BLT Review w photos - non DVC owner PT. 1

[Kay7979]

We have stayed at a few DVC resorts via trades/bonus weeks from other timeshares we own. Now that DVC has changed affiliations from II to RCI we are no longer able to trade. This trip we traded into the Sheraton Vistana Villages resort and booked a one night cash reservation to check out Bay Lake Tower. We booked a one bedroom LV.

When we arrived at the CR, the CM stated that we had been upgraded to a MK view. We had been perfectly content with the LV since I have seen photos and most of the lake view rooms have great views. Still, we weren't about to refuse an upgrade! We were hoping to check in early since we only had one day to enjoy it, but the room wasn't ready until 3:45. We made good use of our time by lounging along the lake and reading our books.

After a while we made up a lunch out of the few groceries we had brought along from the Sheraton (thankfully on ice) and had lunch by the pool.

Finally, since we still had time to kill we rode the monorail around to the other resorts and hit the gift shops etc. At last our room was ready and we headed up to check it out.

Great view!

We really liked the layout of the unit, and the futuristic decor may not be our favorite, but it was interesting and appropriate for this resort. The couch was rather short. DH complained that it was too short to really stretch out on it. Also, it felt like it slanted forward, so when you sat on it you always felt like you were sliding off. Aside from that, the furniture was comfortable. The open room consisting of kitchen/dining/living gives the appearance of being spacious, even though it is really quite compact. We are not fond of the banquette dining area seating which seems to be what most DVC units have. There really isn't room to put in a standard table with chairs or there would be very little living room left, so its a good way to save space, I suppose. We have found that DVC units in general are much smaller than typical timeshare units, but what they lack in size they make up for with great theming and location.

More photos and review to follow in Part 2. This segment is part 1 of 4.

 

[Disney Princess]

Great view!!! What a great upgrade.

 

[TiaMaria]

Thank you for doing a trip report. Your pictures are fantastic.

However, this is why I will NEVER spend points on an MK view at BLT! Excuse me but that is a view of a parking lot - with a view of the tops of a couple of buildings at MK!!

I'm glad you didn't have to shell out the extra points.

I love the location and decor of BLT, but there are 2 things here on my "Never" list:

1) Never stay in a studio here unless I'm alone
2) Never spend points on an MK view if that's all I get. I will be content with LV as long as I don't get the LV that looks across the "U" right into another room (which should be SV)!

I don't want to offend any BLT lovers - this is strictly my own opinion of how DVC rips us off with their sketchy view configurations.

 

[shalom]

We have found that DVC units in general are much smaller than typical timeshare units, but what they lack in size they make up for with great theming and location.

I hear this a lot, and it's probably the main reason I hesitate to try DVC. Theme and location are all very well, but we like our space! Although I have to admit that going on these pics I do like the decor and layout. As TiaMaria says, your pictures are fab!

 

[Kay7979]

Thank you for doing a trip report. Your pictures are fantastic.

However, this is why I will NEVER spend points on an MK view at BLT! Excuse me but that is a view of a parking lot - with a view of the tops of a couple of buildings at MK!!

I went into this stay with the same opinion, and that's why I booked a lake view room. To be perfectly fair, however, the view looks better in person than it does in that shot standing across the room. Look at the remaining pictures, a few of which I have on zoom, but not all. The parkinglot is an unfortunate distraction, but I enjoyed watching the monorail and being able to see the Poly and GF, as well as seeing the castle and Space Mountain etc. We watched the ferry boats and other water transportation going back and forth to the MK. The main benefit of this view is at night, when the parkinglot becomes less of a distraction. The way I figure, at night the lake view rooms don't have much of a view, whereas the MK view at night is very nice. The castle changing colors is great, and of course watching the fireworks from your room is a treat.

Last year we did a three day stay over Labor Day weekend and stayed Club Level at the Poly. We had an MK view there as well. From the Poly, you are looking out over the Seven Seas Lagoon and have a front-on view of the castle, whereas at BLT you are only looking at the side of the castle. The view from the Poly is sweet! BUT it is much more distant. You are WAY closer at the CR and BLT. The trade off is the parkinglot in the foreground.

For people staying on points who find the parkinglot a real negative, I would agree that the lake view is very nice as well and you can always sit and enjoy the MK view from the elevator lobbies, the walkway, or the lounge at the top of the tower.

On a side note, I forgot to mention that the DVC desk was well staffed and we were strongly but politely urged to take the DVC tour, but we firmly declined as we already own three timeshares, and have no desire to add more time via DVC. What surprised me was that as "cash reservation customers" we were offered $100 if we would attend the presentation. To the best of my knowledge, in the past, the most you were offered for attending a presentation was cookies and punch! So, Disney must be working much harder to recruit new members. The Rep was pushing the new Hawaii resort moreso than BLT, but that's where we already own, the Big Island of Hawaii and also on Maui, so that wasn't really an incentive for us.

 

[Caren]

We had the same complaint about the couch--it always felt like you were about to slide off of it. The cushions seemed not to slide back as far as they should have--we speculated that because the sleeper was made up, the extra bulk left not quite enough room for the cushions, but we never got curious enough to take it apart to find out.

 

[Kay7979]

We had the same complaint about the couch--it always felt like you were about to slide off of it. The cushions seemed not to slide back as far as they should have--we speculated that because the sleeper was made up, the extra bulk left not quite enough room for the cushions, but we never got curious enough to take it apart to find out.

Hmm, then it wasn't just our couch that had issues. Why would they leave the sofa bed made up? Especially if it makes the cushions fit improperly? Every timeshare I have ever stayed at has a sofa bed, and in about 36 timeshare stays at different resorts, I have never sat on a couch that sloped like this. If we were staying for more than a day, I'm sure DH would have dismantled the couch to figure out what the problem was! Bad enough it was too short for him to fully stretch out on, but sitting on slanted cushions was too much, lol! We just gave up and sat on the chairs or the hassock.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Strange but the sleeper sofa looks more like a double than a queen which is the size that should be in the 1BR. I'm going by the size of the foot stool/sofa table and it appears identical in proportions to what I had in a studio.

 

[Disney grandma]

You indeed have a great view from your room. The first thing we did when we arrived was to move the tall floor lamp from in front of the window. It opened up the whole room and made the window even seem larger. We just moved it over behind the chair so it wouldn't block our view in any way. Loved BLT!

 

[Kay7979]

You indeed have a great view from your room. The first thing we did when we arrived was to move the tall floor lamp from in front of the window. It opened up the whole room and made the window even seem larger. We just moved it over behind the chair so it wouldn't block our view in any way. Loved BLT!

We did that too. It would have been better to have a ceiling spotlight or two rather than the big clunky floor lamp.

 

[Cyndibear]

You indeed have a great view from your room. The first thing we did when we arrived was to move the tall floor lamp from in front of the window. It opened up the whole room and made the window even seem larger. We just moved it over behind the chair so it wouldn't block our view in any way. Loved BLT!

We did the exact same thing!! We also moved the sofa in front of the window and turned the sleeper chair around to face the wonderful view too. We spent a lot of time on that sofa just enjoying the view. What a view! The parking lot didn't bother us at all, there was so much other activity to watch. At night we watched Wishes from the balcony with the sound on the TV turned up. Also liked seeing the Electrical Water Parade as it passed in front of GF. We have totally fallen in love with BLT and so glad we own and added on there.

Cyndi

 

[spiceycat]

in the studio just took the back pillows off the sofa bed - it worked fine.

w/pillows agree it is hard to sit on it.

 

[Kay7979]

Also liked seeing the Electrical Water Parade as it passed in front of GF. We have totally fallen in love with BLT and so glad we own and added on there.

Cyndi

I forgot to mention the EWP. We watched it pass the Poly, then the GF, then come around toward the CR, so we got to see it three times. The view too distant to hear the music, especially from inside the unit, but I could hear the music in my head anyway!