Best Disney World Hotels, Hotels, Opinions and Commentary, Reviews, Walt Disney World

Bay Lake Tower review

Bay Lake Tower, a DVC property located on the property of the Contemporary, is themed as a modern luxury resort . They have studio, 1 bedroom, and 2 bedroom rooms available with various different views. Since, it’s connected to the Contemporary you’ll have access to Magic Kingdom via the Monorail. More importantly, you’re in walking distance to the best damn restaurant on property, the California Grill. In addition to the restaurants at the Contempory you also have easy access to restaurants at Polynesian and Grand Floridian. It also has two different pools available to guests.

What We Liked

The proximity to Magic Kingdom is incredible. It’s literally 15 minutes from your door to the turnstiles. It’s pretty damn cool. Everyone knows the California Grill is the shit, but the Contemporary has other decent options available too. For example, The Wave is kickass. It’s really overlooked, which makes it easy to get a same day reservation. The Contempo Cafe is a decent quick service. Hell, it even serves gluten free Mickey waffles. Not to mention the kickass DVC bar, Top the World. Hell, it’s the best damn place to watch fireworks outside the Magic Kingdom. Furthermore, if you’re lucky your room will be facing either Bay Lake or Seven Seas Lagoon, which will give you a front row seat to the Electrical Water Pageant. It’s a kickass show that is only available to three resorts.

What We Didn’t Like

You might have noticed when we’ve talked about restaurants they were followed with a walk to the Contemporary. This son of a bitch doesn’t actually have its own restaurants. Granted, its a short walk, but damn. Moving on, the studio rooms are really damn small and have one bathroom. After staying at the Polynesian, where the rooms are much bigger and have two bathrooms, Bay Lake rooms are pretty shitty. Moreover, the theming of rooms and entire property at Bay Lake sucks. Modern Luxury, my ass. It’s lazy. With that said, this might not be an issue for folks that don’t care about theming and only care about the other things it offers. On top of all that, the pools suck too!

In the end, if you only care about proximity to the Magic Kingdom and restaurants, Bay Lake Tower is for you. Although, I would argue the Polynesian offers the proximity to Magic Kingdom, restaurants, pools and theming. In my opinion, it’s a vastly superior resort. Look, Bay Lake Tower is a fine resort. We love the appeal of being on the monorail. Given that, theming is what separates Deluxe Disney Resorts from Joe Blow down the street. Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge both kick ass in the theming department. To a lesser degree, so does the Polynesian and the Beach Club. With that said, I think Bay Lake Tower is the shittiest-themed deluxe resort Walt Disney World has to offer. Nevertheless, Bay Lake Tower is still one of the top resorts because of the monorail and fine dining. As a final point, I most likely won’t be going back for at least a long while.

Leave a Reply