Disney's Club Level (CL) Information & Questions

[Dave006]

We have our honeymoon booked for next September - a week at the Yacht Club followed by a week at the Wilderness Lodge.

I would chose CL at the Wilderness lodge since you might also be able to have an available King room as a booking category. CL at WL is now the smallest number of CL rooms at any Deluxe. All the Standard CL rooms are on the 7th floor with the lounge.

We love both resorts but they are really different areas of the WDW resort. YC is in the Heart of the Epcot loop at Crescent lake while the WL is a very compact resort on Bay Lake that is quite and you can enjoy quite reflection from many locations in the Main lodge, it has the Great Geyser Point dining location for casual drinks and dinner on the quite waters of Bay lake. Except during the Electric Water Pageant floats (EWP) visit in the evening.

Dave

 

[Ricguz]

Would love some opinions from the club level pros! We have our honeymoon booked for next September - a week at the Yacht Club followed by a week at the Wilderness Lodge. I'm considering upgrading one of these to club level as I think it would be a bit too expensive to do both. If you had to pick one of these resorts to upgrade to club, which would you choose?

I am partial to the YC CL rooms. Nice view of the lake, boats, Epcot fireworks, big balconies. Of course, the best pool on property.

 

[focusondisney]

Would love some opinions from the club level pros! We have our honeymoon booked for next September - a week at the Yacht Club followed by a week at the Wilderness Lodge. I'm considering upgrading one of these to club level as I think it would be a bit too expensive to do both. If you had to pick one of these resorts to upgrade to club, which would you choose?

I love YC & we stay there a few times a year. We stay club level almost every trip. We haven’t stayed at WL in over 15 years & never club level. But it gets great reviews. The pre arrival assistance is the same. And the CMs are great at both resorts. Personally, I would make the decision based on what your other plans will be.

There are so many more options for eating & drinking at YC. If you’ll want to do lots of eating/ drinking around the world at Epcot, especially at Food & Wine booths, you may not take advantage of the lounge very much. If you’re planning lots of resort & pool time, club level will be worth it.

It’s a little harder to get from WL to other restaurants than just walking over like you can to Epcot from YC. But there are a lot of signature restaurants for relaxing dinners in the MK area. If you’ll be going out to dinner every night from WL, CL might not make sense there. And many folks do the monorail crawl & hit the different lounges along the way. So you really can’t go wrong at either. It really depends on which resort you plan to spend more time at.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Would love some opinions from the club level pros! We have our honeymoon booked for next September - a week at the Yacht Club followed by a week at the Wilderness Lodge. I'm considering upgrading one of these to club level as I think it would be a bit too expensive to do both. If you had to pick one of these resorts to upgrade to club, which would you choose?

WL because EP has abundant food & drink options for adults.

 

[2vets]

Would love some opinions from the club level pros! We have our honeymoon booked for next September - a week at the Yacht Club followed by a week at the Wilderness Lodge. I'm considering upgrading one of these to club level as I think it would be a bit too expensive to do both. If you had to pick one of these resorts to upgrade to club, which would you choose?

Check the links at the start of this thread and ensure you don’t have a personal preference on offerings shown there. Assuming not, unless someone has stayed at both within the last few months and can provide direct comparison feedback, I would choose WL so you’re moving TO CL rather than FROM CL. That’ll be a great way to end your honeymoon.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Would love some opinions from the club level pros! We have our honeymoon booked for next September - a week at the Yacht Club followed by a week at the Wilderness Lodge. I'm considering upgrading one of these to club level as I think it would be a bit too expensive to do both. If you had to pick one of these resorts to upgrade to club, which would you choose?

WL.

I don’t think that club level gets the love it deserves. The view of the grandiose lobby is amazing. I’m not sure what the booking categories are these days, but we had a wonderful view of MK fireworks from our room. You could see if you can request an MK-facing room. The food was really good, too.

 

[trishadono]

Would love some opinions from the club level pros! We have our honeymoon booked for next September - a week at the Yacht Club followed by a week at the Wilderness Lodge. I'm considering upgrading one of these to club level as I think it would be a bit too expensive to do both. If you had to pick one of these resorts to upgrade to club, which would you choose?

Another vote for WL.

What I like about it is that there is a lot of varied seating options. I really enjoy the tables for 2 along the rails above the lobby! Its so relaxing with my cup of coffee in the morning.

View options are Courtyard or Woods facing which from top floor has views of the fireworks.

The lounge does have 2 balconies that you can go out on if needed.

Keep an eye on times but twice this year the Ale and Compass bar has saved me. You can order food up until 10p with bar open until 11. They only have a few appetizers but the shrimp is so good! It is hard to find food after 8 or 9p IMO.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I know I’d never assume anything when it comes to how another guest uses tongs and serves stuff. That’s a receipe for disaster, if you’ve ever watched guests long enough

One thing to note, you’ve not noted that I’ve seen which CR CL you were at. There are 2 and they are not the same

I'm not sure why you keep talking down to me, but, alas, I've dealt with food allergies for many years now. You're actually demonstrating why it is difficult to speak up and ask for help with food allergies.

For everyone else reading this thread:

Asking the CM's to bring a special plate of food is difficult. Many CM's are super, and super gracious, but asking anyone to do extra work isn't easy.

Second, WDW CL and restaurant staff have often directed us to eat from the buffet despite the allergies.

Third, we generally arrive early before the tongs have been used at all. We're in the lounge at 6:45am. If we're not first, we are standing next to the person who is. Same thing for appetizers. It is especially important to arrive early if one needs a plate brought up because- as I said- it takes time for them to prepare and bring the extra food from the kitchen.

******************************

To answer your other question: Atruim, but it doesn't really matter in the context of my posts. They are not the exactly the same, but they serve nearly identical food. Not only have we stayed on both levels, but multiple times when we stayed on one of the two, we were directed to visit the other one, so we saw firsthand that they were serving the same exact food, at least until something runs out.

Also, over many visits, we've talked to chefs at every CL. They have also sometimes offered to go to the other CL to get something for us.

 

[prgal0715]

I’m a bit confused. Are you doing a split stay with CR (Contemporary) and CSR (Coronado Springs Resort) -which is where GDT CL (Gran Destino Tower CL) is located? Staying CR CL won’t give you access to GDT CL as they don’t reciprocate benefits amongst Disney CLs.

Nope, I just realized I made a mistake in my original post - apparently I hadn't had enough coffee yet! I'm staying at CSR, GDT CL. Sorry for all the confusion!

 

[mrsap]

For everyone else reading this thread:

Asking the CM's to bring a special plate of food is difficult. Many CM's are super, and super gracious, but asking anyone to do extra work isn't easy.

Second, WDW CL and restaurant staff have often directed us to eat from the buffet despite the allergies.

Also, over many visits, we've talked to chefs at every CL. They have also sometimes offered to go to the other CL to get something for us.

I will 2nd your statement. We knew DS had severe tree nut, peanut and egg allergies since he was 11 months old. His first trip to Disney also included his first CL stay at 16 months old. We have had some great CL experiences, along with some wonderful CM’s and chefs, but also have had some negative experiences. There have been CM’s that would get annoyed if we asked for the allergy free cookies or bagels, or for something during evening apps (if what was already out had possible allergens.) We even had an experience where one CM rolled her eyes when I (politely) asked to see a list of ingredients or talk to the chef when they told me they “THINK” something he wanted to eat was nut free. I always feel bad too, I never want to be a burden on anyone. I also have a severe tree nut and sesame allergy, but I do not ask for anything separate for myself. I usually can’t have most desserts offered, I just have whatever I know is safe. And to note, I ALWAYS ask for our reservation to be noted, would email/call DSS prior to our stay, and talk to a CL manager after checking in regarding the allergies.

I just wanted you to know it’s not just you going through that. I hope your future CL stays go a lot better.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

You can get a carafe and take Nutura water to the room .

Did not know that! and that's absolutely the type of thing it wouldn't occur to us to even ask. This is where CL can be confusing, because they don't tell you what you are allowed to do. For water, we have taken a glass to our room (for like an hour: 4pm and returned it at 5pm). Any longer than that, we assumed a paper cup was what they wanted us to use.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We never had them stop us at AK or Contemp.

We saw this on the 4th floor Contempo Cafe. The guy was mad too, that he could only buy/take 2 beers to the room. He had two soft drinks and 3 beers, and they made him put a beer back.

 

[penel3]

Check the links at the start of this thread and ensure you don’t have a personal preference on offerings shown there. Assuming not, unless someone has stayed at both within the last few months and can provide direct comparison feedback, I would choose WL so you’re moving TO CL rather than FROM CL. That’ll be a great way to end your honeymoon.

I have to ditto this!! End your honeymoon in CL, you'll be much happier with better memories of being spoiled!

 

[Mrs.AMC]

I will 2nd your statement. We knew DS had severe tree nut, peanut and egg allergies since he was 11 months old. His first trip to Disney also included his first CL stay at 16 months old. We have had some great CL experiences, along with some wonderful CM’s and chefs, but also have had some negative experiences. There have been CM’s that would get annoyed if we asked for the allergy free cookies or bagels, or for something during evening apps (if what was already out had possible allergens.) We even had an experience where one CM rolled her eyes when I (politely) asked to see a list of ingredients or talk to the chef when they told me they “THINK” something he wanted to eat was nut free. I always feel bad too, I never want to be a burden on anyone. I also have a severe tree nut and sesame allergy, but I do not ask for anything separate for myself. I usually can’t have most desserts offered, I just have whatever I know is safe. And to note, I ALWAYS ask for our reservation to be noted, would email/call DSS prior to our stay, and talk to a CL manager after checking in regarding the allergies.

I just wanted you to know it’s not just you going through that. I hope your future CL stays go a lot better.

That's a real shame. Is it consistently the same CL that doesn't want to offer options? Maybe some are just more prone to providing good alternate allergy services than others? No excuse for that, that's for sure. I've witnessed on numerous occasions the CL staff asking guests with allergies if they had enough food, did they want more, are they certain they got enough to eat. So forth, and so on. So far that I would consider it going over and above to be sure the guest knew they could get however much they needed. Never saw them so much as give a moments hesitation when asked to have special food brought up.

Someone should be told that guests are having issues getting food they can eat from CL staff. The buffets are not going to be allergy friendly, they just aren't set up to be so. But the staff should be wiling to get what is needed, with a smile. You shouldn't have to avoid a CL that isn't, they all should do it well.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I will 2nd your statement. We knew DS had severe tree nut, peanut and egg allergies since he was 11 months old. His first trip to Disney also included his first CL stay at 16 months old. We have had some great CL experiences, along with some wonderful CM’s and chefs, but also have had some negative experiences. There have been CM’s that would get annoyed if we asked for the allergy free cookies or bagels, or for something during evening apps (if what was already out had possible allergens.) We even had an experience where one CM rolled her eyes when I (politely) asked to see a list of ingredients or talk to the chef when they told me they “THINK” something he wanted to eat was nut free. I always feel bad too, I never want to be a burden on anyone. I also have a severe tree nut and sesame allergy, but I do not ask for anything separate for myself. I usually can’t have most desserts offered, I just have whatever I know is safe. And to note, I ALWAYS ask for our reservation to be noted, would email/call DSS prior to our stay, and talk to a CL manager after checking in regarding the allergies.

I just wanted you to know it’s not just you going through that. I hope your future CL stays go a lot better.

Thanks!

I'm again inclined to say this visit was a bit out of character.

The manager apologized and tried to make up for the experience. He initially caught us right at a bad (reaction) moment, too, so the consequences were obvious. We very much got the impression he felt bad about what happened.

The manager said they were going to review the menu, and I take him at his word. I have long felt overall, WDW and CL's handle allergies way better than most places.

From what I understand WDW has lots of new staff, and I suspect they have lost a bit of their institutional wisdom.

Hopefully, this wake-up call prompts them to make a few changes.

 

[buckeye-browns-fan]

Just back from CL split stays at BC and WL. We arrived at the BC via Uber from the airport so when the gate guard asked our name it must have gone to the reception desk as when we pulled up a cast member met us, greeted us by name, and took us up to CL to get checked in (nice touch). Since our 4 magic bands never arrived before we left, they gave us a $200 credit to our account to go shop for new ones and ensured we weren't charged for our original order. Our room wasn't ready so we got a snack in the lounge and headed to DS for some shopping.

While at DS we received the message that our room was ready, Room 2511. I was confused and concerned as I thought all CL rooms were on the 5th floor. When we arrived back at the BC I was getting more and more upset as we were going further and further away from the lounge to find our room. When we finally got there and opened the door, found out we were "Pixie Dusted" with at two bedroom, two bath suite complete with living and dining room. WOW! Our room was basically right next to the back gate of EPCOT! So we only used the lounge once for breakfast and once for dinner as we were always at the parks. When we came back mid-day we always got snacks and alcoholic beverages. We didn't even need to go to the lounge for coffee in the morning as we had our own Expresso machine in the suite.

Overall, we liked the atmosphere of the WL CL better than BC, but BC had better food. Like I said we only at breakfast and dinner one time in each club so maybe we had an off day at WL. Both CLs were happy to bring us alcohol anytime we asked for it from 0700am.-10:00pm. I don't know if I would stay in CL again knowing we really don't use it that much, but it was nice to have a place to hang out and get some snacks and drinks during our stay. Also, WL did not have an ice cream freezer but the staff always happily brought some when requested (ate a lot of Mickey Ice Cream bars!). WL did have beer on tap and piped in the music to the fireworks which you could see from Magic Kingdom. All in all a great stay and missing it already! Let me know if you have questions.

 

[Eastern]

For everyone else reading this thread:

Asking the CM's to bring a special plate of food is difficult. Many CM's are super, and super gracious, but asking anyone to do extra work isn't easy.

Second, WDW CL and restaurant staff have often directed us to eat from the buffet despite the allergies.

I hear you. It's definitely hard. I've had several occasions where I inadvertently ate something and had a bad reaction. (not Disney)

In order to lessen the stress factor, I will usually just avoid things that are in any way 'questionable'. This means I often do not eat dessert (many hidden nuts, peanut butter, etc) and I skip the fruit when it's mixed with an allergen. I avoid a lot of home baked goods/cooking as well.

I am excited when I see food put out in separate locations, rather than 'mixed items'. I always read labels and sometimes my family will catch something before I do. I have many food allergies and rather than inconvenience my party and waitstaff I will just choose to avoid certain things. It's not optimal but it's the least stressful. I know that CMs/Chefs are often very accommodating of allergies but sometimes they are not.

 

[mrsswat]

Have a Poly club level coming up in 3 weeks. Will someone from there be contacting me? If so can I give them a room request and inform them of something we will be celebrating? if not what’s the best way to do that? Thanks

 

[mrsap]

That's a real shame. Is it consistently the same CL that doesn't want to offer options? Maybe some are just more prone to providing good alternate allergy services than others? No excuse for that, that's for sure. I've witnessed on numerous occasions the CL staff asking guests with allergies if they had enough food, did they want more, are they certain they got enough to eat. So forth, and so on. So far that I would consider it going over and above to be sure the guest knew they could get however much they needed. Never saw them so much as give a moments hesitation when asked to have special food brought up.

Someone should be told that guests are having issues getting food they can eat from CL staff. The buffets are not going to be allergy friendly, they just aren't set up to be so. But the staff should be wiling to get what is needed, with a smile. You shouldn't have to avoid a CL that isn't, they all should do it well.

The Sugarloaf lounge was where we had the past issues. Obviously, no longer anything to worry about, but it was definitely disappointing to be treated like that by staff when you’re paying that kind of money.

The other CL experience was more recent where they did not offer alternative options, but CM’s were great.

Otherwise, we typically have NO issues with dining in Disney. Definitely the safest place for him to eat, IMO. They’re great!

 

[Dave006]

Have a Poly club level coming up in 3 weeks. Will someone from there be contacting me? If so can I give them a room request and inform them of something we will be celebrating? if not what’s the best way to do that? Thanks

No not likely do to the sheer number of CL guests in the Hawaii building. You best bet would be to call or email with Disney Signature Services (DSS) at least 10 days before your arrival.

Call 1-407-939-7777 or email - disney.signature.services@disneyworld.com
They are available seven days a week from 9 to 5 Eastern Time. Make sure to include your reservation number in an email communications.

Note: The DSS team is located in a Call Center and not at the individual resort(s).

Dave