The Contemporary is the one that the monorail goes right through the center of the tower.
The best part about it is that you can walk to and from MK! Even the monorail can be slow/have waits, but the walk is easy and quick. If you are only going to MK, this would be my pick.
Its not that long of a walk snurk... 5-10 min which would be about the same amount of time it would take on the monorail from the CR to the MK. I guess it all depends on your definition of "long distances".
To me of the 3 hotels (Grand Floridan, Poly, and Contemporary) the best one is the Poly. For 2 reasons. The Poly you have monarail to go to and from the MK and if you want to visit any of the other parks you have the transit station 5 minutes from the Poly. You can take the monarail from transit center to Epcot (if you want to go to Epcot).
GF RULES !! Takes a couple of minutes to get to MK on the monorail; Take the boat back to GF from MK . AWESOME! Spoils you for anything else (except AKL Concierge )
We were there in May and all thought that the walk was relatively short. No one complained about walking back after being in the park all day, including ds 5, dd 10, and ds 13. It was definitely preferable (to us) to waiting to ride a crowded monorail back to the hotel.
We honeymooned at the Poly (when it was only MK and Epcot), and I did like the convenience of being able to walk to the TTC.
The Grand Floridian is great too. MK is your first stop on the monorail. It is also the first stop for the boats that run between the park/GF/Poly on the way out of MK. Very convienient.
I love the Contemporary. The walk to MK is relatively short when you consider all the walking done in the parks. It's no more than 10 minutes from the tower with kids. If you stay in the North Wing, it's even closer. It's awfully nice to walk back to your hotel when MK closes. The lines for the monrail are packed and the walk is very peaceful.
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