Blue Tree Resort at Lake Buena Vista

We have been going to Blue Tree Resort for years and love it. It's really close to Disney and Disney Village. The resort has 4 pools and has always been great with the kids!

Don't stay here. We were there in February 08 and our condo was a wreck. The air conditioner was leaking water in the all way. The carpet was wet and was musty smeliing. The wash machine and dryer were old and soo loud that we couldn't use them. They shut the pool down for maintenance and didn't let us know ahead of time.

We stayed in a 1-bedroom unit in the Blue Tree section of this complex. This is your typical, large timeshare complex in Orlando, with a multitude of buildings, several swimming pools, a bunch of activities and lots of people. We found parking to be a problem if returning at the close of Magic Kingdom. One night we had to park 4 buildings away. Parking early in the evening was never an issue.

Check-in took about 15 minutes, with a line about 4 people deep with 4 agents working at all available stations. Check-out was a little quicker, but there was not near enough parking for everyone wanting to check-out.

We didn't use any activities, basically used this place as a place to crash after being at the various parks all day. The location is good. Universal was about 15 minutes. The Disney properties were generally a little closer. Nearby is any type of food, shopping, etc. you could want.

Overall we were fine with this exchange. It was nothing that knocked our socks off, and would be typical of any of a large number of similar generic properties in the area.

The AC on high setting resulted in an extremely loud rattle. You could only run the AC on medium. The filter door in the ceiling of the hallway had one screw catch that was stripped so it hung down a few inches from the ceiling, likely one source of the rattle.

Our biggest complaint was that the 1 bedroom unit was very small. It was barely suitable for our 2 small kids (7 and 4) and us. If we would have spent any time at the unit during the week, I think this would have been an even bigger negative for us.

With the pull-out sofa pulled out, you can't hardly walk into the unit. The chair of the kitchen table is within inches of the open door. The other chair is within inches of the pulled out sofa bed. We hit our shins on either the bed or chair more than once. If you are actually seated at the kitchen table in the chair nearest the door, the door wouldn't open completely.

We didn't really use the kitchen. It had newer appliances and everything was in good condition and working order.

The master bedroom was really small. It had a bed, a small end-table and a tiny TV stand. There was about 12" of space between the end of the bed and the TV stand. The TV was a small TV, probably about a 13" size.

There was no furniture for clothes in the bedroom. There was a large walk-in closet, but they put a dresser in the closet (because it can't fit in the bedroom). The washer and dryer is also in the bedroom closet. So that took up much of the closet floor space leaving one single clothes rod in the entire walk-in closet. With the washer and dryer in the bedroom closet, you got the pleasure of listening to it at night if you did laundry when you went to bed.

Off the bedroom was a sliding door out to a very small deck. If you sat at the chair without slanting it, you'd hit your knees on the railing.

The single bathroom was not fun. It is located off the hallway. The layout is beyond ridiculous. Inside the bathroom was a walk-in closet. The door to the walk-in closet was behind the opened bathroom door. You pretty much have to use this closet for most things, because it is one of the few places to put luggage, clothes, etc. To get into the closet, you have to open the bathroom door, go into the bathroom, close the bathroom door in order to access the closet bifold door, then open the closet door. This entire closet dance interferes with someone standing at the sink trying to get ready. We found ourselves constantly walking into each other trying to get ready in the morning.

We booked this at the last minute so only 1 bedrooms were available, but I regret doing it because the 1 bedrooms is just too small for four people. If you have 4 adults or even older kids, I would not recommend this unit. I'd look elsewhere.

All in all, the place was fine, but we would probably consider other exchange options in the future because the 1 bedroom was just too small and what was there was laid out in illogical ways. A SpringHill Suites is laid out better than these 1 bedrooms were, especially if you don't need a full kitchen.

Stayed at Blue Tree for first time over Christmas Holidays. Resort is in an ideal location in Lake Buenavista within easy walking distance to good restaurants and shopping and about 1/2 mile from Disney Pleasure Island. The pools are well heated and the pool areas are quite nice. The deluxe 2 BR units are well equiped and quite large (1200 sq ft). There are also smaller 2 br executive units (850 sq ft) which do not have washer/dryer.

This not a large resort so everything is within walking distance within the resort (compare to Orange Lake where you need a car to go from place to place within the resort)

Grounds are well kept and outsides of buildings are well maintained.

Scheduled activities for kids everyday.

Only negative to report is that checkin facility is temporarily a rental trailer while a new checkin facility is being constructed.