Contemporary Resort Info?

21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Just looking for any useful tips/tricks/room requests/must do activities etc etc.

We will be staying in the Tower this year, is my first time since I was a kid, so I'm not too up to date on Contemporary knowledge.

Resort activities that I'm planning on-

Sea Racers.
Marshmallows.
Chef Mickey's.
Launch to WL for dinner.
Monorail to GF for Pirate Adventure Cruise.

Anything else that I should know/do?
Is the lobby always packed?

I'm also a little confused for viewing of the EWP. We have a theme park view room, but obviously there is a parking lot in front instead of a lake. Does this mean we can only see it from the beach? And then go back to our room to watch Wishes?

Thanks in advance!
 
Disney4family

Disney4family

Well-Known Member
Hi -
http://allears.net/acc/g-contemporary-resort-videos.htm
a) EWP & Wishes! - A lot of Guests stand on the Skyway Bridge in between the Contemporary and BLT to watch the EWP and Wishes! They also created a nice viewing area off of the Grand Canyon Concourse to view Wishes! If you do watch it from your room, turn on the tv. They will play the music through one of the channels (20? 22? - ask).
b) Lobby/Grand Canyon Concourse - The lobby isn't always that crowded - it may depend on whether or not a DME bus just showed up. The Grand Canyon Concourse has Chef Mickey's, the Outer Rim bar, the Contempo Cafe (counter-service restaurant), Bay View Gifts, the Fantasia market (like a CVS). CMs also find a safe spot on the carpet to color and play games with children.
http://www.contemporaryresort.net/grandcanyonconcourse.html
c) The Wave/The Cali Grill - two other table-service restaurants available. A lot of people try to book the Cali Grill for Wishes!, but if you save your receipt from your earlier dinner, they will allow you to come back and view from the rooftop.
http://allears.net/dining/menu
(scroll down to the Contemporary Resort Dining Menu)
d) Special Outings - We did the Pirates & Pals Fireworks Voyage from the Contemporary dock
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/e...ary-resort/pirates-and-pals-fireworks-voyage/
e) Walkway - If you don't want to take the monorail resort loop all the way around the lagoon, there is a walkway under the monorail. It's about a 5 min walk to the MK.
https://www.youtube.com/results?sea...+the+contemporary+resort+to+the+magic+kingdom
 
21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Disney4family said:
Hi -
http://allears.net/acc/g-contemporary-resort-videos.htm
a) EWP & Wishes! - A lot of Guests stand on the Skyway Bridge in between the Contemporary and BLT to watch the EWP and Wishes! They also created a nice viewing area off of the Grand Canyon Concourse to view Wishes! If you do watch it from your room, turn on the tv. They will play the music through one of the channels (20? 22? - ask).
b) Lobby/Grand Canyon Concourse - The lobby isn't always that crowded - it may depend on whether or not a DME bus just showed up. The Grand Canyon Concourse has Chef Mickey's, the Outer Rim bar, the Contempo Cafe (counter-service restaurant), Bay View Gifts, the Fantasia market (like a CVS). CMs also find a safe spot on the carpet to color and play games with children.
http://www.contemporaryresort.net/grandcanyonconcourse.html
c) The Wave/The Cali Grill - two other table-service restaurants available. A lot of people try to book the Cali Grill for Wishes!, but if you save your receipt from your earlier dinner, they will allow you to come back and view from the rooftop.
http://allears.net/dining/menu
(scroll down to the Contemporary Resort Dining Menu)
d) Special Outings - We did the Pirates & Pals Fireworks Voyage from the Contemporary dock
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/e...ary-resort/pirates-and-pals-fireworks-voyage/
e) Walkway - If you don't want to take the monorail resort loop all the way around the lagoon, there is a walkway under the monorail. It's about a 5 min walk to the MK.
https://www.youtube.com/results?sea...+the+contemporary+resort+to+the+magic+kingdom
Click to expand...
Thank you so much!! The EWP/Wishes thing is what confuses me the most..because I want to watch wishes from our room.

I am definitely planning on using the walkway! And will prob monorail back.
Really wanted Cali Grill Brunch, but not willing to give up park time for it (MK closes at 7 that day).
The Pirates and pals cruise looks really neat! I definitely would like to do it on a future trip!
 
rob0519

rob0519

Well-Known Member
If you're a coffee drinker there is a decent coffee stand in the lobby. If you have not been to the CR in a number of years, be prepared for the lobby to look more like a Marriott or Hyatt than a Disney property. Other than the cartoons on the TV in the children's waiting area you would not know it's Disney. Same with the rooms. Other than a pillow with Mickey's face and the soap/shampoo items there is no other Disney representation. That being said, you have the best view on the property. You can wake up in the morning and see the Poly, GF and MK all at once. You can hear both the ferry and train whistles as the park comes to life. The only drawback might be the sound of the buses, but for someone that grew up in the city, that's not a big deal for me.
 
MaryJaneP

MaryJaneP

Well-Known Member
We have had the good fortune to stay at CR (North Garden Wing before BLT, South Garden Wing, and Tower) over the years. We have enjoyed EWP from the pools, the beach, and the dock. We think all are preferable to being indoors either side of the resort. Our best Wishes! recommendation would also be outside on concourse 4th floor platform because we think it maximizes comfort (refillable mugs, restrooms, concourse shops nearby) and the music is piped in to speakers there too. MK view room, in our opinion, is best early morning. Night view is good, but not ideal for Wishes! watching. Not helpful to bemoan lost features. We do like The Wave, The Cali Grille, Chef Mickey's and the Contempo Café. We really like having the monorail there too.
 
21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
jrogue said:
I made a post similar to this a few months ago when I booked the Contemporary for the first time. A lot of people responded with some useful info: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/first-time-contemporary-resort.911616/
The #1 best thing I took away from the Contemporary was the ability to walk to and from the MK and not have to rely on any kind of transportation other than my own two feet :)
Click to expand...
Thank you! I am now following that thread as well! :)
rob0519 said:
If you're a coffee drinker there is a decent coffee stand in the lobby. If you have not been to the CR in a number of years, be prepared for the lobby to look more like a Marriott or Hyatt than a Disney property. Other than the cartoons on the TV in the children's waiting area you would not know it's Disney. Same with the rooms. Other than a pillow with Mickey's face and the soap/shampoo items there is no other Disney representation. That being said, you have the best view on the property. You can wake up in the morning and see the Poly, GF and MK all at once. You can hear both the ferry and train whistles as the park comes to life. The only drawback might be the sound of the buses, but for someone that grew up in the city, that's not a big deal for me.
Click to expand...
Definitely a (way too much) coffee drinker, so will add that to my To Do list!!!!
I know a lot of people like the 'over the top Disney theme', but I actually prefer a scaled down version that most of the deluxe resorts have.
That being said, I remember as a kid thinking that the Contemporary rooms were so cool. Now, from the pics I've seen, "Contemporary" would be quite a stretch. I don't love or hate the look.
I'm ok with ferry and train whistles! I actually like it. I've read complaints about that at Poly, but like you said, it all depends on where you have lived.
MaryJaneP said:
We have had the good fortune to stay at CR (North Garden Wing before BLT, South Garden Wing, and Tower) over the years. We have enjoyed EWP from the pools, the beach, and the dock. We think all are preferable to being indoors either side of the resort. Our best Wishes! recommendation would also be outside on concourse 4th floor platform because we think it maximizes comfort (refillable mugs, restrooms, concourse shops nearby) and the music is piped in to speakers there too. MK view room, in our opinion, is best early morning. Night view is good, but not ideal for Wishes! watching. Not helpful to bemoan lost features. We do like The Wave, The Cali Grille, Chef Mickey's and the Contempo Café. We really like having the monorail there too.
Click to expand...
You just wrecked my day :( I actually extended our stay by one night bc it was the only way we could get a TPV room, if I would have done less only lake view was available. Watching Wishes and ordering room service in our PJs is one of my favorite memories of our 2015 trip. As well as kiddos excitement in the morning when he would run to the balcony to see the castle and space mountain. From the sounds of it I could have saved quite a bit of money and gone with the lake view.
I definitely like the fact that the rooms/monorail/restaurants are all under one roof!!!! It's the main reason we are staying there for a winter trip. If cold then I won't have to deal with a hike to refill the mugs.lol
 
jrogue

jrogue

Well-Known Member
21stamps said:
If cold then I won't have to deal with a hike to refill the mugs.lol
Click to expand...
What drove me crazy was being on the 5th floor ... we could walk downstairs the one floor to get to the Contempo Cafe, but we couldn't walk back upstairs and had to take the elevator. :banghead: but hey yeah, at least it was all indoors! :)
 
rob0519

rob0519

Well-Known Member
Being under one roof is good. We stayed at the Garden Wing that was demolished for Bay Lake Tower. It was nice and just a short walk to the main building. Of course at that time the food court was 24 hours, not like now, and it was in the corner of the first floor, not up on four.
 
BrianV

BrianV

Well-Known Member
Ahh...they used to have an amazing arcade on the ground floor. And great soft-serve too. And a movie theater showing all the cartoons that otherwise you couldn't see pre-VCR days. I'm thinking ca. 1980.

Haven't stayed there since about then, but before then it was our go-to hotel. Saw the most amazing show over the seven seas lagoon on July 4, 1976. No show has touched it since anywhere.

Anyway, following since I want to stay there again, but always am too late on the discounts so stay elsewhere where I can get one. (AKL for the first time next...) Have fun !!
 
21stamps

21stamps

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
BrianV said:
Ahh...they used to have an amazing arcade on the ground floor. And great soft-serve too. And a movie theater showing all the cartoons that otherwise you couldn't see pre-VCR days. I'm thinking ca. 1980.

Haven't stayed there since about then, but before then it was our go-to hotel. Saw the most amazing show over the seven seas lagoon on July 4, 1976. No show has touched it since anywhere.

Anyway, following since I want to stay there again, but always am too late on the discounts so stay elsewhere where I can get one. (AKL for the first time next...) Have fun !!
Click to expand...
Same here, haven't been since a child- I think 1991 is the last time I have stayed there. Wow, I'm old.

Re: Discounts- this year our trip is directly scheduled around our DCL cruise, so dates were obviously not flexible. I already knew that Thanksgiving week would be full price, but it looks like the past 5 years have had discounts on our second portion post cruise. Not looking to be the case this year :( I'm trying to be optimistic and hoping that Disney will send me a 30% pin code!!lol I could definitely use it!
 
BigHero4

BigHero4

Well-Known Member
Disney4family said:
a) EWP & Wishes! - A lot of Guests stand on the Skyway Bridge in between the Contemporary and BLT to watch the EWP and Wishes! They also created a nice viewing area off of the Grand Canyon Concourse to view Wishes! If you do watch it from your room, turn on the tv. They will play the music through one of the channels (20? 22? - ask).
Click to expand...

Do they pump the music through speakers if you watch Wishes from the public balcony on the 4th floor? Or on the Skyway Bridge?
 

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