questions about club level at AKV

[UFlawgator]

I am a relatively new AKV owner and was able to book 2 nights this morning in a 1 BR club level villa for Sat. and Sun. nights, December 6-8, 2014. Was hoping for a club studio, but someone had faster fingers than me by a few seconds at 8am. Perhaps I should have had more coffee before I went online. Truthfully, I felt happy to get anything on this level, really, during "adventure" lower points season at Christmas considering how few units there are. I understand the views will not be great, but we thought we would just try it once to experience it ourselves. It does use a lot more points and I may think about keeping just one night club level and booking the other night night Jambo savannah view ( maybe even in a studio). My question is, can we start using the lounge amenities upon arrival even with an early check in? I thought I read somewhere (but can't find it) that you can even use the lounge until 6pm on your checkout day. So, do you think we could stay club level on Saturday night, check out of club level on Sunday and still use the lounge until 6pm on Sunday? Would we still be allowed to use the lounge even if we have checked out of the club level and checked into our different room category? Will we have a special key card for club level since Disney is phasing them out kttw cards and replacing them with magic bands? Just wondering how this would work.
Also, I see the Sunset Safari is on early Sunday morning for club level guests to book. Since we may not ever stay club level again, we thought we might try this experience, too. Would we be able to participate in this if we stayed either Saturday or Sunday night on the club level? Thank you.

 

[rkold]

I am a relatively new AKV owner and was able to book 2 nights this morning in a 1 BR club level villa for Sat. and Sun. nights, December 6-8, 2014. Was hoping for a club studio, but someone had faster fingers than me by a few seconds at 8am. Perhaps I should have had more coffee before I went online. Truthfully, I felt happy to get anything on this level, really, during "adventure" lower points season at Christmas considering how few units there are. I understand the views will not be great, but we thought we would just try it once to experience it ourselves. It does use a lot more points and I may think about keeping just one night club level and booking the other night night Jambo savannah view ( maybe even in a studio). My question is, can we start using the lounge amenities upon arrival even with an early check in? I thought I read somewhere (but can't find it) that you can even use the lounge until 6pm on your checkout day. So, do you think we could stay club level on Saturday night, check out of club level on Sunday and still use the lounge until 6pm on Sunday? Would we still be allowed to use the lounge even if we have checked out of the club level and checked into our different room category? Will we have a special key card for club level since Disney is phasing them out kttw cards and replacing them with magic bands? Just wondering how this would work.
Also, I see the Sunset Safari is on early Sunday morning for club level guests to book. Since we may not ever stay club level again, we thought we might try this experience, too. Would we be able to participate in this if we stayed either Saturday or Sunday night on the club level? Thank you.

I've never stayed Club Level at AKV or stayed Club Level as a DVC Member but I have stayed Club Level at the Yacht Club with an AP discount CRO several times.

First congratulations!

At YC, you can start using Club Level as soon as you arrive, whether that is sometime in the AM or 7pm at night. You're just restricted by when the lounge is open (really most of the day when it comes down to it.) and how crowded it is. At the YC you could use the lounge until midnight the day you check out. This came in handy for us, when our 12/12 trip was extended by 2 nights and our flight was canceled and we were rebooked. Our additional 2 nights were Waterview in YC, but we made a dinner of appetizers from the Club lounge and stocked up on bottled water.

I want to confess now, I love club Level. We are not huge eaters, so the breakfast is perfect for us. (Continental) We've several times eaten the appetizers for dinner if we've had a large lunch. At leas in the YC you can request alcohol before dinner and request wine during the dessert time period.

Personally, if it were me, I'd keep all the nights in Club, it's a fun experience and at least we tend to enjoy the food. (And we're vegetarians so there are often things we can't eat.) I also love the bottled water. I love WDW, but the water there tastes awful to me. Club level means unlimited bottled water and they're also willing to give you water to take to the parks. We regular took 2-3 bottles to the park every day.

 

[disneynutz]

You should give CL a try at least once and you need to experience the Sunrise Safari.

Due to software changes, you have to check out before you can check in, you can't overlap anymore. How this affects lounge use, you will have to ask the CL CM's.

Bill

 

[Deb & Bill]

Not sure if the magic band unlocks the access to the elevator like the KTTW used to, but your magic band won't open the elevator then after you check out and check into your new villa.

 

[rkold]

Not sure if the magic band unlocks the access to the elevator like the KTTW used to, but your magic band won't open the elevator then after you check out and check into your new villa.

In Oct, when we had MBs and were staying Club Level at YC, yes, they did work for the elevator.

 

[msabol01]

I would definitely say go for the sunrise safari, it's one of the unique perks of staying on the club level. We only stayed for one night prior to a cruise and as our luck would have it, it was a day that there was no safari. Guess I will have to do it again.

Other than the safari, I didn't see a real benefit to the club level, especially for short stays. There are snacks and such, but nothing overly impressive in my opinion. it was still nice to snack on the offerings.

As for keys, a few years back Club Level guest were given Gold KTTW cards instead of the standard blue cards.

 

[UFlawgator]

Thank you all for your replies. I'm pretty sure we will book the Sunrise Safari with all the recommendations. Am thinking now it would just be easiest to just stay in the Club level both nights for this trip and not change rooms and just plan on using the points. I'm sure we will enjoy all the lounge offerings and can always go sit in an animal viewing area.