Contemporary

[SnowAngel]

We will be staying in the Contemporary North Garden Wing next Feb. Not my first choice but got such great rates (abt 80 a night) I couldn't pass it up.

I keep hearing so many bad things about it. Is it a good place to stay? How are the rooms? I hear they have been renovated.
Is a good place with three little ones? I have heard the service is so-so and cm's cold.

I'm trying to plan an extra special trip since our last trip to WDW was not so great (bad luck from the start).

 

[cinmell]

We have stayed at the Contemporary our past 3 vacations and we love it. We stayed in the tower so I can't comment on the garden wings. I think the rooms are very bright and very clean. We never had any issues with service. The cm's have always been very pleasant. We enjoy the CR b/c it is so close to the MK. You can take the monorail or walk. We also like to take the boat to Ft. Wilderness. You may enjoy doing this with 3 small children b/c there is a petting zoo at Ft. Wilderness and campfires at night. And I'm pretty sure the CR has a playground. I think you will enjoy yourselves. Have a great vacation!

 

[Minnie's Mate]

How did you get the $80/night rate? Starting 2004, my wife and son will get a week in February (President's week) and I would like to try the CR.

 

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

We were at the CR last month and had a wonderful time. We stayed in a room in the South Wing which was very close to the lobby. My kids (11 and 12) loved being able to go to the Food and Fun Center by themselves to get refills with their mugs. I thought all of the CMs were friendly and helpful and you can't beat the location.

$80/night for the CR is a great rate. I'm sure you will have a great time!

 

[caskar]

$80 a night is a good rate. We were in the north wing almost to the end. We stayed in AKL, WL, Dolphin, and CR this summer. Contemporary was the one we liked the least. My daughter would hold her breath in the elevator because of the stinch. The rooms--are the biggest but we didn't care for them. The location -close to MK is great. CMs - nice. Game room - GREAT! Our children really enjoyed it. Pool - didn't look fun so my children didn't care to go in. Overall for $80 I would stay there again.

 

[PoohSizedDH]

Please spill the beans on how you got your fantastic rate.. My wife and I are going back to WDW for our 1 year anniversary in september, we honeymooded there as well, and I would LOVE to get into a better hotel ( we are for finacial reasons forced to stay at ASMu,4 nights 220$tax included.. which I reccomend highly. just want to be more special, and staying at Contemporary for such an economical rate would do the trick!!
And it would be a great surprise!

 

[DancingBear]

Sounds like an SoG rate.

 

[sha_lyn]

The rate is most likely the SoG rate given that SnowAngel said they will be staying in the NGW (NGW is where SoG patrons are stayign while SoG is closed)

 

[robinb]

I cannot say enough about the Contemporary Resort! I loved my 10 night stay there in June/July.

We were in the North Wing which was really a great location.

• The rooms are huge! My niece especially liked sleeping on the day bed which folds out to be about the size of a twin bed. All rooms have sliding glass doors to the outside, but the upper floors do not have balconies.
• Our 2nd floor room overlooked the lagoon and the playground. We could see the pool to the right.
• My mother's room (a handicapped one) was on the first floor facing the lagoon and they had a small deck with chairs. Very nice!
• We watched the water parade from our room every night at 10:05. We could hear the music when we opened the balcony door.
• The "parking lot" views are also MK views, BTW. I talked to one man who said he watched the fireworks from his bed every night .
• You can also see the fireworks from the parking lot itself quite well.
• The parking lot for the whole resort is in front of the North Wing as is the bus stop.
• The snack shop is very close to the North Wing. The walk was less than 5 minutes from our room to endless coffee and iced tea in our refillable mugs.
• You can walk to the MK! It's so close that my husband could also hear me on our FRS radio in the room when I was in the park .
• You can monorail to the T&TC, then to Epcot.

Now for the downside ... most regular CMs were very nice, although I cannot say the same for management. A wet chunk of ceiling tile fell on my mother's head. She is disabled with neck injuries and having something fall on her head is not good. She went to an Urgent Care Center, but management seemed to not care at all. She had headaches for a couple of days afterward and the doctor seemed to think she had a concussion. She got no more than a pretty lame "Uh ... we're sorry." I don't know if they paid for her doctor visit or not. It's was one of those go first and bill later things. I need to dig up names and addresses for her so she can follow though on at least getting back the $$ spent on the doctor.

 

[PoohSizedDH]

So, can this SoG rate be recieved now with a copde of some sort?
or is it kinda like the savings people are getting now from CBR being closed?

 

[sha_lyn]

It is for only those who qualify to stay at SoG and it is booked through SoG reservations.

 

[Dancemom]

Hello!

We stayed in CR NGW care of SOG during July. Considering the great SOG rate it is worth it. Our room was 7368 I think that was the number. Our room was clean and the housekeeping staff was fine. No complaints there. I thought the food court was small, but we only ate there once or twice. The Concourse Steakhouse was very yummy! We ate lunch there several times. We also had breakfast at Chef Mickey's which we enjoyed. The access to the monorail was great although we could walk to MK quicker than we would get there on the monorail. We watched the MK fireworks from just outside our room almost every night. The pool was nice, it is not themed but it is large and does have a slide. We would swim at night after the parks and watch the Electrical Water Pageant. All of the staff was pleasant and helpful. We enjoyed our stay and have already made ressies for next July, but I can't wait until SOG reopens!

Cheryl

 

[PoohSizedDH]

how does one "qualify" for SoG?
and who knows the reservations number?

 

[sha_lyn]

SoG is Shades of Green. It is the Armed Forces Recreation Center owned hotel onWDW property.
You can book online or through their 1-800 number on their site.
Shades of Green
You must have a valid miltary ID or Dept. of Defense ID to qualify to stay at SoG. IE.... active duty, reservist or retired military, or civilian DOD employees.

 

[SnowAngel]

The rate I got was a military rate through Shades of Green (SOG). Since they are remodeling the SOG resort they have moved all guests who would stay there over to the Contemporary North wing for the same price they would get at SOG. As Sha-Lyn says you must have a valid military ID or Dept. of Defense ID to qualify to stay at SoG. IE.... active duty, reservist or retired military, or civilian DOD employees. My dh and I are active duty military.

It is a GREAT rate for a deluxe. We are looking forward to staying but looking at the bad side and good side of the Contemp. so I may work around it to help my family have a wonderful trip.
Thanks all for you help.

 

[sha_lyn]

SnowAngel ... Sorry, I really meant ot anser your questions when I posted too.

We stayed at CR-NGW inm May thorugh SoG. I really didn't think I would enjoy CR but I did. The only problem was with the laundry room. Hopefully they have fixed the dryers by now. Also the Tower does not have a laundry room and we found that most of them were sent to the NGW instead of the SGW. It turned out that no one was even using the SGW laundryroom most of the time.. the NGW was packed from about 5pm until 1 or 2 am.

Anyway .... The convience of the monorail or the walk to MK is great. The rooms are huge and the daybed is large enough for my teenage DS. The pools are large enough that I can't imagine them getting crowded. I did miss having a 0 entry, or kiddie pool for DD (the only aspect of HRH I will miss, but that is another story).
Housekeeping was very good, but non of the WDW extras we read about here (towel animals etc).
While CR wouldn't be my first pick, I would stay there again, especially for $80 a night.

 

[freediverdude]

I reserved a standard view room for this weekend, and was wondering where they are putting the non-SoG standard view people? In the South wing? When I asked what the view was though, he told me parking lot view, and I understand the parking lot is only in front of the north wing. Is there any particular area I should ask for? Thanks for any help you Mouseketeers can give!

 

[sha_lyn]

here is a map of the resort http://www.wdwig.com/contmp.jpg

There is a parking lot in front of the SGW. Your room would most likely be right along the front of the building, facing the parking lot.

 

[freediverdude]

Thank you Sha_Lyn! Darn though, it looks like the tower would be between it and the Magic Kingdom, so I wouldn't even end up with a partial MK view. It looks like maybe the only way to get one of the rooms in the main building is to pay $100 more per night, because I don't think the garden view or the pool view means the main building either, right? Oh well, that's an awful lot more money. They offered me a "tower view" for $235, but that's still pretty pricey, even though it's 100 off the regular price. Does anybody think it's worth the extra?

 

[sha_lyn]

I wouldn't spent the extra for a tower room IMHO. I've also heard they get noisy because of the monorail. I think because the way the resort sits that the further you are from the tower (in the SGW) the easier it would be to see the castle in MK. There are a few rooms in the NGW that are not being used for Sog (about 30 I think). Maybe you could request one of these ahead of time try to arrive early for check in and ask then.