The Contemporary Resort Hotel at Disney World in Orlando: A Review

On August 17 to August 19, 2009, my family went to Disney World and stayed at the Contemporary Deluxe Resort Hotel, which is located at 4600 North World Drive Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830. This Disney hotel is actually inside of the Magic Kingdom so that we never had to leave Disney during our trip. The room cost was about $200 a night for a moderate sized room with exceptionally comfy beds with large over sized pillows and will assure a good night sleep after a busy day discovering all that Disney World has to offer.

We did not stay in the main tower with all of the restaurants and shops, but we stayed in one of the other buildings avoiding all of the temptations that Disney is so good at placing in convenient places for the kids. We chose one of the other buildings because the price was more reasonable and the pool area is located directly downstairs for easy access and a fast trip back to the room in case of rain. The lobby was comfortable and large, but not as nice as I thought it was going to be. Pillow covered bench seats line the lobby for the family to wait while being checked in. Over by the escalators a television plays unending Disney themed movies and cartoons for the little ones to enjoy. I made reservations online which helped speed up the check in process; which took about 7 minutes overall.

Originally we were given a room on the ground floor, but the hotel made the mistake of double booking our room. We called the front desk and asked to speak with a manager or someone on duty. When connected with a manager the problem was explained and the hotel. We had to stand outside of the room occupied by the angry lady and wait for a new set of room keys to be delivered to us at this location. We were not given an upgraded room but to make up for the mix up the hotel gave us a complimentary $30 gift certificate for room service as well as going above and beyond by making us a reservation at Chef Mickeys. Located inside of the Contemporary Hotel, Chef Mickeys offers a Disney character dining experience faturing Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto who take turns making their way to each table to take pictures and sign autographs. They understood how important it was to me to be able to have my girls meet with the characters on their first trip to Disney and not only made my girls dream come true, but mine as well to be able to see joy on their faces.

We were given a replacement room on the third floor and when we got inside the girls jumped onto each of the beds and didn't want to leave for over an hour. We ordered room service and the girls watched Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel that runs all day and night on the large television in our room. The bathroom was beautiful; the floors were tiled with marble, there were 2 sinks, and the toilet area was located in a separate room divided by a sliding frosted glass door. The most convenient amenity in our room was the refrigerator; all of the drinks we brought with us stayed cool the entire trip and we were able to save money by refrigerating leftovers. Milk at Disney is unbelievably overpriced! We had a courtyard view that also faced the river ways where the ferry boats escort visitors to Disney World every 20 minutes.

The first thing the kids wanted to do was go swimming in the pool at the hotel. The pool was huge and had a heated spa area, volleyball court and towering twisty water slide. There were lifeguards posted all around the pool with flotation devices for safety; and posted on each lifeguard chair were the hours of the 5 different theme parks that night. We spent over an hour in the pool just taking turns on the water slide alone! This was definitely my family's favorite detail of the entire hotel. At night a huge projection television is displayed behind the pool and music can be heard over the patrons enjoying their nightly swim. Night time at the pool is a more adult oriented time, unfortunately for my girls who wanted to go swimming at night.

This Disney hotel is located within walking distance of the Magic Kingdom but it does offer other methods of transportation to suit your style. The main tower at Disney's Contemporary Hotel has a monorail that runs directly through it; I even remember riding the monorail through the hotel on my way to the Magic Kingdom as a child. While air conditioned Disney themed buses come every 20 minutes to the hotel to whisk families away to any of the 5 theme parks located inside of Disney World.

The first night of our stay, my family got the chance to see one of the most fantastic displays at Disney: the fireworks from Cinderella's Castle, where the theme is "Wishes". My family viewed the fireworks from the left side of outside balcony; I heard another hotel guest say that she thought Disney's Polynesian Hotel was a much better hotel all around, but especially to view the fireworks. Disney knows how to put on a show, and their fireworks display was just as grand as I remember it being when I was 5 years old. After keeping two tired kids awake until 10:00 at night to see the fireworks we all happily went back to our room and got a good night's sleep in our over sized beds.

The shops inside of the hotel were primarily located inside of the main tower, much like the restaurants, and offered a wide array of items from Disney memorabilia to groceries and personal needs. Check for sales at the different shops close to each other; you may be able to find the same item for a lot less somewhere else. The most amusing item my family found in the shops was Mickey Mouse ears for dogs! The girls got a kick out of picturing our huge red-and-rust Doberman female at home wearing them!

Our reservation at Chef Mickey's was at 9:30 the night before our departure, and what a magically fun way to spend it! Each one of the 5 Disney characters went around in turn to each and every table greeting the guests. Pluto kept trying to walk off with my oldest girl's plate from the buffet and Goofy kept having to come over and straighten him out. Our table was at the back of the restaurant on an upper level against a glass wall that gave us the chance to see the fireworks again before our trip was at an end. I think they sat us here on purpose to help make up for the double booking, but even if they didn't my family is glad they did.

Check-out time is at 11:00 in the morning, but when I made our reservation I chose the option of checking out in advance and pre-authorizing the hotel to debit my credit card to avoid having to stand in line. We packed our bags and were helped to our car by the friendly hotel staff who helped us in every way to make this experience even more wonderful. Then we were on our way to one of the two Disney water parks. Blizzard Beach, before heading home.

My family already has plans to return to this hotel, not just because of the pool and how close it is to the Magic Kingdom, but because they did their best and more to make sure that my girls had the most memorable and magical first trip to Disney possible.