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

[BlueSkies]

So it's just been about 24 hours since we returned from our 8 day stay at CR. We LOVED it!!!

I took lots of photos and will try to share some later.
We were on the 7th floor and although we had a "Bay view" room I really feel like we got the best there was because our room was the very last one nearest the park and BLT, so we had an amazing view of MK as we walked towards our room and right from the door going into our room. So it was the best of both worlds...we could see MK from the air conditioning, or hit the balcony and see the bay and everything around there. We also had great views of BLT being right beside it and could see into rooms that had open curtains.

Glad that you had a great trip...cant wait to see the pics...I have had that room on the end...it is terrific...

Personally I am a fan of the Bay Lake view (not to mention it is less expensive) and with that end room all you need to do is turn toward the MK on your balcony and there it is!!! so nice...

You are right the best of both worlds!!!!

 

[WDWKOOK]

..

Personally I am a fan of the Bay Lake view (not to mention it is less expensive) and with that end room all you need to do is turn toward the MK on your balcony and there it is!!! so nice...

You are right the best of both worlds!!!!

We love the tower BLV, too

My DH loves the CR, but will only stay tower/BLV. I always feel like we're in the minority when I say we love the BLV and we recommend it to others. It's less expensive, there is no parking lot below you, you can see Epcot, and Ol' Discovery Island, the marina... I understand how some people love to see the fireworks and castle, but I don't feel a need to see that from both in and out of my room - we'll take BLV.

 

[brergnat]

-Push "Power" button and down arrow at the same time
-LCD screen should now read "BP" (you are now in bypass mode)
-Use up/down arrows to set room to desired temperature

(FYI - this must be done ever 48 hours or so, as the system will default to automatic sensor mode)

Just so you know, I tried this at the CR last month and it did not work. Nothing happened. I tried it the first day we were there, cause I was paranoid that I would be too hot the first night. The screen never changed. I never got the "BP" on the LCD.

HOWEVER, I don't think it was a "motion sensor" A/C unit. I would set the temperature, set it to "auto" and it would maintain that temperature, even at night when no one was "moving" similar to the way my home thermostat does. And it worked REALLY well too...it was almost too cold most of the time.

We would put it at 70 degrees and that was plenty cold. But, it goes down to, like 62 or something. We put it down there one time when we were getting ready (drying our hair after working out at the gym) and when we did that, it was FREEZING in our room. I had to put on a sweatshirt.

 

[Finally08]

Ok, here's some photos I have uploaded now...this was taken Saturday it shows more of a "real distance" view from the hall right in front of our room to MK...dd's ears are to the right

Zoom through the window

night view

This is one of the poolside cabana's you can rent

Fun in the pool


dd's only trip down the big slide

ds attempting to point to our room...he made stupid faces in 90% of the photos I took

Some views of pool construction

View just to the left...my future home I hope...

 

[nevercook]

So it's just been about 24 hours since we returned from our 8 day stay at CR. We LOVED it!!!

I took lots of photos and will try to share some later.
We were on the 7th floor and although we had a "Bay view" room I really feel like we got the best there was because our room was the very last one nearest the park and BLT, so we had an amazing view of MK as we walked towards our room and right from the door going into our room. So it was the best of both worlds...we could see MK from the air conditioning, or hit the balcony and see the bay and everything around there. We also had great views of BLT being right beside it and could see into rooms that had open curtains.

Hi,

We're also from Louisiana. We will be arriving at the CR on June 8th after three nights at Universal's Royal Pacific Resort. Although we've been to WDW almost every year since 1976, sometimes more than once, we have not stayed at the CR since 1980. We're really excited.

Glad you had a great trip. Really looking forward to hearing more and seeing your pics.

Nevercook

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

So it's just been about 24 hours since we returned from our 8 day stay at CR. We LOVED it!!!

I took lots of photos and will try to share some later.
We were on the 7th floor and although we had a "Bay view" room I really feel like we got the best there was because our room was the very last one nearest the park and BLT, so we had an amazing view of MK as we walked towards our room and right from the door going into our room. So it was the best of both worlds...we could see MK from the air conditioning, or hit the balcony and see the bay and everything around there. We also had great views of BLT being right beside it and could see into rooms that had open curtains.

It's great to read you enjoyed your stay and your pictures look amazing, so thanks for posting them.

 

[pixie921]

Finally08, LOVED your photos!! Thanks for sharing them!

 

[nemofans]

We are thinking about making ADRs at a couple of resort restaurants & was wonderig what was the best way to get there. If we wanted to go to Beach Club or Dolphin, do we take the monorail to MK & take a resort bus from there or can we get a resort bus from TTC? I may post this on the Transportation board too, but figured the CR expert would know.
Thanks!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

We are thinking about making ADRs at a couple of resort restaurants & was wonderig what was the best way to get there. If we wanted to go to Beach Club or Dolphin, do we take the monorail to MK & take a resort bus from there or can we get a resort bus from TTC? I may post this on the Transportation board too, but figured the CR expert would know.
Thanks!

If your coming from any WDW Resort that is not the Resort Monorail line you can take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and when you arrive there you can either use the walkway to the Contemporary or walk over to the Resort Monorail and take that.

 

[brergnat]

We are thinking about making ADRs at a couple of resort restaurants & was wonderig what was the best way to get there. If we wanted to go to Beach Club or Dolphin, do we take the monorail to MK & take a resort bus from there or can we get a resort bus from TTC? I may post this on the Transportation board too, but figured the CR expert would know.
Thanks!

If you will be going to your ADR's directly FROM the CR, then the easiest way would be to WALK to the MK bus depot from the CR, and hop a bus to the BC/Dolphin, or whatever resort. That will get you there MUCH faster than taking the MK monorail all the way around, then walking from the monorail station to the bus stop.

The walk from the lobby of the CR to the MK bus depot is about 5 min.

 

[Disney grandma]

Strange... I just priced a Bay Lake BLT room Vs Contemporary Tower... where do you see it's $200 difference between the two? Unless I misread?

Tower - Bay Lake View

All rooms have 2 queen-size beds or one king-size bed, day bed, table and chairs, ceiling fan and a large bathroom with private commode. All rooms are non-smoking. Wheelchair-accessible rooms are available. Amenities include a large flat-screen TV, desktop computer, in-room safe, voice mail, data port, hairdryer, iron, ironing board, coffeemaker and refrigerator. A crib is available upon request. Tower Rooms are located in the Tower Building and offer views of Bay Lake.
Date Rate per Night

Tue, Sep 22 $ 390.00



Studio – Bay Lake View

These Studios offer views of Bay Lake. They have one queen-size bed and one double-size sleeper sofa, a table and chairs, one bathroom, a wet bar and a private porch or balcony. Amenities include flat-panel TV, DVD player, in-room wall safe, voice mail, high-speed Internet access, data port on phone, hairdryer, iron, ironing board, microwave, small refrigerator, coffeemaker and Pack 'n Play® Playard. All Studios are non-smoking. Wheelchair-accessible Studios are available through the Special Needs Department.
Date Rate per Night
Tue, Sep 22 $ 400.00

This was a statement by Polynesian Alex that the studio was $200 more than a standard guestroom. It does seem like they would be a similar price but maybe it was a certain date that he had quoted.

 

[oasispaul]

Just so you know, I tried this at the CR last month and it did not work. Nothing happened. I tried it the first day we were there, cause I was paranoid that I would be too hot the first night. The screen never changed. I never got the "BP" on the LCD.

HOWEVER, I don't think it was a "motion sensor" A/C unit. I would set the temperature, set it to "auto" and it would maintain that temperature, even at night when no one was "moving" similar to the way my home thermostat does. And it worked REALLY well too...it was almost too cold most of the time.

We would put it at 70 degrees and that was plenty cold. But, it goes down to, like 62 or something. We put it down there one time when we were getting ready (drying our hair after working out at the gym) and when we did that, it was FREEZING in our room. I had to put on a sweatshirt.

I did this last week and was able to access the bypass mode (the LCD screen read BP, then I set our room to 72 degrees, no problems). However, I agree with you in that it didn't appear it was necessary to access bypass mode to keep the room at a constant temperature. Simply setting the desired temp by using the up/down arrows seemed to work as well (i.e. the air kicked on to keep the room at the desired temp, whether there was motion in the room or not).

Having said that, the bypass instructions I posted should work in the unfortunate event that someone gets a room where the thermostat is set to motion-sensor mode.

 

[BCV23]

Finally08, those are beautifully clear pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Could you tell if the walkway to BLT now has glass installed?

 

[nemofans]

If you will be going to your ADR's directly FROM the CR, then the easiest way would be to WALK to the MK bus depot from the CR, and hop a bus to the BC/Dolphin, or whatever resort. That will get you there MUCH faster than taking the MK monorail all the way around, then walking from the monorail station to the bus stop.

The walk from the lobby of the CR to the MK bus depot is about 5 min.

Yes, we will be going to ADR's from CR. You are right, walking would get us there faster. The buses are a distance from the monorail & we would get to the buses quicker walking from CR.
Thanks!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Yes, we will be going to ADR's from CR. You are right, walking would get us there faster. The buses are a distance from the monorail & we would get to the buses quicker walking from CR.
Thanks!

If your not going to be in a rush going back to the Magic Kingdom bus station when your finished eating at the Contemporary, you can always take the Resort Monorail back to the Magic Kingdom. After leaving the Contemporary it would stop at the TTC, Polynesian and Grand Floridian before arriving, so you get to go all around.

 

[Finally08]

Finally08, those are beautifully clear pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Could you tell if the walkway to BLT now has glass installed?

Will the sides of it be completely enclosed? If so...then no it wasn't finished. The roof was done, and the sides were up to about halfway but above that it was open. But I didn't know if it was supposed to be an open walkway like that or not.

 

[BCV23]

Will the sides of it be completely enclosed? If so...then no it wasn't finished. The roof was done, and the sides were up to about halfway but above that it was open. But I didn't know if it was supposed to be an open walkway like that or not.

I don't know either although it would seem quite dangerous to me if the walkway was not fully enclosed.

I've seen other recent pictures that appeared to have something in the upper part of the walls. And some have posted about it having smoked glass. To me the other pictures looked like it might be glassed that was being treated. Who knows.

Do you remember roughly which day you took those? Webmaster Doc posted some last weekend and I think the glass was in those pictures. Off to look!

 

[BCV23]

Here are Webmaster Doc's pictures:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2171994

As you can see, the part of the walkway closest to BLT looks either clear or unfinished while the portion near the CR looks like it's being treated to me.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

From what I have seen in person and in pictures it looks like that the walkway will be fully enclosed, which would good for everyones safety when it rains. Also it looks like they built it so no one would stand in there to watch Wishes, which is also another good idea.

 

[Finally08]

Do you remember roughly which day you took those? Webmaster Doc posted some last weekend and I think the glass was in those pictures. Off to look!

Those were probably taken last Monday or Tuesday. Of all the work I saw being done over there I never saw anyone in that area, but then we didn't hang on the balcony a whole lot.