Useful Concierge Information

[fish4bills]

Is it true? I was just looking at the Luxury Guide online and she says that all the concierge rooms at WL have standing room balconies. We were upgraded to the Honeymoon Suite . Is it true for that also?

I'm just curious-what is the Luxury Guide? I'm always looking for new info and my DH is "all for luxury"

 

[mmmears]

I'm planning a trip for 2009 and we want to do a split stay between AKL CL and CL at either the GF or the Poly. We have stayed in SL at the GF, but are thinking of trying the main building. We have never stayed at the Poly because ... I dont know ... we just dont see why everyone loves it so much. But there must be a reason for that, so, my question is:

Is there a significant difference in service / food / something else between Hawaii at the Poly and RPC at the GF that we can use to tip us in one direction or another? Should we stay with a beloved familiar or try out a new place that so many people seem to love?

Also, I have found club food info about the Poly online, but can anyone direct me to the offerings at the GF?

Any help would be apprecitated!
Thanks in advance!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

Come on over to the GF FAQ thread. THere are plenty of people who can help you there. The GF offers just as much food as the poly just different kinds. It also offers tea during the day and champagne at night things that the Poly doesnt offer.

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

When you stay Concierge Club Level, are there any privileges for the parades or nightime shows like preferred seating or private viewing areas at any of the parks?

 

[TammiMcMan]

When you stay Concierge Club Level, are there any privileges for the parades or nightime shows like preferred seating or private viewing areas at any of the parks?

No. Some of the more expensive packages, like the "Platinum" offer preferred seating and you can also hire a VIP tour guide ($600 minimum) who can get you better seats.

 

[Tess]

It is just frustrating to be paying for a level of service and then feel like you have to either remind IPO to take care of things you've already asked them to do or do them yourself.

I am also less than pleased Kteacher. We are frequent flyers at the concierge level and made a simple request for an in room surprise. Our daughter graduates three days before our arrival and I asked for Mickey & Minnie plush dolls with mortarboards AND a pair of graduate mouseears with her name on it. This is identical to a surprise the IPO/concierge staff provided for our son two years ago.

While the IPO promptly responded to my email, they sent me a link to Disney Florist to choose something. The graduate pages consisted of floral arrangements, a Mickey pen/pad set, and food baskets--nothing like I specified in my email. If I had wanted a flower arrangement, I would have asked for one, but I was fairly specific in my original request.

I am beginning to think they barely read the requests and fire back a canned reply. We don't ask for much from IPO, but for these special occasions and the rack rate we are paying (not even an AAA discount this year), one would think they could arrange a little request such as set forth above. The rates have gone through the roof and the service from IPO is declining at an equal rate.

I will say, we have had nothing but wonderful service from the concierge staff in the Hawaii building. There was an off year somewhere back in the late 90s, but for the most part, the visible staff has been super!

 

[chirurgeon]

I have previously stayed at AKL CL before they started the construction for the DVC. I am planning on another short AKL CL stay this December (just so I can take the Sunrise Safari again) and I was wondering if they have moved the CL lounge from the 6th floor. I had heard they were converting the 6th floor to DVC. Where are the CL rooms and lounge now?

Kim

 

[kimberh]

AKL Concierge Lounge is still on the 6th floor. Where all the reg Concierge hotel rooms are, I don't know, the whole 6th floor is DVC. We only have 5 2 bedroom villas, which can make 10 rooms total if they are separated.

 

[mmmears]

I was told that the regular AKL CL rooms are all on the 4th floor facing the Arusha Savannah. I called AKL IPO about a week or two ago wondering the same thing. Lounge is still on 6th floor, like others have said.

 

[Kteacher]

Tess I'm glad to hear you like the staff at the Hawaii building. We usually stay at the CR, but decided to stay at the Poly due to the construction. The only specialized request I've ever made of IPO was to order a cake for our dinner at the California Grill when we celebrated DD's 13th birthday. The request got messed up, and had to be fixed at the last minute.
This year's trip is with a really good friend of mine who hasn't been to WDW since she was a little girl, and I'd like to order some surprises for the room for when we arrive, but I'm afraid it will be more of a hassle than it's worth.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I think when you start dealing with the IPO you should work with one person if you can. It cuts down on errors alot.

Tess how did you make you out?

 

[Ctsplaysinrain]

I have 2 upcoming concierge stays planned- one for July 4th week and One in Dec. The July one is at Contemo and Dec at GF. What can I request of/or can they be of assistance with at Disney? We did stay at Beach Club last summer but it was just a quickie 2 night stay and we didnt need to arrange anything.

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

I am also less than pleased Kteacher. We are frequent flyers at the concierge level and made a simple request for an in room surprise. Our daughter graduates three days before our arrival and I asked for Mickey & Minnie plush dolls with mortarboards AND a pair of graduate mouseears with her name on it. This is identical to a surprise the IPO/concierge staff provided for our son two years ago.

While the IPO promptly responded to my email, they sent me a link to Disney Florist to choose something. The graduate pages consisted of floral arrangements, a Mickey pen/pad set, and food baskets--nothing like I specified in my email. If I had wanted a flower arrangement, I would have asked for one, but I was fairly specific in my original request.

I am beginning to think they barely read the requests and fire back a canned reply. We don't ask for much from IPO, but for these special occasions and the rack rate we are paying (not even an AAA discount this year), one would think they could arrange a little request such as set forth above. The rates have gone through the roof and the service from IPO is declining at an equal rate.

I will say, we have had nothing but wonderful service from the concierge staff in the Hawaii building. There was an off year somewhere back in the late 90s, but for the most part, the visible staff has been super!

Call disney florist and talk to one of their planners about what you want to do. Be very specific and ask them if they don't have the items you wanted for your daughter can you order them from merchandising and have them sent to the florist. The florist can then take the items and add them to any gift basket you choose. (They may stock the items you want but not have them on the web-site...that happened with part of my order, the rest I ordered from merchandising to add to a basket.)

It does add a little bit of cost but it was so easy once I got the info on who to ask and what to say.

Process:
Call florist tell them what kind of basket you want and ask if they have the items you want in it.
If they have the stuff order 100% from florist.
or Tell florist you want a basket but you want to Order some Items from merchandising and have it sent to the florist to add to the basket.
Then call merchandising and tell them what you want to send to florist and give them the name of your florist planner.
Call florist back and give her the order number from merchadising.

It's complicated but works.
Sheli

 

[Kteacher]

Kelly, this may be a stupid question, but how do you make sure you're dealing with just one person? When I reply to emails I never end up with the same person answering back.

 

[mmmears]

I'm not Kelly, , but in my experience after dealing with someone I like I address my emails and phone messages directly to that CM by name. In general I guess it doesn't matter if I deal with more than one person, but it's hard when you have to start every conversation over from the beginning if it's something I've been working on for a while.

 

[BowlingAriel]

Oh don't get me started......In the past we've only dealt with one maybe 2 people for plans. Now its 4 or 5. Nothing like repeating yourself 3 times in an email only to get the next email asking the same questions you've already answered!! ARGH!!

For the price of Concierge now I expect service. I angrily told the guest service supervisor that if American Express Concierge treated their customers as incompetently as Disney has people would drop the card!! And of course I got the standard - canned answer - I apologize!! I don't want you to apologize - just FIX it!!


Just getting back from the BC I can say that the staff in the lounge are AMAZING - if you don't see something, just ask. There is still plenty of items in there that you can make meals of. (As long as your not expecting buffet proportions.)

Nothing better to grab and sit out on your balcony than a cup of coffee with Bailey's and a couple choco chip cookies. !!

 

[karensi]

Quick question~

I am staying GF sugar loaf. I have all our ADRs complete.
I never got a packet or anything like that from concierge. since I don't need dining ressies, is there any other reason I might want to contact them for my packet? Just checking!

I am also staying at GF (RPC) and I also never got any packet or e mail. I, too, had made all my ADR's on my own but decided I would contact IPO just to make sure they were aware I existed. I am really glad I did. I spoke with Denny and he has been great. He asked me to give him the info on all my ADR's (time/place/conf #, etc) and he put together an itinerary for us and e mailed it to me. He even called to make sure I had gotten his e mail. I asked if he had any suggestions and he told me that he always recommends that anyone staying at the GF eat dinner at Narcosse's. He explained that you could see Wishes from there and that the music is piped in. He also told me alittle about the menu, etc. I took him up on his suggestion and he booked us (DGD and myself) a late dinner there, so that we would be there when Wishes started.

After reading the GF thread, I decided that I would like to request a castle view, so I called the other day and requested that.

In other words, yes, I would suggest you contact IPO. Just let them know when you are coming and what your ADR's are. Also, if you have any further requests, before your trip, you will also have established a relationship, of sorts, with them.

Let us know how you made out.

Karen

 

[Tess]

I think when you start dealing with the IPO you should work with one person if you can. It cuts down on errors alot.

Tess how did you make you out?

I received a reply to my second email request--it was again a different individual. He seemed rather put out that we didn't want flowers or food and indicated he was not sure they could fulfill the request. We thanked them for the extra effort they would have to expend in obtaining two lousy plushes and ears and hoped they would be successful.

My husband had composed an email blasting them about the lack of service and his (my husband's) perceived attitude from the IPO in general. I opted to not send that version and simply thanked them for the efforts. Actually, it seemed rather pointless to try to educate these kids about the type of service they should be providing. I knew it would result in the canned "oh so sorry you're not happy" apology. I guess we will have to wait and see if they are able to comply with the request. If not, we'll do something different for our daughter.

I will say this though, we are about over the whole concierge experience based upon the lack of service from IPO.

Thanks for the information Kelly, I may try that route and see what develops.

 

[Tess]

Call disney florist and talk to one of their planners about what you want to do. Be very specific and ask them if they don't have the items you wanted for your daughter can you order them from merchandising and have them sent to the florist. The florist can then take the items and add them to any gift basket you choose. (They may stock the items you want but not have them on the web-site...that happened with part of my order, the rest I ordered from merchandising to add to a basket.)

It does add a little bit of cost but it was so easy once I got the info on who to ask and what to say.

Process:
Call florist tell them what kind of basket you want and ask if they have the items you want in it.
If they have the stuff order 100% from florist.
or Tell florist you want a basket but you want to Order some Items from merchandising and have it sent to the florist to add to the basket.
Then call merchandising and tell them what you want to send to florist and give them the name of your florist planner.
Call florist back and give her the order number from merchadising.

It's complicated but works.
Sheli

Personally, I do not believe we should have to jump through all of these hoops. That's why we are paying for the concierge service and pre-planning assistance. Our simple requests have never been an issue in the past, but a somewhat recent development (over the past few years) based upon management's desire to decrease the amount of familiarity between IPO staff and the customer.

In the good old days, one CM IPO staffer handled the requests and ADRs for a given family OR at least you could address your requests to one specific person. Now, unless you have the personal email addy for a specific CM, your emails roll into a queue, so to speak, and is handled by the "next available agent", to coin a phrase. It just isn't a good practice IMHO.

Anyway, thanks for the idea--if things don't work out, I may have to contact someone else or just let it go until I arrive and handle it myself.

 

[johnsonet]

I totally agree Tess. All the steps that Tinker*Shell*Bell was kind enough to suggest are the exact type of things some of got used to from IPO CMs as part of the CL experience.
I'm about over it too, I must say
CL has gotten MORE expensive, yet the services have become LESS personalized. Again, there are exceptions but it is dismaying.
I am surprising my husband with a "cruise" on the Grand 1 and I'm dreading contacting Poly IPO about private dining for the cruise. I know I'm going to get one of those "canned responses" ... I should just do it myself but I'm not sure whether I should call Poly PD or GF PD? Plus, I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO do it myself, KWIM?
I do need to go ahead and contact them and give them the benefit of the doubt but if all they do is email me the phone number to Private Dining I will be so disappointed