Disney's Club Level (CL) Information & Questions

[_19disnA]

At WL (which is the only one were you can add it on to a regular room, for the record) it's $99
They have more than snacks and drinks too. But only you know if your schedule allows for you to be at the resort when the items are served so you have to figure out if it's to your benefit or not

Yes, $99 makes sense. The price I see online for the Contemporary seems excessive no matters what other 'extras' that might include. We will stick with the room we have already reserved.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Yes, $99 makes sense. The price I see online for the Contemporary seems excessive no matters what other 'extras' that might include. We will stick with the room we have already reserved.

Just FYI, the $1,000 difference you noted above would be for a different room type - probably a regular room vs a suite.

If you compare the same rooms types and using 9/12/18 rack rate just to pick a data point:

Main Tower - Lake View - $580
Vs.
Atrium Club Standard View (which is Lake View) - $734

So a $154 difference.

Main Tower - Theme Park View - $630
Vs.
Atrium Club - Them park View - $790

$160 difference.

Obviously those differences can fluctuate a bit based on different rack rate seasons, so the above is just a moment in time example.

 

[_19disnA]

Actually, I was pricing a 5 day vacation which gets you the $1,000 difference. I assume the $99 club price mentioned previously was for the entire stay and not a per day charge?

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Actually, I was pricing a 5 day vacation which gets you the $1,000 difference. I assume the $99 club price mentioned previously was for the entire stay and not a per day charge?

Ahh, my bad. No, the $99 CL option at WL is per night of your stay.

 

[NicoleLarson]

Actually, I was pricing a 5 day vacation which gets you the $1,000 difference. I assume the $99 club price mentioned previously was for the entire stay and not a per day charge?

CL is always "worth it" IMO IF and that's a big IF you use it. If you're only going to get breakfast a couple of times and maybe grab a cupcake and soda before bed, not worth it. When we do CL stays we use the lounge A LOT. Like this past weekend the $99 covered all of our meals (for 4 ppl). I thought we would grab something at geyser point for lunch but no one was hungry. The appetizers at night are more than enough for dinner and they were REALLY REALLY good. The first night we had shepards pie, salmon salad, shrimp cocktail, and a pasta. The next night we had a fish of the day and rice dish, shrimp pasta, baked ziti and a chicken and veggie salad. Besides this we had veggies and a cheese platter. At 8pm they brought out desserts, which were very good as well. In addition to this beer, wine, soft drinks, milk, water (3 kinds- bottled, sparkling and spa), tea, coffee, espresso and lemonade are always available. When you add in a bottle of water or soda is $4, wine $15/glass and beers are $10 each, the $99 per day is a no brainer for us. We are not sun up to sun down park people. We love the resorts and take full advantage of all they offer and only go to the parks for a couple of hours per day.

As I said during our stay, I was standing out on the balcony with a perfect view of the fireworks (HEA), sipping my sparkling wine and eating a gold dusted cupcake....all I could think was this is soooo worth it. Espically thinking of the masses that pay $79 per person! to have some mediocre desserts at Tomorrowland terrace and have a chair to sit in for the fireworks.

 

[cwis]

^^ How much extra did you pay for Club access? When I look at the price difference on the disney reservation website, we would have to drink a LOT of beer to make it worth the extra charge. It seems Club Level mostly gives you access to a lounge area and some free snacks/drinks.

There is also one understated advantage of being CL: it usually provides you with nicer rooms, higher floors, better location and better viewings.

 

[_19disnA]

^^ Neither that nor the 'free' food/drinks make it worth $150+/day @ the Contemporary to us. But guess it depends on your budget and what amenities you value.

 

[mickeynut1]

We just finished our first stay at the AKL CL SV and it was wonderful. We kept putting off staying here thinking we wouldn't enjoy it and it is now one of our favorites. We were spoiled with a 2 bedroom suite - we had views from two sides of the savanna. The food each night was delicious - almost up to the quality of the evening appetizers at the BWI CL. Plus their chefs were wonderful. We will definitely be back. I will post some food pictures later.

Sounds like you had a great time. Looking forward to your food pics .

When we do CL stays we use the lounge A LOT.

We are not sun up to sun down park people. We love the resorts and take full advantage of all they offer and only go to the parks for a couple of hours per day.

This is us as well as we take advantage of the lounge not only for the food offerings, but also for a nice place to sit and relax. We spend more time at the resort than we do the parks (with some days not even going to a park), so it's nice to have a comfortable place to relax .

 

[jods]

Sounds like you had a great time. Looking forward to your food pics .



This is us as well as we take advantage of the lounge not only for the food offerings, but also for a nice place to sit and relax. We spend more time at the resort than we do the parks (with some days not even going to a park), so it's nice to have a comfortable place to relax .

Us too! We always stay an.extra night to make sure we have one full resort day and one non park day for dh to golf and for the kids and I to shop at disney springs (while he golfs). Disney is exhausting and we neer time to relax.

 

[jods]

Quick question on timing. We usually go the last week or two of August for lower crowds. As you know we just came back from the Bahamas. My kids now tell me they want to go to disney earlier in the summer and don't want to go the end if August because it's nice having time before school starts. Do you think the crowds will be that much more at the end of July vs end of August? Will I be miserable? I have the poly booked for August already. I suppose I could make one for earlier and cancel. That also brings me to my next question. I have friends staying BWI the end of July. If we go the same week it would be nice staying near them. We hated BC. Enjoyed walking to epcot but if I did BWI to be in the same hotel (2 sets of friends, we are all friends) would I like it? I know it gets great reviews but we really missed poly last trip. But how nice would ut be for the kids to have friends to swim with and for us to have friends to drink with by the pool. Decisions. I'm so confused.

 

[_19disnA]

Would never do Disney in July/August. Every year there are a few people from my office who return and ALWAYS say the same thing.........."TOO hot/TOO crowded" and they would never go again that time of year. We prefer Spring or Fall, but with school age children, you may have less flexibility.

 

[ninafeliz]

Quick question on timing. We usually go the last week or two of August for lower crowds. As you know we just came back from the Bahamas. My kids now tell me they want to go to disney earlier in the summer and don't want to go the end if August because it's nice having time before school starts. Do you think the crowds will be that much more at the end of July vs end of August? Will I be miserable? I have the poly booked for August already. I suppose I could make one for earlier and cancel. That also brings me to my next question. I have friends staying BWI the end of July. If we go the same week it would be nice staying near them. We hated BC. Enjoyed walking to epcot but if I did BWI to be in the same hotel (2 sets of friends, we are all friends) would I like it? I know it gets great reviews but we really missed poly last trip. But how nice would ut be for the kids to have friends to swim with and for us to have friends to drink with by the pool. Decisions. I'm so confused.

we had gone this current week in August for the past 3 years, and this year decided to go in June instead for that exact same reason. I was tired of feeling like summer almost ended in early August, since after we got back there was so little time before school started. Other than losing the magical deal we had been getting at the Poly CL, I liked June better. Crowds felt comparable and the weather was essentially the same, but mentally I liked starting the summer with the trip instead of ending with it and almost wishing the summer away looking forward to it! I don't mind going in summer at all. Yes, it's hot and humid, but it means swimming is great (I don't like to swim unless it's super hot out) and it's so much easier to pack than when you need to plan for anything from cold to hot.

 

[gillep]

Quick question on timing. We usually go the last week or two of August for lower crowds. As you know we just came back from the Bahamas. My kids now tell me they want to go to disney earlier in the summer and don't want to go the end if August because it's nice having time before school starts. Do you think the crowds will be that much more at the end of July vs end of August? Will I be miserable? I have the poly booked for August already. I suppose I could make one for earlier and cancel. That also brings me to my next question. I have friends staying BWI the end of July. If we go the same week it would be nice staying near them. We hated BC. Enjoyed walking to epcot but if I did BWI to be in the same hotel (2 sets of friends, we are all friends) would I like it? I know it gets great reviews but we really missed poly last trip. But how nice would ut be for the kids to have friends to swim with and for us to have friends to drink with by the pool. Decisions. I'm so confused.

We were at WDW mid July and I was surprised at how manageable the crowds were this year. I was worried that we would be both hot and miserable in crowds as this was our first summer trip, but crowds were really not a problem for us at all. The heat was rough, but that would be the same mid-July or end-August.

 

[jods]

Would never do Disney in July/August. Every year there are a few people from my office who return and ALWAYS say the same thing.........."TOO hot/TOO crowded" and they would never go again that time of year. We prefer Spring or Fall, but with school age children, you may have less flexibility.

Summer is really our only option. I work in a school so I'm limited to Christmas or Easter, neither week are happening. We finish school 6/28ish and start after labor day. So really july and August are it. We've been going then and deal with the heat. We spend aafternoons by the pool. We are night owls so don't mind going late.

 

[AngiTN]

^^ Neither that nor the 'free' food/drinks make it worth $150+/day @ the Contemporary to us. But guess it depends on your budget and what amenities you value.

$150 day for 2+ people? To cover breakfast and possibly dinner, if you time things right? Heck yeah it's worth that. I dare say few people can eat 2 meals at Disney for that. Heck, a sit down breakfast for 2 will run you darn close to $150, if you add in a mimosa. Wouldn't take much to make up the difference with a beer here or a beer there. So time your afternoon break right and get some of those evening apps (pretty easy to do most of the time) and it's not near as hard as you think.

Otherwise, there is no value on view or floor. Because not any Resort offers anything on the CL that you can't find one floor down. And at some of the resorts, CL rooms are on the same floor as non-CL rooms.

Quick question on timing. We usually go the last week or two of August for lower crowds. As you know we just came back from the Bahamas. My kids now tell me they want to go to disney earlier in the summer and don't want to go the end if August because it's nice having time before school starts. Do you think the crowds will be that much more at the end of July vs end of August? Will I be miserable? I have the poly booked for August already. I suppose I could make one for earlier and cancel. That also brings me to my next question. I have friends staying BWI the end of July. If we go the same week it would be nice staying near them. We hated BC. Enjoyed walking to epcot but if I did BWI to be in the same hotel (2 sets of friends, we are all friends) would I like it? I know it gets great reviews but we really missed poly last trip. But how nice would ut be for the kids to have friends to swim with and for us to have friends to drink with by the pool. Decisions. I'm so confused.

We've done it all, late May, late July, late August.
Of the three, Late July is the most crowded. Simply because EVERYONE is out of school by then. Late May, the after Labor Day kids are still in School. Late August, the before Labor Day kids are back in school. Neither of those are willing to take vacations so close to the end/start of school.
But, we didn't find that late July was that much worse than late August. You still have a whole lot of families out till Labor Day.

Would never do Disney in July/August. Every year there are a few people from my office who return and ALWAYS say the same thing.........."TOO hot/TOO crowded" and they would never go again that time of year. We prefer Spring or Fall, but with school age children, you may have less flexibility.

We go all times of the year. First of all, common misconception that Disney is MORE crowded in summer than in Spring or Fall. Quite the opposite actually. Fall has become more crowded than Summer.
Hotter for sure but honestly, you are talking lower 90's vs. upper 90's. 90's are 90's.

 

[jods]

^^ Neither that nor the 'free' food/drinks make it worth $150+/day @ the Contemporary to us. But guess it depends on your budget and what amenities you value.

We could spend 150 a day or come close. We do breakfast most days in the lounge. There are 4 of us. Between coffee and soda a day, thats an easy 25. Then a few beers each for dh and I, another 40. We could have that delivered with grocery service but it's more fun from the lounge . Right there 65, then afternoon snacks and evening apps. We make those at least half the time.

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

Value is sooooo objective.
While I would never stay BC CL again, I'm willing to try YC.
We are staying at CR in February and that to me WAS a no brainier! The lounge, food, ability to go from MK back to

Quick question on timing. We usually go the last week or two of August for lower crowds. As you know we just came back from the Bahamas. My kids now tell me they want to go to disney earlier in the summer and don't want to go the end if August because it's nice having time before school starts. Do you think the crowds will be that much more at the end of July vs end of August? Will I be miserable? I have the poly booked for August already. I suppose I could make one for earlier and cancel. That also brings me to my next question. I have friends staying BWI the end of July. If we go the same week it would be nice staying near them. We hated BC. Enjoyed walking to epcot but if I did BWI to be in the same hotel (2 sets of friends, we are all friends) would I like it? I know it gets great reviews but we really missed poly last trip. But how nice would ut be for the kids to have friends to swim with and for us to have friends to drink with by the pool. Decisions. I'm so confused.

I think it would be fabulous to have a "friends" trip. Although I have never stayed at BWI (that clown pool still freaks me out, but I'm hoping to get over it, lol) it gets A LOT of love here on the Dis. In fact, if we stay in an Epcot resort again, I'm thinking we would stay BWI over YC. (Never again BC for us either)
I think you would probably love it!
And I'm positive your kids would love hanging with their friends on vacation!

 

[ConnecticutNonna]

We could spend 150 a day or come close. We do breakfast most days in the lounge. There are 4 of us. Between coffee and soda a day, thats an easy 25. Then a few beers each for dh and I, another 40. We could have that delivered with grocery service but it's more fun from the lounge . Right there 65, then afternoon snacks and evening apps. We make those at least half the time.

Us too! And neither DH not I enjoy adult beverages so we are not saving $ there. But on every other way we are. Breakfast for 5 alone is really pricy, and you lose a whole bunch of time waiting a while for that table!

 

[TheNJMermaid]

And, for those of you that want to study at home so that you're not that person holding up the line trying to read the directions on the Nespresso Machine, here's a close-up (Let me know if you can't read it...I had to condense it so it would work):
View attachment 343739

I was actually anxious about that after seeing some other people post about not knowing how to use it. You don't know what a relief it was to see this posted! Definitely going to study up! lol

Confessions of a Resort Changer... So, we were booked at GF (not at CL) for Oct 25-29, but DH wasn't really down with that, so I just booked AKL Savanna View CL at the AP rate. We've stayed at AKL once before, but never at CL. In fact, we've never done CL anywhere. I am super-excited, although it seems like the AKL thread doesn't have a ton of info about CL there, but I found some stuff in this discussion. Looking forward to seeing how the "other half" vacays...

I'm in the same boat! AKL is my favorite resort but I only stayed once with a partial savanna view. Can't wait to join the CL Club!

We just finished our first stay at the AKL CL SV and it was wonderful. We kept putting off staying here thinking we wouldn't enjoy it and it is now one of our favorites. We were spoiled with a 2 bedroom suite - we had views from two sides of the savanna. The food each night was delicious - almost up to the quality of the evening appetizers at the BWI CL. Plus their chefs were wonderful. We will definitely be back. I will post some food pictures later.

I can't wait to see all the pictures!! Would love to see room pictures too if you have them. Not staying in a 2 bedroom this time, but would love to know for future reference!

 

[trishadono]

I was actually anxious about that after seeing some other people post about not knowing how to use it. You don't know what a relief it was to see this posted! Definitely going to study up! lol



I'm in the same boat! AKL is my favorite resort but I only stayed once with a partial savanna view. Can't wait to join the CL Club!



I can't wait to see all the pictures!! Would love to see room pictures too if you have them. Not staying in a 2 bedroom this time, but would love to know for future reference!

Which day are you doing mnsshp? I see in your signature your dates close to mine.

The nespresso. lol I can't see before my first cup so I just ask and cm or guest that comes to close to me and I bug them , I mean ask nicely for help. I drink the regular coffee but sometimes that has run out or a family member asks me to grab,