Staying at contemporary for the first time! What should I know?? [Archive]

MushuGrl

01-08-2010, 10:00 AM

Look for the five legged goat on the murial while waiting for the monorail! Was like a treasure hunt for us. :mickey:

Also, you can go to the third floor, sit on the balcony and watch Wishes. And I don't know if it still does as it's been a while since we've been there, but the third floor used to smell like chocolate. :cloud9:

My very first trip to WDW, we stayed at the Contemporary, and some of my fondest memories came from just hanging out on the third floor, shopping, looking out at MK, watching the monorail go by, and eating.

southerngirl

01-08-2010, 12:48 PM

We stayed at the Contemporary in December 2008. I think a lot of what you need to know depends on where you're staying in the resort. We were in a garden wing, standard view room. The great thing was that parking was a breeze! We parked our car right at the front door and were in our room within 2 minutes. The con of that location was that it was the furthest away from the main building. It took about 10 minutes to get to any of the shops or restaurants. So, it wasn't exactly convenient to pop over to the food court and grab a snack, etc. However, the rooms are super nice. The room was big enough that we put our son's pack-n-play over in one corner and were able to turn on the tv at night while he slept without disturbing him. We also loved having a separate sink outside the bathroom. Ours also had a computer (I think they all do), so we could surf the web, which was very nice for when our son was napping. Also, I loved the room decor. It was very modern chic (lots of earth tones). So, one thing I would do to enjoy the resort is plan on spending some time in the room!

Also, don't forget you can take a liesurely walk over to the MK via the walking path. We did that every morning and had lots of fun seeing the ducks, looking at the personalized tiles on the walkway, etc. We would grab a latte from the coffee bar in the lobby (another plus) and take it with us on our walk.

The shops are really good in the main building. I loved the toy store, and some people say that they go to the Contemporary just to shop! So, take time to stroll through those, too.

I would say the food is hit-or-miss. We liked the California Grill, but it's pricey and difficult to get an ADR in, and I think you can get just as good of food at other places on property that aren't as popular. We didn't really care for the Contempo Cafe or Chef Mickey's, although to be fair, neither of those places are really our style. We prefer table service over buffet or food courts. I have heard very good things about The Wave, though. Last trip we stayed at the Poly on the Club Level, and one of the club level staff members who was trying to help us figure out an early dinner ADR highly recommended The Wave. He said the food is a lot like the Grand Floridian Cafe (which we love), but it's sort of a more intimate setting.

Enjoy!