LPnerd
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2011
didn't go into parks this trip. Heard so much about 4th fireworks at Disney I wanted to experience myself, plus I was ready for some R and R. Stayed at Bay Lake ( BLT) Tower. Not one patriotic thing in the program, just the scaled back happily ever after pre-covid. NO big deal at all, Beautiful, but nothing to do with July 4th. That was disappointing but we won't have to repeat, and this frees us up to get out of here JUly and Aug. in the summer heat. ( we live in FL. Now). .
First thing I noticed is not very many guests wearing masks in hotels, no social distancing really at all, masks worn by employees, and a few families with little kids. We did over hear a couple folks talking about ( bragging really), not getting a vaccine... that concerned me. We hadn't decided about masks, but after hearing that guy from Texas, and another group from FL. We decided to wear them inside elevators, and not eat in restaurants.
We stayed in a studio, which I had not done at BLT before and found it quite nice. very clean! ( we still wiped down with clorox), and a nice layout. One queen bed, one queen sleeper sofa, a table, one bathroom, and a very nice Butlers pantry area, with microwave, paper plates and flatware, Mr. Coffee, coffeemate, lots of storage fit into a small area, and a decent mini fridge. I was impressed. IMHO those rain shower heads have to go. It takes so long to get the soap out of my hair with those darn things and what a waste of water. Same nice size shampoo, lotion, conditioner and bar soap plus a bodywash option. Love this stuff.
Studio faced lake and big contemporary building 7238. IF you like peace and quiet this is the area for you. Not much to sit and see but if you lean out a bit you can see the monorail and bridge walkway. after the CR rooms are open again, every room on that side of it will be able to look right into your patio, so keep that in mind, for my purposes this trip, Loved it! One draw back is at night, the dryer vent must be on that side somewhere because the dryer sheet perfume was STRONG, almost overwhelming.
Let's see, the monorails to GF and CR were working and we watched them make their rounds. Man, do they go slow, LOL. The kids gift store looked low on variety, and that's usually one of my favs to shop in, we ate at the grab and go, which really wasn't. Even with no line and no pre orders to speak of, we had a bit of a wait for our sandwiches. My sis got a burger which she said tasted ok, but the bun was so greased soaked, she used knife and fork and only ate the top of the bun with it. Her fries were so skinny and pretty greasy too. I had the hot turkey and it was delicious! I picked the cole slaw which is usually pretty good. It was uneatable. Pieces were huge, and man was it salty! We did not get drinks as we brought our own and took food to room to eat, although at 1pm, it was practically empty, so we could have stayed. Usually a decent quick meal can be grabbed here, not much selection at all! Cast member's wiping tables, chairs, rails by checkout, and so on were present almost constantly.
We sat outside in the big tree area for a look around before the late afternoon shower. Smoking area was neat and clean, at least the two we saw, there were games , ping pong, connect four, chess, shuffle board, boccia ball, foosball, and hand sanitizer several places, Plus we watched as cast members came around and wiped things down a couple time. The community hall was open, and almost all in there had a mask on, but I don't think it was required. At least I saw no sign.
Staff we talked with were all pleasant and outgoing, and well informed, much different than our last visit in May!
I have no idea at what % of people they are back to now but I can tell you, based on many past stays BLT was NOT at full capacity. Almost two entire rows of parking were empty whenever we looked, with a couple cars here and there, we saw no crowding anywhere it the resort nor on the traffic coming in excepting Magic Kingdom entrance at 12:30 on the 4th, and a bit earlier on the 3rd. That entrance was packed and lines long! A family I spoke with headed to the pool about 4pm said it was awful, they waited an hr. to get on almost everything and would have left sooner but had a lunch reservation and left after that. I have no first hand knowledge of parks this trip. WE were notified our room was ready at 12noon. and we were at home! we gave them a 12 noon arrival time, and I expected a 3-4pm check-in so this was a pleasant surprise!
I have a feeling when we get closer to Oct. 1st, we will get a full list of changes to park attendance, so hang on peeps, I think the changes are coming.
First thing I noticed is not very many guests wearing masks in hotels, no social distancing really at all, masks worn by employees, and a few families with little kids. We did over hear a couple folks talking about ( bragging really), not getting a vaccine... that concerned me. We hadn't decided about masks, but after hearing that guy from Texas, and another group from FL. We decided to wear them inside elevators, and not eat in restaurants.
We stayed in a studio, which I had not done at BLT before and found it quite nice. very clean! ( we still wiped down with clorox), and a nice layout. One queen bed, one queen sleeper sofa, a table, one bathroom, and a very nice Butlers pantry area, with microwave, paper plates and flatware, Mr. Coffee, coffeemate, lots of storage fit into a small area, and a decent mini fridge. I was impressed. IMHO those rain shower heads have to go. It takes so long to get the soap out of my hair with those darn things and what a waste of water. Same nice size shampoo, lotion, conditioner and bar soap plus a bodywash option. Love this stuff.
Studio faced lake and big contemporary building 7238. IF you like peace and quiet this is the area for you. Not much to sit and see but if you lean out a bit you can see the monorail and bridge walkway. after the CR rooms are open again, every room on that side of it will be able to look right into your patio, so keep that in mind, for my purposes this trip, Loved it! One draw back is at night, the dryer vent must be on that side somewhere because the dryer sheet perfume was STRONG, almost overwhelming.
Let's see, the monorails to GF and CR were working and we watched them make their rounds. Man, do they go slow, LOL. The kids gift store looked low on variety, and that's usually one of my favs to shop in, we ate at the grab and go, which really wasn't. Even with no line and no pre orders to speak of, we had a bit of a wait for our sandwiches. My sis got a burger which she said tasted ok, but the bun was so greased soaked, she used knife and fork and only ate the top of the bun with it. Her fries were so skinny and pretty greasy too. I had the hot turkey and it was delicious! I picked the cole slaw which is usually pretty good. It was uneatable. Pieces were huge, and man was it salty! We did not get drinks as we brought our own and took food to room to eat, although at 1pm, it was practically empty, so we could have stayed. Usually a decent quick meal can be grabbed here, not much selection at all! Cast member's wiping tables, chairs, rails by checkout, and so on were present almost constantly.
We sat outside in the big tree area for a look around before the late afternoon shower. Smoking area was neat and clean, at least the two we saw, there were games , ping pong, connect four, chess, shuffle board, boccia ball, foosball, and hand sanitizer several places, Plus we watched as cast members came around and wiped things down a couple time. The community hall was open, and almost all in there had a mask on, but I don't think it was required. At least I saw no sign.
Staff we talked with were all pleasant and outgoing, and well informed, much different than our last visit in May!
I have no idea at what % of people they are back to now but I can tell you, based on many past stays BLT was NOT at full capacity. Almost two entire rows of parking were empty whenever we looked, with a couple cars here and there, we saw no crowding anywhere it the resort nor on the traffic coming in excepting Magic Kingdom entrance at 12:30 on the 4th, and a bit earlier on the 3rd. That entrance was packed and lines long! A family I spoke with headed to the pool about 4pm said it was awful, they waited an hr. to get on almost everything and would have left sooner but had a lunch reservation and left after that. I have no first hand knowledge of parks this trip. WE were notified our room was ready at 12noon. and we were at home! we gave them a 12 noon arrival time, and I expected a 3-4pm check-in so this was a pleasant surprise!
I have a feeling when we get closer to Oct. 1st, we will get a full list of changes to park attendance, so hang on peeps, I think the changes are coming.
