The Tower

One of the newest additions to Disney Vacation Club is the Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort. The Classic “A” frame hotel was an original hotel ( pictured on the left ) built when Disney World opened in 1971. The new Bay Lake Tower ( pictured on the right ) was opened shortly after construction in 2008. The tower is a Disney Vacation Club Resort… in layman's terms… Disney’s version of a time share. The Towers shares a raised walkway with the Contemporary which provides dinning, shops, and transportation for both complex’s. Each does have it’s own pool areas. The Towers is a bit more exclusive ( guest card key entry ), where the Contemporary is more friendly and open to guest traffic that is not staying in the resort. I sure Disney offers different packages and levels of the vacation club from time to time, but the basic package starts at $12,000 and gives you 5 days/nights per year for 50 years. Certainly seems be a great deal… there’s certainly a lot of people that purchase vacation club memberships… Disney keeps building new Vacation Club Resorts. To mention a few ( off the top of my head so complete accuracy is questionable) … there’s Villas at Wilderness Lodge, and the Vacation Club Resorts ( either exclusively or primarily for members ) at Saratoga Springs Resort, Boardwalk Resort, Key West Resort, and Coronado Springs Resort, as well as a new complex at Animal Kingdom, the Beach Club, Yacht Club, Riverside ( both French Quarter & Port Orleans ) and perhaps the Grand Floridian, Polynesian, and perhaps a few more. The rest of us usually stay at either the “economy hotels”… Pop Century, and the three All Star Resorts, Movies, music, & Sports, or the moderate priced resorts such as the Caribbean Beach Resort. Today’s adventures took us to the Bay Lake Tower to for a quick “look-see”.  One visit to the Towers not only continues with the decor of the Contemporary “A” frame… but takes the whole decor of “contemporary” to new levels. The nice thing about visiting Disney Hotels… most of the guests are dressed like vacationing tourists… so we fit right in… just walk around like you belong there… and unless you say something… you will be treated like any other paying guest. Through years of visiting Disney, the only cast members to ask where we are staying is the Vacation Club Reps… so they can make their mini presentation to see if you are interested. Great way to save on future vacations… and they do have the New Resort in Hawaii!  Anyway… on to the resort…          

Here’s the new Bay Lake Tower on the right.

Everything about it speaks “contemporary” decor.

Entrance and lobby.

Member private area for cookouts etc.

The Rooms…

The Top of the World Observation Deck…

a night scene via the lake boats

The resort has shuffle board courts, and bocce ball courts and the wonderful BBQ picnic area. The courtyards and grounds as expected were pristine and very well landscaped. Seeing the trees and landscaping make it hard to believe that the resort is only a couple of years old… with all the tree, plant and flower growth… you’d think it was older.  A Great place where most normal people can live like the rich and famous… well… for at least 5 days a year. All conveniently located by the Contemporary Resort with easy Monorail Transportation to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot… and boats or busses to everywhere else.

All in all… still a place just to sleep. But certainly a great one.