(CLOSED) Disney's CONTEMPORARY RESORT and BAY LAKE TOWER INFORMATION THREAD

[KathieSmallwood]

Just back, and had a wonderful time. We stay CL BLV and had a working frig in the room. Can not say enough how great CL was. Everyone was wonderful. Only real disappoint was California Grill but I will post that on restaurant thread.

Laura

I want to hear about the California grill. I have a reservation but thinking about canceling it because to tell you the truth, the menu just doesn't appeal to me. Please do tell

 

[snausman]

I want to hear about the California grill. I have a reservation but thinking about canceling it because to tell you the truth, the menu just doesn't appeal to me. Please do tell

This is what I wrote about CG on the restaurant thread...

I know people will be upset with me but this is my family opinion. W e ate at CG on Friday the 13th. LOVED what they did with the restaurant it is beautiful!

But the food was, well, just not that good at all. First not to wild about the selection of apps they had but we went with the duck in its glory and spicy roll. We loved the spicy K roll it was out of this world. The duck one was just ok and we all love duck. Just was not that great. Than we received our dinner, 2 of us had the fillet and 1 the scallops and the other the 3 pork dinner. The fillets came out wrong, way over cooked. We ordered them rare, and black and blue. My DD who ordered hers black and blue came out rare, and she could live with it but mine came out medium, no where near rare. They did offer to take it back and get me another. The reason I hate this, is that everyone will be done with their dinner or close to when I get mine. But I did have them recook the steak, and of course everyone was done when it finally came out. My SIL scallops where way under cooked and my DH did not have enough.

So over all not a great experience. Watching the fireworks from our table was magical but the meal was not worth 2 dining credits. I know people will be upset with this, and to be honest this broke my heart. I have been going to CG since it was a dinner show. Loved it when it went to CG but this new change, well my family and I are not even sure we will give them a second try. That's how bad it was.

Laura

 

[snausman]

I want to hear about the California grill. I have a reservation but thinking about canceling it because to tell you the truth, the menu just doesn't appeal to me. Please do tell

The new menu was not very appealing to us either. We wish we didn't use 2 dining credits on it. Oh well, live and learn. But this is our opinion only, I am sure there are a lot of people out there that loved it.

Laura

 

[KathieSmallwood]

This is what I wrote about CG on the restaurant thread...

I know people will be upset with me but this is my family opinion. W e ate at CG on Friday the 13th. LOVED what they did with the restaurant it is beautiful!

But the food was, well, just not that good at all. First not to wild about the selection of apps they had but we went with the duck in its glory and spicy roll. We loved the spicy K roll it was out of this world. The duck one was just ok and we all love duck. Just was not that great. Than we received our dinner, 2 of us had the fillet and 1 the scallops and the other the 3 pork dinner. The fillets came out wrong, way over cooked. We ordered them rare, and black and blue. My DD who ordered hers black and blue came out rare, and she could live with it but mine came out medium, no where near rare. They did offer to take it back and get me another. The reason I hate this, is that everyone will be done with their dinner or close to when I get mine. But I did have them recook the steak, and of course everyone was done when it finally came out. My SIL scallops where way under cooked and my DH did not have enough.

So over all not a great experience. Watching the fireworks from our table was magical but the meal was not worth 2 dining credits. I know people will be upset with this, and to be honest this broke my heart. I have been going to CG since it was a dinner show. Loved it when it went to CG but this new change, well my family and I are not even sure we will give them a second try. That's how bad it was.

Laura

Thanks for the info I think maybe we will go for dessert only and save our dining credits.

 

[snausman]

Thanks for the info I think maybe we will go for dessert only and save our dining credits.

Now the desserts were good. Not outstanding but very good.

Laura

 

[mickeynut1]

Just back, and had a wonderful time. We stay CL BLV and had a working frig in the room. Can not say enough how great CL was. Everyone was wonderful. Only real disappoint was California Grill but I will post that on restaurant thread.

Laura

Glad you had a great trip and loved CR CL. We are trying the CR for the first time in December (also staying CL) and I'm excited to try it after reading all the great CL reviews .

the menu just doesn't appeal to me.

I was thinking of booking CG for our December trip as we've never eaten there, but after glancing at the menu, it didn't look appealing to me either .

 

[babyberger]

KOOK. - please change my logorail entry from Feb 1-8 at BLT to Jan 4-6 at CR

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[trishadono]

Does everyone think TPV is worth 150 more/night? Other than Wishes (which I think would be amazing from there), the view doesn't look like much.

I have only paid extra for views rarely. I did go for the VGF lake view because it is RIGHT ON THE WATER!

For CR my first stay was a single night before our BLT 5 nights. I went for it since only one night.

I loved it! Morning coffee listening to the boats, busses , train!

Watching the monorail and SEEING THE CASTLE!

Afternoon coffee, ditto!

Glass of wine at 4:30p on balcony, you guessed it, balcony and castle and sounds.

Sunset is just my favorite as the lights seem to dance across the water .

Then to keep curtains open and peek at castle all night, priceless.

However I have been to dis so many times I spend a lot of time in the room and at the resort in general. If you will be in parks all day then 150 would sure buy a lot of cupcakes, t-shirts, Mickey bars etc

 

[babyberger]

Does everyone think TPV is worth 150 more/night? Other than Wishes (which I think would be amazing from there), the view doesn't look like much.

We LOVE the TPV, however we have not had to pay $150/nt for it. It is usually only around $35-40 more for us. I can tell you I would not pay $150/nt more for it, unless money was no object. But I will say we could not have felt any more immersed in Disney than we did while sitting on our TPV balcony.

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[minniesbiggiestfan]

Has anyone gotten a BB offer? If so what was it

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We'll be checking in for 7 nights at a BLT standard view studio on Sunday! Although, we leave Thursday morning as we're staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek for 3 nights first.

Thanks so much for this thread! It's been very helpful. I hope we love BLT (my Dad loves WL and my husband loves the Poly). My parents got a standard view studio too. Fingers crossed!

 

[WDWKOOK]

Add us to the Logorail! Just booked CR Tower, theme park view for 5/25-6/1/14!!! I've been to WDW too many times to count, am a former CM and have always dreamed of CR TPV. So I'm making it happen! It will be myself, DH and DD4. We will be there a week before DD's birthday.

DD is obsessed with all things Disney. Her Momma has taught her well. Our first family trip to WDW was Jan 2011. We stayed in a family suite at the All Star Music then (AoA wasn't open yet) because the space made sense for us traveling with a 19 month old. We made our first trip to DLR this past May to experience Cars Land. (Lightening McQueen is her best friend, she says.) We stayed at the Grand Californian and were forever spoiled. DH is a very reluctant Disney traveller, and he's all for deluxe now. I'm happy to oblige!

I didn't think I'd be able to get DH back to a Disney vacation so soon, but he was already talking about out next trip by the time we got back from DLR in May. I'm sure the fact that it's all DD talks about helped that a little. It's taking everything I have not to tell DD. She's going to be thrilled but I can't take her asking me about it for the next 250 days!

WOOHOO! I could never keep quiet about a WDW vacation - will you have to spill the beans? Where were you a CM? What a great booking and happy planning!

Those rooms look very nice....thanks for posting (and thanks to LuvMySoldier07 for taking it ).



That's not a bad deal. Have you ever stayed on the 14th floor? I keep seeing "king" and "queen" rooms mentioned for that floor. In the queen rooms, are there 2 queens and a daybed, just 2 queens, or 1 queen and a daybed? Sorry for all of the questions, but I have always wondered about the 14th floor tower club and I'm just trying to understand the differences compared to the 12th floor Atrium club .

No, I've only stayed on the 12th. The rooms are larger on the 14th, but as a PP said, no daybeds.

Does everyone think TPV is worth 150 more/night? Other than Wishes (which I think would be amazing from there), the view doesn't look like much.

The CR's TPV is amazing, however, we personally love the BLV. We prefer not seeing a parking lot below and we love the tranquility of Bay Lake and seeing the EWP. I booked a Tower Room and could have requested a TPV for no additional charge, but I still requested BLV.

Just back, and had a wonderful time. We stay CL BLV and had a working frig in the room. Can not say enough how great CL was. Everyone was wonderful. Only real disappoint was California Grill but I will post that on restaurant thread.

Laura

Great that you had a wonderful CL stay.

This is what I wrote about CG on the restaurant thread...

I know people will be upset with me but this is my family opinion. W e ate at CG on Friday the 13th. LOVED what they did with the restaurant it is beautiful!

But the food was, well, just not that good at all. First not to wild about the selection of apps they had but we went with the duck in its glory and spicy roll. We loved the spicy K roll it was out of this world. The duck one was just ok and we all love duck. Just was not that great. Than we received our dinner, 2 of us had the fillet and 1 the scallops and the other the 3 pork dinner. The fillets came out wrong, way over cooked. We ordered them rare, and black and blue. My DD who ordered hers black and blue came out rare, and she could live with it but mine came out medium, no where near rare. They did offer to take it back and get me another. The reason I hate this, is that everyone will be done with their dinner or close to when I get mine. But I did have them recook the steak, and of course everyone was done when it finally came out. My SIL scallops where way under cooked and my DH did not have enough.

So over all not a great experience. Watching the fireworks from our table was magical but the meal was not worth 2 dining credits. I know people will be upset with this, and to be honest this broke my heart. I have been going to CG since it was a dinner show. Loved it when it went to CG but this new change, well my family and I are not even sure we will give them a second try. That's how bad it was.

Laura

Would you have liked it better had you paid OOP and perhaps used a TiW discount? Thank you for posting your honest review. We've always had mixed feelings about CA Grill, mostly due to the inconsistent service, but the view is always consistently amazing. We still go every visit though, but I am very curious about going after the rehab. I'll be sure and let everyone know what we thought.

KOOK. - please change my logorail entry from Feb 1-8 at BLT to Jan 4-6 at CR

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

Oh, no! What happened to BLT and February? But, you're going sooner, that's good, isn't it?

We'll be checking in for 7 nights at a BLT standard view studio on Sunday! Although, we leave Thursday morning as we're staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek for 3 nights first.

Thanks so much for this thread! It's been very helpful. I hope we love BLT (my Dad loves WL and my husband loves the Poly). My parents got a standard view studio too. Fingers crossed!

You're welcome and if it helps, we loved BLT and we love WL, too. We're a Bay Lake family. Will you be able to check-in with us live? I hope you have a wonderful vacation

 

[princessap]

so we are looking at going to Orlando in February with my inlaws so of course I looked at staying at the CR for a few nights and NOTHING is available...so what did I do???? booked our September trip instead at the CR!!! LOL

I was more disappointed than I thought I would be that I couldn't get it and didn't want the same thing to happen for next year so bit the bullet and did it!!

 

[snausman]

Would you have liked it better had you paid OOP and perhaps used a TiW discount? Thank you for posting your honest review. We've always had mixed feelings about CA Grill, mostly due to the inconsistent service, but the view is always consistently amazing. We still go every visit though, but I am very curious about going after the rehab. I'll be sure and let everyone know what we thought.

We have a TIW card and did use it for the extras that we ordered. And no I would have not like it either way. "Bad food or just plain, not good food" no matter how you pay for it is still not good.

Laura

 

[KathieSmallwood]

I got my invite today to customize my magic bands for our Bay Lake Tower stay October 27th-November 3rd.

 

[snausman]

I got my invite today to customize my magic bands for our Bay Lake Tower stay October 27th-November 3rd.

That's wonderful. We really like using the MB while we were there, it really made everything easy.

Laura

 

[Dancegrl624]

Checked in on Sunday night and everything has been wonderful. I was supposed to be a Standard Garden Wing room but was upgraded to a Tower room with Magic Kingdom view! I am here alone for a conference and I so wish my family could be here with me.

Magic Bands are awesome and no problems at all. Not having to remember my room key is the best. FP+ is great too.

 

[pens4821]

Thank you all for the thoughts on TPV. Still haven't really made up my mind yet. Will wait to see what the discounts bring, then go from there. Would be so nice to see Wishes from the room though.

 

[KathieSmallwood]

Does anyone know if there has ever been offers for upgrades at Bay Lake Tower? Just wondering.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Ok, I think dates are finalized. Could you please add us to the LogORail? We'll be staying at BLT from July 17-24 next year to celebrate our 7 year anniversary of our Disney wedding! (Is it too far ahead to be added?)