Contemporary Tower room - not a happy experience

[grumpy's fan]

Just returned from a few nights at the Contemporary in a Tower room and am very disapppointed. We were on 7th floor, bay/pool view right above Chef Mickey's. We had very loud pool noise until after 1am every morning (even though the pool is supposed to close at midnight) and then Chef Mickey's opens at 730am every morning with loud music, bells and whistles which occurs every 30 minutes thereafter. Plus, they are remodeling the rooms right above us from 9a-5pm daily. So my DD (4yrs old) and I wouldn't get to sleep until after 1am then we'd wake up with Chef Mickey noise at 730am and couldn't even nap during our daily break with all the jackhammering above us. Did speak with hotel staff on two occasions but they were not helpful or even sympathetic with our situation.Their only comments were that "Yes, Chef Mickey's is loud in the morning, but we can't ask them to close can we???" We'd spend a few hours in the park and my DD would ask to go back to the hotel to nap! Poor thing! She loves WDW and really didn't get to enjoy it much this trip! I'd had enough after 3 nights and we came back home early. We did have a fantasic mousekeeper who did a great job on the room and left my DD towel animals every day!

If you plan to stay at the contemporary in a tower room, I'd ask for a room over the stores on the 4th floor and far away from the restaurants!

 

[JulyGirl]

Sorry about all of the noise. Was the hotel at full capacity? They should have offered to move you if rooms were available.

 

[ducklite]

It seems that there have been a lot of complaints from people getting back from a July 4th trip. I think that having the resorts and parks filled to capacity has really taxed the infrastructure and cast at WDW. I know they've had a terrible time hiring enough bodies this year, and have relaxed a LOT of the standards they used to have just to get people who could fog a mirror in the door.

What I don't think they are realizing is that they need to pay better to get better quality CM's. They'd be better off paying a little more than losing guests over the lack of service that lower paid staff is going to offer.

Anne

 

[grumpy's fan]

Yes my understanding is that the hotel was full, however when I spoke to CM's regarding the problems they never accessed the computer to even look for additional space, they simply agreed that it was quite loud in our room.

I'm sure the busy summer months take a toll on all CM's in the parks and at the resorts. At least I know not to book us in at the Contemporary again - maybe we'll stay offsite next time and give that a try. We really don't use the EMH much and I don't mind driving to/from the parks so staying offsite won't really burden us.

 

[DVCLiz]

I'd try some earplugs before I went all the way off-site!!!!

 

[kaceyisme]

We had the same problem with pool noise two years ago, and we were on the 9th floor. The noise would go on forever, way into the night. What was so annoying was the screaming at the top of their lungs that was going on by the pool. It was almost like the people were trying to make as much noise as they possibly could. It certainly put a damper on our trip. The noise from Chef Mickey didn't really impact us. Unless we stood right next to the door, we couldn't hear it.

I would definitely recommend requesting a room on the other side, above the stores.

 

[CLEO Z]

We were in the CR's North Garden Wing July 10-16 and loved it! (See my CR review) I stayed in the Tower in 2000 and do recall it being a little noisier. Next time I return I am going to try for the North wing.

Some of the inflexiblitly in moving guests may have been due to the fact that the entire South Wing is closed for rehab. Made the pool a lot less crowded.

 

[OntFamily]

We had very loud pool noise until after 1am every morning (even though the pool is supposed to close at midnight) /QUOTE]

The pool at CR is open 24 hours per day (lifeguards are not present at all hours, but guests are allowed to use the pool at any hour.


Did you ask the front desk for a new room? Not trying to be snarky, but the front desk person may not have realized you'd like another room (they may be like most of us sometimes -- not fully realizing another option to fix the problem).

Plus, if the hotel was full (as you mentioned in a post) the front desk person may have realized this, and knew it was hopeless to look in the computer for another room.

 

[tiggersmom2]

It seems that there have been a lot of complaints from people getting back from a July 4th trip. I think that having the resorts and parks filled to capacity has really taxed the infrastructure and cast at WDW. I know they've had a terrible time hiring enough bodies this year, and have relaxed a LOT of the standards they used to have just to get people who could fog a mirror in the door.

What I don't think they are realizing is that they need to pay better to get better quality CM's. They'd be better off paying a little more than losing guests over the lack of service that lower paid staff is going to offer.

Anne

Great post and ITA! I would also like to add that we don't stay in the Tower b/c we DID have a problem with noise some years back. I LOVE the wings and can't wait to go back to my first floor patio room!!!!

 

[noopy]

I guess we were lucky! We stayed in the CR Tower on the 7th floor in June. We were directly above Chef Mickeys, lake view side, and didn't hear any noise unless we stood next to our door. Some people were noisy in the pool, but were gone by midnight, and it didn't happen every night. One evening, I found a nice station on the radio and we fell asleep to the music. It drowned out the pool sounds.
We would do it again in a heartbeat! The view, especially the sunrise, and the Electrical Water Parade made the room worth it. I can't wait to see the new rooms, too! Staying off site doesn't compare a bit to the convenience of the monorail and the excitement at the CR! I would give it another chance!

 

[missypie]

Were we at the same hotel? We had a 5th floor bay side room, right above Chef Mickeys. We didn't hear pool noise, didn't hear chef Mickey's noise. I will admit that we were up pretty early in the morning. I was concerned that it would be noisy, but once the door was closed, the only noise we heard was toilets flushing in the adjacent rooms.

 

[CernyJ]

During a trip several years ago we had a problem with extremely loud guests in the room above us. This was at the Contemporary. My wife complained at the desk and they moved us and upgraded our room.

 

[dznyntnh]

I guess that's part of doing your homework and knowing what things you might be more sensative to than others.

I'm an early rise, so the noise at Chef Mickey's would have no effect on me and I sleep with headphones (so I don't hear anything). But if I were someone who was more sensative to noises, I might not book the CR Towers cuz given the way it's built the noise can tend to carry.

Unfortunately, when your there during a very busy time, there may not be an option of moving rooms.

 

[Mom of Sleepy Bashful and BabyDoc]

Sorry to hear about all the noise. That is a definate bummer.

But..........if I've heard/said it once, I've heard/said it a million times on these boards...............I love traveling with my fan or some kind of "white noise" machine. That might not have been enough for the afternoon jack-hammering, but it would have helped at night with pool noise.

My family laughs at me when we walk into a resort/hotel with my fan and I just smile knowing that at least we will all get a good nights rest.

Not picking on you Grumpy's fan, but hoping to help the next guy. Sorry again that your trip was less than magical.

 

[cfewell]

okay, we have reservations for the Tower at the Contemorary, mind you we do not spend a lot of time in our room, is it worth it to be close to everything or would it be better to change my room to one of the wings? Is the walk a long way? I am just curious cause besides saving the extra money on the room, I dont want to spend all that extra money to stay in the tower and end up unhappy. Any info. would be great. Thanks

 

[Tigger_Magic]

cfewell -- Our family stayed at the CR on the 12th floor last November. We had a Bay Lake view room, right over Chef Mickeys. With the door closed, we could not hear anything -- not the monorail, not Chef Mickeys. In fact, I can't recall hearing other rooms toilets (and Disney has those super-turbo flush models now). We also heard nothing from the pool -- however, we were there in VALUE season and after the sun went down the pool was not very crowded. It was used, as was the slide -- but we heard no noise at all.

We loved being in the Tower (our first time) -- close to everything. Just an elevator & escalator ride to the monorail -- a hop, skip and jump to Chef Mickey's or shopping... it was GREAT! My 2 DDs loved to sit on the balcony when we came back to the room.

 

[SoosieQ]

We had stayed in the Tower last year on the MK side. We had no issues except with the family next to us that had a pizza party in their room a couple of nights. We finally called the front desk and they sent someone up to the room. Maybe if you requested MK side?

 

[grimley1968]

Yes my understanding is that the hotel was full, however when I spoke to CM's regarding the problems they never accessed the computer to even look for additional space, they simply agreed that it was quite loud in our room.

I'm sure the busy summer months take a toll on all CM's in the parks and at the resorts. At least I know not to book us in at the Contemporary again - maybe we'll stay offsite next time and give that a try. We really don't use the EMH much and I don't mind driving to/from the parks so staying offsite won't really burden us.

I'm sorry you had a bad time there. I've never stayed at CR (it just doesn't appeal to me at all), so I can't debate what you say about CR.

Question, though: Why go all the way offsite? Disney has tons of other resorts choices to try. CR happens to be one of the loudest resorts they offer. If you care about being onsite with all its amenities, I'd simply look at their other offerings to find something a little less noisy. Most of the places that are quieter are also substantially less expensive than CR.

 

[cfewell]

we are going the first week of Dec. so I doubt there will be any traffic at the pool, though I guess somebody will be down there freezing LOL. I feel terrible that your trip was so awful and that it seems that you got treated rudely. We have always had such good service at all the resorts we were out and were treated like we were the only guest. Mind you we have not been since 2003. So hopefully since we are going at an off season time and it will be so cold, maybe it wont be as bad as you had it. I am still thinking about going to a wing room though (probably wont but still in the back of my mind)

 

[goin2disneyagain]

I am sorry that you and your DD didn't enjoy your stay. Just as a side note, have you ever tried a sound machine to drown out the noise so you both can sleep? Don't know if it would have helped with that much noise though.