Pre-cruise stay at WDW

[steilkurve]

Hey there. Just booked Disney Fantasy for a June cruise, preceded by a 5-night stay in an Atrium Club Magic Kingdom-view room... Having second thoughts reading some of the negative reviews of the hotel on Tripadvisor. Many speak of the general despair of the place. True? I thought I'd ask some experienced Disney fans what they think. Our last day was at the Grand Floridian which was great but we want to try something different. We had our eyes on the Bay Lake Towers, however no park view rooms are available. All thoughts welcome!

 

 

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[VillaHappy]

Check out the other websites that Jean recommended. I do like Tripadvisor, but not sure I'd trust it 100%

[OceanLiner]

We just stayed in a Tower room and it was perfect. Very high tech contemporary but very personable.

 

The Bay Lakes Towers has me baffled. It might be new but it is really devoid of character. How a corporation that prides itself on imagineering could build such a theme-less Soviet bloc apartment house is really quite disappointing, particularly when it is connected to an icon like the Contemporary Resort.

[c-cruise]

Bay Lake Tower is fantastic! If you don't have a park view you will overlook Bay Lake and the aqua sports complex, pools, etc. Can't see Wishes from the back side of course, but you can watch the electrical water pageant in the evenings.

[Host Mick]

Bay Lake Tower is fantastic! If you don't have a park view you will overlook Bay Lake and the aqua sports complex, pools, etc. Can't see Wishes from the back side of course, but you can watch the electrical water pageant in the evenings.

 

There's a viewing area on the top floor designed to let guests see the fireworks.

[Jsim2011]

Is being close to Magic Kingdom a priority? We stayed at Animal Kingdom (Kidani Viallage) recently and loved it - we are DVC members. The Boardwalk or Yacht and Beachclub, cloe to Epcot are also great.

 

Oh and the rooms at Bay Lake Towers are very nice.

[meatloafsfan]

Hey there. Just booked Disney Fantasy for a June cruise, preceded by a 5-night stay in an Atrium Club Magic Kingdom-view room... Having second thoughts reading some of the negative reviews of the hotel on Tripadvisor. Many speak of the general despair of the place. True? I thought I'd ask some experienced Disney fans what they think. Our last day was at the Grand Floridian which was great but we want to try something different. We had our eyes on the Bay Lake Towers, however no park view rooms are available. All thoughts welcome!

 

 

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I've stayed Atrium Club Magic Kingdom View and it was amazing (though I did have a 40% discount so it made the price okay - not good mind you - but I didn't choke paying the bill).

 

The big draw is being able to watch the magic kingdom fireworks from your balcony.

 

The rooms are large and well appointed - the beds and bedding are incredibly comfortable. The only thing I didn't really like was the square sink in the bathroom - it's a little impractical.

 

The Club lounge is great - beer, wine and liquors in the evening along with lovely canapes. Breakfast was a good selection of fruits, pastries, yougurt and I think they had oatmeal as well.

 

If you're not wanting to go into the parks but get a little touch of Disney, I do like the Contemporary - for me it screams Disney with the monorail running right through the hotel. They have a couple of good gift shops if you're looking for souvenirs and a good arcade.

[ducklite]

Check out the other websites that Jean recommended. I do like Tripadvisor, but not sure I'd trust it 100%

 

Agreed. I am a regular contributor to Trip Advisor (I use a different name there) and for the life of me can't figure out how some of the hotels get the rave reviews they do. Some of those places still getting "five stars" in recent reviews are long around the tooth and have needed a full refurb for several years. I am quite sure that a number of the glowing reviews by single posters are fakes.

 

One thing to remember when reading Trip Advisor reviews is that the lower the number of reviews someone has posted, the less likely they are to be legitimate.

 

It's also important to look at the dates on reviews. If someone posted three years ago that a place was really run down, but then there were several recent reviews about how clean and fresh it was, it's quite likely that the hotel has undergone a refurb. That said, I've stayed in a few recently refurbed hotel rooms that were still in nasty hotels and even the refurb didn't correct a number of the deficiencies. This is especially typical in older facilities.

[MagicMike]

There's a viewing area on the top floor designed to let guests see the fireworks.

 

Yes, but it's only for Disney Vacation Club Members during their stay at the towers.

[shellyc]

We stayed at BLT pre-cruise the first month it was open and it was fine. Last year we stayed at AKL villas pre-cruise and that was nice too. This May we are staying at All Star Music Family suites pre-cruise. We like taking the DCL transfers to the port and don't mind getting to the port between 1:00PM and 1:30PM, last year the terminal was crowded, but when we got to the deck they gave us a #3 bording pass and we walked right on.

The Contemporary and BLT are so convenient to the MK and other fine restaurants on the monorail loop.

[steilkurve]

Thanks all. Reassuring on the Contemporary. Think we'll stick with it. Proximity is important to us, as is being immersed in Disney-theming, something which seems missing from BLT.

[Bridge Maven]

There is a website vacation rentals by owner where you can find owners who are renting out their condos in the Disney Resort area for not much more per night than you would pay for a hotel room.

[Nalagh]

I just wanted to mention the Beach Club. It is at Epcot and worth every penny. My kids love the sand bottom pool and slide. It is just a small monorail ride to MK. :D

[Host Mick]

Yes, but it's only for Disney Vacation Club Members during their stay at the towers.

 

That's right. I understood that the problem was that there were no park view rooms and that the member wanted to watch the fireworks. An option would have been to book a different room and watch fireworks from the viewing area.

[Host Mick]

Thanks all. Reassuring on the Contemporary. Think we'll stick with it. Proximity is important to us, as is being immersed in Disney-theming, something which seems missing from BLT.

 

I know that feeling. twenty... <mumble>... years ago I went with my wife to WDW on my forst trip there. I booked a Contemporary garden room not knowing that they were about a mile from the main building. That lasted a night before we upgraded to a tower room for the remainder of the stay because I wanted to be near the monorails! I must have spent hours hanging over the rail watching those things run through the lobby. They had the newest monorails the Mark VI running all night without passengers to test them before they went into service.

 

If you're interested, look into how the Contemporary was built. They used a revolutionary modular system where the individual rooms were built off-site then moved to the a-frame skeleton, slid into place then hooked up.

The book Realityland has a good history of the building of WDW including the Contemporary and why it's (still) called the Contemporary Hotel.

[c-cruise]

They torn down one of the garden wing buildings to build the Bay Lake Tower. It's a quick couple minute (depending on elevator wait time) walk to get to the Monorail from Bay Lake Tower over the sky bridge. That bridge is actually a fairly good place to watch the fireworks from. People lined the rail watching Wishes when we stayed there. There is also an outdoor viewing platform at the Contemporary that has a nice view of the fireworks as well.

[JeanfromBNA]

I just wanted to mention the Beach Club. It is at Epcot and worth every penny. My kids love the sand bottom pool and slide. It is just a small monorail ride to MK. :D

 

Beach Club is not on the monorail, but they have a free bus service, as do all of the WDW hotels. Love the Beach Club for their fabulous pool and laid back atmosphere!

 

Another possibility for the OP is the Polynesian. The poly is on the monorail, and has MK view rooms.

[steilkurve]

Yep. Poly is an option but the rooms seem to date a bit more than the Contemporary. I realize both were originally built at the same time and also (fairly) recently fixed up but age seems to show more at the latter.

 

 

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[steilkurve]

By latter I meant Poly seems to show more it's age.

 

 

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[steilkurve]

Well, we finally switched from the Magic Kingsom-view Atrium room at the Contemporary to the Bay Lake Tower. We're loosing the view but gaining space, a 1-bedroom lake-front suite. We figured that a week in a cruise ship cabin with two kids probably called for roomier quarters when and where we could beforehand... Question: My cruise reservation has transfers set for the Contemporary. Do I need to call them back and specify Bay Lake Tower or is it one and the same for them? Thanks.

 

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[ducklite]

It will be the same pickup from both. Also, you should be able to see the Epcot fireworks from the new view.

[c-cruise]

You may be able to see the Epcot fireworks if you get a south facing room. Lake view rooms can also face north or east though. Also, if you can get a lake view room on the south side you can see the Contemporary and watch the monorails coming and going.

[Cruisin_Vol_Fan]

Enjoy the one-bedroom! We were there in December and the extra space (and extra bathroom!) was fabulous. We had a view of the lake and were able to watch the light parade at night - an often overlooked event at WDW.

A previous poster was correct - the lounge at the top of Bay Lake for viewing the fireworks is for Disney Vacation Club owners staying at Bay Lake Towers only. They do check your room key for the correct code before letting you up the elevator. If you can sweet talk someone into letting you up anyway, it's an amazing view! But you can also watch from a patio at the end of the Contemporary and along the walkway between the two - many people do this.

All transportation (air/cruise transfers and inner-park buses) for both the Contemporary Resort and Bay Lake Towers uses the same bus stop. It is technically at the Contemporary but a very short walk to BLT since it is on that end of the Contemporary. No complaints there!

The walk to Magic Kingdom is about a mile and well worth it going into the park - the monorail stops at the Poly, TTC and Grand Floridian before you get to MK. Conversely, on the way home at night you are the first monorail stop! :)