6 night trip the week of December 3rd with DS-turns-7-on-the-trip and DH. Have previously stayed at WL and Poly. I reserved a Contemporary Garden View room. Looks nice but also thinking about AKL. Will have Parkhopper and plan to go to parks each day.
DS loves the pool and we didn’t see that contemporary has much in the way of pool/splash pad. BUT walking to MKP and monorail is a win. Do they have a hot tub at contemporary?
AKL less pricey, I hear the resort/pool is nice but it is so far out. AKP would become the go-to park as the PH base.
Last month the weather was warm enough that we hit the Poly pool every day but I suppose sometimes it could be cool enough in December that you may not be in the pool so much.
CR is one of the few resorts I have not stayed at. My son thinks it is an ugly resort and has always talked me out of it. The pool at AKL is great. It is one of my favorite pools. A note about transportation- yes- CR is much quicker to MK but I timed my AKL buses and my Poly buses. AKL transportation is much quicker since it does not share with another resort. You really can’t go wrong with either!
AKL is my favorite resort in WDW. CR, which I stayed in many years ago, is by far my least favorite deluxe, and tops my list of “least likely to book”. Why? Theming. The CR is no different than any number of Hiltons, Onmis, Hyatts, etc that I have stayed in for business. I term the theming as “corporate blah”. IF I was independently wealthy and could afford an A-frame room with a park view, I might consider it, but even at that I would probably upgrade at AKL instead. The only argument I could make for the CR is if you had kids and were planning on spending 4 or 5 days at MK, you can walk back and forth. Travel time to the other parks is no better than any other resort (AKL included).
The contemporary is the phrase “location! Location! LOCATION!” in the physical form. If that hotel was located in any other part of the park, I doubt anyone would stay there. It’s ugly, its offerings are limited, and it’s ugly.
The only true advantage CR has is that theme park view, which, I will gladly admit, is quite something. But for the cost, it oughta be!
Unless walking to MK is an absolute must for you, I would suggest to go for AKL. Don’t get me wrong, that morning walk can be awesome, but for the price of the room and the decor of the hotel, it feels really overpriced. AKL at least feels that you’ve paid for a “Disney hotel” instead of a Days Inn. I feel the monorail “win” is almost nonexistent anymore because of the bus system being just that good.
My other suggestion is go for the cheaper room, because this way you have more money to spend in other parts of the vacation, or, conversely, splurge for a Theme Park View room. Doing that suddenly makes the Contemporary worth the price tag (to me, anyway).
I am going to a preRD BOG next month from AKL. I will take a cab/uber and then make that walk. With the money you would save on the room you could cab just about everywhere and still save money- plus- you would get to stay at AKL.
Thanks for the input, for DS6 the pool and monorail are the biggies but I we can hop on the monorail for free anytime! I think the less pricey room and save $$ for parkhopping, shopping sound good! I will run some numbers to confirm. May be also that there is much more in AKL to see with Avatarland and ROL open (hopefully) by this December to make it more of a base park to see.
I am an AKL lover. Having stayed at both AKL & CR, I prefer the beauty and ambiance of AKL over CR’s location. When my youngest was a baby in a stroller the ability to walk to MK was preferred. My baby is not a baby anymore and we find ourselves going to the other parks more and not having the burden of a stroller easier. I find the monorail still a burden and lets not forget it still breaks down a lot. The last thing you want is for it to breakdown with you on it, especially packed. Also I hate having to transfer from the resort monorail to the Epcot monorail, not very convenient. At least with the bus get on and no transfers. At CR the buses are also shared, which means even if you are first pick up they are crammed full by the last pick up. Reports have indicated that AKL-Jambo no longer share buses with AKL-Kidani, this may have only been seasonal, but even if they do it’s still not as bad. AKL is also so beautiful. truly a gem.
Stayed at CR once. DIdn’t like it. Seemed very dark and worn out (granted it rained all week). Haven’t stayed at AKL but would like to. For MK area there’s only GF for us.