The E-Ticket Club is the Club Level lounge at the Disneyland Hotel. Located on the 11th floor of the Adventure Tower, the E-Ticket Club is only for guests with a Club Level room. Stella and I have booked a Club Level room every year at the Disneyland Hotel since 2013 and we are very familiar with the E-Ticket Club and the Club Level experience at the Disneyland Hotel.
We loved the Disneyland Hotel and the E-Ticket Club. This review will look at the Disneyland Hotel’s Club Level experience and the E-Ticket Club, along with our thoughts and experience. If you plan to book a Club Level room and visit the E-Ticket Club at the Disneyland Hotel, this review is for you!
Perks
According to the Disneyland website, Club Level at the Disneyland Hotel offers the following amenities in addition to the standard hotel amenities:
- Nightly Turndown Service
- Access to the E-Ticket Club with refreshments from 6:30AM to 10:00PM
- A selection of DVDs available for checkout
- Personal assistance from the Club Staff
From the above list, not a lot is included for the extra price of upgrading to Club Level. My goal for this post is to describe our experience at the Disneyland Hotel and help you determine if Club Level is worth the added price. In my opinion, it’s worth it, as it can enhance the vacation experience. I will go over my reasons later in this post, but first here is a breakdown of each perk.
The best perk will be access to the E-Ticket Club. The E-Ticket Club opens at 6:30AM every morning for breakfast and closes at 10PM after dessert. Below is a summary of the food offerings.
Club Level Lounge: Breakfast
Breakfast: At 6:30AM, the lounge will open for coffee as the Club Staff prepares the food offerings. Coffee is the only item served until 7AM. At 7AM, the full breakfast spread is available. Breakfast isn’t a full set of items one would expect at full-service hotels. Instead, it’s more of a continental breakfast. Typical items served include basic cereals, fruits, pastries, bagels and breads.
Once upon a time, the hotel didn’t offer anything else for breakfast. However, they’ve recently stepped up their game and included some more items. The breakfast offerings now include deviled eggs and one hot item, Mickey waffles. The waffles are the exact same thing that can be found at restaurants within the park and hotels.
For those looking to add a bit more fun to their vacation, mimosas can be ordered, upon request. And if you fancy a beer at 8AM in the morning, just ask a server and they will be happy to help. And don’t forget, you can eat as much as you want until 10AM. At 10AM, breakfast is over. But drinking is not.
Club Level Lounge: Snacks
Snacks: From 10AM to 5PM, the food offerings at the lounge will slim down and host a variety of snacks (chips, crackers, veggie sticks) with dips (ranch, salsa, hummus). Granola bars and Uncrustables may be available along with cookies. As most guests are out enjoying the parks, the snack options are meant to be just that, snacks, not meals.
When we stay at the Disneyland Hotel, we prefer to eat lunch at a restaurant due the small food selection at the lounge at lunchtime. Usually, it means we hang out at Trader Sam’s. It’s best to visit the bar right when it opens, which coincidentally is lunchtime (Read our full review of Trader Sam’s HERE). The lounge also serves plenty of ice water, coffee, lemonade and iced tea. And yes, alcohol is still available. Beer, wine and mimosas. All you want at no charge.
Club Level Lounge: Evening Appetizers
Evening Appetizers: From 5PM to 7PM, the lounge will host its premier food offerings. For the evening, the E-Ticket Club offers a large selection of hot and cold food items. Cold foods start with a variety of different salads. Along with salads, plenty of different breads, dips and cheeses are available for consumption.
Along with cold food items, hot food items are available and change every day. Over the course of our stays, examples include macaroni and cheese, fried balls, pigs in a blanket, mini pizzas, pot stickers or chicken skewers. Although the items are not entrees, if you eat enough, you won’t be hungry for dinner.
This time of day is arguably the best as the lounge offers its largest selection of food. And, it is easy to make a full meal out of the food offered. Disney doesn’t advertise this portion of offerings can be used instead of dinner but they totally can. It’s perfect for skipping a reservation for an expensive meal at a table service restaurant. Lastly, it’s now more acceptable to ask a server for an alcoholic beverage.
Club Level Lounge: Dessert
Dessert: From 7PM to 10PM, the lounge will offer a selection of desserts. Dessert items include brownies, rice crispy treats, cupcakes and slices of pie. A large selection of cookies are also served, from chocolate chip to sugar to oatmeal raisin. As a cookie addict, the lounge does a great job helping me continue my addiction.
Like the other meal periods, alcohol is still served. As you fill your plate to the max with cookies, just flag down one of the many servers and ask for a beverage. If it’s time to stop drinking alcohol, the lounge offers plenty of other beverage choices such as milk, coffee, sodas, ice tea and juice.
At the Disneyland Hotel, the music from the Disneyland fireworks’ show is piped in, providing a spectacular view of the fireworks from the comfort of the E-Ticket Club. Grab some cookies and milk and find a seat. Nothing like some cookies and milk as you think about how much money you spent that day in the parks.
Additional Perks
In addition to the E-Ticket Club, Club Level guests at the Disneyland Hotel receive the following perks:
- Nightly Turndown Service: Each evening, housekeeping will come to your room, empty the trash, draw the curtains and fold the bed down. They will also leave behind some chocolates by your pillow. However, they will not collect your used towels or any plates you leave behind from the lounge.
- DVDs: The E-Ticket Club has a huge selection of DVDs for rent. The selection includes every Disney and Disney owned brand (Touchstone, Pixar, etc) movie ever made. All you do is ask the Club Staff for the list and you can rent what is currently available. A great way to catch up on old movies.
- Assistance from the Club Level Staff: The E-Ticket Club staff is available to help before and during your trip as the lounge provides a dedicated Concierge Staff for only Club Level guests. The Club Staff can help with dining reservations, hotel requests, etc. I will go over this more later, but in my experience, this is hit or miss.
Should you pay for Club Level?
Is Club Level worth it at the Disneyland Hotel? The short answer: It depends. For my style of Disney vacation, Club Level works perfectly. When I visit the Disneyland Resort and book a hotel room, the Disneyland Hotel is the main event. As a passholder, I can always visit the parks. So, instead, my focus is the hotel and I intend to use the it for the majority of my stay.
For our stays, we arrive at the hotel around 6:30AM to check in. Although the official check in time is 3PM, we check in early to take advantage of the hotel services. As we are paying lots of money to stay onsite at Disneyland, I want the full experience. By checking in at 6:30AM, we will have a full day of hotel services and visits to the lounge. That’s right, you can start using the lounge as soon as you are issued your keys.
After check-in, we are issued our gold keys (non-Club Level guests are issued blue keys) and granted access to the Club Lounge until 10PM our departing day (despite checking out by 11AM). Even though our room is not yet ready, we still have full access to the lounge and all its services.
From the hotel lobby, we head straight to the lounge for breakfast. Rather than worry about booking a dining reservation, we have food ready for us in the lounge with a great view of Downtown Disney and the parks. It’s a great way to start the day. And if we are feeling really good, might even opt for a mimosa!
Yes, alcohol is served all day. Although the website hints alcohol is only served during the evening apps portion, it can be requested at any time. Just grab the attention of one of the food servers in the lounge, and they will gladly fill you a glass of wine or beer (no liquor).
And, if you are just stopping by, they will issue you a to-go cup. With the to-go cup, you can drink in your room, the pool or anywhere on hotel grounds. There is no limit. The alcohol is unlimited and included in Club Level. For those who enjoy wine and beer, it’s a great bargain.
Once we finish breakfast, we head to the parks. As we are staying onsite for two nights, we spend the morning at Disneyland or California Adventure, depending on Early Magic Hours (guests at the Disneyland Hotel are eligible for Early Magic Hours, as long as you’ve received your room key).
As I learned at Walt Disney World, it’s more enjoyable to spend time at one park, rather than constantly head back and forth. It allows the vacation to feel more relaxed and less stressful.
Around 12PM, we head back to the Disneyland Hotel and dine at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar for lunch. The bar opens at 11:30AM and is usually quiet at this time, especially during a weekday. It’s an excellent spot for lunch and a nice stiff drink. Once the clock strikes 1PM, we almost always receive the text that our hotel room is ready.
From here, we change and prepare for the pool. But first, a stop at the lounge for some snacks and beer. The lounge is quiet in the afternoon and is excellent for a pit stop. Once we refuel, we spend our remaining energy at the pool, racing the kids for access to the waterslide. And of course, we take some beer to-go.
After the pool, we shower and change before heading to the lounge once again for the evening appetizers. If we do not have dinner plans, we eat a lot and turn the apps into dinner. Although the apps aren’t intended to be dinner, there is enough food to fill you up. If we do have dinner plans, we will sample each app, have a drink and head to dinner.
For the evening, we either head to dinner or back to the parks. But, we will be back by 8PM to sample the lounge desserts and find a place for the fireworks. On the top floor of the Adventure Tower, the lounge has an excellent view of the fireworks, with the firework music piped in. So, I can sit down, have some cookies and a drink, and watch the fireworks away from the crowds of Main Street? Yes, count me in.
Conclusion
Over the course of the day, we visit the lounge at least four or five times, if not more depending on our schedule. And by doing so, I’m spending less money in the parks on food and alcohol. Instead, our major meal is lunch, which is a cheaper alternative to dinner.
As for the other perks of Club Level, their impact isn’t as great. When I first learned about turndown services, I expected Disney to make it extra special. However, it is always the same. My sheets are pulled down with two pieces of chocolate and my trash is taken out. But don’t expect them to take anything else (like dirty dishes) or disperse any pixie dust. Only once did they bring us some cookies and milk during turndown service, but that was after a complaint.
Disney could definitely do something special during this time and maybe they do to other families. But they always seem to show up right at 5PM for some reason, as many families are getting ready for the night. I wish they would come during dinnertime, when most families are out of their hotel rooms.
For help with dining reservations or other reservations, the Club Staff is available. However, I prefer to book reservations on the app or website. The Club Staff lacks any special powers to make dining reservations appear out of nowhere.
Although, if you want to cancel your dining reservation day of without paying the cancellation fee, they can waive it. One stay, a Club Staff member refused to cancel without charging us the cancellation fee, but I asked someone else when she left and they waived it for me. Again, Club Staff is a hit or miss…
As for the DVDs, it is awesome every Disney and Disney owned brand movie is available. The process is simple. You find the movie you want via a iPad; the staff checks to see if anyone else checked it out, and if not, you have the movie until 12PM the next day. It’s a great perk to put a movie on as you get ready or wind down for the night. Simple, but effective.
And that about wraps it up. Again, the major perk is the lounge, a perk we always exploit as much as possible. We love spending time in the lounge, grabbing food and drinks and having a place to relax. To me, Club Level is worth it for the lounge and the added convenience it adds to the vacation.
If your vacations are about spending all day in the parks with the hotel just to sleep, there is no need for Club Level, or any onsite Disney hotel. If your vacation instead is based around the hotel, then the lounge is perfect to add that sense of relaxation and convenience.
Keep in mind, Club Level is not cheap. I’ve seen it for as little as $50 more a night to over $200. It just depends on the time of year you are traveling and if it’s a weekend or weekday. For example, the Disneyland website lists a Standard View Room as starting at $445/night plus tax, with a Standard View – Club Level Room at $686/night, plus tax.
With my military discount, the rooms are much more affordable and fit my budget. But before deciding to book Club Level, decide if your family will use the lounge and make the most of its experiences. If not, it will be difficult to justify paying the extra costs. But if the prices make sense, I recommend you book it.
Thoughts?
Thanks for reading our review! We hope it helps with your vacation planning needs. Full a ful review of the hotel, read our Disneyland Hotel Review HERE! Please check out our Disneyland One-Day Itinerary HERE and our California Adventure One-Day Itinerary HERE! For the best bar on property, read our Trader Sam’s Review HERE!
Stayed Club Level at the Disneyland Hotel before? How was it? Eat too much food? Let us know in the comments below! Thanks for reading!
Loved this review. Thank you for being so detailed. My considering trying club level for our first disneyland hotel experience with our almost 5 year old. I’m just wondering how they feel about taking snacks from the lounge.
Thanks for reading Megan! Glad you enjoyed it.
The lounge is very accommodating for children and even has an area for them to play games and watch cartoons.
Food can be taken to go. The lounge offers plenty of to go containers. We usually raid the lounge before we hit the parks filling our backpacks with food so we have plenty of snacks. Food is all you can eat and you can take as much food as you like.
Club level is the way to go when visiting the Disneyland Hotel. Highly recommend it.
Hope that helps!
Thanks Ben, That’s awesome to know. I’m really excited to try it on this trip 🙂
Have you been to club level after COVID? If so, is there any difference from before?
We have reservations for it at the end of this month, so I’ll have to check back and let you know how precautions might have changed. My previous Disney Club Level experience (pre-Covid) was at the Paradise Pier Hotel, but based on this review the two are almost identical in offerings.
Hi Cynthia,
Post covid, Club Level is still the same. Other than being unavailable until last August, Club Level has not changed. Everything, including the buffet-style food offerings are still in place. Hope that helps!
Hi, great review, any update on post-covid stay on the club level?
Hi Hunter,
Post covid, Club Level is still the same. Other than being unavailable until last August, Club Level has not changed. Everything, including the buffet-style food offerings are still in place. Hope that helps!
Thank you for this review! I appreciate the detail. Do you know how a person can contact the club level concierge prior to a stay? We have reserved a club level room, and I was hoping to make some plans ahead of time with help from the concierge.
Hey Vicky. Thanks for the comment! I looked through my records and all I could find was an extension to the lounge to call via a hotel room phone (x6592). My recommendation would be to call the main Disneyland Hotel phone number, 714-778-6600, and ask to be transferred to the hotel concierge. However, in my experience, the concierges haven’t been too helpful. They usually just tell you to make plans via the Disneyland app. But they have been helpful reserving hotel specific activities and for same-day changes. Really depends who picks up the phone. If a concierge gives me a hard time, I try to wait and call again when I think they are off work and try a different castmember. What plans are you are looking to make? Hope this helps and please let me know if you require more info. Thank you!
Thanks, Ben! Hoping to secure some of those coveted dining reservations (Trader Sam’s, Oga’s Cantina). Looks like such a pain having to be in the reservation system the moment they open up (with no clear idea of the timing of openings). Would be great if the concierge could help with this, which you think they could do for the “VIP” pricing at Club Level. Sounds like they’re service is fairly limited, though.
You’re welcome Vicky. Dining reservations do seem to open up 60 days before at 0600PST. In my experience, I have been successful reserving at that time. I wouldn’t count on the Disney concierges helping with dining reservations in advance. At most, they can maybe help with same day (and again depends on helpful that castmember decides to be). Agreed, for the price, one would expect more, but at Disney, the hotel services only go so far unfortunately. If you are unable to book 60 days in advance, I advise checking everyday and especially the day before since if someone cancels, they have to do it 24 hours in advance. If all else fails, the next best strategy is to head directly to Oga’s at park opening and get on the mobile waitlist. For Trader Sam’s, try to get in line by 1100 for their 1130 opening. Those strategies work for me when I am unable to secure advance dining reservations. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Thank you!