BLT - 1st time family trip

[KAT4DISNEY]

Here's the link to the thread with BLT room views:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2257082

 

[COseb]

We absolutely LOVE TPV and given the ages of your children I would highly recommend it for a first time trip. There is something special about looking out to the Magic Kingdom and seeing Cinderella's Castle all lit up at night. You can watch the fireworks in your pyjamas with the music piped in on one of the TV channels. You can still see the electric water parade as it passes in front of the Grand Floridian Resort. The monorail making its rounds is also fun to watch as well as the coming and going of all the busses. While lake view is probably nice and calming for many people, our family does not go to Disney for calmness-we head to the beach for that. We enjoy the hustle and bustle for the 3-5 days we spend there every year. There is a thread with many pictures of the different views. I will try to find it and post a link for you.

Thank you (and all) for the advice. I thankfully just secured a BLT lake view for our dates in May 14 - and am on a waiting list for the TPV if anything changes. Although we were favoring the TPV considering our kids ages and feedback here - once we found a member to rent from - turns out the TPV was booked for our May dates. We will be looking forward to our trip for sure!!!

 

[lovin'fl]

DH and I just stayed at BLT for F&W. I will post some room pics at the end. We loved the short walk to the MK (like 7-8 minutes...easy peasy) but hated taking the monorail to Epcot since we had to go to TTC and get of, walk down platform and back up platform to catch Epcot monorail. The monorail is always pretty packed (lots of strollers so if you need a stroller this might be good for you as you can wheel it right on). And we got to TTC one day and the Epcot monorail was shut down and we had to go out and get in a long line for a bus to Epcot. It can also be a noisy resort as you will hear the Wishes sound being piped in and the water pageant thing is loud...plus sounds seem to just carry at this resort. We requested a studio near the skyway bridge and got the 1st one right off of it (lake view). It was great view and great to hop over to CR (for monorail or food or shopping) but it was probably not the quietest location. I will say that we did like the studio layout and didn't find it too small like some folks say (though it was just 2 of us). I also like the theme/feel/atmosphere of BLT and many folks don't like that. We enjoyed watching Wishes from TOTWL one night too...that's neat. Here's our pics (sorry they are so big):
View from our balcony- to the right

view- to the left

Room #-

looking at DH on balcony from bridge

from doorway

kitchenette which we loved

bed area

towards doorway

bathroom

 

[Donald_Quackers]

I have photos of my first stay there, studio room, theme park view here

 

[jlsmith376]

We've had both a 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom lake view at BLT and both were on the side where you could see fireworks. If that is what you are after then request an even numbered room on the north side. You will see fireworks and Space Mountain from your balcony and living room, but also parking lot and lakeshore. The 2 bedroom we had was 7602 which was on the end and we liked it a lot. It seemed very private since no one else ventured to the end of the hall. There is a giant window in the hallway across from the door that looks out over the lake so we watched the water pageant from there after watching fireworks from our balcony. We felt like we had both theme park view and lake view!

 

[Hibernians]

Make sure to try Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary - its my kids favorite restaurant at WDW - we always go for dinner on our last night of our vacation; while the food is nothing spectacular, its a really fun place for the little ones with all the characters and they love the dessert table.

 

[DenLo]

Thx for thoughts... as to the lakeview versus TPV - a) can kids get out on deck and see fireworks on either? and b) absent our adult point of views! - would you think young kids get a kick out of TPV, lake view at ~ 5-7 years age - or indifferent?

Also - do all BLT rooms have a balcony?

thx to all for the help - we are looking forward to the magic!

Gary

IMO kids love to watch the monorail. So during the day they will watch the monorails whenever you are in the room. Heck we are both in our 60s and will watch the monorail all the time. DH keeps track of the 12 monorail colors to see how many days it takes us to see all of them. We often have to include the colors on the Epcot line to get all 12 of them. Or sometimes one color is covered with a skin like Ironman or the Avengers. But the monorail CMs will tell you which color is covered by the skin.

 

[amypetecar]

Blt is hands down my favorite hotel.

I enjoyed seeing the magic kingdom from my room, but watching fireworks from the room is a little over rated.

- to get a good view of fireworks, you must be on your balcony
- to hear the music, you must have your TV blaring loud to the appropriate channel
- you cant hear the tv with your balcony door closed
- there are no screen doors, so if you leave it open, you'll be eaten alive in your room by bugs

Top of the World Lounge is amazing and very convenient. I suppose what i am trying to say is no matter where your room is, you'll love the convenience of the hotel, and the fireworks from the lounge!

Enjoy your trip!