Picture This: A BAY LAKE TOWER Review~Pictorial

[WDWKOOK]

DH, DD13 and I stayed at Bay Lake Tower in a lake view one bedroom villa from August 18 - 21. We were celebrating our 25th anniversary and it was the first part of a split-stay with Wilderness Lodge Club Level. This was our first time staying in a DVC Villa. We have stayed at all the Moderates and Deluxes, except GF and BC.

Bay Lake Tower opened in 2009 and is located adjacent to Disney's Contemporary Resort which opened in 1971. You do not have to be a DVC owner to book BLT. They accept reservations on points and by cash. When using cash, any applicable discounts may be applied. Accommodations include Studios, One, Two and Three bedroom (Grand) villas. Bookable views include: Standard, Bay Lake and Magic Kingdom. For more room view and room number information, THIS THREAD by work2play is a wonderful resource.

We checked in at the CR where we have stayed many times. (NOTE: BLT check-in is now in the BLT lobby). I had a cash reservation and booked using the 40% military room-only discount. I had requested an outer villa on a high floor. We checked-in around 10:30 AM and our room was ready less than an hour later.

We were assigned room 7634, an outer villa which is actually on the 6th floor of the south side:

My concerns before booking were related mostly to the room's condition. I had read reviews that the condition of some of the furniture was very worn. However, our room was in very good condition and housekeeping was excellent. There was only noticeable wear on the sleeper chair and the ceiling mounted rain shower head in the master bathroom did not work. The arm to turn it on/off wouldn't budge so we only used the wall mounted shower head which was more than sufficient.

We loved the room's location and we never heard any noise from other guests while inside our room. In the middle of the night, I could hear what seemed to be a carpet cleaning machine making its way down the hallway, but that is the only 'noise' I heard in the three nights.

The stairwell was fairly close to our room and we could simply walk down one flight of stairs to the Skybridge to get to the CR. This was very convenient for mug refills.

We loved the privacy of having our own bedroom, balcony door and beautiful bathroom and our DD loved having her own sleeping area and bathroom (a must for a teen girl). I think she had the best view from any bed in WDW! It was so convenient having the washer/dryer and after a long day, the whirlpool tub was heavenly. BLT did not disappoint and I can't recommend it enough.

For this review, I've only included photos directly related to BLT. I have many photos of the CR, including recreation, signs, dining, shops, etc... and more detailed photos of everything in the BLT kitchen that I will use when I create the next CR/BLT information thread, but I chose not to include them here. If you would like to see any of them, just post your request and I'll try to help.

BLT OUTER VILLAS/FRONT:











BLT INNER VILLAS/BACK:











BACK AS VIEWED FROM 6TH FLOOR:











LOBBY AND CHECK-IN:

[WDWKOOK]

LAKE VIEW ONE BEDROOM VILLA 7634:









LIVING ROOM:









KITCHEN:











QUEEN SLEEPER IN LIVING ROOM (DD declared it very comfortable):









NEAR ENTRANCE:








IN CLOSET NEAR ENTRANCE:









BATHROOM NEAR ENTRANCE:








BEDROOM:
















SAFE AND IRONING BOARD IN BEDROOM CLOSET:









WHIRLPOOL TUB:










COMMODE AND SHOWER AREA WITH DOOR:

[WDWKOOK]

LOCKING MECHANISM ON BATHROOM DOORS:






LOCK ON SLIDING GLASS DOORS:






TOP OF IHOME:






7634 VIEWS:




LOOKING STRAIGHT OUT FROM LIVING ROOM:








FAR RIGHT:










RIGHT:







LEFT:







VIEW FROM BEDROOM BALCONY:







COMMUNITY HALL:
















6TH FLOOR STAIRS - ONE FLOOR DOWN TO SKYBRIDGE:







5TH FLOOR SKYBRIDGE TO/FROM 4TH FLOOR OF CR:

[WDWKOOK]

TENNIS COURTS:















FENCED-IN FOUNTAIN:









VIEW FROM BEHIND TENNIS COURTS TO FAR LEFT OF BAY LAKE:









VIEW TO THE RIGHT:










BEACH AREA WITH CHAIRS:











PICNIC AND BBQ AREA:










LET'S GO TO THE POOL AREA, BUT FIRST WE NEED TO GET IN:






























BATHROOM (NO SHOWERS):

[WDWKOOK]

FIRE PIT AREA:










MOVIE SCREEN BETWEEN CR AND BLT:









WALKWAY FROM MK TO BLT/CR:







MK WALKWAY CROSSWALK AT WORLD DRIVE: (Monorail yellow is coming online from the monorail barn):

[Mousemommy1]

Wow Kook!!! Looks fantastic!!!! Definitely would like to try out BLT someday!!

[pas130]

Yay the blt review!!!!! I'm so glad you liked it. DD too .. yay

[Missoutandabout]

So, no Mondrian Crayon masterpieces!

BLT looks lovely! Thanks for taking the time to write it up to share with us.

[EmmaMagsMom]

Originally Posted by pas130

Yay the blt review!!!!! I'm so glad you liked it. DD too .. yay

Kook! Great review and pictures .. Looks like a great place! I love the fire pit

[MEK]

Nice pictures. Thanks.

[sjs314]

KOOK Absolutely the best review and pictures of BLT ever! I wish now I had tried harder to talk DH into switching to CR or BLT when they were available of course we would have been in a Studio but still I do like it a lot.

[lady_hlh]

Great pictures, we have a trip booked for CR garden wing next August but my DD just saw your pics and is now begging to stay at BLT.

[familygoboston]

These are great! Thanks for sharing! We are staying in 1br villa in Feb, and I've been curious how they differ from BW, and BC, SSS or OKW where we've stayed before. My DH took one look and said " very contemporary"
Did you request 5? We plan to but will take 6 if we have to...want to be just 1-2 flights from the bridge- we do stairs, not elevators!

[WDWKOOK]

Originally Posted by Mousemommy1

Wow Kook!!! Looks fantastic!!!! Definitely would like to try out BLT someday!!

You're number one, you're number one! You need to put it on your resort bucket list, especially having two kids, you'll love the roominess and privacy

Originally Posted by pas130

Yay the blt review!!!!! I'm so glad you liked it. DD too .. yay

We did love it and DH really didn't even miss CL that much. He liked being able to have a good excuse to eat a hot breakfast and the king bed was a hit, too.

Originally Posted by Missoutandabout

So, no Mondrian Crayon masterpieces!

BLT looks lovely! Thanks for taking the time to write it up to share with us.

You remembered my fear
Not a one in our room - I guess we were in the post neo-plasticism period villa

I have been remiss in not perusing your recent TR - I'll get over there soon

Originally Posted by EmmaMagsMom

Kook! Great review and pictures .. Looks like a great place! I love the fire pit

Thank you. It is a great resort with all the amenities of the CR and MK just steps away.

Originally Posted by MEK

Nice pictures. Thanks.

You're welcome, MEK

Originally Posted by sjs314

KOOK Absolutely the best review and pictures of BLT ever! I wish now I had tried harder to talk DH into switching to CR or BLT when they were available of course we would have been in a Studio but still I do like it a lot.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Sheila. You know, it's never too late to switch

[WDWKOOK]

Originally Posted by lady_hlh

Great pictures, we have a trip booked for CR garden wing next August but my DD just saw your pics and is now begging to stay at BLT.

Thank you, but sorry I made some trouble for you. Keep in mind though that a BLT Studio is actually smaller than a standard CR room. But, of course, the one bedroom is twice as large.

Originally Posted by familygoboston

These are great! Thanks for sharing! We are staying in 1br villa in Feb, and I've been curious how they differ from BW, and BC, SSS or OKW where we've stayed before. My DH took one look and said " very contemporary"
Did you request 5? We plan to but will take 6 if we have to...want to be just 1-2 flights from the bridge- we do stairs, not elevators!

Thank you, familygoboston. I only requested a high floor and the 6th was perfect since we were just one flight of stairs up from the Skybridge.

The BLT one bedroom (and Kidani) are the only one bedroom villas with two bathrooms, so that would be the main difference and that BLT is the most recently built DVC (2009).