My Club 33 interview meeting is coming up soon. Obviously I won’t be able to post anything about any of what is said, but I’m curious to hear all of the benefits from the horse’s mouth, as they say.
From what I’ve read here and elsewhere, the price paid per year matches or exceeds the value you receive (besides the initiation fee), once all of the lounges are open.
Even though I can afford to join and legitimately WANT to join, I do have a couple of concerns....
The first is a lack of an exclusive restaurant, which DL has. Even though you have to pay for dinner, that’s a huge value in my opinion that WDW won’t have. I’m hoping they change their mind and add a restaurant to the Animal Kingdom club.
The second is that two of the four lounges aren’t even completed and they aren’t (from what I have heard through the grapevine) prorating the first year fees (which again, from what I have heard, is $33k + $15k + tax = $51k first year). Just because I can afford $51k doesn’t mean I’m a sucker. If Club 33 isn’t complete, why should I pay full price? My wife’s favorite park is Animal Kingdom and that won’t even been ready for another 1+ years. A lot of people have wealth because they know the value of a dollar, negotiate, and know a good deal from a bad.
I’m an ultra-local (I live 5 minutes from Magic Kingdom) so if offered an invite, I will really need to decide if this is the best use of $50k for my family. We go to the parks a handful of times a month and we can just buy tickets as needed, buy the Premier Passports (which we have had previously, but just have Platinum Plus right now), buy VIP tours as needed, and I’ve been able to schedule FastPasses for every ride we’ve ever wanted by just some slight advanced planning. Heck I can even get congierge by staying Club Level at any resort. So as a local, is the value REALLY there? I can take my family on four additional 7-day Disney Cruises (28 full days) in a full concierge one-bedroom suite, and that includes international travel, food, lodging, and entertainment for that same amount of money. And then I’m lucky enough to come back home to WDW.
I don’t want this to sound like a negative post... it really isn’t. But it’s important to take the rose colored glasses off when going into a commitment like this, even if you have lots of disposable income.
I’m excited for our meeting just to learn more and hopefully get the chance to even consider joining, which is a hard enough step to get to as it is. If I get to that point, my wife and I will discuss and make a descison at that time. It would be hard to turn down simply because of the lore and exclusivity of Club 33.
SIDE NOTE: For anyone who has been through an interview... if my info above is off or not correct, please message me privately letting me know what is wrong so I can remove it from the post. I don’t want to mistakenly spread wrong info. I’m just posting what I have read on other sites. Thanks.