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The Tiki Room
Join Elizabeth and Sarah while they talk about their Disney adventures including, Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line and more. When it comes to a Disney destination, they know how to have a magical time without all the stress. You'll get insider tips, tricks and reviews. Get the scoop on the latest ways to travel and enjoy all things Disney.
The Tiki Room
An Inside Look at Disney's Contemporary Resort: Accessibility, Amenities, and Future Predictions
Join us, Elizabeth and Sarah, in our latest podcast episode as we spill the beans on Elizabeth's recent Disney's Contemporary Resort experience.
We'll be taking you through an entertaining narrative full of comparisons, contrasts, and honest reviews about Disney's Contemporary Resort. We've analyzed every detail - the Florida resident rate, the building's layout, the pool, and other amenities on two different occasions, before and after Covid-19. We've also got the low-down on the parking situation and valet rates at the resort.
Looking forward to 2023, we'll be taking a deep dive into our predictions about what's coming next. Get ready to join us in a candid discussion on the age of the building and how it stacks up against newer resorts. Enjoy!
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Hey friends. Hi, it's Elizabeth and Sarah and we are back. We are back Today.
Speaker 2:We're going to be talking about the contemporary oh man, I've been waiting to do like a good series of hotel reviews and we're on a roll.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we are.
Speaker 2:Because we just did Riverside, Port Orleans.
Speaker 1:And you. Just so, my daughter and I went on a girls trip to Disney. Because, my husband and my son were in Chicago. Yeah, chicago, chicago, as my son calls it, which is so funny Because my grandfather called it Chicago. He never even met him, right? Well, he did, but he was like 12 months old when he died, and so it's just so, anyway, genetics. So my son and my husband went to Chicago and my you'd be shocked to know that my husband stayed at the Langham Chicago.
Speaker 2:Which is like.
Speaker 1:I don't even know. It's like the four seasons. Where else would Scott Brinick stay? He gets in and he calls me and he's like so we gotta. Our room was upgraded.
Speaker 2:I was like of course.
Speaker 1:What's your so annoying?
Speaker 2:I imagine Scott's search engine for anything. It doesn't even include a value or moderate option.
Speaker 1:No, none, only deluxe, only deluxe and luxuries. So I told him and his response was I paid for it with points. I'm like, I don't care, lori Ann, wherever you want to stay, wherever you want to stay, and so she. So we started this girl. So I asked her where do you want to go? Wherever you want to go, except for New York, please do not ask me to go to a big city without an adult.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Just wherever you want to go, because I'm not one. I am not one.
Speaker 1:And she was like let's go to Disney, just the two of us. And I said, done and done, where do you want to stay? Homeworld picks like the all starbers award, and I was like, no, we ain't staying there, that's really sweet.
Speaker 2:You're going to pick somewhere else.
Speaker 1:So I pushed for the Riviera, but she was like no, I want to go to the contemporary, where the monorail was. So I actually got a garden view room and it was like 300. And I think that with I can't remember if it was 318 or 380. It was less than $400 per night with tax and whatever.
Speaker 2:That was the.
Speaker 1:Florida resident rate and I think I booked it in like February Does that sound right to you.
Speaker 2:Yes, that does, okay, so if you're not familiar with the contemporary building which I was not, by the way.
Speaker 1:it's the one that the monorail goes through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Its shape is very I don't know if you call it mid-century modern, but it's different from any other deluxe resort. You think that the original resort it's the original? Yes, it was like that, and then the Polynesian was after. I think, right, right, and that building is the only building that has rooms. But it's not. It has a couple of buildings next to it. Now it has Bay Lake Tower, which is the DVC. Really nice, it's newer, newer, yes.
Speaker 1:If you are looking at the contemporary, if the magic kingdom is behind you and you are looking at the contemporary, there's the main building of the contemporary, the metal. Dvc Bay Lake is to the left which has connects right with like a walkway. And they have their own pool. And then, to the right of that which you cannot see from the main road is, like you said, like a little series of buildings, I guess is the way to describe them. There are one story two story buildings.
Speaker 2:Next to the building, next to the larger building. There are three stories. There are three stories.
Speaker 1:Thank you, but if you looked at it, that's part of my review. If you looked at it, you'd think it was only two stories, but there are three stories in there. There are three stories, okay.
Speaker 2:But that's what she says. I just wanted to make sure people understood. When you said garden view, it's not in the main building. Right and it is. It's nice because it's part of the contemporary and it's discounted usually it's not the $600 a night to be in the main one, but garden view.
Speaker 1:And to your point, bay Lake Towers is also very. I mean, it's a new building. I knew I think it was built in like 2005. Yeah, it's new wish, it's not 1960s.
Speaker 2:It was built in the 2000s.
Speaker 1:The garden view rooms are original to the building or to the construction of that hotel. So I know none of this. Going into it Didn't even know that. I thought that those buildings were like storage facilities, because it's right next to like where the utility trucks come in and out, but there is a utility facility there. So that's what I thought this whole time. Nope, everyone. That's the garden view. That's the garden view.
Speaker 2:There it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we get there. We do early check in. Our room was not ready until five o'clock. I was not there. It worked out. We went, I think we went straight to Hollywood Studios. We did, we went straight to Hollywood Studios. It was fine. I was just annoyed. I was like what in the world? So we check in at the gate and they are like go straight to the room. And I was like okay. So in my mind I was like I was going to go to the front desk see if they had an upgrade, thinking about what you and Carly did when y'all went to the Coronado Springs. But they were like nope, bypass the main building, go all the way around and you're going to park in front of the building. And so I was like, oh cool, I literally have a pro con list over here on my phone.
Speaker 1:I was like this needs notes. So the I know it's because I had a lot of opinions. Yeah, it's a lot. We're going to get there, we're going to dissect them. This is a therapy session every month.
Speaker 2:Oh this is what I've been waiting for.
Speaker 1:So the parking situation was great because you have your own parking lot, okay, and you know that I like to access my car because we typically take our car going to and from parks, yeah, whereas if you stayed in the main building or even I don't know about Bay Lake Towers, but I know if you stay in the main building we would have probably about laid oh yes, no question about that. So we park in front of the building. There are no carts, no carts, no you know luggage carts Like luggage carts.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:So I'm like, okay, we're going to be here, for we had I had water, if anybody's shocked by that a bag, a basket of snacks, and then we had our suitcases, which were not on no, they were on wheels. She doesn't mean water, like.
Speaker 2:I mean, I had a 36 pack of like a Zephyr Hills one bottle.
Speaker 1:I had a 36 pack of water bottles and a two gallon dispenser thing. And, by the way, we drink all of that water. I bet you did.
Speaker 2:Sure did, sure did. I didn't bring good ice, did not bring good ice. You just, you just used the hotel ice, just used the hotel ice. We sound ridiculous, but it's just because your dad has like an ice maker. That's really good.
Speaker 1:I mean, he has been a good ice maker.
Speaker 2:I know, that's why I was like did you bring that ice? Yeah, no, I didn't I went.
Speaker 1:I went half bougie on this one. Okay, I went discounted the contemporary on this one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, you did. So. We get in and the building is, to Sarah's point, from the 1960s. You walk in the building and there is a heat wave walking into the building because it is so humid and you can feel the humidity inside the building and it smells not great and I was like this is going to be a journey. So we take the elevator to the second floor, which took I think we timed it one time and it was a six minute from hitting the button getting on the elevator to go up to the second floor. So we get to our hotel room and the hotel room is nice. Everything is updated.
Speaker 1:They redid the rooms rather recently and I was like, okay, this is fine, this will do. I'm going to start unpacking, mm, hmm, our room. I noticed there was a lot of mosquitoes in our room and I was like what is happening? What is happening? So we didn't get to our room until we left Hollywood Studios and we didn't get back to the hotel to check in until nine o'clock at night. Lauren was exhausted. I was like I'm going to unpack, you take a shower. Like, let's do this. There are mosquitoes. I think I killed like six or seven.
Speaker 2:I would have been done. I couldn't, if I know a mosquito is in the room with me sleeping, burn it down. I have to get it out.
Speaker 1:So I'm like what is happening? And Laura Ann gets, I kid you not, gets out of the shower, lays on the bed and is like I'm out, mommy. And I was like, ok, ok. So I am like trying to figure out what's happening. And the sliding door will not lock and I'm like, ok, that's what's happening. There's like, obviously in our room it would not get super cold. It was like you know how, when you drive your car and you can hit the AC button and it'll blow like cold, cold air. But then if you hit the AC button, even if it's at 60 degrees, it blows it a little bit warmer.
Speaker 1:That's what it felt like and I was like, ok, I will address this tomorrow. So we go to bed and the people above us at 1 30 in the morning, I finally called security. Wow, because they were jumping off the beds, so much so that the beds were shaking, our beds were shaking and I was like I worked for a contractor. My husband's a contractor. I don't think that this is to code. I don't think that's why you did this. I don't think that's why you all redid this building, because I feel like the rebar is about to snap in half. It did not feel structurally, I mean, it's shaped, the walls shaped, when these people so I called security, security handled the situation for that night.
Speaker 1:So the next morning I was like OK, we're going to go to the front office, we're going to get this fixed, it's going to be fine. So we FaceTime the Chicago boys and Lorian opens the door and there are bunnies there. And then I go to shut it again and I notice there's a lock up top, with a lock so that's why it didn't shut, because the lock was engaged to keep the door from shutting all the way. And I was like, oh, that's why it's hot in here OK, boom done, shut it, lock it. I should have gone to the front and just complained and taken care of it then. But Lorian was like I love the room, everything's great, and I was like, ok, fine, so that's when I didn't complain. That was my first mistake.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, so let's go. Let me talk about this for a second. I've got some stats for contemporary so people can have a vision. October 1, 1971, 51 years ago. We know that is how their 50th anniversary is, when the contemporary opened. They have the main tower, the Bay Lake Tower and the South Garden Wing. The size of the rooms is very substantial, like you said.
Speaker 1:And we had two queen beds and there was like this sofa thing and there was a fold down from there. There was a fifth sleeper there On in that couch thing, which was nice. I mean nobody utilized it, but that was nice.
Speaker 2:Well, so we just stayed at Beach Club, which we'll do a different review of later, and I noticed those rooms are significantly smaller, like it's still a deluxe resort. Those rooms are significantly smaller than the contemporary rooms. So, they are very big.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the bathroom was big.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:The bathroom was big. The room itself, the size, the comfort level, the convenience of the layout of the room was very nice. I would have been fine if the four of us had been there for an extended period of time. I feel like we would have been comfortable. There was plenty of storage. The closet space was nice. The countertop space where the coffee maker and the refrigerator and stuff was, that was nice. There was just plenty of space, plenty of space.
Speaker 2:We've stayed there. So the stats on it are the Epcot deluxes, which is Yachton Beach Club Boardwalk. Their square footage is 370 square feet to 380 square feet. The Magic Kingdom deluxes are 394 square feet to 440 square feet.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:OK, it's significant. I remember our entire family being in one room and all of our kids were very little and we had a pack and play for chambers and we were able to do a makeshift room with sheets that I had brought, like some clothes pins, to be able to close her off, and there was plenty of space. So the space is great, yes, but may not make up for all the other cons on the list, I mean the people about.
Speaker 1:I had to call security every single night on those people and I know shame on me for not taking it.
Speaker 1:I and I was like, I feel like if I were to come to you, scott, and I talked about this, I was like if I were to go to them prior, they would have been like no, let us, let us change your room, which is not what we wanted. We just wanted them to know like y'all need to fix this, because this is not okay. And I was like I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Okay, and so the room itself. Like you said, it was great. I don't know if that room was more than what we paid for it. I would have been livid, yeah, absolutely livid. If I was coming there on a from Minnesota and I was staying there for five days, I would have been Right.
Speaker 2:If this is your, family vacation for the summer that you've been planning for and saving for saying at the contemporary it's a deluxe resort. All these plans. And if that was a, I would have been very mad yeah. So, to day two, you were saying like okay, you went to bed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I went to bed the next day, figured out the lock situation with that door, came back from the parks that day and the room was freezing, so clearly I fixed that problem, which was nice it was. I mean to open up your hotel room door and go into the the common spaces and there be like a heat wave between your door, your room and the lobby space, I think is. I think that's telling. Yeah.
Speaker 2:We did that. When I just went to passion camp with like a thousand youth kids, we were at you know, the best Western on Daytona Beach, but we, we knew what we were doing. Yeah, Knew what we were getting ourselves into.
Speaker 1:Well, that was I was going to say, that's what I was going to say I felt like I was staying in a to your point, best Western building with a I don't. I'm trying to think of a, maybe a Marriott room on the inside the pool. I was disappointed in the pool. Yeah, it was not great. I mean it was the bottom was rough, also was dated. This is funny. So in Florida if there is a lightning strike within 10 miles, the pool shut down and there was a lightning strike, I think that it was like eight miles away because you know we have the lightning tracker on our phone because we live in Florida and they shut down the pool and people were so mad and so confused and they were like I can't believe it why?
Speaker 1:Cause there was a storm cloud over there and I was like, well, where are you from? And then one couple was like Canada. I was like, okay. So here in Florida we have these things called thunderstorms, and lightning can strike far away from the thunderstorms and will kill you and will kill you. They, it doesn't care, it doesn't carry. So if you're listening to this and you're from Minnesota, please understand that lightning storms are a real thing. So the other thing it did, you know, we got our afternoon showers, which was totally fine and expected for Florida.
Speaker 1:I did feel like other resorts seemed clean after the rain. I don't know. I don't know if it's just the leveling of the ground, I don't know if they like go through and push the water off, but I felt like you know how some places you're like, oh, I could totally walk around outside barefoot and I'd be fine. Yes, I don't. I didn't feel that way. The outside Right, I did not feel that way at the contemporary.
Speaker 1:I felt like walking on the pool deck. I needed shoes, I felt like the kid area. So in most pools um, I don't know Now the kiddie pool area, like the splash pad, is in its own gated area. So if you have two sets of kids, if you have a younger kid and an older kid, you could be in one place and you can see both. That's not the case with this. The splash pad area is on the outside of the pool and so you are not able. You're either in one place or the other place. Okay, um, they also had, you know, your chess and your connect for and your lawn games, which was nice. Um, I don't know, I would not stay there again.
Speaker 2:At the contemporary.
Speaker 1:Ever again. Wow, the convenience of the monorail was nice, right, um, you know, I, if I had to pick a monorail, I mean a deluxe resort in that area and the Magic Kingdom area I have not stayed in the Grand Floridian since they redid it, but I would stay there or the Polynesian over the contemporary. I don't, I wouldn't pick, I would pick. I would pick the Caribbean beach over the contemporary. Wow, easily.
Speaker 2:Wow. Well, I will say we stayed at the contemporary twice. Um, one time was, I think both of them was on like a bigger family trip with my side of the family. Um, and we did enjoy our trip. We never did the pool, though. It was cold when we went. It was in like January. Um, wait, when did you go pre COVID, pre COVID? Okay, yeah, we went pre COVID. We loved it. Um, the rooms were great. Now, one time we did the garden view and one time we were in the main building. What was your thought on the?
Speaker 1:main building.
Speaker 2:The main building is lovely.
Speaker 1:Was it loud.
Speaker 2:It's loud once you get out, you know. But your room was fine. I don't really know. I don't remember it being loud in the room.
Speaker 1:See, I feel like if you, if it was loud in the room, you would have remembered.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't think so. Or we could have just had sound machines and it could have been loud and we fixed with sound machines and then we didn't remember. Yeah, it was that loud Um cause that's. I mean, every hotel is like that for me.
Speaker 2:Like if you say it in embassy suites, you know that's loud because of how the rooms are. Yes, Um, but we did like it. But my knock for the contemporary was that there just wasn't any um. Yeah, there wasn't anything else to do except to stay there, Right, there was not any like entertainment, unless you were going to, um, I don't know, just do Chef Mickey's, and that was your entertainment. But there wasn't any activities outside.
Speaker 2:I mean you go to the Polynesian and there's stuff going on all the time, all the time. Um, so yeah, it was it's Lawton's favorite because it's the least like in your face Disney place. Okay, he loves that, you know, it's just like minimalist. Yeah, you just go there. It's a nice hotel. Yeah, you know it, you can walk to the Kingdom. It does the job Like that's. That's what he likes about it, but we've never done the. We've never done the pool there. Yeah, had to add to.
Speaker 1:I, I would say and it's not just I mean, let me make it clear, Lori and in my trip was enjoyable. We had a great time the down. If I, scott, asked the question, if you, if the people were not above you, would you still have not liked it? And I think my answer is still. I would have still not liked it. I don't know, it just seemed. It seemed completely dated and not okay. I know what I was gonna say. Was it incredible? Yes, it was an incredible theme.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:But the building itself. I mean, I used a wheelchair. I will send you the picture. I used a wheelchair to put stuff from my car, to take it up to my room, gosh, and I was, like you know, here I am by myself, just me, and I know that there are people who the car. I mean, if you're staying for a week, you have more than what I had, right?
Speaker 2:and there are plenty of single parents going and bringing their kids.
Speaker 1:And if my kids were younger I could not. I left Lori in the room and went and got stuff, but I could not have done that if she was three or four. Yeah, so the last night we did nighttime swim and so fun, and we met this woman from New Hampshire and her daughter. So they were there and they were staying at the Grand Floridian, okay, and they were supposed to leave. No, no, no, no, no. They were staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And their flight wasn't like eight o'clock at night. The daughter was going into second grade.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So my son's age. So Animal Kingdom, their flight was supposed to leave at 8 pm. So she was like we'd plan on going over to the Grand Floridian that day, which was nice because I could go and the Grand Floridian would hold my suitcase, which I had no idea. So they went and they did the Grand Floridian, while she kept getting notifications your flight's pushed back, your flight's pushed back. And she was like so finally, at like one o'clock, I told my husband I'm just gonna stay another night because we're not gonna get into one o'clock in the morning. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:So the Grand Floridian was like sorry, we don't have any rooms available at all and the whole thing for one night, and she was like, okay, that was on a Saturday night. Right, it was Saturday night, yeah. So they took the monorail over to the contemporary, and the contemporary was like we only have a Baylake Tower one bedroom suite for $1500 a night. And she was like, no, give me the cheapest thing. And so they gave her a garden view room. And I think that she said that she paid $600 for that room. Wow, I was like-.
Speaker 2:Oh, you meant Animal Kingdom told her there were no rooms.
Speaker 1:No, so she spent the day. Her plan was to spend Saturday at the Grand Floridian.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:And so she went from, she checked out of their hotel room, went to the Grand Floridian to spend the day there. I think that they did the spa, they did, you know, they all got. Her and her daughter got made in here. But the hotel at the Grand Floridian, held her stuff. So then, when she got the notification that their flight was delayed, she went down to the front desk of the Grand Floridian and was like can we check in for a night?
Speaker 2:And they had no rooms, no rooms, okay, so then she went to contemporary.
Speaker 1:So she was like I just got on the monorail and went to contemporary and the contemporary said that, so she paid $600 for the garden view room.
Speaker 2:Holy moly.
Speaker 1:And I asked her. I was like how? But she had a bigger room, hers was like a cause. I asked her that. And she had a porch, a walkout porch. She was on the first floor and she was like there is no one around us.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Which I thought was interesting. Okay, but she said she was like my room is bigger than what our room was at the animal kingdom and as she had one but she said they had she had a king bed. So I'm wondering now if she just had the same room as that we had.
Speaker 2:But it was a king bed, so it just seemed bigger. But it was a king bed, so it seemed bigger. It seemed bigger.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anyway. So she did that $600 a night, wow. And I was like so did you think that it was worth it? And she was like I mean, I'm not gonna lie on the. Also, this is the epitome of like anybody outside of the Southeast coming into Florida. She was like I'm not gonna lie. When she said first floor level porch, whatever. I was like alligators are gonna come to my front porch. And I was like do you know that? That is not a thing? What?
Speaker 2:It's the way I think, bears.
Speaker 1:Oh, like whenever we go to the mountains, like when I go to the mountains.
Speaker 2:We leave this week and I'm like attacking my kids already. I'm just like listen, there are bears out here and they, if you have a snack, they might come after you. Okay, so you need to just eat your snack in the kitchen with the door locked, and then we'll go outside for a hike, okay.
Speaker 1:If you get out of the car, you better lock that door.
Speaker 2:They don't lock that door. They don't lock that door, so that is so I feel her on that.
Speaker 1:That is how people from New Hampshire view people from Florida. There are gonna be alligators. She also said that they she was like I guess her parents live in South Florida for half the year. So she was like I was visiting my parents and it was when whatever that hurricane that came through and destroyed four miles of years ago she was like we had to.
Speaker 1:We drove. So she was like so we just went and set like people were like just go to Disney, stay in Disney, ride out the storm in Disney, mm-hmm, because I guess it was when it decided to go a little bit further south and she was like so we had to leave. So they went to Disney, they stayed at the contemporary in the main building. Cause she was like I just knew it was a concrete building and I was like all buildings are concrete.
Speaker 2:But she knew she was like okay, I know it's gonna be safe.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's gonna be safe. We can run out of the storm here, well. So a side note is again, people from Florida versus not people from Florida. She was like we were watching the news and my kids were like, are we gonna die? I'm like I mean while I'm like we live for our games here, so she said that the entertainment was unbelievable. Oh, wow. She said that they have staff who is basic, just kind of like a hospital you're on at all times they cleared out an area of Bay Lake Towers and put them in there.
Speaker 1:And what do they call them? Like the rescue team, the people who are just like 24 hours on staff. Yeah, and she said that the entertainment was great. Like every morning they got a printout of things that were going on in the main building and they, like the characters came out and stuff like that, which was nice, but she said nobody was in the garden room and they tried to keep as many people as possible just as many staff members in Bay Lake Towers.
Speaker 2:But they tried to keep, anyway, I digress.
Speaker 1:So all of that to say. My experience with the contemporary was I will never say there again, wow.
Speaker 2:So let's go over your pros and cons list one more time.
Speaker 1:Like give us a run through Pros, parking situation, cons, hard to find help carts, et cetera.
Speaker 2:You mean parking situation, like you can park right in front of the building. You can park right in front, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, Rooms are redone. Pro building is old.
Speaker 2:Con.
Speaker 1:Yeah, con, is the building as old? Sorry Pro the location. Con, the AC unit was hard to work and the neighbors were extremely loud. Oh, I did learn this because we went to Tobolines Terrace for lunch and there was no parking. Look at that, cardinal on that window.
Speaker 2:I know you guys. I just got a bird feeder. This is how I'm approaching 40. I got a bird feeder on my window. It just has like little suction cups. You put some bird seed in it. I can just sit in my office and watch the birds.
Speaker 1:This is great. This is really great. We went to Tobolines Terrace and there was no parking. Really, I valed.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The guy was like keep your valet receipt, you can go to In your Resort and valet your car, it's covered.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:I had no idea. I put that on the pros list. That had nothing to do with Kintamari, but still I had no idea about that. If you're going for the day or if you're I don't know, or, but you had to have paid. It can't be like you're staying here and you valed your car and then you took your car out and you left. If you're just valing for the day, so if you go to the Grand Floridian or if you go to Tobolines Terrace and you valet there and then you want to go and do the contemporary and watch the fireworks, you can just come on over and valet and valet.
Speaker 2:That's nice, that's good to know, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's. I think it's $35, maybe it's $25. I don't remember, but I was like that is nice to know, because I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Yeah, I do think it's a little bit more because I've split it before with somebody, because we were all together yeah, the two families in a car and we valeted and I think that it's like between $30 and $40. Yeah, but it's fine If it's. A lot of times it's worthwhile just to valet, because if you're going to park at the Transportation and Ticket Center and you don't have an annual pass, you've got to pay $20 something to park anyway. So you might want to just valet at a resort, at the closest one.
Speaker 2:I mean I would valet at contemporary and then walk over to Magic Kingdom before. I go to the Transportation Ticket Center.
Speaker 1:And my point is I don't know if you have to have a reservation to get in Sometimes you do yeah, sometimes if it's too full. They're like you can't.
Speaker 2:But if you say, like you know I'm, if you go and eat a meal there, that's a counter-service meal, I've done that. Yes, there's like a counter-service place that just has like burgers and stuff that you want to eat there, they might let you. Yeah, but yeah, it does depend on how full it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know, the pro was that I did put on there the Contempo's diner or whatever.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, contempo Cafe. Yeah, that was nice. Yeah, that was, the food was decent. On our last, on our last day, that's what we finished the day we did an order and it was ready by the time we got off the monorail. We picked it up and went to the room. So those were. That was my pro con list. I just felt like it was. I, just I I've to to, to use your reference of the best Western, I felt like it was best Western quality.
Speaker 2:Wow, the Garden View. The Garden View, yeah, and it's true, you are going to pay, you know, for the Garden View. You're going to pay, you know, upwards. So let's see, right now I'm going to do a quick search. Just a random weekend in, let's say, I'm going to even go January, end of January, because it's not a princess weekend. It just really depends on if you're going to stay in the Garden View or the main tower. Let's see, here we've got I would have.
Speaker 1:I feel like if I had gone to Bay Lake Towers, which would have been quadruple the price that I paid, I feel like I would have had a different opinion.
Speaker 2:That's true. Bay Lake Tower, you know, for a random weekend in the end of January next year. Now there's, this is just rack rate, there's no discounts or anything. It's $637 a night for Bay Lake Tower, contemporary 572. Let's see if it's a Garden View. I bet that's the Garden View price, because they usually only it's the cheapest one, it's the least expensive one. So Garden View Resort View. Garden Wing Resort View is 523. Garden View no, that's Resort View. Sorry, it's a Garden Wing Resort View. Garden Wing Water View, because that's what it's called.
Speaker 1:That's what. Okay, it's the Garden Wing I did Garden Wing Resort View.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so that's the Garden Wing Resort, view 523, the Garden Wing Water, view 572. While you're doing that, I'm going to look up. I mean Main Tower, how much? 738. No-transcript. I mean, that's a lot.
Speaker 1:And to know that you could. I mean, I'm telling you like I could have stayed at Port Orleans or Caribbean Beach and had a significantly better resort experience.
Speaker 2:Well, like what you said. So Port Orleans Riverside 293.
Speaker 1:And I mean I'm assuming Caribbean Beach is going to be similar to that. Yeah, and you know, caribbean Beach has the Skyliner which gives you access to Epcot and to Hollywood Studios, whereas the I mean I guess it can, no, yeah, the contemporary any of those Magic Kingdom resorts. You have the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom and then you take the Monorail to to get transportation center, to get to another one for Epcot. So I mean, in my mind I'm like I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I. There was no huge wow, I should stay here. It's totally worth it Over a Port Orleans or a Caribbean Beach. Yeah, and another thing carpeted floors.
Speaker 1:If you're gonna redo those buildings, put, I mean, I get it. Why, if the building is as old as it was, I mean that sound I guarantee you is they just try to slow it down. I mean, yeah, be way worse, horrible, it would have been horrible. I was looking at the Grand Floridian and they redid the villas at the Grand Floridian. Those look really nice. They touched up on the main building. I don't know what's happening. Disney, I know who is your builder. I mean they're just putting Lipstick on a pig.
Speaker 2:Lipstick on a pig.
Speaker 1:They're not even getting to the structural part of it. Honestly, they could have bulldozed those buildings and done something-.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they could have bulldozed those and then just put up something-.
Speaker 1:They could have done the same concept.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not as nice as Bay Lake.
Speaker 1:They could have done the same concept of the garden wing of a two or three story building To the point of the original thing when we first started. These are three story buildings. I am five foot four. On a good day I could touch the ceiling.
Speaker 2:With air maxes.
Speaker 1:With air maxes, basic air maxes.
Speaker 2:And you could touch the ceiling, I could touch the ceiling.
Speaker 1:Gosh, that's too much In the hallways. The room was better, but in the hallways I can't imagine, if you're six foot, what that looks like for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't remember how it was. For a lot we definitely stayed in a garden wing and I don't remember how it was. I do remember how bad the hallways were. Like I said, I just stayed at a Best Western in Daytona Beach and it did remind me. I was like oh, this is how the garden wing is.
Speaker 1:This is how Elizabeth's living right now. I had no idea that I was really living that way. And also, when you get to the second and third story, there is no balcony, it is simply just a door that opens and a railing. All of that to say I don't recommend, I don't recommend it.
Speaker 2:I know For the price if you are staying there.
Speaker 1:I mean, you can get somewhere nicer for cheaper Right.
Speaker 2:If you're going to stay there, you need to be prepared for what your pros are, which are the parking, the convenience to Magic Kingdom, and that's it, and that's it. I mean, if I am going in the colder season, I only want to do Magic Kingdom, and there's three something a night in the 300s.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would probably consider it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like if I'm doing a Halloween party or a Christmas party and then right after I can just walk to my hotel, I'm doing that.
Speaker 1:But if you're coming on a five I mean if you're coming in, like Sarah said, if you're coming in for a fan, this is your big family vacation, I would consider, and you're wanting something that is affordable and that's why you're looking at it. Consider somewhere else. Yes, If you're going and you want the convenience of the contemporary and you have the ability to spend it on a Bay Lake Tower, do the Bay Lake Tower, but don't consider the Garden Wing.
Speaker 2:Have you seen the boardwalk in?
Speaker 1:You know a long time ago.
Speaker 2:Okay, the tallies have stayed there before. They do not love the boardwalk in. I wonder if it's comparable because they have prices comparable to the contemporary. And I wonder, like you know, it's convenient because it's walkable to Epcot Skyliner, to Hollywood Studios, long walk, you know, to Hollywood Studios, but still access to both of those resorts or both those parks, but it's older and not as desirable.
Speaker 1:And when we say older, again, the rooms are updated, which is nice. It is the physical building that is old and it's not like they bought a historic home and they gutted it and they brought in an alpha foundation and reset the foundation of it. They literally just put lipstick on a pig, yeah, yeah, and called it a day, yeah. So I don't recommend it. I would recommend other things and if you were staying above me that night, I hope that you have fire ants in your backyard. So I gotta say about that.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, that's our review on the contemporary resort as of 2023. So 2023. I know. Thanks a lot, disney. We'll catch you next time, bye, bye.