Bingo! And that's one of the things I find most entertaining about this thread. We've been told a few times now that there are things we just don't understand about WDW's version of Club 33. But I'm not sure why.
I've been to Disneyland with a Club 33 member a few times in the club's expanded format over the last half decade, and even thumbed through one friend's contract book (2017 edition), and I don't know what else I'm missing. Going off one visit a couple years ago that seemed to hit every bell and whistle of club membership, this is what that visit entailed for me and my friends;
- Old friend picks me up at my place in Villa Park and we catch up as we drive down Ball Road to Disneyland Drive and then turn into the Grand Californian. He gives membership card to gate guard and she puts a Club 33 tag on the windshield and lets us in, we drive forward and the valet guys valet park the car. (Very fast driveway to park experience!)
- We walk up the big flight of stairs on the left of the Grand Californian lobby where there is a very large but rather obscurely placed Craftsman style desk and chairs that is the Club 33 concierge desk that looks out over the lobby below. A single Tiffany lamp with a small Club 33 logo on the desk is the only clue what this area is. A young man in a dress suit sitting at the desk greets my friend by name and hands me a park hopper ticket and then takes an iPhone scanner and scans onto his AP and my ticket 50 open Fastpasses we can use for whatever rides we want. The member hands the concierge guy a bag with two bottles of wine he brought with him that he would like served with dinner, the concierge compliments him on his choice of Bordeaux and assures him the wine will be delivered to his dinner table later that evening.
- We walk through the lobby and enter DCA and go ride Radiator Springs Racers immediately with our Fastpasses.
- His wife and some other friends arrive in the park and we all meet at 1901 Lounge in DCA and have cocktails and some tapas. There's another young man in a suit at the 1901 entry desk, and on our way out he makes a call and secures us reserved seating in the VIP section for that evening's first Fantasmic! at Disneyland.
- We walk over to Disneyland and do a few more rides with our Fastpasses loaded onto our tickets.
- My member friend buzzes the door at Club 33 in New Orleans Square and after confirmation they let us in. Just inside the door yet another young man in a suit greets the member by name and exchanges chirpy small talk, while a hostess invites the rest of us into the open courtyard and asks if we'd like a chilled towel (it was a warm October day) and a glass of iced cucumber water. The chilled towel was also scented with cucumber water. A few moments later another hostess descends the staircase and welcomes the members by name and invites us all to follow her upstairs.
- We are led into the Salon Nouveau bar for a cocktail and sit for 20 minutes before we are called to dinner. The bartender knew my member friends by name, and made their favorite cocktails on instinct.
- We are led through the club over to the Grand Salon dining room and sit down for an impressive five course meal that took about 2 and a half hours to play out. The two bottles of Bordeaux that were handed over at the Grand Californian a few hours earlier have been decanted and are served with dinner. The maitre'd does a table touch and asks about the members and their family and does schmoozy small talk. Everyone raves about the meal.
- We leave the Club about 10 minutes before Fantasmic! starts and the member leads us over to the VIP section, gives his name to the Guest Relations girl staffing the velvet rope, and we are let in to the reserved viewing area and sit in a cluster of chairs together to watch Fantasmic! and then remain there for the fireworks afterwards.
- The ladies of the group decide to go shopping in Downtown Disney as the wife drove separately, and I go with the member and another man who joined us earlier. We walk back to the Grand Californian hotel, walk out onto the valet drive and wait a few moments while his car is delivered, and then we drive away and back home.
With the exception of the special events and parties for members like the Jazz Festival, vintners dinners, or Candlelight Ceremony nights I mentioned earlier,
what I witnessed seems to be the full range of Club 33 offerings for members and their guests for casual park visits that don't use one of the five annual VIP Tour allotments. That is; valet parking within walking distance of a theme park, complimentary park hoppers for all guests, essentially unlimited Fastpasses for all guests, access to private cocktail lounges in both DCA and Disneyland, access to the Grand Salon dining room for a very impressive dinner, reserved seating secured day-of for a parade or show (Fantasmic! in this case), plus a smattering of schmoozy extras.
Now for WDW, it seems to be that the
WDW Club 33 experience offers all of those things with the exception of a dining room meal in a proper restaurant.
Am I missing anything? Because I don't believe that I am, with maybe the exception of complimentary rain ponchos that are very rarely needed in Southern California.