Disney's Club Level (CL) Information & Questions

[AngiTN]

Since the last time we stayed I saw there was a new CL option for extra fast passes? Is this still offered and can anyone point me in the right direction to get all the info on cost, how to purchase and use please? I've searched and I'm not really finding a well rounded post about it. TIA

There’s a huge thread that has everything you would ever want to know and then some
https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...purchase-program-planning-discussion.3657573/

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Since the last time we stayed I saw there was a new CL option for extra fast passes? Is this still offered and can anyone point me in the right direction to get all the info on cost, how to purchase and use please? I've searched and I'm not really finding a well rounded post about it. TIA

In addition to the thread @AngiTN posted above, this post has a general run down of how everything works: https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...nytime-bonus-fps-cl-fps.3538258/post-56320893

 

[amuse-bouche]

Since the last time we stayed I saw there was a new CL option for extra fast passes? Is this still offered and can anyone point me in the right direction to get all the info on cost, how to purchase and use please? I've searched and I'm not really finding a well rounded post about it. TIA

You should contact Disney Signature Services and they will give you all of the information on the extra FPs. They will also set them up for you. Sometimes they actually call me after I make a CL reservation but not always. If they don't call you soon you can reach them at 407-939-7777
EDIT- while I was typing, some more experienced board members posted with links to informative threads. I always arrange it with Signature Services over the phone, but it's great that there are threads about it here.

Can anyone confirm that waffles and/or any other hot breakfast option are no longer offered at SL CL.
Is RPC the only CL that has anything hot for breakfast (besides oatmeal)?

The Mickey Waffles are only at RPC now. We stayed there a few months ago (RPC) and they were available. In-Laws had a SL stay last month and reported no waffles. Oatmeal was the only hot breakfast option in the lounge during their GF SL stay.

 

[Crazyhorse]

I hesitate to post this but in fairness, I will. We’re at the YC now, club level. The club level staff as well as the front desk continue to be amazing. However, even they can’t make up for the less than stellar food options on the 5th floor.
From the stale bread and hard dry cheese to the rolls but sometimes no butter. Carmel but sometimes no apples. Yes, one can ask for what’s missing but how often can one do that? Lousy dessert options....who doesn’t love a little cupcake? Nowhere to be found. Seemingly old cookies & suspect Rice Krispy treats. Hate to complain, certainly not a tragedy but we’ve stayed CL a lot and this is just below par. We’re at the BWI CL in April and will likely note the lack of ventilation but I know the food choices will be better.
We LOVE the YC...such nice clean rooms, love the lack of carpet and new bathrooms. However, it’s hard to justify CL at the YC. We’ll have to rethink YC CL next Christmas. Sorry to be Debbie Downer but I can’t sugar coat our experience.

 

[HappyMomma]

There’s a huge thread that has everything you would ever want to know and then some
https://www.disboards.com/threads/t...purchase-program-planning-discussion.3657573/

Thank you! You guys are all awesome! I'll check out all the links.

 

[mickeynut1]

Thanks for the details on SL. When DD gets married, we will be staying at the Grand Floridian, and if we stay CL, I want our lounge to be more of an escape from the chaos rather than in the midst of it.

You're welcome

RPC is amazing and would be a wonderful place to stay for your DD's wedding. The RPC lounge is a great place to relax (IMO) and listen to the orchestra play while watching the hustle and bustle down below in the lobby .

I hesitate to post this but in fairness, I will. We’re at the YC now, club level. The club level staff as well as the front desk continue to be amazing. However, even they can’t make up for the less than stellar food options on the 5th floor.
From the stale bread and hard dry cheese to the rolls but sometimes no butter. Carmel but sometimes no apples. Yes, one can ask for what’s missing but how often can one do that? Lousy dessert options....who doesn’t love a little cupcake? Nowhere to be found. Seemingly old cookies & suspect Rice Krispy treats. Hate to complain, certainly not a tragedy but we’ve stayed CL a lot and this is just below par. We’re at the BWI CL in April and will likely note the lack of ventilation but I know the food choices will be better.
We LOVE the YC...such nice clean rooms, love the lack of carpet and new bathrooms. However, it’s hard to justify CL at the YC. We’ll have to rethink YC CL next Christmas. Sorry to be Debbie Downer but I can’t sugar coat our experience.

I'm sorry to hear about the sub par food offerings. Aside from the lounge offerings, I hope you are having a nice trip overall .

 

[Maxie86]

I hesitate to post this but in fairness, I will. We’re at the YC now, club level. The club level staff as well as the front desk continue to be amazing. However, even they can’t make up for the less than stellar food options on the 5th floor.
From the stale bread and hard dry cheese to the rolls but sometimes no butter. Carmel but sometimes no apples. Yes, one can ask for what’s missing but how often can one do that? Lousy dessert options....who doesn’t love a little cupcake? Nowhere to be found. Seemingly old cookies & suspect Rice Krispy treats. Hate to complain, certainly not a tragedy but we’ve stayed CL a lot and this is just below par. We’re at the BWI CL in April and will likely note the lack of ventilation but I know the food choices will be better.
We LOVE the YC...such nice clean rooms, love the lack of carpet and new bathrooms. However, it’s hard to justify CL at the YC. We’ll have to rethink YC CL next Christmas. Sorry to be Debbie Downer but I can’t sugar coat our experience.

My exact thoughts and experience. We only had fresh pastries and bread one day out of five. Very disappointed in the food this trip at all services. We are an older couple so I hate to complain about the lack of candy but I did miss it, they usually had four jars out. This time there were only two jars, one had lollipops and one jolly had ranchers...no thank you... and they were not even out everyday. There is no excuse for the cutbacks with the rates they charge. They did have an adequate beer and wine selection though. The CM's and resort were great as always. I do believe they are getting complaints though because I got a survey and they specifically asked about CL and the lounge food. I didn't complain while I was there about the food but did mention that I missed the peppermint and eggnog taffy that they had last year. We are booked at the YC in April, hopefully they up their game by then. At least they still have the ice cream freezer.

 

[reluctantredhead]

I hesitate to post this but in fairness, I will. We’re at the YC now, club level. The club level staff as well as the front desk continue to be amazing. However, even they can’t make up for the less than stellar food options on the 5th floor.
From the stale bread and hard dry cheese to the rolls but sometimes no butter. Carmel but sometimes no apples. Yes, one can ask for what’s missing but how often can one do that? Lousy dessert options....who doesn’t love a little cupcake? Nowhere to be found. Seemingly old cookies & suspect Rice Krispy treats. Hate to complain, certainly not a tragedy but we’ve stayed CL a lot and this is just below par. We’re at the BWI CL in April and will likely note the lack of ventilation but I know the food choices will be better.
We LOVE the YC...such nice clean rooms, love the lack of carpet and new bathrooms. However, it’s hard to justify CL at the YC. We’ll have to rethink YC CL next Christmas. Sorry to be Debbie Downer but I can’t sugar coat our experience.

This is how I felt about our one and only BC CL stay last December. I am shy and reserved, and there are only so many times I'm gonna work up my courage to ask for something..and yes, that's on me, but I'd rather stay somewhere that I don't have to constantly ask for things or feel like the choices available aren't that good. Having said that, we are repeating our BC CL stay in a couple of weeks because we needed a 1 BR suite -- but this time we will have reduced expectations for the lounge and probably won't bother with it for anything other than a quick bite for breakfast.

 

[reluctantredhead]

We did a CL for the first time last summer for 3 nights at the YC. We happened to find a super great rate it. While we enjoyed for breakfast (and soda, water and juice) throughout the day there were times we felt it spoiled our dinner appetite and we ended up changing a few dinner ressie bc of that.
This year we were thinking of trying out GF (never stayed there) and was slightly intrigued by the Sugar Loaf CL. Any opinions or reviews?
Also, any news on when the bridge/walkway to MK from the GF will open?
TIA

I agree with many of the points that @GADisneyDad14 made about SL. We've stayed three times, most recently this past October. Here's how I look at it -- would I rather stay RPC, BWI CL, or WL CL? Yes. But RPC is a LOT more expensive, and our budget doesn't always allow for it; WL CL is often sold out by the time we try to book (and I'm not always down for not being on the monorail route); and BWI isn't in the MK area, which for certain trips (depending on what we've planned) can be a dealbreaker.

In addition, for us, it really boils down to why we're booking CL for a particular trip. If we're booking it because we really want to relax and spend time in a lounge space instead of in our room, then GF SL IMHO isn't the best choice because as others have said, it's not the most relaxing space given its location, and it also often seems to be pretty busy. Further, my experience has been like @GADisneyDad14's in terms of the CMs -- definitely no warm fuzzies in our experience. But if we're booking it because we really want to use the food offerings to replace meals (and we want to be at a MK monorail resort), for us it's a fantastic choice. We are light eaters, and we find that for short stays of 1-3 days we can easily use the offerings from SL to replace most or all of our meals, so it can be a big cost savings! In particular, we have found SL very good for long weekend trips when we're there for MNSSHP or a festival because we're trying to pack a lot of parks/experiences into a relatively short amount of time, so we don't have a lot of time to relax in the lounge anyway. Reports are correct that they no longer have the Mickey Waffles or other hot breakfast items (other than oatmeal), but in our experience there is still enough food to make a decent breakfast.

Hope this information is helpful! I think some of us feel that it's not a bad choice...it's just that it doesn't have the same gracious service and welcoming feel that some lounges do (like RPC, BWI, and WL in our opinion). But I also absolutely agree with what @GADisneyDad14 said about less-than-stellar service being just a shift change away at many CL lounges, so others' experiences may vary. Best of luck with your decision, and I hope that you have a wonderful stay!

 

[PRaffen]

Now that the orchestra has moved, is it still easily heard from the GF lounge?

 

[Babsy]

We just returned today from a four night YC CL stay and we enjoyed our stay very much. I thought that the food was far superior to our last visit to YC CL. AT that time, the food was far worse, but that was admittedly a few years ago now.

The Cons: Like Crazyhorse said above we did also note the caramel sauce with no apples and sometimes slightly stale pastries in the am. I also was disappointed that there was no bottled water. Dessert options were few and repetitive in the evenings. I did see two cupcake options each night that we dropped by, but we were only there during dessert time for three short visits.

Some items were not replenished when they ran out. Also, they seemed to be out of Perrier most of the time. Bottled water was not available - not even upon request. Grapefruit juice was also in short supply.

The Pros: We loved the evening hors oeuvres. Excellent hot items from 5-7 pm. Also salads, cold roasted veggies and cheeses that we enjoyed were available. Soup or chowder was offered each nights well as a main meat dish such as pulled pork (delicious), bacon wrapped scallops, salmon, chicken nuggets, chili, mac and cheese and more. This is easily enough to make a meal for us. Plus, YC CL now provides full sized dinner plates. We were very happy with the items we tried. We did have a little trouble getting a table a few times, but we were welcomed to bring the food back to our room to have on our balcony. Not ideal, but we managed.

The staff were very friendly and personable, eager to help and quick to remove dishes when we were finished.

Breakfast was good with hot oatmeal, cold boiled eggs served shelled and cut in half, assorted cold meats, pastries and croissants, and some fruit. There was usually watermelon and a mixture of blueberries/strawberries/blackberries, bananas, apples and oranges. there was also biscuits with sausage gravy one morning and crepes with strawberries and cream another morning. WE missed breakfast as we were in a hurry to get out to the theme parks on the other days - just grabbed a pastry and coffee on the fly. I did miss the cappuccino that we have had in the past. I am not a fan of Nespresso. The regular coffee was OK, but not exceptional in any way.

Ice cream choices consisted of chocolate or vanilla bean ice cream in small tubs or frozen lemonade bars (?). Nice and always available.

The rooms:

OK, WOW!! We loved the new rooms. I didn't think that I would like the hard floor, but I did. The new showers are nice, but do not have enough water pressure to suit me. (but perhaps that is just me being picky). Overall, we found the organization, comfort and design of the rooms to be excellent. Our room had a connecting door and you. could hear some noise from our neighbours, but it wasn't enough to be overly bothersome. The worst was a couple of 4 am times with a baby crying loudly for a half hour or so (but that can't be helped and we went back to sleep quickly when baby settled). People talking normally was muffled enough that we couldn't make out what they were saying, we were just aware of people speaking next door. One issue I have are the high beds. I am 5'3" and struggle to get up on these beds!!! Why do they have to be so high off the floor? I am too old to have to jump up to try to get into bed at night. They may be fine for young or tall people, but they are not for me. Perhaps if they had a stool to use to step on to use to get up?

We had a standard view room (5188) and we preferred it to water view rooms that we have had overlooking the pool. The view was overlooking the front entranceway with lots of trees providing privacy. It was lovely, IMO.

Our experience was very positive and we enjoyed our YC stay. I would recommend the YC CL to anyone.

 

[jemtx]

I agree with many of the points that @GADisneyDad14 made about SL. We've stayed three times, most recently this past October. Here's how I look at it -- would I rather stay RPC, BWI CL, or WL CL? Yes. But RPC is a LOT more expensive, and our budget doesn't always allow for it; WL CL is often sold out by the time we try to book (and I'm not always down for not being on the monorail route); and BWI isn't in the MK area, which for certain trips (depending on what we've planned) can be a dealbreaker.

In addition, for us, it really boils down to why we're booking CL for a particular trip. If we're booking it because we really want to relax and spend time in a lounge space instead of in our room, then GF SL IMHO isn't the best choice because as others have said, it's not the most relaxing space given its location, and it also often seems to be pretty busy. Further, my experience has been like @GADisneyDad14's in terms of the CMs -- definitely no warm fuzzies in our experience. But if we're booking it because we really want to use the food offerings to replace meals (and we want to be at a MK monorail resort), for us it's a fantastic choice. We are light eaters, and we find that for short stays of 1-3 days we can easily use the offerings from SL to replace most or all of our meals, so it can be a big cost savings! In particular, we have found SL very good for long weekend trips when we're there for MNSSHP or a festival because we're trying to pack a lot of parks/experiences into a relatively short amount of time, so we don't have a lot of time to relax in the lounge anyway. Reports are correct that they no longer have the Mickey Waffles or other hot breakfast items (other than oatmeal), but in our experience there is still enough food to make a decent breakfast.

Hope this information is helpful! I think some of us feel that it's not a bad choice...it's just that it doesn't have the same gracious service and welcoming feel that some lounges do (like RPC, BWI, and WL in our opinion). But I also absolutely agree with what @GADisneyDad14 said about less-than-stellar service being just a shift change away at many CL lounges, so others' experiences may vary. Best of luck with your decision, and I hope that you have a wonderful stay!

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

 

[bethclayton]

I agree with many of the points that @GADisneyDad14 made about SL. We've stayed three times, most recently this past October. Here's how I look at it -- would I rather stay RPC, BWI CL, or WL CL? Yes. But RPC is a LOT more expensive, and our budget doesn't always allow for it; WL CL is often sold out by the time we try to book (and I'm not always down for not being on the monorail route); and BWI isn't in the MK area, which for certain trips (depending on what we've planned) can be a dealbreaker.

In addition, for us, it really boils down to why we're booking CL for a particular trip. If we're booking it because we really want to relax and spend time in a lounge space instead of in our room, then GF SL IMHO isn't the best choice because as others have said, it's not the most relaxing space given its location, and it also often seems to be pretty busy. Further, my experience has been like @GADisneyDad14's in terms of the CMs -- definitely no warm fuzzies in our experience. But if we're booking it because we really want to use the food offerings to replace meals (and we want to be at a MK monorail resort), for us it's a fantastic choice. We are light eaters, and we find that for short stays of 1-3 days we can easily use the offerings from SL to replace most or all of our meals, so it can be a big cost savings! In particular, we have found SL very good for long weekend trips when we're there for MNSSHP or a festival because we're trying to pack a lot of parks/experiences into a relatively short amount of time, so we don't have a lot of time to relax in the lounge anyway. Reports are correct that they no longer have the Mickey Waffles or other hot breakfast items (other than oatmeal), but in our experience there is still enough food to make a decent breakfast.

Hope this information is helpful! I think some of us feel that it's not a bad choice...it's just that it doesn't have the same gracious service and welcoming feel that some lounges do (like RPC, BWI, and WL in our opinion). But I also absolutely agree with what @GADisneyDad14 said about less-than-stellar service being just a shift change away at many CL lounges, so others' experiences may vary. Best of luck with your decision, and I hope that you have a wonderful stay!

From a fellow redhead, lol, thanks for this perspective. I have only stayed RPC and have been really apprehensive about my upcoming SL stay. I hope my thoughts end up being in line with yours.

Babsy's post about YC CL made me realize that I have an important question: Does SL have bottled water that we can take with us to the parks? Just want to know if we need to pack reusable bottles.

 

[Babsy]

From a fellow redhead, lol, thanks for this perspective. I have only stayed RPC and have been really apprehensive about my upcoming SL stay. I hope my thoughts end up being in line with yours.

Babsy's post about YC CL made me realize that I have an important question: Does SL have bottled water that we can take with us to the parks? Just want to know if we need to pack reusable bottles.

We have been given bottled water at SL upon request in the past. However we haven't stayed there since last February, so the situation may have changed since then.

 

[reluctantredhead]

From a fellow redhead, lol, thanks for this perspective. I have only stayed RPC and have been really apprehensive about my upcoming SL stay. I hope my thoughts end up being in line with yours.

Babsy's post about YC CL made me realize that I have an important question: Does SL have bottled water that we can take with us to the parks? Just want to know if we need to pack reusable bottles.

Hi fellow redhead!

For all of our stays, small (8 oz) water bottles were sitting out for the taking, in a mini-fridge or (strangely) sitting on top of a mini-fridge, or next to the glass dispensers where they have water/tea/maybe lemonade (I forget) in the building entrance area.

The water bottle thing is so weird. WL CL, GF RPC and SL, and BWI have all had them when we've stayed there, but when we politely asked if they had any at the BC CL they acted like we were absolutely insane and making an offensive request. I get it that there are environmental concerns with water bottles, but when so many other CLs have them and they are ubiquitous throughout WDW for purchase, I don't think it should be considered unreasonable for a guest to inquire about them.

 

[Babsy]

I agree with many of the points that @GADisneyDad14 made about SL. We've stayed three times, most recently this past October. Here's how I look at it -- would I rather stay RPC, BWI CL, or WL CL? Yes. But RPC is a LOT more expensive, and our budget doesn't always allow for it; WL CL is often sold out by the time we try to book (and I'm not always down for not being on the monorail route); and BWI isn't in the MK area, which for certain trips (depending on what we've planned) can be a dealbreaker.

In addition, for us, it really boils down to why we're booking CL for a particular trip. If we're booking it because we really want to relax and spend time in a lounge space instead of in our room, then GF SL IMHO isn't the best choice because as others have said, it's not the most relaxing space given its location, and it also often seems to be pretty busy. Further, my experience has been like @GADisneyDad14's in terms of the CMs -- definitely no warm fuzzies in our experience. But if we're booking it because we really want to use the food offerings to replace meals (and we want to be at a MK monorail resort), for us it's a fantastic choice. We are light eaters, and we find that for short stays of 1-3 days we can easily use the offerings from SL to replace most or all of our meals, so it can be a big cost savings! In particular, we have found SL very good for long weekend trips when we're there for MNSSHP or a festival because we're trying to pack a lot of parks/experiences into a relatively short amount of time, so we don't have a lot of time to relax in the lounge anyway. Reports are correct that they no longer have the Mickey Waffles or other hot breakfast items (other than oatmeal), but in our experience there is still enough food to make a decent breakfast.

Hope this information is helpful! I think some of us feel that it's not a bad choice...it's just that it doesn't have the same gracious service and welcoming feel that some lounges do (like RPC, BWI, and WL in our opinion). But I also absolutely agree with what @GADisneyDad14 said about less-than-stellar service being just a shift change away at many CL lounges, so others' experiences may vary. Best of luck with your decision, and I hope that you have a wonderful stay!

Great summary of reasons to book GF SL! I agree.

We actually really enjoy GF SL. I like the location of the outer building (convenient), the price point is great, we enjoy the food, it is a great 'grab breakfast and go' location for getting to the MK quickly in the mornings, we have always been lucky enough to be on the of the hallways that are super quiet, the views are all pretty much equally neither special nor terrible so I don't worry much about requesting a specific location - which reduces 'where will my room be located?' angst pre-trip and we actually think that the food is pretty good. All in all, it works well for us on many trips. I am disappointed about the loss of Mickey waffles, but it isn't a deal breaker for us either.

I do agree that the SL lounge is NOT a place to sit and relax like the RPC or the Poly lounge, for example. It is just a convenient place to eat on the run. It works for us when on theme park intensive trips with the children and grandchildren. Our son owns DVC at the GF so he stays there often. WE like to stay at the GF with them, but DH and I prefer to stay in a hotel with CL access rather than a villa - which is tantamount to an apartment, IMO. (What can I say? I'm on holiday and I don't want to make my own coffee, let alone cook! So what do I want with a kitchen? LOL!) We like comfortable beds, enough room to spread out and maid service.

 

[Babsy]

The water bottle thing is so weird. WL CL, GF RPC and SL, and BWI have all had them when we've stayed there, but when we politely asked if they had any at the BC CL they acted like we were absolutely insane and making an offensive request. I get it that there are environmental concerns with water bottles, but when so many other CLs have them and they are ubiquitous throughout WDW for purchase, I don't think it should be considered unreasonable for a guest to inquire about them.

LOL! The bottles of water availability is really strange and inconsistent in WDW CL's! You really are sometimes made to feel a bit like you shouldn't have asked at those resorts that do not have them, which is odd. I have seen water put out for the taking, grudgingly available upon request only, been obligingly offered to have case of water put in our room, been politely told that it is not available, and been turned down with an 'attitude'. Why the policy is not consistent from one resort to another continues to surprise me. Why are cans of pop, bottles of juice and alcoholic beverages always available, but bottled water sometimes an issue? It's a mystery.

 

[AWalks]

From a fellow redhead, lol, thanks for this perspective. I have only stayed RPC and have been really apprehensive about my upcoming SL stay. I hope my thoughts end up being in line with yours.

Babsy's post about YC CL made me realize that I have an important question: Does SL have bottled water that we can take with us to the parks? Just want to know if we need to pack reusable bottles.

Hah, I am also a redhead!

Hopefully you’ll have a wonderful stay in SL! It will be interesting to compare our experiences since our trip dates in January overlap by a couple days.

And thanks once again to everyone who keeps offering their own reviews of various CL, it’s great food for thought and much appreciated!

 

[mickeynut1]

We just returned today from a four night YC CL stay and we enjoyed our stay very much. I thought that the food was far superior to our last visit to YC CL. AT that time, the food was far worse, but that was admittedly a few years ago now.

The staff were very friendly and personable, eager to help and quick to remove dishes when we were finished.

Our experience was very positive and we enjoyed our YC stay. I would recommend the YC CL to anyone.

Thanks for your review. Glad you had a great time .

Our son owns DVC at the GF so he stays there often. WE like to stay at the GF with them, but DH and I prefer to stay in a hotel with CL access rather than a villa - which is tantamount to an apartment, IMO. (What can I say? I'm on holiday and I don't want to make my own coffee, let alone cook! So what do I want with a kitchen? LOL!) We like comfortable beds, enough room to spread out and maid service.

I'm the same way! I think some of the villas are beautiful (GF being at the top), but the kitchen and washer/dryer would be a waste for me as I don't cook or do laundry on vacation .

 

[glovergirls]

Quick question, when you say no hot items anymore in SL are you just referring to Mickey waffles? When we were there in July they usually did some sort of frittata every morning, are those gone now too?