BLV... are the horror stories true?

[SDSorority]

Hi all. We are staying at BLT in a Lake View Studio in the fall. I have heard some not so nice things about BLT in my recent research... "the bathroom doors don't shut all the way", "the staff is less than magical", "the boats will wake you up really early in the morning", "there are no door locks inside the rooms"... and so on.

We have stayed at BWV, SSR, OKW, ASMu, ASMo, Pop and the Swan. Compared to those resorts, how does BLT stack up? I would hope it would be at the top of the list since it's the most expensive place we will have ever rented points for, but now with all of the negative comments floating around the internet it has me sort of second guessing my decision.

Those who have stayed at BLT- any tips, suggestions, advice, or experience to put my mind at ease?

 

[DenLo]

Hi all. We are staying at BLT in a Lake View Studio in the fall. I have heard some not so nice things about BLT in my recent research... "the bathroom doors don't shut all the way", "the staff is less than magical", "the boats will wake you up really early in the morning", "there are no door locks inside the rooms"... and so on. . . .

We stay at BLT regularly. The staff is fabulous, BLT doesn't have a boat sound problem that is at the Poly, I am not sure about the locks, they are on the bathroom doors, but I don't know about the bedroom doors. And there are locks on the door to the balcony.

 

[SDSorority]

We stay at BLT regularly. The staff is fabulous, BLT doesn't have a boat sound problem that is at the Poly, I am not sure about the locks, there are on the bathroom doors, but I don't know about the bedroom doors. And there are locks on the door to the balcony.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Hi all. We are staying at BLT in a Lake View Studio in the fall. I have heard some not so nice things about BLT in my recent research... "the bathroom doors don't shut all the way", "the staff is less than magical", "the boats will wake you up really early in the morning", "there are no door locks inside the rooms"... and so on.

We have stayed at BWV, SSR, OKW, ASMu, ASMo, Pop and the Swan. Compared to those resorts, how does BLT stack up? I would hope it would be at the top of the list since it's the most expensive place we will have ever rented points for, but now with all of the negative comments floating around the internet it has me sort of second guessing my decision.

Those who have stayed at BLT- any tips, suggestions, advice, or experience to put my mind at ease?

Oh my....BLT is great. I agree with Denlo on it all. BWV boardwalk view and PVB have been the loudest for us - to the point of waking us up, but never BLT. Bathroom doors had a latch added since BLT opened so that's old reports. Staff is fine. I also don't know about locks on the bedrooms doors as we never use any locks other than the balcony and of course the entry door.

 

[bumbershoot]

I certainly didn't *love* the bathroom door situation in our studio in February, but I wouldn't call it a horror story. Just a teensy bit embarrassing to feel almost like you have no barrier, when you're staying with your cousin with whom you haven't lived since she was 4 and you were 11.

 

[Granny]

We have completely enjoyed our stays at BLT. "Horror stories" is not even close to being an appropriate description.

 

[disneynutz]

BLT had some early issues, HVAC, bathroom sink location, no door locks on the bathroom doors, no sheer drapes, wear issues, no bell services in building and a staff that was slow to learn about the resort. I believe that all have been corrected except sheers in the studios.

 

[drusba]

I do not own at BLT but like staying there, particularly when I can get a high floor request satisfied with a lake view room (so far so good on that one). The rooms are fine. There was the issue of bathroom doors not locking but I did not consider that a major issue (and at this point I cannot recall if it has changed except I believe there are now latches). If there is a downside, it is that the studios are smaller than elsewhere (we typically get a 1BR or 2BR which are fantastic for space). I have never had an issue with staff, which has always been fine.

 

[seelyt2]

We've stayed once in a 1 bedroom Lake View and loved it, so much so that we hope to stay when our 7 month window opens up next month. I will admit the only loud thing (and it wasn't that bad) was the Electrical Water Pageant at night. It woke up our friend's little girl at about 10 at night or so, but she fell back to sleep. The location can't be beat! Never had any issues with the room and we really like the layout of the kitchen.

 

[DenLo]

I think the lock on the sliding bathroom door is hard for people to figure out as you just push the button to lock and unlock the door.

 

[Dean]

Hi all. We are staying at BLT in a Lake View Studio in the fall. I have heard some not so nice things about BLT in my recent research... "the bathroom doors don't shut all the way", "the staff is less than magical", "the boats will wake you up really early in the morning", "there are no door locks inside the rooms"... and so on.

We have stayed at BWV, SSR, OKW, ASMu, ASMo, Pop and the Swan. Compared to those resorts, how does BLT stack up? I would hope it would be at the top of the list since it's the most expensive place we will have ever rented points for, but now with all of the negative comments floating around the internet it has me sort of second guessing my decision.

Those who have stayed at BLT- any tips, suggestions, advice, or experience to put my mind at ease?

DVC resorts are all good to very good and the intangibles like friendliness and room assignments will vary over time. I wouldn't worry, expect to have a great time.

 

[SDSorority]

Thanks so much, everyone!!

 

[abner1776]

We have stayed at BLT once with a high floor lake view and while we did not experience any of the problems you mentioned, BLT is currently last on my list of favorite DVC resorts. The studio room was just too small and we found the quality of the furnishings to be subpar. Even with just three adults, we were constantly bumping into each other and hitting our shins and hips on all sorts of table curners, etc. The view from our balcony was wonderful, but it was not enough to overshadow the negatives of the room and while we go to the Top of the World often, we always stay somewhere else.

 

[Jennasis]

BLT is home and by far our favorite Disney resort. We've never had anything remotely wrong with our stays. The staff have been THE friendliest of all the staff we've encountered. The rooms are serenely quiet (even our ground floor room facing the bocce court was like a spa). It's just all around fantastic!

 

[charminnie]

We own at BLT and love it. I have to say that the studios are a bit smaller than i would like but the location and view far outweigh that. I love the ability to walk to Magic Kingdom, view of wishes, and monorail access.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I really like the little kitchenette in the BLT studio. I like it for storage and function.

 

[Dean]

I really like the little kitchenette in the BLT studio. I like it for storage and function.

IMO all the studio kitchens are inappropriate. Marriott and others do a much better job than Disney in this area. Marriott's Grande Vista up the road is a fair comparison and very similar to SSR in many ways. It has 2 & 3 BR lockoff's yielding studios that are similar in function to DVC on the surface. However, they have King beds, silverware, real dishes and cooking utensils in a similar space and physical setup.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I really like the little kitchenette in the BLT studio. I like it for storage and function.

The BLT studios have really grown on me since they put the bathroom sink in the bathroom. I don't know that I'd want to have 4 adults but I'm perfectly happy with 2 - I'd say I like the layout best in good part because of the kitchenette.

IMO all the studio kitchens are inappropriate. Marriott and others do a much better job than Disney in this area. Marriott's Grande Vista up the road is a fair comparison and very similar to SSR in many ways. It has 2 & 3 BR lockoff's yielding studios that are similar in function to DVC on the surface. However, they have King beds, silverware, real dishes and cooking utensils in a similar space and physical setup.

And that would all make the DVC studios better. I'd like just a one or two burner cooktop and if really wishing a small laundry. Replacing the queen with a King bed would be first thing I'd change though.

 

[Dean]

And that would all make the DVC studios better. I'd like just a one or two burner cooktop and if really wishing a small laundry. Replacing the queen with a King bed would be first thing I'd change though.

I've seen lots of different studio kitchens and limited kitchens. I can't think of a comparable studio that had a burner or a convection microwave. I can think of a lot of limited kitchens that had one or the other and some that had both. The one studio that comes to mind that has this and more are the ones at Wyndham PCB where even the small fridge has an ice maker. But those rooms are more like a 1 BR in size with a separate kitchen area. And La Cabana in Aruba has the exact same full kitchen in the studio and 1 BR with dishwasher in both. What a lot of resorts have done for lockoff's is to have a larger and smaller side both 1BR villas often labeled a deluxe 1 BR and standard 1BR. We just stayed in a standard 1BR at World Golf Village last week. King bed, full but smaller kitchen down to full sized but smaller fridge (with ice maker), smaller stove and the like. Those are 590 sq ft. Mountain loft in Gatlinburg is similar with a smaller and larger kitchen. The standard has a queen rather than a king but both sides have a fireplace OTOH, I have seen a handful of 1 & 2 BR villas that had roughly the same kitchen as the Marriott type studio I mentioned. I can't think of a single studio that I've seen that is as spartan as the DVC studios. I've seen a couple where the lockoff side was billed as a hotel unit rather than a studio and had left, Harbour Lights in MB & The Royal Sands in Cancun come to mind there but even those had the amenities that a DVC studio does.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I understand about some studios in other timeshares. We attended some sales presentations, and I loved seeing dishwashers and King beds in some. I accept the fact that we give up somethings by owning DVC, but the kitchenette in BLT's studios do appeal to me.