Take a look inside a Bay Lake Tower studio room:
I recently spent one night at Bay Lake Tower before switching resorts, but it was great to be able to check it out and experience it for a little bit! The rooms at Bay Lake Tower have recently been refurbished, so a few things are new or different from the last time I stayed there.
The Contemporary Resort has several different sections to it: you have the main tower, the garden wing rooms, and Bay Lake Tower. Bay Lake Tower is the DVC (Disney Vacation Club) section of the resort, so you have studio rooms plus 1 and 2-bedroom villas. It does mean that the room options and the set-up are a little bit different from a standard Disney resort room. The DVC resorts are designed to be more of a “home away from home,” and so they have some extras that other resorts don’t have.
I was assigned to room 8209, which was on the 12th floor. It was right near one of the elevator banks, which was quite convenient. This was a resort view room, with a nice view of the pool and the lake – we could even see Epcot and Hollywood Studios from far away!
The room basics
All of the rooms have a patio or balcony. Especially when you are up on a higher floor, it’s very nice to be able to have a balcony. The balcony itself was a decent enough size for a studio room, and had two chairs and a small table.
When you book, your room will typically either be a theme park view room, facing Magic Kingdom, or a resort view room, facing the lake. Both are very pretty views!
When you first enter the room, there is a full-length mirror on the right side, as well as a door to another room (so if you booked two rooms, you could have connecting rooms). Just past that was a closet. On the left side upon entering was the bathroom, followed by a small kitchenette area.
Then you proceed into the main room, which has a queen-size bed and a couch. The couch is now a pull-down murphy bed, which also has a queen-sized mattress. Across from the couch is what I would call a small padded-bench. It’s a nice option for sitting if you have the murphy bed down. This is instead of a 5th pull-down bed or sleeper chair, like some of the DVC studios. So this room will only sleep up to 4.
The coffee table was in front of the couch, but it was easy to move if you were using the bed. It also opened up and had some storage inside if you needed a place to put more of your things.
Across from the bed you have a TV mounted above a set of drawers, and a small desk-like area with a stool (perhaps also a getting ready area, as there was a mirror there?).
Beds
The main bed in the room was nice and comfy – no complaints here! Instead of end tables on the side, it has two small ledges coming out of the wall. If I’m not describing this well, please see the photo below!
I don’t mind this, as it still gives you a surface to put things on, and a small area underneath to store something. If it saves space, even better. Each side of the bed also has its own reading light and its own outlets.
The last time I stayed at Bay Lake Tower the couch was a pull-OUT couch, not a pull-down, and in my opinion, this is a big improvement. Granted, I’m not even the one who usually sleeps on it (Jenn is very kind), but I’m usually fine sleeping on the murphy bed. As far as I can tell, it’s the same mattress as the regular bed. Those couch beds are another story, so I’m glad most of them seem to be gone!
And of course, you can always leave the pull-down bed up if you don’t need it, so you have a nice little sitting area.
Bathroom
The main area of the bathroom has a toilet and a shower/tub combo. I was happy to see that it included both, as many of the resorts seem to be switching to a standing shower only. Whether it’s because I’m doing a race or just a lot of walking around the parks, I think the option for a bath is nice!
What I found a bit odd here was the location of the bathroom sink. It was actually in the kitchenette area, so almost in another “room” from the bathroom. (Watch the room tour video below to fully get the idea). I understand having the sink separate so someone can use it while someone else is in the bathroom, but it felt rather cramped where it was.
There is only one bathroom sink, but the kitchen sink is right across from it. There’s a good amount of counter space on either side of the bathroom sink, too.
Kitchen area
The DVC rooms usually include a bit more in terms of kitchen amenities vs. your standard hotel rooms. The studios don’t get a full kitchen set-up like the villas, but you still get both a mini fridge and a microwave. When I’m on vacation, that’s usually plenty for me!
In addition to the fridge and microwave, you also have a coffee machine and disposable plates, bowls, utensils, etc. This studio room had plenty of storage space in the kitchen too, with lots of cabinets and drawers. So if you wanted to bring food or snacks, you had places to put them!
Decor & themeing
The Contemporary, in general, has really grown on me – it had never been a favorite of mine before. One of my main issues was the themeing. I like a good theme, and the Contemporary doesn’t lend itself as well to that as something like the Polynesian, Caribbean Beach, or Wilderness Lodge. Previously they had somewhat generic Disney art with a Contemporary feel (and the Tower was somewhat recently re-done with an Incredibles theme).
I’m grateful that they didn’t do The Incredibles thing in the DVC rooms. I’m a big fan of the new artwork! There are several Magic Kingdom themed paintings, done in a fun Contemporary style with bright colors.
In fact, the style is so unique that I felt like I’d seen it before. It’s the first time in a Disney resort it occurred to me to be curious about who the artist was. I looked it up, and it’s done by Joey Chou. If you’ve seen his work before you might have been able to figure that out! The villas have more artwork, of course, and that looks great too. I really love the Adventureland painting (not in the studio).
The bathroom might have my favorite piece of art, featuring Liberty Square. I love the colors and the contrast of the purple Haunted Mansion against an orange sky. Next to our bed the painting featured Tomorrowland, with Spaceship Earth, Astro Orbiter, and Buzz Lightyear soaring by.
Above the couch is a painting of the Contemporary itself, complete with monorail going by. When you pull down the bed, you then have the castle at night with the fireworks.
The wallpaper behind the TV was great, too. It’s a more muted take on Mary Blair’s famous Contemporary artwork. I liked that this was more subtle, but still very Disney and on-theme. You might not even notice at first if you weren’t looking closely – until you notice the goat!
The color scheme overall mostly focuses on orange and teal. Orange is my favorite color. My living room actually has the same colors, so I was happy to see the color combo used here. Otherwise the room is pretty modern feeling and fairly simple.
Video tour of Bay Lake Tower studio room
Overall thoughts on Bay Lake Tower studio room
Bay Lake Tower has really made a good impression on me! It’s great for the location and the views, of course, but even putting that aside I was very pleased with the room. It felt large, comfortable, and I liked the art. I was only here for one night before switching to Beach Club, but I left thinking, “I need to book a longer stay at Bay Lake Tower in the future.” Hopefully I’ll be back soon!
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Have you ever stayed in a Bay Lake Tower studio room?
Where was the Murphy bed in your photos?
If you look above the couch, there are two gold handles on either side of the painting. When you pull it down, it’s a bed (that’s the photo with the purple castle painting above a bed)
That was quite the view for being standard! And nothing kickstarts a day quite like a Contemporary Grounds latter on the balcony. Okay, I miss the Contemporary. 😅
*latte
Let’s go backkk
I love the updates. I haven’t stayed there since they made the changes. The Murphy bed is so much better than the couch! But the bathroom sink in the kitchen area is odd!
I’m so glad to have the murphy bed! Sleeping on the pull-out couch was rough.