We just got back from our long anticipated Marathon Weekend adventure~
We stayed at the Contemporary with a large group of friends and family for all the Marathon Weekend events. My DD9 and I got to go early to take care of the running packets and to have some girly time. We stayed one night at the Polynesian and 3 nights at the Boardwalk Inn before checking into the Contemporary. I love trying new resorts and have to establish that the Polynesian is our "home" resort, where our heart has always been. But let me say, after staying at the Boardwalk Inn, I can understand why CR Resort Fan 4 Life just loves it! It was the nicest Disney resort we've ever stayed in, including the Grand Floridian.
We stayed at Bay Lake Tower this past summer, so we were familiar with the CR's property and ammenities. We very much enjoyed them then and just loved, loved, loved BLT. We would stay there again in a heartbeat.
We ran the Marathon Weekend events with a charity organization, so got a group discout rate at the CR which was decent. The rooms block was for the Garden Wing rooms. I wish they were in the tower, which is really where my kids would have loved to have been, but we didn't have that option.
I would probably not choose to stay at the CR again (but like I said, would stay at BLT again in a heartbeat!), but there were some pros and cons to our stay. These were just our experiences~
Pros:
Obviously location, location~
awesome for the walk to the MK, the monorail access and boats
We had a view of Bay Lake, and I love the location of the pool and beach off Bay Lake. Peaceful and beautiful!
We actually like the pools and hot tubs, the water in the hot tubs was actually hot enough
Water pressure in the showers was good and water got hot, unlike some other resorts
The beds are comfy
We like Contempo Cafe...we thought the food was overall good, breakfast...eh. We ate there a lot since our focus was the marathon activities. Got tired of the food, but that would be anywhere (except maybe at Pop or POR) CMs at Contempo Cafe were VERY friendly and helpful.
Mousekeeping was good, although the room cleanliness and condition was poor at check-in. Did not come to do rooms until late in the afternoon. That was just the rotation schedule.
Love the fireworks views and the Electric Water Pageant
Cons:
(Some of this is personal preference)
We did not like the location of the Garden Wing~ it's not a far walk, but inconvenient enough with 1/2 marathon runners and marathon runners in our group to walk even that much further to get drinks, get back to room, etc.
True, many other resorts have the same distances to ammenities from rooms, longhouses. Just felt like a completely different hotel to us.
We were disappointed with the condition of not only the rooms but of the common areas of the Garden Wing itself. The entry ways (walking by the service gate is unappealing in itself), sidewalks, hallways, floors, walls, etc. are just so scuffed up and poorly maintained in our opinion. Everything just looked like it needed a deep cleaning and freshening up. The hallways smelled like a nursing home.
I'm not the only one to have made the observation.
One of our friends had to change their rooms becuase it was very unclean~ a lot of dust, grime and especially the bathroom just not clean. They changed rooms and were very accomodating about it. The rooms were surface clean but not much more. The curtains that are very close to the bed (guests heads inches away) were filthy as were the windows. We had a lot of rooms booked, this was the common theme of the rooms we looked in all.
I know these resorts get high traffic and a lot of wear and tear, but cleanliness in my mind is non-negotiable.
The water in the circular "quiet" pool was warmer, but in the regular pool, it could not have been heated. The water was downright
frigid. It was nice in the hot tub, but the pool water was undoable, even by the kids in our group.
We've eaten at the Contempo Cafe, The Wave and California Grill many times and I have to say, the overall food quality has declined in my opinion, but my experience with this trip is that it was overall Disney, not just CR restauarants. Disappointing, we really like Disney food. There were still great things, just an overall observation.
I know there are a lot of CR lovers on this thread, we really did like aspects of our resort stay here, just wanted to give our fair and honest experiences.
I would not discourage anyone from staying here, just go with realistic expecations that any Disney resort has it's pros and shortcomings. CR is a classic and I truly do appreciate it.
)
However, the Mousekeeping is always lacking in my experience. 
We swore we'd never return but we did with a last minute trip in 2001. We ended up in the forever gone now North Wing. The room was better but the mousekeeping was still sorely lacking.
I was sure hoping that the CR was on an upswing and things had improved lately....
Hopefully, I'll be pleasantly surprised. Whatever happens, I'll be sure to report back here
