How good is Disney Concierge?

[Callalily6]

I'd love to hear about your experience with concierge while staying at Disney. We are on club level/ concierge level at BC for this trip. I've stayed at this level of service at the Ritz and Montage. The Montage floored me with their service. Usually my gold standard is Disney, but so far they haven't been helpful. I was told they'd help with ressies and FPs, but they totally dropped the ball. I ended up making all the dining ressies and we missed the chance at some of the harder locations to get into. During our last trip they were very smiley, but didn't help the way concierge usually helps. We were at the Contemporary last time.

Anyone have experience with this? Maybe they're just for show?

I was swamped with work and actually could have used the help this trip which was why we paid extra for it. So far the level of service is the same as if we stayed in a reg room. That's awesome for when we do that, which is most of the time. Help me shake the magic up! I'm kicking myself for having them do the ressies. We can't get into Beasts castle for dinner and that was my main place to try. So bummed.

 

[vicki_c]

You should not expect the same level of service that you got at the Ritz. There's a reason Disney doesn't call it concierge, but club level. That said I've always had excellent service and support from the club level staff during trips and from the Itinerary Planning Office before arrival. (Beach Club and the Poly). But if your expectations are based on those other trips mentioned, you will likely be disappointed.

 

[Callalily6]

So it sounds like they helped you with planning. I've gotten 0 help fm them prior to arrival.

Let me alter my question: What have they done for you in addition to the normal things they do? Right now it seems like there's no point in paying for it.

 

[gwynne]

So it sounds like they helped you with planning. I've gotten 0 help fm them prior to arrival.

Let me alter my question: What have they done for you in addition to the normal things they do? Right now it seems like there's no point in paying for it.

I reread your post, did you give the IPO reservation requests 180 plus days out, and they weren't able to help you? That's kind of unusual. What did they say when you talked to them? That would be frustrating.

I usually try to get them the requests about a week or more before my 180 day out date. Are they helping you now keep an eye out? It sounds like you're wanting BOG, that's a tough get, after the booking date.

 

[rwdavis2]

Hostly, IMHO, not much. The only reason we booked it (AKL) a couple of years ago was to do the Sunrise Safari and we had a TON of rewards dollars. Nothing about the food/drinks/service make it worth about an extra $100/day.

It's nice, but nothing I would ever pay for again at any WDW hotel. Out travel agent can book ADRs for us and the Club Level staff has no special "ins" to get you into a place with no ADRs left.

 

[kapoof]

I have stayed cl at the bc and poly and was blown away..but I am easily impressed with disney.

 

[vicki_c]

So it sounds like they helped you with planning. I've gotten 0 help fm them prior to arrival.

Let me alter my question: What have they done for you in addition to the normal things they do? Right now it seems like there's no point in paying for it.

I was contacted by the Poly quite a bit in advance of my 180 day window and sent a questionnaire to complete, listing our dining requests, family info, other activities we wanted to do, etc. I don't remember for the Beach club but we booked that trip much closer to our travel dates and I probably made my own reservations. We've stayed club at the Poly twice and once at Beach Club.

We don't book club level for the services like that however. We like it because we like the lounge for breakfast, snacks and drinks and we like that the club level floor/building is more private than the rest of the resort. I like the turn down service as well. When we choose to do stay club level (we are DVC members so usually stay that way), it's worth it to us.

 

[mhconley]

We stayed club level on our 2002 Grand Floridian trip. I felt the concierge did not do anything I couldn't do on my own - and everything seemed to take much longer than if I just did it myself. I also booked before I knew about the DIS and nobody contacted us prior to arrival. They couldn't get us any table service reservations that weren't available to me on the phone so why did we pay $$$ for club level?

The snacks and food was nice but we don't drink and weren't around enough for it to make much difference.

I'll never waste money booking club level again.

Martin

 

[Callalily6]

We don't book club level for the services like that however. We like it because we like the lounge for breakfast, snacks and drinks and we like that the club level floor/building is more private than the rest of the resort.

Me too. I usually do it b/c it makes life easier. Disney has been superior to every other place I've been when it comes to customer service, but the past few trips they were totally lacking. The rooms were dirty - like cobweb dirty (club level at Contemporary) and their concierge wasn't much help there either. I can't remember what I asked them, but it was something minor - like do they have booster seats in restaurants. Something I couldnt recall. We have a 10 yr gap b/t our middle and youngest child. She didn't know, had to put in calls, etc. It wasn't worth asking for help b/c it was a waste of time. I sat there for 20 mins on a simple question. That's not like them.

However, this kinda stuff has happened to us the past few trips. I know this doesn't have much to do with concierge, but it kind of does because the main reason we choose Disney for vacation is because no matter what went wrong - they fixed it. No worries. All smiles. We go about every 6 months. They took the worry out of the vacation. <--That's worth it to me. That is part of the magic.

The last trip I had a CM scold me as I was getting my ECV to make sure I didn't let my child ride on it. My kid was no where near it and I never do that. (I'd had surgery and couldnt walk). That was at MK. He went on and on about how they'll take it away and I'd be stuck in the back of the park and have to hobble out on my own. The man was scolding me for a good five mins, lecturing me before I scooted away from the rental counter. It was embarrassing. I'd been attributing these things off to an employee having a bad day, but I'm starting to think their service is slipping and I'm a die-hard Disney girl.

This experience (so far) is another example. No one contacted me. I contacted them several times, asking for help with dining. They replied once with a repeated message - how can I help you? I told them again where and when I wanted to go. The second time there was no response. The third time, nothing. I booked all our meals. I've not heard a peep from them since.

I did read that club level is supposed to be concierge level, but they can't call it that b/c their customer services is called concierge.

I hope this trip rocks. I'm okay with not getting in at Beasts Castle, but nonresponsiveness is weird, especially since they know we go there all the time. I was hoping they'd point me toward cool things for the kids too. Im going to ask them when we get there. I usually like planning, but I've been buried in work. We're doing MNSSHP. I thought about doing a fireworks show but wasn't sure about the toddler.

You know what I WISH so badly that they had - MK CASTLE TOURS. I want one. That would be AMAZING.

Thanks for your help guys! We love Disney. I'd be so sad if they lost their luster. I'm really hoping they haven't.

 

[rwdavis2]

We stayed club level on our 2002 Grand Floridian trip. I felt the concierge did not do anything I couldn't do on my own - and everything seemed to take much longer than if I just did it myself. I also booked before I knew about the DIS and nobody contacted us prior to arrival. They couldn't get us any table service reservations that weren't available to me on the phone so why did we pay $$$ for club level?

The snacks and food was nice but we don't drink and weren't around enough for it to make much difference.

I'll never waste money booking club level again.

Martin

That is exactly our experience. From what I've been reading its been declining even since 2012.

 

[Jing]

We booked AKL club mainly for the sunrise safari as well, but since they are discontinuing it, we would not book it again. We are debating club level at Poly or CR next trip October 2015, but since we do our own FPs and ADRs and we are protein people for breakfast, I am continuing to monitor to determine if it will be worth it.

Frankly, the last few club levels I've booked in major cities have been lackluster - I think customer service is taking a dive in general.

 

[Polydweller]

Poly club level and the IPO has always been great for us. Give them the restaurants and times and they do the work. On our 180 day they send us an email with our ADRs. Never failed to get them for us. No worrying about getting up at 6:00 am, I just let them do it. They've also taken care of special requests and fixed problems for us.

I'm not sure what the OP wants IPO to do but what they won't do is create your plans for your you have to create your itinerary and send it to the IPO. They will then do the work of making reservations. But you have to do the initial work. Do that and they are great.

 

[Mousemommy1]

OP, we just stayed BC CL from 8/16/14 - 8/26/14. Our prior experience with CL at Disney was with YC and WL.

I have to say that we were pretty disappointed with BC CL. It looks like your trip is in 3 days, and I'm not sure if you know, but the lounge is under refurb, so it is temporarily in the Presidential Suite. It is kind of cramped in there. It is an odd set up.

I knew that going in, but it was still a pretty disappointing trip...

 

[vicki_c]

Also, I don't know how it is structured now, but 4-5 years ago, the IPO offices were grouped. So I think BC/BW/YC shared one IPO office, the Poly & WL shared one IPO staff, I'm not sure about the GF/CR, and the AKL had its own I think. That seemed to make a difference in the pre-trip service you got from what I had read here and people said the Epcot resorts were not so good. But we had great service from the Poly IPO staff. And of course, that is years ago, so it's most likely all different people now.

And the IPO folks are not the same people that work on the club level floor/building at the resort.

 

[Callalily6]

OP, we just stayed BC CL from 8/16/14 - 8/26/14. Our prior experience with CL at Disney was with YC and WL.

I have to say that we were pretty disappointed with BC CL. It looks like your trip is in 3 days, and I'm not sure if you know, but the lounge is under refurb, so it is temporarily in the Presidential Suite. It is kind of cramped in there. It is an odd set up.

I knew that going in, but it was still a pretty disappointing trip...

Yeah, they didn't tell us that when we booked and didn't mention it after either. I called to make sure there wasn't construction going on around us. They swore there wasn't, but the word in here is there is. So I don't know.

It's too late to switch resorts. And I wasn't going to change anything. I'm just wondering if things aren't going the way they should, because it doesn't seem like it.

FYI, I did tell them what we wanted, order of priority, preferred times and dates, etc. I was hoping they'd do the legwork, actually I thought that was one of the perks of club level. I sent them another email. I'm just going with the flow at this point. As long as there aren't construction workers in the next room, I'm fine. It just seems like a rip off, either that or I seriously misunderstood what Disney's club level was offering - which is possible, so I asked.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Yeah, they didn't tell us that when we booked and didn't mention it after either. I called to make sure there wasn't construction going on around us. They swore there wasn't, but the word in here is there is. So I don't know.

It's too late to switch resorts. And I wasn't going to change anything. I'm just wondering if things aren't going the way they should, because it doesn't seem like it.

FYI, I did tell them what we wanted, order of priority, preferred times and dates, etc. I was hoping they'd do the legwork, actually I thought that was one of the perks of club level. I sent them another email. I'm just going with the flow at this point. As long as there aren't construction workers in the next room, I'm fine. It just seems like a rip off, either that or I seriously misunderstood what Disney's club level was offering - which is possible, so I asked.

The construction would only really affect you in a room close to the lounge. During the day, the drilling and hammering is quite loud, and there is plastic all over the floors because the construction workers are constantly dragging things in and out of there. We often ran into the construction workers. But you can't see the work being done, it's all walled off.

If you provided IPO with your requests in time for the 180, I'm surprised they couldn't get your reservations for you....unless you have a super short trip. Our BOG reservation was on night 8 of our 10 night trip....nights 1-7 were a no go...

After 3 CL stays, we are kind of over it at this point. The pre-planning services are definitely stuff we can do on our own, therefore, not a lot of value there....and the food offerings are just okay.

I have never done concierge at a big fancy hotel like the Ritz (or even stayed at a fancy hotel at all) but I would hope more is provided than is at Disney.

 

[Aerinha]

Like others here, I did CL at AkL for the Sunrise Safari, wound up getting a sale though willing to pay reg price so it cost less than a garden view room at YC. I contacted them with some questions and they sent my planning sheet. I marked down what I wanted when and they got it for me. Only down side was that when I wanted to make a change to the adrs they made, I had to go through them. Probably the only reason I got dinner at BOG was that I used them.

Telling them my arrival time did not have my room ready and I got there at 1:30 so it wasn't that much before normal check in.

It did cover breakfast every day except when I booked Boma. The day I had a big lunch and it rained, I went back early and had apps for dinner. I really wasn't at the resort enough to take full advantage and when I was there felt like turn down service was chasing me out and I really only left the parks about a half hour before close to avoid the bus lines so it wasn't like I was back that soon.

I would never pay full price for it, but would take it with a good sale.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Like others here, I did CL at AkL for the Sunrise Safari, wound up getting a sale though willing to pay reg price so it cost less than a garden view room at YC. I contacted them with some questions and they sent my planning sheet. I marked down what I wanted when and they got it for me. Only down side was that when I wanted to make a change to the adrs they made, I had to go through them. Probably the only reason I got dinner at BOG was that I used them.

Telling them my arrival time did not have my room ready and I got there at 1:30 so it wasn't that much before normal check in.

It did cover breakfast every day except when I booked Boma. The day I had a big lunch and it rained, I went back early and had apps for dinner. I really wasn't at the resort enough to take full advantage and when I was there felt like turn down service was chasing me out and I really only left the parks about a half hour before close to avoid the bus lines so it wasn't like I was back that soon.

I would never pay full price for it, but would take it with a good sale.

That's the other thing too....all of our CL stays have been at 40% off, otherwise there's no way we'd do it.

 

[Marthasor]

I think, unfortunately, your experience is pretty typical. When we stay CL, it's really only for use of the lounge. When I've attempted to ask CL staff for any help, they typically tell me, in the politest way possible, why they can't fulfill my request. We stayed CR CL a week ago, went to MK and discovered I could no longer charge using my MB (we had stayed BC 3 nights prior and it worked fine). I texted CL (they are testing a CL texting service) asking them to please set it up so I could charge with my MB (my CC is in my MDE account and I already have a PIN). I was told I had to go back to CR CL and have them do it. Hello, I'm in MK and, though I just had charging privileges I now have to leave the park and set it up again? The answer - I did online check in for BC, but not for CR (so obviously this is all my fault and only people who do online check-in get charging privileges on their MB's?) I asked why the CL CM who checked me in didn't ask if I wanted charging privileges on my MB and set it up for me - you would think that is standard procedure at this point. My phone then rang. It was the CL manager at CR saying he had put a $1500 charge back limit on my room and I should be all set to charge using my MB. About 5 minutes later I went to buy a toy for my DS and surprise, surprise, MB still didn't work. I couldn't believe after Disney has been touting the "magic" of the MB - resort key, tickets, dining credits, charging - that I was staying CL and the CM never set up my MB to charge. I was lucky I had some cash with me and could get my DS a toy and some lunch. Yes, CL service is REALLY lacking. If you want access to the lounge, it's fine, but I would never ask them to make any reservations for me. It is much easier to do them myself.

 

[JessLUVSminnie]

Our first CL stay will be at AKL in Feb. I believe IPO contacted me a day or maybe two after I made our reservation. Since we are doing a split stay I had made all of the ADRs due to our dining plan being with our POFQ reservation. But I asked a few questions in my email reply to them. They responded within 12 hours and with great detail.
Im excited to see how this trip goes. I purposefully planned that we would have at least 2 resort days at AKL to enjoy the resort and the lounge. And CL was an extra treat for my birthday since my DH and I really enjoy spoiling ourselves on vacation.

As for BOG, I made our ADRs at 180 days out and I had a heck of a time getting our dinner booked. I wanted to eat there our first night but I couldn't get a reservation until the fifth night. So instead of eating dinner on my 40th birthday at Narcoosee's as I had planned, we will be at the Beast's castle. But I'm thinking it will be great! I managed to get all the ADRs I wanted but it took a bit of juggling around to make it happen. I'm glad I made them myself because I controlled how I adjusted our schedule to fit things in.

Anyway...
I hope you end up having a great trip!