The Contemporary Resort and First Timer

[Tjkane28]

First Timer

I am finally making my first pilgrimage to Disney World, after almost 35 years of life (Yea, DW opened in '71, so I guess I shouldn't count the first 4 yrs).

A couple of questions for you seasoned DISers. (Is that the correct term?)

1. I have booked a Tower Room (1/1-1/5) at the Contemporary for the following reasons: young children in need of quick nap (5 and 2); expectant wife (5 months) (hence the allure of the Monorail), and view of Magic Kingdom (I requested the view, anyway). I need some opinions form people who have stayed at The CR. What did you think? What should I expect? I have heard that one will either love the CR or hate it. It has always been my idea of what DW is all about, I guess, form watching Wonderful World of Disney as a child.

2. Best restaurants for families with young children?

3. Baby sitting services? Are they reliable?

4. What do the initials DD and DS mean when used in the context of describing children?

5. Best things to see at MK, AK, MGM, and Epcot (if applicable for a child of 2)

Thanks for your help and advice.

 

[Samsma]

1. Haven't stayed there yet!
2. Chef Mickeys at the CR is a great character meal, lots of kids.
3. Never used babysitting.
4. Darling daughter, son, wife, husband etc.
5. MK - Parades, Winnie the Pooh ride, and be sure to get a good view of Tinkerbell flying off the castle before the fireworks!
MGM - Bear in the Big Blue House, Epcot - Illuminations is wonderful, Fantasmic at MGM is a little intense for a baby. For you, if you are a Beatles fan, catch the British Invasion in Great Britain at EPCOT, I really enjoy that.

 

[WilmaBud]

I love the Contemporary Tower. When you're there, it feels like you're right in the thick of the magic. If it's already your idea of what WDW is all about, I think you'll love it! It's so cool to see and board the monorail right inside the building. And there's nothing like looking out your window and seeing the castle - esp. at night. And if you get the Bay Lake view, you'll be able to watch the Electric Water Pageant from your room each night. that's really neat, too. Chef Mickey's, downstairs in the contemporary, is a great place to eat with kids. also, your kids will love the arcade.

 

[mark & sandra]

On our first trip as a family a few year ago we decided to stay at the Contemporary for many of your same reasons(minus the pregnancy,thank g-d). It was a fantastic event. We requested a tower room, but if you want a view of the castle, you will need to stress this at check-in. Although it is more expensive, it's worth it. On our first night we were in the room about 10:00pm and we heard a lot of noise, we went onto our deck and saw the fireworks display over the Magic Kingdom, it made the extra costs worth the expense. We ate a couple of meals at Chef Mickey's and the kids ( DS and DD ) had a blast. If you're down by the pool at night you'll also see the Water Pageant, your kids should love it too. Since our family visit, we've now gone twice a year every year. I've learned so much from these boards that now my 10 day stay at WDW cost about 1/4 of what I paid on my first 4 day visit. The CR is a great 1st time place to see Disney. After you've seen it all and done it all you'll enjoy seeing it for less and doing more for less. Hope you have a great time. PS- now that early entry is back, you can get into the MK 1 hour before the crowds start, you can enjoy multiple rides in Fantasy Land before the long lines start.

 

[nkjzmom]

tkjane,

I grew up in FL, so we would just spend the day at WDW. My gma would take us to nap in the concourse of the Contemporary and I thought for sure only rich people could stay there!!! So my dream has always been to stay there....my husband made that dream come true this year! We were there Jan 2-5 and loved it. We had booked a garden wing room, asked at check-in if an upgrade was available and were put in a tower room with a view of MK within a few hours!! AAAHHH!!!

This is getting too long..sorry. We have 4 children under 7 so I know just how you feel. I just wanted the kids to do lots of favorites over and over instead of visiting alot of different places, so we just spend our time in MK. We ate at Chef Mickeys and loved it...can't beat having the characters come to your table. We also liked Pinochio Haus because you can sit inside and watch It's a Small World...Pecos Bill's...Casey's Corner, great hot dogs and great entertainment at the piano! We are going for a day in Nov after a wedding and will be trying out the character breakfast at Tony's and dinner at Cinderella's. Can't wait!!!

We haven't tried the babysitting yet....as far as what the kids will enjoy seeing, it really depends on them. My 5 year old loved BTMRR and cried when she was 1/2 inch too short for Space Mtn...while my 7 year old wasn't quite into the "thrill" rides. Just take your time and if you find something they like, do it more than once. Relax, allow yourselves time to soak it all up.

 

[nkjzmom]

Sorry to post again...more about the Contemporary. Some people have mentioned it gets noisy. We were on the end of the 8th floor (restaurants on the 4th) right above CM's. We did hear noise at times but it didn't bother us. It was almost comforting to know it was down there. The rooms were fairly large, 2Q, day bed, and a baby crib. We also rented a frig ($10/day) for milk, bagels, jelly, juice, etc. for breakfast and snacks in the room.

The monorail was a lifesaver for those midday naps. Make sure you take a ride up front! The older kids/DH enjoyed the hot tub...it was way too cold out for me (it barely got above 40 during the day that week). The bathroom is large with a nice tub for the kids. We also could see the electrical water pageant from our room, which was a great surprise!

I had such a great time...I just love writing about it!

 

[ASFCurly]

I also love the Contemporary, another idea for food that I didn't see mentioned is the food court, the grill is open till about 1 hour after the parks close, but they have sandwhiches, salads, and snacks and drinks and things available 24 hours, it is right by the arcade.

 

[rascalmom]

dd = Disney Daughter
ds = Disney Son
dw = Disney Wife
dh = Disney husband
de = Disney etc.....

 

[MK Familystone]

It is helpful to inform the members here with the relative ages adults, children, or babies.

Try to visit the other monorail resorts lobbies some time during your visit also the Wilderness lodge, just a boat ride away.
Actually you could take one full day of your trip and visit all the moderate hotels and higher , just have breakfast at one, snacks at another and dinner at the last.
Do this on a rainy day if the parks are a wash out or if the little ones need a nap and one of the adults can go on a fact finding hunt.

EX. boat ride to widerness lodge( breakfast) , bus to transportation to Beachclub/Yatch, walk through the lobby and take the water shutttle to Board Walk and have snacks, play miniature golf, walk over to the Swan and Dolphin. take a bus from the Board Walk to transportation ctr, walk over to the Polynesian for dinner, take the water shuttle from Poly to GF and then monorail to the Cont. and elevator to the CAL. GRILL. for a night cap and take in the view of the MK and etc.

ENJOY!

 

[adisneyfan2]

We have stayed there a couple times for many of the same reasons. IMHO (In my humble opinion) it was the best resort for us when our DD (dear daughter) & DS (dear son) were little enough to need naps, because we could roll right onto the monorail with them asleep in the stroller, and roll into the elevators (down to four then up to our floor) & right to our room in a short time with little or no hassle. We had previously stayed at the GF (Grand Floridian) & YC/BC (Yacht & Beach Club) but found the extended walk too much. When the litte ones couldn't make it past 8 or 9, DH (dear husband) & I could still enjoy the fireworks, etc. from the balcony. There is nothing to compare with waking up to a view of the castle either!
Restaurants are ALL kid-friendly, so go with menus that you like. In our experience, almost all of them can scare up a PBJ or maybe a grilled cheese, even if it isn't on their menu.

As for parks, a lot depends on your kids. It goes without saying that if they are very young, MK will probably be their favorite, but every park has something that can appeal to little ones. As preschoolers & toddlers, mine liked the boat rides at Epcot (The Land, Mexico, NOT Norway) & the Imaginarium; they loved Playhouse Disney & Little Mermaid @ MGM, & enjoyed Dinoland at AK. They lived for Fantasyland at MK.

Have fun!!

PS If you are not a smoker, be sure to specify that you want Non-smoking (NOT a smoking-option) room. We got a smoking-option room once, and even though they brought up an "ozone" machine we couldn't detect any difference, even after the machine ran continuously for over 12 hours. The room smelled so strongly, our children started to wheeze within the first hour, our throats were burning, & our luggage & clothes smelled for a couple days. (We were moved the next morning, but save yourself the hassle if you don't like smoke!)

 

[TaraG]

Make sure you call ahead of time and make your PS (priority seating)'s. I called 407-WDW-DINE. Spots fill up very quickly.

 

[SummerSchoolMath]

Great choice!

We stayed at CR (south garden wing) back in Feb (1st trip) and it was great! The room was magically decored and plenty spacious.
Convenience is the central theme with CR.

Chef Mickey has good food with numerous characters.

You 5 year old will have a blast! Perfect age, as mine were 7 and 5.

Before our trip, I created an agenda with all the attractions and activities planned. It was much help!

If you would like a copy of the report send me an e-mail: SummerSchoolMath@cs.com. It also includes a ranking of the attractions from the perspective of a family with young children.

Have a great trip!

 

[wdwnutze]

Never stayed at the Contemporary but we go to Chef Mickey's for the character breakfast every visit. We jsut love it there. The character interaction is great and there are really great photo oportunities.

 

[ukcatfan]

The only problem I found with the tower rooms were the elevators in the Concourse. During the busy times of the day (a lot of people leaving or returning) it could get very difficult to get an elevator. Some people even made it a competition and would jump right in front of us when a door opened. Having a stroller made it even harder.

Once we even took the escalator to the ground floor and boarded there. When it stopped at the Concourse we saw the same people waiting that were there when we went downstairs.

 

[LoriZH]

My family and I have stayed there two times and the first time being the exact same reason you did, we have young children (actually we had 3 1/2 yo twins at the time) and it was my husband's childhood dream to stay at the CR. We also had a MK view (just keep calling to remind them ) and it was WONDERFUL!

The second time was because the kids didn't want to stay anywhere else! The arcade is a BIG hit at this resort!

HAVE FUN!

 

[adisneyfan2]

LoriZH

You reminded me of something: We returned from five days at the Poly last week, and virtually every day, our DS would ask if we could tell Mickey Mouse that it was time for us to move back to our "old" hotel (the Contemporary!) He is a big-time monorail fan, & loves the view of the MK from the balcony.

We almost never tell our kids ahead of time when we are going to WDW, since we usually spend a few days with family in the area first, and want everyone to enjoy where we are without stressing over "how many more days??" A couple visits ago, we checked in at the Cont very late, & DS had fallen asleep on the way in the car. He never woke up, and we put him right to bed. The next morning while we were getting ready, he pulled back the drape, spotted the castle & broke into a huge grin saying, "Look! We're at Disney World!!" That made it worth all the hassle of getting there (even if it was the middle of the night!)