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emilyrachael

Mouseketeer
Joined
Sep 29, 2009
We just returned from our Disney trip. This was our first time staying at BLT in a 1 bedroom by renting points. Some random thoughts in no particular order:

-We really liked BLT. Having the extra space of the 1 bedroom was great! We didn't miss daily housekeeping. There was a 'room occupied' sign instead of 'do not disturb.' They collected the trash daily, but this was always when we were out at a park, so we never saw them.

-Grocery delivery with Instacart and Bell Services was a disaster! We scheduled Instacart for the first evening we were there. I put in the comments that we're at Bay Lake Towers and to leave the groceries with Bell Services if we weren't there. We got a text from the driver saying he was there just as we were walking back to our room from the park, so my husband went over to meet him while I went to the Comtemporary with my son to get some dinner. My husband couldn't find him, and I thought to look at the front of the Comtemporary. Yep, there was he, despite my note. The driver was already talking to Bell Services when I walked up. He offered to repack the groceries in his car and drop them off at BLT, but the Bell Services guy said it would be no problem for them to just take them to BLT if we left them with him. They would know where they go by our room number. We ended up doing that and then headed to dinner. We got back to our room about an hour later (7:30ish.) We had also left our carry-ons with BLT Bell Services since we took ME in. There was no one in the BLT lobby from Bell Services at this time, so they front desk said it's easier to just call. Well, when you call, the phone rings and rings and takes a while to pick up. After they finally did, we explained about our 2 sets of bags and gave them the ticket number. After half and hour, no bags. We called again (and it rang a while before they picked up...) and they said they were working on it. Ok. Another half an hour. This time, we called Guest Services and explained the situation. They said they'd try to help. Another half an hour. I went down to see if there was ANYONE at the front desk who could help. The CM at the concierge desk was very nice and tried called Bell Services and said she'd get her manager involved. During this time, BS called our room and asked my husband for a description of our bags. Now we were getting worried they had lost our carry-ons! We wanted those back more than the groceries. I went back to the room and finally, around 9pm, we got our carry on bags, but no groceries. 9:30 they finally found the groceries! The BS guy apologized and said they were left out instead of being refrigerated. They did offer to re-buy the perishables for us, but it was late and we just wanted to go to bed. Instead, they reimbursed us for them and we grabbed a few things we needed the next morning at the Contemporary shop.

-BTGs are BACK! They are out in full force, including chanting in the middle of Main Street and in the middle of the security line at MCO!

-Crowds were all over the place. They were definitely higher, but we did get a few low crowd days. The main issue was the Tour Plans and going to park that are normally less crowded on certain days (non-EMH days, for example) was not a good strategy. We went to Epcot on Wednesday (EMH was the night before and this was MK EMH day) and there were waits of 50 for Land and 45 for Nemo in the middle of the afternoon! I just wish Disney would have extended park hours - MK was 9am - 8pm pretty much every day during the week.

-The weather was great! 70's all week and very little rain. :-)

-Minnie Vans were a bust. We could never get one when we needed it. I'm not sure how you actually use the service because you won't know if one's available until you check. If it's not, you need a backup plan.

-We lucked our on Magical Express and were the next to last family to board before it left. It stopped at Wilderness Lodge and then BLT.

-We took the bus to AK (after the Minnie Van fail.) The buses were full, but they were running more than once per 20 minutes, so it wasn't too bad.

All in all, it was a great trip! Crowded, yes, but that's the new 'normal.'
 
Glad you had a good time! We were at BLT for our first time the week before you. We experienced the same with our groceries with bell services. Could never get anybody on the phone (front desk or bell services) So we would have to go down to front desk and talk to cast members. Didn’t get why no one could answer the phone but 3 cast members are standing around the front desk.
 

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