BLT refurb going on this summer? when will we know?

[lynnfitz]

HI, I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who rents me their points. We love BLT -we are 3 adults and get the 1 bedroom. From what I'm reading, it's on the list to be refurbed in the near future. He doesn't own there, so for an August stay, we would book after the new year. Do you think ( I know nothing is certain), that by Jan or Feb we would definitely know if Bay lake is starting the refurb? I don't want to miss out booking that 1 bedroom, but on the other hand, I don't know if I want to stay there during construction. When the contemporary was being done, our room from BLT looked right out to the painting/sanding of the outside of the building-it was pretty loud, I think they were jack hammering the old railings off of the balconies.
Thanks for your thoughts!!

 

[Lumpy1106]

HI, I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who rents me their points. We love BLT -we are 3 adults and get the 1 bedroom. From what I'm reading, it's on the list to be refurbed in the near future. He doesn't own there, so for an August stay, we would book after the new year. Do you think ( I know nothing is certain), that by Jan or Feb we would definitely know if Bay lake is starting the refurb? I don't want to miss out booking that 1 bedroom, but on the other hand, I don't know if I want to stay there during construction. When the contemporary was being done, our room from BLT looked right out to the painting/sanding of the outside of the building-it was pretty loud, I think they were jack hammering the old railings off of the balconies.
Thanks for your thoughts!!

BLT dues are only going up 2.22% in 2024 - that's on the low end for DVC dues. Maybe they are pushing it out a year?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

BLT dues are only going up 2.22% in 2024 - that's on the low end for DVC dues. Maybe they are pushing it out a year?

The dues increase would have no relationship to return. Refurb is funded by capital budget collected over a 7 year period.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

HI, I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who rents me their points. We love BLT -we are 3 adults and get the 1 bedroom. From what I'm reading, it's on the list to be refurbed in the near future. He doesn't own there, so for an August stay, we would book after the new year. Do you think ( I know nothing is certain), that by Jan or Feb we would definitely know if Bay lake is starting the refurb? I don't want to miss out booking that 1 bedroom, but on the other hand, I don't know if I want to stay there during construction. When the contemporary was being done, our room from BLT looked right out to the painting/sanding of the outside of the building-it was pretty loud, I think they were jack hammering the old railings off of the balconies.
Thanks for your thoughts!!

If we're going to be told it will be at the annual meeting coming up in a month or so.

 

[Lumpy1106]

The dues increase would have no relationship to return. Refurb is funded by capital budget collected over a 7 year period.

That's interesting - I learned something today, thanks! Do they "bank" 7 year prior or do they go into "debt" and pay 7 years after (like a bond)?. Reason I ask, BLT dues have historically been less and gone up less - which as a BLT owner I am thrilled about. Should I expect to see the dues go up in future years or have they already gone up? Or, now that I think about it, do the refurbs just follow a 7 year schedule and there is never any difference?

 

[joeyB33]

Stayed at BLT in August. 99% certain the 1 bedroom and its connecting studio next to us where the model rooms being done.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

That's interesting - I learned something today, thanks! Do they "bank" 7 year prior or do they go into "debt" and pay 7 years after (like a bond)?. Reason I ask, BLT dues have historically been less and gone up less - which as a BLT owner I am thrilled about. Should I expect to see the dues go up in future years or have they already gone up? Or, now that I think about it, do the refurbs just follow a 7 year schedule and there is never any difference?

You can view the resort budgets and look at Capital Reserves. They will go down after the refurb. Resorts do not go into debt.

Refurb is on aa roughly 7 year schedule, with some fuzziness (6-9 years).

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

That's interesting - I learned something today, thanks! Do they "bank" 7 year prior or do they go into "debt" and pay 7 years after (like a bond)?. Reason I ask, BLT dues have historically been less and gone up less - which as a BLT owner I am thrilled about. Should I expect to see the dues go up in future years or have they already gone up? Or, now that I think about it, do the refurbs just follow a 7 year schedule and there is never any difference?

Any timeshare/condo association etc builds a capital reserve fund up for future replacement expenses. Or they should. The states I'm familiar with it's required.

In general vs what DVC may actually do the way it works is it's their best estimate for required expenditures that are not normally operating but larger capital items such as roof or room refurbs. The 7 year thing is fairly new in the realm of DVC but they could easily be accumulating for larger expenses further out too. The reserve is normally untouchable for non-reserve items so it just continues building with payments for the capital expenditures coming out of it. They likely can reallocate from one reserve line item to another if costs go higher or lower than expected.

 

[CarolynFH]

That's interesting - I learned something today, thanks! Do they "bank" 7 year prior or do they go into "debt" and pay 7 years after (like a bond)?. Reason I ask, BLT dues have historically been less and gone up less - which as a BLT owner I am thrilled about. Should I expect to see the dues go up in future years or have they already gone up? Or, now that I think about it, do the refurbs just follow a 7 year schedule and there is never any difference?

I glanced at the BWV budget and noticed under Capital Reserves a chart showing, for instance, Roof, expected life, cost to replace, etc. and several other items similarly analyzed. So you might look at BLT’s proposed budget and the details therein. To get more detail would require an appointment for an in-person visit to the DVC offices in Celebration.

 

[DMPicone]

Stayed at BLT in August. 99% certain the 1 bedroom and its connecting studio next to us where the model rooms being done.

How did it look different? Was the carpet replaced with better flooring?

 

[joeyB33]

How did it look different? Was the carpet replaced with better flooring?

didn't see inside but there was a whole construction crew in the hall and they had supplies down the whole hallway. the scanners for the magicbands where also removed from the doors.

 

[kboo]

Commenting to also keep track of this post ...
This link says the schedule is confirmed, https://www.dvcnews.com/other-resources/site-content/5196-dvc-resort-refurbishment-tracker, BUT...

I'm a BLT owner and I was looking 2 months ago at availability in August because we were talking about going with another family, and whole swaths of 2br std in August were gone. I wish I'd taken a screenshot, this was in the 10 month window. I figured maybe I'd have to book LV or something, and in any event since our friends hadn't confirmed dates, I figured I'd just look again later. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and all of a sudden the calendar in August has tons of availability, which made me wonder if they dumped the inventory back in because they'd made a decision NOT to do the refurb, or to do it on a different schedule. Will hold on for news, I guess.

 

[gmi3804]

Commenting to also keep track of this post ...

FYI, there's a "watch" button at the top of every thread, so you wouldn't have to comment to get notifications of new replies.

 

[maui22]

BoardWalk and Bay Lake Tower also benefitted from decreases to their projected housekeeping budget for 2024. This reduction may be attributable to the large number of rooms which will be removed from service throughout the year as they are renovated.

https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program-men...isney-vacation-club-2024-annual-dues-released

If they are right, seems like a good indication BLT is still scheduled for refurbishing in 2024.

 

[kboo]

Sounds like at the DVC meeting yesterday it's been reported to start in 2024 and finish in 2025? Is that what to infer?

There's been no indication of start date?

Still wondering whether to keep or switch my room in late August 2024.

 

[joeyB33]

Sounds like at the DVC meeting yesterday it's been reported to start in 2024 and finish in 2025? Is that what to infer?

There's been no indication of start date?

Still wondering whether to keep or switch my room in late August 2024.

Only indication was late 2024 and will take a year.

 

[npatellye]

Still wondering whether to keep or switch my room in late August 2024.

Wondering the same about our July 2024 BLT reservation.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Wondering the same about our July 2024 BLT reservation.

The refurb will not be complete.

 

[kboo]

The refurb will not be complete.

Will it even have been started, though?

When I had tried to book for August (back in September) there were a lot of gaps in the rooms (2br deducated) it’s never been *that* blocked at that time of year at or near 11 mo. Then I checked back in November and lots of rooms wide open, which had me wondering if something had changed with the timeline. Clearly it has, but I might be willing to take my chances if the refurb will have started, but if it’s not even started then I’m probably going to switch somewhere else.

We got super lucky at VGF one Christmas and got a brand new room. That one couldn’t have been moved, so we’d have taken whatever we got and been thankful we didn’t get moved.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Will it even have been started, though?

When I had tried to book for August (back in September) there were a lot of gaps in the rooms (2br deducated) it’s never been *that* blocked at that time of year at or near 11 mo. Then I checked back in November and lots of rooms wide open, which had me wondering if something had changed with the timeline. Clearly it has, but I might be willing to take my chances if the refurb will have started, but if it’s not even started then I’m probably going to switch somewhere else.

We got super lucky at VGF one Christmas and got a brand new room. That one couldn’t have been moved, so we’d have taken whatever we got and been thankful we didn’t get moved.

It's not sounding like it, based on how stuff was phrased. Whether it starts late 2024 or early 2025 they are saying it is going to take, like, forever and ever.