Castle Club??

[bartty]

Anyone every stayed Castle club at the disneyland hotel? And if you have, what was it like? What bonuses/perks are included? And is it worth the extra $$??

TIA,
Bartty

 

[jodyb]

I stayed in the Castle Club a couple of months ago and enjoyed every minute of it. My favorite "perk" was the use of the Castle Club lounge, with free drinks all day and a full tea from 4 to 6 PM, gorgeous views of the park down Main Street (from the lounge, not necessarily from your room). The rooms are the same as the rest of the DLH, very nice - nothing spectacular - just a very very nice hotel room. The CM's at Castle Club are attentive and on duty 24 hours. When I wanted a cup of coffee before anything was open in the AM it was brought to me straight away (free). Breakfast in the lounge is hot and delicious - buffet style - absolutely no queue - just quiet, white-tablecloth level service. The VIP fastpasses are also a great bonus - they can be used for the length of your stay, as many times as you like - no time slots as with regular Fastpass. If you are going during a busy season I would say these alone would be worth the upgrade, especially if you have kids who want to ride those fastpass rides over and over again. The private lift down to the park entrance is nice. You feel as if you are part of a very quiet, private hotel, and not part of a massive inn as you do at the other hotels or I would imagine even in the rest of the DLH...
That's about all I can think of at the moment - if you have specific questions I'd be happy to answer.
As for the price, I thought it was "worth" the money... but I don't feel any particular need to do it again. I've stayed at all levels of Disney lodging (at WDW I've stayed at the All Stars and all the way up to Yacht Club Concierge) and to be perfectly honest EACH one has something to say for it and they are all wonderful. As I said, anything I left out feel free to shoot me a question!

 

[jodyb]

Also I went into more detail in my trip reports which you can find in the "index". I think I was a bit more efusive after just returning!

 

[Miffy2003]

Barrty,

Do check out our FAQ on the Disneyland Hotel done by Richard which is a wonderful respurce and does describe Castle Club too.

Click here

Let us know what you decide!

 

[bartty]

Well, we had reservations for HNY for May 24th -28th because could not get availability at DLH. But, I called yesterday and they had one room for the 23rd-28th for castle club!!!! So I changed our reservation and booked it! We have two small children (3&1) and I will be almost 33weeks pregnant when we will be visiting so the lift and close location to the park is a plus!! Thanks for the link miffy2003 and the info jodyb. Just out of curiousity, can we bring the drinks inside the park? And are there any alcoholic beverages offered at the lounge? And one more thing, did you receive a welcome gift in your room?

Thanks so much everyone!
Bartty

 

[jodyb]

That's wonderful - I know you will have a fantastic time, and with those little ones being right on top of the park entrance will really feel like luxury.
As for taking drinks, I would have to say that's one of my little complaints about Castle Club. The answer is no, nothing is supposed to be removed from the lounge. At WDW the concierge service includes being able to take soft drinks and bottled water out of the lounge, and snacks, etc. to the rooms. Castle Club does not provide this, even though their rates are actually quite a bit higher. Since it was winter this was not such a big concern for me, but in the summer it would be nice to have water provided. It is nice, however, that you can nip back into the hotel whenever you want for a sit-down in the lounge and some hot chocolate, coffee, or something stronger - Yes, there is a full bar in the Castle Club lounge. Also, something that Castle club has that the WDW concierge lounges do not, is full service. You can sit down and be waited on "hand and foot". Breakfast and tea are buffets, but drinks are served by the very courteous and solicitous CMs, as they are throughout the day. And even at breakfast and tea, the CMs are constantly coming to your table to ask if there is anything you need. Especially when you have kids, it's nice not to have to bounce back and forth time and again between your table and the buffet for the things you "forgot" or your kids decide they want during the meal. The CMs will gladly do that for you. Drinks are served in glasses, at table, not simply picked up in bottles or cans - it's just a cut above the WDW concierge service in it's attention to classy detail. Try to get the table to the far left and all the way inside - at the full window - it has a glorious view right down Main Street to the Castle!!
Any other questions that come to you - keep them coming. I'm excited for you and your family.

 

[bartty]

So "full service bar" means no extra charge? The CM's sound great! Did you tip any of them while you were there? And is it expected like in the US? Also, Does anyone leave tip for mousekeeping at dlp?

Thanks!

jodyb- read your trip report, glad you had a great time!

 

[jodyb]

You know I'm really not sure about whether the drinks are free or not. I *think* they are, but I don't recall having anything alcoholic while we were there, so I don't want to mislead you... Maybe someone else will know.
I did not leave anything for "mousekeeping", and I've not done that at WDW either....maybe I should have??

 

[bubblefactory]

There are lots of photo's of the DLH and CC rooms in these links :

http://community.webshots.com/album/73432348qpPKQs/1

http://community.webshots.com/user/disneyaddicts


All soft drinks and tea/coffee etc are free in the CC lounge. All alcoholic beverages are chargeable with beers from 5€ and spirits from 8€ a shot. Champagne is 15€ a glass or between 50-180€ a bottle.

The CC CM's are some of the best we have met in many trips to DLRP or WDW.

 

[bartty]

Thanks for the info! We can't wait now....only a few more weeks to go. Keep the information coming, I want to know everything!!

 

[vcunning]

First time poster and visitor to DLP.

My wife and I are staying in the Castle Club at the begninning of November (It's a 40th birthday surprise for my wife who has been to WDW about 25 times . . . I've lost count).

Does the Castle Club Concierge provide any dining reservation services?

A few years ago, we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Concierge and they provided a wonderful service of getting us into any show or meal. It seems we had premium seating at every place. I'm not sure if we were just lucky, but I did notice that it mentioned AKL Concierege reservation by our name at a couple of the place.

Thanks. I look forward to visiting. My wife will be extremely surprised./\

 

[steve_rob]

Does the Castle Club Concierge provide any dining reservation services?

I don't think it provides anything that the regular hotel concierge doesn't, but it's worth a try to see if you can get anything extra.

I certainly would make reservations through them for evening meals when you get there - we always do and normally end up with pretty good tables with no wait even when we've booked just the day before. Then upon turning up at the restaurant, we saw people without reservations being told there's a 2 hour wait for a table!