LoriZH
<font color=CC66CC>The GooGoo Dolls rock!!!!<br><f
- Joined
- Oct 31, 1999
- Messages
- 1,519
Okay just wanted to give my review of our stay at CR this past week. First off we stayed there 8 nights and did have a wonderful stay and we were sad to leave Disney (who isn't right?).
Check in was a breeze, the front desk Manager was incredible, when I went back down to get our key changed (it didn't work) he literally called someone to the front desk so I didn't have to wait for the next CM, which probably would have been a 5 minute wait tops. The entire staff at the CR were so sweet (oops excpet for the cranky woman mgr at the Tempo Grab & Go who yelled at the CM who gave me skim milk for my tea and when I thanked her and offer to pay for it, she said something snotty to me, so I called her out on it and politely asked her name, and she then apologized and it was over and done with, she must have been tired, it was late). Conceirge was incredibly helpful and extremely nice. The pool was clean and the lifeguards were a lot of fun with the kids, my kids had a blast at the pool. They had lots of things to do down there as far as activities, my DH & DD parasailed, they LOVED it!!!
Okay now on to the rooms, they were beautiful, the beds were comfy and soft and lots of pillows and tons of room!!! We LOVED the rooms! There is a lack of storage space like someone said, but we did fine, DD&I used our suitcases, the boys and DH used the drawers. The only thing I think they blew was the bathrooms, they were perfect before absolutely perfect, they really blew this one with the sinks and the doors. They look nice, but they do not function well at all, not for families not for anyone really. I don't know who it was but someone here stated the following (I'm paraphrasing) "whoever designed those sinks should be fired and whoever approved for them to be installed should be fired too" hit the nail on the head! lol Honestly, they're ridiculous and awkward to try and work with because if you use the sink, it stays wet the entire day
what were they thinking, we'll never know Again, we didn't let this bother us at all, we just kind of laughed about it and worked around it. Not a deal breaker at all, so don't be scared of them, they're just awkward. The doors were kind of weird too for bathroom doors, the sliding thing was a little annoying and I couldn't see a small child trying to shut those heavy doors.
We had a MKView on the 10th floor on Chef Mickey's side, the noise was not a problem for us at all, it didn't wake us or bother us, but it could be heard, especially in the AM when the cleaning staff would hang over the balcony waving towels and yelling and whistling, kind of cute, so if you're not into laughing children, clapping & singing, then stay out of Disney World...ooops I mean ask for the other end
The only thing I disliked was the screaming bratty kids, but that is anywhere for me, hmmm...just not a fan 
.
The gift shop was nice, they had plenty of choices and some great handmade chocolates
, the arcade was fun (not as good as it was before, but my kids liked it) the Tempo was okay, they are doing the best they can, but no refillable mugs kind of snucked and the choices were limited but good. They had a coffee bar in the lobby so that was good too, plus they had the fast food at the pool which also gave you a few more choices. There were no problems with the elevators as some reported, it took seconds everytime we used them. The monorail was slow the first couple of days but by Monday it all picked up and there was virtually no wait and we always got a seat.
Now for the not so great parts:
Housekeeping was horrible the first few days (was an older woman who didn't wipe counters, give enough towels, shampoo, vaccuum or clean the bathroom
) After a couple of calls downstairs to get rid of the stench in the bathroom (oh we don't want to go there believe me!) and the crumbs and dirt in the foyer that were there since we checked in that we didn't make (we thought she may have missed it the first day but when it was still there on the 2nd day we knew she hadn't vaccumed or cleaned the floors from the last guests) the manager had a VIP cleaning done, maintenace do some work due to lack of toilet cleaning, again , and new mousekeepers, everything was excellent after that, lots of towels, soap, shampoos and cleanliness! Management took very good care of us, believe me, they were fabulous.
Our neighbors upstairs were ignorant, rude and loud (this was NOT the Contemporary's fault this was just rude guests)! They threw their cigarette butts onto our balcony (once while we were watching the fireworks!) that's how we knew where they were coming from. They were heavy walkers (no big deal) but they had kids (or baby hippos) that felt the need to honestly jump from the beds to the floors or stomp and bang up and down for hours at a time late at night! Here I was telling my son not to bounce a ball because it may disturb someone downstairs and they were having WWE wrestling matches upstairs! By the third night at midnight my DH was sick, we called the front desk and they sent someone up to ask them to stop the banging, it only stopped them that night, so we let it go. It honestly could have been young adults who knows, we didn't put too much stock into it.
Okay now for the deal breaker (sad but true) the bus situation
Why oh why oh why do they do that at the Contemporary??? The MGM buses ran great and that was due to the fact they were shared with Poly & GF and they obviously care about their guests getting to their destinations quickly. The DTD/TL & AK/BB buses were HORRIBLE and so few and far in between (took us 1 hour and 34 minutes to get to AK on Sunday, true story) that we went to the Poly to catch buses to DTD & AK and it was a breeze! If you want to go to AK then you have your choice of going to Poly, GF or TTC and get a quick bus to take you directly, it took us 10 minutes from the Poly to get there and they stopped at BB first! The Contemporary stopped at WL, then BB, then AK but the buses only came every 35-40 minutes so it was crazy! The manager had to call one day to get us a bus, he said it should run every 30 minutes for DTD & AK we were shocked, why not every 20 minutes? Even still it was running every 35-40 and people were NOT pleased, including us. It didn't ruin our day, but it cut into our fun time and that was not a good thing, because more fun time is bestest!! 
All and all we didn't let the bus situation run our vacation, we ran our vacation and had a blast and again the CR had a lot to do with that, construction and all (BTW, never even heard the contruction noise at all, the landscapers made more noise, so don't let that be a deterent to your decision about staying there).
My conclusion is this, CR is more like a Hilton now and it wouldn't be my first choice for those with little children, I don't think you would be satisfied with the decor of the rooms, but may love the concourse, however, older children and adults would love it (or not, lol). If they improve the bus situation, we will immediately cancel our GF reservation and book back at CR, but some people just want the monorail parks anyway so the bus isn't a big deal to them, we like to do a little of everything. I still recommend this resort highly, just wanted people to be aware of the bus situation so you can work around it, you need to get up a little earlier and leave the parks a little earlier to get to your destination or use the other resorts buses to compensate for time and then hop on the monorail. Trying not to be contradictory here, but I would recommed this resort, honestly, but if you're looking for all the amenities of a deluxe right now, then wait to do CR in 2008 when the inside will be finished and hopefully the bus situation will be taken care of. It still gets a big
from us!
So there you go! Any questions please let me know!
Check in was a breeze, the front desk Manager was incredible, when I went back down to get our key changed (it didn't work) he literally called someone to the front desk so I didn't have to wait for the next CM, which probably would have been a 5 minute wait tops. The entire staff at the CR were so sweet (oops excpet for the cranky woman mgr at the Tempo Grab & Go who yelled at the CM who gave me skim milk for my tea and when I thanked her and offer to pay for it, she said something snotty to me, so I called her out on it and politely asked her name, and she then apologized and it was over and done with, she must have been tired, it was late). Conceirge was incredibly helpful and extremely nice. The pool was clean and the lifeguards were a lot of fun with the kids, my kids had a blast at the pool. They had lots of things to do down there as far as activities, my DH & DD parasailed, they LOVED it!!!
Okay now on to the rooms, they were beautiful, the beds were comfy and soft and lots of pillows and tons of room!!! We LOVED the rooms! There is a lack of storage space like someone said, but we did fine, DD&I used our suitcases, the boys and DH used the drawers. The only thing I think they blew was the bathrooms, they were perfect before absolutely perfect, they really blew this one with the sinks and the doors. They look nice, but they do not function well at all, not for families not for anyone really. I don't know who it was but someone here stated the following (I'm paraphrasing) "whoever designed those sinks should be fired and whoever approved for them to be installed should be fired too" hit the nail on the head! lol Honestly, they're ridiculous and awkward to try and work with because if you use the sink, it stays wet the entire day
what were they thinking, we'll never know Again, we didn't let this bother us at all, we just kind of laughed about it and worked around it. Not a deal breaker at all, so don't be scared of them, they're just awkward. The doors were kind of weird too for bathroom doors, the sliding thing was a little annoying and I couldn't see a small child trying to shut those heavy doors.We had a MKView on the 10th floor on Chef Mickey's side, the noise was not a problem for us at all, it didn't wake us or bother us, but it could be heard, especially in the AM when the cleaning staff would hang over the balcony waving towels and yelling and whistling, kind of cute, so if you're not into laughing children, clapping & singing, then stay out of Disney World...ooops I mean ask for the other end
The only thing I disliked was the screaming bratty kids, but that is anywhere for me, hmmm...just not a fan .The gift shop was nice, they had plenty of choices and some great handmade chocolates
, the arcade was fun (not as good as it was before, but my kids liked it) the Tempo was okay, they are doing the best they can, but no refillable mugs kind of snucked and the choices were limited but good. They had a coffee bar in the lobby so that was good too, plus they had the fast food at the pool which also gave you a few more choices. There were no problems with the elevators as some reported, it took seconds everytime we used them. The monorail was slow the first couple of days but by Monday it all picked up and there was virtually no wait and we always got a seat.Now for the not so great parts:
Housekeeping was horrible the first few days (was an older woman who didn't wipe counters, give enough towels, shampoo, vaccuum or clean the bathroom
) After a couple of calls downstairs to get rid of the stench in the bathroom (oh we don't want to go there believe me!) and the crumbs and dirt in the foyer that were there since we checked in that we didn't make (we thought she may have missed it the first day but when it was still there on the 2nd day we knew she hadn't vaccumed or cleaned the floors from the last guests) the manager had a VIP cleaning done, maintenace do some work due to lack of toilet cleaning, again , and new mousekeepers, everything was excellent after that, lots of towels, soap, shampoos and cleanliness! Management took very good care of us, believe me, they were fabulous.Our neighbors upstairs were ignorant, rude and loud (this was NOT the Contemporary's fault this was just rude guests)! They threw their cigarette butts onto our balcony (once while we were watching the fireworks!) that's how we knew where they were coming from. They were heavy walkers (no big deal) but they had kids (or baby hippos) that felt the need to honestly jump from the beds to the floors or stomp and bang up and down for hours at a time late at night! Here I was telling my son not to bounce a ball because it may disturb someone downstairs and they were having WWE wrestling matches upstairs! By the third night at midnight my DH was sick, we called the front desk and they sent someone up to ask them to stop the banging, it only stopped them that night, so we let it go. It honestly could have been young adults who knows, we didn't put too much stock into it.
Okay now for the deal breaker (sad but true) the bus situation
Why oh why oh why do they do that at the Contemporary??? The MGM buses ran great and that was due to the fact they were shared with Poly & GF and they obviously care about their guests getting to their destinations quickly. The DTD/TL & AK/BB buses were HORRIBLE and so few and far in between (took us 1 hour and 34 minutes to get to AK on Sunday, true story) that we went to the Poly to catch buses to DTD & AK and it was a breeze! If you want to go to AK then you have your choice of going to Poly, GF or TTC and get a quick bus to take you directly, it took us 10 minutes from the Poly to get there and they stopped at BB first! The Contemporary stopped at WL, then BB, then AK but the buses only came every 35-40 minutes so it was crazy! The manager had to call one day to get us a bus, he said it should run every 30 minutes for DTD & AK we were shocked, why not every 20 minutes? Even still it was running every 35-40 and people were NOT pleased, including us. It didn't ruin our day, but it cut into our fun time and that was not a good thing, because more fun time is bestest!! All and all we didn't let the bus situation run our vacation, we ran our vacation and had a blast and again the CR had a lot to do with that, construction and all (BTW, never even heard the contruction noise at all, the landscapers made more noise, so don't let that be a deterent to your decision about staying there).
My conclusion is this, CR is more like a Hilton now and it wouldn't be my first choice for those with little children, I don't think you would be satisfied with the decor of the rooms, but may love the concourse, however, older children and adults would love it (or not, lol). If they improve the bus situation, we will immediately cancel our GF reservation and book back at CR, but some people just want the monorail parks anyway so the bus isn't a big deal to them, we like to do a little of everything. I still recommend this resort highly, just wanted people to be aware of the bus situation so you can work around it, you need to get up a little earlier and leave the parks a little earlier to get to your destination or use the other resorts buses to compensate for time and then hop on the monorail. Trying not to be contradictory here, but I would recommed this resort, honestly, but if you're looking for all the amenities of a deluxe right now, then wait to do CR in 2008 when the inside will be finished and hopefully the bus situation will be taken care of. It still gets a big
from us!So there you go! Any questions please let me know!
). However, before I made that call, I heard so much about those CR sinks and the lack of storage that I was planning on just not using the second sink and storing our toiletries in it instead. Just curious, did anyone ever try this, and did it work? (With all the recent gripes about mousekeeping, it sounds like the stuff would never be disturbed.)
