BLT wheelchair accessible villas

[bellepearle]

Oh absolutely but because it's DVC I don't think we have access to it. Thanks again so much for your help. Really appreciate it!

 

[Bronte]

Here is the reply I got from MS

We appreciate your interest in a DISNEY VACATION CLUB Resort. *Bay Lake
Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort has 17 - 2 Bedroom Lockoff Villas
and 6 - 2 Bedroom Villas that are Accessible Villas. *

Sorry they did not list by views and I am worried when it says there are six accessible rooms they might be including the florida special rooms. Plus, it is strange how they first say 17 lock offs and then say 6 two bedrooms villas are accessible (I think there is a big difference between lock off and regular/dedicated two bedroom villas.)

You are right the you can not contact MS if you are renting but the person you are renting from can ask for you.
I think it would be ok to call disneys special services number ... Those are the folks you will have to contact anyways to request a shower chair, bed rails or any other special requests (407) 824-4321. I have always had good luck getting reliable information from them about special needs.

Good luck ... I really hope you find the right room !!!

 

[bellepearle]

Bronte - Thank you so much for getting back to me. Besides the obvious, what do you mean when you say there is a big difference between a 2 bedroom lock-off and a 2 bedroom dedicated? Are you talking about accessibility or just the layout? Thank you for that phone number. I spoke to someone today via the chat service on the DVC page of the Disney website. The girl wasn't able to answer my question (big surprise lol) but she did give me the direct number to BLT. I figured someone at BLT should be able to give accurate info. Can't hurt to try! Thanks again!

 

[Bronte]

We are very new to the dvc (resale just this spring) so someone can correct me but my understanding is that a two bedroom could be made up of one 1 bedroom connected to a studio (lock off) or could be a dedicated two bedroom thus the master bedroom has a king bed, the living room has a sofa sleeper and the other bedroom has two queens. The lock off would have an extra small frig and microwave because it is just an additional studio but in my mind I think that is just a waste of space when you already have a full kitchen.
I guess it just depends on your families needs but if I am forking out for a two bedroom that sleeps 8 to 9 I would rather have three real beds and a sofa sleeper in a dedicated rather than two beds and two sofa sleepers.

 

[bellepearle]

Bronte - Oh no I think you are correct. A 2 bedroom lock-off is really just a 1 bedroom plus a studio. We got a 2 bedroom lock-off 2 years ago when we stayed at BWV. It was nice but my mother thought it was a little tight with everyone's luggage everywhere. The lock-off is nice for us with my grandma who values her privacy but if we can't get a lock-off a dedicated 2 bedroom is good too plus I think a dedicated 2 bedroom is slightly larger than a 2 bedroom lock-off. Congrats on the new membership! What is a resale? We are just renters.

 

[rock_doctor]

Bronte - Oh no I think you are correct. A 2 bedroom lock-off is really just a 1 bedroom plus a studio. We got a 2 bedroom lock-off 2 years ago when we stayed at BWV. It was nice but my mother thought it was a little tight with everyone's luggage everywhere. The lock-off is nice for us with my grandma who values her privacy but if we can't get a lock-off a dedicated 2 bedroom is good too plus I think a dedicated 2 bedroom is slightly larger than a 2 bedroom lock-off. Congrats on the new membership! What is a resale? We are just renters.

You got it.

you can buy Disney points two ways.. One buying direct from Disney is the easiest and fastest way. You pay a high premium and Disney will finance you or you can put it on a credit card plus you can make a reservation the same day with your new points. Resale is buying outside Disney from a broker. You are buying your membership from somebody who no longer wants to be a DVC owner. The process takes a min of two months and you have to come up with the money on your own. Basically, very similar process to buying any deeded property. Buying DVC is buying points but your points are also ownership in a percentage of a physical room. The more points you buy the more of a percentage you own of that room. Now it is not like most timeshares where you own .04% of room 2132 and you can only stay in room 2132... You can use your points at any DVC resort but in fact you do own a part of a room and will have a deed to that part of the room. To get you to buy direct from Disney they allow you to use your points for other things like Disney cruises and over seas travel. Buying reseale you can't but...and this is a big but resale points can be half the cost. I just bought 250 point for BLT for $87 a point to buy from Disney directly the cost would have been $150 per point. If you rent often it may be time to go ahead and buy in... Dues at BLT are $3.24 per point (I think) so our dues next year will be $1944.00 because we own 600 points. But and once again this is a big but... if we paid to stay at BLT rack rate we would spend nearly $14,000 for the full month we stay a year... If you go often (once a year or more) buying in is (imho) the only way to go. Renting point is just that... renting. You spend the money and have nothing to show for it. My personal opinion... I not a fan of renting or leasing... The other side of the fence, something goes evilly wrong, you can get at least half of what you paid for the points back when you sell.

Good thread, there was stuff here that i did not know...

 

[bellepearle]

Rockdoctor - Thanks for all that info. That's a big downside to going through a resale - not being able to use your points at other locations outside of WDW. Why is that? So all in all, you recommend buying into DVC rather than just renting points if you go often enough to make it worth your money? Another question, when you purchase a DVC membership, because you own a percentage of a physical room, if you choose to stay in that room in your home resort, are you then guaranteed that room or is it still based on availability? We stayed at BWV 2 years ago on points as a renter (1st time ever) and it was great. This past June we went on our first Disney Cruise and I know if we were DVC members we could have banked our points for that trip (but we're not members! lol) and are planning a WDW trip for October 2013. When you look at it like that, then yes it does seem worthwhile to become members. However, we went from 1998 to 2010 with no Disney trips at all, so I'm really not sure. Plus the one-time purchase price of DVC is ridiculously high and is just getting higher! So much to think about! But thanks again for that info!

 

[Bronte]

I was plugging in my dates for our next trip to check for availability and thought I would see what the options would be for BLT two bedroom theme park view with HA and it asked me to choose another view in order to see HA choices. I picked lake view and saw an option for roll in shower for both two bedroom and two bedroom lock offs lake view but the only option for theme park was for the Florida Speacial room. The MS site unlike the Disney site shows all rooms regardless if they are available so that a member can choose to wait list the stay. So if i understand how the site shows availability it looks like there are no wheel chair accessible (roll in shower) theme park view two bedroom villa at the BLT.
I am sorry ...
My great great aunt is in a wheel chair and I am having a similar problem finding HA one bedrooms. We have decided that we will just make due with a regular room, renting some medical equipment from a local supplier that was recomended by disney and sponge baths instead of showers. Not the best of all possible worlds but at least we will be in Disney together and that is pretty GREAT !!!!

 

[bellepearle]

Bronte - Thanks so much! I'm going to give BLT a call directly to see if they can help me and if they can't then try the Special Services number. Someone has got to have a definitive answer out there! I'm thinking you are right though Everyone has been coming to the same conclusion. Still going to make those phone calls though just to be sure. I'm glad you will be able to make it work for your family! Have a great trip!

 

[rock_doctor]

You can use them at any US DVC site like Disneyland and Hawai'i but you can't use them to take a trip to Africa or England...

You own a part of a room but you can only spend the points. So you can't technically demand that room and you are no guaranteed a room at any time or any resort even though you can use your BLT points at any DVC in the US. If you own at BLT you can make your BLT reservations 11month before you want to stay or you can make your reservations at 7month before you want to stay at any other DVC. This is why everybody always say to buy where you want to stay. So at least you can stay were you own. It is possible to not get a room even at the 11mo window. There are tricks to beat the system but unless you are trying to get a standard view studio it is not necessary to play the system at the 11mo window. But it is possible to not get a room if you call too late on you 11month window day...but that is usually only over super busy parts of the year and usually when you are trying to get a studio... Unfortunately, DVC makes sure its resorts are pretty full and i have read that they try to keep BLT 98% full at all times....

Unfortunately, using points to take a cruise is one of the worst uses, horrible conversion rate so to speak... So most do not recommend buying if you take a lot of Disney cruises but don't stay on property that often. Remember you have to buy direct from disney at full price to use them for a cruise.

I don't think MS is going to talk to you and it is possible they are not showing the HA rooms on the website. Typically they have to be specially booked by a CM. The one and only time i tried to book on line it was not an option and yet i know the room existed. The member who is renting the points to you may have to take care of this for you. I also don't think special services gets involved with room bookings anymore. We made reservations in July and the MS/CM said they can now see the HA rooms and do the reservations themselves w/o having to call special services.

 

[bellepearle]

Rockdoctor - Very interesting info. So much that I didn't know about DVC. So if I'm looking to go October 2013 is it too early to contact a rentee? We were going to call BLT directly to see if they could tell us about the rooms. Is that what you meant by MS? I don'r know about Special Services - someone on here suggested I try giving them a call. Can't hurt!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Typically they have to be specially booked by a CM. The one and only time i tried to book on line it was not an option and yet i know the room existed. The member who is renting the points to you may have to take care of this for you. I also don't think special services gets involved with room bookings anymore. We made reservations in July and the MS/CM said they can now see the HA rooms and do the reservations themselves w/o having to call special services.

It now is possible to book online and is probably the same info that MS sees. Being able to book online was a requirement that Disney had to fulfill legally as I understand it.

OP - I really think you have your answer - that there aren't any theme park view Dedicated 2BR's with a roll in shower. Everything I've read both from trip reports and from people inquiring indicate the lakeview is the only category that has all of the variations of HA rooms. But the lakeview HA rooms with roll in shower are on the north side and do provide a view of the theme park. If you do learn anything different please let us know but I will forewarn that the CM's (and in some cases the resorts) aren't as well informed about the HA rooms as one would think they would or should be.

 

[bellepearle]

Kathy I will definitely report back if I hear anything differently.

 

[spiceycat]

It now is possible to book online and is probably the same info that MS sees. Being able to book online was a requirement that Disney had to fulfill legally as I understand it.

(

it was not a legal requirement - it was something DVC members have been asking for since at least 1994 and DVC finally did it.

be happy! it is surpose to be the same information that member services sees - but think there is a little different.

 

[bellepearle]

Bronte - We called the number that I was told was a direct number for BLT. Turns out it was the number for CR. They connected us to Resort Reservations or something like that. Whoever we spoke to had to check with Special Requests. They said that there are no 2 bedroom dedicated villas at BLT or 2 bedroom lock-offs that have all 3 bathrooms accessible with roll-in showers. That only one bathroom would have it. With me and my grandmother both needing a roll-in shower we absolutely need more than one accessible bathroom and I find it very hard to believe that only one bathroom has a roll-in shower when there are 3 bathrooms in the villa! Not sure what else to do .

 

[loadsapixiedust]

We had a 2 bed HA at BLT last year it only had a roll-in shower in the master bathroom. The other 2 bathrooms had a tub with shower over. It wasn't convenient for us either since we travelled with a couple who had the master bedroom and we used the second bedroom. I'm sure there was space in the second bathroom for a roll-in so can't understand why they couldn't have put one in there. It really wasn't necessary to have a tub in all 3 bathrooms.

On the same trip we also stayed in a 2 bed HA at Kidani and it had a walk in shower in the master bathroom and a roll-in in the second bathroom which was much better for us. You might want to reconsider your resort choice if this is going to be important.

As for getting information about HA accommodations DVC are for some reason very secretive about this and very little is published nor will they tell you much about the different accessibility options. I have done my own research on the net. MS tell me there are fully HA 2 bed villas available in the theme park view category but I've yet to find any reports of one.

 

[loadsapixiedust]

It now is possible to book online and is probably the same info that MS sees. Being able to book online was a requirement that Disney had to fulfill legally as I understand it.

Correct. ADA changes mean that accessible accommodation has to be bookable in the same way as non-accessible. When the online reservation system came into use you could not originally book accessible accommodation with it you had to book what you wanted and then call to confirm an accessible unit which often wouldn't be available. Members needing accessible rooms complained and got nowhere but DVC eventually had to change this to comply with the new legislation.

 

[bellepearle]

loadsapixiedust - Yeah, that really doesn't work for us. We need at least one bathroom with a roll-in and at least one bathroom with a walk-in shower. My grandma can manage with a walk-in as long as she has grab bars but I definitely need a roll-in with a shower seat. All three bathrooms though need to be accessible meaning I can get in and out easily in my motorized scooter and they should all have grab bars. If MS is telling you that fully HA 2 bedroom villas exist at BLT with a MK view, then they must exist. They really should know what they do and don't have. I'm going to make a few phone calls and if I get anywhere, I will report back. Thanks!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

loadsapixiedust - Yeah, that really doesn't work for us. We need at least one bathroom with a roll-in and at least one bathroom with a walk-in shower. My grandma can manage with a walk-in as long as she has grab bars but I definitely need a roll-in with a shower seat. All three bathrooms though need to be accessible meaning I can get in and out easily in my motorized scooter and they should all have grab bars. If MS is telling you that fully HA 2 bedroom villas exist at BLT with a MK view, then they must exist. They really should know what they do and don't have. I'm going to make a few phone calls and if I get anywhere, I will report back. Thanks!

I'm not aware of any HA rooms for DVC that have all bathrooms fully accessible if there are multiple bathrooms. If DVC is where you want to stay I think you'll have to plan a little differently and recognize that there will be a bathroom that you can't pull your wheels into. Considering that many of the DVC's only have one bathroom for a 1 bedrooms sharing is almost always a must. And if it's a dedicted 2BR then it's the master that has the roll in shower, and thus losing the walk in shower and keeping the tub/shower combos in the other baths. I know it's not ideal but that's what Disney did in their building.

I think you have a couple of possibilities.

a) book a 2BR lakeview lockoff with HA w/roll in shower. Every report I've seen has indicated that will be a xx12/xx14 combination which should give you a roll in shower in both the studio portion and also in the Master. BUT - I'd not count on it 100% since there just may be something out there not reported on. If you're willing to risk that you still might have to share the roll in I think this is the best possibility to try and get an accommodation that will work best for you. But the 3rd bath won't be accessible.

b) If you can't live with only one roll in shower then I don't think there's any other option except to book 2 separate rooms - each with a roll in shower. Or, since your grandma could handle a walk in shower with bars then you could book a HA 1BR for her and a HA 1BR w/roll in shower for you. What we would do for my mother if we had to use a walk in shower was either request a shower seat from housekeeping or else rent one from an outside company if we wanted to be positive we had one.

it was not a legal requirement - it was something DVC members have been asking for since at least 1994 and DVC finally did it.

be happy! it is surpose to be the same information that member services sees - but think there is a little different.

As loadsapixiedust confirmed this was to meet an ADA requirement of having equal footing for booking. That is what I had understood as well. It's nice to think they did it because it was requested but from everything I heard they had a deadline to meet and pushed it pretty much to the last second.

 

[bellepearle]

Kathy, so we just got off the phone and long story short, the only way to guarantee that we get at least two bathrooms with roll-in showers is to get either 2 HA 1-bedroom villas and request that they be adjoining or to get 1 deluxe studio and 1 1-bedroom villa (both fully HA) and request that they be adjoining. She said if you just ask for a 2 bedroom fully HA villa it would most like have 1 roll-in shower with the other 2 bathrooms having bath tubs. My grandma doesn't need a roll-in shower. She could manage with a shower that has a little step up into it as long as she has grab bars.