Positive things about bay lake towers

[trishadono]

Thanks for all of your feedback! Keep it coming

On the first page of this thread I gave you a link. It is really awesome. I actually memorized the room numbers so when I check in I know where I am

Not sure if you noticed as you scroll down there are room numbers with picture links. It really gives you a good idea what to expect.

If time, go look at 3 different rooms to see what I am saying. I think you'll be glad you did

Our family really loves this hotel!

 

[YankeePrincess]

Why I love my BLT.

*You can walk to MK
*Monorail Access
*Nice Pool that only BLT guests can use.
*I love the theme. Nice clean lines.
*I have never found it to be loud. Actually the resort hallways always look dead to me. lol I like it that way. lol
*Top of the World Lounge is nice to see the fireworks.

Also in my opinion, the MK view is not all that. I think the lake view is much better.

 

[Desnik]

So we are staying at Bay lake towers in February. We have a lake view. I'm getting concerned because I keep reading negative things about this resort.

-to loud
-no theme
-workers aren't nice
-not worth it unless you have a MK view
Blah blah blah

Does anyone have any good experiences at BLT to share? I'm starting to rethink where we are staying. My mom is letting us use her DVC points to stay there. I just don't want her to use such a big amount of points if this place isn't all that great.

Any positives would be appreciated

We just stayed there in Aug. it was our 1st time there. I did not think it was too loud in the halls. However, we had a lake view & when the EWP came by, it was loud. Easily heard from our room. Also when the pool had their "pool party" in the afternoon, it was really loud. I remember thinking no way could a light sleeper take a nap with all that noise!

It does have a theme! Modern lol seriously the decor & lack of theme wasn't an issue for us. The resort is really nice. My only complaint is the poor condition of the furniture & horrible cleaning job the housekeeping did before we got into our room. We had a lot of issues with our room & broken items too. All were taken care of after our 4th complaint accompanied by pictures & we had to go to the CR manager & he was the one to get things done. It was after 4 days of our attempts with "managers" at BLT

Workers never went out of their way to say hello or good morning when passing them in the halls. Most put their head down & walked right past us. When you went to the lobby in the middle of the day there were plenty of people there to say hello. Once at the CR, every CM was friendly.

Our lake view was perfect & I wouldn't switch it to an MK view. There are plenty of ways to see the MK from the resort. The lake view with pool views were great & we loved it!

The best thing about the resort is the location. That alone would get me to stay there again. We had a room on the 5th floor close to the elevators & sky bridge. It was great & so convenient! The walk to the MK is great too. But it's tougher in the Aug heat after a long day at the parks

Food options are great too. So are the activities & pools. The grounds are pretty & well kept.

There are more positives than negatives so I wouldn't switch if I were you.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Why I love my BLT.

...*Top of the World Lounge is nice to see the fireworks.

....

You'll have to be a DVC member to go up to the Top of the World Lounge. They ask to see you blue member card and your KTTW.

The connecting bridge and the parking lot are just as good to see the fireworks.

 

[Magic3forme]

BLT is my favorite resort! We have stayed there 5+ times and no problems.

We love being able to take the monorail or walking to MK.

the kids love the pool and water slide.

We havent had any problems with the staff. Everyone has always been friendly.

my only complaint is the smell in the lobby... wayyyyyyyy tooo strong.

 

[TDC Nala]

I'm surprised you haven't seen ANY positive reviews. Do people just post negative stuff, or does reading the negative stuff cancel out the positive stuff?

Here is some of it:

1) Location, location, location. Walking to MK if you love MK - priceless.
2) Nice lounge (however you must be a DVC member to use it, is your mother going be there?)
3) Nice pool.
4) The rooms are nicely decorated.
5) I have never encountered any rude cast members there. But then I don't really care if they say good morning in the hallways or not.
6) Good restaurants at the Contemporary.
7) Good views even if you do not have a theme park view. The Bay Lake view from the higher floors is beautiful and you can sit on your balcony and watch the Electrical Water Pageant.

However, the building and corridors do look a lot like a hospital. Is that what they mean by "no theme?" It's a "retro modern" theme and the rooms are decorated to reflect that.

 

[WIDisneyFan]

My family loves BLT and have stayed there 4 times so far, and just scheduled out 5th visit for next summer earlier today. For us I would say the top reasons would be:

• Location, Location, Location - less than a 10 minute walk to be on Main Street
• Staff - Our experience has been nothing but amazing from Desk to Service
• Room Theme - yes there is a theme and it is modern yet fully Disney, just not in a giant Micky Mouse in your face, it is more subtle but definitely there
• View options - we have always booked standard view preferring more time to a better view, but no matter what is important to you, you have the option
• Dining Options - granted there are no restaurants in BLT but between the Contemporary just steps away and the Magic Kingdom being just across the street you will not run out of options
• Transportation - as a family with young kids being able to monorail to Epcot, and walk or monorail to the Magic Kingdom is wonderful

 

[grimley1968]

To Epcot; You take the monorail (no buses involved) It drops you off right at the front entrance of Epcot

Not exactly true. From BLT/CR, you take the monorail to the TTC, then transfer to a direct EPCOT monorail. It can take a few minutes to transfer to the EPCOT monorail and then wait for a train to arrive.

To the original question:

We enjoyed BLT. There were far more positives about BLT than negatives, for us.

Positives:

- Walking to MK
- The views all around are pretty awesome. We had a "lake view", but a 45 degree turn of our heads to the left gave us a great view of MK. But even if we'd only seen the lake, it would have been great.
- Getting around the resort is pretty easy, because of it's shape.
- The pool is very nice. It's not as heavily themed as some other deluxe pools, but it has all the major features the others do. Like others have said, there were times when we were the only people at the pool.
- Bus transportation to AK and and DHS was efficient.
- For the most part, the staff was courteous.

Negatives:

- Food options aren't quite as nice as a lot of other deluxes, IMO.
- It's definitely not as heavily themed as other deluxe resorts. It's not really a negative with me, but it might be for others.

 

[erikamacelroy]

My family (two boys ages 2 & 6) stayed at BLT in June. We stayed in a studio room and had the lake view. This was our first Disney trip ever and boy are we spoiled now!! I can't imagine staying anywhere else! We already have a deposit on 9 day Disney vacation for next year and we are staying BLT. We switched to theme park view this time. We never found the size of our studio room to be an issue. The two year old was in a pack in play but the way the room was set up was like he had his own little nook in the hallway! It worked out great for my family. Walking to the Magic Kingdom can't be beat!!! Even in the HOT June weather...we still would walk. We LOVED watching Wishes every night from the comfort of our hotel. It was great to have the kids in PJs, walk down to the covered walking path to the Contemporary, and watch the fireworks! The decor of the resort is great. My family (especial my husband) loves the clean, modern feel of the resort. We NEVER had any problem with noise. The kids loved the pool area. It was perfect and finding a chair was never an issue. The water slide at BLT was great! Like I said before...my family can't imagine staying any where else. I guess we will be BLTers for life.

 

[DanielleandBrady]

We love the BLT!!! We just got back. We love the theme, the pool, the location! We were waiting in line at the monorail and they announced that the monorail was down and there was no estimated time for it to run..people took off like mad! Booking to buses, etc. We leisurely walked to the BLT..its awesome.

I didn't think it was loud at all and we faced the pool. Even in the middle of the day, the noise didn't bother us and we were able to nap!

You will love it!! Have fun!!!

 

[DreamerWDW]

My family loves BLT! The location on Bay Lake is absolutely beautiful. We love the pool and the food options at the CR. The best part is the walk to MK and the views from all over the resort. It's become one of our favorites!!!

Have a great trip!

 

[TerryGriffin]

Awww you guys are making me so happy!

Now I'm glad to be staying there. I just hope we get a higher floor.

 

[TDC Nala]

Ask your mother to call DVC Member Services and request a higher floor for you. It's not guaranteed, but you'd have the request in.

 

[oneprincessjo]

So we are staying at Bay lake towers in February. We have a lake view. I'm getting concerned because I keep reading negative things about this resort. -to loud -no theme -workers aren't nice -not worth it unless you have a MK view Blah blah blah Does anyone have any good experiences at BLT to share? I'm starting to rethink where we are staying. My mom is letting us use her DVC points to stay there. I just don't want her to use such a big amount of points if this place isn't all that great. Any positives would be appreciated

I own my DVC points at BLT so I might be a little biased. I will tell you the first time we stayed we invited my in-laws to come with us, it was very miserable and I said I would never stay there again... That being said I realized it was BECAUSE of my INLAWS that we were miserable and we will never invite them again. LOL. The second time we stayed we immediately felt at home in our room. We always get a one bedroom lake view villa and the view is amazing. So relaxing. While in my room I can never hear anyone or anything above below or beside my room so I done get how it's too loud. The workers were very polite, never had any issues with them... And for our upcoming trip in January we booked a theme park view room initially and we were too afraid of it being too big of a disappointment with all the extra points that we switched back to lake view a couple days later. We know what to expect with lake view and the views are just unbelievable. I honestly don't think you will regret. We also LOVE LOVE LOVE the 5 minute walking path to the magic kingdom, no fighting to get on a bus or anything like that, especially at park closing we are usually back in our room before the bus pulls out of the lot. I'm not a huge fan of Disney transportation anyway so I drive anywhere that I can't walk or take the monorail to, but that's for an entirely different post . One more thing before I go, you need to eat at the Breakfast buffet at The Wave in The Contemporary. It's the perfect hidden gem of a restaurant and inexpensive to boot. Grab breakfast and walk right to the Magic Kingdom... That's a perfect morning!!

 

[Juliet25]

We had a lake view at BLT on our last trip and we LOVED it. Love the resort. It's "theme" may be lacking compared to say, the Beach Club, but that's not its niche (incidently, we started with a 2 night stay at BCV before heading to BLT and we were thrilled with both resorts). The view is great, the pool is nice and uncrowded, and you can watch the Electric Water Pageant from your balconey. Really, there's nothing about this resort we* disliked.

*Me, DH, and our 3 mouseketeers (ages 2, 4, and 9 at time of travel).

ETA: other stuff we liked about the resort: the awesome toiletries; the bathtub (so relaxing); the super comfy beds; watching fireworks from Top of the World; close proximity to the food court. Never noticed the noise, but with 3 kids we were probably the ones making it.

 

[Norm1]

We have been to every DVC resort and I have to say that BL is now one of our favorites. Have done both MKV and LV, and by far, I would take the Lake view for the reasons stated. I also have found the rooms to be quiet and clean, Location to parks very convenient. Pools adequate. CMs very courteous and helpful. I also agree with oneprincessjo that the Wave restaurant is a hidden gem for breakfast or dinner. I have just one disagreement, I don't think the scent in both the lobbies of BLT and the Contemporary are overpowering I love the smell of green clover and aloe, it is fantastic. Not mentioned is the coffee shop in the lobby were you can get a great frozen Mocha Cappuccino to die for, great coffee and pastries also. IMHO I would give Bay Lake a try I think you will be really pleased. Have a wonderful vacation.

 

[TerryGriffin]

Ahhh! You guys are making me too excited now! I'm now going until feb 10th!

We have dinner booked at the wave on valentines day! I'm pretty excited. It looks amazing. We are picky eaters. Super picky I should say. So I'm excited about this place.

We are on the DDP so the only table service breakfast we have set is for cinderellas castle.

Thanks for all the tips. It sounds like I'm very lucky to be staying at this resort!

 

[aesalsa]

BLT is one of my home resorts, and we LOVE it! We have stayed in all views, and the LV is my favorite. I request the outside of the "C" because I love to either see MK or, preferably, see the CR, WL in the distance, EWP, the monorail and GF (if our room is a little closer to the center of the tower). The walk to MK can't be beat, and I love the modern theme! It is a theme to us because we are very traditional decor-wise, lol. My daughter loves eating at the Contempo Cafe to see the monorail whoosh by. The Wave is wonderful. I really love that it is connected to one of the original resorts. Go to the TOTWL if you can; don't expect that to be kid-free and quiet. I love seeing the Mary Blair murals in the concourse.

I think that you will have a great time there. Nothing is perfect anywhere, so don't expect that. But if you encounter a problem, please call the front desk to get in handled appropriately.

Many of the housekeepers don't speak much English, so they might feel shy about talking first. Add a little magic to their day, and greet them cheerfully, and they will reciprocate. You, the guest, are a big factor in the Magic that is created.