Questions about the Contemporary

[AliBite]

Hi everyone!

I had a couple of questions about the Contemporary (we're staying there next week)-

Where's the best place to eat near/in the resort? Outside of the Californian?

We're staying in the Garden Wing, can we use any of the pools in the Contemporary resort?

How long of a walk is it from Garden Wing to the monorail? and to Magic Kingdom?

Thank you!

 

[stevehousse]

Hi everyone!

I had a couple of questions about the Contemporary (we're staying there next week)-

Where's the best place to eat near/in the resort? Outside of the Californian?

We're staying in the Garden Wing, can we use any of the pools in the Contemporary resort?

How long of a walk is it from Garden Wing to the monorail? and to Magic Kingdom?

Thank you!

It takes a good 5-10 minutes to get to the monorail from there, depending on where exactly ur room is and due to the use of elevators to get to the monorail.

Depending on how fast you and your party walk, it's about a 15-20 minute walk, again, really depends on how slow or fast you walk...

As for dining, all of the restaurants around the monorail loop are great! Kona Cafe and Ohana are both really good, located at the Poly...any of the signatures at Grand Floridian are great too!

 

[englanddg]

Hi everyone!

I had a couple of questions about the Contemporary (we're staying there next week)-

Where's the best place to eat near/in the resort? Outside of the Californian?

Chef Mickeys. The Wave isn't bad, and there's also a QS place just outside of Chef Mickeys.

We're staying in the Garden Wing, can we use any of the pools in the Contemporary resort?

Yes.

How long of a walk is it from Garden Wing to the monorail? and to Magic Kingdom?

Depends on your party. The entrance to MK is about a quarter mile to a half mile away depending on where you are in the resort, so that would take 5 - 10 minutes.

The walk to the monorail is far less, but you may be stuck waiting on it to arrive. It's faster to walk, if you don't mind missing the experience of riding the monorail. Also, the resort loop monorail uses Contemporary as its first stop, so that means you'll have to go through Poly and Grand Floridian and all the way around Bay Lake before debarking.

Yep, faster to walk to get there. But, if you can catch it on the way back, it's very nice!

 

[zurgandfriend]

You're on the monorail so you have some great restaurants a ride away, Kona Cafe, Grand Floridian cafe, Narcoossee's, Citrico's 1900 Park fare and in your resort Chef Mickey's. A bot ride away over at the Wilderness Lodge you have Whispering canyon and Artist Point.

 

[AliBite]

Thanks for the help guys! The maps are a little confusing.

 

[zurgandfriend]

To answer your other questions ;

Yes you can use any poll.

It's about a 10 minute walk to the lobby. There are side dos you can exit the garden wing and cut across the pool area to shorten the walk. We like to stay at the very end of the garden wing facing the lake. It's less noisy and has a beautiful view. Hope this helps.

 

[Tuvalu]

@AliBite, Just a head's up ~ all of the restaurants mentioned above (with the exception of the Contempo Cafe, the quick service location) are very popular and usually require a reservation. Do some research on the Disney site if you plan to eat in one of them and check for availability ASAP. I don't want you to be frustrated/disappointed when you arrive next week and discover they are not taking walk-ups.

 

[AliBite]

Thank you, I already have reservations for the Californian, Wave, and a few others scattered through the parks. I'm just trying to find convenient breakfast/lunch/snack places

 

[EOD K9]

Contempo Café is uber convenient.

 

[slappy magoo]

I know other people have said you can use "any" pool in the Contemporary, but I don't think that's true. Only people staying in the Bay Lake Tower at Contemporary resort are technically allowed to use the BLT pool, though people staying at BLT can go use the other Contemporary pools.

If you have average strength and stamina (and feet) it will almost always be faster to walk from any part of Contemporary - even the Garden Wing rooms - to MK than it would be to walk to the monorail station and ride the rest of the way. Going back, it's an either-or scenario depending on when the next monorail happens by, but going there? If you can walk, walk.

For "convenient" places to eat, it seems that Kona Cafe at Poly and Grand Floridian Cafe at GF (I know, no duh) tend to be popular, yet not so popular that it's hard to get into them, especially at lunch time. If you don't have reservations for The Wave for Breakfast, they have a buffet that's supposedly expansive and good. You can also always take a ferry over to Fort WIlderness for their buffet, or to Wolderness Lodge for either the Whispering Canyon Cafe or Artist Point, two restaurants we've dearly enjoyed. Certainly wouldn't go out of my way to go to any of the other food courts, but if you happen to be in those resorts when hunger hits, then it's not an awful idea either...except for maybe WL's court, it's way too small and hard to maneuver through.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The walk time varies on where your room is and how fast you normally walk. We had a room in the garden wing once that was near the beach and it was never more than a 5 min walk to the monorail unless one of the kids stopped to look at something.

As for where to eat, a lot of table service spots book up well in advance. If you're looking for TS meals, I'd go on the dining website now and try seeing what's still open. You might even want to stalk a bit if there's something you decide you really want. If you're just planning on quick service, you've got Contempo right there in the hotel. The Wave at the Contemporary is probably going to be the only TS meal at the hotel that's a fairly easy walk up.