Bay Lake Tower News & Progress: Updated 9/10/08 with Unit Floorplans & Point Values

From today's "Orlando Sentinel":

Looks like Disney may have changed the name of the new time-share tower the company is building next to its Contemporary Resort.

"Bay Lake Tower" has replaced "Kingdom Tower" as the name of the project, at least in filings with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

What's more, earlier this month Disney filed paperwork to create a "Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort Condominium Association," presumably to manage the resort once it is sold off to individual owners. Disney had created a "Kingdom Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort Condominium Association" in January.

Disney still has not publicly announced its plans for the partially-built Contemporary addition, which now stands 14 stories and will be linked to the resort's main A-frame building by a pedestrian bridge. A spokeswoman said the company had nothing to announce today, either. But Disney has indicated in documents submitted to the state that it intends to use the tower for Disney Vacation Club, the company's Celebration-based time-share arm.

The "Kingdom Tower" name was criticized by some Disney fans when it first surfaced in those documents. Some posters on Internet forums said it evoked religious overtones, noting that "Kingdom Hall" is a term for a place where Jehovah's Witnesses worship.

"I think a lot of people were drawing comparisons to Kingdom Hall," said Tim Krasniewski, publisher of DVCNews.com, a website devoted to Disney Vacation Club.

Krasniewski said he was personally fond of "Kingdom Tower," which most assumed referred to the Magic Kingdom theme park that sits next door to the Contemporary. But he said he likes "Bay Lake Tower" -- which refers to one of the lakes that the Contemporary and its addition overlook -- even better.

"I think it's a wonderful name," he said. "I think everybody's familiar with Bay Lake, with the fact that Bay Lake is right there. It has a Disney feel to it."

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Personally - - I like the new name better. :thumbsup:

9/10/08 | Master Deceleration Filed

The Master Deceleration for "Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort" was filed with the County on 9/8/08.

The document provides a number of planned details about the new resort including unit floor plans and preliminary point values.

The document refers to the forthcoming resort as both The Villa's at Disney's Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort, so there is still a little bit of nomenclature uncertainty regarding the project.

Unit Floor Plan Diagrams as Filed with Orange County (.pdf file)

Preliminary Point Values:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Deceleration of Condominium of Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort

... Each Club Member will always be eligible to reserve at the Condominium, subject to availability: at least one (1) Use Day in a Studio Vacation Home for every 16 Home Resort Vacation Points; at least one (1) Use Day in a One-Bedroom Vacation Home for every 39 Home Resort Vacation Points; at least one (1) Use Day in a Two-Bedroom Vacation Home for every 54 Home Resort Vacation Points; or at least one (1) Use Day in a Grand Villa Vacation Home for every 96 Home Resort Vacation Points.

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Further point related details can be found in Sections III and IV (pages 74 - 78) of the Deceleration of Condominium of Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort (large .pdf file)

7/23/08 | Quick Service Restaurant & Updated Opening Date

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Orlando Sentinel

State regulators recently awarded Disney a food-service license for the restaurant, under the working name of "Bay Lake Tower Finish Kitchen." According to the license application, the restaurant will be a non-seating, take-out only eatery, it will be 693 square feet ... The projected completion date is Sept. 1, 2009

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Full Article

7/5/08 | Tower Topped Off

The Bay Lake Tower construction has reached its maximum height. The Tower has been topped off with the traditional touches of adding tree and hanging the American flag. At its final height the Tower is 15 stories tall.

5/16/08 | Bridge Details

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Originally Posted by Orlando Sentinel

The bridge will link the fifth floor of the Bay Lake Tower with the fourth floor of the Contemporary. Disney says in its most recent filings that access to it will be controlled by key-card locks.

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Full Article & Picture

5/13/08 | Renamed Bay Lake Tower

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Originally Posted by Orlando Sentinel

"Bay Lake Tower" has replaced "Kingdom Tower" as the name of the project, at least in filings with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

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The Tower now stands 14 stories tall.

Full Article

4/30/08 | Rising Taller Yet & Beginnings of a Bridge

As construction continues on the Kingdom Tower project, evidence of its connection to the existing Tower have started to appear. The now ~12 story tall tower appears it will be connected to the 4th floor of the existing Tower. Pylons to support the bridge have been installed and beam structure for the enclosed bridge itself are starting to be constructed.

3/12/08 | The Tower Rises Further

Kingdom Tower is currently 8 stories tall and shows signs of continuing to build further stories.

Pictures

2/26/08 | Structure is Announced as "Kingdom Tower"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Orlando Sentinel

Disney formally states that the Disney Vacation Club will "add a ninth component site to be known as Kingdom Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort."

Disney says in the documents that it will sell the time shares in phases, beginning with an initial 75 units. The Kingdom Tower, which will connect to the existing Contemporary via a fifth-floor pedestrian bridge, will ultimately contain 281 units, according to the filings. The company says in the documents it doesn't expect to finish the Kingdom Tower until the fall of 2009.

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Full Article

1/28/08 | The Tower Rises Above the South Garden Wing

The replacement structure for the North Garden Wing at the Contemporary resort has now risen past the height of the South Garden Wing. The structure is now 6 stories tall and shows signs of continuing to build further stories.

12/12/07 | The Tower Begins to Rise

The replacement structure for the North Garden Wing at the Contemporary resort begins to rise. The structure is currently 3 stories tall and shows signs of continuing to build further stories.

5/1/07 | North Garden Wing Demolished

The demolition of the North Garden Wing at Disney's Contemporary Resort is complete. The entire footprint of the former building has been razed.

How PC can you get? If any guest is taking the time to analyze the name of the new tower to the point of reaching the Jehovah's Witness conclusion, they need to be given a swift kick off the property for being so overly-critical about something so trivial. Who...cares?!

If that's the reason they changed the name....we've now seen everything.....


I think the real reason is that "kingdom tower" would sound fancier in comparison to the original contemporary tower......

it would be the wrong message to have those that prepaid their stays years before staying in a building with more mystique than those who are shelling out 4K to stay in an attached building for only a week.....

just a thought

As a Jehovah's Witness (and WDW addict), even I can admit that it's ridiculous that they would change the name for that reason. I don't know of anyone who would or could possibly confuse our places of worship with a DVC resort in Disney World. Come on!

Well I hate to tell everyone but that's the first thing I thought of when I saw the name. Not just because of "Kingdom" but because of the "Watchtower" publication. And I didn't read any internet postings about it, so I thought it was just me.

I don't know how "Bay Lake Tower" is any better though. Sure doesn't sound very Disney-branded. I bet they change the name once more before selling DVC units there.

Ohhh-kay then. Sounds dumb.

Personally, I liked the Kingdom Towers name. I'm just wondering how many people are going to ignore the name, whatever it ends up being called, and just call it "the Contempary".

Can't they just settle with calling it the Contemporary Villas?

They're just villas attached to a disney resort, just like the BCV, BWV, AKV, and the VWL. Only SSR and OKW are WDW DVC stand alone resorts. Yes, it's a tower, which makes it special, but like Grumpy Fan stated, people are going to call it the Contemporary anyway. So if any Disney corporate people read these boards, please call it the Contemporary Villas. If you don't, here's the conversation:

#1: "Where are you staying?"
#2: "Bay Lake Tower."
#1: "Where's that? Is that near Downtown Disney?"
#2: "No, it's next to the Contemporary."
#1: "I thought that Wilderness Lodge was next to the Contemporary."
#2: "No, Wilderness Lodge is across the lake."
#1: "So where's Bay Lake Tower?"
#2: "It's the new tower next to the Contemporary."
#1: "I thought that was part of the Contemporary."
#2: "It is a part of the Contemporary."
#1: "So why didn't you just say that you were staying at the Contemporary?"
#2: "Who's on first."

For some reason, "Kingdom Tower" made me think of the haunted Kingdom Hospital, in the popular European horror series and the stateside Stephen King miniseries derived from it.

Maybe Disney marketing got a similar reaction when polling some guests, particularly international ones.

DVC could have ended any questions just by adding the word MAGIC to the name.
MAGIC KINGDOM TOWER.
It has a nice ring to it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DVCJohn

DVC could have ended any questions just by adding the word MAGIC to the name.
MAGIC KINGDOM TOWER.
It has a nice ring to it.

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That might be weird, too, since it doesn't really have a view of MK. ;) Although perhaps some rooms will!

I don't care what they call it, as long as I get to buy into it!

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Originally Posted by Ian

I don't care what they call it, as long as I get to buy into it!

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no thanks....demand will make it too much trouble....

i only hope it draws from beach, boardwalk, and wilderness

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Originally Posted by lockedoutlogic

no thanks....demand will make it too much trouble....

i only hope it draws from beach, boardwalk, and wilderness

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I don't see how demand could make it any more trouble than any of the other more popular resorts now.

If you buy points there, you can book at the 11 month window. They can only sell so many points ... it's a time share. It's not like they're going to sell to any Tom, Dick, and Harry who asks. Will the points sell out more quickly than some others? Of course. But it's no skin off my nose, as long as I get in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lockedoutlogic

no thanks....demand will make it too much trouble....

i only hope it draws from beach, boardwalk, and wilderness

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ian

I don't see how demand could make it any more trouble than any of the other more popular resorts now.

If you buy points there, you can book at the 11 month window. They can only sell so many points ... it's a time share. It's not like they're going to sell to any Tom, Dick, and Harry who asks. Will the points sell out more quickly than some others? Of course. But it's no skin off my nose, as long as I get in.

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This goes back to that 7-month vs. 11-month discussion we had earlier in the DVC forum. If you want any shot at staying there through DVC you better own there because the people that own there will most likely book it up in the 11 to 8 month window before those of us that don't own there can at 7 months...

I think the issue here is how many points it will take to stay there. To stay at a 1-BR unit in a preferred view at the Boardwalk in July will cost you 270 points. I can easily see that same unit, view and timeframe costing you 350-400 points at the Contemporary. Right now if you exchanged your points to stay at the Contemporary, it costs you about 50 points a night in June/July for a hotel room with a view of MK. That's 350 points for a HOTEL ROOM. You better own a lot, and I mean A LOT of points to stay there because I think pooling your other DVC points there won't work because of the place being booked out in the 11 to 8-month range.

If you can buy into it, I say great. Me personally, if I were able to get in for a night or two eventually using my OKW points, I look at it as definite added bonus.

I personally think it's going to be a great addition to the DVC.

Actually when I heard the Kingdom Tower name I first recognized the obvious tie in with the Magic Kingdom. However, in my second thought I wondered if people who are less obsessed with WDW might not think of the Lord of The Rings because of the Return of the King and the Two Towers and all that. Then in my third thought I did actually think of the Jehovah Witness connection as well.

The reason I say all that is because I wonder if the name issue really is as simple as one other connection or if there might not be multiple connections that changed their mind? Of course, like Diz-Girl already said, it is going to end up being called the Contemporary Villa or Contemporary Tower by the guests anyway so why not just name it the Contemp. Villas right away?

Finally, I wonder if, when, or how much market research Disney has actually done on the whole name thing? I would have thought they would have run focus groups and everything else long before they named it the first time to avoid any changes down the road? And yes, I do realize that it is not open for sales or occupancy yet so technically there is no damage done yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ian

I don't see how demand could make it any more trouble than any of the other more popular resorts now.

If you buy points there, you can book at the 11 month window. They can only sell so many points ... it's a time share. It's not like they're going to sell to any Tom, Dick, and Harry who asks. Will the points sell out more quickly than some others? Of course. But it's no skin off my nose, as long as I get in.

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I think both the seven month and the 11 month demand will be to high....

as almost anyone will attempt to get in on the 7 month....and you may even see higher difficulty getting in as an owner.....

just a hunch....i don't think that any of the other locations to date don't have alot of owners who do significant amounts of jumping...i.e. alot of the beach club, boardwalk, etc owners do a fair amount of moving around....

i don't think you will see that with the contemp....i think a higher percentage of owners will stay home more consistently.....causing possible cramming at the 11 month window for more of the year than we see with the current locations....

and the 7 month...forget about it.....the numbers completely outweigh a reasonable chance to get it....

monorail.....castle....bibbidi bobbiti boutique....original location...... comprende?

Bridge between Disney's Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower is both fifth-floor and fourth-floor

By Jason Garcia
Orlando Sentinel's Tourism Blog
May 14, 2008

There's been some confusion about the footbridge that will link Disney's Contemporary Resort to the still-rising "Bay Lake Tower" next door. The company described it as a fifth-floor bridge in initial time-share filings with the state, even though it is designed to connect with the monorail station on the fourth floor of the Contemporary's main A-frame building.

Disney clarifies the discrepancy in new filings: The bridge will link the fifth floor of the Bay Lake Tower with the fourth floor of the Contemporary. The discrepancy could be because a lower level in the Contemporary is larger than a typical hotel floor because it houses big ballrooms used by conventions.

One new detail about the bridge: Disney says in its most recent filings that access to it will be controlled by key-card locks.

I'm just going to throw this out there. Kingdom Towers already exists: in Riyadh City, Pakistan. It's located on or near King Fayad Road.

**Update**

{belated bump}