tWell after reading up about the Contemporary Resort (CR) for over a year and asking many questions on here, I have just come back from 7 days stay so I thought I would share my thoughts and also post some pictures. I could only get 7 days so spent the last 3 of the holiday at Port Orleans French Quarter.
Many thanks to you all, especially WDWKOOK and MickeyNut1 for answering my many questions over the year, and so here goes...
This was my 8th visit to see the Mouse, and this was my first time at a Deluxe, and also a lifelong desire to stay at the CR as I am a massive fan of the monorail, especially the fact it goes thru the lobby. Don't get me wrong I like the other deluxe resorts but none make me want to stay there like the CR does.
Before the internet you had no idea what to expect when you get to a place that you had never visited before, but after reading up about it and watching so many YouTube videos it easy to get such an overwhelming impression of a place before you go that when you get there it can be disappointing.
However staying at the CR was just fabulous, it was even better than I imagined. It has a few disappointing bits (see below) but overall it exceeded my expectations which were very high. My Wife who is not a Disney fan at all, but just likes to be on holiday, thought it was just as good as me.
I had never stayed at a deluxe before but the balcony was a great feature, as were the other little things such as dressing gowns, the digital safe, inside corridor rooms. The location was fantastic, so may transport options, monorail, walking to the MK, and boats.
The view from the balcony was just fantastic, the wife would have just sat there all day watching the heart of WDW just do its thing while she drank tea. I just can't get over how good the view was and being able to watch the World go about its daily business. You really felt at the heart of WDW.
Sitting by the pool and watching the monorail go through the hotel, was priceless.
Watching the fireworks from the resort pool!
Just being on the 4th level concourse and watching people go about the resort, and then seeing the monorail go through the lobby, it still makes me excited that I was there. The view of the resort at night and wandering around was just bliss. A few times I saw trash on the floor, but if I saw it I did pick it up and pop it in the bin, it only takes a minute.
We hired a Sea Raycer, but it certainly was not as fast as some videos I had seen, certainly there were some much faster than the one we hired, I explained this when I got back and they did say that some of the motors did need replacing...
The monorail only broke down once while we were there. It started to rain at Magic Kingdom, so we thought we would hop on the Monorail back to the resort. This was early afternoon. Well we waited and waited and it just never turned up and after about 20 minutes they informed us that it was not going to be coming. It was pouring down, and we did not fancy walking back, so we took the boat to Wilderness Lodge and came back that way. At the time I was very annoyed, but nothing is perfect and so everything can have a bad day, but that was all for the resort monorail.
The Wi-Fi at WDW is brilliant, sat by the pool with Wi-Fi, can't beat that!
Food
We ate at The Wave twice, breakfast and lunch, both were lovely, Contempo Café, plenty of times, nice staff and food was lovely. We also ate at the California Grill however....
I got a cold, but it was not too bad, first one in over 6 years. I had booked the final meal at the CR to be at the California grill. So we got dressed up super smart. 7.30 dinner and all was fine. Sat down had a beer, then the starter arrived. I thought it was a bit tasteless, but did not give it much thought. Anyway the main arrived, Oak fired beef, with a side of Sushi, $70 for one entre!
Could not taste it, I had acquired a blocked nose that was so bad that I could not taste the food at all, so I just ate it but I could not taste a thing. It was very disappointing, not exactly earth shattering but still a disappointment.
The wife commented that it had been the best meal of the holiday and she had the cheese board for desert and said it was the best cheese board she had ever had in her life. To say she likes cheese and wine would be to say that you might see the odd reminder of Mickey Mouse at WDW!
We used 4 of our TS credits, and the meal came to $250.00, so I had an extra $100 to pay, plus the tip, which was $50.00.
The pool area was lovely and so much space outside to wander around, along with the dock area and marina. Walking along the beach and around the Garden wing as well. Taking a boat over the Wilderness Lodge for breakfast or the monorail to the Poly to see it at night with flame lights. I could go on and on, but it was out of this world, and after 7 visits of wanting to stay there it did not disappoint, but it was not perfect...
Minor issues, and we are talking minor here!
The housekeeping was a little hit and miss. Some days coffee or tea was not left and one day none was left so we went to reception to get some and it was delivered very promptly. The room was clean, I did run my finger along some surfaces to check but it was all good.
We sat in the Outer Rim, and looked out the windows over Bay Lake, the windows on the outside were disgusting, dirty and full of dead flies, it really needed sorting, I would not expect that at the Grand Floridian! We left straight away.
The windows on the other side of the monorail station, again full of cobwebs and the carpet was coming up at some of the corners and looked like it had not been vacuumed in months. Again, when you enter the lobby of Wilderness Lodge or the GF you don't see this kind of stuff, its more immaculate. It just takes the edge off a great resort.
Some areas needed a touch up of paint but nothing major.
Some of the Disney CM's had in my wife's words, forgotten to take their Disney pill that day, but none were rude, but there were no mega CM interactions etc..
One example is I wanted one of the new CR mugs, and there were none on the shelf in BVG, so I asked a CM, who then hummed and ahh'd, and then said what we have there is all we have. Never went to look or anything. A great opportunity to go the extra mile, but I left disappointed.
Next morning someone else had obviously restocked and the mugs were there, loads of them.
Another experience was I picked up 2 items for a snack credits in Fantasia Market, and then went to pay for them, this was after about 6 days, every CM would then ask 'Do you want these as a snack credit', the lady just put them thru as cash and then when I said I wanted them as a snack credit she said sorry but you have to tell me before and I can't reverse it.
Final thoughts
Will I visit again...Well I would like too, but its not cheap, not cheap at all, we got the Free
DDP deal with the Theme park tickets, for the 7 days and with the current exchange rate it worked out at $4799.00, which is $671 per night, when its put like that its a huge cost, which does not include the airfare of $1500, or any pocket money while there.
However, I did not really like any of the other deluxe resorts apart from Wilderness Lodge enough to spend that kind of money to stay there, but the Lodge has no monorail. So its a tricky dilemma, but I think the 9th visit will be in the wings when the new Star Wars land is completed at DHS, so I have plenty of time to moll over that problem!
Thanks for reading and here are some more pics...
Souvenirs.
Me by the marina
The resort from the sea bridge while on the Sea Raycer
The view...........
In the past, when the boys were younger, we'd stay a full week at the CR, following the normal RD routine and thoroughly exhausting ourselves in the process. We'd fly home, beat, bummed that our Disney vacation was over, and dreading having to return to work/school. However, last year (April 2014) we stumbled upon a great system that gave us the best of both worlds - a full WDW experience AND relaxing vacation. We were due for a visit with my in-laws (who live in the Tampa area) and decided to do a split trip - spending 4 nights in WDW at the CR and then driving to spend 4 nights with the in-laws.
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)- we've stayed at all levels, but mainly moderate. TIA
