Opinions on Bay Lake Tower

[jwallace378]

Hi all...I just booked a week in October in the DVC Bay Lake Tower (lakefront view). Any opinions? Thoughts? Pros? Cons? Any info would help thanks. It's myself, wife, and 5 year old son.

[disneymom15]

BLT is our home resort. We've stayed studio lakeview twice and have a third stay booked for October. We absolutely love the resort, we are now totally spoiled.

[faline]

Have stayed at this resort twice. Love the location! I don't think you'll be disappointed!

[WishesFan13]

BLT is our home resort as well, we stayed for the 1st time last sept for a week and then did a shorter trip in December. We love the location, we didn't use the monorail we just walked to the MK and it was awesome. Contempo has some really good food options. DS 1 loved the kids water play area by the pool. It's nothing major just jets of water coming up, but it has a nice rubbery covering on the ground which was good for him. We didn't use the buses, we drove to the other parks, but did use them a few years ago when we ate at cr and they were slow and crowded. I don't know if anything has changed and it seems like everyone has their own opinion on buses, but that's my only complaint. We're staying at bcv & bwv this sept and I love the Epcot area but I'm kinda worried that I'm going to miss BLT.

[PETE FROM NYC]

So far we have stayed there just once since joining DVC, 9/10, for 10 days. We had a 1 BR lake view that also had a part MK view. With just us two we had room to spare, even with two ECVs parked in the room.
Our daily plan was to eat breakfast in the room, pack lunch for the park du jour, then we could afford to splurge for a good dinner if we wanted.
Now we are booked for this September in a 2 BR lock-off going with DWs side of the family
We loved the location, and would highly recommend the place.

[diz_girl]

Another :thumbsup: for BLT. It's our home resort too. We stayed there for the first time in November and it was sooo nice. We had a dedicated 2BR MK View and it was awesome. One thing that I was surprised about was how quiet BLT was. Of course the CR tower is more noisy, but BLT was peaceful.

I stayed at CR three times as a kid and hadn't been back to stay there since the late '80s. We had always stayed in one of the Garden Wings. It was so different being in a tower with a MK View.

BLT has Community Hall, which has lots of activites for kids, so your 5 y.o. might like to spend some time there.

[wildernesslady]

We only stayed one night pre-cruise and loved it. I can't wait to try it for a longer stay.

[PlutoPlanet]

I love being a 5 minute walk from MK. It is no problem to walk over and just see the fireworks or get a Dole Whip. The pool is nice. You can work out in the Contemporary health club. We took the monorail to restaurants at the GF.
Some people think the theming of BLT is not as Disney-like as say, WL or AKL. I'd certainly stay at BLT again.

[DizneyFreak2002]

BLT is one of my home resorts... I love being able to just get up and walk over to MK... Plus, the monorail in the contemporary is no more than a 5 minute walk to get to as well... I have nothing bad to say about BLT... No cons at all...

[Hammer]

I really like the decor and location of Bay Lake Tower, but I do have some cons. Keep in mind, my cons have to do with the accessibility of the rooms. Also, my mother must use a wheelchair and sometimes can use a walker to get around; she is unable to walk more than a couple steps without assistance. The furniture layout can be hard to manuever with a wheelchair. I know Mom bumped into stuff trying to get around out 2 bedroom lake view unit. Also, not all the bathrooms in the unit were wheelchair accessible. My Mom's chair only fitted into the Master Bath and she has a normal width wheelchair. Did not fit in the other two bathrooms. Also, we were excited to go up to the Top of the world Lounge to watch fireworks until we got there. The balcony wall is too high for someone in a wheelchair to see over! Mom missed some of the lower fireworks because of that.

[Carol]

Best location ever as far as transportation goes. Love the option of walking to Magic Kingdom.

[Dyanna]

Staying a week at BLT for our 3rd time also this coming Oct in a LK view room. It is our home resort & absolutely love it. The convenience of a short walk to MK & monorail access to Epcot & rooftop access to watch evening fireworks. Love it!

[PETE FROM NYC]

Thinking back, I did have one complaint about BLT. The floors in both bathrooms were very slippery, and I almost went down a few times. At the time I attributed the slickness to the newness of the building.I hope that the floors are broken in by the time we return this September.

[disneydad153]

Its our home resort and have stayed twice so far, both times with Lake view. Best lake view is on the sides of the towers just at the building starts to curve. The lake view when looking straight out (above the lobby) was nice except I couldn't sit out on balcony in the AM as the sun was right in your eyes.

My only other concern is that the food court at Contemporary does not have the greatest selection and no mickey waffles that the kids love.

The pluses do outweigh the minuses though and we are glad we chose the resort as our home resort.:mickey:

[Christine]

BLT is one of my homes and one of my all time favorite resorts! I have had lake view and theme park view- studios and one bdrm. I cannot say enough how much I love this resort. ONLY complaint (tho it's not a HUGE complaint) is having to check in at the contemporary.

Other than that- I'm all for it!

[ANG]

BLT is our home as well. We loved it. I actually found it awesome that it is a separate resort from all the restaurants/shops. And having the monorail totally spoiled us. The only bad experience we had was when we checked in, it wasn't cleaned very well. But mousekeeping came after we called.

[candleshoe]

BLT is our home resort

Pros- location location location. Walkable to MK. Priceless

The fireworks from the rooftop lounge. Never crowded, better view then the park, music pumped in.

Rooms modern, stylish , clean

Great quick service nearby contempo cafe in the contemporary

Cons- theming. Unlike boardwalk, or Polynesian, or fort wilderness, etc. there's no wow factor when you arrive, no resort feel, no feeling like you are transported to another place or time. Just 'feels' like a hotel. An incredibly nice hotel, but a hotel.

Pool- horrible planning it hardly ever sees the sun. When we were there it was covered in shadows almost all the time.

[RAIDER]

Its our home resort and we love it .
Location to MK is a plus and you get the use of the CR pools .The rooms are spacious and light
You cant really go wrong
The only down side there is no eatery there and you have to go to the CR :thumbsup:

[tdk316]

You'll love it with your son! It's the only place (until this May...) that our kids have stayed and it's perfect for them. They can watch the fireworks at MK from their room or the elevator lobby in their pjs and still be in bed at a reasonable hour. :mickey: We love it and will be back when we bring the whole family down again. Enjoy the trip and think about doing the MNSSHP if you haven't already - my kids love it!

[Plex]

There's some good and bad there - in general our stay was great.

Pros - It's really close to MK and Epcot is just a monorail ride away! Really convenient and easy for those parks. The views are gorgeous, Top of the World Lounge is really cool, pool is great... pretty much all of the things everyone has already said.

Cons - The busing situation can be pretty bad sometimes, especially during EMH when the monorail is down. The rooms are a little on the small side. All of the amenities of the Contemporary are pretty far away compared to what you can get at other resorts.

Overall, I was happy with the experience, but I wasn't happy enough with it to not want to try other resorts.

[MinnieMommie]

Love BLT! Have stayed in a studio, 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom. Can't think of any cons. Easy walk into MK, easy access to all the monorail resorts. Love taking the boat to WL for nature walks. Good food options, shopping, pools, recreation. When you are there in October try to catch MNSSHP fireworks from the top of the lounge. Awesome! :mickey:

[PinKy]

I've stayed there 3 times and have loved it! Don't forget to take your son downstairs to the kids community center - there is always something fun to do and you can check out movies for your room ( or watch one there!). Also the kids area by the pool is nice and the pool area has kids games in the afternoons everyday. Enjoy!

[emerzmom]

We rented points and stayed at BLT Studio room in late Feb/early March. As many have said earlier the location can not be beat! The resort is very modern, new, and clean. Loved the Top of the World lounge for a spectacular view of WDW and MK fireworks. The biggest issues I had were that it just didn't seem to have as much Disney theme and feel as many other resorts and the studio room is very small. Ok for a couple but if you decide to use the pull out couch the room is consumed. Tiny bathroom too.
Not too bad and it really is a lovely resort.
I am sure you will enjoy your stay!
:mickey:
Julie

[disneykidsince1970]

Hi - I just posted a lengthy review of our 4 days stay (via rented points) 2 weeks ago in Accomodations. Hope it helps!