BLT april break stay

andreadoiron

Mouseketeer
Joined
Jan 27, 2007
just got back from BLT and for anyone looking at booking there here are some of our thoughts:
the pool is too small and too shallow and the slide is good for younger kids but very slow and lame for older kids
the lake view room we had 8142 overlooked the marina and the area that they had nightly movies so was very loud. really not worth the lake points at all although i really don't think there can be too many standard view rooms since every view had partial lake or theme park view (MK and the parking lot is the same view, the pool view is lake view and when i complained that i didn't consider the marina a lake view, i was told that all lake view rooms had partial views of something other than the lake)
we were on the 11th floor and could hear the noise from the contempory's pool (which we could see) "party" every day. the water pagent kept us up until 10:45pm with very loud music. being on the 11th floor did not lessen the noise very much.
if you are going to MK or Epcot, the location is great but taking the bus anywhere else is arduous (the bus to dtd stops at the poly first) really did not like that the poly was on our bus route as it really dragged the bus ride out. 15 min into our dtd bus ride and we passed right by our hotel again. dtd was a 27 min trip. coming back we were first off so i'm guessing for the parks, blt is last off.
the cast members were very nice however this is the first time ever our floor requests were not honored at all. we resvd a room for 1 night for my MIL and emailed, called and asked in person to have her nearby (booked a lakeview studio since i was told that we had to have the same view to be close by so of course extra points for that lake view) and she was assigned to the 6th floor when i requested 14th floor for both of us. lucky for me francisco at online checkin got a manager who bumped her to a mk view room just to get her on the 14th floor but at the opposite end of the building
the dvc lounge is cool to view the fireworks and our balcony did have a view of some of the epcot fireworks (some were too low to see) however it is just a very noisy location. we like to get to the parks early in the am so we like quiet at night. this is not a quiet location.
 
Thank you. You gave me some things to consider.
What time did the movies start?
 
Thanks for the review of BLT. We are leaving in 13 days for our first stay as DVC members and our first five nights are at BLT 1BR Lake view. Reading the experiences of others helps me to know what to possibly expect. I will be prepared for some noise...and if it does happen to be noisy for us, then I hope we get some quite at Kidani for the second half of our stay! :thumbsup2
 
Interesting comments. We own at BLT and we really like it because we feel it is quieter than all other DVC locations because it does not have restaurants in it. We went to dinner at AKL and thought it was much louder and busier than BLT. Plus, you cannot beat the walk to MK. No other property can offer that.
 


Pool - our last couple trips to BLT we didn't even bother with the BLT pool. We just went directly over to the CT (better slide, less crowded).

Not to lessen OPs experience, but we've had lake view rooms and have never heard anything outside. So lake views aren't a guarantee of hearing things inside your room.
 
We spent a week in villa 8136 - right down from the OP's lakeview villa. We loved, loved, loved the location. We were not impacted by the movies, by the pool noise, or by the water pageant. We heard some noise, but not enough to even speak about. We also had family joining us in a studio for a few days, and had asked that they be placed close to us - they were given the 4th floor, for lakeview points. We didn't complain once - requests are just requests -we get that, and still had a great time with our family who was only an elevator ride away.

BLT is a great resort, so great that we are going again for our 3rd stay in 2 years in a few weeks. We have a 2 bedroom lakeview villa reserved, and know that just because we have requested a high floor, even numbered villa, there is a huge chance that we won't get our requests met, but will still have a great vacation.
 
I'm glad to hear that not everyone has these issues with noise! But frankly, after my five year absence from WDW, it's going to take a lot to bring me down out of the clouds! :cloud9:
 


Thanks for the review of BLT. We are leaving in 13 days for our first stay as DVC members and our first five nights are at BLT 1BR Lake view. Reading the experiences of others helps me to know what to possibly expect. I will be prepared for some noise...and if it does happen to be noisy for us, then I hope we get some quite at Kidani for the second half of our stay! :thumbsup2

kidani is nice and quiet and posh! we loved kidani and saw tons of animals despite having just a standard view room. the animal viewing areas are everywhere in the hotel so you don't have to spring for the Savannah view room!
Sanaa had great food too!
 
Pool - our last couple trips to BLT we didn't even bother with the BLT pool. We just went directly over to the CT (better slide, less crowded).

Not to lessen OPs experience, but we've had lake view rooms and have never heard anything outside. So lake views aren't a guarantee of hearing things inside your room.

we happened to have a lake view that really was more view of the boats, contemporary pool and the movie area so you are right on that. we did try to have our room changed but was told it was not possible.
during our stay the contemporary's slide was under construction of some sort and that pool was very crowded too. i do think that the blt pool may have been more crowded than normal because kids love water slides so w/the ct slide down, i'd assume lots of people with kids migrated to the blt
 
We had a 1 bedroom that was a lake view, on the 5th floor, and we could hear the water pageant loud & clear in our room. It was not a bother, but a reminder to go outside & watch it. I am not sure that it was loud enough to wake us up, we were never asleep when it came.

I also have had a studio overlooking the marina on the 4th floor, & did wonder if it really was lake view. You had to be standing on the balcony and look hard to the left to see the lake.

Bobbi
 
We just got back from our first stay at BLT last week. We had a LV studio on the 8th floor that was half lake / half MK & parking lot view. Glad we didn't spring for more points for a MK view as we had a perfect view of the fireworks at night without having to lean out or anything. I thought the resort was pretty quiet but I could hear people in the hallways a lot, but didn't notice any noise from outside or our neighbors. The water pagent usually went by around the time we were eating dinner so I can't imagine that keeping anybody up! :rotfl: (Yes, we are the crazy ones who do the MK evening EMH's until 3:00 AM then get up to go to the 7:00 AK early open!!:rotfl2:)

We found the monorail extremely convenient for getting around during such a busy period but the buses DID leave a bit to be desired. We always seemed to "just miss" one and had to wait awhile for the next one to HS or AK. It was annoying because we were trying to make rope drop which was really important to us during such a busy week.

I agree that the BLT pool is WAAAAY too small. It was very overcrowded over spring break. No empty loungers to be found without "hawking" and they were all on top of each other. I noticed that there was nobody "cleaning up" the empty & seemingly abandoned loungers (the ones that just seemed to be left with old used towels). I thought I could remember CM's cleaning them up at the other DVC resorts we'd stayed at in the past.:confused3 Anyway, I thought the slide / pool was a lifeguards nightmare. Each time we were there I saw a guard have to go in to pull some little kid out of the way of the slide...and I saw them have to shut the water to the slide off a couple of times because there were just too many 3 yr olds in there without any parents waiting to catch them. It seemed like every kid in the pool was somewhere between 2 and 5 and many parents seemed to think that sticking a lifevest or floaties on them was sufficient. Many could not swim well enough to clear the slide dump out area and the guards had to get them out of the way. I saw them tell every kid over & over that they had to MOVE out of the way but they couldn't swim well enough to do it. We NEVER let DS go down a slide without one of us at the bottom when he was younger but I saw VERY FEW parents in the pool last week watching their kids. On the other hand, the pool at the Contemporary was WIDE OPEN and had PLENTY of loungers. It was SOOO much nicer. If / when we stay at BLT again I don't think I'll even bother with the BLT pool.

Our studio had some sort of teeny weeny itsy bitsy little bugs in it and I informed the manager before we left. They were so small you could only see them on the tiled surfaces. I first noticed them in the bathroom on the floor...scurrying along the threshold...then the next day I found them in the kitchenette on the counter. There were hundreds of them & they blended in with the granite. I found a couple in our open box of doughnuts that I'd left on the shelf above the microwave. The manager asked me if I wanted reimbursed for them & I said no, I just wanted to make sure the unit is cleaned WELL after we left. It was a definite infestation of something. I wasn't sure if he was taking them serious enough though so I made sure to mention them on my satisfaction survey that they emailed me after we came home. Hopefully that will prompt some action.:confused3

Overall, we liked BLT just OK. It fell somewhere in the middle of the pack for us - I might like it better if it wasn't so point intensive. I really liked the amount of counter space in the kitchenette area - that was great, especially compared to the dinky ones at Kidani. But BCV and VWL still tie for our 2 most favorites. In August we'll see what we think of BWV...then eventually the GF and we'll be done. Meanwhile, I am excited that after August we can start repeating resorts since we'll be done experimenting - I can't wait to try BCV and VWL again!!
 
Our studio had some sort of teeny weeny itsy bitsy little bugs in it and I informed the manager before we left. They were so small you could only see them on the tiled surfaces. I first noticed them in the bathroom on the floor...scurrying along the threshold...then the next day I found them in the kitchenette on the counter. There were hundreds of them & they blended in with the granite. I found a couple in our open box of doughnuts that I'd left on the shelf above the microwave. The manager asked me if I wanted reimbursed for them & I said no, I just wanted to make sure the unit is cleaned WELL after we left. It was a definite infestation of something. I wasn't sure if he was taking them serious enough though so I made sure to mention them on my satisfaction survey that they emailed me after we came home. Hopefully that will prompt some action.:confused3

REALLY hope these are not bed bugs. After bringing some home in my suitcase (from a 4-star hotel!) I am absolutely paranoid about checking for bugs at every hotel I stay at. I'd STRONGLY recommend you check your suitcases and around your bed to make sure you didn't bring home any hitchhikers. Bed bugs can be a very expensive problem.
 
REALLY hope these are not bed bugs. After bringing some home in my suitcase (from a 4-star hotel!) I am absolutely paranoid about checking for bugs at every hotel I stay at. I'd STRONGLY recommend you check your suitcases and around your bed to make sure you didn't bring home any hitchhikers. Bed bugs can be a very expensive problem.

No, these were NOT bedbugs...and I checked the linens on the bed...only found them on the tiled surfaces. But they were sooo teeny they were microscopic - and almost worm-like things - so tiny you'd never see them in the carpet. Trust me - I've considered that they could be in one of our bags so I've been keeping a close eye out for them. We had some sort of little bugs get into our garment bag last summer somewhere - either in our post cruise hotel in Barcelona (the only hotel we opened it in) OR on our Med DCL cruise on the Magic!!:eek: Also not bedbugs but something else. They seemed to only be in the one bag which was sort of odd. It was creepy but since they appeared to be contained to just the one bag I was able to vacuum them up and get rid of them before they got all over the house HOWEVER before I got everything unpacked they ate some teeny little holes into DH's wool suit. Nothing else. Just the wool suit. And of course it was brand new.:sad2: So whatever THEY were they didn't care for synthetic materials since they didn't bother my dresses which were packed in the same garment bag!! :rotfl:
 
We spent a week in villa 8136 - right down from the OP's lakeview villa. We loved, loved, loved the location. We were not impacted by the movies, by the pool noise, or by the water pageant. We heard some noise, but not enough to even speak about. We also had family joining us in a studio for a few days, and had asked that they be placed close to us - they were given the 4th floor, for lakeview points. We didn't complain once - requests are just requests -we get that, and still had a great time with our family who was only an elevator ride away.

BLT is a great resort, so great that we are going again for our 3rd stay in 2 years in a few weeks. We have a 2 bedroom lakeview villa reserved, and know that just because we have requested a high floor, even numbered villa, there is a huge chance that we won't get our requests met, but will still have a great vacation.

going for our second stay at BLT at the end of this week, what is important about having an even-numbered villa?

We stayed there in 2010 and loved it! Doing a studio for three nights this time, followed by a 2br lockoff to share with my mom and her hubby for three nights.
 
going for our second stay at BLT at the end of this week, what is important about having an even-numbered villa?

We stayed there in 2010 and loved it! Doing a studio for three nights this time, followed by a 2br lockoff to share with my mom and her hubby for three nights.

The even numbered villas are on the outside of the crescent so if you've booked a LV there's just a little more likelyhood of getting one with a glimpse of the MK. Those odds increase if you ask for one in the North Tower because that's the side that's closer to MK. Also, I think esp. for a studio which is small anyway, the shape of the room (sort of a pie shape) puts slightly more living space in the sitting area because it's wider on that side. If you're on the odd numbered or inside of the crescent the villas are wider at the entrance & more narrow at the sitting area. If you can follow that.
 

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