Our most anxiously-awaited Walt Disney World room reimagining at a resort we’ve come to love, and for which we have a newfound appreciation as parents of a toddler, just wrapped up after over a year of work. It was also a project that was long overdue, as the original rooms had been looking worse for wear for at least 7 years.
Walt Disney World’s new marvelous Mary Blair rooms we’re reviewing today are at Bay Lake Tower, which is technically the closest resort to Magic Kingdom. BLT is even closer than the main A-frame tower of Disney’s Contemporary Resort or the Garden Wing behind it, shaving precious minutes from the total walking time that’s already under 10 minutes from hotel door to Magic Kingdom’s main entrance.
After a top-to-bottom hard goods refurbishment that impacted all areas of the resort, the last of Bay Lake Tower’s guest rooms have now reopened, with the end result being modernized rooms that feature totally different designs, a new look, and updated layout. This shares photos of the redone rooms, plus our thoughts on how these compare to their predecessors and other Disney Vacation Club studios.
Bay Lake Tower (BLT) was controversial from the moment its “secret” construction began nearly two decades ago. Many fans viewed it as an eyesore that distract from the Contemporary, and it remains rather divisive among Walt Disney World diehards to this day for its sterile or un-Disney design that does little to distinguish the tower from real world hotels.
It’s fair to say that this controversy has cooled over time, especially as more egregious towers have been built around Walt Disney World. The charitable perspective would be that at least BLT is better than those. Or that it has become familiar to fans, so it doesn’t stick out as much anymore.
The more critical view would be that Bay Lake Tower set a dangerous precedent, and those who argued that it was a slippery slope have been vindicated with the likes of Island Tower at the Polynesian or Lakeshore Lodge over by Fort Wilderness.
In any case, we are not here to relitigate the architectural merits of Bay Lake Tower. Our view is that what’s done is done, especially when that project was completed in 2009. If we’re dredging up decades-old decisions, perhaps it’s time to question whether it was a mistake to close the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship & Restaurant and the Wizard of Bras?!
Setting aside the exterior merits, the recently-completed hard goods refurbishment at Bay Lake Tower was badly needed.
The rooms at Bay Lake Tower were poorly constructed in the first place and built about a decade before the current ‘wave’ of innovative accommodations that marry space-saving styles with well-themed ones. The studios are also small by Disney Vacation Club standards, especially when contrasted with other accommodations around the monorail loop.
Consequently, BLT is the resort that would benefit the most from receiving a room reimagining. And one was expected for several years prior to it actually happening, which caused us to repeatedly delay return stays. In fact, our last stay at BLT prior to returning was back in 2021. After getting a rough room then, we swore it off until the refurbishment was finished.
That may not seem that long to go between stays, but we do a lot of hotel stays for research and to refresh reviews, and aim to do a minimum of one stay every other year. There are only a few outliers (Saratoga Springs, Old Key West, Riverside) where we haven’t stayed in the last 3 years. Stays at the most popular resorts are more common, especially when things are changing.
This isn’t going to be a comprehensive Bay Lake Tower review, but I’d remiss if I didn’t at least acknowledge the resort’s biggest selling point: location.
Not only is Bay Lake Tower the closest resort to Magic Kingdom, but it’s more compact than the rest of the Contemporary. You can walk out the front door of the hotel and be inside the Magic Kingdom less than 10 minutes later.
There are few things more satisfying at Walt Disney World than hitting the crosswalk to Magic Kingdom without any wait and then breezing right through bag-check with no delay. No other WDW hotel is this close, and every minute matters at the end of a long night or when you’re racing to arrive for the start of Early Entry.
During this stay, we had a ground level room at BLT. In the past, we would’ve been inclined to make a strategic room request on a high floor to get a partial view, but after this, I’m a ground floor convert.
At least, while we have a toddler. There is something doubly satisfying about making the above walk with no delays and also making it back to the room without waking a sleeping child.
That feels like an ‘achievement unlocked’ moment, and alone is enough to sell me on future stays at BLT. Truly, there’s nothing else I need from this resort. There are other misgivings and quibbles with Bay Lake Tower, but that location and commute time to Magic Kingdom is the ultimate trump card.
Against that backdrop, let’s take a look at the new standard studio rooms at the Bay Lake Tower…
Gone is the original mid-aughts modern style with one standard bed frames and a pull-out couch. The room was totally gutted for the redesign, with all-new decor, flooring, walls, panels, curtains, furniture, and beds.
While all of the furnishings and fixtures have been replaced, the most notable change is the replacement of the sofa sleeper with a pull-down Murphy sleeper that is somehow both a comfortable couch and a comfortable queen bed.
These rooms are DVC’s latest designs, somewhat similar to what was first pioneered at Disney’s Riviera Resort. That style of room has since been introduced to many other Disney Vacation Club resorts that have been renovated, and for good reason, member satisfaction surveys give these rooms very high marks.
These studios have made great strides in space-saving design and adding innovative features like the pull-down Murphy sleeper that is somehow both a comfortable couch and a comfortable bed. This is the culmination of a lot of lessons learned by DVC over the last decade.
They iterate on past successes, disregard past failures, and come together perfectly. They’re a sharp contrast to the old rooms, which were not the worst–but definitely weren’t the pinnacle of themed design at Walt Disney World.
Although this generation of room designs began with Disney’s Riviera Resort, the new rooms at Bay Lake Tower share closer bloodlines with the Villas at Disneyland Hotel. Aside from layout and thematic differences, there’s considerable overlap between the two. This is probably meaningless to a lot of you, but for DVC members, it might offer a good reference point. However you feel about those, you’ll probably feel about the new BLT rooms.
The biggest downside of these new rooms is the lack of a 5th sleeper.
As Walt Disney World has redone other resorts, they’ve replaced tables and chairs or storage space with pull-down 5th sleeper beds for kids or smaller adults. Those beds would typically be under the television, and in place of a desk.
Bay Lake Tower did not receive the 5th sleeper treatment, which I assume comes down to available space. These rooms are small, and having the 5th sleeper would mean no desk and no dresser below the television. Even then, it may be too tight of a fit.
This also could’ve been a conscious decision on Disney’s part, perhaps for the sake of variety. It’s nice to have some rooms with desks–I’m more inclined to book Bay Lake Tower because of this feature than a 5th sleeper.
It’s also possible that this was done to acknowledge the practical reality that this studio is simply too small to accommodate 5 guests comfortably.
I can’t imagine cramming that many people into this room. Regardless of square footage, the studios at Bay Lake Tower actually feel more like the duo studios at the Villas at Disneyland Hotel than they do the regular studios there.
I do wish the desk had a normal chair as opposed to a little stool, though. I’m not sure what this trend is about, but the lack of a back on the chair makes the desk unusable for working extended periods of time.
I’m guessing the primary purpose is having this be a makeup desk, but I’m not sure how putting on makeup is incompatible with having a chair with a back. Who on earth prefers a backless chair?!
I feel crazy watching this trend play out that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Or am I just a dinosaur?
Bay Lake Tower still has a separate room for the kitchenette.
“Room” might overstate what this is. It’s more like a cubby or glorified walk-in closet. This space is so cramped that it’s tough to capture even with my ultra wide angle lens. (I tried with the fisheye but the distortion gives it a madhouse feel.)
I’m not sure what the consensus is on this “room,” but I’m not a fan. It might make sense if the Bay Lake Tower standard rooms had an embarrassment of square footage wealth that could be allocated all willy-nilly. I could see this type of feature being added at Old Key West or the Poly, for instance.
At BLT, squandering the already limited space on a separate room/big closet for the kitchenette seems ill-advised. Sort of like the big bathrooms and closets in the duo/tower studios at Riviera and Disneyland Hotel.
After seeing just how much more spacious the newer Island Tower and DLH studios feel with, essentially, a similar setup but out in the open, I wish Disney Vacation Club would’ve done the same here. Of course, I didn’t expect them to knock down a wall during the refurbishment and fully reconfigure the kitchenette.
Now that would’ve been quite the reimagining! I’m speaking in the grand scheme of things, for those wondering about the BLT rooms versus comparable alternatives.
Style-wise, I do like what was done with this space. The new green tile makes it pop, adds new texture, and furthers the mid-century modern sensibility of the new rooms. On the other side, there are historic photos of Walt Disney World. Always a welcome addition.
One plus about the kitchenette is that it’s not out in the open, so whoever is in the kitchenette is not in the way of everyone else in the room. Subjectively, it’s actually easy to see a use-case for this space as a parent to a toddler.
I usually wake up before Sarah and Megatron, and making a cup of coffee without waking them up is a tall task. I’m pretty adept at stumbling around, making unintended noise before I’m fully caffeinated. (As a result, the coffee maker during a recent stay at Disneyland Hotel was relegated to the bathroom.)
Speaking of coffee, one big pleasant surprise with the new BLT room is the dual-use Keurig machines, that can either brew a single cup via pods or entire cups of coffee.
This is a tremendous upgrade from the normal Cuisinart coffee makers, and I almost wonder if it was in the studios by mistake. I could see this being standard in the larger rooms, but was surprised that it’s offered in studios. Regardless, I loved this.
The kitchenette also has a mini-fridge (not just a beverage cooler), sink, microwave, and plenty of storage space.
While reasonable minds may differ about pretty much every other aspect of room designs, there’s near unanimous agreement about the new pull-down Murphy beds. They’re much more comfortable that sofa sleepers thanks to having a normal mattress, and the space freed up when converted into a couch makes the room feel larger.
The Inova Murphy beds have been a big hit with just about every Disney Vacation Club member we know. This style has spread to every single Disney Vacation Club room (and beyond!) that has been renovated in the last few years, and for good reason, member satisfaction surveys give these rooms very high marks.
The biggest win of the new rooms is the mid-century modern stylization and the artwork. Gone are the pop art Mickey Mouse prints that look like something you might find on the shelves of TJ Maxx. (That’s a bit harsh–they weren’t that bad.)
In its place, there’s new art all over the room that’s by artist Joey Chou and inspired by Disney Legend Mary Blair. This is at once modern, stylish and chic, upscale, and distinctly Disney. It checks every box and is pitch perfect for Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
My only slight stylistic complaint is that I wish there were more art above the bed. I actually preferred the old headboard, which created a place to accentuate a piece of artwork. Overall, though, the aesthetic of the new rooms is far superior.
The new artwork uses a vibrant color palette and features scenes from Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary. It feels like a love letter to the original Vacation Kingdom of the World, and self-referential to the hotel as a whole.
This is another way Bay Lake Tower feels a lot like Disneyland Hotel, which is basically Disneyland: The Hotel–a love letter to Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom and its lands.
Walt Disney World had already gone in this direction with the new lobby of the Contemporary, and we’re ecstatic to see this style continued in Bay Lake Tower. This is going to be a huge hit with DVC members and Disney diehards. My only request: finish the job, Disney!
You’re so close to restoring the Contemporary to its full former glory. Keep up this energy with a cohesive style in the Grand Canyon Concourse. Remove the layers of junk that have accumulated over the years. Get rid of the Incredibles IP injection. You’ve found the perfect style for the hotel as a whole–this is it!
So long as you don’t have a party of 4 adults doing a week-plus stay, there should be a sufficient amount of storage space in the BLT standard studio. There’s storage in the dresser below the television, under the elevated queen bed, in a closet across from the bathroom, under the coffee table, and other places I’m probably forgetting.
No matter how much storage space Walt Disney World adds, it’ll never be enough for some parties. I get that, but the counterpoint is that these rooms are only so big, and everything is a tradeoff. What’s an appropriate amount of space dedicated to stage? In my opinion, this is it.
There’s also a ton of power outlets and USB ports (A and C) all around the room. For a while, Walt Disney World hotel rooms had not “caught up” to the proliferation of devices that need to be charged each night, but that’s no longer the case.
I don’t have any major complaints about these new rooms at Bay Lake Tower.
To the contrary, I think these are a huge step forward that will likely accomplish the rare and impressive feat of being more appealing to both casual guests and diehard Walt Disney World fans.
The old rooms were nothing special. They had touches of Disney, but were not exemplars of themed design. That was a problem since BLT was very basic pretty much everywhere else, too.
When it comes to function, there should be little surprise that these rooms are an upgrade. That’s pretty much a given at this point, as all new rooms are emulating the approach of the Riviera Resort rooms, with each subsequent design getting its own little iterations and defining design features.
Disney Vacation Club has even indicated that guest satisfaction scores have increased by 20% among guests who have stayed in new rooms at Saratoga Springs. The new room style seems like the culmination of a lot of lessons learned by DVC over the last decade–iterating on past successes and disregarding past failures–into something that coalesces perfectly.
Imagineering really got the rooms right with Disney’s Riviera Resort and have applied those lessons elsewhere. Those designs make significant strides in space-saving design, which is especially valuable at Bay Lake Tower since the rooms are on the smaller side.
Here’s a look at the bathrooms in the BLT studios:
The bathrooms are undeniably cramped, with everything in one space. If you have 4 people sharing the room, that might be a problem.
The bathrooms are just one clear difference between the last generation of DVC rooms and the current one. These are not on par with the standard rooms at Island Tower or Riviera, and honestly, they aren’t even as good as the tiny tower or duo studios.
Opinions on the new rooms at BLT will definitely come down to frame of reference. Are you comparing them to the brand-new DVC rooms or their direct predecessors at BLT? The latter invites a much more favorable comparison, whereas the former is going to be harsher.
These rooms are a night and day improvement over what was here before. However, Walt Disney World has made tremendous strides with brand-new rooms in the years since BLT, and there’s only so much that can be changed during a retrofit versus new construction.
The photos that follow are of the common areas at Bay Lake Tower, presented without commentary. Some of these have been redone, some have not.
Note that this Bay Lake Tower room review should NOT be construed as a recommendation to buy into Disney Vacation Club.
As discussed in our Disney Vacation Club Buying Guide, there’s a lot to consider when determining whether to join DVC, and if so, which home resort to choose. The location, transportation, atmosphere, layout, or other elements of any resort may not appeal to you.
There’s a reason “try before you buy” and “buy where you want to stay” are popular adages among DVC Members. Not only that, but Disney Vacation Club is not right for everyone in the first place. Definitely do your research!
There’s a lot to love about the overhaul of Bay Lake Tower. There’s a ton of art that pays tribute to Walt Disney World history. The designs are on theme, with a clear mid-century modern influence.
There’s a ton of depth via textures, patterns, and even things like wallpaper. There’s likewise a lot color, and it all works harmoniously without ever feel overly chaotic or garish.
Suffice to say, the new BLT rooms are a significant departure from the drab designs for which Walt Disney World has been criticized with some resort redesigns.
Bay Lake Tower sticks the landing on well-themed without being overwhelming. They are distinctly Disney and appeal to me as a WDW diehard, and I could easily see a first-timer finding them sufficiently stylish and sophisticated.
I would not go as far as to say these are my new #1 favorite Disney Vacation Club studios, but they’re up there. That was absolutely not the case previously–we had actively avoided Bay Lake Tower for several years due to the rooms. They were bottom of the barrel before.
Ultimately, the new rooms at Bay Lake Tower accomplish exactly what they needed for us to deem them a success. Both the form and function of the new rooms are major upgrades. They look fresher, are more on-theme, and also better utilize the limited square footage.
Then there’s the preexisting proximity to Magic Kingdom, which is tough to beat. BLT doesn’t need the #1 rooms because it already had the #1 location. It just needed passable rooms, and it more than cleared that bar. All things considered, Bay Lake Tower is now in the running for our first choice resort for family trips to Walt Disney World.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What are your thoughts on these new rooms at Bay Lake Tower? Have you stayed in at both BLT and the hotel side of Disney’s Contemporary Resort? Which do you prefer? What do you think of the rooms? Anything you don’t like about the redesign? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Other thoughts or concerns? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
