "We've got you all set over there." She pointed to a coffee table filled with plates and bowls of food. They had pulled an assortment of items from the breakfast spread before the kitchen CMs cleared everything because, "we didn't want you 2 to miss breakfast!" Unbelievable.

For 5 days, every single thing we wanted to do or needed to figure out was soooo simple due to the concierge staff. Just incredible.

Is concierge worth it? I have no clue, but I would have a really hard time staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge ever again without it.

If the concierge level services at DLH or GCH are remotely similar, the ease and enjoyment they add to your vacation is just fantastic.

- Dreams

Your experience at AKL is what we experience at DLH year after year.

The concierge staff at DLH has done so many wonderful things for us I couldn't possibly list them all. But here are a few:

My family only drank Pepsi (we now are Coke drinkers), so there were always several cases of Pepsi waiting in our room when we arrived, at no cost to us.

I adore cooking using the Goofy shaped noodles they use at Goofy's Kitchen so they arranged for us to recieve a case of them at cost.

One Xmas the staff set a monrail train around our Christmas tree we had ordered. The monorail was packed and sent to our home after we left. There was no charage for the Monrail or the shipping.

Another Xmas when asked how I like the decorations on our tree we had ordered, and I was honest and said they were a little skimpy. When we got back to our room that night our tree had 2 dozen more ornaments on it and those were sent to our home, at no charge as well.

One year my youngest child's foot was injured at DL. We were going to Universal the next day. The staff called Universal and VIP passes and a wheel chair were waiting for us at the gate so we wouldn't have to cancel our plans or wait in any lines.

They were able to get us into any restaurant we wanted and usually within 15minutes of our requested time, on the rare occassion we didn't already have a PS. They were even able to get us F! seating when it was sold out. Not in the regular seating area, though. We sat with the actual crew who were controlling aspects of the show, dead center in the viewing area.

If the food and beverage staff knew we'd be at the parks late they would set up cookies, snacks, and beverages in our room as they knew we wouldn't make it back for them in the lounge.

One year after we checked in we were told they would have to move us two days into our three week visit. I was saddened as we always stayed in the same room, right next to the lounge, and loved that room. They surprised us by putting us in the three bedroom Presidential suite for the remainder of our stay. Needless to say we were not dissapointed.

Some of the B level CMs would always be offering to go shopping with us at the resort so we could enjoy their 35% discount. We were also taken to Company D on every visit to get CM specials.

This is just a small portion of what has been done for us over the years.

We have made long lasting freindships with many of the staff and even though some are no longer with Disney we still keep in touch.

The reason I posted this is I know others have had conceirge at DLH and have not been impressed. I beleive there are two factors that might have impact on how the conceirge staff interacts with the guests.

I truely think so much of how one is treated is a combination of clicking with the staff and getting back the type of mind set that you go in with.

We always feel like we are going home every time we visit, and treat the staff like we would our family and friends. We don't expect anything above the basic services but let them know how special they make our time with them when they go the extra mile.

So conceirge at DLH is VERY MUCH worth the cost to us and we wouldn't consider staying at the DLH without it.

dsny1mom

 

[SeansMom]

The Vacation Planning people, yes?

To clarify a bit: There is a concierge desk staffed in the lobby of the GCH. It's across from the check in desk, off to the side, if memory serves correctly. They can help with any need one might have and do a fine job. (PS, birthday buttons, directions to eateries, etc.) You can also call down to the main desk and they send you to some secret hidden person (okay, so I don't remember WHERE or WHO I spoke to! Maybe the main concierge desk?). This hidden, secret person has loads of pixie dust and can generally get PS reservations for you, change PS reservations for you, and magically make other things happen that need to happen. AND, as you mentioned, the vacation planning people are happy to help you as well. If you use them before your trip you'll find a fun little itenarary with all your PS reservations, tours, etc. all tucked inside a folder either in your room directly after check in or on check in (depending on your arrival.) All this without spending a penny more for concierge level .

I think if your looking to be spoiled the GCH might be worth it for some; again we're out of the hotel most of the day, and I would not want to walk back to it just for cheese, fruit, and a soda. Plus, I'd rather grab my treat inside DL and enjoy people watching while I eat. Of course, that's me at DL...too busy with rides, shows, shopping, watching people, and enjoying the people I'm with to go back to the hotel. I always *think* I'm going to take an afternon nap, but haven't since Sean was 3 I suppose if money is of no issue at all, or as others have said they're using their points, then it's a fun add on.

 

[Niele]

Oh my gosh, you are blessed, dsnymom1 ... how wonderful to have those experiences. We've only been to GCH concierge twice (and have the next visit planned for December) and mind you both times we had fantastic experiences with all CM's, but you got the "above and beyond" treatment. I'm thinking you go quite a lot and know all the folks there .... how cool to have your "home away from home" at DL.