Disney's Club Level (CL) Information & Questions

[TexanInTheMidwest]

Club33? Nice

It does me wonders my wdw trips.

I got to do the AP preview for Toy Story and we had fun! I hope this is good too!

I am always SO grateful for any opportunity to have a little magic

 

[Wood Nymph]

I got the Remy preview email this morning, too. I decided to book a new trip to WDW just so we could do the preview. I needed to pick something near the end of September because of a vacation to "Not Disney" earlier in the month. So we will be at the preview on Sept 27th and at the WL from 9/26-9/30. We don't care about being there for the anniversary on October 1st. We will be there at the end of October and that is good enough.

We had done the passholder previews for Pandora and Toy Story, and they are fun.

 

[Miked0292]

I am sorry about Beach/Yacht Club not opening Club this year. May I ask where you found this information? We have an October Club level reservation for Animal Kingdom Lodge and I would love confirmation that it is going to be open!

This is a internal site, on which information can be told to guest. And as this information has already been shared else where figured I share my sadness lol.

 

[Twende]

Has anyone seen a schedule of the Extra Magic Hours for the parks in October? I know that it is only some resorts but I can not find the dates or hours any where.

 

[mrsap]

Has anyone seen a schedule of the Extra Magic Hours for the parks in October? I know that it is only some resorts but I can not find the dates or hours any where.

Here is the current schedule…

 

[Twende]

Here is the current schedule…

View attachment 595420

Thank you! I really did try to find this! LOL!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

PBR is Portofino over at Universal. I always see friendly people at poly

Huh, we've had the opposite experience. Mind, not since the pandemic, but we've stayed CL a number of times. The one time we stayed at the Poly's CL was the least friendly CL we experienced. We didn't go back, but stayed at most other WDW CL's a number of times. CR, BC are my top 2 picks. In 2019, we had a short visit to Coronado's CL, and that was SUPER!

The folks we've met at Porto were super nice. We've also had a number of great stays at Royal Pacific's CL. Hard Rock was somewhat in the middle. The one area where Universal hotel staff has long been somewhat less awesome than WDW's is the housekeeping staff. Universal's staff has a long history of cleaning our rooms very late in the day, like 6pm. The front desk and lounge staff though have been super over a number of stays at all 3 hotels.

Anyhow, I'm really posting to this thread because, well, my most recent WDW experience was not at all great. We originally booked a bounce back offer (in 2019) to stay at Coronado's CL for summer of 2020 with the 'free DDP' deal. Sigh. With the pandemic, we had to postpone to 2021.

I rebooked during the window when CM's were allowing CL bookings for bumped stays. Well most people rebooking were supposed to get 20% off rack, but CM said she couldn't me - at that time- for CL. She said when my dates got closer though, WDW would probably be able to modify rate to 20% off. That seemed understandable and reasonable to me.

I called this spring-in April for an update, and CM said he could only offer me general public offers: same as what I could book online, but if I waited, someone from WDW's recovery team would call me. He said the recovery team members had more flexibility, so I should wait for them to call.

There was a wide array of rooms available at that time, but he assured me it was better to wait for WDW to call me.

So I waited. Nobody called. I attempted again to call a few days before payment was due. And of course, every call to WDW is now an hour on hold or longer, plus time to transfer me, repeat all of my information three times, and that is a long process. Again I was told to be patient, WDW would call me.

The day my payment is supposed to be due, and still no phone call. I go through the whole long process again to talk to someone, and lo and behold, there is no offer. My only option is a non-CL room at Coronado at full rack rate! Though the CM actually attempts to try and convince me it is 'a lower price.' Ugh.

 

[jods]

Huh, we've had the opposite experience. Mind, not since the pandemic, but we've stayed CL a number of times. The one time we stayed at the Poly's CL was the least friendly CL we experienced. We didn't go back, but stayed at most other WDW CL's a number of times. CR, BC are my top 2 picks. In 2019, we had a short visit to Coronado's CL, and that was SUPER!

The folks we've met at Porto were super nice. We've also had a number of great stays at Royal Pacific's CL. Hard Rock was somewhat in the middle. The one area where Universal hotel staff has long been somewhat less awesome than WDW's is the housekeeping staff. Universal's staff has a long history of cleaning our rooms very late in the day, like 6pm. The front desk and lounge staff though have been super over a number of stays at all 3 hotels.

Anyhow, I'm really posting to this thread because, well, my most recent WDW experience was not at all great. We originally booked a bounce back offer (in 2019) to stay at Coronado's CL for summer of 2020 with the 'free DDP' deal. Sigh. With the pandemic, we had to postpone to 2021.

I rebooked during the window when CM's were allowing CL bookings for bumped stays. Well most people rebooking were supposed to get 20% off rack, but CM said she couldn't me - at that time- for CL. She said when my dates got closer though, WDW would probably be able to modify rate to 20% off. That seemed understandable and reasonable to me.

I called this spring-in April for an update, and CM said he could only offer me general public offers: same as what I could book online, but if I waited, someone from WDW's recovery team would call me. He said the recovery team members had more flexibility, so I should wait for them to call.

There was a wide array of rooms available at that time, but he assured me it was better to wait for WDW to call me.

So I waited. Nobody called. I attempted again to call a few days before payment was due. And of course, every call to WDW is now an hour on hold or longer, plus time to transfer me, repeat all of my information three times, and that is a long process. Again I was told to be patient, WDW would call me.

The day my payment is supposed to be due, and still no phone call. I go through the whole long process again to talk to someone, and lo and behold, there is no offer. My only option is a non-CL room at Coronado at full rack rate! Though the CM actually attempts to try and convince me it is 'a lower price.' Ugh.

So sorry you went through all that.


How early do you get to MCO? I have to book my ride to the airport from universal. Our trip is in 2 weeks and hubby said we have plenty of time. Also wanted to discuss whether we were ordering groceries. I'm just going to take care if it myself. We are all TSA precheck. Thanks.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

So sorry you went through all that.


How early do you get to MCO? I have to book my ride to the airport from universal. Our trip is in 2 weeks and hubby said we have plenty of time. Also wanted to discuss whether we were ordering groceries. I'm just going to take care if it myself. We are all TSA precheck. Thanks.

You mean on check out day? I haven't flown since pandemic, so my specifics are a little dated.

Getting through MCO though takes a little while, because of busy security and the airport monorail. TSA precheck helps, but it still is a big airport. In the before times, MCO sees not only lots of tourists, but also many business travelers. Orlando is - or was- one of the top cities for business conventions/meetings. So even TSA had some line. Magic Express usually plans to have guests arrive at airport 2 hours before their flight time, I think. If you are driving/Uber, I think it would be okay to cut it a little more like 1.5 hours. In the AM, that would probably be plenty of time AT MCO.

Universal is closer to MCO than WDW. Normal drive time is about 20minutes, but you might allow more for rush hour. HOWEVER, that's 20 minutes if you take the highway with tolls. If you want to avoid the tolls it takes more like 30 minutes to drive to MCO, and is a shorter distance. (traffic lights). At rush hour I-4 gets pretty backed up, or did, so both ways might actually be about the same.

A plus of MCO is - or was- that they have a number of places to get food, so arriving early might = time to get breakfast.

If dropping off a rental car, then MCO is super easy. It sounds like you are taking a towncar or Uber though?

Can't help a ton with ordering food. We usually stay club level. Around 2018, I made the mistake of having water+ sunscreen arrive at a WDW hotel from Target. Ugh! Target shipped each item in a different box, and I had to pay the WDW fee for each one. I do not advise that option. I think Amazon Prime = no fees? I dunno, a plus of Target is not waiting on a delivery. I have periodically traveled with boxed milk in checked luggage. I hear checked luggage is a bit of a mess right now.

Ooh Universal's CL's give you unlimited bottled water. I mean I try to avoid sing too many plastic bottles, but it is nice they have it. The Hard Rock water is themed to HR. The other CL's offer a more basic brand of water.

 

[jods]

You mean on check out day? I haven't flown since pandemic, so my specifics are a little dated.

Getting through MCO though takes a little while, because of busy security and the airport monorail. TSA precheck helps, but it still is a big airport. In the before times, MCO sees not only lots of tourists, but also many business travelers. Orlando is - or was- one of the top cities for business conventions/meetings. So even TSA had some line. Magic Express usually plans to have guests arrive at airport 2 hours before their flight time, I think. If you are driving/Uber, I think it would be okay to cut it a little more like 1.5 hours. In the AM, that would probably be plenty of time AT MCO.

Universal is closer to MCO than WDW. Normal drive time is about 20minutes, but you might allow more for rush hour. HOWEVER, that's 20 minutes if you take the highway with tolls. If you want to avoid the tolls it takes more like 30 minutes to drive to MCO, and is a shorter distance. (traffic lights). At rush hour I-4 gets pretty backed up, or did, so both ways might actually be about the same.

A plus of MCO is - or was- that they have a number of places to get food, so arriving early might = time to get breakfast.

If dropping off a rental car, then MCO is super easy. It sounds like you are taking a towncar or Uber though?

Can't help a ton with ordering food. We usually stay club level. Around 2018, I made the mistake of having water+ sunscreen arrive at a WDW hotel from Target. Ugh! Target shipped each item in a different box, and I had to pay the WDW fee for each one. I do not advise that option. I think Amazon Prime = no fees? I dunno, a plus of Target is not waiting on a delivery. I have periodically traveled with boxed milk in checked luggage. I hear checked luggage is a bit of a mess right now.

Ooh Universal's CL's give you unlimited bottled water. I mean I try to avoid sing too many plastic bottles, but it is nice they have it. The Hard Rock water is themed to HR. The other CL's offer a more basic brand of water.

Thanks, yes we are taking a town car to the airport. We have an 11:45 am flight . The Universal portion is CL but Disney isn't I ordered from Walmart last time with a laid off cast member for delivery. We did suntan lotion, snacks, water, cereal, milk and soda. Thinking of the same minus the lotion since we are checking bags. My kids like to snack in the room. Well, I do too that's why we loved the lounge. Pastries from breakfast, cookies and those home made chips. I can pretend and make my own lounge.

 

[PittPantherfan]

Contemporary club level- when you arrive early and want to leave bags and go to the parks, are they stored in the club level area or elsewhere?

 

[trishadono]

Contemporary club level- when you arrive early and want to leave bags and go to the parks, are they stored in the club level area or elsewhere?

Nope same as everyone, 1st floor. The bell services will take outside and to collect call from your room.

All the wdw resorts have only one luggage place.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

No new dates/info, but I noticed Disney actually added the CL reopening schedule to the Resorts “Know Before You Go” reopening page. Before it just had a vague statement of select lounges being reopened over the next few months and to call for more info.

Scroll down to “Resort Services”: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/experience-updates/resorts/

 

[NicoleLarson]

I have no interest in the Star Wars hotel but now I’m day dreaming what if Universal had a 2 night/3 day immersive Harry Potter hotel experience…

(My pocketbook is EXTREMELY happy this doesn’t exist at Universal because the Harry Potter nerd in my would ABSOLUTELY raid the piggy bank for that )

We have this discussion EVERY time we are at UO. Why don't they have harry potter rooms? They have Jurassic park rooms, minons rooms but no HP. We figure at this point it has to be a license thing, those would go like hotcakes!

 

[NicoleLarson]

So sorry you went through all that.


How early do you get to MCO? I have to book my ride to the airport from universal. Our trip is in 2 weeks and hubby said we have plenty of time. Also wanted to discuss whether we were ordering groceries. I'm just going to take care if it myself. We are all TSA precheck. Thanks.

Are you going to UO first? Unless you want something super specific I don't think you will need groceries at PBR. You will not need water unless you just want a specific brand. They keep the water stocked at all times and did a really good job of it. We definitely never went the least bit hungry at PBR CL. They have a good selection all day long, I would suggest to grab some extra bags of snacks or cereal in the morning to take to the park. I will say the CL staff at PBR was wonderful. The drink attendant knew what I drank the first night. She was actually taunting people to get another beer or glass of wine, maybe she was just bored. If you don't see something out, just ask for it. Like, I prefer almond milk in my coffee and they brought some out from the back. Another day they had sausage, egg and cheese english muffin sandwiches and I mentioned that I don't eat sausage, turns out, they had some without in the back and I think that was true for most things with meat, they had a non-meat alternative, you just had to ask for it. All in all we really enjoyed the CL at PBR. It's really tough to compare UO vs WDW since we don't know what post-covid CLs will look like. I will say both of my kids said the PBR was their favorite resort out of all of the WDW and UO hotels (we've stayed at every WDW and every UO EP hotel). With that being said, they're really into the movie Luca right now and PBR looks like the set of the movie so I think that swayed them a bit. Hope you have a great trip, I think your family will love the EPs, they are really life changing, we pretty much don't go to UO without them anymore.

 

[jods]

Are you going to UO first? Unless you want something super specific I don't think you will need groceries at PBR. You will not need water unless you just want a specific brand. They keep the water stocked at all times and did a really good job of it. We definitely never went the least bit hungry at PBR CL. They have a good selection all day long, I would suggest to grab some extra bags of snacks or cereal in the morning to take to the park. I will say the CL staff at PBR was wonderful. The drink attendant knew what I drank the first night. She was actually taunting people to get another beer or glass of wine, maybe she was just bored. If you don't see something out, just ask for it. Like, I prefer almond milk in my coffee and they brought some out from the back. Another day they had sausage, egg and cheese english muffin sandwiches and I mentioned that I don't eat sausage, turns out, they had some without in the back and I think that was true for most things with meat, they had a non-meat alternative, you just had to ask for it. All in all we really enjoyed the CL at PBR. It's really tough to compare UO vs WDW since we don't know what post-covid CLs will look like. I will say both of my kids said the PBR was their favorite resort out of all of the WDW and UO hotels (we've stayed at every WDW and every UO EP hotel). With that being said, they're really into the movie Luca right now and PBR looks like the set of the movie so I think that swayed them a bit. Hope you have a great trip, I think your family will love the EPs, they are really life changing, we pretty much don't go to UO without them anymore.

We're staying YC first then moving to UO. 8 figured we couldn't use EP and then go to disney lines lol. Especially with no FP and no CL. I basically want a few things for the Disney part of my stay.

 

[twinklebug]

We have this discussion EVERY time we are at UO. Why don't they have harry potter rooms? They have Jurassic park rooms, minons rooms but no HP. We figure at this point it has to be a license thing, those would go like hotcakes!

It's always money, but also Rowling keeps a tight grip on her brand. She wants to personally approve everything. I can respect that.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Thanks, yes we are taking a town car to the airport. We have an 11:45 am flight . The Universal portion is CL but Disney isn't I ordered from Walmart last time with a laid off cast member for delivery. We did suntan lotion, snacks, water, cereal, milk and soda. Thinking of the same minus the lotion since we are checking bags. My kids like to snack in the room. Well, I do too that's why we loved the lounge. Pastries from breakfast, cookies and those home made chips. I can pretend and make my own lounge.

We've done WDW just about every which way over the years. When not staying club level one challenge I have found is keeping milk cold. If you're in a suite with a full fridge it is fine, but the little dorm fridge in regular rooms is just too small. Even a half gallon is often too tall, and the dorm fridges aren't very cold. One solution I've found is shelf-stable milk boxes, Horizon and Parmalat are probably among the most well-known brands. They can be left out, or chilled one at a time.

Another challenge is getting chocolate home without it melting. If we bring cold packs, the little dorm fridges don't have a freezer. One thing we now pack is an insulated bag and sub chilled soda cans for cold packs. They stay relatively cool for hours.

If your flight is 11:45am, that's well past rush hour worries.

 

[trishadono]

Are you going to UO first? Unless you want something super specific I don't think you will need groceries at PBR. You will not need water unless you just want a specific brand. They keep the water stocked at all times and did a really good job of it. We definitely never went the least bit hungry at PBR CL. They have a good selection all day long, I would suggest to grab some extra bags of snacks or cereal in the morning to take to the park. I will say the CL staff at PBR was wonderful. The drink attendant knew what I drank the first night. She was actually taunting people to get another beer or glass of wine, maybe she was just bored. If you don't see something out, just ask for it. Like, I prefer almond milk in my coffee and they brought some out from the back. Another day they had sausage, egg and cheese english muffin sandwiches and I mentioned that I don't eat sausage, turns out, they had some without in the back and I think that was true for most things with meat, they had a non-meat alternative, you just had to ask for it. All in all we really enjoyed the CL at PBR. It's really tough to compare UO vs WDW since we don't know what post-covid CLs will look like. I will say both of my kids said the PBR was their favorite resort out of all of the WDW and UO hotels (we've stayed at every WDW and every UO EP hotel). With that being said, they're really into the movie Luca right now and PBR looks like the set of the movie so I think that swayed them a bit. Hope you have a great trip, I think your family will love the EPs, they are really life changing, we pretty much don't go to UO without them anymore.

I enjoyed their staff too . It was the hotel in general I felt boring .

One lady in the lounge was really good.

 

[NicoleLarson]

We're staying YC first then moving to UO. 8 figured we couldn't use EP and then go to disney lines lol. Especially with no FP and no CL. I basically want a few things for the Disney part of my stay.

Yes! that makes total sense. Just FYI, you may already know this but you can use the CL as soon as you check in. There was a family in there one morning and they didn't have a room yet but they let them in, same for EPs. They are good as soon as you check in and until close on check out day.