During the December 2024 Condo Meeeting for Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort, the board of directors offered some clarity on the new sleeping arrangements for the refurbished villas, a timeframe for the Skybridge closure, an estimate for when the first refurbished room would be available and more.
Editor's Note: Beginning in 2024, Florida condo associations are required to hold quarterly meetings, rather than the annual meeting previously permitted under state guidelines. These smaller meetings are can only be attended by owners of the resort. DVCNews will be present at several of these meetings and will report back with some brief recaps.
Approximately 25-30 owners of Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort were present for the meeting.
Board members in attendance: Yvonne Chang, Bill Diercksen, Shannon Sakaske, Alison Armor, Steve Whittington. Also present were Tylana Hill (Treasurer) and Karen Grip (Member Rep). The meeting began by approving the minutes from the September meeting.
The floor was opened for questions from members in attendance. Many of the questions involved the refurbishment project currently in-progress.
The project is being completed in four stages. The first group of rooms should be turned over to DVC in about 2 weeks. They will be ready for guest use shortly thereafter. The entire project will take over a year.
All rooms will be getting the pull down Murphy sofa beds. A twin sleeper is being added to One Bedroom and Two Bedroom villas. The twin will not be added to Deluxe Studio rooms, thus their sleeping capacity will remain at maimum 4 guests.
USB ports will be added to rooms. There will be no major changes to the room layouts. Tubs, showers and the general design of all rooms will remain the same, including the unique kitchenette layout of Bay Lake Tower Deluxe Studio rooms. Newer interactive TVs are being added, similar to other Walt Disney World resorts.
No photos or concept artwork were offered for the updated rooms.
The refurbishment project will include updates to the lobby and Community Hall. But there are no changes planned for Top of the World Lounge.
The Skybridge will be closed during the next phase of the refurbishment, beginning in January 2025. In order to move between Bay Lake Tower and the Contemporary Tower, guests will have to proceed to ground level and walk outside.
Other questions from owners:
- Any plans for EV parking? There are no plans for EV parking spaces at the Contemporary. Disney Vacation Club members can go to other resorts and use the EV parking spaces even if not staying there.
- Any plans to let members buy some of the room decor as it is removed during refurbishments? Response: good idea but never thought about doing that.
The 2025 bueget was approved by the board. The new rate is $8.02 per point, an increase of $0.43 or 5.6%.
One attendee questioned why the dues increased 5.6% with inflation at 2.5% nationally. Per the board, property taxes and wages are account for the largest increse in the dues.
There was also a question as to whether insurance costs are affecting the budget. No, Insurance expenses did not play a role in the overall budget increase (insurance costs per point went down from 2024 to 2025.)
The meeting adjourned at just under 30 minutes.
Wil Lovato is a contributor to DVCNews.com and has been a Disney Vacation Club owner since 2009. His DVC Home Resorts include Copper Creek Villas, Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Villas, and Aulani. He can be found posting on many Disney discussion forums under the username of “wdrl.”
