More days or club level- which would you pick?

[ready4mouse]

We have a family of 5 (me, DH, and 3 boys ages 4-11); we are coming for our first trip to Universal in April After our US vacation we're heading to Ft. Lauderdale for part 2 of our vacation visiting family....

Here's my question:
We are staying at Portofino Bay (it looks beautiful).
We are trying to choose between staying in a standard room for 5 nights/6 days
OR
Staying in a club level room for 4 nights/5 days.

I can see benefits to both plans and really can't choose! Part of me is leaning towards one less day and staying at club level, especially since the parks close at 6:00 and I know my boys will get the "munchies" after swimming or while they're hanging out in the room...

I'm also wondering if we might end up "saving money" by being on the club level since we won't have to buy quite as much food/drinks...

Anyways- I'm looking to the experts for your opion!!!! More days or club?

 

[cbsnyber1]

Here's the deal: you will have the FOTL benefit since you are staying at PHB. So, sleep in, get up, wander down to the club lounge for breakfast, go to the parks, ride what you want when you want to, come back early afternoon and get snacks at the lounge, nap, back to the parks, back to the room early evening for hot eats and a couple brews, hit the pool, back to the park if still open - get the picture?

FOTL and club lounge access are a marriage made in heaven, IMHO. Enjoy!!

 

[patster734]

I've never done club level. We pack a soft, fold-up cooler in our luggage and do a grocery stop between the airport and the hotel. We'll pick up water, soda, chips, snacks and ice.

 

[ChuckGA]

I haven't been to Universal yet, going for the first time over Thanksgiving so this is based upon WDW experience. I estimate for us that Club level is about saving around 1 precious hour of time to get some extra sleep and not about any chance of actually breaking even on money. Breakfast is pretty easy to bring decent breakfast food if you are driving but might be harder if you are flying. The big payoff for us is after a long hard day at the parks, sometimes we are just not that hungry but we need to spend the effort to eat dinner anyway because we won't make it until morning. The time and effort for a dinner you don't really want can easily be an hour. On those days the light dinner type fare at the club level would have been enough and taken very little time and effort, leaving time for a nap or early bed time.

Club level is all about the time cost of money. Use your money to gain time or use your time to save money. Since you are talking about an extra day that might negate any time savings at the club level. The converse is that you might get as many true "park hours" in 5 days at club level as 6 days regular depending on your touring style and get to enjoy club level convenience. We booked club level at the HRH for our trip so we'll see how it goes. The parks close at 6pm so it probably won't save us any time but it should make things easier in the evening if we don't feel like going out for a full blown dinner.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

The fact that there are 5 of you also makes a difference. We stayed club at PBH, and I'm not sure how much we really saved since there were just 3 of us -- I will say the club is lovely and we enjoyed the food. There was usually something ds11 would eat -- but you can't count on chicken every night. If you and dh will be drinking, you will definitely appreciate the club. We basically don't drink, so didn't save anything that way.

The convenience of breakfast was great, and we also appreciated the nightly goodies. You really can have a very relaxed trip and see everything in the shorter amount of time, it's just up to you...

Maria

 

[macraven]

i've done both, stayed solo and other times with the family at club and at standard rooms.

i voted, go for the longer stay, in the poll.

i do more in the parks than i do eating.
when i do eat, it is table service based on the menu of the place.


soda, water, snacks i bring with me on a grocery stop when using car service or rental car. the "breakfast" at club level is about the same of what i can bring with me. none of us are cereal peeps but more danish and coffee/soda.

i don't take a break in the day to return to the hotel for the afternoon snack.
i didn't find it worth it for my group.

i would do the sweet hour, or the evening set up on a hit or miss.
what i did get was good but it wasn't a breaker for us.

it's all a personal choice.
i would rather have the extra day for city walk, parks, or relaxing period than go for the shorter stay at the hotel and parks.

 

[JAL2525]

We've done both, our first trip down we stayed on the 5th floor. Our second trip we stayed Club Level, both at the HRH. Accomodations seemed pretty much the same the big difference was the added snacks. The brekfast was the best part, mostly the convenience (at the lounge). On our first trip we had breakfast at the kitchen for the four of us and with tip I believe it was in the &70-$80 range. The lounge did not replace the three meals a day we generally had but it was a nice convenience.
Also we spent a day at poolside and you also get a discount on the cabanas with the club level.We are going again this christmas and booked Club level withoout even thinking about it because the kids enjoyed it so much.

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

QUOTE=cbsnyber1;34123075]Here's the deal: you will have the FOTL benefit since you are staying at PHB. So, sleep in, get up, wander down to the club lounge for breakfast, go to the parks, ride what you want when you want to, come back early afternoon and get snacks at the lounge, nap, back to the parks, back to the room early evening for hot eats and a couple brews, hit the pool, back to the park if still open - get the picture?

FOTL and club lounge access are a marriage made in heaven, IMHO. Enjoy!![/QUOTE]

 

[theterms]

We always like staying longer. Our last trip was July and we were there for 8 days/7 nights. Spent lots of relaxing time by the pool and went to the parks 'whenever'.

Leaving in 3 days for another 6 days/5 nights!

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

No doubt, hands down club level. It was 3 days vs 6 days I would vote for the longer stay, but you are only losing one night. Club level for us works out cheaper than standard as we make full use of the food, drinks, both alcoholic and non alcoholic. Last time we only ate one counter meal a day in the parks, always intending to go out for dinner after happy hour, but we were always too full. So.... keeping that in mind you may be able to justify the extra days stay at club level

This time we are doing our "must have" restaurant ressies ie: Bubba Gumps, Margaritaville at lunch instead so we don't miss them.