Concierge/Club Level Information- Part IV, July 2012

[mickeynut1]

I already wrote them and they did send me a nice response! Just don't want any glitches when I go to make my dining reservations on 2/21!!

Glad they've been in contact with you. I'm sure everything will go smoothly when it's time to make your ADRs .

 

[jcjen519]

Since it will be just you & your 4 yo, you might want to request a room near the lounge. The room size & set up is pretty much like the BC, just the décor is different. It has been awhile since the rooms have been done; supposedly a rehab will start this year with the BC going first & YC after that. Rumor is that will start late spring/ early summer so YC may not be done til next year. The rooms are nice tho, they don't show a lot of wear & tear. I would say the carpeting in the hallways looks a little worn in some areas. I think the rooms are pretty, but then blue is my favorite color!

The Yacht & Beach Club thread has some nice pictures of the rooms-- check out the first page for lots of info & pictures. That thread is a great resource & has lots of friendly posters, if you are interested.

It is easy to walk to any of the resorts in that area, we usually walk to BW, Epcot & often to the Studios too. The boats are kind of slow & the walks aren't too bad. Takes us about 15 -20 minutes to get to the Studios, 5-7 minutes to Epcot & 10 to BW.

thanks! I think i will make that room request, would make managing a 4 year old alone a little easier. Also, glad to hear walking is easy to do and I'm looking forward to familiarizing myself with that area.

I'm not too worried about room rehabs, we've stayed at several of the deluxes right before a rehab and never felt the rooms were unpleasant. thanks again! will check out the yacht club thread

 

[DonnaDuck333]

Last time we stay there we noticed there were indeed rooms located right on the same floor as the lounge... Are they suites or just regular rooms. Curious if that could be an option for us....

 

[AlohaAnnie]

Last time we stay there we noticed there were indeed rooms located right on the same floor as the lounge... Are they suites or just regular rooms. Curious if that could be an option for us....

Those rooms are Disney Vacation Club villas. DVC members usually snap these up pretty fast because they are the only DVC CL rooms available at Disney World.

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[DonnaDuck333]

Those rooms are Disney Vacation Club villas. DVC members usually snap these up pretty fast because they are the only DVC CL rooms available at Disney World.

.

Thank you for your answer, was always curious... now I know

 

[AlohaAnnie]

Thank you for your answer, was always curious... now I know

You are welcome

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[jcjen519]

Those rooms are Disney Vacation Club villas. DVC members usually snap these up pretty fast because they are the only DVC CL rooms available at Disney World.

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this is true. I just spent two months moving my reservation so that I could get Christmas time there next year

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

Morning!! We are at 11 days!! I can't wait.

I have a question. My daughter really enjoys using the Sauna and Steam room at the AKL..as CL Guests, is this available to us at the Grand?? TIA

 

[wmoon]

I don't think it's necessary to list your ADRs if you've already made them and unless you want to let them know when you will be arriving or have room requests, I don't think the forms need to be sent back, but that's just my opinion. I have never sent the forms back as I don't use IPO when we stay CL. With that said, some people like to let them know when they will be arriving, make requests, etc., so depending on what information you want/need to give them, you can send the forms back or opt not to.

Thanks, I won't bother telling them my ADRs but will send it back with our room request.

 

[mickeynut1]

Thanks, I won't bother telling them my ADRs but will send it back with our room request.

You're welcome. I hope you enjoy your CL stay .

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

Morning!! We are at 11 days!! I can't wait.

I have a question. My daughter really enjoys using the Sauna and Steam room at the AKL..as CL Guests, is this available to us at the Grand?? TIA

My question was answered by IPO..for $25 per visit (not day) you can use the sauna and steam

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Just wanted to share opening page is incorrect about Coronado's Business Class. We are just back.

I should have taken some photos, but there are a few on this website if you look.

Consider CSR Business like a club light. You do not get IPO, use regular check-in desk to check in, but otherwise the food is similar. If you want the breakfast of CL, on a budget, CRB might be for you!

The breakfast offerings are rather similar to most CL's. They had continental breakfast: pastries, excellent fruit (berries even!), milk, juice, cereal (mini-boxes), regular coffee, latte machine (what I really care about), yogurt (though no Greek style). There were no hard boiled eggs. I also think maybe there was no oatmeal...not positive.

Staff DID offer gluten free and allergy free options for those who requested them!

Evening offerings are limited mostly to cheese/crackers (5-7pm only) beer/wine/sangria, soft drinks, veggie chips, tortilla chips, banana chips, assorted dips, whole fruits (apples, oranges- as I recall). Other than the cheese/crackers, these items are available on the buffet from 5-10pm. You do not get the hot appetizers, cordials, dessert items, or candy. I did see some trail mix in the 5-7 time slot.
Staff was very nice. If kids wanted milk in the evening they were happy to serve it. They also had the usual selection of coffee, tea, hot chocolate out whenever the lounge was open.

For us, the only thing we kind of missed was the lack of cookies/desserts. I slightly missed the hot dumplings/salads, but only in a small way. Oh, and the lounge only opens at 7am!!! (Others have coffee only from 6:30am-7am
)

CBR is a moderate resort. The corridors are exterior. We've stayed at all CL's now, and we've generally had fairly good luck getting a room kind of near the lounge. This time, we had one of the further rooms. It was perhaps slightly further than I usually get, but not bad. Our room at AKL CL was much further from the lounge.

It is a bit of a trick to FIND the lounge your first time. Unlike other CL resorts where you are escorted to check-in beside the CL lounge. Once we found it though, it was easy enough to get there. There are no big signs, so it pays to ask someone.

Staff in the lounge was super nice. I would rank them among the very best. Even though check-in is not their job, per say- they went above and beyond just food. They were more than happy to answer questions about almost any topic like how new FP worked). In truth, they spent more time talking to us than the staff at most lounges. At many lounges staff are busy restocking food and are too busy to talk.

Supposedly, business class was full, but it REALLY did not feel that way. The lounge was never crowded. It did not have as many tables as some other lounges, perhaps, but it was always plenty.

It was a bit too chilly to use the pool this trip. The only other important comment is that Pepper Market is no longer as nice as I remembered it being. Five years ago, the food was outstanding, now dinner was not so great. They still have pizza, burgers, some Mexican- but overall not nearly so nice. The carry out place (Café Rix?) is decent and quick. If you are not looking for a sit down meal, pick up something there over PM.
If you want an outstanding food court, head over to Art of Animation! Wow! I got excellent fresh grilled fish with two veggies and bread for like $13! Kid options included a make your own salad (protein of choice, lots of veggie choices, drink, AND two sides such as grape packet.)

 

[imobsessedwithdisney]

Thanks for the review. I had been very curious about csr business

 

[Scott MC]

Hello all.
Let me apologize because I have not been able to keep up with this thread. It's a bigger task than I originally thought. We are nearing the 250 page mark. Would someone like to start a new thread a wee bit early?

-Scott

 

[WDWKOOK]

Hello all.
Let me apologize because I have not been able to keep up with this thread. It's a bigger task than I originally thought. We are nearing the 250 page mark. Would someone like to start a new thread a wee bit early?

-Scott

Have you had any offers yet?

 

[Scott MC]

Have you had any offers yet?

Nope. But it's barely been an hour.

 

[ninafeliz]

Our only experience with club level and gluten free is at the Poly, and there they treat us pretty well, particularly at breakfast. We are now thinking of trying the GF, most likely at the outer building CL because of the huge price jump to get the main building CL. Does anyone have any experience with eating GF there, were they able to get breakfast items and snacks/evening options that were GF? We hate to change, based on our experiences at the Poly, but also want to try a different resort and our son really wants to use the water play area at the GF. We need to do our bounce back offer today, we're leaving in the AM.

 

[Circusgirl]

Our only experience with club level and gluten free is at the Poly, and there they treat us pretty well, particularly at breakfast. We are now thinking of trying the GF, most likely at the outer building CL because of the huge price jump to get the main building CL. Does anyone have any experience with eating GF there, were they able to get breakfast items and snacks/evening options that were GF? We hate to change, based on our experiences at the Poly, but also want to try a different resort and our son really wants to use the water play area at the GF. We need to do our bounce back offer today, we're leaving in the AM.

I can't address the GF question, but can tell you that the bounceback reservations are flexible after booking - you can book one resort and set of dates and change both the dates and resort as long as there is still availability when you are making your changes. If you need more time to figure out whether or not SL CL at the Grand will work for you, you can adjust your reservations after you get home as long as you book the number of nights you want before checkout.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Our only experience with club level and gluten free is at the Poly, and there they treat us pretty well, particularly at breakfast. We are now thinking of trying the GF, most likely at the outer building CL because of the huge price jump to get the main building CL. Does anyone have any experience with eating GF there, were they able to get breakfast items and snacks/evening options that were GF? We hate to change, based on our experiences at the Poly, but also want to try a different resort and our son really wants to use the water play area at the GF. We need to do our bounce back offer today, we're leaving in the AM.

I'm probably late responding, but yes.

GF is a bit variable at any resort. We've now stayed CL multiple times at several resorts, and every time the experience varies. GF is no different. Much of your experience always depends on the personality of the staff members you encounter, the procedures in place at the time, and what the staff has on hand to work with.

Our GF experience was great. They were very nice. The procedure they used was to send a GF breakfast to the room each day, after a talk with chef. It arrived at same time every day, which in our case was early. the tray arrived with items like GF waffles. There are also packaged items like muffins. the tray also included items like packaged GF cookies for later in the day. All CL's have yogurt, but the ones at GF were not in containers like all other CL's.

In our case, GF is not an allergy, but an intolerance. So many items off the line are fine. Certainly an item like fruit is fine. WE have also had good luck with items like oatmeal. If you are GF because of a severe food allergy, you may want to be more careful than us.

When we stayed at GF, we had a package deal that included DDP. It was WAY too much food!!! Because we had a TS dinner each night, we didn't need to eat a ton at the cocktail hour or the desserts. I remember coming back to GF after dinner at 'Ohana and just looking at the dessert buffet made us feel slightly ill - we were that full (late I the trip)!

For desserts, we stuck with the packaged GF cookies. Monay times (across stays at all CL's) the CL's have at least one dessert along the lines of apple slices w/caramel or mousse of some kind. most of the rest are not GF.

In the afternoon, most CL's offer potato chips. During appetizers all CL's have cheese trays. They usually have a non GF dumpling/meatball of some kind. (At WL it was a NON GF meat stew!! ) Al CL's usually have some kind of small sald each day- like tomato/vasil/mozzarella. I recall GF having that at least once. They also had sushi one day. I don't recall exactly what it was, maybe tuna? I think we chanced it. (just skip the soy sauce) All CL's, including GF have a veggie tray: raw carrots, broccoli, etc.

I can't recall what else. Some CL's will make up a special plate during appetizer hour, but I can't recall having one at GF, I think because we went to dinner each night. I know they made up plates at CR and WL. The plates are often like a bit of steak/grilled chicken with potatoes/rice. The plates at WL looked like they came from Artist Point. One had tiny exotic gourmet potatoes! Sorry I'm not more help.
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As for bounceback, yes you can adjust, but the window for adjusting is not very long, in my experience. I think the allowance is just a few weeks (though often enough a general public offer arrives later that's just as good. ) But it depends which offer you are getting, and how quick your return bounce is.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

Thank you everyone for participating in the Concierge/Club Level information thread!
The new 2014 edition is on its way shortly!
Once it posts please discontinue use of this thread.
Thank you! ​