EXPIRED: Part ONE of 2015 CLUB LEVEL (CL) INFORMATION and HELP Thread DO NOT POST HERE!!!



Hi Everyone!

Have been scouring over this board and excited to see all of the great info.

We just booked Beach club for 9/19 - 9/23.
This trip is a surprise for our son's 4th birthday. We don't plan on telling him until the morning of the flight (from Austin).
The club level will be a surprise for husband.

1.5 years ago we stayed at Boardwalk and were given a club level 2 bedroom suite (instead of our standard non club room).
It was an AMAZING surprise and we absolutely loved breakfast & happy hour in the club level.

I know that with young kids, people generally recommend Poly but this will be our son's 3rd trip to Disney. I am planning on focusing on Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and the resort pool.
We chose this hotel because we've never stayed here before, the pool looks amazing, I love walking to Hollywood Studios and my husband loves dinner at Epcot.

Since it's a September trip, I'm wondering if the bus to MK will be shared with Yacht + BW + Swan + Dolphin.
Does anyone know? And if so, does anyone know the order of stops?

Also, with standard level club room, any specific room requests I should make?
I think I read that some of the club level rooms that aren't on the club floor (5?) aren't upgraded yet. Is that correct?

thanks!
Michele
 
micheledb49 said:
Hi Everyone!

Have been scouring over this board and excited to see all of the great info.

We just booked Beach club for 9/19 - 9/23.
This trip is a surprise for our son's 4th birthday. We don't plan on telling him until the morning of the flight (from Austin).
The club level will be a surprise for husband.

1.5 years ago we stayed at Boardwalk and were given a club level 2 bedroom suite (instead of our standard non club room).
It was an AMAZING surprise and we absolutely loved breakfast & happy hour in the club level.

I know that with young kids, people generally recommend Poly but this will be our son's 3rd trip to Disney. I am planning on focusing on Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and the resort pool.
We chose this hotel because we've never stayed here before, the pool looks amazing, I love walking to Hollywood Studios and my husband loves dinner at Epcot.

Since it's a September trip, I'm wondering if the bus to MK will be shared with Yacht + BW + Swan + Dolphin.
Does anyone know? And if so, does anyone know the order of stops?

Also, with standard level club room, any specific room requests I should make?
I think I read that some of the club level rooms that aren't on the club floor (5?) aren't upgraded yet. Is that correct?

thanks!
Michele
Click to expand...

I can't help with a room request but I can confirm the MK bus is shared with all 5 resorts. In April it ran, Swan-Dolphin-YC-BC-BWI for us. Have a funny story involving the MK bus.

DH and I took the boat from Hollywood Studios to the Swan/Dolphin because we had never been on the grounds. We had been considering a stay there and wanted to look around. We were going to grab the bus to MK for a tea at the GF. We JUST MISSED the MK bus but hey another will come right? We watched 5 AK, 4 DTD and even 2 Hollywood Studio/water park buses come and go over a 40 minute period. We weren't late but we decided to take the next bus that came just to get to a park and take the MK bus from the park. The next bus was EPCOT of all things. So on we get for the resort rounds. We were only ones on there and the driver asked why we didn't take the boat to EPCOT. We explained we were actually heading to MK/GF for a tea and been waiting for 40 minutes so took the next bus (his) that showed up! As we made the rounds NO ONE got on because EVERYONE was waiting for the MK bus. We and the driver laughed at the emerging pattern ;)

As we pull into EPOCT the driver gets on his radio and then tells us he has a surprise for us! I'm thinking he's held the MK bus so we can get right on it or possibly a GF bus! We still aren't late so not really worried. As we pull up, he says we get to stay on the bus. He changed his route to take us over to the GF! Now that was service! Moral to the story is mid day buses have odd time schedules!

Liz
 
Hi y'all! I'm a long-time lurker on this particular thread who finally got around to creating an account recently. My husband and I are booked for the Contemporary's Tower Club October 25-31 for the Food & Wine Festival.

We recently stayed at Wilderness Lodge's Old Faithful Club back in January in the Honeymoon Room (which was spectacular, might I add — if anyone has questions about this particular room please feel free to ask, since when I was doing research on it before our last trip I couldn't find much at all). We loved WL but both of us were dying to stay at the CR, so we booked a bounce-back without even thinking twice about it. I stayed there once as a 3-year-old with my parents back in '87, and my husband has wanted to stay there since he was a kid. Needless to say, we are SO excited!!! CR is my favorite hotel in the world (both the "WDWorld" and the actual world, haha).

Has anyone stayed Tower Club since the recent renovations up there? I know the whole 14th floor was redone a year or so ago and the pictures I've seen look beautiful. I'm curious what your experiences were. I realize the food offerings are the same as the Atrium Club down on the 12th, so I'm more curious about the overall "feel." Was it ever crowded? Noisy? How were the CMs? Can you see down into the main atrium area of the hotel from the 14th floor at all via windows? Thanks! :)
 


micheledb49 said:
Hi Everyone!

Have been scouring over this board and excited to see all of the great info.

We just booked Beach club for 9/19 - 9/23.
This trip is a surprise for our son's 4th birthday. We don't plan on telling him until the morning of the flight (from Austin).
The club level will be a surprise for husband.

1.5 years ago we stayed at Boardwalk and were given a club level 2 bedroom suite (instead of our standard non club room).
It was an AMAZING surprise and we absolutely loved breakfast & happy hour in the club level.

I know that with young kids, people generally recommend Poly but this will be our son's 3rd trip to Disney. I am planning on focusing on Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and the resort pool.
We chose this hotel because we've never stayed here before, the pool looks amazing, I love walking to Hollywood Studios and my husband loves dinner at Epcot.

Since it's a September trip, I'm wondering if the bus to MK will be shared with Yacht + BW + Swan + Dolphin.
Does anyone know? And if so, does anyone know the order of stops?

Also, with standard level club room, any specific room requests I should make?
I think I read that some of the club level rooms that aren't on the club floor (5?) aren't upgraded yet. Is that correct?

thanks!
Michele
Click to expand...

We had a fabulous stay at the BWI CL last summer. :D We were booked for standard CL but got a free upgrade to a deluxe room. :cloud9: We have stayed in standard club level rooms before and usually I request "daybed" and "close to lounge". But if you only have 1 child you probably won't need a daybed request, I always do because my boys don't like to sleep together. In 2013 we were about 5 rooms or so down the hall from the lounge and that was really convenient. I have a couple of trip reports you can read if you'd like to see pics =

http://www.disboards.com/threads/just-back-from-the-boardwalk-inn-club-level.3316744/

http://www.disboards.com/threads/the-murphys-are-live-from-bwi-and-blt-january-6-13.3040784/
 
Ewoks said:
Hi y'all! I'm a long-time lurker on this particular thread who finally got around to creating an account recently. My husband and I are booked for the Contemporary's Tower Club October 25-31 for the Food & Wine Festival.

We recently stayed at Wilderness Lodge's Old Faithful Club back in January in the Honeymoon Room (which was spectacular, might I add — if anyone has questions about this particular room please feel free to ask, since when I was doing research on it before our last trip I couldn't find much at all). We loved WL but both of us were dying to stay at the CR, so we booked a bounce-back without even thinking twice about it. I stayed there once as a 3-year-old with my parents back in '87, and my husband has wanted to stay there since he was a kid. Needless to say, we are SO excited!!! CR is my favorite hotel in the world (both the "WDWorld" and the actual world, haha).

Has anyone stayed Tower Club since the recent renovations up there? I know the whole 14th floor was redone a year or so ago and the pictures I've seen look beautiful. I'm curious what your experiences were. I realize the food offerings are the same as the Atrium Club down on the 12th, so I'm more curious about the overall "feel." Was it ever crowded? Noisy? How were the CMs? Can you see down into the main atrium area of the hotel from the 14th floor at all via windows? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

Sadly I haven't had a chance to stay up on 14 yet. But we had a fabulous stay on 12 last year. :D Hopefully someone else can chime in with info and pictures to help.
 
TinkerBellLiz said:
I can't help with a room request but I can confirm the MK bus is shared with all 5 resorts. In April it ran, Swan-Dolphin-YC-BC-BWI for us. Have a funny story involving the MK bus.

DH and I took the boat from Hollywood Studios to the Swan/Dolphin because we had never been on the grounds. We had been considering a stay there and wanted to look around. We were going to grab the bus to MK for a tea at the GF. We JUST MISSED the MK bus but hey another will come right? We watched 5 AK, 4 DTD and even 2 Hollywood Studio/water park buses come and go over a 40 minute period. We weren't late but we decided to take the next bus that came just to get to a park and take the MK bus from the park. The next bus was EPCOT of all things. So on we get for the resort rounds. We were only ones on there and the driver asked why we didn't take the boat to EPCOT. We explained we were actually heading to MK/GF for a tea and been waiting for 40 minutes so took the next bus (his) that showed up! As we made the rounds NO ONE got on because EVERYONE was waiting for the MK bus. We and the driver laughed at the emerging pattern ;)

As we pull into EPOCT the driver gets on his radio and then tells us he has a surprise for us! I'm thinking he's held the MK bus so we can get right on it or possibly a GF bus! We still aren't late so not really worried. As we pull up, he says we get to stay on the bus. He changed his route to take us over to the GF! Now that was service! Moral to the story is mid day buses have odd time schedules!

Liz
Click to expand...

Great service indeed :thumbsup2.

Thanks for the information on your recent bus experience.

Ewoks said:
Hi y'all! I'm a long-time lurker on this particular thread who finally got around to creating an account recently. My husband and I are booked for the Contemporary's Tower Club October 25-31 for the Food & Wine Festival.

We recently stayed at Wilderness Lodge's Old Faithful Club back in January in the Honeymoon Room (which was spectacular, might I add — if anyone has questions about this particular room please feel free to ask, since when I was doing research on it before our last trip I couldn't find much at all). We loved WL but both of us were dying to stay at the CR, so we booked a bounce-back without even thinking twice about it. I stayed there once as a 3-year-old with my parents back in '87, and my husband has wanted to stay there since he was a kid. Needless to say, we are SO excited!!! CR is my favorite hotel in the world (both the "WDWorld" and the actual world, haha).

Has anyone stayed Tower Club since the recent renovations up there? I know the whole 14th floor was redone a year or so ago and the pictures I've seen look beautiful. I'm curious what your experiences were. I realize the food offerings are the same as the Atrium Club down on the 12th, so I'm more curious about the overall "feel." Was it ever crowded? Noisy? How were the CMs? Can you see down into the main atrium area of the hotel from the 14th floor at all via windows? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...

I can't answer any of your questions as we've never stayed at the CR, but I wanted to say I hope you have a great trip. We've stayed WL CL and loved it, but CR CL is on our list to try. Hope you will give a review when you return :wizard:.

gioiamama said:
I've been watching this thread for weeks and finally made an account. We are thrilled to be staying at CR on the 14th floor in just 10 days! Will report back on club and room...
Click to expand...

Have a great trip :cool1:.
 
TinkerBellLiz said:
I can't help with a room request but I can confirm the MK bus is shared with all 5 resorts. In April it ran, Swan-Dolphin-YC-BC-BWI for us. Have a funny story involving the MK bus.

DH and I took the boat from Hollywood Studios to the Swan/Dolphin because we had never been on the grounds. We had been considering a stay there and wanted to look around. We were going to grab the bus to MK for a tea at the GF. We JUST MISSED the MK bus but hey another will come right? We watched 5 AK, 4 DTD and even 2 Hollywood Studio/water park buses come and go over a 40 minute period. We weren't late but we decided to take the next bus that came just to get to a park and take the MK bus from the park. The next bus was EPCOT of all things. So on we get for the resort rounds. We were only ones on there and the driver asked why we didn't take the boat to EPCOT. We explained we were actually heading to MK/GF for a tea and been waiting for 40 minutes so took the next bus (his) that showed up! As we made the rounds NO ONE got on because EVERYONE was waiting for the MK bus. We and the driver laughed at the emerging pattern ;)

As we pull into EPOCT the driver gets on his radio and then tells us he has a surprise for us! I'm thinking he's held the MK bus so we can get right on it or possibly a GF bus! We still aren't late so not really worried. As we pull up, he says we get to stay on the bus. He changed his route to take us over to the GF! Now that was service! Moral to the story is mid day buses have odd time schedules!

Liz
Click to expand...


I can confirm this was also the case Easter week. We only went to MK from BC one morning. We arrived at the bust stop at 5:30am, there was one other family there. The other family had been going to MK all week and proceeded to tell me that we were going to have to fight to get on the full bus when it finally arrived. The bus arrived at 6:45, which the other family said had been the norm but that every day they got there earlier with the hopes they had "missed one".

Other people did try to get on the bus before those of us who had been waiting for long time. There was no way for everyone who was waiting to get on the one already crowded bus.

Now granted, this was a very busy time, but I have never seen that many people that early for a 7am opening; including New Year's. My guess is Disney had not either. However, after a few days they should have arranged for more buses. People are becoming more savvy and more willing to get there earlier. FP+ is forcing people who normally did not plan to plan ahead and I think more are arriving earlier.
 
Scarlet_J said:
Is it the same elevator that goes to RPC? Or is it something different? Where does it let you off on the monorail level? I'm trying to picture the main building and I know there are the RPC elevators on the one side and then the main "public elevator" on the other side near the monorail.



Thank you. Very helpful!
Click to expand...
It doesn't connect to the main lobby (not directly); it connects to a hallway. You wouldn't see it from the lobby at all. Come to think of it, I'm not sure your bands will work on that elevator. We only discovered it because we walked past it on the way to our room in the main building. If you aren't in the main building your bands might not work.

If you look at a resort map, the part of the main building that is closest to Sugar Loaf has a round dining room (lower level is GF Cafe, upper is Citricos). The entrance is between that dining room and Gasparilla Grill. I'm not sure it is marked with a sign.
 
saintrob said:
Hello,
This is my first post in the CL thread although I've been reading the posts for some while and have found them to be so helpful.

We're back in WDW in July (this will be our 21st trip) although only our second in club level. We stayed at the CR last summer and absolutely loved it so have booked RPC in a MK view. As we'll have a MK view are there any particular room requests that I should make?

Thanks for your help in advance - I'm so excited about this trip!
Click to expand...
Compared to most other WDW resorts, all the CR Atrium level rooms are relatively close to the lounge and elevators. Our CL rooms have all been very quiet.

th eonly onther inside tidbit I'll add is that with CL and CR, we usually prefer rooms with what is called 'standard view.' It is a misnomer. All CR CL guests get MK view in the lounge. Only Standard rooms get an easy view of Bay Lake. It also costs less, and has a better view (IMO) with morning sun+ afternoon shade. They used to call those rooms "Bay Lake View," but they changed it after Bay Lake Tower was built, because it was confusing.
 
micheledb49 said:
Hi Everyone!

Have been scouring over this board and excited to see all of the great info.

We just booked Beach club for 9/19 - 9/23.

I know that with young kids, people generally recommend Poly

Since it's a September trip, I'm wondering if the bus to MK will be shared with Yacht + BW + Swan + Dolphin.
Does anyone know? And if so, does anyone know the order of stops?

Also, with standard level club room, any specific room requests I should make?
I think I read that some of the club level rooms that aren't on the club floor (5?) aren't upgraded yet. Is that correct?

thanks!
Michele
Click to expand...
First, we've stayed at almost every WDW resort with kids in our party. The kids love every resort.
Not sure why anyone would say Poly is best w/young kids. For any family with a stroller, I'd strongly disagree that the layout is convenient.

I'd actually put BC CL above Poly! As you say, BC gives easy access to two parks!

I can't answer your busing question 100%, but I can tell you a few things:
We love BC CL! Great place w/kids!
ME busalways makes multiple stops.
Typically during WDW morning and evening rush hours, park buses are NOT shared. They tend to be SHARING on park buses tends to happen during the slower times of the day. The AK and DTD buses usually both go by a water park on their way to each. (if the water park is open,) AK buses+ BB, DTD buses+ TL.

That sad my information is a few years old. About five years ago, we gave up on ME/busing. A rental car is well worth the cost, IMO. Time is money and we save hours of vacation time using a car. Thus, in a way, a car almost saves us $.

In the last few years, WDW has revamped their bus services. I think the new computer system lets them better reroute buses where they are needed. So I'm really not qualified to say what they are currently doiing. You may want to ask in the Transportation section of the DIS.

As for BC, the pool is amazing! Here are a few tidbits to know: You can get your own pail/shovel by getting a kid's meal by the pool- but many kids also leave them by the pool when they are done for the day. The sand play area great is for young kids! The lazy river is deep! (maybe 6 feet?) Also there's another small area of the lagoon pool with a whirlpool. Fun, but way too strong for a small kid.

The big slide may be too big, but there's a kiddie slide over near the water slide base. You have to leave the pool to access the pool slide base, so you might not realize there's a kiddie slide hidden there. BC has FREE life vests for kids. (Last time we used them, it was old room keys, I think now you'd just scan your band to get one.)
On your check out day, the locker room at BC is great! It is among the nicest of all WDW resorts! Also the BC pool has lockers if you want - near where you get the pool floats/life vests.

Keep your eye out for weddings!

In addition to Epcot dinners, that whole area has many great options! (incl Swan and Dolphin!)

We usually pick Standard view w/ CL, and we really enjoyed our BC room. Our 2nd stay, we were upgraded. I thought it was a big upgrade, until I noted it was only a $5/day upgrade. Though we always appreciate an upgrade!

The one request we usually make at any CL is to be near the lounge. We don't spend all that much time on our balcony.
 
Ewoks said:
Hi? Can you see down into the main atrium area of the hotel from the 14th floor at all via windows? Thanks! :)
Click to expand...
No, you can't see down.

Our stay was before the much needed renovation. We felt it was much needed though! The lounge was very nice though.

The balconies on the upper floor are much larger. We had one of the two more ordinary rooms up there. (though slept four vs. regular 5). Where the daybed would be, we had a table. Our bathroom was a different layout was well.

The food was overall the same, but portions on the upper CL are lower due to lower overall volume.
This is hard to explain quickly, but on 12th floor, higher volume food means more turnover. So that's where the 14th sometimes differs. Like maybe one floor runs out of chocolate mousse for the day and the other does not. Sometimes if the CL runs out of a food, they will sub something else. Other times, that's it- especially as it gets close to 10pm. Still other times (more 12th floor), the CM's begged us to take more food!

I am curious to see the new 14th floor!

I did stay 12th floor pre and post changes...they were not all that different. Nice, but mostly replaced similar furniture. At one point, WDW said BIG changes coming to 14th floor..then they dropped those plans. I think the changes they made to 14 were bigger than the 12th, but not the full SPA idea they once floated.

Sorry I'm not more definitive.
 
If you do a search for CR images, a website dedicated to CR pops up pretty quickly (with Tower lounge images, plus a map of the 14th floor layout.) I'm not 100% sure they are post rehab, but I think may be they are. The food area is abouthwat I recall, but the furniture looks new.


Then again...It seems the AKL lounge has changed just since our Jan stay!
 
Thanks for all the good feedback on the BC bus to MK.
If they pick up at Swan/Dolphin first, it looks like it's only a .25 mile walk from BC to go there.
The one thing that will majorly put my husband in a horrible mood is waiting for a full bus and not being able to get on.
I think walking to Swan could be the answer because no one wants a grumpy husband :)
 
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