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Hello community, just to continue to drive myself crazy I am looking at the contemporary, mainly because of the ease of MK and monorail options for epcot. Anyone have information/opinions about contemporary? I will have an almost three year old. Thanks so much for any opinions. I really wan this to be great trip.
I really like it! It's my favorite MK area resort. It's great to be able to walk to the MK. The monorail is having lots of downtime this year, so keep that in mind. And getting back from Epcot actually is kind of a hassle because it requires a train change at the TTC, then Contemporary is the last stop. It takes a good 30-45 minutes.
I like the Contemporary but not quite as much as Natalie. If you are spending most of your time at the Magic Kingdom, you can't be walking there.
Of all the monorail resorts I find the monorail at the Contemporary to be the least user friendly when you have a young child. The entry is up a floor and you need to use the small elevator when you have a stroller. I agree with Natalie on taking the Monorail to Epcot. It is not hard but you do have to change and it takes awhile. The Poly has the easiest access to the Epcot monorail since you can walk but I don't know that I'd recommend it with the construction.
Overall the rooms are very nice and they are large but for me the theme of the Contemporary just doesn't do it. I don't dislike it but I like the more lushly landscaped properties better.
On the kid side, we stayed at Bay Lake Towers when my kids where probably 3 & 5 and a tower room at the Contemporary when my kids were 4 & 6. They loved booth resorts but for some reason give the edge to BLT. I should add that my kids have pretty much loved every resort that we've ever stayed at but my 8 year old still talks about how much he loved it there.
Thanks so much. AgentC thank you for letting me know about those things, they can add up to a lot of hassle when you have a toddler in tow. I'm really leaning toward going back to my bc/yc area.. I think we would like to be back there in the evenings. Maybe we'll save the mk area for when he is a bit older but not too old. Thank you!
We love the Contemporary. You really can't beat the convenient walk to the Magic Kingdom.
We had an MK view that was memorable at night My DD5 slept on the couch/bed and could fall asleep watching the castle changing colors. We walked to the MK several times as it was only 5-7 minutes away. On the theming-our DD5 asked if it was the airport when we pulled up-not very Disney-like but how many hotels have a monorail going thru the middle of it?.:tink:
I've stayed at Bay Lake Tower twice, thanks to friends who are DVC members, and loved it! Walking to/from the Magic Kingdom is super-easy and actually a nice stroll at the end of the evening. I prefer walking from the Contemporary to the MK since with the monorail you have to stop at the TTC, Polynesian and Grand Floridian on the way to MK. Of course using the monorail to travel from the MK to the Contemporary was a lot quicker, but it didn't seem worth detouring to the monorail station when we could walk back just as quickly. I didn't think that it took too long to switch to the Epcot monorail at the TTC--usually just 5-10 minutes extra.
I know the modern, minimalist decor of the resort is not everyone's cup of tea, but personally I like it much better than, say, the decor at the Grand Floridian. About the only negative I have is that the restaurant options are so-so. I am not a fan of Chef Mickey's and the system in place at the counter-service place (Contempo Cafe) seemed disjointed and a little odd. But the Wave was a pleasant and unexpected favorite. Of course, if you stay at Yacht or Beach Club you have access to all the wonderful restaurants in the World Showcase. That is a huge plus, in my opinion. :)
Oh, if it's between Contemporary and the YC/BC, the Epcot resorts win, hands down, IMO. Our kids like the Beach Club the most of all the resorts we've tried.
I liked it, the rooms were very spacious, and we had a tower room facing MK so it was awesome to watch fireworks at night from the balcony. You cannot beat the ease of getting to the MK as well as restaurants at the other MK resorts. Transport to all other parks, however, left a lot to be desired on our last trip there. The transport to EPCOT is a tad bit cumbersome as others have said, and it just seemed like the buses to other destinations were not as frequent as I would have liked for the money I was paying.
Did I enjoy the stay? Absolutely! Would I rush to stay again? Nah...if I were to spring for deluxe rates I think I would look elsewhere first.
We enjoyed our stay at CR. It was our first WDW trip as a family & DD was 5. We stayed Atrium CL & I would lie in bed & watch the castle change colors. We watched the MK fireworks from our balcony a couple of nights. We enjoyed walking to & from MK. The move from the resort monorail to EPCOT monorail wasn't a negative for us, but we didn't have a stroller. Chef Mickey's was good, Contempo Cafe was fine. CR will always be special to us, but my bucket list is to stay at all WDW resorts! Two down, many to go.:)
We love it, just the fact that you can walk to MK makes it our number 1. I've stayed at lots of resorts there over the years, and for our upcoming trip were headed back there once again!
We loved it. Rooms are sleek and stylish. So beautifully decorated. Staff was honestly top notch (with the exception of one incident). Everyone was so friendly, welcoming, and helpful.
Some say it's not "Disney enough." To each his own, but I've never felt more immersed in the magic than I was watching the monorail enter the building. I LOVE this resort.