*** Bay Lake Tower Owners Group***

[Wiltony]

Worked for the last 6-months preparing to make a reservation for a BLT GV over the week of Christmas. Was successful and we are ecstatic! Got Christmas Eve tickets to Drawn to Life, MK reservations for Christmas Day, and Santa will making a stop. Trip of a lifetime and just wanted to share!

The wife and I came up with this plan almost a year ago and I have been orchestrating *exactly* how many points were needed and how we'd accomplish this reservation through banking and borrowing, given the 50% restriction. Holy crap the point costs are high that week. But thanks to my excel spreadsheet and a lot of planning and forethought, I was able to get everything in-place in time to start walking.

Due to the resale borrow bug that I thankfully learned about prior, I wouldn't have been able to do this online each morning. I chatted with DVC about it and asked if they could just manually borrow the points I knew I would need for me now, so they were ready to be used when I made my reservation online. They said that they couldn't borrow points unless it was attached to a reservation. My solution was to find some combination of dates and room type that added up to exactly the amount of points I needed to borrow and make that reservation through member services where they would then borrow the points, then I would cancel it online, which left the borrowed points usable in my current UY. It totally worked lol and I ended up with the full amount of borrowed points needed to complete my ressie online for the remainder of my walk. Man I had some crazy obstacles to navigate. Add in the MLK day outage and I had some major blood pressure spikes trying to get this done.

Out of curiosity, I added up the cost of this reservation at the current rack rates and it was frankly mind-boggling. I cannot believe I get to stay in an accommodation that Disney values at approximately the cost of a new car lol. I feel like a Saudi Prince rolling in dough! Seriously though, I could never justify spending that kind of money for this normally, so it's so nice to see my membership pay off and legitimately afford me these kinds of opportunities for my family.

Side note: I know a lot of members have multiple home resorts and use years, but I have purposely worked to maintain a single resort/UY as I added on over the years. I really think that paid off here as it would have been very difficult to patch this kind of reservation together otherwise. It's a little validation for my decision to do that, even though it's not a very popular route to take. To each their own, and I know most owners like the structure they chose for themselves and I respect that, but I'm glad I did what I did, as it works for me.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Did you borrow or purchase the one time use points ?
I am confused when you said you “worked around the minimum allowed to borrow points restriction.
I might need to borrow your strategy for next year to move up to a one bedroom Can’t even imagine the point total for a grand Villa for holidays!

Congrats on beating the system and getting a fantastic December trip to dream about!
If you are kind and post a trip report , I hope you begin with a description that includes the planning . That way I will remeber it is your trip! I am excited for you because I love BLT home too!

 

[Wiltony]

Did you borrow or purchase the one time use points ?

I borrowed 255 (50%) of my own 2023 points for this reservation. No OTU points as part of this transaction.

I am confused when you said you “worked around the minimum allowed to borrow points restriction.

I'm not sure what part you're referring to (I never said what you have in quotes), but you might be referring to me talking about working around the resale borrow bug. DVC has a bug in their system where your ressie will error out if, as part of that online reservation transaction, you're borrowing points on a resale contract. I knew about this thankfully, so I needed to figure out a way to get those points borrowed manually into my current UY ahead of time, so that I could complete my walking transaction online each day without running into errors. Since member services won't let you borrow points without a reservation, I called them and made a "fake" reservation with the exact amount of points I needed to borrow. Since a borrow transaction is irreversible, once I cancelled the "fake" reservation, the borrowed points remained in my current UY which I could then use for making my "real" reservation. Hope that makes sense!

 

[bobbiwoz]

We’ll be back for 12/30, 12/31 again!

 

[floribr1]

I am confused when you said you “worked around the minimum allowed to borrow points restriction.

I am guessing that you are referring to this part of @Wiltony's post:

I have been orchestrating *exactly* how many points were needed and how we'd accomplish this reservation through banking and borrowing, given the 50% restriction.

Members are currently restricted to borrowing a maximum of 50% of points from the following Use Year. In the "before times" we were able to borrow 100% from the following year. With proper planning, we could then theoretically access up to 3 full years worth of points for a single reservation. Meaning, we could bank one year's worth of points into the next year, and then use the prior year banked points, plus the current year's points and then borrow all of the following year's points.

If that wasn't your question, I do now know what you could have meant.

 

[Wiltony]

I am guessing that you are referring to this part of @Wiltony's post:


Members are currently restricted to borrowing a maximum of 50% of points from the following Use Year. In the "before times" we were able to borrow 100% from the following year. With proper planning, we could then theoretically access up to 3 full years worth of points for a single reservation. Meaning, we could bank one year's worth of points into the next year, and then use the prior year banked points, plus the current year's points and then borrow all of the following year's points.

If that wasn't your question, I do now know what you could have meant.

If that was the question, then yeah, I didn't work around that restriction, I worked within it.

 

[CarolynFH]

Worked for the last 6-months preparing to make a reservation for a BLT GV over the week of Christmas. Was successful and we are ecstatic! Got Christmas Eve tickets to Drawn to Life, MK reservations for Christmas Day, and Santa will making a stop. Trip of a lifetime and just wanted to share!

The wife and I came up with this plan almost a year ago and I have been orchestrating *exactly* how many points were needed and how we'd accomplish this reservation through banking and borrowing, given the 50% restriction. Holy crap the point costs are high that week. But thanks to my excel spreadsheet and a lot of planning and forethought, I was able to get everything in-place in time to start walking.

Due to the resale borrow bug that I thankfully learned about prior, I wouldn't have been able to do this online each morning. I chatted with DVC about it and asked if they could just manually borrow the points I knew I would need for me now, so they were ready to be used when I made my reservation online. They said that they couldn't borrow points unless it was attached to a reservation. My solution was to find some combination of dates and room type that added up to exactly the amount of points I needed to borrow and make that reservation through member services where they would then borrow the points, then I would cancel it online, which left the borrowed points usable in my current UY. It totally worked lol and I ended up with the full amount of borrowed points needed to complete my ressie online for the remainder of my walk. Man I had some crazy obstacles to navigate. Add in the MLK day outage and I had some major blood pressure spikes trying to get this done.

Out of curiosity, I added up the cost of this reservation at the current rack rates and it was frankly mind-boggling. I cannot believe I get to stay in an accommodation that Disney values at approximately the cost of a new car lol. I feel like a Saudi Prince rolling in dough! Seriously though, I could never justify spending that kind of money for this normally, so it's so nice to see my membership pay off and legitimately afford me these kinds of opportunities for my family.

Side note: I know a lot of members have multiple home resorts and use years, but I have purposely worked to maintain a single resort/UY as I added on over the years. I really think that paid off here as it would have been very difficult to patch this kind of reservation together otherwise. It's a little validation for my decision to do that, even though it's not a very popular route to take. To each their own, and I know most owners like the structure they chose for themselves and I respect that, but I'm glad I did what I did, as it works for me.

Congratulations, and may you and your family have the most amazing Christmas! That’s what DVC is for.

 

[rescuetink]

I'm not sure what part you're referring to (I never said what you have in quotes), but you might be referring to me talking about working around the resale borrow bug. DVC has a bug in their system where your ressie will error out if, as part of that online reservation transaction, you're borrowing points on a resale contract. I knew about this thankfully, so I needed to figure out a way to get those points borrowed manually into my current UY ahead of time, so that I could complete my walking transaction online each day without running into errors. Since member services won't let you borrow points without a reservation, I called them and made a "fake" reservation with the exact amount of points I needed to borrow. Since a borrow transaction is irreversible, once I cancelled the "fake" reservation, the borrowed points remained in my current UY which I could then use for making my "real" reservation. Hope that makes sense!

Ok, I want to make sure I understand this correctly, if I have 200 points a year and my points for 2022 are already used they would let me make another reservation (real or fake) for 200 points and take the entire 200 points from my 2023 points? Then I could use those 200 points for a different reservation if I wanted because they were transferred under a reservation? I'm just trying to make sure I'm not more confused by this then I think I am!! TIA

 

[CarolynFH]

Ok, I want to make sure I understand this correctly, if I have 200 points a year and my points for 2022 are already used they would let me make another reservation (real or fake) for 200 points and take the entire 200 points from my 2023 points? Then I could use those 200 points for a different reservation if I wanted because they were transferred under a reservation? I'm just trying to make sure I'm not more confused by this then I think I am!! TIA

No, if all of your 2022 points are used, you could borrow only 100 from 2023 into 2022.

OP was talking about the issue of having to call to borrow the points, not being able to borrow online. So he called and borrowed points to make another reservation, which meant those borrowed points were in his account. And when it came time to reserve the GV, he did not have to call to borrow points and possibly lose the villa he needed. He did not borrow more than 50%.

 

[rescuetink]

No, if all of your 2022 points are used, you could borrow only 100 from 2023 into 2022.

OP was talking about the issue of having to call to borrow the points, not being able to borrow online. So he called and borrowed points to make another reservation, which meant those borrowed points were in his account. And when it came time to reserve the GV, he did not have to call to borrow points and possibly lose the villa he needed. He did not borrow more than 50%.

Thanks!! So I was right, I was confused!! Hopefully they'll remove those restrictions soon!!

 

[NeutralNovice]

For those who have stayed on the Lake View side where you can see other parks in the distance, do you every bring your binoculars or are they just too far?

 

[Spork24]

For those who have stayed on the Lake View side where you can see other parks in the distance, do you every bring your binoculars or are they just too far?

I have never brought binoculars. I guess it depends on what you want to see. It would probably be nice to have binoculars if you wanted to see the other parks fireworks.

 

[bobdacat]

oh yes, I always bring binoculars, great views on both sides. I love sitting out on balcony and watching the park or the fireworks in the distance, or watching the boats. Nice break from running around all day..

 

[Wiltony]

oh yes, I always bring binoculars, great views on both sides. I love sitting out on balcony and watching the park or the fireworks in the distance, or watching the boats. Nice break from running around all day..

I bought some to keep in my owners locker.

 

[DeeBee3]

Since the most recent direct sale incentive expired, I still see an offer on the add-on tool. Does anyone know what the current March incentive is for BLT? It won't let you click on anything to see the details.

 

[wnielsen1]

Since the most recent direct sale incentive expired, I still see an offer on the add-on tool. Does anyone know what the current March incentive is for BLT? It won't let you click on anything to see the details.

https://dvcnews.com/dvc-program/fin...deals-remain-for-other-resorts-in-spring-2022

 

[NeutralNovice]

I did a Google search for a refurbishment schedule and saw that BLT is due for a refurbishment, possibly next year!

Is the refurbishment to the Contemporary Tower a good indication of what we should expect at BLT? I was watching some videos and thought the Incredibles were a weird choice--like I kinda feel like a resort like Contemporary shouldn't have overt IP theming but that's just me. Otherwise, the renovated rooms look quite nice and modern. I love hard floors (I have bad allergies with rugs, generally) and they have detachable showerheads, which is a must for me.

 

[bcuinohio]

I did a Google search for a refurbishment schedule and saw that BLT is due for a refurbishment, possibly next year!

Is the refurbishment to the Contemporary Tower a good indication of what we should expect at BLT? I was watching some videos and thought the Incredibles were a weird choice--like I kinda feel like a resort like Contemporary shouldn't have overt IP theming but that's just me. Otherwise, the renovated rooms look quite nice and modern. I love hard floors (I have bad allergies with rugs, generally) and they have detachable showerheads, which is a must for me.

The Poly DVC rooms did not do a Moana theme during their recent refurb. i hope they incorporate the Murphy beds.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I did a Google search for a refurbishment schedule and saw that BLT is due for a refurbishment, possibly next year!

Is the refurbishment to the Contemporary Tower a good indication of what we should expect at BLT? I was watching some videos and thought the Incredibles were a weird choice--like I kinda feel like a resort like Contemporary shouldn't have overt IP theming but that's just me. Otherwise, the renovated rooms look quite nice and modern. I love hard floors (I have bad allergies with rugs, generally) and they have detachable showerheads, which is a must for me.

No refurb has been announced. The dates you found were just what it should be if DVC were to follow their 7 year refurb timeline that they said they were going to do. They've not been so great about it the past 2 years delaying some and moving up others.

Poor Contemporary is all I can say. Disney has done some weird theming there over the years and I think it's been best when they haven't tried to add Disney IP. (Early 2000's was astrocious) I would not expect any BLT refurb to follow along with the Incredibles theme as the DVC resorts do tend to differ a bit from the hotel sides.

 

[NeutralNovice]

The Poly DVC rooms did not do a Moana theme during their recent refurb. i hope they incorporate the Murphy beds.

Got it TY! I just looked up a video on the DVC Studio refurbs at Poly. I like the less in-your-face IP. Can't wait to see what BLT will look like when they eventually refurb.

No refurb has been announced. The dates you found were just what it should be if DVC were to follow their 7 year refurb timeline that they said they were going to do. They've not been so great about it the past 2 years delaying some and moving up others.

Poor Contemporary is all I can say. Disney has done some weird theming there over the years and I think it's been best when they haven't tried to add Disney IP. (Early 2000's was astrocious) I would not expect any BLT refurb to follow along with the Incredibles theme as the DVC resorts do tend to differ a bit from the hotel sides.

Yeah I figured they were just estimates and were not confirmed. I really like the design language of the other resorts that have been recently refurbed like PVB and SSR. They look so much more modern and simple (which I prefer in general, I know others will disagree). I currently have a 1BR res for my upcoming trip in December but I am hoping I'll be able to book a 2BR at SSR.

For me, what's mostly selling me is the hard floors and the detachable showerheads lol. I'm sure BLT will follow suit when they finally schedule it officially.