We rented DVC points through David’s DVC to stay here. We had a Deluxe Studio with preferred view. We Ubered here from the airport and had Walmart grocery delivery. Since we were not there when the order arrived, it is a $6 charge for the bell services to hold it for you. We did mobile check in, but also checked in in person at 3pm and our room was not ready. There were plenty of cast members in the lobby waiting to assist guests. It is a small lobby with not a lot of seating, but there are large windows. Since for the summer you get a free waterpark day upon check in, we grabbed our waterpark bag out, and stored the rest of the luggage with bell services. The bus stop is out the front door and to the left. You follow the pathway almost to the contemporary building (it is a shared bus stop with the contemporary and bay lake tower). The times for the bus are on the TV. For blizzard beach, you take the bus to animal kingdom and then transfer there. For typhoon lagoon, you take the Disney Springs bus and transfer there. For Animal Kingdon and Hollywood studios, You will also take the bus from here. Note that this bus is shared with the grand Floridian at some locations, so it will stop there first, and then to the contemporary, and then to the destination, and same on the return. Grand Floridian will be the first stop on the return and then the Contemporary. For Epcot, you will use the monorail. For this, you will use the walkway on the 7th floor of the hotel and cross over to the concourse area in the contemporary. From there you will board the monorail and take it one stop to the TTC (Transportation and Ticket Center). From there you will get off and exit and transfer to the Epcot monorail. The same will happen for the return trip. For magic Kingdom, the fastest way is to walk along the walkway. It is about a 7 minute walk or so. It is very quick and easy and not crowded. You get your own security which has no line. It is great for coming and going from Magic Kingdom at anytime, especially after fireworks and park close. This is the biggest perk I think of staying at this location. It is the easy access to Magic Kingdom via walkway. It is a fast way to get there with minimal crowds. The other option to get to the magic kingdom is to go to the monorail in the contemporary building again, but ride it all the way to magic kingdom, with stops at the TTC, Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian, before it stops at Magic Kingdom. We were assigned our room at 4pm, right at the check in time. We were given a room in the north tower that faced over by the tennis courts and bay lake. However if you turned to the left, you could see magic kingdom and the fireworks! The balcony was large enough that we could move our chairs all the way to the right hand side and face them left to see the park and fireworks! Pro tip, there is a channel on the TV that plays the fireworks music in sync! Sitting on the patio with the TV music in the background watching the magic Kingdom fireworks from your room was a great highlight. Also, the elevator lobby on the north side provides great views from any of the higher floors, you just have to play your own music and contend with a small glare. Other places to watch the fireworks include on the open walkway to the main building on the 7th floor (no music), or on the outside patio concourse area in the main building of the contemporary after you walk all the way to the end of the walkway before going inside (music is piped in). After the fireworks, head down to the beach area a little between bay lake tower and the contemporary to see the electrical water pageant parade! You may be able to see it from your room if you are facing the lake side. Our room was clean and nice upon entering. For the studios, most have a connecting door to a larger DVC villa on the other side. It is very thin and you can hear a lot. We put towels under the door to try and help the noise, so just note that for any light sleepers, you may be woken up at 4:30am to the crying baby and running toddler next door, so bring earplugs. The bathroom was all one room, so the sink and toilet and shower were all together, which is not the preferred layout. However the rainfall showerhead was nice. There were a few cubbies by the sink which was nice for storage. Then there is a small kitchenette that has its own little hallway/area. There is a Keurig with the pods and the pot. There is a microwave, and mini fridge, as well as a sink. It comes with soap and a sponge, paper towels, a cloth towel, paper plates/bowls, plastic silverware, paper cups, and a bottle opener/wine opener. A nice surprise was that they also had ceramic coffee mugs and glass short glasses. There are lots of cabinets and drawers that are empty, including a huge pull out pantry cabinet. In the main room there is a closet with iron and ironing board, the safe, as well as the extra pillows and blankets for the murphy bed. The murphy bed is a couch when folded up. There is an ottoman in lieu of a coffee table, which isn’t as convenient for eating. There is a floating nightstand on each side of the bed each with their own light, storage cubby, and plugs. There is a tiny bench seat that seems more a place to set things down than for comfort seating. There is a poof for the seat as a desk/vanity with a mirror that is attached to the larger long countertop, which was great for placing things on as well. A few different plugs were on there. The only other place there was plugs was the bathroom. There were about 6 large drawers under the countertop. Overall this room was spacious and had great storage. The patio/balcony had two chairs and a table, but was quite large. The TV had a decent amount of channels and things to check out. The artwork and decorations were in that cartoon/Mary Blair style of the contemporary, Incredibles, and magic kingdom specifically. In Bay lake tower there are a few floors only that have ice and vending machines, there is a laundry room, a community hall, and a pool. The pool has a small slide and a pool bar. If you want the fitness center it is across the walkway to the contemporary main building. Same with the quick service food, shopping, and more dining. In the room, since we had a DVC room, they came every day for trash. But they came on the 4th day for a towel refresh. In the case that you are staying longer, on the 8th day they will do a full housekeeping clean. Overall we enjoyed our stay here and it was high quality. You are paying for the location and convenience to magic Kingdom here. If you have a Magic Kingdom/epcot focused trip, then this is an ideal location to stay for you. If you prioritize Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, or Disney Springs, then you will be spending a good amount of time on the bus. Consider a split stay to stay at another hotel that is closer proximity to the other parks for the other part of your vacation to save some time and money. The only downside we experienced was during check in and check out times, the lobby gets quite crowded with people and their luggage and it can get a bit chaotic. When we asked Bell services for our luggage we had stored for the day from check out until our flight, they misplaced one of our bags in all the chaos and shuffle. We had to go back into the baggage room to search around and find it, since it had been separated for some reason from the other bags. The lobby and desk are maybe not built for rushes of people. Other than that I do recommend Bay Lake tower for a convenient Magic Kingdom stay!
