NEED ADVICE - Contemporary or Beach Club

[cw_disney_bound]

Hello - I need some advice from expert Disney travelers. This will be my first time taking my children to Disney, and I can not choose between the Contemporary or the Beach Club (BC). The Contemporary is so close to MK and has the monorail. The BC has the beautiful pool and overall more appealing decor to me. Is the use of the monorail truly worth it? We will be doing to MK two days and other three resorts one day. We may also park hop a couple of times , liekly for dinner/evening. Please give me some advice. Thank you!

 

[slug]

Hello - I need some advice from expert Disney travelers. This will be my first time taking my children to Disney, and I can not choose between the Contemporary or the Beach Club (BC). The Contemporary is so close to MK and has the monorail. The BC has the beautiful pool and overall more appealing decor to me. Is the use of the monorail truly worth it? We will be doing to MK two days and other three resorts one day. We may also park hop a couple of times , liekly for dinner/evening. Please give me some advice. Thank you!

Hello,

I'm very Contemporary (CR) biased. I think the monorail is very much worth it depending on the age of your kids. Also, since you seem like you're going to spend the majority of your time at the MK, the CR is much more convienient.

One question I have is how long are you going for. Also, hopping to 3 parks in one day with kids may not be the best use of your time depending on what your timetable is.

And depending on when you're going, availability at the CR may be an issue.

If I were you, I'd respond to this and give some more information about your trip (dates, ages, previous experience, etc.) and I'm sure you'll receive a lot of great advice. There are a lot of people on here who are very helpful and I've gotten great advice on year in the past.

Good luck!

 

[RMulieri]

Hello - I need some advice from expert Disney travelers. This will be my first time taking my children to Disney, and I can not choose between the Contemporary or the Beach Club (BC). The Contemporary is so close to MK and has the monorail. The BC has the beautiful pool and overall more appealing decor to me. Is the use of the monorail truly worth it? We will be doing to MK two days and other three resorts one day. We may also park hop a couple of times , liekly for dinner/evening. Please give me some advice. Thank you!

Since MK appears to be your focus,I say CR...It is my absolute fav..Love Beach Club too, am staying there in Sept.But if MK is your focus, you simply can't be the monorail or a 5min short walk !!!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I am also biased towards the Contemporary, however I agree with RMulieri that if you are more focused on the Magic Kingdom then you should choose the Contemporary. Personally I also think there is a lot more atmosphere at the Contemporary when it comes to all the shops and restaurants on the 4th floor, because when my family and I have visited the Beach Club it felt like there was no atmosphere at all.

 

[ols386]

I've never stayed at Beach Club, but stayed at the Contemporary last year. It's very convenient to MK and Epcot, but not that much more convenient than the Disney bus system. The Contemporary definately has a "contemporary" style...not really very much Disney "magic" at this resort. I think it is actually more for adults, just the way it looks and feels. We tried to get into both restaurants there, but they were booked up for the entire time we were there. You really have to make reservations (priority seating) well in advance of your arrival. The only place left to eat is the 24-hour counter service, which wasn't that great. I enjoyed staying at the Contemporary, other than the food service. They did have a nice pool area. We stayed in the Atrium, and had a beautiful view of MK, which we thoroughly enjoyed, especially after dark, and for viewing the fireworks.

 

[cw_disney_bound]

We reseved a room at the Contemporary for the last week in April. Our kids will be 4 and 6. We do plan to hop a couple of days just between two parks for dinner or evening events.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We reseved a room at the Contemporary for the last week in April. Our kids will be 4 and 6. We do plan to hop a couple of days just between two parks for dinner or evening events.

With your kids being young I think you will enjoy having the Monorail and the walkway to the Magic Kingdom, so I say you made the right choice and should keep the reservation you already have there.

 

[TJA]

We've stayed at both resorts. I can say for a fact that my kids are right around the same ages as your kids and they love MK the best right now. When they were younger, they loved all parks the same. Now they want MK every day! And when we stay at CR, we simply walk back and forth to MK. It's a 5-minute walk. We also have our jogger with us so the girls can rest in it at night for the walk back. You can also watch Wishes and the water show each night from from CR, and if you have a tower MK view room, then you can watch the shows right from your balcony. And it's handy to hop on the monorail for dinner at Epcot and then Illuminations, then just monorail right back to CR.

On the flip side of that, I will say that BC is our favorite resort. What we mainly love is the sandy-bottom pool for our kids (keeps them busy for hours and hours!). And we also love being able to walk/boat to both Epcot and MGM, and also having the boardwalk right there to utilize the restaurants and entertainment there. Our kids love to rent the surrey bikes at night and ride around the boardwalk during Illuminations while watching the show. And then of course there is Beaches & Cream at BC where we get an ice cream treat each night and sit by the pool.

It's a tough decision to choose between those 2 resorts. We try to switch off and rotate our trips -- monorail one trip, Epcot resort the next trip, and so on. I don't think you'll be disapointed with either resort.

 

[HodagCatLady]

Much depends on the ages of your children. We stayed at the Beach Club our first trip because I thought the pool would be the best, but it was not! Our daughter had just turned 5, so she was independent but still needed to be watched like a hawk. Stormalong Bay is a terrible pool for that age! She was constantly getting in and out of the water, going to different sections and it was almost impossible to follow her around. This large pool winds around a lot with dead ends for people walking around it. There are bridges that go over different sections, but that got very tiring. I really hated that pool - it's much better for older kids. I also didn't care for the beach areas for the very young because of all the duck droppings there.

The other thing about the Beach Club is that it is a much less convenient location for getting to MK - you'll either have to take the bus or drive yourself. Although you can technically take the monorail, that is a LONG walk (probably 45 minutes with kids) all the way through the International Gateway and then Future World. Why tire yourself out before you even hit the park? Plus, you won't be able to get an early start since you'll have to wait for EPCOT to open before you can go all the way through it to the monorail. Getting to EPCOT from a MK resort is very easy, you just have to switch monorails once.

On our second trip we discovered the Polynesian and have never looked back. By then we had two kids, and being able to send Daddy home for a nap with the cranky baby while Mom and the princess stayed and had a good time was PRICELESS! Also, the MK fireworks are much better IMHO than EPCOT's. If you're at the Contemporary, you can easily pop over quick one night, or see them right from the resort. Plus, the boat parade before the fireworks is neat for the kids to see. The contemporary also has great restaurants. It's no contest - especially if your kids are young - go for a MK (monorail) resort with a pool that can be seen completely from one spot. Save the Beach Club for later.