Fave club level for resort only stay.

Jrpbabe2003

Mouseketeer
Joined
Sep 28, 2006
We are going to do a club level resort only stay with a 4 and 7 year old. What is your favorite? We like food and drink! Atmosphere and cast members are important too! Will be 2 or 3 days
 
For a true resort-only stay, AKL CL.

We did a mostly resort oriented trip there in April (my kids were 7 and 3 at the time). Probably our favorite overall trip of the year.

The CL lounge is large and food offerings are abundant. The atmosphere of the resort is hard to beat and CL CMs were very engaging, but not over the top.

All of the CLs and their respective resorts have various pros and cons, but AKL CL is somewhere in our top 3 favs for sure.

For a 2-3 night resort-only stay, you'll more than likely find us at AKL, unless we just really want to be somewhere like Poly/GF/CR/WL where we can also catch some out-of-park fireworks and EWP viewing for a little Disney fix. :-)
 
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For a true resort-only stay, AKL CL.

We did a mostly resort oriented trip there in April (my kids were 7 and 3 at the time). Probably our favorite overall trip of the year.

The CL lounge is large and food offerings are abundant. The atmosphere of the resort is hard to beat and CL CMs were very engaging, but not over the top.

All of the CLs and their respective resorts have various pros and cons, but AKL CL is somewhere in our top 3 favs for sure.

For a 2-3 night resort-only stay, you'll more than likely find us at AKL, unless we just really want to be somewhere like Poly/GF/CR/WL where we can also catch some out-of-park fireworks and EWP viewing for a little Disney fix. :-)

I agree, AKL CL is perfect for a resort only stay. We stayed Thanksgiving week and we absolutely loved it. In fact we are still talking about it. The lounge is large and open, the food is delicious, and the CM’ are wonderful. Plus it offers so many things for kids. We loved watching the kids interact with the activities and staff. Trust me this is the resort for a family trip that will definitely be a core memory maker.

You can find my review of AKL CL on the club level page. Just look for Cogsworth. :lovestruc
 


We are going to do a club level resort only stay with a 4 and 7 year old. What is your favorite? We like food and drink! Atmosphere and cast members are important too! Will be 2 or 3 days

I haven't tried CL at AKL, but have stayed at AKL twice and I agree with GADisneyDad and Cogsworth that AKL is great for a resort only stay. The resort is sort of isolated, so it has a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, IMO. With that said, out of the CLs I have tried (GF, WL, BWI, & Poly), my recommendation would be Poly CL. The lounge is on the 2nd floor of the Hawaii CL building and is somewhat spacious, with extra seating on the 3rd floor. The CL CMs are amazing, as is the view from the lounge. The building is also convenient to both pools, so if you plan to spend some time at the pool, it's very convenient to run back and forth to the lounge for drinks/snacks throughout the day. Good luck, hope you have a great trip :wizard:.
 
It really depends on what you personally find as an appealing atmosphere. CL offerings are not what they use to be. Staffing is an ever changing variable, so their truly is no crystal ball of knowledge here. AK with a savannah view room would be ideal with the kids. Personally, if I was considering to do a resort only stay and not visit the parks, I would question even being at Disney as the prices are elevated due to the parks and the deluxe do not provide you a true deluxe room. Staying at any of the MK monorail loop with kids this age will be torture as you will feel the MK vibe and the traffic coming and going. Epcot area is great with park tickets to extend your dining options, but the Boardwalk is very limited. BC and YC provide the best pool. If you consider another destination you can easily end up with far superior rooms and service over Disney for the same amount or less.
 
It really depends on what you personally find as an appealing atmosphere. CL offerings are not what they use to be. Staffing is an ever changing variable, so their truly is no crystal ball of knowledge here. AK with a savannah view room would be ideal with the kids. Personally, if I was considering to do a resort only stay and not visit the parks, I would question even being at Disney as the prices are elevated due to the parks and the deluxe do not provide you a true deluxe room. Staying at any of the MK monorail loop with kids this age will be torture as you will feel the MK vibe and the traffic coming and going. Epcot area is great with park tickets to extend your dining options, but the Boardwalk is very limited. BC and YC provide the best pool. If you consider another destination you can easily end up with far superior rooms and service over Disney for the same amount or less.
We are at Disney world for 2.5 weeks and want a relaxing resort portion in the middle. We will be doing lots of disney for the kids the rest of the time
 


I agree with the AKL CL recommendation. AKL is beautiful and is really a destination unto itself, IMHO. Along with the CL offerings, you will get a view of the savannah from your room, great pools and resort activities plus a kids' splash play area.

I would also recommend looking into WL CL. We loved the CL lounge at WL - great offerings, relaxed atmosphere. If you book at CL standard room, you have a good chance of having an MK fireworks view as well. WL has a great pool for smaller kids, plus a kids splash pad. From WL, you can also take the boat to Ft. W to visit the stables and playground (and even consider doing either HDDR or Mickey's Backyard BBQ while there). WL also has two good TS restaurants (one will be a character meal soon!) and good QS options. You can also take the boat over to CR from there to ride the monorail and have a lot of other restaurant and recreation options.
 
Plus it offers so many things for kids. We loved watching the kids interact with the activities and staff.

I'll second this. If you're into resort kids activities, AKL is unmatched in the number of various offerings it provides at all different times of the day. We got hooked on collecting the beads from the various activities and ended up canceling several of the already few park plans on the back half of the trip so we could spend more time around the resort.

While all of the Disney resorts have great activities, AKL is a notch above in my view. The things we did... drumming in the lobby, night vision goggles, dancing in the lobby, bead collecting, pool games, etc, etc... still get discussed around here months later. That's almost unheard of in my family where fads/likes/memories change by the week! :-)
 
We've done every CL on property.
If AKL didn't have 2 major faults it would be in my top 2 for sure
Number 1 I don't love the lounge and the rooms being on different floors. It works ok mind you but it's a negative no two ways around it. The one thing that does make it work will be a negative if you aren't going to the parks. We manage to visit without it being a huge inconvenience when we stop by going to/from the parks
Number 2 I would love to talk to the architect and find out why they put the lounge on the front side of the resort. If you could sit in the lounge and watch the animals it would be perfect.
As it is BWI is our favorite. The staff wins as the best without question.
 
While we enjoyed AKL (also Resort only trip), we have found a new love for YC! They had amazing food offerings on our last stay, lots of kid friendly choices as well. Taking our kids in a week and a half because my husband liked it so much.
 
With children I would also consider BC CL. That resort is really kid friendly, the lounge large and airy, and the food was delicious. I think that while AKL has animals, and is a wonderful resort only choice, BC comes in close with SAB. That pool is a draw for a family lookig to kick back a d relax. I also love that the Boardwalk is right outside your door, giving your family a lovely opportunity to stroll and enjoy evening entertainment on the nights they are out there. While BC is not the beach, it is as close as you can get if you are in WDW.

I would look at how you want to spend you time: On safari or at the beach? You will like the lounges in either resort, so I woudl look at theme and activities.
 
PP has a great way of looking at it. Beach or Safari. I have stayed at AKL, BC and BW and they are some of my favorite resorts. It just depends on which style your family would prefer. We have our first CL stay booked at AKL next month and this thread really just hyped me up. :D :D
 
For resort-only and with 2 young kids, I'd opt for AKL CL, GF RPC, or BC CL.

I wasn't going to throw GF RPC in the mix until I read your further post about being in WDW 2.5 weeks and wanting a relaxing CL part in the middle (great idea!). GF RPC has one of the best atmospheres as far as lounges. The view looking down to the gorgeous lobby in incredible. There are also window seats with great views. The food is nonstop, though offerings do seem to change often. We just had a stay there over Thanksgiving and I posted a mini review in the CL thread. My kids enjoyed the mickey waffles served by a chef in the lounge for 2 out of our 3 mornings there.

We have only stayed at AKL CL once but it was fairly recent and we loved it as a non-park resort! The savanna room view is so fun for all. We didn't mind that the lounge was on a different floor as our room because we were never in a rush during our stay there. We did a split stay that trip and opted for only AK park time while staying at AKL, so it was perfect. Others above have told you about all the fun for kids at this resort, so no need for me to repeat. We will definitely go back someday for a split stay.

My other mention goes to BC CL due to the fun pool for the kids. The vibe there is very family friendly, and the main pool is loads of fun for a non-park stay. There is one section with all shallow water and sand on the bottom, along with mounds of sand in various spots for kids to play. We used to start out in this section and then eventually all move to the deeper section together. To this day, BC is the only resort we have literally spent entire days as "pool days" due to the fun pool.

As far as CL food goes, we thought GF RPC had the largest selection and something for all ages.

As far as CMs go, we have always found some to be engaging and others not. True at every CL we've stayed.

As far as atmosphere goes, AKL CL would probably win that one. Hard to beat the uniqueness of it!
 
Personally, if you are going to be on vacation for 2.5 weeks and already plan to do various Disney parks, I think an off-site stay for part of the time would be the way to go and for FAR less money than Disney club level. I am sure you can find various upscale hotels nearby which would still cost less.
 
I'll second this. If you're into resort kids activities, AKL is unmatched in the number of various offerings it provides at all different times of the day. We got hooked on collecting the beads from the various activities and ended up canceling several of the already few park plans on the back half of the trip so we could spend more time around the resort.

While all of the Disney resorts have great activities, AKL is a notch above in my view. The things we did... drumming in the lobby, night vision goggles, dancing in the lobby, bead collecting, pool games, etc, etc... still get discussed around here months later. That's almost unheard of in my family where fads/likes/memories change by the week! :-)
Agreed. We went near Christmas and every night there was a parade for the kids to light the tree and they sketch animals on the ground and play that game mankala and have drum sessions. A ton of fun and AKL is nice and quiet with low traffic.
 

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