review of recent BLT stay

[clc053103]

Just returned from a week in a two BR villa at BLT. We are not DVC. Here's a review for those who might be interested in staying at this wonderful resort!

ROOM: The accomodations were beautiful and spacious- well thought out, with 3 great bathrooms and a laundry room- we loved the laundry room! With the door shut you couldn't even hear the washer. Kitchen was also well stocked with dishes and such, though we never used it. However, you would never guess the place was just over a month old as the furniture was all chipped up. I can't imagine what it will look like in a few years. Both rooms we stayed in reflected a lot of wear.
We did however have some major issues with our first room. first stayed in room 8117 (11th floor). The floor was wet next to the bed in bedroom #2. Came back that night to find floor totally saturated. Left note for housekeeping. Came back to find industrial fan in the room (nice touch to the decor). Returned that night to find floor soaked again- called front desk and mousekeeping. next morning after breakfast, returned to find engineering and mousekeeping in our room trying to figure it out. Came back after a day at the parks- no note, no phone call, and yes, floor soaked. At no time did they say "this isn't fixed you need to move"-just would come in, dry it up, and wait for our next call when the carpet filled with water again. Can not imagine the mold in that carpet after days of being soaked. We called front desk who finally gave us another room down the hall at our insistence- after we were left on hold waiting for manager Nicole three times (she never did get on the line)- and were offered a tiny credit on our room account- they asked where we were having dinner, we responded california grill- and they said dinner is on us tonight and gave us $200 credit- um, a family of 6 can't eat for $200 at California grill, thanks. But we didn't argue- we just needed out. Moving family of 6 was beyond a pain- they told us take your time, we can send a bellman. We moved half our stuff but part of our family was at the pool so we wanted them to be able to move when they came back- bellman rather nicely said he could be back in 15 minutes but after that, we were on our own because he was far too busy to help us later. Wow, what service- their issue totally inconvenienced us, but we had a 15 minute window in which to move.

Pool: did get crowded just on saturday. Kids went to contemp pool also and said contemp had much more activities, nicer pool, but BLT had better slide. BLT by comparison only had 1 hour a day of activities.

Amenities: did get up to Top of The World which is fabulous- and empty. They get a crowd on the deck for fireworks but otherwise the place is deserted. I would imagine they will open it up to all guests soon. Otherwise, how can it survive- the fireworks crowd aren't the drink buyers! Ate at every Contemp restaurant- we really enjoyed The Wave for both breakfast and dinner. Quite a find! the 4th floor of Contemp now has Contempo, Chef Mickeys and outer Rim bar all in a line, really looks pretty awful and Outer RIm seems to be used more as a Chef Mickey's waiting area. Would much prefer a drink at Cali Grill. Contempo has some really nice food offerings, but the ordering process is slow and confusing.

Hotel Staff: horrendous is the only word that comes to mind. The front desk was a mobscene at all hours- despite the fact that this was a slow time of year. See above for story about being left in a leaky room for 4 days with minimal apology. On Line Check In gave you NO advantage as they put us all in the same line regardless. Called front desk to be connected to our roomand were told that "room 8117 didn't exist"- staff appears to not know anything about BLT, including room numbers. Given major misinformation repeatedly- including being told to go to concierge to pay luggage fees and get bording passes despite using Magical Express. This resulted in a major headache on our last night. Nicole the manager did straighten it out- but she has an "earning my ears" ribbon on her nametag and based on all our experiences, is in over her head. Another example- waiting for Magical Express, 12:55 pm departure. at 12:40 a bus is sitting there- bellman says "I think this is the 12:25, I'll check"- never seen again. We go ask the driver- he says he is dropping off, not picking up here. Then, another bellman comes over and asks what we are waiting for- we say 12:55 pickup- he says he will see what is going on- never comes back. 10 minutes later, that same bellman is helping people load luggage on the SAME BUS. I ask- is this the 12:55 bus? Um, yeah. Well, is there any reason no one felt the need to tell us this????? You get the picture.

Transportation: we rarely waited more than 5 minutes for any mode of transportation. Monorails, buses, boats, all prompt! Utilized the walkway to MK - this is great if you want to catch another bus to a different resort for a meal as well!

Overall- despite the fact that the staff of the hotel was pretty pathetic (the exception being a kind bellman named Oz!) we loved the size, decor, amenities and location!!! We will definitely be back!!! maybe by then, the staff will have their act together!!!

[thesupersmartguy]

Glad you had a nice stay. Sorry about the leak in the room and the staff.

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks for posting you're review.

[Mom2Elliot]

How did you get to the Top lounge if you are not DVC?

Sorry you seemed to have so many problems, we stayed there and found the room immaculate and service great. Sounds like you got the run around.

[clc053103]

Originally Posted by Mom2Elliot

How did you get to the Top lounge if you are not DVC?

Sorry you seemed to have so many problems, we stayed there and found the room immaculate and service great. Sounds like you got the run around.

a nice employee helped us find our way up. I don't want to get them in trouble, so I can't give specifics. But if you stay and really want to get up there, it can be done. We were also alone for most of our time up there so clearly, we weren't in the way of any DVC members!

I don't know if they were having a bad week, or what happened- we always have such great service at Disney resorts! Also, I want to stress that the service at the CR restaurants was really top-notch, nothing like our front desk experiences!

[Mom2Elliot]

I guess we should have tried to get up! It was a little frustrating reading on here how empty it was and not allowed to get up there :-)

[clc053103]

I totally agree- that was why we made the attempt, we knew it was empty and were frustrated that they weren't letting others up!