The ALL NEW Disney's Contemporary Resort FAQ with PICTURES! (APR 2009)

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

hi everyone!! i have gone towdw since 1973 at the age of 8. i have been there atleast once a year since then. my dw and got married 25 years ago and i turned her into the disney way of life!! (wasnt hard) we went there on our honeymoon and the rest is history. this year, i decided, besides our normal trip to okw in oct, that my dw and i would spend 7 night just the two of us.i made a ressi at car. beach and she was happy. i have been looking at the cr just about my entire life saying, im going to stay there one day. well, i change my ressi to the cr !!! i will be telling dw when we are on dis. property and she says the car. beach is over there, were are you going? i got a tower mk view room for 7 nights and cant wait!! ive enjoyed looking and reading everyones post. thanks for all the good tips and info. see ya there!!

Congragulations and have a great time.

 

[BCV23]

You're so punny!!!

The Imagineers are at any rate.

hi everyone!! i have gone towdw since 1973 at the age of 8. i have been there atleast once a year since then. my dw and got married 25 years ago and i turned her into the disney way of life!! (wasnt hard) we went there on our honeymoon and the rest is history. this year, i decided, besides our normal trip to okw in oct, that my dw and i would spend 7 night just the two of us.i made a ressi at car. beach and she was happy. i have been looking at the cr just about my entire life saying, im going to stay there one day. well, i change my ressi to the cr !!! i will be telling dw when we are on dis. property and she says the car. beach is over there, were are you going? i got a tower mk view room for 7 nights and cant wait!! ive enjoyed looking and reading everyones post. thanks for all the good tips and info. see ya there!!

Congratulation! What a great surprise for your wife.

 

[Cinderumbrella]

My TA just made my final payment this AM!!!
45 days, baby and we are there!!!
Wish me luck on continuing to keep my secret!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

My TA just made my final payment this AM!!!
45 days, baby and we are there!!!
Wish me luck on continuing to keep my secret!

That must be a great feeling knowing your final payment is made and I can not wait to feel like this June, when we make the final payment for our stay there this August.

 

[BCV23]

My TA just made my final payment this AM!!!
45 days, baby and we are there!!!
Wish me luck on continuing to keep my secret!

Congratulations...it will be here before you know it.

Pixie dust for keeping the secret!

 

[Cinderumbrella]

That must be a great feeling knowing your final payment is made and I can not wait to feel like this June, when we make the final payment for our stay there this August.

Thanks again to everyone who answered all my questions. I promise to bring back lots of pictures so I can finally contribute something rather than ask all the time!!!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Thanks again to everyone who answered all my questions. I promise to bring back lots of pictures so I can finally contribute something rather than ask all the time!!!

I can not wait to see the pictures you will be posting.

 

[BlueSkies]

My TA just made my final payment this AM!!!
45 days, baby and we are there!!!
Wish me luck on continuing to keep my secret!

Congratulations!!!

You have done really well keeping the secret so far...on 45 more days to go!!!

 

[BlueSkies]

hi everyone!! i have gone towdw since 1973 at the age of 8. i have been there atleast once a year since then. my dw and got married 25 years ago and i turned her into the disney way of life!! (wasnt hard) we went there on our honeymoon and the rest is history. this year, i decided, besides our normal trip to okw in oct, that my dw and i would spend 7 night just the two of us.i made a ressi at car. beach and she was happy. i have been looking at the cr just about my entire life saying, im going to stay there one day. well, i change my ressi to the cr !!! i will be telling dw when we are on dis. property and she says the car. beach is over there, were are you going? i got a tower mk view room for 7 nights and cant wait!! ive enjoyed looking and reading everyones post. thanks for all the good tips and info. see ya there!!

What a wonderful surprise!!! What a wonderful husband...Have a great trip...

 

[pixie921]

Like I said earlier, I haven't been to Disney Quest (DQ) in 7 years. DH and DS5 just went in Nov and loved it. They go to Dave & Busters arcade here in the city often and love big arcades. DQ has five floors of games. Every video game imaginable. The virtual ones are amazing. POTC, Aladin's Magic Carpet and the Jungle Cruise - where they spritz water on you while your rowing! I LOVED the floor with the vintage video games! Donkey Kong, Ms. Pacman, Q-Bert,etc... DH played Tetris and I played this hamburger game (stack a burger ) for hours!! I can't imagine what teenager would NOT have a ball in there.

Sounds like fun! And maybe a perfect way to spend a hot, humid September afternoon on our trip!

 

[soccer-mom29e]

We've stayed at the CR on our two previous trips and will be returning between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My main concern is the crowds. As I understand it, BLT will have no eating places and all guest will share dining facilities at CR. Is this correct? When we went, the counter service and Chef Mickey's was always full. There always seemed to be a lot of people in that area. Will it be too crowded to enjoy, with all the BLT guests coming to shop and eat?

 

[3"Mouse"keteers]

We've stayed at the CR on our two previous trips and will be returning between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My main concern is the crowds. As I understand it, BLT will have no eating places and all guest will share dining facilities at CR. Is this correct? When we went, the counter service and Chef Mickey's was always full. There always seemed to be a lot of people in that area. Will it be too crowded to enjoy, with all the BLT guests coming to shop and eat?

curious about this as well, especially as far as monorail traffic is concerned.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We've stayed at the CR on our two previous trips and will be returning between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My main concern is the crowds. As I understand it, BLT will have no eating places and all guest will share dining facilities at CR. Is this correct? When we went, the counter service and Chef Mickey's was always full. There always seemed to be a lot of people in that area. Will it be too crowded to enjoy, with all the BLT guests coming to shop and eat?

Well let's not forget before Bay Lake Tower was being built the 4th floor was always busy with non Contemporary guests eating at the restaurants, looking at the stores and taking the Monorail. I can not count the number of times my family and I have had to wait for another Monorail because the line there was a long line to get on. So while I am sure Bay Lake Tower will make the 4th floor and everything around it more busy, will we see a difference since the Contemporary has always been a busy place to visit.

 

[Howdy Doodat]

Well let's not forget before Bay Lake Tower was being built the 4th floor was always busy with non Contemporary guests eating at the restaurants, looking at the stores and taking the Monorail. I can not count the number of times my family and I have had to wait for another Monorail because the line there was a long line to get on. So while I am sure Bay Lake Tower will make the 4th floor and everything around it more busy, will we see a difference since the Contemporary has always been a busy place to visit.

also remember that, once upon a time, there was a north garden wing with a whole lot of rooms. i don't know how the total number of rooms in BLT compares to what was in the north garden wing, but hey, we lost some crowds before and now we're gaining some back.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

also remember that, once upon a time, there was a north garden wing with a whole lot of rooms. i don't know how the total number of rooms in BLT compares to what was in the north garden wing, but hey, we lost some crowds before and now we're gaining some back.

That's another great point and thanks for brining up the example of the North Garden Wing, because it is a good one.

 

[brergnat]

I thought about the crowds from BLT too...

When I was there recently, Contempo Cafe was USUALLY pretty crowded. Not so much the food area, but the seating area was almost always full. Wonder what will happen when all those rooms open up. I think the seating area at Contempo will prove to be way too small...

As for the monorail, not much they can do about that. I honestly think many people staying at BLT will choose to walk to MK. They would be fools not to. It's a much faster option.

As for buses...THAT is going to be a HUGE problem unless Disney does something about it soon. It was already a huge problem, with buses not coming often at ALL (like, only every 40 min instead of 20, and then filling up FAST, since people had been gathering for 40 minutes!). If they don't increase the number/frequency of buses coming to Contemporary, there is going to be a major problem there!

As for general foot traffic in the concourse, I don't think it will be too bad. It was pretty quiet the week we were there. They have done a really nice job of sectioning off the entrance to Chef Mickey's to create sort of a "corral" and large waiting area for those guests, so they are no longer meandering around and spilling into the concourse retail areas while they wait, like they used to. This helps IMMENSELY with crowd control during mealtimes at Chef Mickey's. It overall felt pretty open and NOT crowded at all. I think it won't be too bad once BLT opens.

 

[spaceace510]

I thought about the crowds from BLT too...

As for the monorail, not much they can do about that. I honestly think many people staying at BLT will choose to walk to MK. They would be fools not to. It's a much faster option.

As for buses...THAT is going to be a HUGE problem unless Disney does something about it soon. It was already a huge problem, with buses not coming often at ALL (like, only every 40 min instead of 20, and then filling up FAST, since people had been gathering for 40 minutes!). If they don't increase the number/frequency of buses coming to Contemporary, there is going to be a major problem there!

I think it won't be too bad once BLT opens.

I agree that it would be the best option for BLT guest to walk to MK. I mean, if memory serves... making to trek to the start of the path would be faster than coming over to CR and fighting the crowds from the CR and other people "visiting" then adding on the time of waiting to get on the monorail and then the actual trip... it would clearly be much faster to walk if possible. But i'm sure at least some people are still gonna take the monorail over...

And I would seriously hope that Disney would be smart enough to increase the frequency of the buses or increase the number buses on each route. I mean im sure this is something they consider whenever opening a new resort or an expansion (i hope they do anyway)

But regardless I'm sure that if things turn into a worse case scenario Disney would quickly take action... (I have no clue what it would be though)

 

[MrsBlovesDisney]

Hi there!! We just got back yesterday....I don't have much time to write right now, but wanted to let you all know a few things:

Took JetBlue....as always, awesome, awesome, awesome....never a problem in the many years we have used them....just wish they would fly out of TF Green.

Stayed at OKW for a couple of nights (we own points there that we purchased from a dear friend last year with the intent to use them at the BLT)....OKW was beautiful, the rooms were HUGE....buses were no problem, and our room was located near the HH, so it was convenient.

Moved to the CR on Tuesday....it was wonderful to see all the 12th floor staff again!! As always, love the MK view!!

They are very busy working on the pool area, and although I didn't get a finish date, it should be soon. A lot more trees (palm) went in, and it will be beautiful when it's done! Also, they have activities at the pool all afternoon long for the kids....that's new since last year I believe.

One more thing....the washer and dryers don't take quarters anymore....woohoo!! U use your room key now....also to purchase detergent, etc. We were so happy they changed that!! MUCH more convenient!!

Finally, we LOVED the new counter service!! Yummy selections!! It was a hit!!

I will be writing more later this afternoon.....I'm sure I'm missing a lot....and will try to answer any questions....

 

[PopArtGal]

Hi there!! We just got back yesterday....I don't have much time to write right now, but wanted to let you all know a few things:

Took JetBlue....as always, awesome, awesome, awesome....never a problem in the many years we have used them....just wish they would fly out of TF Green.

Stayed at OKW for a couple of nights (we own points there that we purchased from a dear friend last year with the intent to use them at the BLT)....OKW was beautiful, the rooms were HUGE....buses were no problem, and our room was located near the HH, so it was convenient.

Moved to the CR on Tuesday....it was wonderful to see all the 12th floor staff again!! As always, love the MK view!!

They are very busy working on the pool area, and although I didn't get a finish date, it should be soon. A lot more trees (palm) went in, and it will be beautiful when it's done! Also, they have activities at the pool all afternoon long for the kids....that's new since last year I believe.

One more thing....the washer and dryers don't take quarters anymore....woohoo!! U use your room key now....also to purchase detergent, etc. We were so happy they changed that!! MUCH more convenient!!

Finally, we LOVED the new counter service!! Yummy selections!! It was a hit!!

I will be writing more later this afternoon.....I'm sure I'm missing a lot....and will try to answer any questions....

Are you talking about washer and dryers all over the hotel?

 

[MrsBlovesDisney]

Are you talking about washer and dryers all over the hotel?

The only place you can do your laundry at the CR would be in the south wing on the second floor....there is no laundry room (that I'm aware of anyway) located in the Tower.