I'm sad to say that I'm back from my weekend WDW visit - two nights at BWI CL, one night BC non-CL. We spent the weekend in sunny, 85-degree weather, and I'm wishing we would've stayed for the week! At home we're experiencing our fourth nor'easter in a month, and today we've had hail, rain, sleet, and now snow - and it's a crisp 30 degrees.
We arrived at BWI on Friday evening around 7:30pm. We had checked in online but still hadn't received a "room ready" text by the time we arrived, so I went to the registration desk in the main lobby and we received the standard "okay, well here's your balance, here's a map, here's a times guide" spiel and were told where to find the elevators to get to our floor - no acknowledgement that we were CL guests. I don't need special treatment, but this was just the total opposite of our experience at the Poly and the YC in December, when - once we told the CMs we were checking in as CL guests - we were escorted to the CL building (at Poly) and CL floor (at YC) and checked in there. Perhaps they don't do this at BWI because of the small desk area upstairs?
We booked a standard view and ended up in Room 4254, just inside the door and overlooking a courtyard. We dropped our bags off in the room and walked down to the lounge. It was between services but we were hoping to get some drinks before heading out for dinner. We sat in the lounge for 15 minutes without seeing a single CM before we decided to leave. Not a great first impression. We were in Epcot until after 10 that evening, so we didn't return to the lounge that night.
On Saturday morning, I walked down to the lounge to grab cereal for my DD and I asked for a mimosa. I was told, "Sorry, we don't have the liquor for those." I wasn't sure what liquor the CM might have meant, so I asked if they were out of sparkling wine. She said yes, and her fellow CM commented that I could probably run out to the store to find some and then use the OJ in the CL lounge fridge to make one. I was not amused.
We went to AK in the morning and returned to the lounge in the afternoon to grab some snacks and drinks to take down to the pool. I asked which wines they had available and was told they only had whites (I'm a red gal, myself). I asked for a Bud Light for my DH and was told that they were out, but they might have more in a few hours. This lounge was seriously striking out with me after the excellent service and amenities I've received at other WDW CLs. On the way down to the pool, we did stop at the CL CM desk to ask for help making a reservation for our DD at the Sandcastle Club for that evening. I didn't get the CM's name, but she was very friendly and was able to make the reservation for us in less than five minutes. Finally, a positive!
My DH and I returned for evening apps on Saturday after dropping our DD off at the Sandcastle Club for the evening. Redgie and his dishes were seriously the highlights of our BWI CL experience. That evening he made beef tenderloin with fingerling potatoes, and sauteed fish (cod, maybe?) with veggies. Both were delicious - between those and the other items (charcuterie, crudites, bread with fondue, and soup - that night it was New England Clam Chowder), we didn't need a separate dinner. My DH and I chatted with Redgie for a bit and he told us that we definitely needed to come to the lounge for the omelette station the next morning. After that, we headed to Jellyrolls for some St. Patty's Day fun before picking up our DD from the Sandcastle Club. I'll mention here that she had a blast! So much so that she requested to go back Sunday evening (and of course we obliged so that we could have another "date night," haha)! They made volcanoes as a science experiment and had a pirate party where they got to meet Captain Hook and Smee. On Sunday, they had a luau and had a visit from Chip and Dale.
Sunday morning I was pleased with the lounge offerings. There were several add-in options for the omelettes, plus there was finally champagne for mimosas! After breakfast, we moved our bags over to BC (our room was ready by 8:00am!) and then headed over to MK for the morning. We had lunch at Epcot and then went back to BC to spend the afternoon at SAB. After getting cleaned up, we dropped our DD off at the Sandcastle Club again and headed to the BWI CL lounge for evening apps. Redgie recognized us immediately and asked what we thought of the omelettes that morning. His offerings that night were steamed mussels with couscous and pork belly with apple slaw. There was also a delicious lobster bisque. My DH really enjoys cooking and ended up chatting with Redgie about that for a while. The lounge was pretty slow, so Redgie offered to give my DH a demo of how he was cooking the mussels. At the end of that service, he made us a custom dish that combined the pork belly with couscous - it was delicious, and after everything else we could barely finish it! I can honestly say that, if it hadn't been for Redgie, I wouldn't consider going back to BWI CL. I saw
@GADisneyDad14 make a comment earlier about how one shift can make the difference between a good and bad CL experience, and that was absolutely true for me at BWI. The resort itself was great - our room was clean and comfortable, and the proximity to Epcot was really convenient - but I didn't feel that we got the same perceived value for the CL price that I have from other resorts. WDW happened to send me a survey about our resort stay on Monday morning, and I told them the exact same thing.
My DH liked being within walking distance of Epcot and we briefly discussed trying BC CL next, but he's set on returning to Poly CL for our next stay - so we booked a bounceback for June, after DD's school year ends.
I'll try to add a few photos when I get some time to reduce the size of the ones I took on my phone!
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