Contemporary or Beach Club?

[Momma_Lanier]

We will be at Disney in 16 days and we plan on booking a free dining bounce back for next September! We have only stayed at Pop and Coronado Springs and we would like to change it up a little and stay deluxe. We are a family of 5 and by time we go next year, kids will be DD8, DD5, and DS3. Magic Kingdom and Epcot are our 2 favorite parks which is why this is a hard decision! Which one is better? We will likely have 1 pool day. We usually rope drop parks and stay till 5ish and go to dinner. We may swim in the evenings, it all just depends. Help me decide, please!!

 

[Christine]

When I made my reservation at the Contemporary and was going back and forth about both resort, the CM said that if the pool was important to me, I should go for the Beach Club. The pool was not important to me and I decided I wanted to be on a monorail resort. So I went with the CR, even though I've always wanted to stay at Beach Club.

One thing you might check out is to see if there's any difference in the square footage of the rooms. I felt the CR was very roomy (we had a balcony/patio) and the bathroom "stall" had it's own door so two people could sort of have some privacy in the bathroom. Not sure how Beach Club is.

 

[Farro]

Beach Club! You can walk to your choice of restaurants at Beach/Yacht, Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin and Epcot - then walk back and for a swim.

 

[ShayBells]

If you’re planning a whole pool day go with beach club. The pool there is like its very own water park. It’s so cool!! And if you enjoy food and wine you’re steps away! But I’ve never stayed at contemporary to compare its worth.

 

[beccasmom]

We love the Contrmporary, but the pools are no great shakes. BC’s pool area is fantastic. However, walking to the MK is a huge convenience (so is walking to Epcot with the BC). I think you’d be happy at either resort and can’t make a bad decision. I think the CR rooms are a bit larger if that matters.

 

[Babsy]

With 16 days, I would do a split stay and see both. You will have the convenience of walking to the MK, then walking to Epcot and DHS. Plus you will spend time in the Storm Along Bay pool at the BC. It is the best of all worlds, IMO.

Oops, sorry! Misread your post. So, how long are you going to be there? Anything over a week, I would still do a split stay. If you want to stay in one resort, I would go with the BC if a fancy pool is important to you. The pool at the CR is nice but pretty plain.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We will be at Disney in 16 days and we plan on booking a free dining bounce back for next September! We have only stayed at Pop and Coronado Springs and we would like to change it up a little and stay deluxe. We are a family of 5 and by time we go next year, kids will be DD8, DD5, and DS3. Magic Kingdom and Epcot are our 2 favorite parks which is why this is a hard decision! Which one is better? We will likely have 1 pool day. We usually rope drop parks and stay till 5ish and go to dinner. We may swim in the evenings, it all just depends. Help me decide, please!!

If swimming is a priority, I would choose BC. The CR pool is in desperate need of a rehab and is not conducive to younger children at all. At BC, you will have a bigger slide, plus a gigantic kids' pool and a smaller kids' slide behind the big slide. They also have a great QS at the pool and a TON of restaurants to simply walk to in the evenings (all of the EP resort restaurants, plus EP WS). CR is nice, but very MK-centric. BC allows you to walk/boat to two parks and walk to so many other amenities.

 

[starry_solo]

Split stay!

 

[Magical2017]

Beach Club, ftw!

 

[Momma_Lanier]

With 16 days, I would do a split stay and see both. You will have the convenience of walking to the MK, then walking to Epcot and DHS. Plus you will spend time in the Storm Along Bay pool at the BC. It is the best of all worlds, IMO.

Oops, sorry! Misread your post. So, how long are you going to be there? Anything over a week, I would still do a split stay. If you want to stay in one resort, I would go with the BC if a fancy pool is important to you. The pool at the CR is nice but pretty plain.

We will be doing 8 nights/9 days! I’ve never thought of a split stay. How does that work?

 

[alliecat523]

Agree with all those that said if the pool is important, go to BC.

 

[zobow02]

We will be doing 8 nights/9 days! I’ve never thought of a split stay. How does that work?

You book half you stay at one resort and the other half at the other resort (obviously), then you call and inform them of your split stay and tell them you need you MagicBands hooked up to both resort rooms.
after your first resort stay if you drove, you can take your car to the next resort, if you flew to Disney, I'm pretty sure a Disney Uber can take you to your next resort, luggage and all.

We sometimes do split stays and it is quite fun actually, it changes it up a bit

 

[Dumbo7]

For the length of stay I’d go beach club. Though I’m a huge fan of the contemporary’s view of the magic kingdom and the ability to walk to the magic kingdom. With the age of your kids stormalong bay would be fun but I find it very stressful for watching kids. I find it chaotic. But some people love it. I agree with people about the contemporary pool it’s no great shakes but if you want to cool off it’s great.

 

[Spunky946]

Contemporary. I much prefer it to the beach/yacht club area.

 

[Candycane83]

I stayed at the contemporary last time I went and loved it for being able to walk to MK but we went in Dec and never actually did visit the pool. On my next trip-summer 2019 for the same length of stay as you, my choice was BC vs Poly. I have Poly booked. Have you considered Poly? It’s monorail resort close to the TTC too. Better pool than the Contemporary

 

[disneygolfer1985]

Personally, I would recommend BC for two reasons, location and the pool. When I was a kid I loved stormalong bay. You will be able to walk to Epcot and maybe DHS or take the boat. The bus to MK is not bad as you would be only 15 minutes and share with YC. The contemporary, like the GF, is on the northern end of the property so it would be a little bit more of a trek to get to DHS or AK.

 

[roydavid7771]

Another vote for BC. Stormalong Bay rocks and the location makes you central to pretty much everything.

 

[Summer2018]

We will be at Disney in 16 days and we plan on booking a free dining bounce back for next September! We have only stayed at Pop and Coronado Springs and we would like to change it up a little and stay deluxe. We are a family of 5 and by time we go next year, kids will be DD8, DD5, and DS3. Magic Kingdom and Epcot are our 2 favorite parks which is why this is a hard decision! Which one is better? We will likely have 1 pool day. We usually rope drop parks and stay till 5ish and go to dinner. We may swim in the evenings, it all just depends. Help me decide, please!!

You could always do a split stay. We did that one year with BC, and we loved Stormalong Bay. That would be your best spot for a pool day. The pools at the Contemporary are nice, but they can't compare to BC's mini waterpark. BC is beautiful and walking into Epcot through the World Showcase is very convenient.

We loved the Contemporary. We had a tower room overlooking Bay Lake, and it was breathtaking. The Tomorrowland theme, although more subtle than other resorts, is quite striking. The convenience of the monorail or a quick walk to MK can't be beat. Dinner and fireworks at the California Grill is a sublime experience never to be forgotten.

We love BC, but we love seeing the castle every day from our resort and the convenience to MK. We prefer the monorail resorts. We actually just came home from the Polynesian, and that is our new home in WDW.

 

[Momma_Lanier]

You book half you stay at one resort and the other half at the other resort (obviously), then you call and inform them of your split stay and tell them you need you MagicBands hooked up to both resort rooms.
after your first resort stay if you drove, you can take your car to the next resort, if you flew to Disney, I'm pretty sure a Disney Uber can take you to your next resort, luggage and all.

We sometimes do split stays and it is quite fun actually, it changes it up a bit

That does sound like it would be fun! Best of both worlds!

 

[Momma_Lanier]

I stayed at the contemporary last time I went and loved it for being able to walk to MK but we went in Dec and never actually did visit the pool. On my next trip-summer 2019 for the same length of stay as you, my choice was BC vs Poly. I have Poly booked. Have you considered Poly? It’s monorail resort close to the TTC too. Better pool than the Contemporary

The Poly is on our bucket list! I'll have to look and check it out!