The ALL NEW Disney's Contemporary Resort & Bay Lake Tower FAQ with PICs! (FEB 2010)

[hstrickland]

Hi all! In a very short time we will be at the CR...so here's a question...I've read that there isn't much drawer space for clothes in the rooms. I always unpack everything...any suggestions since there will be four of us in the room??? Guess I could bring hangers and hang all of my clothes and DH's clothes I hate living out of a suitcase...want to feel like I'm home

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Hi all! In a very short time we will be at the CR...so here's a question...I've read that there isn't much drawer space for clothes in the rooms. I always unpack everything...any suggestions since there will be four of us in the room??? Guess I could bring hangers and hang all of my clothes and DH's clothes I hate living out of a suitcase...want to feel like I'm home

What we have done in the past is un pack some clothes to put inside their drawers and other things we just left in our luggage. Their closests also have decent amount of space to hang things up and already have hangers in there so that's something else you can use.

 

[dvczerfs]

Hi all! In a very short time we will be at the CR...so here's a question...I've read that there isn't much drawer space for clothes in the rooms. I always unpack everything...any suggestions since there will be four of us in the room??? Guess I could bring hangers and hang all of my clothes and DH's clothes I hate living out of a suitcase...want to feel like I'm home

we are leaving in 30 days for the contemp. we drive so its a little easier but our dd dances, she has a "suit case" looking thing that when you open it, there is a bar that you set up and you can hang stuff off of that and use the case as drawers. she used it for dance and i think we paid $180 for it. also, we have a metal rack that comes in pieces. put together, its about 6 foot long to hang stuff off of. her case will fit in the bathroom in front of the toilet and the rack we are going to put up in the corner next to the tv.

 

[MrsBlovesDisney]

Hi all! In a very short time we will be at the CR...so here's a question...I've read that there isn't much drawer space for clothes in the rooms. I always unpack everything...any suggestions since there will be four of us in the room??? Guess I could bring hangers and hang all of my clothes and DH's clothes I hate living out of a suitcase...want to feel like I'm home

I am sooo with you!!! I HAVE to unpack!! My husband, on the other hand, lives out of his suitcase!! Ugh!!

Sadly there isn't much room....only two drawers....so you may have to hang up lots of clothing if there are four of you!

Best wishes... enjoy your trip!!

 

[WDWKOOK]

Hi all! In a very short time we will be at the CR...so here's a question...I've read that there isn't much drawer space for clothes in the rooms. I always unpack everything...any suggestions since there will be four of us in the room??? Guess I could bring hangers and hang all of my clothes and DH's clothes I hate living out of a suitcase...want to feel like I'm home

The drawers are pretty deep and there are also two drawers in one of the closets. Here are some photos I took:

I have to unpack immediately, too (drives DD and DH crazy), but for the three of us there's always been enough room in the drawers. I use the closet drawers for items that can get wrinkled like socks, undies, bathing suits, PJs and workout clothes and I use the two bigger drawers for shorts, pants and tops. I hang dressier tops in the closet.

I hope you have a fantastic vacation!

 

[hstrickland]

Thanks so much for all of the great info on closet space. Since we are driving, I think I will take extra hangers...seems like an easy and simple solution to the problem. DH thinks I'm a little over the top with the whole unpacking issue...just HATE living out of a suitcase...I like to feel like I'm at home 8 short days!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LorieDisneyLover]

Thanks so much for all of the great info on closet space. Since we are driving, I think I will take extra hangers...seems like an easy and simple solution to the problem. DH thinks I'm a little over the top with the whole unpacking issue...just HATE living out of a suitcase...I like to feel like I'm at home 8 short days!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mousekeeping will bring you LOTS of extra hangars if you need them ... and usually we do when at the CR b/c of the lack of drawer space when 5 people are in the room.

 

[pas130]

Mousekeeping will bring you LOTS of extra hangars if you need them ... and usually we do when at the CR b/c of the lack of drawer space when 5 people are in the room.

Thanks for this. I never would've thought to ask for more hangers

 

[clemsondisneyfan]

Oh my gosh.....we had a wonderful time in April at WDW! I promised to report back here and on the the Concierge/CLub Level site. If anyone has any questions, please let me know. I am going to post this on both pages to hit everyone who knew were were going and asked for a report.

We flew down and stayed at the Swan for 3 nights. We liked the look of the hotel and enjoyed walking around to see the buildings and fountains - especially in the evenings. The boat shuttles were a fun change from the busses. We stayed in a suite there and enjoyed settling in for our vacation.

Then, on Day 4 we moved to the CONTEMPORARY for 8 more days. What can I say except WOW?!?!? Everyone on the 14th floor was wonderful. We think it was one of the best trips we have ever had down there.

The rooms were very clean, but were getting ready for a huge overhaul starting this month. So, the design and layout will totally change - and price will probably go up a ton!! We had a bedroom and bathroom, another living room with a sofa bed and another full bathroom AND a kitchen with a full dining room table. Our balcony was HUGE and there were several sliding glass doors on it. We sat out there a few nights and enjoyed the fireworks. Our kids are older, so we were at the parks late a lot of the nights.

The food and drink offerings were always nice and available. We had 3 small refrigerators in our room (2 in the kitchen and one in the bedroom). We drink a lot of water, and they filled them up with those for us. We do not drink alcohol, but there was always plenty of that in the lounge if you need it.

The only thing that bugged me all week were the little kids who would run up, grab at the food and eat it standing there. Of course they were licking their little fingers the entire time. We even saw them pick food up and put it back. YUCK! What is wrong with parents these days?! We would just ask one of the CMs up there to remove it, and they would. They would bring out a new tray within a minute that was totally wrapped and ready to open (so it was CLEAN food!) I told my kids to always get their food from the BACK of the tray if they wanted anything off of a half eaten tray. Seriously, almost every day parents (different families too!) would be out on the balcony or talking to the CM at the desk around the corner from the food and their kids would run WILD around the lounge. Rude. But, then you run into rude people everywhere. Parents don't know how to parent anymore.

We did see one woman come in her pjs one morning - kind of late, maybe around 9:30 a.m. The CM went up to her and talked to her discreetly. She took her food and left. I never saw people again in their pjs over the 8 days we were there. Whew!

CMs were very helpful getting us reservations to things we wanted to do, places we wanted to eat and they even reserved a pool cabana for us a couple of afternoons. Now that is a nice way to enjoy the afternoon after a full morning at the park and a full night ahead of you for the evening.

Some of the places we ate.....Shula's, Le Cellier, Cape May, Il Mulino, California Grill (2 nights!!), The Wave (excellent lunch buffet with really fresh salads and sandwiches), Yachtsman, Grand Floridian, etc.

If you have any questions about the suite (we stayed in 4914) or anything, please ask. If you are planning a stay there, you will not be disappointed!! I can't imagine ever going back and staying anywhere other than that floor again. We are spoiled!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Oh my gosh.....we had a wonderful time in April at WDW! I promised to report back here and on the the Concierge/CLub Level site. If anyone has any questions, please let me know. I am going to post this on both pages to hit everyone who knew were were going and asked for a report.

We flew down and stayed at the Swan for 3 nights. We liked the look of the hotel and enjoyed walking around to see the buildings and fountains - especially in the evenings. The boat shuttles were a fun change from the busses. We stayed in a suite there and enjoyed settling in for our vacation.

Then, on Day 4 we moved to the CONTEMPORARY for 8 more days. What can I say except WOW?!?!? Everyone on the 14th floor was wonderful. We think it was one of the best trips we have ever had down there.

The rooms were very clean, but were getting ready for a huge overhaul starting this month. So, the design and layout will totally change - and price will probably go up a ton!! We had a bedroom and bathroom, another living room with a sofa bed and another full bathroom AND a kitchen with a full dining room table. Our balcony was HUGE and there were several sliding glass doors on it. We sat out there a few nights and enjoyed the fireworks. Our kids are older, so we were at the parks late a lot of the nights.

The food and drink offerings were always nice and available. We had 3 small refrigerators in our room (2 in the kitchen and one in the bedroom). We drink a lot of water, and they filled them up with those for us. We do not drink alcohol, but there was always plenty of that in the lounge if you need it.

The only thing that bugged me all week were the little kids who would run up, grab at the food and eat it standing there. Of course they were licking their little fingers the entire time. We even saw them pick food up and put it back. YUCK! What is wrong with parents these days?! We would just ask one of the CMs up there to remove it, and they would. They would bring out a new tray within a minute that was totally wrapped and ready to open (so it was CLEAN food!) I told my kids to always get their food from the BACK of the tray if they wanted anything off of a half eaten tray. Seriously, almost every day parents (different families too!) would be out on the balcony or talking to the CM at the desk around the corner from the food and their kids would run WILD around the lounge. Rude. But, then you run into rude people everywhere. Parents don't know how to parent anymore.

We did see one woman come in her pjs one morning - kind of late, maybe around 9:30 a.m. The CM went up to her and talked to her discreetly. She took her food and left. I never saw people again in their pjs over the 8 days we were there. Whew!

CMs were very helpful getting us reservations to things we wanted to do, places we wanted to eat and they even reserved a pool cabana for us a couple of afternoons. Now that is a nice way to enjoy the afternoon after a full morning at the park and a full night ahead of you for the evening.

Some of the places we ate.....Shula's, Le Cellier, Cape May, Il Mulino, California Grill (2 nights!!), The Wave (excellent lunch buffet with really fresh salads and sandwiches), Yachtsman, Grand Floridian, etc.

If you have any questions about the suite (we stayed in 4914) or anything, please ask. If you are planning a stay there, you will not be disappointed!! I can't imagine ever going back and staying anywhere other than that floor again. We are spoiled!

Thanks for posting your review and it's great you enjoyed staying there.

 

[WDWKOOK]

Yes, thank you for posting your review both here and on the CL thread.

What kinds of pre-rehab. work did you notice? Just curious, did you book your suite with a pin?

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

http://eventservices.disney.go.com/pintrading/event?id=23253

May 20, 2011 - 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Disney's Contemporary Resort - Ballroom of the Americas.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owoy94B04Qo

 

[WDWKOOK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owoy94B04Qo

Thanks for posting the link. I loved hearing the train whistle at the beginning and the boat horn in the end. Does it make you wish you were staying there? Oh, and I noticed it was filmed a couple of weeks after we were both there last year.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

http://allears.net/ae/issue416.htm

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks for posting the link. I loved hearing the train whistle at the beginning and the boat horn in the end. Does it make you wish you were staying there? Oh, and I noticed it was filmed a couple of weeks after we were both there last year.

Well I am sure that I will be staying at the Contemporary again and for now I can get by just visiting there during the times I am not staying there. I also noticed the date that video was filmed and it was our last day at the Boardwalk Inn, because the next morning we started to drive home.

 

[WDWKOOK]

http://allears.net/ae/issue416.htm

The article is from 2007, but it's still interesting, though it mentions the long-gone computer in the room.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

The article is from 2007, but it's still interesting.

I saw the year it was written but until today I had never read it or seen it listed in the Contemporary section of Allearsnet, so I thought it was also interesting and needed to be posted.

 

[clemsondisneyfan]

Yes, thank you for posting your review both here and on the CL thread.

What kinds of pre-rehab. work did you notice? Just curious, did you book your suite with a pin?

You are welcome. They told us they were completely going to remodel the entire top two floors! They are going to redo the configurations of the rooms too - not just update the interiors. I think they said it would be started by June. I imagine we will hear something from other Dissers as they vacation there this month. I can't imagine anyone is staying there while they renovate to that degree....unless they do one floor at a time. It should be gorgeous when they are done!

I thought that the living space (it was double the size of the hotel room!) we had was way too large for a family of 4. I would have preferred another small bedroom for the kids instead of the HUGE living space. But, the way they have it set up now, they could lock off the living area space and just sell a hotel room. Our bedroom area was a complete bedroom with fridge, bathroom and private balcony. We did enjoy having the living space and used it every day! But, they would have enjoyed their own room. They didn't use the sofa bed, they just stayed in the room with us. We had 2 Queen beds. We were invited to see the 2 bedroom Suite while we were there - that would have given us two bedrooms, but it would have been overkill for 4 people. It was 2 complete hotel rooms with the same size living space (at least it seemed like the same as ours) between them.

My husband handled the reservations, and I know he got it for less than the rack rate listed. We have booked with pin codes and bounce back rates. We travel a LOT - 2 trips already just since that one in early April! I just have to arrange schedules, pack and make sure everyone gets to the airport on time.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

You are welcome. They told us they were completely going to remodel the entire top two floors! They are going to redo the configurations of the rooms too - not just update the interiors. I think they said it would be started by June. I imagine we will hear something from other Dissers as they vacation there this month. I can't imagine anyone is staying there while they renovate to that degree....unless they do one floor at a time. It should be gorgeous when they are done!

Did you happen to ask what happens to those who had reservations to stay up there during the time the floor and their rooms are to be renovated? I know that the Tower Club floor sells out a lot faster then the Atrium Club floor and one of the reasons is their various suites which get reserved at least 1 year in advance. So I am willing to bet some guests had upcoming reservations up there which will be effected by this renovation.