So far, not so good....Update.... Actually better than expected!

[SL6827]

Well, after a horrible 9.5 hour drive from GA we are finally in our room at the beach club. So far, I am not impressed. I will give it a chance but I want to share our first hour. We pull up to check in and sit in our vehicle for 10 minutes waiting. 5 people at the podium, one other guest checking in. I get out and ask if someone can help us. We get our bags unloaded and walk in and just stood around lol. We stay club level and at other Disney resorts a CM greets us and takes us up. Not this time. We did the normal check in, had to go to bell services for our luggage and they didn’t even show us to our room. So far, not so good.

What part of Georgia? When we would drive straight thru it would generally take us around 10 hours I think, so your post got my attention.

 

[Jennasis]

What part of Georgia? When we would drive straight thru it would generally take us around 10 hours I think, so your post got my attention.

Wow...only takes us 9 hours from North Carolina (Winston-Salem area).

 

[SL6827]

Wow...only takes us 9 hours from North Carolina (Winston-Salem area).

We would stop a couple times for a sit down meal I think, I am certain of at least once. We would spend probably 1.5 hrs in Valdosta to eat and relax. We haven't drove straight thru in a very long time. Now we stay over one night in Valdosta.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

What part of Georgia? When we would drive straight thru it would generally take us around 10 hours I think, so your post got my attention.

We live in Winder. Last 3 trips took around 7 hours with a break to eat. The traffic was just horrible and we had over 30 miles of under 30 miles per hour. Once we hit the turnpike things cleared up.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Update: we did MK today. Got to the park gate at 10:30. Took less than 5 minutes for bag check and entry. We did a lot. 7DMT, Little Mermaid, Speedway, Big Thunder, Splash and Jingle Cruse. We ate at The Plaza at 1:55 then headed back after watching a little of the parade. It was easy to grab a quick spot and watch. Once back we took the girls to the pool so they would stop bugging us about it lol. Stormalong Bay is awesome! They checked magic bands and gave us a wrist band. Water was nice and warm! The staff here had been amazing. Now we are off to The Yachtsman

 

[ClapYourHands]

First world club level problems

The higher one's expectations, the more chance of being disappointed.

ANY problems at Disney are first world problems, but they're still problems and still frustrating/disappointing, especially if you've saved and sacrificed other things to be able to go. If you're paying the money for club level, I think you're entitled to certain expectations of service excellence.

I've never stayed CL (or even deluxe), and am not likely to. But that's because my money is more important to me than having a lounge, a bigger room, and extra-attentive staff. Personally, I'm satisfied with Pop, but if I were paying the kind of money OP is, I wouldn't be satisfied with Pop-level service. If you pay a premium, you should get premium service.

I'm glad OP's subsequent interactions with the CMs there have been so positive. I agree that the curbside CMs were probably waiting for you to get out of your car, and ask for check in assistance. For all they knew, you could have been the Uber driver.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Night #2. I actually have no complaints now with the resort or staff. But something did happen this morning that had me a little pissed. We had rented a stroller for our 4yo from a stroller company that I really do not wish to name. Let's just say it's not as magical as it should be. We didn't need it last night but really needed it today so when I went to bell services to get it, they could not find it! They went above and beyond looking and called the Yacht Club just to make sure it wasn't dropped there by mistake. Anyway, I called the stroller rental and the young woman insisted they delivered it. The CM here said no way. If it had been delivered, there would be a record of it. No record, no stroller, no getting to MK early as planned. Finally I just told the rental company to please just issue a refund. She assured my she would call me back within an hour. Well, I never got that call. But anyway, after I hung up with her the CM at bell told me to come into the holding room and he said pick out a stroller from a whole shelf full. We grabbed a small cheap stroller and were standing out front waiting on a Minnie Van and here he came with another stroller! We ended up getting the exact stroller we were supposed to get but for free! Apparently people actually leave strollers here when they go home. So the day turned out pretty good. Oh, not to forget, The Yachtsman was excellent tonight!

 

[brockash]

The higher one's expectations, the more chance of being disappointed.

So true, and why for us, it's so hard to justify staying deluxe. It's hard to pay deluxe prices and go in with low expectations. We've stayed at all levels multiple times, but I think we've decided that for us we'd rather just stay at a value with much lower expectations, so we're generally not disappointed. We seemed to have had a run of staying deluxe with some not great luck/experiences etc. and it stings a lot more when I know how much more we're spending to stay there. We do have one more upcoming deluxe stay (special occasion) coming up, but that's the first in a few years and I'm sure will be the last for quite a few more. Lower the expectations and less disappointment seems to be our preference.