I can't remember exactly when it was that Frank called me to tell me he had booked a concierge room at the Contemporary. But I do remember being really, really excited!
Being concierge guests certainly had it's priviledges
We enjoyed having a representative from the Itinerary Planning Organization (IPO) make all of our reservations for us, which is a concierge perk! We got the dining times we wanted, the best tables and the best seats for shows
without waiting on hold! We were able to enjoy things like the Wildlife Discovery Tour in the Animal Kingdom, which are only available to concierge guests.
However, booking a concierge room also left us with some very high expectations. Frank used about a bazillion points to book these 5 nights in The Atrium Club, since The Contemporary is not yet a DVC resort, and we expected it to be a once-in-a-lifetime treat. It was! But there were also a number of screw ups on the part hotel, both in service and facilities, that put a
minor damper* on things, most especially on the first day.
*Minor Damper Disclaimer - The following information is presented for your information and amusement. Is in no way meant to imply that we did not have an incredible experience at Disney's Contemporary Resort. Some stuff happened, some of it was funny, some of it was unexpected and I like to tell stories. This all turned into the Great Hotel Rant. Just don't take it too seriously (especially the Pretty yet Totally Dysfunctional Sink section
)
Let me begin with the good stuff:
The room was lovely and spotless!
We had an MK view, the best view in all of WDW!
The beds were incredibly, unbelievably comfortable! (see:
http://www.disneyresortcollection.com/ )
The Atrium Club was always stocked with yummy treats!
Sharon & Dorothy were our favorite concierges! What they didn't know, they could find out in a hurry!
You can see the Wishes fireworks from the balcony and they broadcast the music on your TV!
The Electric Water Pageant goes around the Seven Seas Lagoon and past the hotel!
There is a monorail station in the hotel! How cool is that!
They lost the order for the Chocolate Monorail that was supposed to be delivered as a surprise for Frank on Sunday. But Sharon the concierge more than made up for it by personally delivering a bottle of wine, 2 keepsake wine glasses, a chocolate box containing truffles, with a picture of the Contemporary logo on top, a bunch of balloons and a card signed by Mickey!
And the chocolate monorail arrived the next day, free of charge!
Now, here comes the rant part:
Valet Parking
For $10 a day, I expect some excellent service! Most of the time the car was brought up fairly quickly. But the valet staff seemed to be much more interested in chatting with each other than helping the guests. I really didn't want to listen to who went out with whom last night while I was waiting for my car. I've already mentioned that when we called for the car the morning we checked out, we came downstairs and found that they had parked our car out in the rain! Fortunately the bellman remedied that situation for us, since he didn't want to get wet, loading our luggage into the car!
Attempted Checkin - Bellman
Frank had been told by the IPO folks that we would have a special check in procedure, as concierge guests. Since I was arriving first, I was told to tell valet that I had a concierge reservation. A concierge was supposed to meet me at the car and take me upstairs to the concierge level to check in. Unfortunately it didn't work that way
. I was told that 'no one was up there' and what could possibly be the world's most clueless bellman came over to the car. I've already described most of what happened next in the
To Infinity and the Top of the Contemporary section, but suffice it to say it didn't go well. By the time he finally wandered off with my luggage, his 'tipmeter' had gone all the way to $0, in fact, I thought he owed ME money!
Checkin - Supposed Concierge (actually a college intern pretending to be a concierge)
I ended up at the concierge desk in the lobby, since they said once again that 'no one was up there'. I've also recounted this lovely experience in
To Infinity and the Top of the Contemporary However, I must take this opportunity to repeat my favorite line from the supposed concierge. She told me that she was going to check me in and then proceeded to ask me what my room number was. I pointed out that since I had not actually checked into the hotel yet, I didn't have a room number yet (You see, most hotels don't give people room numbers until they actually check in - this is a concept she will need to master if she plans on a career in the hotel business) She laughed
she did that a lot, which was really annoying - there was a Dole Whip with my name on it over at MK and she was holding me up!). OK, here's a summary: She had no clue how to find a room for me.
She did ask for my credit card and she did swipe it. (this information will be important later, so please remember) She confirmed reservations at 50's Primetime and the Rainforest that we didn't make. She found our Hoop-Dee-Doo reservation but couldn't figure out how to print out the tickets. She couldn't locate any of our other dining reservations (thank goodness we had them mail us the La Nouba tickets!). There was another guy running around behind the desk and he was the one that actually straightened out the room assignment. All of this took over 20 minutes (I would have been better off on the regular hotel line!), When Miss Airhead finally took me up to the 12th floor, the elevator doors opened and there sat not one but TWO concierges! (so much for no one being up there).
Housekeeping issues
Who ever heard of a luxury hotel not replacing toiletries unless you ask them? Welcome to Disney's Contemporary Resort! The maids never replaced toiletries, even when it was clear that we were out of a particular item. When you called, they would bring you one more of whatever you asked for. I've come to find out this is a problem that many other people have mentioned in their reviews/trip reports. What a stupid thing to be cheap about!
Would you like turndown service? Yes, I love to have my bed fluffed up, my sheets folded down and that little piece of chocolate placed on my pillow!
But I'd really like you to do that while I'm out to dinner, please. Not at 9:45 or 10 PM!!!
On both Sunday and Monday nights, we had a maid knock on our door after 9:45 PM to ask if we wanted turn down service! What the heck are they thinking?!?!? I could see if it was summertime and people were staying in the parks late. But why would they think it was OK to knock on someone's door at 10 PM? What if your kids were sleeping? Better yet, what if you were sleeping? Frank finally called on Tuesday morning and asked them to do the turn down between 7 & 8. Which worked for Tuesday night. But guess what happened on Wednesday night???
No Hot Water?
Tuesday night, pre-dinner shower. No hot water - is this possible in one of Disney's deluxe hotels? I found it so unbelievable that I actually got into the shower thinking it would have to get warmer (I am the child of 2 US Marines, remember?). Nope. When I called engineering, I was told that no one else had called. Duh. Since I knew that we didn't have our own personal hot water heater, I predicted that they would get more calls later on. I was right. We finally got hot water at 10 PM that night. See
The Wave - What Exactly is Bold American Cooking for the full story.
Checkin - Supposed Concierge Part 2
Wednesday morning, when we got up, our message light was on. Frank called and there was a message saying we needed to contact the Front Desk. Now remember back on Sunday, when the supposed concierge swiped my Vintage Mickey Disney Rewards Visa Card??? Yes, I remembered her swiping it too, but I guess she couldn't even get that right. We had no credit card on file. We were asked to check with the concierge so they could swipe my card again. We went to see Dorothy and she took care of it for us and apologized. But we were very interested to know how we could have been charging up a storm since Sunday (Frank & I always charge all our meals and shared expenses to the room and then we split it up later
). Then we found out Disney's 2nd Best Kept Secret - DVC members can charge up to a certain amount WITHOUT a credit card on file! Since we were booked on DVC points, we were considered on a DVC plan, so this rule applied. I don't remember how much we were allowed to charge, but it must have been a good chunk of change, since we had been charging away for 2.5 days. The idea behind this is that DVC is vouching for you, since they have a credit card on file for you and know that they can get their money back if you skip out on the hotel bill
WELCOME HOME!!!
The Pretty yet Totally Dysfunctional Sinks
Take a look at this picture:
Aren't these sinks purdy? Don't they just fit right in with the futuristic decor of this hotel?
Who cares if they are totally dysfunctional, as long as they're purdy? Well, I for one do. The sink is an important part of my beautification ritual and I like my sinks to be functional, thank you.
Frank could not understand why I found these sinks so annoying. So let me list the whys:
The sinks are too low. I am 5'2", in my bare feet, which is usually the way they are in the bathroom. The sink height was just below my belly button. When I spit out my toothpaste, I had to bend all the way over the sink to avoid splashing used toothpaste all over myself. Now imagine if you were freakishly tall! That toothpaste would have a 2 story drop before it hit the sink! You'd have to wear a bib when you were brushing your teeth!
The sinks are too big. Who needs a sink this big? It's hugical - the picture doesn't give you a great idea of proportion. But it's way bigger than it needs to be. And all that bigness is taking up space that could have been better used by making more counter space to put stuff. Now, I realize that guys don't care about stuff like this. But we girls have moisturizers and makeup and hair gel and other stuff that we like to keep in the vicinity of the sink. Look at that teeny area between the sinks, that's being taken up by the toiletries and wash clothes and tissues. Where am I supposed to put my makeup???
The sinks are too shallow See splashy effect above. Stuff is more likely to bounce back up on you because the sink isn't deep enough to catch anything.
The sinks are not graded properly so that stuff goes down the drain without human intervention (ewww). You would think that the designers of this way too big, way to shallow sink would have thought to grade the sink surface, in order to take advantage of the law of gravity. This way, liquids would actually head for the drain all by themselves instead of the user having to fill up and pour a glass of water into the sink to get them to do that. And even after the glass of water is poured, there is still orphaned water that can't make it to the drain. I'm not sticking my hand in there to coax the rest of the water towards the drain. Ewww!
All kidding aside, we had a fabulous time in the Contemporary Resort and and would stay there again in a heat beat, even if there was no hot water!
So that's it for now! They'll be one more installment in this seemingly never-ending trip report, in which I will attempt to wrap things up as well as repost some of the more scrumptious desserts (hey wait, they were all scrumptious so I guess they'll be a lot pictures, Karen!
). Thanks for reading.
Then there was the guy that left my back and shoulders black and blue for weeks. Hmmmmm, can I just find a happy medium please? 
Don't know, maybe I should try it....do you feel more self-concious when you have a masseur???
in there too for a little spice?
