Bay Lake Tower - Preferred Room vs Standard

[ande2428]

Hey All - Just curious to see if anyone has some thoughts on a preferred room vs standard at Bay Lake Tower? We are going with some "first timers" and was wondering if the upgrade is worth it? Thanks!

 

[VGCgroupie]

Hey All - Just curious to see if anyone has some thoughts on a preferred room vs standard at Bay Lake Tower? We are going with some "first timers" and was wondering if the upgrade is worth it? Thanks!

I cant comment on standard (resort) views but we stayed in a preferred room and it was nice. We over looked the water and could see the Epcot ball off in the distance. At night we could see 70% of the electrical water parade. We liked the view alot.

 

[ande2428]

Awesome! Thanks for the comments!

 

[airjay75]

I haven't stayed there, but I've been doing a lot of research. My understanding is that that standard rooms are generally the lower floors of the 15 floors BLT has - can go up to as high as the 5th floor depending on which side of the resort you're on. Preferred rooms are higher floors that do not directly face the MK. Found a pretty good diagram on the following website: https://dvcfieldguide.com/bay-lake-tower-resort-tour

 

[VGCgroupie]

Found a photo I took of the view.

 

[CarolynFH]

Hey All - Just curious to see if anyone has some thoughts on a preferred room vs standard at Bay Lake Tower? We are going with some "first timers" and was wondering if the upgrade is worth it? Thanks!

I would book Preferred and request 1) Even numbered room (that puts you on the monorail/MK side) and 2) North end (that can potentially, not guaranteed, get you a partial theme park view).

Unfortunately, some of the odd numbered rooms face directly across the C and look at other rooms, not at the lake.

 

[kilik64]

Forget what room number we had but this is from the lateral part of the u shape to the tower. I thought it was a pretty nice view really.

 

[CarolynFH]

This was our view from the balcony of our Lake (now Preferred) View 1BR in Jan. 2010. I think the room number was xx10 or xx08, can't remember. To the right we had a beautiful view of the lake, including the marina where the big ferry boats dock. (PS I just noticed that the date is in European style. It really was taken on January 6, 2010.)

 

[VGCgroupie]

This was our view from the balcony of our Lake (now Preferred) View 1BR in Jan. 2010. I think the room number was xx10 or xx08, can't remember. To the right we had a beautiful view of the lake, including the marina where the big ferry boats dock. (PS I just noticed that the date is in European style. It really was taken on January 6, 2010.)

View attachment 979176

I could get on board with that view at night possibly but not during the day.

 

[CarolynFH]

I could get on board with that view at night possibly but not during the day.

It was wonderful for fireworks! We weren't really bothered by the parking lot view, just looked past it.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

So many of the resort view rooms have a view of MK. I have booked TPV and Resort (previously standard) and have a good view of the castle and MK fireworks. I haven’t stayed in a Preferred View room but many of them can also see MK. Check out the room view finder on touring plans and you can get an idea of which room category you want and what to put in your room request.
https://touringplans.com/hotel_maps...contemporary-resort?room=7530&trip_id=1251473

 

[MyDogTink]

Found a photo I took of the view.
View attachment 979174

Hey that looks like my room! Lol.

I like preferred view but will note that DVC believes 3rd floor qualifies as preferred. I disagree and that was the only time I requested to change rooms.

I now prefer the north tower facing the marina to see the electric water parade.

Not sure I can get on board with theme park view for the points. Beautiful at night but that parking lot view during the day ruins it.

 

[reddog21]

I would never do the theme park view, I feel the lake views are far superior even if's a partial lake view.

 

[ande2428]

Wow! Thanks everyone for your replies!

 

[DisMomNCM]

This was our standard view last February (I think it rained 2-3 inches that day I took the picture!)

 

[MyDogTink]

This was our standard view last February (I think it rained 2-3 inches that day I took the picture!)

That’s not a bad view for standard.

 

[DisMomNCM]

That’s not a bad view for standard.

Nope, not at all! And the second half of the week was an amazing TPV. We lucked out for sure.

 

[lorimt]

We have had both and liked both. Preferred is much prettier during the day but we lucked out and had a great view of MK at night in our standard view. We were above the laundry area so that wasn’t great to look at but it was so nice to sit on our balcony during the fireworks.

 

[Judique]

I could get on board with that view at night possibly but not during the day.

I've had that view and what you may be missing is that there is also a lovely Lake view. If you look at the top of the balcony railing you may notice that @CarolynFH took the photo while focusing to the left side of the balcony.

To me it was the best of both worlds as I was up pretty high, could see the park at night, and could watch boats and birds, including an eagle swooping around while it was light out.

BLT gives amazing convenience when going to MK. I'll put up with a lot to enjoy that, but it's one of my favorite resorts.

 

[CarolynFH]

I've had that view and what you may be missing is that there is also a lovely Lake view. If you look at the top of the balcony railing you may notice that @CarolynFH took the photo while focusing to the left side of the balcony.

To me it was the best of both worlds as I was up pretty high, could see the park at night, and could watch boats and birds, including an eagle swooping around while it was light out.

BLT gives amazing convenience when going to MK. I'll put up with a lot to enjoy that, but it's one of my favorite resorts.

Yes, the balcony actually looked more toward the lake. I’m sorry we didn’t have a photo of that side, because it was beautiful, especially in the early morning and at dusk. But we were so impressed by our MK view that I guess DH didn’t think to turn the camera to the right!