Disney's CONTEMPORARY RESORT Information & Questions

[cinderkelly]

Two more sleeps and we'll be checking in for our Tower TPV!!!

 

[michashell]

Hi Everyone!
We're staying at the Contemporary, TPV, July 7 through 16!! The countdown is on! We stayed in a garden wing room last summer and only one day we walked back to the resort from MK. I remember the walk being ungodly hot, no shade, and I honestly think I was close to heat stroke! This year my dd will be in a wheel chair most of the time. If we walk to the park will we get there more quickly than taking the monorail? I'm thinking it might be too hot for me to walk back to the resort, especially since I'm pushing a wheel chair. TIA!!

Yes, it's faster to walk TO MK. From the main building it takes me about 8 minutes. On the way back, CR would be the first stop (not the last as it is on the way there). It's not necessarily faster if you take into account the wait for the monorail, but if you are pushing a wheelchair it would be much less strenuous especially in the July heat. However, the ride to MK on the monorail - with stops - would be about 20 minutes. It might not be a bad idea. I've never been to Disney in the summer - this northerner can't even imagine how hot it gets. Have a great time!

 

[CuseWazowski]

Hi Everyone!
We're staying at the Contemporary, TPV, July 7 through 16!! The countdown is on! We stayed in a garden wing room last summer and only one day we walked back to the resort from MK. I remember the walk being ungodly hot, no shade, and I honestly think I was close to heat stroke! This year my dd will be in a wheel chair most of the time. If we walk to the park will we get there more quickly than taking the monorail? I'm thinking it might be too hot for me to walk back to the resort, especially since I'm pushing a wheel chair. TIA!!

I've stayed at the CR in the summer pushing my DMIL in a wheelchair. The time spent walking or taking the monorail back to the resort will likely be about the same by the time you get to the monorail, wait for it, transfer on, ride, transfer off, and take the elevator down from the monorail stop at CR. Think about how you feel about pushing the chair up the giant hill to the monorail stop at MK. That may help you decide which you prefer. You may not save yourself any energy by taking the monorail.

 

[BlueFairy]

Hi Everyone!
We're staying at the Contemporary, TPV, July 7 through 16!! The countdown is on! We stayed in a garden wing room last summer and only one day we walked back to the resort from MK. I remember the walk being ungodly hot, no shade, and I honestly think I was close to heat stroke! This year my dd will be in a wheel chair most of the time. If we walk to the park will we get there more quickly than taking the monorail? I'm thinking it might be too hot for me to walk back to the resort, especially since I'm pushing a wheel chair. TIA!!

Consider the ramps at the monorail stop at MK. That will be the strenuous part. Yes, monorail is less walking otherwise.

However, if you are concerned about the strain of pushing the wheelchair in summer, the trip to and from CR is the least of your problems. The parks alone can be daunting. Epcot especially is a killer due to it's size (did that once when DH sprained his ankle right before a trip). I HIGHLY recommend considering an ECV rental from an outside vendor who will deliver one to the resort (not from Disney). The cost will be worth it, I assure you. We rented 2 for a July trip years ago and it saved the trip. It will be more difficult on buses because of transfers, but otherwise they are superior to pushing a wheelchair in every way. Check the DISabilities Board for tips on trusted rental companies. We used Walker Mobility but that was in 1999.

 

[Shoshana]

Consider the ramps at the monorail stop at MK. That will be the strenuous part. Yes, monorail is less walking otherwise.

However, if you are concerned about the strain of pushing the wheelchair in summer, the trip to and from CR is the least of your problems. The parks alone can be daunting. Epcot especially is a killer due to it's size (did that once when DH sprained his ankle right before a trip). I HIGHLY recommend considering an ECV rental from an outside vendor who will deliver one to the resort (not from Disney). The cost will be worth it, I assure you. We rented 2 for a July trip years ago and it saved the trip. It will be more difficult on buses because of transfers, but otherwise they are superior to pushing a wheelchair in every way. Check the DISabilities Board for tips on trusted rental companies. We used Walker Mobility but that was in 1999.

Unfortunately, my daughter is 12 so we cannot rent an ECV or any sort of a motorized chair. I've rented chairs just to use at the parks during the last couple of trips but her walking issues are getting worse and now I'm renting from Walker so we have a chair at the resorts as well. The good news is that the chair is smaller and it will be newer and easier to push than Disney chairs. She is able to walk (she just can't walk for any distance, or stand for any length of time) so she can push the chair up inclines -- and, she will or her mama will be in the chair! I appreciate your advice.

 

[sscott87]

Returned home yesterday after 5 nights at CR, lake view tower room. Had a wonderful time with everything mostly as expected. The lacking Disney theme is and isn't a good thing but just the wife and I, both 20-something age, we didn't mind. 10th floor room, middle of the building, kept us isolated far enough from the noise below of Chef Mickey's and the monorail. Decent noise could be heard from adjacent room without thinking they were overly loud, but wasn't enough or during odd hours to lead to any complaint. All the little amenities some have referenced were indeed there (small bottles of everything from shampoo, conditioner, body wash, individually boxed toothbrush and makeup removal kits, etc) and a large bottle of water with a complimentary sign, replaced each day we had housekeeping. Even had a towel Mickey the last day with my wife's ears left on it.

Absolutely loved the convenience to MK (we timed a 7 minute walk from door to gate at a moderately fast pace) and the monorail being right there. Not quite as convenient to Epcot as I'd hoped due to the change at the TTC, but still more enjoyable (and surely faster in most cases) than a bus would be. Loved the convenience of everything within the resort being nearby; even the garden wing doesn't put you far from amenities. Biggest complaint was the elevators. While sometimes we'd be fortunate and get one right away, there were often waits that seemed to take an absurd amount of time or just elevators too full already.

Ultimately, CR will fall no worse than middle of the pack for us as we try a different resort come future visits (though our visits so far have been 6 years apart so not expecting it to be a quick sampling!). We'll probably look to a garden wing room if we choose to stay again in the future, largely to avoid the elevators.

 

[BlueFairy]

Unfortunately, my daughter is 12 so we cannot rent an ECV or any sort of a motorized chair. I've rented chairs just to use at the parks during the last couple of trips but her walking issues are getting worse and now I'm renting from Walker so we have a chair at the resorts as well. The good news is that the chair is smaller and it will be newer and easier to push than Disney chairs. She is able to walk (she just can't walk for any distance, or stand for any length of time) so she can push the chair up inclines -- and, she will or her mama will be in the chair! I appreciate your advice.

My best to you! That sounds like a tough situation. You have a plan, so all will go well. I always give the advice. You never know when someone is going in with eyes wide shut. Those WDW chairs are awful. Surely the Walker one will be much better.

 

[revdon64]

So add us to the Log-O-Rail. CR TPV June 27 through 30. Second Honeymoon.

 

[Melanie415]

Any pictures of the "refreshed" rooms at BLT? We will be there October 16-23 in a 2 bdrm TPV and I'm sure we will love it, refreshed or not! Still, hope they are done by the time we check in. We are moving to the BCV October 23-28 and they are under "refreshment" too. I think we are so lucky cuz we booked both places 11 months out b4 the refurbishments were announced.

 

[Cluelyss]

Has anyone found the vintage posters at CR or Main Street lately? Out here currently and no luck (to my attempts anyway) at either or on the app. A bit disappointed as I was hoping to find them.

Bumping this as I'm looking for them too!!!

 

[Kiren]

Hey all! Just got back Wednesday from an 8 night stay and CR and I gotta say I really enjoyed. We stayed on the 7th floor near the end in a Bay Lake View and found next to no noise from the monorail or anything. We received big bottles of the amenities and extra toiletries as well as a 1L bottle of water. I personally think this might be due to the sulfur taste in the water (it didn't bother us a super huge amount but having that bottle of water for tea and coffee at night was wonderful!) We found our room so quiet we didn't hear our neighbours at all! The walk from MK was a sweet bonus as well. There was only one day where it seemed long but I was suffering from heat exhaustion and wasn't doing so well.

 

[21stamps]

Hey all! Just got back Wednesday from an 8 night stay and CR and I gotta say I really enjoyed. We stayed on the 7th floor near the end in a Bay Lake View and found next to no noise from the monorail or anything. We received big bottles of the amenities and extra toiletries as well as a 1L bottle of water. I personally think this might be due to the sulfur taste in the water (it didn't bother us a super huge amount but having that bottle of water for tea and coffee at night was wonderful!) We found our room so quiet we didn't hear our neighbours at all! The walk from MK was a sweet bonus as well. There was only one day where it seemed long but I was suffering from heat exhaustion and wasn't doing so well.

Thanks for reporting back! Glad you had a wonderful trip

 

[momof2halls]

We just returned home from our 9 night trip! We had an amazing trip. We booked a standard garden room, we requestes a ground/patio room. We arrived as planned at 8am and the room that was preassigned to us was not ready. We are touringplans subscribers and had placed a fax request, this was not honored or even mentioned at check-in. The cast member was quick to offer a ready room that was a ground/patio room and we accepted it as we were eager to get settled in and off to the parks.

The first 3 nights were very quiet with no real noise stating the 4th night we began hearing what we think was children running around the room both at bedtime between 10p-12a and morning between 7a-9a it was very evident they were in the room above us. It was not enough noise to complain about, but aroound night 6 my husband jokingly said he would like to go talk with the family upstairs. Other than this we never heard any other noise.

Everything in the room was as expected.

We had 2 days that we didnt go to the parks and were back in the room before 2pm and our room was not serviced by mousekeeping either day, we ended up going to the cast member room and requesting towels. This was not a big deal for us but i was surprised that by 2pm our room had not been touched.

Overall wonderful trip and we loved the Contemporary Resort. We look forward to our next trip and would definitely stay here again!

 

[Cluelyss]

We had 2 days that we didnt go to the parks and were back in the room before 2pm and our room was not serviced by mousekeeping either day, we ended up going to the cast member room and requesting towels. This was not a big deal for us but i was surprised that by 2pm our room had not been touched.

Overall wonderful trip and we loved the Contemporary Resort. We look forward to our next trip and would definitely stay here again!

We always come back to our room for a midday break after lunch, and many times housekeeping has not been in our room before then when we've stayed CR GW. I wonder if they start with the tower then move to the GW? Never had that issue at other resorts.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Thanks, wdwkook! We will be at CR 8/23-8/26.

I'll log your dates

Two more sleeps and we'll be checking in for our Tower TPV!!!

I hope you're having a magical time!

Returned home yesterday after 5 nights at CR, lake view tower room. Had a wonderful time with everything mostly as expected. The lacking Disney theme is and isn't a good thing but just the wife and I, both 20-something age, we didn't mind. 10th floor room, middle of the building, kept us isolated far enough from the noise below of Chef Mickey's and the monorail. Decent noise could be heard from adjacent room without thinking they were overly loud, but wasn't enough or during odd hours to lead to any complaint. All the little amenities some have referenced were indeed there (small bottles of everything from shampoo, conditioner, body wash, individually boxed toothbrush and makeup removal kits, etc) and a large bottle of water with a complimentary sign, replaced each day we had housekeeping. Even had a towel Mickey the last day with my wife's ears left on it.

Absolutely loved the convenience to MK (we timed a 7 minute walk from door to gate at a moderately fast pace) and the monorail being right there. Not quite as convenient to Epcot as I'd hoped due to the change at the TTC, but still more enjoyable (and surely faster in most cases) than a bus would be. Loved the convenience of everything within the resort being nearby; even the garden wing doesn't put you far from amenities. Biggest complaint was the elevators. While sometimes we'd be fortunate and get one right away, there were often waits that seemed to take an absurd amount of time or just elevators too full already.

Ultimately, CR will fall no worse than middle of the pack for us as we try a different resort come future visits (though our visits so far have been 6 years apart so not expecting it to be a quick sampling!). We'll probably look to a garden wing room if we choose to stay again in the future, largely to avoid the elevators.

Thank you for posting about your stay. This Tower elevators can get very crowded at peak times and makes for a lot of waiting.

So add us to the Log-O-Rail. CR TPV June 27 through 30. Second Honeymoon.

Yippee for a second honeymoon

Any pictures of the "refreshed" rooms at BLT? We will be there October 16-23 in a 2 bdrm TPV and I'm sure we will love it, refreshed or not! Still, hope they are done by the time we check in. We are moving to the BCV October 23-28 and they are under "refreshment" too. I think we are so lucky cuz we booked both places 11 months out b4 the refurbishments were announced.

Good question and maybe one has surfaced on the (DVC) BLT Room View thread?

Hey all! Just got back Wednesday from an 8 night stay and CR and I gotta say I really enjoyed. We stayed on the 7th floor near the end in a Bay Lake View and found next to no noise from the monorail or anything. We received big bottles of the amenities and extra toiletries as well as a 1L bottle of water. I personally think this might be due to the sulfur taste in the water (it didn't bother us a super huge amount but having that bottle of water for tea and coffee at night was wonderful!) We found our room so quiet we didn't hear our neighbours at all! The walk from MK was a sweet bonus as well. There was only one day where it seemed long but I was suffering from heat exhaustion and wasn't doing so well.

Sounds like you had a great trip and thanks for posting about it.

We just returned home from our 9 night trip! We had an amazing trip. We booked a standard garden room, we requestes a ground/patio room. We arrived as planned at 8am and the room that was preassigned to us was not ready. We are touringplans subscribers and had placed a fax request, this was not honored or even mentioned at check-in. The cast member was quick to offer a ready room that was a ground/patio room and we accepted it as we were eager to get settled in and off to the parks.

The first 3 nights were very quiet with no real noise stating the 4th night we began hearing what we think was children running around the room both at bedtime between 10p-12a and morning between 7a-9a it was very evident they were in the room above us. It was not enough noise to complain about, but aroound night 6 my husband jokingly said he would like to go talk with the family upstairs. Other than this we never heard any other noise.

Everything in the room was as expected.

We had 2 days that we didnt go to the parks and were back in the room before 2pm and our room was not serviced by mousekeeping either day, we ended up going to the cast member room and requesting towels. This was not a big deal for us but i was surprised that by 2pm our room had not been touched.

Overall wonderful trip and we loved the Contemporary Resort. We look forward to our next trip and would definitely stay here again!

Thank you for posting your honest TR

 

[Sona99]

Just back from our 3 day, 2 night stay at the CR for the first time.

Here are my thoughts:

Did the online check in so they were ready for us when we got there. Left our 2 bags at the Valet and got a slip for them - they don't take the bags to your room but when you are ready you can either pick them up yourself or call to have them delivered. We picked up.

Didn't get our room request - had requested a king bed but got two queens. That said, the room is still huge. Much more room than a regular hotel room. No Disney décor. Pictures of the rooms at the beginning of this thread are spot on. We were room 4506 - 9th floor overlooking the Bay.

The good: excellent room comfort, wonderful view, a free liter of water which was very nice. Tons of pillows - we were laughing about that. Two chairs and a little table on the balcony. Café is ok for snacking food, the Wave was great for breakfast. Staff all around excellent. Monorail!

The not so good but not really bad: shower is not built for two, the wait for the elevators was sometimes pretty long (and considering there are 5 of them you wouldn't think so!), Bay view is also over the pool so lots of screaming kid noise until they close (I think it was at 11), noise from the open interior of the hotel until the monorail stops running (not from the monorail itself but from the people).

Things we didn't do so no opinion: room service, ferry, swimming in the pool (we were just too tired), exercise room (I assume they have one), bus service (we used monorail or drove).


Also, we ate at the California Grill - SO EXCELLENT!!! I highly recommend it. We also watched Wishes from their balcony. That was nice but I wouldn't eat there just for that perk.

 

[epsmith921]

Returned a couple weeks ago from a 4 night stay at CR CL. We booked and paid for TPV CL and to our surprise were taken up to the 14th floor to room 4913.

We LOVED our giant balcony and the giant bathroom. We have an 18 month old and a 5 year old, and there was space for them for baths, both my husband and I could be in there with them. I also really liked the large closet we had since I could put all the luggage away in there. Though the 18 month old figured out the sliding doors and locked the (empty) safe.

The balcony railing was much higher than I thought it would be so that really eased my fears. (I previously posted in here that I am not a fan of heights).

We did bring a white noise machine for sleeping and wound up leaving it on all the time and heard nothing from outside our room.

We were able to sleep with the curtains open and kind of enjoy the ambience of the castle, etc.

I will say I didn't love the fact that the resort is busy as a hub and destination for dining. The express monorail was down for most of our trip so that made the resort monorail more crowded, etc. While we also liked being able to walk to MK, the walk itself isn't very scenic and I didn't love walking in right where the buses drop off. We are used to the Epcot area so the International Gateway entrance feels that much more special now.

We did like the room itself a ton, club level staff were great, and we definitely may stay at CR again. It just may be a bit too busy in the MK area for us in general.

Thanks to those on here answering questions and providing info. This thread is so useful when you haven't stayed before.

 

[Skywise]

Left our 2 bags at the Valet and got a slip for them - they don't take the bags to your room but when you are ready you can either pick them up yourself or call to have them delivered. We picked up.

I think this is standard for hotels anymore. Every place I've valet checked will give you the ticket and then you can call to have it brought up to the room. The only time they haven't is when I've checked in at the desk clerk and the desk clerk has rang up a bellboy who carried our stuff up with us and the bags never left our sight.

Didn't get our room request - had requested a king bed but got two queens. That said, the room is still huge. Much more room than a regular hotel room. No Disney décor. Pictures of the rooms at the beginning of this thread are spot on. We were room 4506 - 9th floor overlooking the Bay.

I had this happen to me with online checkin but on the reverse - Where I asked for queens and got a king. I was traveling with my sister and that was NOT gonna happen! I promptly went back downstairs and they were able to get me into another room.

Glad you had a good trip though!

 

[Koh1977]

Put in room requests for ground floor patio facing Bay Lake (booked Garden Wing Garden View room). Excited to stay in a different resort this time around and FINALLY at CR (even though it was me that changed resorts every time before).

Looking forward to a morning coffee on the patio with a view of the water before a long, busy day at the parks.

 

[Sona99]

Oh - one thing I would put in the "bad" category - no trash can liners. Our bathroom trash was just a simple square bin. Frankly put - sometimes an adult needs to put things in the trash that would benefit from a liner.

just sayin...