change from WL to Contemporary?

[csamom]

Hi, my family is planning a trip to Disney this September, and we are staying at the Wilderness Lodge for the first time. Now, I'm wondering if I shouldn't pay the extra $40 or so per night to upgrade to the Contemporary, so we could enjoy the monorail and the extra room. I'd love to hear your opinions!

Our last trip was at the Grand Floridian, which I loved, but it's just out of our budget right now. I am a huge Disney fan and am sure I will love staying at either, but I'd appreciate your opinions on which resort makes you feel more "Disney". Does the convenience of the monorail outweigh the "blandness" of the Contemporary?

Thanks so much! I just can't wait to return to the happiest place on earth.
Ashley

 

[LilGMom]

We have stayed at CR and WL and I would pick WL over CR any day! I absolutely love the WL and really hated our stay at the CR.

At the CR we stayed in the North Garden Wing (the one they just demolished) and while it did have a good sized room and being on the monorail was nice I was less than impressed with the service at the front desk, the food court wasn't very good and the paper thin walls were awful. We stayed there before the rooms were remodeled so the 70's decor wasn't that thrilling to look at either.

The WL has always been a very relaxing stay and just feels homey as soon as we walk in. We love the WCC for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And being able to hop onto boat for a nice short and relaxing ride to the MK is a plus too. It kinda gets us pumped up when we come around the bend by the CR and see the castle in the distance and in the evening it is a nice wind-down trip for the kids.

Either resort will surround you in the Disney magic it just depends on which 'feel' you want to have when you go back to your resort.

 

[Home@WL]

I think you'll find this thread helpful.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

If you have not stayed at the Contemporary before I think you should and if it's an extra $40.00 to upgrade, I would do it. Since you said you stayed at the Grand Floridian before I don't need to explain how great it is staying at a Resort on the Monorail line. What I can say is the Contemporary has a walkway to the Magic Kingdom, which is something no other Walt Disney World Resort Hotel has. Finally the renovated rooms at the Contemporary are simply amaizing and not as dark as the rooms in the Wilderness Lodge.

 

[Cookie Princess]

I gotta agree...you can't beat the walk to and from the MK. We love CR!

 

[Kimberle]

I have stayed at both. It depends on who is going and what you "need" from a resort.

The pool areas are much nicer at WL. The main pool is fun, the quiet pool is neat, and there is a baby pool for tot's. There are lots of trees around making it so beautiful and relaxing. There is also a lovely beach area with a nice playground and lots of beach chairs. They also have a bike rental place. During our stay, we spend MUCH more time hanging out at the lodge than we normally do. Also, all rooms are under 1 roof. So if it rains, you don't have to worry about running in the rain to the main building.

If you don't spend much time swimming, then the CR is wonderful. I would only stay in the Tower. We did stay in the South wing when it was still there. It was nice, you could see the FW's from our room. The South wing just seems to far away. Especially when the move the food court upstairs. That's a long way to refill you mugs. It is on the Monorail. The rooms are bigger.

 

[pepe of ohio]

We started alot of stays in the 80's at the CR, always north garden wing and adored the resort. when the WL was built we gave it a try and prefer it more just for the peace and solitude. We are MK fans and enjoy the MK area more than any other place on property. We enjoy going to FW for dining and browsing and the boat from WL is a great escape and the ride to the MK is short and convenient too. CR is good too but we seemed to out grow our fondness for it, big rooms are great but at a price, WL gives us a long stay with the cheaper room rates over CR and we're still only a boat ride away from CR to gain access to the monorail. We do not do commando vacations, stay 10-12 nights so speed is of no importance to us but peace and serenity and the WL does that for us at a good rate.

One other note, CR pool is like a huge hole in the concrete with little shade to get out of the sun, poor themeing to me while the pool at WL is fantastic, trees, shade, huge rocks, waterfalls, really a great place to hang out during the day and even grander to have a dip and cocktail in the evening.

 

[jmkrat]

We stayed at the Contemporary last March and loved it. I was avoiding going because of the look of it too. After being there I wondered what in the heck took me so long to go. It is one of my favorite's. In fact at this point tied with the Boardwalk. I stayed in the tower. The pool was wonderful, the quiet pool being right off the lake was amazing. The water was also like bath water. I rarely get in a pool and I was in this one. It does have a great slide, and you get to watch the para-sailing. In fact, I was scheduled to go the Wilderness for my New Year's Eve trip, and switched it to the Contemporary. The walk to MK and the mono rail are wonderful. Don't let it's look fool you, it is Disney all the way.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We stayed at both and WL wins hands down...the only thing we liked about CR was the monorail. I would forgo that just to stay at WL