Disney's Contemporary Resort: Overrated
Written: Dec 12 '01 (Updated Jun 15 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: walk to the Magic Kingdom, marina offers excellent selection of activities
Cons: lack of themeing, no toddler pools, Garden Wing rooms are inconvenient to monorail
The Bottom Line: Unless you're willing to pay more for a Tower room, the monorail is not convenient. Take away that, and the resort isn't spectacular compared to other options at Disney World.
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| AliventiAsylum's Full Review: Disneys Contemporary Std |
The Contemporary Resort located adjacent to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is typically a resort which many day guests dream of staying at.
Trust me, you are not missing much.
The impressive A-frame hotel is the one with monorails whizzing through the lobby, giving a futuristic appearance to the resort which separates the Seven Seas Lagoon from Bay Lake. To access the hotel, you will need to drive through the parking lot booths of the Magic Kingdom, staying completely to the right. Valet parking is available for $6 per day, or there is free self-park for resort guests and diners.
Upon entering the lobby of the Contemporary Resort, you are greeted by the feeling of a very stream-lined, city-like feel. Marble floors and walls are cream-colored and sparsely decorated, except during the Holiday Season when poinsettia wreaths tastefully adorn the walls. The castmembers who check in guests are helpful and pleasant, as are the vast majority of Disney's workers.
On the fourth floor of the Tower is the Concourse which contains a variety of shops and full-service restaurants, as well as access to the monorail.
ROOMS
There are over 1,000 rooms in the Tower and Garden Wings. The rooms are some of the most spacious around at 436 square feet. We found there to be more than enough space for us with a king-size bed and a portable pack-n-play crib (supplied by the Contemporary Resort). We rolled our full-size stroller into the room and never bothered to close it, not feeling that it diminished the space in the room. The rooms also contain a daybed in the sofa.
The room is decorated either very modern or in 70's kitsch, depending on how you look at it. Bold colors and shapes dominate. The bathroom is done in white and black marble. The one drawback is that while the sink and shower are separate from the toilet, you still cannot have someone taking a shower and another washing up at the double-sinks at the same time.
The television service seems to have included quite a few more channels devoted to your vacation since the last time we were there. Schedules for showtimes, as well as promotion for Disney's Vacation Club and other extra-curricular activities such as Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and E-Ride Night are available around the clock, as well as a wide selection of cable channels. USA Today is delivered every morning during the week to your doorstep.
Concierge rooms are available on the 12th and 14th floors in the Tower. Suites are available in both the Tower and Garden Wings.
Our room on the third floor of the North Garden Wing offered a nice view of Space Mountain and - if we leaned out far enough - a view of the fireworks behind the Castle. The rooms with double beds can hold five people plus a toddler in a crib.
FOOD
Next to the check-in desk in the lobby is the Food -n- Fun Center. This contains a Food Court with very limited selections. It was mostly good for snacks and burgers or hot dogs. The "fun" here refers to an arcade that will keep teens and pre-teens entertained for quite some time.
On the fourth floor is the Concourse Steakhouse. As its name depicts, it serves steaks for dinners, and burgers for lunch. We ate there on our first afternoon for lunch and found the burgers to be fine, though I have tasted better - and at a much lower price. Lunch for the two of us was about $30.
Chef Mickey's is next door Concourse Steakhouse. For breakfast and dinner, there is a huge buffet selection. For breakfast, the entertainment consists of Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Pluto and Goofy. At dinnertime, Donald Duck replaces Pluto. The garlic mashed potatoes here are to die for and the fresh-carved prime rib is also delicious. There is also a "kiddie section" for the less-adventurous eaters among us. At breakfast, i found the cheese grits to be absolutely to die for. Everything was fresh and delicious.
On the 15th floor of the Tower is the California Grill. This serves trendy California fare as the name implies and can be quite pricey. We have never dined there. On that same floor is the Outer Rim Cocktail Lounge. The one night I went up to watch the fireworks from there, Michael Eisner and Regis Philbin were dining at the California Grill, so I couldn't get there. There is also a catwalk which goes outside of the building for fireworks viewing accessible from this floor.
Out by the pool is the Sand Bar which offers a variety of snacks as well as drinks. I particularly liked their frozen drinks, and the bartender was quite friendly and a real pleasure to sit and chat with.
Room service is also available from a limited menu.
For a view of recent menus from any restaurant at Disney World, please see http://wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm
ACTIVITIES
As with any Disney Resort, the Contemporary Resort has a pool with a slide. The pool is in the shape of a hidden Mickey, but other than that is unthemed. The pool goes from 3 to 5 feet deep, and there is no other kiddie pool. This was a problem for us being there with our eighteen month old (the area where the toddler pool used to be is now a playground). Around the pool are two jacuzzis, both of which I found to be extremely warm. There is another pool that has no posted lifeguards towards Bay Lake from the main pool area. Generally this pool is quieter than the other. We found the lifeguards to be very attentive and they did check to make sure our toddler was wearing a "swimming diaper".
Near the North Garden Wing is Disney's Racquet Club which also contains the Tennis Center. There are six lighted clay courts available, as well as a fitness center.
The marina offers more than just boat transportation to Disney's Wilderness Lodge and Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort. Water Mice, those small one or two-man boats that are often seen jetting across the Seven Seas Lagoon are available for rental here at about $30 for an hour or $20 for a half-hour. Pontoon cruises, parasailing, waterskiing, sailboats, and fishing excursions can also be booked here.
In the evening there is a great view of the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. We were fortunate enough to be there on a night when there was a fireworks exhibition going on and saw an extra show that was twenty minutes long and contained quite a number of fireworks. The Electrical Water Pageant also runs in the evening and about 9:45 you can catch it from the marina area on Bay Lake.
OTHER AMENITIES
Laundry Service is offered. Package delivery is available from any park to one of the Shops on the 4th floor of the Tower Concourse. The Mousketeer Clubhouse offers activities for children ages 4 through 12 (extra charge) so parents can enjoy a night out alone if they so choose.
TRANSPORTATION
There is a path from the Contemporary Resort to the Magic Kingdom. I thought this was *wonderful*. It was a short, 5 minute walk and was a great way to start the day - especially after a filling breakfast.
The monorail service runs from the Contemporary Resort to the Transportation and Ticket Center. From there, you will need to change to a different monorail should you wish to get to EPCOT. If you stay on the same monorail, it will take you around the circle to Disney's Polynesian Resort, Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and, finally, to the Magic Kingdom. All in all, it takes about 20 minutes to make a complete circle. Monorail service begins at about seven in the morning and continues until about 11 PM, or later if the Magic Kingdom is open later for any reason.
Disney bus service is available from a bus stop just outside of the entrance to the Contemporary Resort to the water parks, Disney-MGM Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island. Upon check in, you can inquire about opening and closing times for the various parks. The general rule of thumb is bus service begins one hour prior to park opening time and ends about one hour after park closing.
OUR THOUGHTS
I think the monorail service in the Contemporary Resort is overrated. Takin it to EPCOT mean taking an elevator down from our third floor garden wing room, walking to the elevators in the Tower, taking that up to the fourth floor, then taking another elevator to the fifth floor monorail station. (There is an escalator available, but we had a stroller with us). This also deterred us from using the monorail to go to the Magic Kingdom as well as returning using the monorail. The path was much easier.
Tower rooms have easier access to the monorail, but there is the noise factor as it can be noisy from the Concourse area.
I also found that the package delivery to the shops, rather than to the room, to also be a pain. I just refrained from buying things, since I didn't want to lug them around the park, or take the time out of my day to trek to the shop and back when I'd rather be swimming.
Our room was fine, and the size was a big plus. But there is not the usual themeing we've come to expect from Disney in recent years. True, this was the resort that was built along with the Magic Kingdom, but I think if you're in a Garden Wing Room, it's nothing really special.
We had gotten a great Annual-Passholder rate of $139 a night (normally $224 a night during the off-season). I don't know if I'd even pay that again to stay in the Garden Wing. I much preferred staying at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, and could probably have gotten a similar -if not cheaper - rate there.
I thought the food court lacked any real variety. The food courts at Disney's Moderate resorts offer a much better selection. Room service offered no real appetizers. One night we though we'd just order in some potato skins or buffalo wings, but nothing that was on the menu in our room.
To me, there are better resorts with better amenities and themeing to stay at while at Disney, especially at these prices. The Tower rooms might be a lot more convenient, however, I don't know if I'd pay about $100 more a night for the convenience and a 50-50 chance at a view of the Magic Kingdom.
More Disney World reviews:
Blizzard Beach Water Park
Typhoon Lagoon Water Park
Downtown Disney
Disney's Wilderness Lodge
Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort
Disney's Port Orleans Resort
Disney's All-Star Sports Resort
Boma Flavors of Africa
50's Primetime Cafe
Trail's End Restaurant
© 2001 Patti Aliventi
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