Disney's Contemporary Resort

Considering the high price we paid for the room in this iconic landmark, our stay at this hotel was my biggest dissolution in the last 5 years. Contrary to our expectations we were placed in an annex, far away from the main building, and it felt like we were staying at a one star motel. Not even a bottle of water nor a mini bar in the “suite”. The bathroom smelled of mold and we had to keep the ac at a very low temperature hoping they the smell would go away. I’m never going back there in my lifetime. Read less

Just returned from a 6 night stay here with my husband and 2 small children. We stayed in the garden wing, first floor with a view of the gardens and waterway connection of Bay Lake to Seven Seas Lagoon. The location of this hotel is superb - the Magic Kingdom is our favorite park so we loved the ease of walking to and from the park instead of dealing with the crowds. The monorail is great but to get to the MK you have to go to three other stops before getting to the park, it can be tedious. The lobby is lackluster, compared to other Disney hotels but the rooms were comfortable and the grounds are beautiful. The pool area is nice, although I wish the little kid splash pad was better incorporated with the main pool. My daughter and I both loved the water slide! There is also a waterside pool which seemed to be more of an “adult, quiet pool”, although it isn’t labeled that way. My only complaints - our room wasn’t cleaned or attempted to be cleaned until at least 4 pm everyday which we found frustrating. We would leave the room early for the parks and come back for rest time in the afternoon, back to a dirty room. Several times we asked housekeeping to come back at dinner with fresh towels and to make the beds which they happily did. I wish they would clean the rooms earlier, with your Magic Band, Disney knows where you are at all times, they could easily clean the rooms knowing we were in a park. There was also a strong sewage scent the entire week we were there in the parking lot and walkway to the MK near the hotel, I assume it has something to do with the construction taking place but it was still gross to smell it daily. When you spend this much money, you really don’t want to be smelling sewage, hopefully this is temporary. Overall, a great hotel, we can’t wait for our next Disney vacation! Read less

Words can not express the stay we had here. Wonderful.. no, excellent.. no, great.. no, good..no. MAGICAL.Yes MAGICAL. Chef Mickey was so much fun. The whole family was grinning ear to ear. It made all the adults feel like kids again, and the food was really good. We stayed on the 12th floor. The staff was all wonderful, but the 3 people that just went above and beyond was Jim, Pearl, and Sam. I will start with Jim. The minute we got up to the floor he made sure we had all of our stuff, told us about the park, and talked with us about the room. He was so kind and friendly. Always greeting us and asking how our day was. Just a pleasure to be around. We gave him all big hugs when we left. Now Pearl. I had been at Hollywood Studio, at that point for 15 hours and still going, all day. I was so exhausted Pearl came to my rescue. She had already been talking with my parents for sometime. I was so hungry and thirsty. She grabbed me a drink, and was helping me get my food. Just a sweet lady. My parents loved her too. Now for the cherry. Sam.. You guys are lucky to have her. She helped us out with some extra fast passes, but it wasn't just that she got us something. It was the fact I was trying to plan our day for Magic Kingdom, and we were a group of 6 running behind for our fast pass to Its A Small World. I was upset that we were going to lose out on our time for the ride. She waved that magic wand and moved the time for me. I was so thankful for that. She also talked with us and had some laughs. You know when you meet a person that you were just so glad to have had passing you in your life time. For me it was Sam. It brought me to tears I mean real tears. Family had to hug her too before we left. What a wonderful human being she is. All 3 of them were great. Everyone was wonderful that we came in contact with. I hope that Jim, Pearl, and Sam are given something special for the wonderful experience they gave to our family. Sending ❤️ to you guys. Anyone that reads this look for these 3 people. We definitely want to come back. # MAGIC WAND💓💓👏👏 Read less

We went as a couple but there were many families enjoying their stays at The Contemporary. The magic began when we were greeted by Austin. He checked us in and answered all our questions. He even anticipated questions. This kind of service is exemplary! The room was spectacular with a view of the theme park. There was a nice terrace. The room was immaculate, well appointed and comfortable. It is a big plus that you get the best view. Read less

I stayed at the Contemporary Resort in a tower theme park view room in September 2019 for a 5 night stay. Overall I would highly recommend it with small children, kids with ASD/ADHD, and multigenerational groups. One of the main reasons I picked this hotel is this is the only resort where you can walk to the Magic Kingdom (where we spent most our time since our kids are so young). Of course being on the monorail loop is super convenient, but sometimes it’s even faster to just walk the 10 minutes to or from the park (like on a Halloween/Christmas party night or during EMH or right after fireworks). We were 3 adults traveling with a 1 year old and a 4 year old, who is on the spectrum and has ADHD. My 4 year old can become super impatient and has a hard time waiting and sitting while waiting for things, so being able to just walk with him and stroll my one year old while my older mother waited to take the monorail was really nice. It was also nice to have all the conference space and long halls away from rooms in case my kid needed to run off steam (yes, even after all day at Disney this happened). My mother also stayed at the hotel some afternoons or morning while we were at the park, and this resort offers nice dining for adults, like The Wave, and yoga/trivia during the day if you’re staying with older adults who like to hang back during busier times. Plus, it was super quick for her to meet up with us at the parks later on the monorail loop. You can also easily hit MK early and head back to nap in the hot/busy afternoons then get back quickly in the evenings. Getting to Epcot on the monorail from the hotel is at least 10 mins faster than buses. The buses ran very quickly, but you do share buses with other hotels, so the trip back usually drops off at least 1 other hotel first. It took an hour from walking to the bus station at AK park to getting back to the hotel. But it was only like 25 minutes to get to AK that morning. So going is usually faster, at least with AK. I had some concerns that maybe we should have stayed at one of the family suites at Art of Animation since we had 3 adults and 2 kids, but the room here is rather spacious. We had no trouble with space, even with storing our BOB double stroller without folding it up. And the beds were extremely comfortable, probably MUCH more than a pull out in the family suites. Also, these rooms are larger than some other Deluxe resorts, like wilderness lodge. The theme park view is amazing and you can easily see all the Magic Kingdom fireworks close to the castle and behind it, and there’s a TV channel that pipes in the music (of course it will look different than looking straight on from the castle). If you splurge for this room, you should stay back at least one night to enjoy this benefit. Staying in the main tower means you can easily get to the food court, mug refill stations, and monorail within a few minutes from your room. Garden wing rooms are about a 5-10 minute walk to the food court,etc. These rooms do not have microwaves, so if you’ve got things to microwave for small kids, you have to go to the food court. I do wish they would put microwaves in the rooms or at least had them available for kids with food allergies at request. The only obvious draw back (besides wishing there was hard floor instead of older carpet) I found was the same thing everyone says: the sinks. You get double sinks, which is a must for me traveling with family. But, the sinks do not drain. They look great, but there’s no slope. The are long and flat. So if you’re washing bottles or sippy cups, you seriously need to request extra wash clothes just to wipe the sinks. But this is a small thing. The bathroom is well lit and includes a shower tub combo so it’s easy to bathe small kids. The nice thing about the bathrooms here is that the toilet is in a sliding door alcove off of the bathroom, so you could bathe kids while another adult needs to use the toilet. The room had several USB ports and outlets to charge things. We could charge stroller fans, 3 smart phones, 1 iPad at a time. The TV is a huge flat screen and the rooms has plenty of lighting and good quality curtains that black out light if needed. The balcony is quite long and spacious. We also did our laundry at the laundry facilities, which was very nice. One of my favorite things was to use a snack credit to get a smoothie or huge flavored latte from Contemporary Grounds right in the lobby on my way to walk to MK or get a bus. It’s never busy and is much quicker than getting a smoothie or drink in the park, plus it accepts snack credits. The Wave has local and sustainable foods and a great menu. We went to the Outer Rim lounge too, and I really enjoyed the flatbread and burger and salad I got from Contempo Cafe. I’d say Contempo Cafe is better quality counter service than most of the stuff you get for counter service in the parks. We didn’t go to Chef Mickey or California Grill this time, but I’ve been to both in the past. Overall this was the perfect fit for us. I wasn’t sure if moving from the Garden room to a theme park view tower was worth the extra money just to get free dining, but it turned out really nice, and I do think in the less expensive times (like September) is worth it if you also get free dining or know you’ll take advantage of getting back to the room early and relaxing. Read less