Disney's CONTEMPORARY RESORT Information & Questions

[mickeyluv'r]

Rescuing this thread from the depths because we just switched our GDT pre-cruise stay to CR thanks to a great discount rate. Had some questions now that we finally get to check this resort out. 1. About how long is the walk from the garden wing to the tower for transportation? 2. And how long does it generally take to get to EP for rope drop? We’ve only ever monorailed there direct from the TTC on our Poly stays and it still wasn’t running when I stayed at GF so trying to get a gauge of how much time we should allot to transfer if we want to be on the first train for EE.

1. It is not bad at all. Prior to last summer, I'd only ever stayed in the tower, but we've now stayed in the garden wing twice. The length of the walk depends a little on the location of your room. The rooms are just on the far side of the pool, so it is just a little longer than it takes to walk to the pool from the tower. In the tower, you then take the elevators to get up to the monorail platform.

(For going to MK, we just walked around the outside of the building, so that was also comparable to how long it took us when we stayed in the tower.)

2. It does take a little while to get to Epcot and back again via monorail.

The day we went to Epcot, there was a mob going to Epcot, so the CM's routed EVERYONE down the ramp (as if we were all stopping at the TTC), through a queue, then up the Epcot monorail ramp. It still only took two monorails to get on the monorail to Epcot (from TTC). I think we left room about 8am, and got to Epcot just about 8:30am. We didn't quite make rope drop, but we were just behind the people who did.

Getting back from Epcot, we just missed a monorail (leaving Epcot), but the next one arrived within 2 minutes. We lucked out at the TTC, and went almost directly from one monorail to the next. I didn't keep track of timing, but getting back was very quick.

2B. If you have a car though, it is EASY to get from the Garden Wing to anywhere else. The CR has a parking lot over by those rooms, and we never had any problem getting a good spot. Driving to Disney Springs was a snap with the new roadways.

2C. On prior trips I did a better job of notetaking, I'm sorry I can't be more specific, but we used Google Maps and the drive time predictions were pretty accurate.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Good morning!
Does anyone have a 12th floor map including lounge location indicated, please?
Potentially booking CR Atrium CL for the first time (hurray!) and would like to make an informed choice. Any maps I found through searching either didn’t include the lounge or were from years ago and no longer displayed.
Thank you so much in advance- your help is much appreciated! Have a magical day!!!

No map, but the lounge is located right next to the elevators, so perfectly in the middle of CR. on the side that faces MK.

 

[Obi-J Kenobi]

Hoping to be able to catch the water pageant!

The Electrical Water Pageant is absolutely the most romantic thing Disney offers.

 

[jods]

Rescuing this thread from the depths because we just switched our GDT pre-cruise stay to CR thanks to a great discount rate. Had some questions now that we finally get to check this resort out. About how long is the walk from the garden wing to the tower for transportation? And how long does it generally take to get to EP for rope drop? We’ve only ever monorailed there direct from the TTC on our Poly stays and it still wasn’t running when I stayed at GF so trying to get a gauge of how much time we should allot to transfer if we want to be on the first train for EE.

I only ever stayed at the CR during covid so no monorail. Last summer it took us 90 minutes from the monorail platform at epcot to get to CM's though. I swore off all monorail resorts except the Poly after that. Honestly, I would consider it but would uber if there was a time constraint.

 

[kylenne]

I only ever stayed at the CR during covid so no monorail. Last summer it took us 90 minutes from the monorail platform at epcot to get to CM's though. I swore off all monorail resorts except the Poly after that. Honestly, I would consider it but would uber if there was a time constraint.

Wow that sounds wild. I stayed at the GF during covid so it was when they had the buses going to Epcot. We are very early risers on rope drop days because we like to be on the first vehicle out if we’re going somewhere we can’t walk to.

The Electrical Water Pageant is absolutely the most romantic thing Disney offers.

It’s a must do for us! There’s not much of the old school 70s “Vacation Kingdom of the World” vibe left at WDW and the EWP definitely brings it. We caught it a couple of times from the beach on our last Poly stay but probably the best was on that solo GF trip during covid, it was shortly before the fireworks came back so the EWP was the only night time entertainment. I walked over and had dinner at Kona one night because I needed my bread pudding fix and caught it afterwards. I had never seen the Poly beach that packed for it! I was very pleasantly surprised to discover it swings by Bay Lake, I didn’t know that before.

 

[grannyminnie]

Like the above poster who mentioned Uber, I think that's a better option if you want to rope drop. Takes the stress out!
I've not stayed in the garden wing but have wondered about the walk. The experience jods had would be a deal-breaker for me!

 

[Chuckers]

Is the hot tub available late night? I like to soak after a day walking the park. I usually don't get back to the room until after park closing time. I would love to be able to go down and sit in the tub for a while.
Thanks

 

[jemtx]

Is the hot tub available late night? I like to soak after a day walking the park. I usually don't get back to the room until after park closing time. I would love to be able to go down and sit in the tub for a while.
Thanks

The pool is usually open until 10 or 11 pm depending on the time of the year.

 

[kylenne]

Like the above poster who mentioned Uber, I think that's a better option if you want to rope drop. Takes the stress out!
I've not stayed in the garden wing but have wondered about the walk. The experience jods had would be a deal-breaker for me!

I’ve had very mixed results getting rideshares at the time of morning I like to be up and out for rope drop (stupid o’clock!). On some trips I’ve been able to get one right away no problem, but at other times there was no real time cost savings over just taking Disney transportation because of how long it took a driver to accept the ride. I seem to have a consistently better time with Disney transportation first thing in the AM.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I only ever stayed at the CR during covid so no monorail. Last summer it took us 90 minutes from the monorail platform at epcot to get to CM's though. I swore off all monorail resorts except the Poly after that. Honestly, I would consider it but would uber if there was a time constraint.

That is a bit unusual, IMO.

There was a time we took the monorail from Epcot to MK mid-day, and caught the CM shift change. The Epcot monorail was on the platform, but didn't leave for some 20minutes. At the TTC, we were diverted to the resort monorail. It waited 10min at the TTC before leaving, plus 10min at Poly, plus 5-7 min at GF. It was awful. It was good we didn't have a lunch reservation that day.

There were also multiple times we went to Epcot as a large group and left as Illuminations ended. Part of the group drove back to CR, and part of the group took WDW transportation. Driving took about 15 minutes. WDW transportation took another 90 minutes. BUT one of those two visits the Epcot monorail was down, so WDW only had buses. It was a mess getting on the bus. These were spring trips, so WDW was rather crowded.

We tend to drive to Epcot from CR, but if both monorails are running, it should be faster than 90 minutes. Leaving just as fireworks end adds some time esp if Epcot's busy.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Is the hot tub available late night? I like to soak after a day walking the park. I usually don't get back to the room until after park closing time. I would love to be able to go down and sit in the tub for a while.
Thanks

On our visit, the main pool including both hot tubs closed at 10pm. The quiet pool was open until 11pm. I think most WDW pools now have similar hours.

 

[Chuckers]

On our visit, the main pool including both hot tubs closed at 10pm. The quiet pool was open until 11pm. I think most WDW pools now have similar hours.

Dang.. I remember the last time I stayed at a Mod/Deluxe (which was years before the pandemic), the slides shut down and the lifeguards left, but you could still access the pools at your own risk.

 

[grannyminnie]

I’ve had very mixed results getting rideshares at the time of morning I like to be up and out for rope drop (stupid o’clock!). On some trips I’ve been able to get one right away no problem, but at other times there was no real time cost savings over just taking Disney transportation because of how long it took a driver to accept the ride. I seem to have a consistently better time with Disney transportation first thing in the AM.

Well, I had not even thought of that. I was planning on using that strategy on my next trip.

 

[ShannyMcB]

We just got upgraded from the garden wing to the tower water view. If I want the best chance of seeing the water parade from the room what floor should I request?
Also what is the lock situation on the door out to the patio? I know there are two locks, how high up is the upper one?

 

[jemtx]

We just got upgraded from the garden wing to the tower water view. If I want the best chance of seeing the water parade from the room what floor should I request?
Also what is the lock situation on the door out to the patio? I know there are two locks, how high up is the upper one?

All the main tower rooms give a good view of the parade. The tower rooms start on floor 5 and go up to 11 (for regular rooms—12 & 14 are CL). Personally I like a high floor, but I’ve had a room on practically every floor from 7 to 12 and all are good. I just figure the higher, the quieter.

The bottom lock is normal doorknob height and the second one is towards the top of the door. I’d say that someone 5 or so feet and above could reach it stretch their arms up. How old a child are you concerned about?

 

[ShannyMcB]

The bottom lock is normal doorknob height and the second one is towards the top of the door. I’d say that someone 5 or so feet and above could reach it stretch their arms up. How old a child are you concerned about?

A five year old who is just shy of 4 feet. She'll likely be able to reach the lock then but not engage it.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Dang.. I remember the last time I stayed at a Mod/Deluxe (which was years before the pandemic), the slides shut down and the lifeguards left, but you could still access the pools at your own risk.

I miss that as well. I have a feeling it changed because too many people were loud and rowdy.

WDW also may have felt they were liable for after-hour injuries.

 

[jods]

Wow that sounds wild. I stayed at the GF during covid so it was when they had the buses going to Epcot. We are very early risers on rope drop days because we like to be on the first vehicle out if we’re going somewhere we can’t walk to.


It’s a must do for us! There’s not much of the old school 70s “Vacation Kingdom of the World” vibe left at WDW and the EWP definitely brings it. We caught it a couple of times from the beach on our last Poly stay but probably the best was on that solo GF trip during covid, it was shortly before the fireworks came back so the EWP was the only night time entertainment. I walked over and had dinner at Kona one night because I needed my bread pudding fix and caught it afterwards. I had never seen the Poly beach that packed for it! I was very pleasantly surprised to discover it swings by Bay Lake, I didn’t know that before.

That is a bit unusual, IMO.

There was a time we took the monorail from Epcot to MK mid-day, and caught the CM shift change. The Epcot monorail was on the platform, but didn't leave for some 20minutes. At the TTC, we were diverted to the resort monorail. It waited 10min at the TTC before leaving, plus 10min at Poly, plus 5-7 min at GF. It was awful. It was good we didn't have a lunch reservation that day.

There were also multiple times we went to Epcot as a large group and left as Illuminations ended. Part of the group drove back to CR, and part of the group took WDW transportation. Driving took about 15 minutes. WDW transportation took another 90 minutes. BUT one of those two visits the Epcot monorail was down, so WDW only had buses. It was a mess getting on the bus. These were spring trips, so WDW was rather crowded.

We tend to drive to Epcot from CR, but if both monorails are running, it should be faster than 90 minutes. Leaving just as fireworks end adds some time esp if Epcot's busy.

Kylenne, we are the complete opposite of rope droppers lol. My husband only gets up early for golf lol. I really enjoyed how everything was right there inside the tower. The lounges are nice to so you should enjoy yourself.

Mickyluv'r, I'm aure our experience with the monorail isn't the norm. People wouldn't love the monorail resorts if it was. It's something that just sticks with me though. You know, you forget all the times transportation went right and just remember the one time things went wrong .

 

[kylenne]

Kylenne, we are the complete opposite of rope droppers lol. My husband only gets up early for golf lol. I really enjoyed how everything was right there inside the tower. The lounges are nice to so you should enjoy yourself.

Mickyluv'r, I'm aure our experience with the monorail isn't the norm. People wouldn't love the monorail resorts if it was. It's something that just sticks with me though. You know, you forget all the times transportation went right and just remember the one time things went wrong .

It’s so funny, I always say the ONLY time I’m a morning person is at Disney. My partner is the same way. I’m a night owl and work hybrid, getting up at 6 am hating the entire world is my default on office days. But at Disney we are chipper princesses before the sun is even up those midday siestas are key for us though, which is why I think the quiet of the garden wing will be better for us.

 

[Chuckers]

It’s so funny, I always say the ONLY time I’m a morning person is at Disney. My partner is the same way. I’m a night owl and work hybrid, getting up at 6 am hating the entire world is my default on office days. But at Disney we are chipper princesses before the sun is even up those midday siestas are key for us though, which is why I think the quiet of the garden wing will be better for us.

I rope drop and then after lunch I go back to the hotel and nap.. then I park hop to the park where I am having dinner.