The surprise worked (and I was surprised with Contemporary!)

[lmhall2000]

I'll give a full trip report with all the photos later in the week, but wanted to share my excitement for the Contemporary here.

We surprised our children at the airport and videotaped their expresssions...they thought we were there to pick up a friend...we sacked them with the news that we were indeed headed to DISNEY WORLD!! It really took a few minutes for the reality to sink in and then you got the full-fledged off the wall reactions!

Then it was time for my surprise...I was a little hesitant staying at the Contemporary because the old rooms looked way to busy for me, thought I'd never relax...but the $$$ savings on a wing room over Poly made me overlook that worry. Imagine my eyes and excitement when she pointed out the location of our room as 6th floor Tower facing the castle!!! I tried to point out to her that I had reserved a Wing room, but she just said, This is your room....I wanted to shout and do a jig right there...okay I'm saving some of this for the trip report...but leave it to say I was PUMPED!

The room was GREAT! And I am very picky...the only things that really showed obvious wear...were the sliding doors and a few caulking areas around the tub. We are in a new house in AL so I'm spoiled by the ease of having brand new doors and once Contemporary updates those doors (they must be 20 years old) and regrouts the tub it'll be sparkling! The beds were very comfortable and I LOVED the pillows....but how amazing to sit out on the patio and see the castle change colors and view the fireworks...

The staff at CR were beyond friendly and sooo accomodating...helpful at every turn. I've never had a resort (only stayed at 4...Poly, AKL, OKW) that was so consistent on this issue. We've always gone during slow times so I can't attribute it to the time of year.

I also liked having the two sinks separated...one in the bath area and one in the toilet area...although I have to admit that all five of us still managed to share the same sink if brushing our teeth in the morning...

We loved the pools...the second round pool was almost always empty and we had it to ourselves...it was cool..and the slide was alot of fun at the big pool.

We walked to MK most the time...so convenient and a nice short walk.

It's now my favorite resort out of the four we've been to, and even if we'd stayed in the Wings I think I'd feel the same...I really enjoyed it! I'll be glad to answer any questions...the only construction I viewed was on a floor 5-6 floors higher than we were..they had the whole floor "canvased" off..but we never heard anything.

Tara

 

[TLinden16]

Wow. Sounds like a fantastic stay! Thanks for posting!

Karen

 

[raven69david]

Sounds like an awesome trip. Someday i plan on staying at the Contemporary resort as viewing it from the monorail is breathtaking to say the least. We're going to wait until my daughter is at least another year or two older as she is currently only 10 1/2 months old. When she can understand the characters better we will start staying at the resorts.

Since my wife and i were the only ones visiting the parks years prior we never stayed on-park. We saved money by staying in Kissimmee and thought buying an expensive room would be useless since we'd never be in the room much anyhow. Now that we have our first child, the ease of being close to the room in the park with transportation directly to the hotel makes staying at a Disney hotel much more attractive since the baby will need to rest periodically through the day. We have always wanted to stay at a Disney resort and now we will begin our adventure with staying there. Our upcoming December trip will be at the Shades of Green with some family members who got a great military rate.

 

[Pamle]

I'm going Saturday and hoping to get upgraded to the tower.

 

[aladdinsgirl]

So glad that you had a great vacation! I remember the posts before you left, when you were worried about surprising your kids. I'm so happy for you that you were able to pull it off without a hitch.

I'd love to stay at the Contemporary someday, but I'm having a hard time convincing DH. The pictures of the renovated rooms are helping...

Krista

 

[milmore104]

Glad you pulled it off. The people in the airport must have LOVED that show!!!

 

[Lives4Disney]

Great report! Sounds like it was wonderful.

I love how you surprised your kids! I just booked a 5 night Thanksgiving trip to WDW and told my husband we should keep it a secret. I couldnt help it, and said to them "I have a secret....." My 5 yr old said she knows what it is - and she was right! One of these days I will have to keep my mouth shut and really blow them away!!

The CR is my kids all time FAVE resort. We will be staying there over Thanksgiving. I booked the tower concierge to check out those new rooms.

I have always thought the staff was great at the CR. Glad you felt that, too.

Lives4Disney

 

[monty]

We managed a similar surprise with our kids (aged 11 & 15) 6 years ago when we took them to Disneyland....and I managed to organise passports, time off school, and get them to the airport before telling them we were off to US and Disneyland. We took photos of them as they opened their tickets....the expression on their faces is priceless!

 

[Nancyg56]

What a magical vacation!!!!!!! I'm so glad that the surprise worked, and that you also got surprised. You worked so hard to plan a nice trip, and then got a little sent your way. Have fun!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

Congratulations on the upgrade!