Disney's Club Level (CL) Information & Questions

[Duck143]

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 support your complaining so maybe they will improve. It's disappointing since you are paying so much more for a CL room. We're going in May, so I hope people complain and they make improvements.

 

[Duck143]

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.

Thank you for your review! This makes me hopeful and excited for our upcoming trip. We have a standard room booked too. Did your room have the shared balcony or a private?

 

[HBGdancermom]

AFAIK the bridge/walking path project completion date is unknown at this point (in typical Disney fashion, very little has been said about it).

As for GF SL.... I really don't like to speak poorly of any resort or CL - they are all so different, everywhere has pros and cons, it's very subjective of course - but if I'm being honest GF SL is my least favorite CL. Here are a few thoughts.

Pros:

• Location of the SL building is very convenient to all GF amenities, Gaspy's the Courtyard Pool, boat dock, etc.
• The price is usually attractive, relative to other MK resort CL options (I'll suck up a CL experience that maybe isn't my favorite for some savings that allows for other trips, or what not)
• GF as a resort has some great attributes... nice/big rooms, great dining options, just one monorail stop to and one boat ride from the MK, etc.
• You get the GF CL experience without the main building (RPC) CL price (although SL does not have some chef-made things the main building has, such as Mickey Waffles)

Cons:

• The CL lounge is a rather uninspiring physical space- it's in the middle/atrium of the building and feels a bit Hampton Inn'ish in its setup (that's a horrible way to describe it and is hyperbole, but struggling to come up with other words)
• Everyone is a shift change away from different CM experiences at any CL, but we've never really felt the warm/fuzzies from CMs there
• Limited control over room view and location since there's only one booking category and anything else is by request only
• There is debate about this, but of the rooms I've had - one was over the atrium which I thought was a tad on the noisy side from the lounge below.... the other was down a hallway which I thought was probably the quietest room we've ever had at WDW - so YMMV!
• Many love the GF CL food offerings, but I'd rate them just so-so IMHO (I am likely in the minority with this statement)

Sorry for the downer post! Despite my thoughts, I'd stay there again so it's not like it's so bad I say "never again." It's just in the weighing of pros / cons my list of things that are less favorable is longer here.

Anyway, just one person's opinion out of many. Hope it helps!

These are actually my thoughts exactly!

 

[Babsy]

Thank you for your review! This makes me hopeful and excited for our upcoming trip. We have a standard room booked too. Did your room have the shared balcony or a private?

It was private and had a really nice view of trees overlooking the entranceway. It felt very private so we enjoyed relaxing on it with coffee in the morning or a beverage in the evening. It was also close to the. lounge, but not right on top of it. We loved the location!

 

[bethclayton]

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!

This is the most recent pic of dd and I... if you see us in the lounge, please come say hi! We are there Jan 2-6.

 

[Summer2018]

View attachment 457961
This is the most recent pic of dd and I... if you see us in the lounge, please come say hi! We are there Jan 2-6.

DD? Are you sure you aren’t sisters?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I love the dog totally photobombing there in the back.

 

[bethclayton]

DD? Are you sure you aren’t sisters?

Oh my goodness, you are way too nice! Thank you!

I love the dog totally photobombing there in the back.

Yes! I actually screenshot this from my son's Snapchat or Instagram (I don't remember which one), he loved the dog photobombing as well! She's a sneaky little one! Haha!

 

[AWalks]

DD? Are you sure you aren’t sisters?

I was thinking the same thing!

 

[AWalks]

View attachment 457961
This is the most recent pic of dd and I... if you see us in the lounge, please come say hi! We are there Jan 2-6.

Here’s one of me and my two boys on Halloween (my nephew is in the monkey suit)! The costumes were originally supposed to be for MNSSHP on Halloween night, but that trip had to be rescheduled...DH was supposed to be Carl from Up, but he had to work late at the last minute.

 

[bethclayton]

View attachment 457967

Here’s one of me and my two boys on Halloween (my nephew is in the monkey suit)! The costumes were originally supposed to be for MNSSHP on Halloween night, but that trip had to be rescheduled...DH was supposed to be Carl from Up, but he had to work late at the last minute.

This is great! I will look for you!!

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

View attachment 457961
This is the most recent pic of dd and I... if you see us in the lounge, please come say hi! We are there Jan 2-6.

Will certainly look for you!
We will be there on the same dates! ME - along with DH's ENTIRE family (23 of us....) (Please, oh, please, let all the kids be on their best behavior)

 

[mickeynut1]

We will be there on the same dates! ME - along with DH's ENTIRE family (23 of us....) (Please, oh, please, let all the kids be on their best behavior)

That's quite a group...lots of great memories will be made! Hope everyone has a great time .

 

[TexanInTheMidwest]

That's quite a group...lots of great memories will be made! Hope everyone has a great time .

It's my MIL's 90th birthday on New Year's Eve. So the entire family (except for one son-in-law and one grandson-in-law) will be there! My MIL probably won't venture into the parks with us, but she will love hanging out at RPC

 

[mickeynut1]

It's my MIL's 90th birthday on New Year's Eve. So the entire family (except for one son-in-law and one grandson-in-law) will be there! My MIL probably won't venture into the parks with us, but she will love hanging out at RPC

What a great way to celebrate your MIL's 90th birthday! RPC is a great place to hang out, your MIL will enjoy it .

 

[mrsap]

.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We booked a bounceback for the only dates available in October, which is Oct 25-29, 2020. I was hoping to get something at WL, BC or YC, but there wasn't any availability at WL and BC/YC only had suites available with the discount. But they did have BWI CL. We have stayed at BWI once, many years ago, in a SV room and didn't really care for the resort, mostly due to the crazy layout. But I have heard good things about BWI CL, so I went out of my comfort zone and booked it for Oct.

 

[mickeynut1]

We booked a bounceback for the only dates available in October, which is Oct 25-29, 2020. I was hoping to get something at WL, BC or YC, but there wasn't any availability at WL and BC/YC only had suites available with the discount. But they did have BWI CL. We have stayed at BWI once, many years ago, in a SV room and didn't really care for the resort, mostly due to the crazy layout. But I have heard good things about BWI CL, so I went out of my comfort zone and booked it for Oct.

I had read many reviews of BWI CL prior to my first stay last year and I have to say that all of the glowing reviews about it were right on. We found the food offerings very good and encountered some of the best CMs! We are in the process of trying other CLs, but will definitely return to BWI CL in the future. Hope you have a great time and find another CL favorite .

 

[JenniJ]

We are thinking of renting DVC deluxe studio standard view at AKL Jambo House. Can we pay for club access when we arrive?

 

[AngiTN]

We are thinking of renting DVC deluxe studio standard view at AKL Jambo House. Can we pay for club access when we arrive?

No. This is not an option anywhere but at WL (resort half only) and not any DVC at all.