One Night at the Contemporary!

[Seahunt]

My DH & I decided to take our niece and her husband (ages 23 and 25) on a surprise Thanksgiving trip to WDW, since they have just moved to Florida for his job and had no other plans. We told them we wanted them to go with us to a big motorhome sale in Tampa (haha) in case we bought one and they could drive our car back for us! I told them to wear good walking shoes because the sale was so big we would be walking for miles! It was hard remembering to keep the secret when I talked to them, but we pulled it off. We even acted like we took the wrong exit off I 4 and just ended up at Disney! They were very surprised and thrilled when we finally told them that we were treating them to a Disney visit!

We booked 2 rooms at the Contemporary for the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. I couldn't find any better rate than the website standard room rate, even though we have AP passes and are FL residents - just nothing left at the CR since I booked pretty late. We hadn't stayed at the CR for years, and since we have moved to FL and are able to run over for a weekend night more often have been trying to stay at a different place each time. I thought it would be especially perfect to stay on the monorail this time because we were going to try to show them around all the parks. We checked in and both were given standard view, first floor south wing parking lot view - no upgrades this time unfortunately! You're never in your room any way, so no biggie, though I was VERY disappointed in how "beat up" this resort seemed. I must be getting jaded....Even the landscaping when you looked out the windows walking to the room was sad - and the walkout balcony had two chairs with cigarette burns, butts scattered around (and this was a non-smoking room!) and again, a couple very sad plants....they definitely need to help this area out. Kind of a strange smell when we walked in also, but guess we got used to it since it didn't bother us. I don't know why, but sometimes the water in the Disney rooms (like when you take a shower) almost has a "burned" smell - not a sulfur smell like well water, but something different. The good part of the room was that it had been redone, was very big and clean, and the soundproofing between rooms was great - no hearing what your neighbor was watching on his TV in these rooms! Also, we self parked and my husband moved the car so it was close to our room which made express check out super easy! Did you ever notice though, when you try and show someone else something, it usually never works out perfectly lol! I would probably only stay at this resort again if we booked the tower, and only as a last chance when the rest were booked up. JMHO! We still had a great time, but I really missed sitting in the lobby of the WL, AKL or GF. We used the snack bar late Wednesday night (big selection - DN had chili cheese fries and DH said tuna sandwich was good) after our tour and then looked in the video room where everyone seemed to be having a great time - lots of video games here. We also used the snack bar for a surprisingly delicious bacon, egg and cheese croissant breakfast Thanksgiving day - my niece said the chocolate chip muffin was a little dry, but good.

We took Wednesday evening and visited all the other resorts to check out their Christmas decorations and show them all the other hotels we liked - took the resort launch to WL and watched the geyser go off, then bus to AKL (beautiful as always - storyteller was out back around the fire pit), then bus to MGM to jump on resort launch to the Swan, where we just walked across the bridge to the Boardwalk instead of staying on the launch the whole way, then bus from BWI to MK and got on the resort monorail there to go to the Poly and the GF, then back to the CR! Whew, whirlwind tour.

Thanksgiving morning, we took the bus to AK and spent a couple hours there, then the bus to MGM , then the bus to Epcot (long lines at launch) looked all around and had black forest cake at Germany and DN had chocolate crossaint at France, then the monorail to MK, where we closed out the day at 11pm by riding Space Mountain! So much for wanting to stay at a monorail resort lol! Have never been on so many busses in my life! The crowds were really big,and the FP at every park were for so much later that we didn't know if we'd even still be at that park (since we wanted to show them all of the parks). We really didn't get to ride everything we wanted to, but they saw all the highlights at least, and had a wonderful time and are ready to go back! We did get a FP at AK for "It's Tough To Be a Bug" and again had parents carrying their screaming children out of the show - the signs are true, if your child is afraid of the dark and big bugs, DON'T take them to this show! It is intense, especially where the big black spiders come down from the ceiling, and they will be plenty scared! At least my DH didn't have a petrified 2 year old climb all over him this time like the last time we were there though!

Our niece and her DH still have "junk food" taste buds lol, so we didn't really get to have any wonderful food but my DH & I did have a special Thanksgiving meal at Cosmic Rays of all places! While the kids were eating their chicken strips and burgers, my DH and I went for the special - for $9, Disney offered a complete turkey dinner there with all the fixings - and it was delicious! Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry relish, cheddar biscuit - yummy. The "kids" even wished they had ordered that instead!

Oh, and we found a great place to watch the MK fireworks by mistake also - we had come off the Haunted Mansion and were walking up toward Peter Pan's Flight and were just past the Columbia Harbor House when the fireworks started, and they were practically directly over our heads. I know you don't have the view of the castle here, but there were NO crowds, and a beautiful direct view of the fireworks!

I can't wait to go back again, and will be glad it won't be the whirlwind visit this was. My niece fell in love with the GF, her husband the AKL and my DH & I would like to try the BWI next time, hopefully in January!

 

[Lexxiefern]

What a busy 2 days!! Sounds wonderful though. Glad you were able to surprise your DN and her hubby. I can't believe you made it to all 4 parks in one day - a holiday no less! The most we have done is 3. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[Seahunt]

Yep Lexxifern 4 parks in one holiday-day is seriously overdoing it!NEVER AGAIN! Well, unless we can walk on everything and get it all done that is! I've decided you can tell how crowded it's going to be by the bus and monorail - every one we went on was standing room only.

We must have looked like a freight train barreling through all the parks- especially AK when we ran in to get FP for ITTBAB, then ran over to the safari where the FP machine spit out a ticket saying we already had FP for one attraction and had to wait until 11:55 to get another for a return at 1:55 -2:55, when we knew we would already be at MGM by then.

And MGM, where DN decided she needed a hat so they went in a shop while I ran to information to see if we could possibly get Sci Fi ressies (NO WAY -I knew this would be the case, but hoped someone had cancelled!) Then all run to TOT for FP, and Rockin Roller Coaster (same FP story - you already have one FP for an attraction, come back in 1 1/2 hrs. to get another to use from 5:55 - 6:55pm). Rush to Indiana Jones, eat at the Backstage place, rush to the backlot tour, see the Muppet 3 D, rush everywhere else and point out everything!

Or Epcot where we ran to Mission Space (90 minute wait even for single riders), to Test Track (75 min), in and out most of the shops, walked briskly all the way around the countries with lightening fast stops in and out the shops with dessert stops along the way!

Then to MK, there's a parade, would like to see and watch a little but get banged in the legs by strollers trying to move to front to see, can hardly get in, so go up the steps to the train, get on the train to ride to Frontier Land (this train trip stops at Toontown until fireworks are over - can't make complete loop- they keep announcing this over and over, still 2 girls decide to jump out at last minute after we start moving), get to Frontier Land parade crowd is there, get off and run to Splash Mtn big wait, Thunder RR big wait, parade route packed, so thread through people to Haunted Mansion only 15 minute wait yea! Come out, fireworks have started, HAVE to stop and watch these beauties, then head through crowd to Space Mountain, big wait so go to Buzz Lightyear, big wait, get on old Tomorrowland Transport just to rest aching legs! Go back to Buzz, 50 minute wait, go ahead and stand in line since DN husband likes video games so much, do Buzz, come out, walk complete park again, eat at Cosmic Rays, hey Splash Mountain finally freed up, then stop at Main St Bakery for chocolate chip cookie and rocky road brownie, back on monorail to get car, then head home. By the time we got home about 1:30am, my legs had cramped into a seated position and I could barely move to get out of the car! Still it was a magical time, and I loved every minute of it!