Disney's CONTEMPORARY RESORT Information & Questions

[epsmith921]

We experienced the same. We had diapers. I brought ziplocs and garbage bags with me knowing this, but still. Last trip we stayed at Boardwalk and they kept offering us things like trash bags, extra trash removal, etc.

I would love to bring my own diaper champ but that would make my luggage situation even more ridiculous!

 

[yaksack]

What is the difference between a dedicated 2br villa and a lock off 2br villa?

 

[BlueFairy]

Can someone point me to a recent picture of the CR bath products? Can't find them at the top of the thread.

 

[Dave006]

What is the difference between a dedicated 2br villa and a lock off 2br villa?

A "lock off" phrase in the room description means that there is an internal connecting door between a 1BR and an adjoining Studio to create a 2BR unit. A dedicated 2BR is one contiguous space.

Dave

 

[yaksack]

Are lock off rooms smaller? We are planning a trip for 5 in February 2017 and was looking for a room at the CR.

 

[WDW Freak]

Are lock off rooms smaller? We are planning a trip for 5 in February 2017 and was looking for a room at the CR.

A studio in the lock off configuration is a regular studio. It will have a kitchenette, 1 queen bed and a pull out sofa. The dedicated second bedroom will not have a kitchenette and 2 queen beds instead of the sofa. Although the studio isn't technically smaller, it's configuration makes it feel smaller. At least that's what I've heard. I've only ever stayed in a dedicated 2BR, which was wonderful.

 

[gioiamama]

Extended family is joining us for our stay in September. We were able to book a second 1br suite CL with FD from 9/6-9/10. The pixie dust was on our side the other night! We are beyond excited!

 

[cinderkelly]

My son and I have been home for about a week from our fantastic CR stay. We were there for 5 nights and had a main tower TP view room. Everything was spectacular!

The good definitely outweighs the bad:
*Can't beat the view from the TP view rooms! So amazing!
* the beds were super comfy and the pillows were the best pillows of any hotel I have stayed at anywhere
* front desk cast members were very friendly and helpful when I was charged a TS credit at a QS place in MK I was able to get it fixed without issue
* very large and very clean room
* huge TV
* large shower gel and toothbrush "kits" as previously reported. I left a $5 daily tip for mousekeeping and received (2) 1L bottles of water every day which was great considering an average bottle of water on the parks is $3
* dinner at California Grill was delicious and our server Mike was fantastic
*Proximity to MK was awesome either walking ( 10 min average for us) or via monorail. We never had any issues either catching a bus or with the monorail

The not as good:
* a few cast members in Contempo Cafe were less than friendly
* elevators could be a bit slow and usually pretty packed
* we had a connecting room and could hear the excited kids next door pretty clearly on a couple of mornings but the noise didn't last long so it wasn't a total bother.

Overall I have only great things to say and very great memories from our stay here. the lack of Disney theming didn't bother us at all with all the "good stuff" we thought about the resort.

Our view from room 4741

 

[WDWKOOK]

View attachment 173872 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.

Thank you, @Sona99 for posting about your recent stay

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.

Very nice upgrade to the Tower Club. If you book a CL room in the future, would you specifically book Tower Club Vs. Atrium Club next time?

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.

I hope your requests come through. We once had a GW/GV ground floor room and the view and access to the beach is amazing. The canal view rooms also have great water views.

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...

This seems like yet another "staple," like the clocks, that are being removed from the rooms? They used to put in a clear liner with several others attached to the side for future use. I can't believe it's sanitary without them

Can someone point me to a recent picture of the CR bath products? Can't find them at the top of the thread.

The newest toiletries were posted several pages back by @kcpinwdw. CR seems currently to be the only Deluxe resort (beta testing?) putting these former "suite toiletries" into every room along with free daily bottled water.

Extended family is joining us for our stay in September. We were able to book a second 1br suite CL with FD from 9/6-9/10. The pixie dust was on our side the other night! We are beyond excited!

Yippee!!

My son and I have been home for about a week from our fantastic CR stay. We were there for 5 nights and had a main tower TP view room. Everything was spectacular!

The good definitely outweighs the bad:
*Can't beat the view from the TP view rooms! So amazing!
* the beds were super comfy and the pillows were the best pillows of any hotel I have stayed at anywhere
* front desk cast members were very friendly and helpful when I was charged a TS credit at a QS place in MK I was able to get it fixed without issue
* very large and very clean room
* huge TV
* large shower gel and toothbrush "kits" as previously reported. I left a $5 daily tip for mousekeeping and received (2) 1L bottles of water every day which was great considering an average bottle of water on the parks is $3
* dinner at California Grill was delicious and our server Mike was fantastic
*Proximity to MK was awesome either walking ( 10 min average for us) or via monorail. We never had any issues either catching a bus or with the monorail

The not as good:
* a few cast members in Contempo Cafe were less than friendly
* elevators could be a bit slow and usually pretty packed
* we had a connecting room and could hear the excited kids next door pretty clearly on a couple of mornings but the noise didn't last long so it wasn't a total bother.

Overall I have only great things to say and very great memories from our stay here. the lack of Disney theming didn't bother us at all with all the "good stuff" we thought about the resort.

Our view from room 4741

Thank you for posting about your stay with your DS. It's helpful for people to read both the pros and cons.

 

[epsmith921]

Very nice upgrade to the Tower Club. If you book a CL room in the future, would you specifically book Tower Club Vs. Atrium Club next time?

I'm not sure. If we were to stay there again, it's possible. Though the price was quite heavy to me even for the atrium level that I did book (I went back and checked after I posted to be sure).

I was expecting the two shallow sinks like I see in all the pictures and we got light wood, a bright and huge bathroom, and the giant balcony. We left the curtains open and essentially used the MK and seven seas lagoon as our nightlight.

I'd have to look at the prices when deciding. I might make spreadsheets of all the options and differences in pricing so we know if we're willing to pay $40 extra per night for a certain view and that sort of thing. I think staying there again I would at least ask about getting back to Tower Club and see the price comparison to other options. The room is important to me though, and the room was quite nice

 

[ErinF]

We just returned home last night from our trip. We stayed in a garden view room in the garden wing (#5310) for 4 nights as part of a triple split stay. It was the last leg of our trip and felt so luxurious when coming from CBR and POR, our first two legs. We had stayed in a tower room 2 years ago, but garden wing was just as nice, and like most people say, pretty peaceful and quiet. The TVs have been upgraded since 2 years ago, ours was huge! And we did receive those complimentary toiletries as seen in the pictures above. The 1L water bottles were a really nice addition, too. Out of the 4 nights, we received 1 bottle twice, 2 bottles once, and one day they didn't give us any.

We love the Contemporary and would definitely stay again if the budget allows. I've felt very fortunate to have stayed here for 2 trips in a row!

 

[HatboxHaint]

Anyone know where I can find a current list of best transportation options to and from BLT?

 

[Cluelyss]

Anyone know where I can find a current list of best transportation options to and from BLT?

This is my favorite site to use for transportation options. Keep in mind the time does not include any wait time you may have.

http://www.ourlaughingplace.com/aspx/twiz.aspx#.V2K9ncj3bCR

 

[HatboxHaint]

I guess my biggest question is....When going to AK or DHS do you walk to the MK bus stops or use the Contemporary's Stop?

 

[Cluelyss]

I guess my biggest question is....When going to AK or DHS do you walk to the MK bus stops or use the Contemporary's Stop?

We always used the stop at CR.

 

[outahere]

Anyone stay CL at CR lately?

We're staying Atrium CL at the CR next week and received the usual welcome email. It stated that evening turn-down with chocolates and cordials in the lounge were included. Did they bring those things back, or is that message out of date?

Thanks.

PS - also posted on the CL thread

 

[Kona65]

we are staying at the CR, Garden View. For early check in one of the questions was odd or even room number? What would be the difference?

 

[STLstone]

This might only help a very few people, but I had some tips on driving in (it was my first time).

- Even if you've checked in on-line, you will not have magic band access to the parking lot... yet. You have to use the left lane at the guard shack where you'll be given a parking pass for the length of your stay. Make sure it has your name and the right checkout date on it. He tried to give me the wrong one, first.

- If you approach the hotel through the Main Disney World Gate from the south, stay to the right for the resorts (the signs are pretty clear about this). Entering from this direction, you'll be able to turn right, into the parking lot at CR.

- If you approach from the North (the "back way") and you take the "clockwise" route around the Magic Kingdom, on World Drive, directly to the CR, you'll need to turn left into the CR parking lot - but a left turn is not allowed here. You may be better off taking the "counter-clockwise" route around the Magic Kingdom or you'll need to find a spot to turn around - we used the Wilderness Lodge Cast Member driveway for this )

We stayed 9 nights in Bay Lake Tower. It was fantastic in just about any way I can think of. One thing I thought was exceptional was how quiet it was. In our rooms, you couldn't hear another soul on the premises. This feature probably benefited the other guests more than us - we had a 2 year old with us.

 

[Dave006]

we are staying at the CR, Garden View. For early check in one of the questions was odd or even room number? What would be the difference?

Even or odd room number can determine your possible room views. By default I would chose an odd number room. Do you have a floor preference or want to be close to the main tower or a quite room away from the main building?

Dave

 

[Cluelyss]

we are staying at the CR, Garden View. For early check in one of the questions was odd or even room number? What would be the difference?

Only matters if you are staying TPV in the Tower.