New to BLT

[jeffk410]

Hello all,

So I recently booked an 8 night vacation split 4 nights between BLT and AKL Jambo house (May 14-22). I am renting DVC points (my new favorite method). At this point I have stayed in DVC villas numerous times over the course of 4 years, but have never had an opportunity to stay at BLT. There will be four of us (two couples) and we have a one-bedroom lake view villa. I have a few questions regarding the room arrangements and general resort questions. After reading the disney vacation club website, I still do not fully digest the room structure. It looks like there are two full bathrooms in each one-bedroom villa, is this correct? Also, How is the space and is there enough privacy between the two rooms? Any other feedback on the rooms and bathrooms is greatly appreciated...

Now, regarding the resort..... It looks as if the pool is a bit smaller than that of other DVC resorts. The DVC website lists the sq footage of many of the pools (e.g. AKL Uzima - 11,000 sq ft), but not for the BLT pool. Is the pool at BLT actually smaller? If so, has anyone noticed any problems with this? The website also does not really overview if there is a hot tub in the area?

Is the top of the world lounge open to us since we are renting DVC points or is it strictly for DVC owners?

Thanks for all the help guys, I always appreciate it! Please feel free to add in any other thoughts or comments.

 

[GoofGoof]

Hello all,

So I recently booked an 8 night vacation split 4 nights between BLT and AKL Jambo house (May 14-22). I am renting DVC points (my new favorite method). At this point I have stayed in DVC villas numerous times over the course of 4 years, but have never had an opportunity to stay at BLT. There will be four of us (two couples) and we have a one-bedroom lake view villa. I have a few questions regarding the room arrangements and general resort questions. After reading the disney vacation club website, I still do not fully digest the room structure. It looks like there are two full bathrooms in each one-bedroom villa, is this correct? Also, How is the space and is there enough privacy between the two rooms? Any other feedback on the rooms and bathrooms is greatly appreciated...

Now, regarding the resort..... It looks as if the pool is a bit smaller than that of other DVC resorts. The DVC website lists the sq footage of many of the pools (e.g. AKL Uzima - 11,000 sq ft), but not for the BLT pool. Is the pool at BLT actually smaller? If so, has anyone noticed any problems with this? The website also does not really overview if there is a hot tub in the area?

Is the top of the world lounge open to us since we are renting DVC points or is it strictly for DVC owners?

Thanks for all the help guys, I always appreciate it! Please feel free to add in any other thoughts or comments.

There are 2 full bathrooms in the 1BR villa at BLT. When you walk in the door there is an entry foyer that has the 2nd bathroom off of it as well as the washer/dryer. Walking straight ahead takes you into the kitchen and living room. The bedroom will be off of the foyer and has a door that can be closed. The MBR has a king size bed plus the master bath which has the big whirlpool tub with the strange opening wall that looks out over the bedroom (typical DVC) and an attached room with toilet and walk-in shower. The 2nd bathroom is quite a bit smaller. There is a toilet, tub/shower and a pedestal sink. Not a whole lot of room for toiletries (at least not compared to the master which has a very large counter). In the living room there is a pull out couch and a sleeper chair. On our recent trip in November the other couple we went with slept on the pull-out couch and they said it was pretty comfortable. I've never tried it myself so I can't say either way. The balcony will have a sliding door off of the MBR as well as a single door off of the living room and 2 chairs with an end table. One more thing, the doors to the bathrooms are kinda odd. They are large wooden slabs, but they hang from a track and slide open/closed. They have a locking mechanism, but it's a bit awkward. There is a bit less privacy because of this, but it isn't a huge deal. The door to the bedroom is a regular door at least.

As far as the pool goes we were there in November so not as popular of a swimming season but we had no issues with the pool being crowded. There are a lot of chairs around the pool and fountains and they have a pool bar as well as bathrooms down there. There is a hot tub down by the pool. You also have access to the pool at CR which is just a short walk away too.

Top of the world lounge is open to all DVC owners and their guests. There is definitely a grey area around renting points since you are technically a guest of an owner (even if you never met the person). In the past the room cards actually said DVC on them if you were an owner, but now with magic bands I don't know how it works. When we were there in November we got a room on the top floor so we had direct access to top of the world without checking in in the loby. Our bands allowed us to directly push 16 on the elevator. If you are not staying on the floor with top of the world the 16 button won't work in the elevator and you will need to checkin down in the loby where a CM will give you access to the 16th floor on the elevator that takes you up. My advise would be act like you own the place. If they ask if you are an owner just say yes, if they ask to see your member card say you don't have it with you but you are staying there. Most likely they will just let you in.

 

[jeffk410]

Ah, thanks for taking the time to respond to this. I appreciate all of the info.... Sounds like I shouldn't have any problems on top of the world, but I wouldn't be upset if we didn't get in it.

Good to hear that the pool at CR isn't too far away. I feel like we may want to explore both... Do you know what floors lake view rooms are on? I feel like there must be a range of options and don't know if this information is readily available.

 

[GoofGoof]

Ah, thanks for taking the time to respond to this. I appreciate all of the info.... Sounds like I shouldn't have any problems on top of the world, but I wouldn't be upset if we didn't get in it.

Good to hear that the pool at CR isn't too far away. I feel like we may want to explore both... Do you know what floors lake view rooms are on? I feel like there must be a range of options and don't know if this information is readily available.

The first couple of floors are standard view. The MK view rooms are in the center of the outside of the main tower (even number rooms) facing MK. The rest of the even number rooms on the outside of the tower are considered lake view. All of the inside rooms facing the pool (odd numbered rooms) are considered lake view. Check out this site for which exact rooms fall in each category. Lots have pictures of room views too.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2257082

 

[hsisthebest]

AKL Jambo Villa rooms only have 1 bathroom. Found that out the hard way.