We had 2 BLT "LV" studios for 4 nights at the beginning of March.
The one I stayed in with my pre-teen niece and nephew was fine. 7538. Nice view of the lake, marina, Contemporary and the bridge.
My sister and BIL stayed across the hall in 7537. Let's put it this way. You could see the lake if you went out on the balcony, walked as far left as possible and leaned over the railing and looked to the right. Then you saw a sliver of water beyond the pool area. Mostly you were looking directly into other rooms if you glanced to the left or looked straight ahead. This clearly should be called a Standard View, IMO.
When we booked, we asked for rooms in ending in 06 and 08, on the same floor if possible. We completely understood this was simply a request. We were OK if we got a different location and even a different floor. Wouldn't have been ideal - but we could have coped.
However we were not prepared to "cope" with not getting what we had paid for. This trip we had used my points - 96 per room.
The good news - our rooms were ready at 12:15PM. We were excited - we've never gotten into our rooms that early. My sis and I had left the kids and BIL at Epcot to go and check in and deal with luggage. The were on the same level as the bridge and just a short walk to that as well as the elevators. Once we saw her room view, we called down to the front dest to question the LV versus the Std view. The CM said that "...as long as you can see any part of the lake - it's considered a "LV"". That's ridiculous. Then over 90% of the rooms would be considered some kind of LV. She said there was no other Studio available that night to change to. We called Member Services and went through the same scenario. They basically put us on hold and called the Front Desk, came back and told us there was a room that my sister and BIL could switch to the next night and it would be on a different floor. If we had been staying longer than 4 nights - or were in a 1 or 2 bedroom, we might have gone along with this - but we were also leery of where the room would be - they wouldn't tell us - how did we know it wouldn't have been just as bad?
Last resort, we called our Guide. I told him that I was seriously looking at adding on at BLT (was - past tense), but was not comfortable. I let him know that not only were we having problems with the designation, but there have been TONS of others on the board with discrepancies. At this point, I wanted to be refunded the difference in points. We figured it was about 17 points for that room, those nights and that view. He agreed to get back to me. My sister and BIL suggested he meet us for a cocktail in their room to see for himself. He said he didn't need to see. He admitted the room designations are very loose and said they are again being looked at for re-allocation.
He ended up splitting the points with us. My account was refunded 10 points by the end of our stay.
We really liked the location of the resort and the decor of the rooms... however...we ususally get a 2 bedroom when we travel together, but this time, it was a short trip and my BIL was not originally going so we opted for the 2 studios originally. In retrospect, once he committed to coming, we should have switched to a 2 bedroom. The room with me and 2 pre-teens was way too small. We had no bathroom door issues (lol - I'm in the bathroom - stay out!). Storage was tight. What's with the little bitty closet being filled up with a safe, pac-n-play, vacume cleaner, etc? And I do not do my hair in my kitchen at home - I don't like doing it there on vacation either.
In the end we won't be adding on at BLT. It's just too iffy that you will get what you pay for as far as the view. I would hate to be po'd and disappointed every time I "went home". I am even loathe to book there at the 7 month mark again for this reason. If there was some way they could do a better job at this, I would reconsider. Unfortunately I don't see them admitting that they have WAY, WAY more standard view rooms than they like to admit.
Loved, loved, loved the Top of The World lounge. This would be the ONLY incentive to stay here again unfortunately.
It is my first trip home to BLT. For those of you that have visited already, can you answer some questions?
