Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
4600 North World Drive Lake Buena Vista, Bay Lake, FL 32830
Bay Lake Tower At Disney's Contemporary Resort
4.4 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Location, location, location. This is what BLT and Contemporary Hotel gives you. The ease of access Magic Kingdom is priceless. But man, the place needs a spruce up. It’s not very contemporary or shiny anymore. Rooms are tired looking. We stayed in 7614 and furniture, especially the couch, have seen better days. Also note this room is over the service area so beeping trucks started at sunrise. But you do get a fireworks view so there’s that. Pool area is also lacking shine and is looking its age. Laundry room was actually working so no problem doing a load of laundry (not always the case). But it’s Disney and you can walk to Magic Kingdom so that’s what gets it 4 star.
Read more
Date of stay: April 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The view of Magic Kingdom is beyond anything I could have hoped for. However, we booked a handicap accessible room. The bed that was lowered was the king bed, and that's the room that had the roll in shower, and that was the only toilet with hand grips. Well, my sister is the person in the wheelchair and her caregiver shouldn't have to sleep in a king-sized bed with her. They were in the double room, and those beds were so high that we had to struggle to get her in and out of bed every night. And then have to take her into the other room to use the shower and restroom. We were in room 8412. The view is spectacular!! The monorail took some getting used to because we had to explain every day to someone who can't understand why the express doesn't stop there and we have to go the other direction and wait for 3 stops before she could go to magic kingdom. We could have walked the 10 mins but she wanted to ride the monorail, so we did. Also, the carpet on the contemporary side is soft... it's great for tired feet and terrible for pushing a 200lbs plus person in a wheelchair. The walkway needs something to help block the rain and wind. The marble floors were very slippery especially pushing the wheelchair.
Read more
Date of stay: September 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Overall, Bay Lake was a great place to stay. We stayed in a two bedroom. It was perfect that there was a twin bed in the living room chair and a queen in the couch! We had a view of the bay, which was really nice. We could view the fireworks at Epcot each night and had a good view of the electric light parade. I loved the washer and dryer and that detergent and a laundry basket were provided. It was very helpful because sometimes we needed more than one outfit a day due to the heat in Orlando. Another great feature was the swimsuit line in the shower. That was incredibly helpful for getting our suits dry. The toiletry brand was really nice and I greatly appreciated the larger size of shampoo, conditioner, body wash and bars of soap. Most places have such tiny ones that we have to pack our own. I loved the separated sink from the shower and toilet. The beds were very comfortable and we our room was cleaned about every other day, which we didn’t expect. It was a nice surprise. The convenience to the monorail was also very nice. If you are on the bridge to the contemporary, you can watch the MK fireworks, but you can also get a great view from the windows near the elevators. MK is also a short walk from Bay Lake, which is really nice too! The pool has a large water slide and a small one for younger kids. There is also a water play area, but it wasn’t open. Behind the pool is a small beach area with seating. The courtyard has foosball, shuffleboard, a pool table, giant connect 4 and giant chess.
The reason for the lower rating was due to the fact that there were a lot of leaks near the windows, which was very concerning. Every time it rained, water came in from the ceiling, especially at all of the windows where the elevators are at. The ceiling paint is literally bubbling out. That could be a lot of damage soon. The pool was also too warm to swim in. After a long 104° day at one of the parks, we looked forward to swimming and cooling off a little, but it felt like a really warm bath instead. I do appreciate the amount of lifeguards and someone manning the water slide, but it made sense why there were not that many people swimming in the pool. Maybe I missed it, but it would be nice to have a list prominently placed for places that would deliver food to the hotel for dinner. Sometimes, with the rain or just being exhausted we didn’t really want to have to try and go somewhere and it would have been nice to order in. Even checking online it was almost impossible to find a place we could order from. Again, I may have missed it, as I didn’t go through every drawer.
Read more
Date of stay: August 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip: Get an upper floor bay view. Try to use the provided transportation, so you don’t have to pay...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Embarrassed to stay here.. not only is the pool area extremely dated but the food/bar area is stuck in 1990 as a concession stand. They only serve hot dogs, burgers, and a salad.. nachos and basic unhealthy items you’d get at a ball game in 1990. Not only the disgrace of the food/beverage service but the “precautions” they have in place for rain storms.. a rain storm approached with minimal lightening and rain. Once it cleared and it became extremely sunny, with a storm at least 20 miles away, the pools are still closed (maybe bc they want their other concessions to make money) no rain in site and not a cloud in sky above us. Every employee I approached got defensive and said it was safety which is BS knowing the storm was at least 20 miles away.. to spend the amount per night for a room is completely not worth it and all the concessions are stuck in 1990.. Shame on you greedy scum who own/operate hotel.. tsk tsk
Read more
Date of stay: June 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Such a great experience!! We were in a roll in wheelchair accessible one bedroom room, since i have a child who is in a wheelchair. There was plenty of room. The pull out sofa was comfortable for a pull out sofa bed. The kitchen was well equipped. We didn't cook in our room, but the Contemporary Cafe was just a short walk away. The best feature of the room was the view! On one side we saw Bay Lake. I got to watch the boats all move from backstage to their locations each morning. Then, the other side we had a great view of Magic Kingdom! Fireworks from our room were wonderful! My kids loved the swimming pool. The slide was a favorite! However, their is no adult supervision on the slide. There were a couple of incidents because of this. We rode the monorail to Magic Kingdom one day. It took a really long time. The next day, we walked from our hotel to Magic Kingdom and it was much faster. No long line for security as there are not many people walking, so the security area is easy to get through.
Read more
Date of stay: August 2024
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This is a very convenient hotel, which is awesome. We are dvc members and currently staying here and would highly recommend that you don’t do the Parkview. For the extra cost, it’s not worth it. Go up to one of the high-level lounges and watch the fireworks if that’s what you’re looking for. they have constant deliveries early in the morning and make an incredible amount of noise. 6 o’clock, 7 o’clock 7:30 7:45 and that is so far today! This has been every day of our vacation. They wake up our kids after a long night in the park and we’re paying extra for it. It’s so annoying. These trucks idle for extended periods of time where they could totally shut their vehicles off. Today had one idol for 20 minutes white horns blaring the whole time. I had to go and check to make sure it wasn’t my kids alarm going off in their bedroom. I understand that deliveries need to be made but to pay extra for this room is a disgrace. Between that car alarm, going off, repeatedly for long periods of time, boat horns and the railroad horns don’t plan on getting any sleep. Do yourself, a favor and stay Lakeview, which is definitely more peaceful. Or at least it seems to be. better yet stay in another hotel.
Read more
Date of stay: February 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Just got back from a 5 day stay at BLT, We stayed on the 4th floor, with a lake view. We had a great view of Bay Lake and of the feature pool. Let me also add this resort smells fabulous! We didn't have any interaction with resort staff aside from checking in, the staff that did check us in was super friendly and helpful though! We really enjoyed the proximity of this resort to Magic Kingdom, just a 5 minute walk! Bay lake tower is also super close to the bus transportation when needed, which we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus this trip which is fantastic compared to other stays at other resorts! Our kids loved the feature pool, and the community center activities, and the poolside activities were fun too! They also really enjoyed the arcade there on our resort day, lots of games to be played. We ventured over to the Contemporary side to check out the shops and our reservation at Steakhouse 71. While we were waiting for our table to dinner my kids were bouncing the spiky balls they got from the arcade, a staff from the concierge desk came over and yelled at them for bouncing the balls, instead of maybe just saying hey friends could you please not bounce those in here would have been a better choice as they would have complied. Gary our server at Steakhouse 71 was fantastic!! Super personable, and spent so much time talking to us! My only cons to this resort which are few and certainly won't deter us from staying here again are, The double sized pull out bed in the deluxe studio, it did accomidate our 2 kids (13&11) but it was tight, the room isn't super huge, but we didn't have any real issues as far as space. The fact that there are absolutely no usb ports in this room was unfortunate, there also were not alot of outlets to plug all of our devices in. The lighting is a bit lacking in the rooms, but again would not deter us from staying again. Lastly, my only other complaint would be the food offerings at the pool bar at the feature pool, there needs to be more options. Will definitely stay here again, actually thinking about buying DVC points here!
Read more
Date of stay: February 2023
Value
Location
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Our family returned to this DVC property for the second time and enjoyed it as much or more than the first. Its proximity to the Contemporary Resort and the monorail, as well as being walking distance from the Magic Kingdom is a huge plus. Our room was comfortable and well supplied with the essentials for morning coffee and a microwave and refrigerator, making breakfast easy. And I always get a kick out of being greeted with “Welcome Home” by the warm and well trained cast members each time we arrive.
Read more
Date of stay: November 2024Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This review is from a stay in a post-reopening world. The #1 benefit to this hotel is the proximity to Magic Kingdom. But without park hopping that's not as big of a deal since you're limited as to the reservations and when you can go in the Magic Kingdom (no early morning magic, etc.) But still nice to have the option to walk. The #2 is the view. You pay a great deal for this view and it's much better at a Theme Park view in Contemporary, than Bay Lake. In Bay Lake you're pretty much looking at a massive Space Mountain and a parking lot. But it's great views of the monorails. The biggest difference of why you would select Bay Lake over Contemporary is simply because you want a bigger room with a kitchen. We were taking grandparents and needed a living room and washer and dryer since it was a 13 day trip. Unfortunately, you can't count on the dryer. It will take about 5 times to dry and, yes, we had maintenance look at it. The pool is great and slide fun. Zero entry perfect for babies. One of the biggest drawbacks is there's zero good options at the hotel after the pool bar closes at 6pm or so and there's no room service post-reopening. Contempo Cafe is not a viable alternative. So prepare to take lots of your own food. We had to take our own luggage, which was a lot for 13 days and 2 families, but it was fine. Concierge, Mark, was fantastic! Front desk was very helpful. PLEASE take your own Swiffer wet jet and mini vacuum because they DO NOT vacuum your room for your entire stay! That was 13 days for us and we're not DVC members, we cash paid for cleaning every other day. They also don't change the sheets for the entire stay. We requested sheets and had to stop and make all 3 beds. In summary, take (1) Food (2) vacuum (3) things for hanging and drying clothes.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2020
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Â The bay lake view my be just as good if not better than the theme park view.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed in a 3-bedroom villa on the 14th floor of Disney's Bay Tower Resort last Thursday and Friday night. We had both positive and negative experiences during out two nights. We are still trying to determine if the positives outweigh the negatives. We had a split stay for the week, so we sent two nights at Boardwalk Villas, three nights at Saratoga and thought we were saving the best for last staying in Bay Tower our last two nights. The first issue we had was our room was not ready at 4pm. We went to the pool and when I still had not heard back at 5:30pm I went to the front desk and they said they were waiting on maintenance to fix a light. I told the front desk we needed to get in the room to shower before our evening reservations. Christina at the front was very pleasant and arranged for the room to be released upon me agreeing not to get the light fixed during out visit. No big deal. She also offered us counter service dinner vouchers for the inconvenience and scored us a reservation at the California Grill (which we had to turn down because it was $89 a head because it was the 50th anniversary celebration, I don't mind spending $89 a head on adults, but not teens). When we finally got to our room we were memorized by the beautiful view of Magic Kingdom and couldn't wait to watch fireworks from our balcony the next night. The longer we spent in the villa the more we noticed how run down it looked. We overlooked it because of the view and distance to MK and the monorail. The one thing we had a problem overlooking was the 4 cockraoch's we killed in a 32-hour period. Two in the master bathroom, one in the downstairs guest bathroom and one on the master bedroom floor. It is hard to sleep knowing there are bugs crawling all around you. For the price of the villa and given this is a Disney property, we did not expect bugs to be present in our room, let alone killing 4 in a short time period. We told the front desk on our way out and the apologized. I tried to find the GM's email to inform them and cannot find it. I have yet to receive the survey they send out after a stay. So my question remains, is being able to walk to MK, take the monorail to Epcot and watch the fireworks from your balcony enough to stay in a run-down Disney property with a bug problem, I guess the choice is up to the individual.
Read more
Date of stay: February 2022
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Room Tip:Â 14th floor theme park rooms have amazing views
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Publix reflects a short drive away and can accommodate pickups and limited deliveries. Information available on Publix website.
Publix represents a higher echelon grocery store, predominately in FL, with incredible fresh seafood, meat, produce, and deli (Boar's Head) departments. I shop there so obviously I highly recommend them.
Amazon has announced they have increased their services to a greater number of Whole Foods. I believe Amazon Prime members can pickup their groceries for free if they spend more than $35 at Whole Foods (not really hard to do).
Most resorts have a pantry located at their main area. The pantry has limited items available and cost remains reasonable with all things considered.
Hope this helps! Have a magical time!
There are more places to choose from in the Bay Lake area.
PRICE RANGE
C$945 - C$1,457 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
bay lake tower at disney`s contemporary hotel orlando
LOCATION
United StatesFloridaCentral FloridaBay Lake
NUMBER OF ROOMS
428
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
Is This Your Tripadvisor Listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
