I just booked a garden room with a garden view, I have stayed here before but never in a garden room.
Welcome to the thread and congratulations on booking.
We're just 16 days away from arriving. It's been a very impatient year of waiting, but I am super excited. Almost here!
Just 4 days now!
We're booked for our first stay at the Contemporary - Oct 12-15! (We'll spend the first part of that week at universal)
So excited to be staying on the monorail, especially since we'll have a 7 month old by then and don't want to deal with folding and unfolding the stroller.
I've never stayed at a deluxe before, so I'm worried about being spoiled and never wanting to stay at a moderate or value again.
Congratulations and I'll add your dates to the Log. Just a word of caution, there may be times when you'll have to fold up your stroller. At peak times, the monorail can get very crowded - SRO - so you may need to fold up your stroller to fit.
This is my first time posting...I am so excited! I booked the CR BLV for 3/28-4/2. I'm not telling my son (6 yo) until the day we leave

to the DIS and the CR/BLT thread! I'll add your dates to the Log-o-Rail
My husband and I will be staying at CR for the first time starting this Sunday! We're more familiar with the YC/Boardwalk-area resorts and I've meant to get on here and learn all I can for a while, but got busy, yada yada. I see I have lots to read!
We have a reservation for a Garden Wing - King (booked as a bounce back).
Like I said, we're not familiar with the MK resort area. I have some questions about getting around. I'm legally blind (use a white cane) and though I normally am with my husband, I will need to be able to get around on my own too. The Boardwalk area is easy - get on a boat, walk, or take a bus.

This will be an all new challenge!
Is the resort monorail still under modified hours? Will it run after
MVMCP?
What is the best/easiest way to get to Epcot? If the monorail isn't running is there a direct bus, or do we need to take the bus elsewhere and another bus to Epcot? (I'd likely take it to DHS and get on a boat - hey, it's what I know!)
We are going to try to go to Trader Sam's at the Poly after dinner at 'Ohana one night. What is the best way to get back to the CR?
Welcome to the thread
@Aerorea! The monorail should be running after MVMCP, however, walking back to CR would be easier and quicker. The monorail is very crowded in the evenings so I would recommend walking back.
At times when the monorail is down, they do offer an Epcot bus, otherwise, the monorail is the easiest way to get there from CR. It's one stop to the TTC, where you will change to the Epcot monorail which goes directly to Epcot.
From Poly, CR is just 3 stops away. Keep in mind that TS gets full indoors very quickly. People line up before opening to get a pager. However, it's much easier to get outdoor seating. Also, only adults can be seated indoors after 8.
We are staying standard view Atrium Club over Christmas, and I was wondering if there are any requests worth making? Would requesting the end towards the magic kingdom make any difference, or would requesting near the lounge be a good idea or bad due to more traffic by the room? I don't mind a short walk, but staying CL I have found we use the lounge more when we are closer to it and can just run there quickly - so I was inclined to put close to lounge and leave it at that but I would hate to make a request that is actually a detriment! There's no reason to request odd or even numbered room when staying standard view, is there?
None of the rooms are far from the lounge so I wouldn't request that at CR and the elevator bank is in the middle of all the rooms. I do request an odd room with the BLV because I prefer looking out at FW, WL, Epcot from the bed, instead of toward BLT. We also prefer a room away from CM.
Hello all! We have just booked into the Contemporary for a quick trip to celebrate my husband's military retirement May 6-9. The Contemporary is his dream resort and he really wants a MK view room. Right now we are booked in a Theme Park View Atrium Club level. I'm torn though on if the extra price tag for club level is worth it, however there are no theme park view rooms besides club level with the military discount. My other option is a Bay Lake View room. Is the extra $500+ worth it for the view? I told myself I didn't mind splurging, after all he's done 20 years in the military, but I am having a hard time stomaching the price difference.
Congratulations! How exciting! Just think how many future trips you can make with the new pension

.
We always book BLV (with the military rate), it's our favorite WDW view. With CL, you have a view of the MK and Wishes every time you're in the lounge so I personally would not spend $125 more per day for a CL TPV room. Just think of all the fun recreation he could do like fishing, boating, golf etc.. with the savings
We are just back from a glorious week at BLT! If anyone has any questions about the resort, I;d be happy to answer. We were in a standard view studio.
Welcome home!
Had a fabulous time at BLT this past week. Thank you to everyone for the info on this thread. Can't wait to go back. I think the most amazing part was just walking over to MK to grab some popcorn one evening.
Planner, it's time to start planning your next trip!
Hi Everyone,
Want to share my experience as a first time CR guest. We've stayed twice at the GF (which we loved) but needed a change and something a little less pricey. We had a garden view room the first week of December. We had some rain here and there, but it was warm, and the crowds were really great (until the weekend, that is).
My thoughts on Contemporary:
I liked it just fine. The room was spacious and I loved the bathroom, especially the separate toilet and stylish design. Even though the room is technically slightly smaller than those at the GF, I think the layout was better and I had more space for our suitcases, etc. So, great room. Walk to and from main building was fine, and we were in the hallway furthest away. We didn't get a Bay Lake view as requested (in fact, NONE of my requests were granted--we were placed far away from our friends when we asked to be next to/near them). The staff was awesome and got us a room closer. I was sad we didn't get water view, but we could see the fireworks from our room (6327), which was an unexpected surprise and lovely!
I do not care for eating breakfast at Contempo cafe--too busy and noisy compared to Gasparillas. I like the gift shops and the lobby, and we LOVED the Wave. Great service and food. Definitely worth it to stop in.
Housekeeping was consistent and great. No more grapefruit toiletries--they have the sea salt scent which is what they use at the GF, too. And it's bigger bottles, so they don't replace them unless you're out. I asked for more and they were happy to leave extras. I needed an extra blanket in the room, which was left for us. Room was nice and quiet. Everything worked as expected.
The walk to and from Magic Kingdom was not as long as I thought it would be, and a nice perk. Monorail worked fine every day except for one day on our way to Epcot, and it was a major hassle. Bus to TTC (which everyone was trying to get on, of course, so a wait for that), then monorail to Epcot. Missed rope drop, but that's life. Bus service to HS was quick and comfortable.
My boys loved swimming in the pool and going down the slide. Wasn't crowded or too loud at all.
So in summary, I think it was a nice resort. I would not, however, choose it over an Epcot resort (which we visited and looked awesome!) or over the GF, which was overall a more luxurious resort with a more magical feel. But the staff was all top notch and we definitely enjoyed our time there.
Thank you for posting your thorough review. I hope you get to book your next vacation soon.
Thx! We are moving to BLT and realize we really like the Epcot resort area best.
Why weren't you able to change to an Epcot-area resort?
I see you can take a boat from CT to Wilderness Lodge. How long is the boat ride and around how long is the wait? If we have a 7:15 dining reservation at Whispering Canyon what time should we be at the boat dock?
The Blue Flag boat only takes about 10 minutes from CR to WL. for a 7:15 ADR at night (the boat will be more crowded at night with folks going over to FW for HDDR), you'd want to get to the WL dock by 7. You can't predict how long the wait at CR will be, so I would get to the dock by 6:30. You can also walk right over to the MK bus stop and take the WL bus directly to WL or take the boat to WL directly from MK.