The ALL NEW Disney's Contemporary Resort & Bay Lake Tower FAQ with PICs! (July 2011)

[AirGoofy]

We are staying at BLT in October in a Deluxe Studio Lake View. We rented points. I have a couple of questions if anyone can help:

1. DH is paraplegic. There is little BLT info on the Disabilities threads. Anyone know if a Deluxe Studio will be big enough for DH, me and DD (7)? His wheelchair is manual but needs to be by the bed at all times. Our first trip we stayed in a Handicapped Accessible room at the Poly and had no space issues.

2. Are we eligible to use the Top of the World Lounge? I have saw several posts and still are confused.

3. Is the trip from BLT to the monorail a long walk?

4. Does the walk from BLT to MK have a dedicated path for wheelchairs? I'm imagining stroller vs ECV vs wheelchair wars..

5. My research using the boards shows 8014 as the only Deluxe Studio with a roll in shower. How hard is it to get a room request honored and can you be that specific?

I am grateful for any info you can share on the above and anything else anyone can throw in. We are super excited and this will probably be our last trip for quite a while. I want it to be as special as possible!

I cannot answer all of your questions, but if it is just the two of you in the studio and the sleeper couch is not out, there will be plenty of room by the bed for his chair. It did not have a large or heavy coffee table and was easy to move. With the couch out, the chair could be at the foot of the bed, but not enough room to be next to it.

As for TOTWL, like all BLT guests, there is the one elevator that gets you up to the top. I think there were both steps and a ramp built there for all guests, but that is just memory and may be wrong.

It was a short walk to MK. Once you get to the end of the parking lot, you cross the street at the light, and essentially, are where the buses pick up resort guests (other side). As for dedicated walk, i don't think there is one, but that should nit be an issue. You have the sidewalk and exit road from BLT to street, and then on MK side, it is a large walkway.

Have a great trip.

 

[chrismom3]

Has anyone ever rented a cabana at the Contemporary? If so, where are they located and do you have an idea of the cost? Thanks!

 

[amsafko]

HELP! I booked a Garden View room in the South Wing but am thinking about upgrading to the Tower. What are the pros and cons to both? If it helps, my kids are 10, 8, and 5.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Has anyone ever rented a cabana at the Contemporary? If so, where are they located and do you have an idea of the cost? Thanks!

They are located just past their main pool and here is a link with all the information about them.
http://contemporaryresort.net/cabana.html

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

HELP! I booked a Garden View room in the South Wing but am thinking about upgrading to the Tower. What are the pros and cons to both? If it helps, my kids are 10, 8, and 5.

The pros is you would be an elevator ride away from their stores, restaurants, transportation options and etc. Plus all their Tower rooms come with a guaranteed full size balcony.

The cons would be they are obviously more expensive and if noise is a problem then you might risk getting a room over Chef Mickey's and here that celebrate song they play every half hour when they are open. You could request a room away from there, however it's only a request and might not happen.

 

[WDWKOOK]

HELP! I booked a Garden View room in the South Wing but am thinking about upgrading to the Tower. What are the pros and cons to both? If it helps, my kids are 10, 8, and 5.

~In the Tower, you would have an unobstructed view of either BL or MK. The views are magnificent. When you walk out of your room, you see down to the 4th floor concourse below and you can see the monorail

~In the GW, the views vary and they only go as high as the 3rd floor. There are no balconies in the GW. All Tower rooms have a balcony. The first floor GW rooms do have patios.

~The Tower is self-contained and everything, except the laundry room, is in it. The laundry room is in the GW.

~The GW rooms are less expensive than the Tower rooms, but they are exactly the same inside as the Tower rooms.

 

[dmband]

They are located just past their main pool and here is a link with all the information about them.
http://contemporaryresort.net/cabana.html

I have been thinking of doing a afternoon on day one of our trip
We arrive at 11:30 to mco, DME to Disney and the rest of the day is free - no parks that day
Was trying to come p with a plan...
Boardwalk, dtd, cabana, mix, something else???
(def want to try and see the water parade since we are night owles and most likely will not be at the cr at the right time any other night)
The cabana just locks me down for a while where the others I can play it by ear more

 

[chrismom3]

They are located just past their main pool and here is a link with all the information about them.
http://contemporaryresort.net/cabana.html

Thanks!!

Has anyone ever rented them and do you think its worth the $ ?

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks!!

You're welcome.

 

[Carrie772]

Has this dropped off the front page? Bumping!

 

[WDWKOOK]

Has this dropped off the front page? Bumping!

Not anymore

(http://disneyfunfactoftheday.blogspot.com/2011/08/tempo-bay-resort-hotel.html)

 

[221HEMT]

There have been a lot of post about what is happening with the 14th Floor at the Contemporary. I just thought I would let anyone interested know. On Thursday March 15th I called for reservations for July 17, 2013 to July 27th, 2013. I had checked before to see what the earliest I could book was and was told 499 days from the last day of our stay (July 27th). With all the confusion with what was going on I would book early so if the 14th floor was closed I could come up with a “Plan B”. I told the WDTC CM that I was calling early because I had heard that the 14th floor was closed. He said “Let me check”.
He then said, “No we have rooms available”. I told him I wanted Room 4909 the 2 bedroom suite (there are 9 of us, Me and DW, DS and 2 DGD, DD and her DH and 2 DGD). He said , “sorry that isn't available” (not sure if I am calling as early as you can why that isn't available). He said all but one suite and the single rooms were taken. The one suite only sleeps 8 (I told him no problem I would sleep on the sofa in the lounge, he wouldn't go for that). So I went with 3 single rooms instead. The bottom line to all this is he didn't seem to know anything about the place being closed and I have received all three confirmations. However one thing does make me nervous about the WDTC CM, when I was talking to him I said something about wanting at least one room with a MK view and he said he would try but couldn't guarantee it. After I talked to him I checked the 14th floor floor plan. They have 5 single rooms, 4 on the MK side and 1 on the BL side. I'm not sure how I could get 3 rooms and not get a MK view if there is only one single room on the BL side. Time will tell.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

There have been a lot of post about what is happening with the 14th Floor at the Contemporary. I just thought I would let anyone interested know. On Thursday March 15th I called for reservations for July 17, 2013 to July 27th, 2013. I had checked before to see what the earliest I could book was and was told 499 days from the last day of our stay (July 27th). With all the confusion with what was going on I would book early so if the 14th floor was closed I could come up with a “Plan B”. I told the WDTC CM that I was calling early because I had heard that the 14th floor was closed. He said “Let me check”.
He then said, “No we have rooms available”. I told him I wanted Room 4909 the 2 bedroom suite (there are 9 of us, Me and DW, DS and 2 DGD, DD and her DH and 2 DGD). He said , “sorry that isn't available” (not sure if I am calling as early as you can why that isn't available). He said all but one suite and the single rooms were taken. The one suite only sleeps 8 (I told him no problem I would sleep on the sofa in the lounge, he wouldn't go for that). So I went with 3 single rooms instead. The bottom line to all this is he didn't seem to know anything about the place being closed and I have received all three confirmations. However one thing does make me nervous about the WDTC CM, when I was talking to him I said something about wanting at least one room with a MK view and he said he would try but couldn't guarantee it. After I talked to him I checked the 14th floor floor plan. They have 5 single rooms, 4 on the MK side and 1 on the BL side. I'm not sure how I could get 3 rooms and not get a MK view if there is only one single room on the BL side. Time will tell.

Thanks for posting that information.

 

[Catira]

We just confirmed a reservation for BLT for our October trip I have a lot of reading to do in this thread but so far all the information is very useful!

 

[princessmorgan]

Hi,

I've been trying to soak in as much information as possible from this thread! DH and I are celebrating our 10th Anniversary and decided to add 2 nights to our trip at the BWV. Luckily there was an opening at BLT at the end of April, so we are able to try it out for the first time! I have 2 questions:

1) Does anyone have any room request suggestions for a Lake View studio? I tried looking at the thread about room views, but I wanted to make a more general request so as not to overwhelm the room assigners

2) Nevermind, found my answer on the page before! Thanks so much!

 

[Wendy31]

Quick question!!

I read on another resort review site that a potential negative to the CR is when you come back, at the end of the day, & get off the monorail, there is a huge rush to the elevators & that it gets crowded & kinda crazy & you can sometimes wait quite a while for an elevator to take you to your room.

Please tell me this isn't so!

 

[Missyrose]

Quick question!!

I read on another resort review site that a potential negative to the CR is when you come back, at the end of the day, & get off the monorail, there is a huge rush to the elevators & that it gets crowded & kinda crazy & you can sometimes wait quite a while for an elevator to take you to your room.

Please tell me this isn't so!

We never had a very long wait for the elevators. The other option (when returning from MK) is to avoid the monorail masses completely and just walk. That way you enter the hotel on the first floor, while the monorail riders are clamoring for the elevators on the 4th floor.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Quick question!!

I read on another resort review site that a potential negative to the CR is when you come back, at the end of the day, & get off the monorail, there is a huge rush to the elevators & that it gets crowded & kinda crazy & you can sometimes wait quite a while for an elevator to take you to your room.

Please tell me this isn't so!

Sometimes during the eveing the elevators in the Tower might be slower which I have experienced myself, however it wasn't because of people coming off the Monorail. It was those guests leaving California Grill and causing a lot of the elevators to be full and it meant waiting for another one that you were able to get into.

 

[Wendy31]

We never had a very long wait for the elevators. The other option (when returning from MK) is to avoid the monorail masses completely and just walk. That way you enter the hotel on the first floor, while the monorail riders are clamoring for the elevators on the 4th floor.

Sometimes during the eveing the elevators in the Tower might be slower which I have experienced myself, however it wasn't because of people coming off the Monorail. It was those guests leaving California Grill and causing a lot of the elevators to be full and it meant waiting for another one that you were able to get into.

Thank you both! That does make me feel better!

I'm used to the WL where, once we got off our boat, we just kinda strolled back to our room & didn't feel like we were in a race w/ anyone to get to the elevators! And I didn't want to face a huge line at the elevators!

We do plan to walk back to the CR - especially after the park closing.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thank you both! That does make me feel better!

I'm used to the WL where, once we got off our boat, we just kinda strolled back to our room & didn't feel like we were in a race w/ anyone to get to the elevators! And I didn't want to face a huge line at the elevators!

We do plan to walk back to the CR - especially after the park closing.

You're welcome and I was happy to help.