Club level let down

[Sytrace]

We check into GF CL next week. I was going to hold off on online check-in because I wanted the in-person experience. That was one of the best parts when we stayed CL at the DLR: they knew we were arriving when we checked in at the gate and then a CM met us in the valet portico and escorted us up to the lounge to check in. I was hoping for something similar, but now I'm wondering. Should I still take a chance or do I check in online now?

They still did the greeting and escort up to the lounge at the lobby for us last year when we stayed at YC and I always do online check in. I just like to do online check in to request early arrival and be sure to get a text when the room is ready.

 

[Kimberly9701]

The crazy part of Disney's discounts is that I got a better price for Poly CL standard room then a Poly TPV non CL. Those were the only discounts left. The Poly non CL Standard room was only $50 less a night than the Poly CL Standard room. For our family we will save that on breakfast alone. This was all on day 2 of the discounts. For us CL was definitely worth it.

I thought standard view CL rooms at the Poly were always a lower price point than TPV non cl rooms.

Last year I tried to extend our stay (about a week after making the reservation), CL was only thing available...standard view CL at a lower price point than our room or TPV CL for @ $200 more per night. I declined both and kept what I booked hoping maybe something else would open up to add later on..it didn't unfortunately.

 

[Babsy]

Has anyone done CL at Poly lately? My DD is starting to plan a trip for Feb and is considering it. They had done CL there about 3 yrs ago and thought it was great. As a few have mentioned, ate one meal at parks and filled in the rest with CL offerings.

We stayed poly CL in January. Although we enjoyed the stay, the food offerings were the worst that we have had at any CL to date. We had a cold continental breakfast every morning and that was about it. Disappointing hors d'oeuvres and desserts in the evening. This was also the first CL to refuse to get any form of bottled water for us to take to the room. We were told that we could bring a glass of water to the room if desired - not nearly as easy/convenient as a bottle! Also the expresso machine was out of order for our entire stay. DH LOVES his espresso and was disappointed. I wasn't concerned when we first checked in because I mistakenly thought that they would get it fixed. No such luck, still not working when we left.

I made one request during our entire stay of one of the CM's - to help with a medicine purchase from the resort. He wasn't able to help. Not a problem, really, it was just that the response was a flat no that felt a little less than concerned.

The rooms are the same as non CL. No special toiletries in our room. We declined turn down service, so I can't comment. Housekeeping was fine.

All of the issues were really very minor, but just felt like less of an upgraded experience than you expect for an extra $200 pre night. I loved the location of the Hawaii building and although the bungalows affected the view, it was not as bad as I had thought that it would be. All in all we had a great stay but if you are wondering if it is 'worth it' I would say it depends upon if that amount of money is important to you and what you are expecting. You don't get a good return for your money in a tangible form (such as food items) but you d get a great location and a nice lounge to relax in. I wouldn't expect to only buy one meal per day and eat the rest in the lounge.

ETA: as I read this over it sounds worse than it was. I am nit picking here, for sure. We did enjoy our Poly CL stay.

Whatever you decide, Enjoy!

 

[AliceIn]

I think a lot of people are drawn to the implied exclusivity of staying club level, rather than for the real level of convenience or value it offers.

In part, you are right. One of the perks of club level is that it is an exclusive area of the resort that, at least in previous years, provided dedicated services without having to wait in lines at the lobby. You get personal assistance prior to arrival tof book events. We have always enjoyed the extra pampering we got on the club level.

With services changing across the board, it may not be as good as it used to be.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We stayed poly CL in January. Although we enjoyed the stay, the food offerings were the worst that we have had at any CL to date. We had a cold continental breakfast every morning and that was about it. Disappointing hors d'oeuvres and desserts in the evening. This was also the first CL to refuse to get any form of bottled water for us to take to the room. We were told that we could bring a glass of water to the room if desired - not nearly as easy/convenient as a bottle! Also the expresso machine was out of order for our entire stay. DH LOVES his espresso and was disappointed. I wasn't concerned when we first checked in because I mistakenly thought that they would get it fixed. No such luck, still not working when we left.

I made one request during our entire stay of one of the CM's - to help with a medicine purchase from the resort. He wasn't able to help. Not a problem, really, it was just that the response was a flat no that felt a little less than concerned.

The rooms are the same as non CL. No special toiletries in our room. We declined turn down service, so I can't comment. Housekeeping was fine.

ETA: as I read this over it sounds worse than it was. I am nit picking here, for sure. We did enjoy our Poly CL stay.

Whatever you decide, Enjoy!

I felt the same way about the CMs at the Poly - We were used to the BWI, BC and YC where the CMs went above and beyond whatever we needed. We asked for help with something at the Poly as well and received the same flat response. Once at the BC I was inquiring where I could go to get my DD wax for her braces and the CM said don't worry, go to the parks and we will get it for you. It was delivered to our room within 2 hours. That's the convenience that is nice about staying CL. While we were at the Poly it was during construction and the CMs (but not Irv) seemed preoccupied. We want to try the Poly one more time now that construction is done.

 

[AZMama2016]

We're here now. I ended up doing online check-in and we had our room assignment text while we were in flight. NONE of the requests we made via IPO or during check-in were met. We asked for upper floor, quiet room, king bed, no connecting room. They had us on the ground floor, a few doors down from the lounge and service doors, two queen beds, and a connecting room. The noise level was horrendous. Doors slamming at all hours, club noise traveling down our small hallway, housekeeping parking their cart right outside the room and staff chattering away outside the door early in the morning. We didn't get much sleep the first couple nights and asked the concierge to move us. They were able to get us onto the third floor after three nights and while the hall noise can still be bad, it's infinitely better than downstairs.

When we arrived, the valet asked us if we needed anything, but other than that, no one greeted us or escorted us or even gave us directions when we entered the lobby. We eventually found our way in the rain to Sugar Loaf and the hostess there took us to our room. Glad I did online check-in after all. My DLH CL experience was just wonderful, so this was a major disappointment.

Food options have been so-so. Seems like they're always clearing it out when we show up. I do like the gummy bears though, and my daughter goes for the Mickey sprinkles!

We did use IPO. The room requests aside, they also weren't able to come through on a BBB request we made months ago, but they took care of other things for us. Generally staff has been good though, and we were happy they found another room for us, despite being very full this weekend (Mothers Day, Invictus Games).

I am curious about whether main building CL is better. It just feels like this one was an afterthought and they just turned a building atrium into a "lounge". No special view and it just feels small and crowded. Maybe we would be better off spending that money on a DVC villa with a kitchenette, so we can buy our own food and reheat leftovers. We'd like to stay here again; the grounds are gorgeous, it's more our style, and we like the monorail access. The rooms are a little dated though and there are some maintenance issues that have surprised me a bit.

 

[Babsy]

We're here now. I ended up doing online check-in and we had our room assignment text while we were in flight. NONE of the requests we made via IPO or during check-in were met. We asked for upper floor, quiet room, king bed, no connecting room. They had us on the ground floor, a few doors down from the lounge and service doors, two queen beds, and a connecting room. The noise level was horrendous. Doors slamming at all hours, club noise traveling down our small hallway, housekeeping parking their cart right outside the room and staff chattering away outside the door early in the morning. We didn't get much sleep the first couple nights and asked the concierge to move us. They were able to get us onto the third floor after three nights and while the hall noise can still be bad, it's infinitely better than downstairs.

When we arrived, the valet asked us if we needed anything, but other than that, no one greeted us or escorted us or even gave us directions when we entered the lobby. We eventually found our way in the rain to Sugar Loaf and the hostess there took us to our room. Glad I did online check-in after all. My DLH CL experience was just wonderful, so this was a major disappointment.

Food options have been so-so. Seems like they're always clearing it out when we show up. I do like the gummy bears though, and my daughter goes for the Mickey sprinkles!

We did use IPO. The room requests aside, they also weren't able to come through on a BBB request we made months ago, but they took care of other things for us. Generally staff has been good though, and we were happy they found another room for us, despite being very full this weekend (Mothers Day, Invictus Games).

I am curious about whether main building CL is better. It just feels like this one was an afterthought and they just turned a building atrium into a "lounge". No special view and it just feels small and crowded. Maybe we would be better off spending that money on a DVC villa with a kitchenette, so we can buy our own food and reheat leftovers. We'd like to stay here again; the grounds are gorgeous, it's more our style, and we like the monorail access. The rooms are a little dated though and there are some maintenance issues that have surprised me a bit.

We enjoyed SL, but the lounge isn't as special as the one in RPC CL.. The lounge in RPC has a view of the GF grounds but is larger and open to the GF lobby atrium. You have lots of space between tables and you can often hear the live music drifting up from below. When we last stayed in RPC, you still had an escort to the room along with 'in room' check in - very nice! We had a king bed with a view of the castle and an over sized balcony. It was stunning!! plus the food was very good and plentiful!

SL is also very nice. The food is the same as you get in RPC. The building location is the best of all the outer buildings, situated between the boat dock and the main building and between the courtyard pool and the marina. There are no TPV rooms in SL, but the views of the pool and marina are generally very nice. I am not sure why, but we have not received our requests at SL, either. Even our last view of the back of a tree was not terrible, though, and we decided that it didn't really matter what our view was for this trip.

The lounge is not the relaxing place that you want to spend time in like it is in RPC or the Poly, for example. I understand what you mean about it seeming like an afterthought. However, as a quick pit stop for breakfast on the way to the parks, or as a meeting place outside your rooms, it works. WE found the SL CL to be convenient and pleasant with really nice CM's that were easy to talk to (and consequently usually busy with someone! LOL).

It is good to hear that they found you a better room. They do try to help, I believe, but simply aren't always able to do so. Apparently noise is a problem in many rooms that are close to the 'lobby' area. Interestingly enough, it is the request for close to the lobby that they never seem to give us, which is surprising because most people are bothered by the noise and would prefer NOT to be in those rooms. You would think, therefore that someone actually requesting one of these rooms would have an easy request to fulfill!

 

[hammie59]

And the comment about waiting in line? That's terrible. Is that specific to BW or is this going to be the case at all moving forward?

When we arrived at BWI last year, we were greeted by a woman holding an iPad. She did most of the checking in stuff and then took me up to the desk to finish up, no waiting in line. We weren't CL, have never been, so not exactly sure what is normal vs CL check in at that resort.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Just the days of pouring your own drinks. Stayed CL at BWI, BC and AKL this year and none of them had the alcohol out for the taking. But they gave you all you wanted anytime you asked. The * is you can't get any unopened to take to the room for later. You can take the opened ones back though so it's an options.
We still had no problems getting a complete breakfast and light dinner from the offerings. We then ate big lunches in the parks.

Can you still get a closed beer to take back to your room, or beers are poured for you too? I heard you can ask for them at lunch time also. And I hear they have uncrustables out at night, (those little peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), do you know if you can ask for them throughout the day? Thank you

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Has anyone done CL at Poly lately? My DD is starting to plan a trip for Feb and is considering it. They had done CL there about 3 yrs ago and thought it was great. As a few have mentioned, ate one meal at parks and filled in the rest with CL offerings.

Our neighbors do Poly CL every year. The last trip just in March 2016. They continue to love it. They do breakfast and dinner there everyday, (use the snacks) and do their ADR's for lunch instead.

 

[AngiTN]

Can you still get a closed beer to take back to your room, or beers are poured for you too? I heard you can ask for them at lunch time also. And I hear they have uncrustables out at night, (those little peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), do you know if you can ask for them throughout the day? Thank you

No they will not give you a beer unopened at any of the resorts we have stayed in. They aren't poured, just opened

You can ask for them at any time of day, even breakfast if you so desire.

No idea about the uncrustables. All the lounges but for AKL have kid offerings so it probably won't matter. Everyone else does PBJ shooters with little buns. I know AKL had no kid choices because we did ask

 

[AngiTN]

When we arrived at BWI last year, we were greeted by a woman holding an iPad. She did most of the checking in stuff and then took me up to the desk to finish up, no waiting in line. We weren't CL, have never been, so not exactly sure what is normal vs CL check in at that resort.

That is currently not done at any resort. We were at BWI in Feb and no greeter. They cut the curb side greeters late last year, or early this year

 

[Jonestown000]

I'm staying at the Polynesian with my wife and 2 kids (who will be 5yo and 1yo) in early Dec (4th-10th). We decided to get a Club Level room, mostly for the convenience for breakfast (usually just fresh fruit and maybe a bagel in our family) and the ability to see the fireworks. Our oldest goes to bed fairly early (in the 730-830 range) but we want him to be able to see the fireworks, so we decided to splurge on the club room so that he would be able to watch from the lounge with one of us, while the other was in the room with the youngest (maybe with a drink from the lounge...). Keeping him at MK for the fireworks just doesn't seem like it will work out, and we didn't want to have to split up the family too much anyway if the youngest needed to be back and in bed.

It sounds like lots of folks are disillusioned with the club amenities lately. I guess my question is, given our priorities, am I setting us up for disappointment? Would it make more sense to get a non-club room and just trek down to the beach and hope the weather is warm enough?

Not sure I can switch my reservation at this point, but I guess I'd consider it. Happy to get any advice!

 

[mrsap]

No they will not give you a beer unopened at any of the resorts we have stayed in. They aren't poured, just opened

You can ask for them at any time of day, even breakfast if you so desire.

No idea about the uncrustables. All the lounges but for AKL have kid offerings so it probably won't matter. Everyone else does PBJ shooters with little buns. I know AKL had no kid choices because we did ask

We have done WL CL the past 3 years and there are bottles of unopened beer in the little fridge. There were days my DH stayed back in the room due to sleeping little ones and I've brought him back beer. I don't know if anything changed since November though.

 

[Skywise]

It sounds like lots of folks are disillusioned with the club amenities lately. I guess my question is, given our priorities, am I setting us up for disappointment? Would it make more sense to get a non-club room and just trek down to the beach and hope the weather is warm enough?

That's a tricky call - Even though we're all griping about the decline in service the CL experience still has value. The TPV CL views at the Poly are still some of the best resort-wide and you'll have your own private viewing area for the fireworks plus great views of the boat traffic on the lake with drinks and snacks just a short walk away.

Obviously it's cheaper to NOT be at CL and see the fireworks from the beach and you can get a refillable mug and hit up Captain Cook's for refills (which might be a pretty far walk depending on which building you end up in).

But you have to realize that, cost-wise, everything at Disney will be more than what you think the value of it is. (I can stay at a 5-star hotel for about a third of the cost of any Disney Deluxe Resort!) The only way to win that game is not to play!

Ultimately if you can afford it and especially if this is your first time to DW, I'd stay with the CL.

 

[johnsonet]

It does sound as though your reasons for wanting club level (quick breakfast and fireworks viewing from the lounge) make booking it a good idea. However, I would certainly never dissuade someone from booking the least expensive room they could get at these deluxe resorts. Your room will be identical and the entire resort is lovely and easy to navigate. You could pack your own snacks for the room and/or have some groceries delivered (you can also buy fruit at Capt. Cook's) through one of the area grocery services. As you said, you could walk (easily) to the beach/dock/etc. and watch the fireworks with your little one. Depending on your rate - you might save hundreds of dollars by switching. The Polynesian is a gorgeous place and you're bound to have a fabulous time. If you think you might want to switch and there is no availability - don't give up. Keep checking back Good luck!

I'm staying at the Polynesian with my wife and 2 kids (who will be 5yo and 1yo) in early Dec (4th-10th). We decided to get a Club Level room, mostly for the convenience for breakfast (usually just fresh fruit and maybe a bagel in our family) and the ability to see the fireworks. Our oldest goes to bed fairly early (in the 730-830 range) but we want him to be able to see the fireworks, so we decided to splurge on the club room so that he would be able to watch from the lounge with one of us, while the other was in the room with the youngest (maybe with a drink from the lounge...). Keeping him at MK for the fireworks just doesn't seem like it will work out, and we didn't want to have to split up the family too much anyway if the youngest needed to be back and in bed.

It sounds like lots of folks are disillusioned with the club amenities lately. I guess my question is, given our priorities, am I setting us up for disappointment? Would it make more sense to get a non-club room and just trek down to the beach and hope the weather is warm enough?

Not sure I can switch my reservation at this point, but I guess I'd consider it. Happy to get any advice!

 

[Disneytam]

Can you still get a closed beer to take back to your room, or beers are poured for you too? I heard you can ask for them at lunch time also. And I hear they have uncrustables out at night, (those little peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), do you know if you can ask for them throughout the day? Thank you

The only uncomfortable moment that we had on our last stay at the BWI CL had to do with the beer bottle opening issue. We have stayed at the BWI CL many times over the years and this was the first time that we were there when they were pouring drinks and guarding the beer. My husband came into the lounge one evening and even though the wine set up was there no one was actually standing guard or pouring drinks. So he did what he has done many times in the past and reached in and grabbed a bottle of beer. You would have thought he was stealing an expensive jewel or something by the yell that went out from a CM that was just coming out of the little back room area! The CM came running over telling my husband that he had to get the beer for him and open it for him. It was just a quick thing and my husband handed the bottle over to the CM with a laugh but obviously no bottle is to leave unopened at any cost! It just left an uncomfortable feeling for us and if we didn't know most of the CM really well I would have been horrified since a lot of guests in the lounge were staring over the incident. In years past the CM would often get my husband a bottle of beer every night to take back to our room and sit out on the balcony with and a couple of times we would not be coming back for late night deserts so when we were in for the apps. they would give him one to put in our fridge for later. Those days are gone.

 

[Hisgirl]

After our return from GF CL on April 28th, I wrote an email to guest services. Nothing ugly, just an observations about how things had changed and the things we noticed were no longer in play...the greeting, the variety of foods and the no true need for a concierge due to FP+ changes. I shared some of the same sentiments we have discussed on here.

Today I got a phone call from guest relations. The gal wanted to hear about my experiences. We discussed our observations and she was quite kind, then said that Disney wanted to send us a $200 gift card in the hopes we would use it in a future stay. I thought that was very kind. Still won't be staying club level but we'll definitely hold onto the card to go towards a regular room. Our next trip, we will have breakfast reservations each day and we'll buy our own wine and water.

 

[Jonestown000]

That's a tricky call - Even though we're all griping about the decline in service the CL experience still has value. The TPV CL views at the Poly are still some of the best resort-wide and you'll have your own private viewing area for the fireworks plus great views of the boat traffic on the lake with drinks and snacks just a short walk away.

Obviously it's cheaper to NOT be at CL and see the fireworks from the beach and you can get a refillable mug and hit up Captain Cook's for refills (which might be a pretty far walk depending on which building you end up in).

But you have to realize that, cost-wise, everything at Disney will be more than what you think the value of it is. (I can stay at a 5-star hotel for about a third of the cost of any Disney Deluxe Resort!) The only way to win that game is not to play!

Ultimately if you can afford it and especially if this is your first time to DW, I'd stay with the CL.

Appreciate the input. It's fair to say that any sense of "value" is kind of out the window, as you mentioned, but that's ok, we know what we're getting into. It is also our first trip to disney, so having things simplified and making the trip go smoothly is kind of the priority, which is why we're trying to go at a low crowd time (early Dec seemed to be a fit for that criteria) and want to make sure we make things easy on ourselves.

 

[Jonestown000]

It does sound as though your reasons for wanting club level (quick breakfast and fireworks viewing from the lounge) make booking it a good idea. However, I would certainly never dissuade someone from booking the least expensive room they could get at these deluxe resorts. Your room will be identical and the entire resort is lovely and easy to navigate. You could pack your own snacks for the room and/or have some groceries delivered (you can also buy fruit at Capt. Cook's) through one of the area grocery services. As you said, you could walk (easily) to the beach/dock/etc. and watch the fireworks with your little one. Depending on your rate - you might save hundreds of dollars by switching. The Polynesian is a gorgeous place and you're bound to have a fabulous time. If you think you might want to switch and there is no availability - don't give up. Keep checking back Good luck!

Yah, when we decided to book it wasn't necessarily about getting the biggest bang for our buck, but really about making it easy and simple to have a nice first trip, since Disney is waaaaaay more complicated than I expected when starting to look into things. We wanted a resort with easy transportation and a way to still enjoy "disney" from our resort (versus just being in a nice resort that happened to be near the theme parks). This seems to fit the bill, and we are in budget and not planning anything with extra costs (christmas party, etc), so maybe it's worth to just stay put and give it a shot. Appreciate your thoughts for sure though.