SOG--Contemporary Resort--any comments good or bad?

[debsnyder32]

We will be at WDW two weeks from tonight. We were there 18 months ago and stayed at the All Star Movies which I thought was great. This trip we are staying at CR through SOG. We have a party of 5 this time, so we thought a larger room would be nice.

Any comments from others who have stayed through SOG would be great! In fact, specific room numbers that I could request would be very helpful. I would like to be some what near the pool and a nice view would be great too.

Is it really possible to walk to the MK? We have lots of little ones with us (8 between three families) and I am wondering if it is closer to walk or plan on taking the monorail to the MK.

 

[nasmith]

By All means- walk! It takes about 5 minutes to walk to the MK, about 30 minutes to take the monorail --- because the monorail goes from the CR to the TTC to the Poly, to the GF - then to the MK! On the flip side, you can take them monorail "home" to the CR in about 5 minutes (but once you see how close it is, you'll probably still walk). (I'd suggest bringing your strollers from home as opposed to renting them for this reason)
As far as room locations go- request a room that is near the food court if you plan on going there frequently (it's in the main "tower" building, as opposed to the Garden Wing where SOG is)- that will also put you close to the pool; and the playground will be close also.

I've stayed there 3 times thru SOG and our view has always been mostly of a tree in front of our window! We were on the MK side, and unfortunately you really are too low to see much of the MK from the Garden Wing (it's only 3 floors high). You might have better luck with a lake view on the other side? Others might have had better views.

 

[ToriLammy]

Originally posted by debsnyder32
We will be at WDW two weeks from tonight. We were there 18 months ago and stayed at the All Star Movies which I thought was great. This trip we are staying at CR through SOG. We have a party of 5 this time, so we thought a larger room would be nice.

Any comments from others who have stayed through SOG would be great! In fact, specific room numbers that I could request would be very helpful. I would like to be some what near the pool and a nice view would be great too.

Is it really possible to walk to the MK? We have lots of little ones with us (8 between three families) and I am wondering if it is closer to walk or plan on taking the monorail to the MK.

We were there in Jun, our room was 7308 (which was on the 3rd floor). It was great, close to the food court, great view of the pools (close to them too). We even saw the night time Water Parade from our room. Being on the 3rd floor was nice and quiet And yes it was really possible and very easy to walk from the Contemporary to the MK. Even if you decide to walk you should take the monorail at least once and try to ride in the front. We did it when we weren't going to a park, about mid-afternoon and got to ride all the way around up front. We really didn't have to wait very long either. Have a great trip!

 

[LoriZH]

You're going to LOVE CR, it is an awesome resort. I wish it was available our upcoming trip, but it wasn't. We need two rooms anyway and it would have been out of the budget this time around so I am sort of glad it wasn't available, lol.

Have fun!

 

[Kimberle]

Plenty of room in CR for 5!

Let's see, the toilet is in a seprate room, there are 2 sinks in the b/room.

We stayed in the North wing. It is closest to MK (although the south is just a couple of minutes behind). The bus stop is also closest to the north wing. We were sort of in the middle & could see the fireworks perfectly from our room. The wings are nice & quiet. Also, if you stay in the north, look for the shortcut/backdoor into the food court. We didn't see it till our last couple of days.

Be sure to make a PS for Chef Mickeys!!

We loved the CR!!

One more thing, if your party likes to take the little boats out, you can get the lenght of stay package for $200. I think you said there are 2 families, that would break down to $100 per family. You are allowed, I believe 4 drivers. (The water mice hold 2.) Just ask at the marina as soon as you arrive, they'll fill you in on the details. It's a pretty good deal if your party likes to rent boats.

 

[dcfromva]

Our view-- Space Mtn! And every night we had a fabulous view of the fireworks! (2nd floor parking lot view)

view of North Wing from the 11th floor of the tower..
In this photo, our room would have been on the left hand side closest to the tower just before the building angles off. (We had a room in May that was about 4 or 5 doors down just after the bldg angles off and we had a view of the monorail in addition to SM)

Play equipment on the North wing garden.

We loved our stay at the CR.

-DC

 

[LIFERBABE]

Mousekeeping was very good! Our room was always clean earlier in the day.

Room #8221 2nd floor lakeview in the very back of the wing. It was not as bad of a walk as I thought as we were 1 door from the exit stairs that led to the path. We watched the EWP from our window. Definitely use the back door to the food court!

The CR is also improving the pool/beach area with white sand beaches. It looks really good and the quiet pool is HUGE! There was a sand volleyball net set up and plenty of lounges in all areas. The playground was neat and the boys enjoyed playing on that also. Marina staff was great and the water mouse boats were alot of fun. The lakes are huge and connected so there is plenty of room to boat.

The food court food was very good and they also had fresh offerings such as subs, cheese and fruit plates, etc. They also sold beer and wine. I was very impressed with the offerings.
The Sand Bar Grill (Poolside) was pretty good also.

Ate at Chef Mickey's twice for Breakfast. The food is excellent and the characters were alot of fun as always. The family photo that they take of you behind the podium was also a good value.

Not impressed with the Decor too busy for my taste, but it was fun and different and definitely prompted comment. Impressed with room size and separate water closet vanity/sink. Bathroom was large and adequate. The room safe was large and sat on a pedestal on the closet floor.

The Futon/Couch looked really comfortable and large, but we only needed it to sit on during in-room meals. The table was nice to have for that.

I did not understand why people would leave their food trays outside of their door. I know with room service they will come around and pick them up, but not with food court items. This may be a fully acceptable practice, I just don't know so please enlighten me.

CR is an excellent location and you can definitely walk without a problem and it is as quick as everyone says. The CR is right past the resort bus pickup area.

There is a Fireworks viewing area on the fourth floor with music, and that was very nice also. You can see the FW better from here as they are closer to the CR than they are to the Castle. (The Castle blocks the view of the smaller bursts) You won't see tinkerbell as you will be looking at the back of the Castle where the FW's are launched.

SOG prices for this Resort is the Deal of the Century!

No one treated us any differently because we were paying less and we even received a couple of Thank-you's for serving our Country. The security guard always welcomed us home when we drove in and one time saw the boys in the backseat and gave them sticker badges. We did get to ride up front on the MonoRail and the conductor took our picture!

The elevator in the NGW was SLLLLLLLLooow and worked intermittently and that was the only major issue we had, but we used the stairs most times.

I would definitely stay there again if I could get a rate of $200 or less in the wings.

Our first choice is still BC, for its location and pool, but CR outserviced the BC this trip. I also liked the brighter colors of the BC but CR is top-notch and we were not disappointed in our stay.

 

[dcfromva]

Oh! Good point about the decor. Here are some pictures:

It's a couch...

No wait!

It's a bed! It's magic! (I would love to have one of these at home )

One of two queen sized beds.

The decor...


-DC

 

[Otto's Doll]

We just returned from the CR via SOG yesterday. We loved it! The room we had was almost at the end of the NGW nearest the parking lot, that made it tough for treks to the Food Court, but the exercise was good for us!
It was great to come home at night (to hear welcome home) and be able to run right up to our room with lots of packages if we went into town.
The room was very clean, and Mousekeeping did an awesome job. We came back to the room at various times, and it was always clean and had the kids animals in the cutest places. I took lots of pics of them.
The pool and the hot tubs were awesome at night, and the water slide was fun. My kids could have spent the whole vacation in the arcade. (It is the only one where there are redemption tickets given, so even though you spend a fortune, the kids can get a trinket to remind them of their time there).
We really enjoyed it there, but also look forward to staying at SOG when it opens.

Otto's doll

 

[Chim Chiminy]

We were there August 13 through the 17. We had room #7283. I had requested a top floor near the main tower, we got second floor near the tower. Not disappointed at all. I was a little scared about the decor, "contemporary" is not exactly our thing, but we actually liked it. It was fun and cheery. Plus my son, 10, found lots of hidden mickeys.
The view from our room, we were on the MK side. From our room we could see Space Mountain and Cindy's Castle. At night we could see the high fireworks. There were some trees, but we didn't really feel like this detracted too much. Also watching the monorail coming and going can't be beat! The walk to Mk was a quick five minutes, then we would monorail back in the afternoon or evening.
My kids loved the pool, and truthfully my DH and I had a blast there as well.
The Food and Fun center is convenient.
We also made good use of the marina. If there are enough of you interested in boating, consider the Family Plan. It costs $200, but we used boats for 10 days, and after adding up our receipts, we saved well over $400 with this.
The boat dock is a nice place to watch fireworks if you are not in the parks that day. They seem bigger, and the reflection over the water is pretty. Plus afterwards you can catch the Electrical
Water Pageant.
We enjoyed our stay at the Contemporary and are hoping to stay there again in January.

 

[pointandshoot]

CR is awesome. Been fortunate to be able to visit WDW a few times this year and have stayed at many of the Deluxes. I think the CR Guest Services and Mousekeeping is the best of the lot.

If you are not in a hurry, take the boat to the WL then hop on its boat to MK. Nice, easy way to start or even return from a day in MK.

We tend to ride the monorail into MK and walk back in the evening. Since it is the first stop after the park, the monorail usually has seats available and it is a fun to ride into MK. A night, I just through my 4 year old over my shoulders and haul her back to the room. OUCH!

Enjoy your vacation.

Chuck

 

[cheeringmom]

(I'm from VA too-Fairfax). We are on a wiating list for Oct31-Nov8. Hope we can get in after all the great reports. Wish us luck!!

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

Originally posted by ToriLammy
We were there in Jun, our room was 7308 (which was on the 3rd floor). It was great, close to the food court, great view of the pools (close to them too). We even saw the night time Water Parade from our room. Being on the 3rd floor was nice and quiet And yes it was really possible and very easy to walk from the Contemporary to the MK. Even if you decide to walk you should take the monorail at least once and try to ride in the front. We did it when we weren't going to a park, about mid-afternoon and got to ride all the way around up front. We really didn't have to wait very long either. Have a great trip!

Hey neighbor! We were in 7307 Aug 24-30, and I have to agree with ToriLammy's comments! We specifically requested 3rd floor, near, but not next to the elevators, and that is exactly what we got. As my overexcited DDs are jumping and thumping around the room and DH and I are trying to quiet them down, I was very thankful that we had requested a 3rd floor room! We walked to MK, but took the monorail home. By the end of our day, DDs were wiped, and the walk from MK to the CR is VERY long carrying a 25- or 35-lb child! Besides which, DD22months thought the escalator(s) in the CR were the best ride in WDW! If you hear/heard any crazy adults muttering UP-UP-DOWN (DD's 22-month-old vernacular for escalator!), you will know it is us!

 

[MLAinVA]

We've stayed at CR through SOG several times and will be back again next month. It is the deal of the century, like someone else said. Our room has always been clean and quiet. The size of the room is wonderful. We have no complaints. We are looking forward to SOG reopening, but have gotten so used to the CR that I think we'll miss it.

 

[Alice28]

We're going back to the CR via SOG for the second time- it WAS the deal of the century, for sure! We love-love-loved it and I can't wait to be back. The rooms are HUGE (although funky decor- who cares tho for $70 a night!), bathrooms are very big, great amenities- we ate at Chef Mickey's for dinner and the Food and Fun center several times, the shops are some of the best resort shops I saw (we walked around GF, WL, YCBC, Poly & the Boardwalk)- in fact I probably spent more on souveniers at those shops than I did at World of Disney. We walked to the MK several times and then would take the monorail back. We also loved being able to take the monorail to Epcot- it felt so futuristic- you have to transfer at the TTC for the Epcot monorail. Listen to your elevator when it comes- it talks in familiar voices! We were in room 7232 and could see the fireworks from our room. The first night we were unpacking, and I was tired and hungry and we hear this BOOM- my 5 year old looks out the window and says "Ohhh....fireworks!!!" It definitely perked me up. Have fun- you'll love it!